Mike Harmon & Dan Beyer "Season Finale"!

Published Aug 13, 2023, 5:13 PM

Mike Harmon and Dan Beyer react to week one of the NFL Preseason and discuss the headlines coming out of camp. The guys give us their NFL Christmas schedule they would like to see and talk NCAA realignment after the ACC expansion. Finally, the guys review the 2023 NBA Hall of Fame class and play another round of The Feud! 

Hey, good morning, greetings, and welcome in another beautiful edition of Fox Sports Sunday. Here Fox Sports Radio Mike Harmon alongside Dan Bayer my tag team partner for this voyage one more time as we roll into Week one of the NFL preseason. In earnest fantasy drafts, I actually just made a pick right before we went on air in a long slow I'll tell you who it was in a second, because the answer is maybe. We'll find out. Broadcasting live from the Tirac dot Com studios, tirerac dot com will help you get there an unmatched selection, fast, free shipping, free road hazard protection, and over ten thousand recommended installers tyrac dot com the way tire buying should be Welcome in Dan Bayer at Dan byro On Fox, at Buyer Grams, at Buyer Talk at USA Donuts. That's a legend. Well, but I mean everybody fired up because Shay asked the questions like where the US Is there any other place?

Is there any other place? It is the closest place that is open to the radio studios at this time of the hour for us on the West coast, But still it is USA Proud USA Donuts to the rescue.

Slam that stamp down. All right, So here's the pick I made, right, you know, guillotine leagues for those unaware. Right, every week the team with the lowest score you get sent away. All those players go to waivers. The feeding frenzy continues, and the whole strategy is, all right, how much am I building a team thinking I'm their long term? How much is I might have a good matchup a week one? And that's the beauty of its strength of schedule and all that. Ye really have no idea. We could say with some sense of certainty that the Arizona Cardinals probably aren't gonna be very good, but you know what they did. They still beat Sean Payton, so that was kind of fun. But you know, it's that kind of thing, is like, you know, you have all these assumptions of how good or bad a team's gonna be, and then you see some craziness go down and teams get eliminated. But what it means is you're not drafting ten or twelve teams. You're drafting enough for the entirety of an NFL season and one, which means the pool gets thinned real fast. So I just drafted Melvin Gordon in round twelve.

Oh wow, waiting for the JK. Dowhart, hoping for the JK. Dobbins sit in to continue even longer, or.

I mean just questioning JK. Dobbins. His health has been sure tenuous at best in a lot of a lot of games and circumstance. And really it's the all right, I'll just have another running back on the roster should this go anywhere. I mean, now we're so deep into backups it's not even funny. I mean, eighteen teams, twelve rounds, you're far.

Draft to find a lot of value. Yeah, Ravens are one of those interesting teams with the offensive coordinator change, and how are things going to be different? I don't know how different they should be, Mike. To be perfectly honest with you, I thought they had a nice recipe for success. Maybe people don't think that they could win a Super Bowl, but I thought that they were just fine. It really just comes down to Lamar Jackson and Lamar Jackson being healthy.

But right, can he stay on the field?

Right?

I mean, in the end, what you had all these years a good run game, obviously Lamar being part of that. And we could talk about the wide receivers and the health right, because that was one of my big talking points the last couple of seasons Dan for both the Chargers and the Ravens. As much as we can talk about the play on the field, the fact that they couldn't get guys back right. Two week injuries were six week injuries constantly in the trainer's room, and both those teams changed out their trainers. So we'll see if they have some better I don't know. Maybe they did the whole incense and sagebrush thing like Kyrie Irving, and maybe it just took some bad demons out of the locker rooms as well. But now you go and you're changing things out, and maybe to just prove that you're a genius. Right, DeCosta was how many more wide receivers can we get in the room? Rashad Bateman? How much is he gonna play? What he plays? Flash is a little bit of something? Odell Beckham junior? How good is he gonna be? The only steady you had is Mark Andrews as a receiver. So but if Lamar Jackson is gonna play twelve games a year, it doesn't matter.

And when Lamar Jackson, like we always have this Lamar Jackson conversation, and now we don't have to have it with because of the contract extension is there. But Lamar Jackson, I also believe Mike is in this group where if he just gets one, and maybe maybe this is kind of on the heels of you know, Dirk Novitzky going into the Hall of Fame, which I know we're going to talk about later in the show, but going into the basketball Hall of Fame is Dirk didn't need to win four titles, didn't need to win Kobe's five, just needed to get one to validated. And I feel like like Lamar is in that spot where they just need one. If he gets one, it's solidified. He's not to be in a race with Mahomes. I don't believe not gonna be in a race with other quarterbacks, but to just get the one is what I think would be so huge for Baltimore. And you mentioned that, you know, the additions the Rashad Bateman being held over. They used another first round pick on Zay Flowers, who a lot of people are high on as well. But I just I look at the Ravens team and hey, preseason, get the w got it? On Saturday Night against the Eagles. Keep that thing rolling. I look at like Lamar and the Ravens and when they would win a Super Bowl or how they would win a Super Bowl. They wouldn't do it, Mike as a one seed. I think they do it as like a six seed. You know, when you go in and you face a hot goalie in the Stanley Cup playoffs and almost the next thing you know, Florida Panthers are in the Stanley Cup. Yeah you know, I mean the final or however you want to use the example. If Lamar would get hot on a playoff run, you could see something like that. You could see that run. I don't know if the one two seed like fits then the year that they were bounced by the Titans, and heck, you know they even went to Tennessee and were able to get a road win a few years ago. But if you went in as like a sixth seed and just all of a sudden got really hot ran through the playoffs, that's our I think Baltimore ends up getting it done. Long term, you're looking at where Lamar Jackson is.

I will full disclosure, I have a lot of Lamar Jackson shares in my early fantasy drafts do. Yeah, just the people I know around there in Baltimore that it's like a different resolve and that this offense really could be something different. Right, And you didn't abandon the run game, right, You still have a pretty good, healthy stable of guys in there, and bringing in Melvin Gordon, you paid him like three million dollars, so he's there. It's just a question of how those carries get divvied up. And the defense, you know, is always going to be solid. But the AFC, to your point, Dan, are you running to the one or Juice Seed? I mean that division's gonna be tough just in itself, right, whatever Joe Burrow's injuries, he's back throwing and whatever. But then they'll take there, you know, be cautious with it. But Cleveland's gonna be better Pittsburgh. Not that we take a lot out of preseason games, but certainly all the video that we've been watching out of camp and all the whispers out of there, you know, George Picktens is gonna be a problem. The run game between Najie Harris and Jalen Warren is a problem. And if Kenny Pickett shows that level of growth, Friarmouth, You've got other guys that can make plays. And Pittsburgh is always gonna be in that five hundred range. So they're gonna be good enough to mess things up even under the worst circumstances because they're still gonna grind out, you know, some of those lower games on the schedule, and they're going to cannibalize things in division. And we know the Steelers Ravens games are usually pretty hotly contested down to the wire. So yeah, it's not any path even through the division, let alone the rest of the conference.

Now, you're not gonna go six an hour, five and one. I mean just it's not it's not going to happen, not not in the a f C North. And I like Pittsburgh this year, you know, TJ. Watt hopefully for them healthy for you know, hopefully for them the whole the whole season as opposed to last year and missing the first half after the injury and game number one. But yeah, that's there's you can see. You can see Kansas City getting home field again. I'm not a big believer in the in the Raiders, and I do think that Denver has work to do. I think it's a two team race in the AFC West, and so then you start to look around at where also, Okay, who else could the AFC East is gonna be? Is gonna be tough a f C South. I believe it's Jacksonville's sit, you know, division that's up for grabs. But the point is is, yeah, I think I think the number one seed would be difficult out of the AFC North.

I'm also Lamar's playing seventeen sure or sixteen, Like I I don't know. Twelve's the magic number and you get what you're you know, get what you get out of that. But I think just style of play and Freddy quarterback at this point, right, I mean, there's a lot of bumps and bruises along the way, uh, and not that you're doing load management, but you're also trying to be judicious about what your long term goals are and watching these preseason games, I mean, we can take, you know, some excitement. I was getting a bunch of texts from friends back in Chicago justin fields. Look at that big Touchou'm like it was DJ Moore on a run essentially, Like I still have trouble reconciling those plays. Dan, you know, I'll take my sixty. It looks great, and hey, sixty four yard touchdown goes scrolling across the screen and then you see the play. It's like, well, run, look.

At it this way, Mike. Now defenses are gonna have to defend that play, which then would maybe allow Justin Fields to have a sixty yard run if they bust this. You know, the the coverage on the screen.

That's that's that's my guy, because two touchdowns. And man, we obviously know that play is gonna work pretty well for them, and they've they've really pushed that forward. But just the excitement, it's like, look, we're going into preseason games. Man, how much talk was there last night about Stetson Bennett all right, Rams and Chargers getting on here. It's at so far in Los Angeles. And again, my my tweets like, I was out in a soccer tournament, So a good chunk of the day of the phone was just off and immersed in what my daughter and her team and and everything that was going on there. So I missed some of the early craziness except when I turned it on and got all the Justin Field stuff. And then I get finally get home and I refresh X, and I was like, Bennett, Bennett, Benett, pictures of Bennett, that guy's never seen the gym in his life, all like every critique you could possibly have about Stetson Bennett. Here's a picture of Wilford Brimley. How close is he to his Wilford Brimley cocon age? You'd name it. Everything came out in the wash, but preseason week one a lot of excitement, and at the end, I was like, can we just start?

I get it. I get it. And the funny thing is is, for those that missed it, when Mike's Bears took on of the Titans, Justin Field's not only threw a basically a pass out in the flat to Dj Moore, took it to the house from about sixty yards. Khalil Herbert had a screen pass that he then took to the house. So Justin fields numbers for the day three for three passing, one hundred and twenty nine yards and two touchdowns.

That is a perfect quarterback rating right there.

You ask anyway a banner, Ask anybody in fantasy football. They're mad that the sixty two and the fifty six yard scores did not come via his legs.

Yeah, no, that's true.

Dan.

Here's here's the question, you know, week one of the preseason, and we'll continue this chatter as we go forward. Gino Smith didn't take a snap. Did you ever think you'd see a day in your life all these other guys are taking snaps, running out couple of series sex. You know what, Gino, he's good.

Did not did not that they'd want to keep Geno Smith in bubble wrap, but a testament to Gino Smith. And then then what I also saw Mike was Drew Lock looked good. Now, I don't know how much Drew Lock really did on Thursday night against the Vikings. It was you know, it was it was whatever. There were a few nice throws here in that. But that's what you get in the preseason. It's the ultimate overreaction and and it's it's strong. I'm telling you like it is. Some of the some of the highlights have told you about this kid. You know, somebody breaks off a you know, forty yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, and all of a sudden, everybody was a draft expert four months ago and telling us about this guy or that they were in on this guy, which actually kind of makes me sick of the preseason a little bit, like, all right, let's let's get the real stuff going on. I love seeing the graphics, I love seeing the teams out on the field, but we are We're just one weekend basically, and I'm almost I'm almost done with the preseason.

I was laughing so Friday and Friday night, Smith's off, I've got Ernie Spanier in with me, and the end of the Washington Cleveland game incensed him.

I don't even know what happened.

I gotta be honest, let me tell you how this breaks down. Okay, so Washington's Cleveland scores and it's a two point game, missed the two point conversion and then they just kick it away. Three kneel downs and it's done, and he lost his mind. I'm like five percent chance of an onside kick recovery over the course of the NFL if you look at special teams injuries just in week one of the preseason, guys ripping quads, chess muscles, you name, like, why are we risking anything? And he's like, don't you want to win? I'm like, all right, you need to calm down.

If they make the two point conversion. They both may have just quit. Well, but that's final two minutes. You kneel down, I'll kneel down. Let's go, because there's no overtime in in preseason game. The other part of it, it might is anybody that is on the kickoff team at that point in the game very likely is not gonna make it. That is right. So you can't even get a rep. You can't even get a rep in to do.

It's not your kicker, even your kicker practicing, No the on side kick, like there's no value. That was the argument, and he tried to like did you bet them? Like, I know you're a but I guess Browns would. The Browns were minus three, so if they'd got the ball back, maybe they score the touchdown to actually win the game. But it was really one of the borey inane conversations. And it's part of it is he plays the perfect radio foil. I'm gonna die on this argument, but it was just one of those moments of its preseason football. None of these guys are playing past week three, so we'll get to that soon enough. We're here brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Progressive makes bundling easy and affordable. Get a multi policy discount by combining your motorcycle, RV, boat, ATV and more all your protection to one place. Bundle and save at Progressive dot Com. So we saw a lot of quarterbacks get some reps. What, if anything, do we try to take out of it. We'll talk about that next year on Fox.

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Welcome back in It's Fox Sports Radios. Fox Sports Sunday, Mike Harm Dan Byer with you here. You hear Dan during the week part of the Doug Gottlieb Show, as well as Cavino and Rich Here on Fox Sports Radio. I'm usually yelling and trying to talk about something that isn't the Jets alongside Jason Spence four hours a night, Hold on a second in the week, hold on a second year.

I'm gonna I'm going to reveal the curtain a little bit. Mike sent the rundown late last night and put together our stories and in the one line he said, stets and Bennett. I just wanted to talk about stets and Bennett.

You get him in.

You got he got Stets and Bennett in so we can talk about whatever it is. But we were going to make the deal to get Stetson Bennett in.

Well, it just really was the story of that game, right primetime game here in LA and and we've got a lot of people, you know, Ilo and Steve de Sager and my producer justin probably we got a lot of people that help with the broadcasts as you flow, and you know, so I'm paying attention a little bit because i know it's just going to come up in conversation. My executive producer for the show with Smith, Like he even heads up the radio spot. So it's like, all right, what did you see when you get so try to pay a little bit of attention. But Stetson Bennett became the guy on social medium like, and he was good, took some hits, made a couple of big throws, played a lot whatever. But it's like, again owing back to it's week one of the preseason and when we're talking down distance, game circumstance, who he's throwing against again, all professionals, And at no point do I ever want it to make it sound like I'm denigrating a guy who's gone through college football and his path to the NFL however long short it is. But you're talking third stringers. You're talking guys that are most likely going to be the last you know, this may be the last stuff they put on tape before they get into whatever the next career is but its stetson. Bennett becomes like, I think the poster child for this weekend's games of the preseason and how much we try to take away from them. For some guys, you want to get a little bit of rusted off, right, Jordan Love, all right, you're you're now the guy. Go do some things. A couple of awful throws and then a nice lob to Dobbs for the for the touchdown. Right, there was a third down pass. It was about fifteen feet too high and about twenty yards to the leading the wide receivers like, wow, that was awful on a thurn down. And then they go and score the next possession. Okay, pass completed, Clap the hands move on the justin field stat line that we read a little bit earlier, right, like, okay, good Bears fans, all right, he got a little bit off. Russell Wilson plays multiple series and it doesn't look right at all, and then he finds Jerry Judy gets the touchdown and finally comes out. So we're seeing that reversal. We talked about it a little bit last week of starters, in most cases at least kicking the can for a series before seeding to the second teams. A little bit of throwback that way. Guys used to play a lot longer, but we were at the point the last two or three years where guys were just in sweatpants hanging out on the sideline. So at least a change there. But trying to take any grandiose meaning from this, I mean we got Bryce Young, played a bit, CJ. Stroud, everybody dissected his brief time. I mean, ad nauseum. You want to talk about a guy who's now behind the eight ball off of a short stint playing for Houston. The other day, man the poison pens were out in rapid fire succession for him.

Well, it's also the first game of the week. It gets you going, and it's really the kickoff of the preseason. There's something with the Rams, though, that I do want to bring up because I think it's worth. I think it's worth at least a little bit of a conversation. So tomorrow for the Doug Gottlieb Show on Fox Sports Radio, we're gonna be live from Chargers training camp. About a week ago, we were at Rams camp and there was there was a different vibe with Rams camp It wasn't a negative vibe. It's just different. There were there were other years that you went there, and there's there's like real expectations. And the message that I feel that was coming from rams Camp and I saw it on social media last night, is about how many young guys there are, you know, with thirty five to forty rookies coming in and trying to make this roster. My question, Mike, and I'm trying to figure this out myself. Is this narrative a precursor to what the season is or are we talking about this narrative because it is in such stark comparison to what they were previously, meaning, you know, the go out, let's spend and you know, bleep them picks and all that whole thing. But now there's this because you're not necessarily one hundred percent sure on Matthew Stafford's health, there's a retooling on the offensive line if you can get everybody healthy. But there just seems to be this push of the young guys of look at there's thirty thirty to forty rookies that you could you know, new names you could see on this roster, and my whole, my whole thing about it is is it a pre cursor to like, all right, get it ready for a five and twelve season again, or is it trying to inject something new with the organization. And that's what That's what I can't necessarily tell. And Stetsan Bennett's probably the one that isn't included in all of this. But I'm just wondering on what the Rams because we don't expect a lot from them. But is this narrative that's being pushed one of trying to be this is a team that's on the upswing or is it just hey, get ready because it's going to be ugly this year too.

I would go to the latter part, but also to the idea of Sean McVeigh. How real or imagine was he almost out of the league and taking a year off or disappearing or whatever the case was, because I mean, look, we did it, and I certainly had as big a megaphone as I could saying what it gets hard and you leave, like I get, you got a lot of circumstance, and I don't downplay the stress of you know, the job and the grind of coaching, et cetera. But you win a super Bowl. You've got your the Wonder Kids, you know, the Charmed Life, all of this super genius, and then you have one rough year where a bunch of guys get to get hurt and the heavy investments that you made on veteran players didn't pay off because most of them couldn't stay on the field. Yeah, right, so you know you almost walked away. So I think part of it is also all right, we've got to go a different path, maybe from from ownership of we paid most of our money to what eight to ten guys yep, and then tried to sprinkle it in, which can work. But that's also everything has to go right. Like I always talk about it, talking about so the Cubs and their World Series run. You can never take that away. But remember how that team was build was like, all right, now they have their core, their nucleus for years, here's you know, Anthony Rizzo and here's Chris Bryant and all these guys. Well, it fractured pretty fast, right, They didn't stay healthy, they got free agent contract. Go back to the eighty five Bears. You're obviously Chicago centric with my mind, you know, of the home but like one of the most dominating teams in football history, and then it was gone, just like that. Wilbrim Marshall leaves for Washington. Buddy Ryan and Mike Ditka hate each other and probably would still street fight these days. It's good, you know all of those things that you know, it just fractures really quickly. And for the Rams, you had everything come together properly. Hell, even Odell Beckham Junior getting hurt didn't matter, which was good talking about you know his I would have gotten two fifty in that game if I hadn't gotten hurt. You've got guys from the Bengals chirping bags like I still got my ring. So I mean it's good fodder, right, I enjoy it. But the next iteration and this were stets In Bennett actually has some football value for what he showed and the length that because ripping was no good. Right saw that pretty fast. We kind of know what Brett Rippon is. Yes, So for Stetson Bennett, for all the age jokes and whatever else, the guy's played against the best competition that you could possibly throw at him for multiple years. If Matthew new Stafford isn't right, this was also the audition of all right, are we going to be ready with him. But I think to your point, it's going to be a rough year, But the bigger thing is we're gonna have to do this a different way.

Yeah, I also think of just how they're handling how they would handle that backup quarterback spot also maybe tells you that if it's not Matthew Stafford, they obviously have no chance. And the only reason I bring that up off of what you said is because of what happened with McVeigh prior to Matthew Stafford, when you had Jared Goff and John Wolford, and then all of a sudden, the playoffs come around and Wolford's going to be the starter and he's replaced Jared Goff, and so there was value there, meaning I mean, for as great as Stetson Bennett was at Georgia and leading them to back to back Nash titles, if if he's if Matthew Stafford's hurt, they're not They're not going to go anywhere. And even if Matthew Stafford's healthy, I think that there's a question. You know, there's no more Jalen Ramsey.

There's not a lot of depth. Cooper cups already a little bit nicked up in the preseason, should be okay, But look at the rest of the receiving corps. Not a murderers row cam akers. What is he?

Yeah?

Is he the guy that nobody wanted on the field and was going to walk away? Or is the guy that suddenly became the bell cow for a month period dourn to stretch. We don't know, like once the game and the season was already gone at that point. Yeah, right to when he has his big numbers. So how much do we call it, you know, on a season basis what we do on a normal football Sunday of hey, fourth quarter garbage time. Yeah, take nothing away from his effort. The numbers are the numbers. But are you getting that again? Is that the guy that's bought in or they made, you know, play nice sandbox and move forward? Defensively, you're a year older in the secondary. You mentioned Ramsey's gone. He's not playing where he's at either, but he's gone. That takes a lot of that veteran leadership away. You got your Seahawks and you got the forty nine ers that no matter who's a quarterback, they always seem to be formidable. Sure, so and the Arizona I think we can all agree. Unless some miracle happens, they're going to be terrible. But the Rams are looking at a third place finish in the division.

You're gonna get a lot from Week one because the Rams are in Seattle to face the Seahawks, and no matter what, the Rams have just had the Seahawks number. Even even in games that the Seahawks have won, mic it hadn't it hasn't been easy, like you know, especially over the last you know, three years or so. There was a Thursday night game a few years back when the Rams are still wearing the white horns and Jared Goff was still trying to figure stuff out, and the Seahawks brought out there, you know, the the green uniforms and it was just, you know, they dominated. But other than maybe that performance, it's always been a difficult game for Seattle. If Seattle is you know, wins that game with ease, it may tell you something about the Rams in Week one and where this team really is because they just have they've kind of had the Seahawks number and have been able to match up with them. And even when the Seahawks were a better team and the Rams obviously with better team the last you know, a couple of years prior to last year. But yeah, that Week one matchup will tell you a lot. I just I found the sets and Bennett' stuff. I think it gets a lot of hype too, because oh, here's college quarterback name. Now we're gonna see him in the NFL this weekend. But you're hearing a lot of the thirty five to forty rookies on this team. This you're going to see a lot of. And I just kept on hearing that. I saw a tweet about that, like somebody tweeted thought it could have been a hashtag ad after it because of this message that's being pushed. And I'm like, why is this message being pushed? Is it because hey we're on the upswing, or hey this is going to break you for a for a hard fall if you think that there could be something special coming up this season.

Yeah, I think we need to go back and do a deep as to what those contracts all look at like at the end of this year, how many do they get off the books so they can do a complete reload or overhaul. And maybe that's part of the reason mcveigh's back because you do, get to build it back up from scratch. Could be fraunch yeah, right as you go. Hey, our second grand prize winner we drawing today to win a set of four brand new tires in the Summer of tire Rack Sweepstakes. The winner will receive a set of four tires plus installation taxes and fees valued up to fifteen hundred dollars. Entered now at Foxsports Radio dot com. It's free to register. You also get bonus entries into the sweepstakes by following Fox Sports Radio on social media and by following the Fox Sports Radio channel in the iHeartRadio app. So To enter and to get rules, visit foxsports Radio dot com. Sponsored by tirerac dot Com. The Way tire buying should be coming up next, the absence of a walking boot getting tongues wagging and people excited. We'll tell you what that's gonna mean. But first we've got to go to our guy, Isaac Lowengron to find out what's trending.

Good morning, fellas in what's trending the NFL preseason? Because on Saturday night, the Baltimore Ravens made it an NFL record twenty fourth consecutive preseason win. They held off the Philadelphia Eagles twenty to nineteen that included a sixty yard field goal by Justin Tucker, who then said see in September anyway. The Los Angeles Chargers defeated the Los Angeles Rams thirty four to seventeen. The Chargers ran for two hundred and fourteen yards as a team. Rams rookie quarterback and according to Twitter, future Hall of Famer Stetson Bennett completed seventeen twenty nine, one sixty one and a touchdown, and it's time to play a quick Stetson Bennett trivia. Stetson Bennett is one hundred and thirty three days older than Justin Herbert. There is your future Hall of Famer Stetson Bennett trivia. In Major League Baseball, on Saturday night, the Baltimore Orioles won at Seattle and ten innings won to nothing on an RBI single by Ryan mount Castle in the top of the tenth, breaking the Mariners eight game winning streak. The Los Angeles Dodgers over the Colorado Rockies four to one, as the Dodgers broke a seven excuse me, the Dodgers made it seven wins in a row. And eleven of their last twelve. The Diamondbacks broke a nine game losing streak. They defeated the Padres three to nothing. San Diego has won five, has lost rather five of six, and the Atlanta Braves winning over the Mets six to nothing to sweep a doubleheader, Spencer Strider winning the second game for his thirteenth victory of the season. Atlanta had won the first game twenty one to three, Nationals over Oakland three to two. K Bear Ruiz the game winning home run on the first pitch of the bottom of the ninth inning. Also Saturday Night, Dwayne Wade, Dirk Noovisky, Tony Parker, Pau Gasol, Becky Hammond, and Greg Popovich among those inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame Class of twenty twenty three.

Can I finish my statement?

No, your speech already went twenty six minutes. Get out of here, back to you guys. Did it go six twenty six minutes, which is more time combined than his career interviews with sideline reporters.

I heard the duh line. I don't know if when did that happen? Like? How soon in the internew did you know? Yeah?

It was it was relatively soon, and so he went over and he you know, embraced it was it was Parker, Jenobili, Duncan and David Robinson, and they thought that that was the end of his speech. So a madrasad came to get him off the stations.

He started to play.

Yes, yes, it was like the Academy Awards where they played people off the stage.

I dig that a madrashod still part of the festivities. Thinking back to him and Willow Bay on a Saturday morning.

Sheer will we grew up. We grew up that way, sheer Wheel. Indeed. Yes.

Now you also mentioned ilo the age difference between Stetson Bennett and Justin Herbert. I just want to say it's really good that Herbert got his contract because now he's equal to career earnings on Twitter.

At damn, the dogs are going to be barking at Mike Carmen get him at.

Some I'll take it all as we roll on. There's there's an exciting story in golf. And no it's not the soccer golf tournament we were watching earlier as we came into the studios. Something that's got tongues wagon. I want to get Dan's feel and his temperature on it, and we'll do that next here on Fox.

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Welcome back into the tirerac dot Com, Fox Sports Radio Studios, Fox Sports Sunday Mike Carmen alongside Dan Byer having a blast. We're just getting warmed up here on this beautiful Sunday morning. So much on the the books today in terms of sporting activity, Dan, But a story that that circled up that I thought I would I would ask you about, you know, as the the golf officionado here, you've got your what you got a titleist hat on titles and the US Open pullover. So I was using my US Open, uh little little chair that I bought all these soccer tournaments. You want to talk about a conversation starter, just like we talked about last week, Dan Bar everybody has to ask really get to go. It's like, yeah, I went, you know, yeah, parents from other teams might be fighting like cats and dogs on the pitch, Dan, but the US Open chair brings everybody together.

Yes, it brings up conversation, it's it's great. It's also the tricky thing of when you're wearing an event on your shirt that you didn't go to because or sitting in a chair to be like, oh, did you go in there and you're like no, and it's such a disappointment. So I've tried to veer away from, you know, stuff like that because it is such a letdown, especially for the person that asked. Then you feel like you're letting them.

Well, but like the concert shirts or whatever, Oh did you get to go? It's like, no, it's not. His sign was cool?

Yeah, yeah.

Or my my friend went and bought me this shirt.

I know, that's that's a different one. I got my buddy went or got you like, that's that's.

There's at least you know, I'm a middleman. But no, yeah, I bought it because I like the loco, yes exactly. Or it was in the backyard and whatever.

You're an Oilers fan, Uh No, I just liked the oil Derek logo. That's what I get when I you know, like when you are the throwback.

I just like that you say oiled Derek. Yes, it's I mean, it's what it is. But in today's day and age, you PLoP a fifty dollars bill in for someone and say, what is that oil? Derek probably ain't coming to their mind real fast.

Uh.

According to the wonderful world of the twitter verse, someone was quoted as saying that Tiger Woods was out and about and a junior golf tournament last week at Old Palm uh in Florida and had no walking boot on all of a sudden, you know, the eyebrows raised, people get excited, and so you know, this has gone through playing through the the blog, and it's made its ways through uh, the the social media world, and we'll take it at face value here because it's just a great talking point, is Tiger Woods. We keep waiting for the the next iteration, And you and I have been doing this for a long time together, and you know, folks get I think we're just at the we'll take any glimpse we can get of Tiger will ye period in this. You know, in this week we obviously had the Phil Mickelson Billy Walter's story that took up a lot of oxygen. Roy McElroy and Jordan Speith kind of commenting on all of those things.

And Phil Micholson, by the way, denied something that he wasn't being accused of. He wanted to bet on the Ryder Cup, which was the accusation. Phil statement of denial says, I never bet on the Ryder Cup. He never denied that he wanted to.

And I don't think anybody that that's a rational human being that's watched Phil Michelson for the last twenty five years would believe that he didn't want to correct right, because we'd heard a lot of things. And Smith and I got into a big long discussion about betting habits and whatever and really put that but Rory taking his shot, well, he won't have to worry about betting on himself this time around. Whatever. But he comes in because golf was in the news a bunch this week based on that, And so for Tiger Woods, whenever the name comes up, you get to bring up the history, you get to bring up some of those great shots and great rounds Dan and for the game, it injects a little bit of juice, not only within the golf community, but certainly in the sports world at large, because we could start running more top tens, we could start running more top fives. We can talk about all the history and the records, and even if there's an appearance at a course, it's a big deal.

We're eight months away from the Masters in twenty twenty four, a lot sooner than people would think, but eight months away, and when you think of that event, that's the part where if you're looking at a Tiger comeback, you look towards maybe he would play at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera, maybe there would be a tournament that he would play prior. But when we last saw Tiger again, it's him limping around Augusta National when weather wasn't great that week. And then you go to the year before, Mike in twenty twenty two, when he wanted to play the Masters, played in the PGA Championship but had to withdraw, and then he was like, I'm going to play the Open Championship at St. Andrews. Missed the US Open, but that was the big deals to play at the one hundred and fiftieth Open Championship and what ends up happening, Mike. The reason I'm bringing this timeline up is because the more you watched him, you're like, man, he's a lot further away. From that twenty nineteen Masters win than I thought, But how many of us truly really thought the Tiger would win the twenty nineteen when he did, And I think if we were being honest with ourselves, we didn't think that he would be able to do that again. But he did it. So now that's what this does because the last really you know, five major tournaments, four or five major tournaments that we've seen of Tiger, he's been limping around, he's been hurting, the conditions haven't been ideal. Withdrew from the Masters because of the bad weather this past year, where Sunday was going to be quite the you know, quite the trek for him and ended up withdrawing and not playing there on the final day, but made the cut, and now are saying, well, now because following the surgery, now he can maybe do that again. Now he can maybe get Major number sixteen. And I think it's because we truly never thought that he would actually win again, and when he did in twenty nineteen, it makes us think that he can do the impossible again. And that's why I think there's so much hype of Tiger's not seen in a walking boot. Well, guess what he got the issue fixed that had been hampering him for the last you know, twelve to eighteen months, and I it's that's why people get excited. I don't think it's realistic that he's gonna win a major again, I really really don't. But the I didn't think you would win the twenty nineteen Masters, and I think that's what a lot of people are holding out of Tiger doing the unthinkable and surprising us all again.

Well, we like to cite it as often as we can. Hope is can be the best of things. Hope is a dangerous thing at times. But the old you're saying, there's a chance, and if he's on the course, there's a chance, yes, And if it brings casual folks back in, even for one tournament, one round, one weekend, you get to think of all those great times you had watching him when he was at his best and keeping Phil and his pocketbook lean betting on himself.

That news maybe bigger than the Fedexicup playoffs that have started this week. Crazy enough, crazy how that all works together.

He's Dan Byer on Mike Carmen here Fox Sports Sunday, Fox Sports Radio Live from the tirerac dot com studios. Come next the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame. Let's talk about it next, dun Fox Greetings and welcome in hour two of the program, a beautiful Fox Sports Sunday Live from the tyrack dot com studios. Tyrack dot com will help you get there an unmatched selection, fast free shipping, free road hazard protection, and over ten thousand recommended installers tyreck dot com. The way tire buying should be Mike Harmon alongside Dan Byer with you here at dan Byer on Fox on X, find me over at Swollen Dome, at Buyer, Grahams at Buyer, talk at Harmon, rants for me on TikTok. A lot of Top five's coming up. We've been doing a lot of just random ranting during the week about movies and TV whatever. Might as well bring that to the masses and get them mount me too.

Why not get everybody mad at you?

That's okay, you know that's what we try to do. You're mad at them, Well, that's Jit's it's a battle. I mean, look, my rundown still says Saturday again. So you know all of those things that flow together.

This is a true and I know the listener doesn't necessarily know. But Shay, you can end this tradition. I would think, since well, since I've been here in March, it has always said Fox Sports Saturday at the top of this rundown, So you have the power. It has always said that. It is always said Fox Sports Saturday, so you have the power to make the change.

So every week when we begin the show at six am, I've started the tradition of crossing out Saturday as I do the instroduction and writing Sunday atop my rundown. There's your behind the curtains. But hey, the information, the.

Date underneath it is correct. It says Sunday August thirteenth, and last week I'm sure it said Sunday August sixth, but above it said Fox Sports Saturday.

It's funny how it all works together and we just call out what we do and there it is coming up twenty five days from now. It's like a lit an advent calendar that we can get started.

Be great. That's actually a really good idea.

The twenty five days ahead of the opening night game. I mean, do you take little mini bottles of booze, like different confections.

This is what I would do is a cheese curd day I would take I would I would get a I would get a box. I would make thirty two doors. So each door you open is something of a team, okay, like maybe a coin or a piece of candy, maybe in the shape of a Dallas Cowboy star. But for each of the doors you would open would be something related to one of the thirty two NFL teams. The larger trading card.

I don't know you did it, well, I mean, we make it where it's a giant wall, just.

Play the enormous one. I'm just thinking the one you keep on the counter.

But okay, okay, you know I was. I was thinking large vision. Here there's thirty two trading cards and every day you get a legend. Actually, that's not a terrible idea. I think we now have to see if we how much is it going to cost us to manufacture that dan.

They they were in radio, but then they teamed up and they're the ones who started the NFL Advent calendar. It's not a bad way to get part of our Yeah. Well, I have been.

Getting a lot of ads. They evidently did one from Nakatomi Plaza, where you can have Hans Gruber falling every day and you move him down to zero. So you've got that going for you as well. We've got Chris Prophet tags in from Mark Shay, who we shouted out there it is it easy and our guy Isaac Low and crown on Updates pleased to be with you here on a beautiful Fox Sports Sunday morning. Yesterday. The Naysmith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame got to get it right because otherwise people get a little upset, you know, And if you go to their website, it's just whopaul dot com. They don't even go through the pageantry of giving you a full name. But we had a lot of inductions yesterday, a lot of long speeches. You heard Ilow refer to Greg Popovic's twenty six minutes, which is amazing. We'll get to him in a second. They do always do an autograph signing as a group that you could buy tickets to, and they have long established Hall of famers that do those as well. But saw some video clips coming out of people breaking down into tears getting to talk to Popovich and the other members of this class about what they meant to them in their careers and such it was really some touching stuff, right. So you have Dwayne Wade probably as you laid it out, would be atop the marquee. Name wise, you've got Popovich and Parker, Dirk Noavinski, my guy Gene Katie, who I used to see at Welsh Ryan Arena in Evanston as a student and thereafter always said, hey, he was always really nice as can be until the whistle blew and then he had that trademark scowl on his face and.

There I have heard similar similar stories about Gene Katie just being an awesome individually, just.

An awesome dude talking to you about his team, the players whatever. I remember when Glenn Robinson was there and whatever, what a big deal you know that was, and how much he loved talking about that team, Kwanso Martin and all those guys together. And then you got Paul Gasol. There's other members, Becky Hammond and such. But for the purpose of this conversation, we'll talk about it from an NBA perspective, and why don't we hear from Popovich to get things rolling as we get into the Hall of Fame discussion.

I tried to think of a word that would describe what this might feel like, and it feels even it feels even different than I thought it would. But for me, it's unimaginable. And that's not an attempt to be humble.

This is unimaginable.

And for anybody that's gone through this and felt it, it's not you think about as you're growing up.

It's unimaginable. So Popovich goes on for twenty six minutes. You've got all of the luminaries from the titles, and you see David Robinson, Tim Duncan popped out of hiding, all of those things that we get, and we celebrate those squads, right, Becky Hammond for her role and what we talk about women and coaching and what the next iteration and growth of the sport and evolving of the sport. But yeah, Popovich and Parker. Over here, we've got Dirk Noavitsky one ring with the Mavericks. But look, we had a song when Christaps Porzingis came into the league. You know, is he the you know Latvian Dirk was the hope and then he's had a bunch of injuries and bounced around. But every once in a while you see glimpses of what could have been. But Dirk gets presented by Jason Kidd. Paul Gasol goes in as well, he gets presented by Tony Kukoch, going back to my you know, nineties bulls in that process, and all of them have their their the web of how the NBA has progressed these last twenty five years. Popovic obviously still coaching, still active, But we look at the impact for the global and globalization of the game. Like you can make your argument for a number of these players and participants like Popovich that and coaches and contributors that how much they've changed the game. Like I love Dwayne Wade, great player, but is he a transcendent guy in that same way. No, We've got three pillars over here that I think are just a bit different.

Well, I think Dwayne Wade on the surface, people would look at that and be like, that's your marquee Hall of Famer. But when you dive deeper into this class, and honestly, we don't dive deep into Hall of Fame classes that go into the Basketball Hall of Fame class that unless you have, you know, a class like this where it's just star after star after star. But I think that Dwayne Wade's name brand would be probably on the outside marquis. But you want to talk about what the night really felt about. It did seem like it was a celebration of the San Antonio Spurs, but I would argue that of everybody there and that so the Spurs and Tony Parker and Greg Popovich and what they've done, that the person with the biggest impact is Dirk Novitzky. And to see what he meant to the NBA, how it changed, how teams were trying to draft players, the way that Europe opened up to the NBA and the NBA trying to find the next Dirk. We've talked about so many times. I would say that his presence and what he meant is probably had the most impact on the game. And then it's not just the one title to summ his career standing in Hall of Fame standing, you know, there's there's also the fact of like they're you know, late Kobe Bryant. How many guys do you think Kobe Bryant came into the league that Kobe Bryant like truly respected and like you know, looked after and said, I you know, I'm good with that. I think Dirk was one of those guys. Heck, he tried to copy Dirk shot, you know, like there's.

And recruit him in all of those things. Right, those stories are legendary, there's yeah, there's you know.

So when you look at this class, it's such a star studded name brand class. But I think that this is not meant to disrespect Dwayne Wade at all. I think that when we look at today's NBA, Dwayne Wade's name probably pops more than more than everyone else's. But it was a celebration I felt to the Spurs. But in reality, like the biggest, the biggest impact in basketball maybe of any of the buddy on that dais last night or at the podium, was Dirk Noovitsky.

So you have Dwayne Wade, right, You've got him with Shack, You've got him with Lebron James, clearly married to Gabrielle Union, they do commercials, he's got a game show, very present as it were. Dirknovisky he opened a restaurant at the airport and then went to the Hall of Fame stuff. So that was great. To your point about the International I was leaning towards Paul Gasol because he's a guy that I think from the larger scale doesn't have the same name and name recognition and juice. But without him, Kobe Bryant doesn't get his other two titles.

But is that Hall of Fame worthy?

Well, I mean you look at his career and the way the Basketball Hall of Fame works, you start adding international play and everything else, there's a lot of names that go in. Yes, right, yes, that kind of thing. So for me, it's it's him, but it's also what it does for the legacy of Kobe Bryant. To add on to the international stuff is undisputed.

Right.

You had players that had made their way over, but they were outliers in terms of scouting recruiting. You had one or two organizations that did that. And then you look at even the Spurs, Tony Parker coming from France and a lot of a lot of those players. And now somehow they get Victor wemb min Yama who grew up a Spurs fan because of Tony Parker. But you know, the ball, the balls bounce and tanking happens as as it does, no penalties for them. But the idea is that you know, you you have the the international like because That's what the Spurs did. They took a lot of shots on guys that never came over.

Right.

They would always draft guys like maybe in two to three years they develop and they want to come to the States. Maybe they don't, but they're lottery picks. And I mean that from the maybe they they get it to, you know, give us some rich maybe they don't in second round pick. So not a lot of big investment because they probably weren't gonna make the rotation that year anyway, and then they never came. But there were very few teams back in the day that really spent any money on international scouting, and Dirk changed that, which why now having Kukoach as part of the ceremonies is a big deal because he was also this guy in Chicago. I never thought he was gonna come correct, correct, right, I mean, so you know, you change the game there. I'm just looking at it from the you know, the the other side of from Gasol. He doesn't have that same marquee level, but his impact certainly here in Los Angeles. You know, you don't look at basketball the same and Kobe Bryant's legacy and what he means on the pantheon when we talk about him and Duncan as that next tier of guys with three titles that doesn't get there.

Yeah, I think, you know, I think with Pow it is that it is the whole picture. It's what's happened internationally, you know, in looking at the class that went in. Tony Parker was a guy honestly that I couldn't stand, could not stand Tony Parker. And then in two thousand and seven they beat the Cavaliers in the finals, swept them, and that's when he was Finals MVP. He really got like an appreciation of what he was because you remember, like that the Spurs team that won their first title that was in Avery Johnson, Sean Elliott, David Robinson and Tim Duncan, and so then he, you know, like Duncan stays, but there are pieces that then Bruce Bowen ends up being, you know, part of that run, and their new Manu obviously comes along, but Parker was you know, I think it was I just I don't think it was because he was French Mike, but there was just something about Tony Parker. I'm like, gosh, you know, this guy lands into this spot, you know, getting to play with Tim Duncan, but then you really got to see him later on one of the guys that I couldn't stand, but then later on in his career just really really appreciated as a player for what he did. I was even I was kind of like that with Russell Westbrook as well. But Tony Parker, I think there are some people who be like, as Tony Parker really a Hall of Famer, you know, like like I think that would be the you know, one of one of the questions you also have to realize on who is actually in the Hall of Fame, and then if you saw it, you'd be like, oh, yeah, obviously he's a Hall of Famer. But lest I felt like a celebration of the Spurs, and I do feel that Tony Parker's Hall of Fame worthy.

Yeah, it is always interesting we get into these debates of Hall of Fames and it's not me trying to justify say, Harold Baynes being in the Baseball Hall of Fame. But in the end, it is a museum celebrating periods of time and players that contributed to it. Yeah, and you don't tell the tale of that second part of the Spurs run without Tony Parker.

Correct, yep, right right, and.

He's still there for all of it. And Manu gets in at the International I get it. And you know, we look at the number of guys go in, you know, pro football Hall of Fame, get contentious, Baseball Hall of Fame, be pick and choose, deciding on who you like and what's more important versus others at other points. And I'm not going down the McGuire and Bonds and Clemens road here, but it's just worthy to note that in the end, you're celebrating the game and you can go in and see artifacts of all these guys, but they don't get in. Billy always kind of an interesting thing. It's like, hey, we can't tell this tale without a baseball from this guy, a bat from this guy. But you know what, you can't come in. I remember going to the Hall of Fame. They were like seven pictures of Pete Rose a jersey or whatever else. It never walking in unless he's a paying customer. He's Dan Byer. I'm by Carbon here. Fox Sports Radios. Fox Sports Sunday brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Progressive makes buggling easy and affordable. You can get a multi policy discount by combining your motorcycle, RV, boat, ATV and more all your protection of one place bundling saveant Progressive dot Com coming up next. A lot has changed in the college football college sports atmosphere over the last couple of weeks, and we've been trying to watch it and it's you might as well have it like it's an election map, trying to read the tea leaves. But you know what, there was a ruling that came down yesterday and a note about something we expected that shows you the songs can still remain the same. We'll talk about it next year on Fox Welcome back in Fox Sports Radio. It's Fox Sports Sunday by Carmen dan Byer with you here. You can take us with you as you're out and about on a Sunday morning. The iHeartRadio app all across our the land, some four hundred plus affiliates thanks to the pds, thanks to everybody listening. Being part of the extended family. You always ask that if you can, you know that you got still a lot of gifts, maybe back to school gift. Here's the iHeartRadio app and a nod to Fox Sports Radio along the way. It's free. That's key. Download is free for all the streaming content that we offer the Fox Sports Radio dot Com as well. We appreciate you being part of our extended and ever growing family here at Fox Sports Radio as we come to you from the tirerac dot Com studios. Now, a lot has changed in our college world, a lot of football back and forth, a lot of big verbal swings. And I know earlier Jeff and Andy doing a little bit of the blame game and kind of talking about you know, where do you source it between the PAC twelve and ACC And we'll get into the ACC and we don't want your leftovers kind of thing coming up a little bit later. But one thing has remained the same is that the NCAA, for their part of all of it, they can't get anything right and come to an easy resolution seemingly on anything. And I've joked about it the last couple of weeks. The fact that we're in negotiations with Jim Harbaugh at Michigan over the burgers and improper benefits and whatever else about when and how a suspension will be served. She shows you how useless this year organization is at this point. Right, It used to be all right. Long investigation, too long, too many people, too many dollars. We saw it right. Reggie Bush had was already finishing his NFL career before they did anything with what happened at USC and so many investigations. We saw the Tennessee deal. Here's eight million dollars. We'll take away some wins. Nobody cares because they're done. You don't have to give back any of the money or anything that flowed out of that. Oh and the scholarship productions because you worked with us a little bit. Tell you what time served, and then you've got two scholarships of each of the next couple of years that you lose. Everybody good, Yeah, man, is there any teeth to that? No, you had two hundred fractions and that was your penalty. And now Jim Harbaugh negotiating for a four game suspension, and the NCAA Committee on Infractions decided, you know what, we don't like this. This is done. Becomes a all right kick that can down the road and get ready for the season. Opener.

I e.

You may never be suspended at all by time the winds blow.

Well, I'm not I'm not sure if that's the case. I would say that if the uh it was a four game ban, that was expected for Jim Harbaugh, and that's and and I'm gonna say that's it. I know that's not totally it, but it basically is because he would have been allowed to be around the team throughout the week and would have been able to be there at practice. He just wouldn't be there on game days. And you're like, well, that could be an issue. The games that he would miss were against East Carolina, UNLV, Bowling Green, and Rutgers exactly, like, so those are the those are the matchups. You know if if it.

Is a conference game, though, Dan, that is big showdown against Rutgers.

That is true for a team that really could win a national championship this year. If if all goes right, for them to have him miss the first six games of the season wouldn't even be that big of a deal. It's not the problem of just how massive this is if that's if we're talking about a deal between a four and six game or if it's even more than say six games. Because what's being reported is Harbaud did not cooperate with the investigation, and so there's expectations are are through the roof national championship is not out of the question, especially for a team that you know made it to the to the College Football Playoff last year, had that crazy game against TCU, losing in the in the semi finals, but you know play Krum should be back healthy. A lot of a lot of optimism in ann Arbor. And you just wonder, Mike on how how severe that the penalty the NCAA would like to hand down, because I think that if it was the four games, Michigan would run and take that ticket to to the office and cashing in immediately, especially considering he'd be able to be with the team the six other days of the week of that with a case.

I wonder how much of this is the Harbaugh obstinates that comes into it, right that maybe he's still not he's reticent to accept that he wouldn't play games miss that he would have to miss those games. I should say that they play, but the committee and fractions like, is there more to it, because as you just laid it out and what we've seen transpire, the fact that he didn't cooperate not shocking, but are you trying to make an example of him? Is there something else? Another shoe to drop because they're talking about this could go to a full hearing. Michigan, I guess, still has the potential to try to raise up and say, hey, well we'll find him, suspend him, have our own self imposed stuff, much like Tennessee. Right, hey, we agree to this, so scholarships or whatever over so many years, et cetera. It's just funny that we're actually negotiating a suspension as opposed to all right, you can go through the appeals process, you can fight. Here's where we're at, four games, eight games a year or whatever. Band like, no, no, let's let's talk about this. Let's let's talk it out and see in this day and age of college athletics, how severe your punishment really should be.

You know, if I'm Michigan, I just would I honestly just would want him on the sidelines starting November first. Like that's like, that's the stretch around they should be able to navigate. I know that there could be surprising games here, but you got to back into the schedule. Your final three regular season games are Penn State, Maryland, and Ohio State. Like that's what that's what you want to make sure that your Hay has made There's there's no Wisconsin on the schedule, there's no Illinois on the schedule. There's so I mean, if if that's the case, Mike, I'm Michigan, I'm saying five. And I know there could be pay involved as well, So not naive to to think. But in the grand scheme of things of what's at stake for Michigan this year, for the school to get this out of the way, if you were to miss six or eight games, not a big deal. The reason that just has me scratching my head are two things. Number One, I don't think that Harbaugh leaves after this season. I actually now believe that his days of coaching in the NFL or are older. I would agree, Yeah, I don't think that that is going to happen. We know that he interviewed for the Vikings job a few years ago. I think that we felt that the Colts and Dolphins were likely the most likely opportunities for him to go and coach for Jim Mersey, a place where he played well. They just hired Shane Steichen, so wasn't like Harbaugh could really go in indian go to Indianapolis right away. Miami seems to be in a decent place with Mike McDaniel. And we know the Stephen Ross connection and that Stephen Ross also wouldn't want to take Jim hart Ball away from Michigan. I just don't know. I don't know what options there would be in the NFL that would would want to bring him in again.

Yeah, I mean thinking about it from both sides. For Jim Harbaugh, what's better than what you have now? Right? Any NFL job is not necessarily a step up, right, especially the style and the type of guy is. If people are bristling over Eric b Enemy right now in Washington, is Harbaugh you know that much? You know, leaner, meaner, nicer, whatever in terms of how he dealt with NFL players, because he had the reputation not just battling with front offices but also around players that it would wear out after a short period of time. The other part was, you know, for me with all the Michigan because in our business we had a lot of people calling him for him to go. It's like, at some point you got to be realistic about who you are, right That title with Bo schem Beckler is a long time ago. Yes, And Lloyd Carr is a long time ago. Right, those are out liars in what has been pretty a really good run. Right. If I'm winning nine games a year, I mean what else? What else do you expect?

Right?

I mean you're in rarefied air if you're doing that on an annual basis with the occasional one off hiccup and stuff when thing doesn't work your way. Uh and and so you know this rise back and the expectations as you laid them out for this year, who are you finding that's better? Like anytime we want to do the fire, the coach get rid of this guy. He can't win X y Z. It's like, all right, that's fine. You don't like the end mbry, he doesn't win a playoff game whatever, Like, who are you going and finding the next whiz kid that's suddenly going to have that program and keep it to that level immediately? Right? I don't know that that guy is always there to be found. We do it in every sport when we try to run guys out of town, and then everybody gets mad when they recycle the same guys. Right, well, different space. So here was the statement. Michigan infractioned case is related to impermissible on and off campus recruiting during the COVID nineteen dead period, and impermissible coaching activities. Not a cheeseburger, said Derek Crawford, NCAA Vice president of Hearing Operations. It's not uncommon for the COI to see clarification on key facts prior to accepting now the COVID nineteen dead period. At this point, I mean, I don't know how much you'd try to go back and legislate. It's sad at this point.

Yeah, it's not about that. It's that Harball lied to them, and that's and that's what it's about, and that that's really of of and they don't feel that four games is sufficient. Six games likely would be enough. But that comes back to our point, Mike, of if you're Michigan and you could get this out of the way, when the the additional two games that you mentioned, and even I mean even if the sky falls in and you know, you drop one of those, you'd miss games at Nebraska and at Minnesota, those would be the games that he would we.

Got up to six. Yeah, it's funny. His attorney, Harbaugh's Tom Mahers, issued this statement pursue it to the NC Double a's internal operating procedures and under threat of penalties, Michigan, the involved coaches, and their lawyers are prohibited from uttering a word about this ongoing case. Yet the NC double A can issue a public statement putting its spin on the case. Yeah, the NC double A. They're trying to show that they still have clouts. Sure, I mean that's you know, that's the way they're still trying to spin this as best they can. I would agree with his point, like, if that's the rules of engagement legally, then then yes, everybody should be working behind the scenes to to do this. There's no need to go in and clarify or you know, try to even if you're making fun of the way it's been characterized as a cheeseburger case, there's no at this point if behind the scenes you're trying to work to a deal amicably.

Just curious to see on how severe they would want to get six games kind of seems to be for the for the Level one violation, and it does on the surface, it seems like a lot half of the regular season essentially, But when you look at you know what Michigan has at stake and who is on that schedule and the games that you wouldn't want to miss. But again, he's gonna be He would be there throughout the week anyway. So it's just the game day situation. I'm not trying to I'm not trying to downplay that, but it's not like his presence would be absent.

Fright that he kicked out for a month? Yeah, exactly, so curiosity and obviously will follow the illegal wranglings of this much to the national title implications and obviously the ever expanding Big Ten.

Yeah, and I would say that this suspensionly comes down is this is making it, I think a bigger deal than maybe of what it even is, not like just to now that it just continues to go on and now it starts to.

He just gets hyped at this point, right, And look, you want college football to be talked about, you don't want college football to be talked about for this, right, the two stories that we have about college athletics, specifically college football are not ones that really get people excited, correct, Right, traditionalists are still trying to wring their hands and wrap their arms around hey, we're going to be part of a different conference or where the teams nobody wants at a conference or Florida State. We're trying to get out of a deal that's in place till twenty thirty six, and we don't want you you and you while we have to be here and then you've got this and the other side. And Harbaugh's name cuts through a lot of things because we bring those NFL people back in and those considerations of what he's been. So yeah, it's fun times. But if you kick it to a full hearing whatever, like when does that go? Does that go after the season? Is that all of a sudden November fifteenth? Not Ah, You've got to appear like there's there's so much the timeline that it looks like the NCAA is trying to play puppet strings with this a little bit to create more angle, trying to push.

The only thing I would say to that is it sounds like Carbot tried to do his own puppet strings that got him into this situation.

Sure, so turn about as fair play, as they say at dan Byron Fox find me over at Swollen Dome. Now it's time to turn the attention over to Isaac Lohenkron, who's got an update on the Slippery Steps competition. How did you know that I was going to lead with that because I've known you a long time.

I mean you remember, you know Fourth of July was all about the Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest, much to my own disappointment. I will start with the NFL preseason, but I think we're gonna find some interesting items that will draw people's interests. We start with the Baltimore Ravens Saturday Night, holding off the Eagles twenty to nineteen for their NFL record twenty fourth consecutive preseason victory. The Los Angeles Chargers over the Los Angeles Rams thirty four to seventeen. Chargers ran for two hundred and fourteen yards as a team. Rams rookie quarterback and according to Twitter, future Nobel Prize winner Stetson Bennett completed seventeen of twenty nine for one sixty one and a touchdown. Earlier, the Jets wanted Carolina twenty seven to nothing. Of course, there was the big recent controversy fellas when new Broncos head coach Sean Payton ripped former Broncos head coach and new Jets offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hacken. Now, the reason I'm bringing this up. This past Tuesday, NFL Media's James Palmer tweeted the following, what head coach Sean Payton wants to see during the Broncos first preseason game after starters are pulled, No interviews during the game, No uniforms off after you're done playing, no sunglasses, no Gilligan hats aka bucket hats.

Well.

During yesterday's Jets Panthers game, Jets receiver Garrett Wilson conducted a TV interview on the sideline during the game with his uniform off while wearing sunglasses, and you guessed it, wearing a bucket hat.

I wish you would have worn the little Gillian but it said Gilligan on it, right right, I mean, actually put it on there.

I'm just saying, is that a coincidence? It cannot be a coincidence.

No, it's a nice return to.

Who the Jets Broncos is going to be the rivalry in the AFC. I love it.

Sean Payton's got a lot, He's writing a lot of checks right now. By the way, Wilson's going to have to catch him.

I will.

I would like to credit the first individual to notice that, uh oh at raj Pac one is the some random guy on Twitter is the first person who noticed that and could legitimately add legitimate feel to the fire of the controversy. Insider, Yes, I guess. Finally, guys, we have a tennis update. Yesterday, in the semi finals of the Montreal Open, IgA Spiontec and Jessica Pegoula were in the middle of an intense rally during a second set tiebreaker when there was an untimely faux pas by the sound system. Listen closely, Cotton Eye Joe just came on this mid rodeo. And you know what, I'd like to credit whoever that announcer was, because he instantly identified it as cotton Eyed Joe when you had no idea that was coming.

Sharp move backew music. Where did it come from? Where did it go? Right? I think I think cotton Eye Joe.

That's brilliant. Jessica Bagoula the daughter of one of my old bosses over in the world. So there you go. Really, Terry Begoulah was a big studio exec and then over at Yo.

Really I didn't know.

There you go. He's Dan Byron, Mike Harmon here, Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports Sunday.

I didn't realize that was the background and no bills, you know, but.

Yeah, there you go. Uh or am I No, I'm thinking of Semmel. I just screwed that. I totally I conflated to two last names because there was some level of success. All right, scratch that kill that from the podcast. Yes, the Begoula's uh in Buffalo just uh you know, had a uh can I call it my no hair moment? It's not a blonde moment anymore because I don't have enough hair to claim that. Coming up next here Fox Sports Radio, Uh, who are the five Star cities? We'll try to answer that and make it all make sense. Next to you on Fox get those dancing shoes on early on a Sunday morning. Welcome back in Fox Sports Radios. Fox Sports Sunday, Mike Harmon, Danbyer live from the tire rack dot Com studio. I'm gonna start playing the Spoons here any second on the podcast. This will make no sense, but the throwback to the Cotton Eyed Joe and the tennis tournament just a random song to start playing in the middle of a tournament, by the way, but Dan Byron, maybe that could be your new walk up music as I hand you the stick microphone.

No, we've got some different music to play, Mike Carmen, And it sounds a little something like this. Let's get the Fox family together and play the feud. There it is, Sorry, Cotton Eye, Joe, Mike, Chris, Shae, Isaac all making up the Fox family. Where's Shay go? Where Shae? It hits the boys room for a second. There's there's the one segment we need them. He has disappeared. All right, we'll get We'll get to the state. That same thing about Clark Kent. By the way, we only got three minutes. All right, I guess it's gonna be you guys, top ten answers on the board, ready for this. Yeah, this is basically where the feud is originated. It's all based on this question. This is the originator. The ten metro areas or cities that have teams in all five major sports leagues NFL, Major League Baseball, NBA, NHL, and Mlso there are ten markets, we'll put it that way that have all five teams. I want to know what they are. Three strikes in a pass available, Mike Carmen, who we start with you?

Yeah, I'm just gonna take the Los Angeles Giant Metro and move on.

All right, chill me La. There they are on the list. Yeah, they got a bunch in a bunch of different leagues. They are one of the ten. Over to Chris Perfetts. Easy, I'm gonna just keep taking the big ones off here. Show me Chicago, okay, Hey, the hometown of one Mike Harmon, Show me Chicago. There it is two for two? Still no Shay or for two Isaac glowing.

Prom I'm gonna go with maybe one of the under the radar ones.

Philadelphia, Philadelphia? Are they under the radars? Show me the city of brotherly love?

All right?

One, three, four, five teams in Philadelphia? Three for three? We'd go to Shay. He's not here. Let's go around to Mike Harvin.

Hey, welcome back here in the tire at dot Com Fox Sports Radio Studios. How about Atlanta?

Atlanta? Great? Guess is it Atlanta? It is no hockey team? All right, I'll host the San Chritz this is my show, I bet all right, Yes, there's no hockey team, Mike, all right, Atlanta? First strike?

Over to Chris, Okay, are we counting all of the New England teams like Foxborough, et cetera.

That's market. Yes, yes, show me, yes, yeah, show me Boston. Why not, Chris, you want to do the show yourself. I mean, geez, you're taking my lines and everything. Shay, since you were gone. We are looking at the top the ten metro area's market cities that are home to five all five professional sports in the US. That's the NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball, NHL, and MLS. Off the board are Chicago, LA, and Philadelphia.

It has to be a US yes, okay, Houston.

Is it Houston? No? Sorry, no, NHL in Houston? Good guess? Two strikes. Over to Isaac Longcron.

Oh, great, pressures on me. Then Washington, DC.

Is it the district? Show me the district of Columbia. There it is Washington, d C. On the board. Over to Mike Carmon, looking for cities and our home to the five major sports.

Chicago, LA is part of death. Yeah yeah, okay, So I'll take Dallas.

Show me Dallas there it is big d as well one, two, three, four, five in Dallas. Over to Chris.

Okay, let me let me work on my vocabulary. I'm gonna go with Miami. Miami, show me Miami.

All right, there we go. We got six. Shay, you got another one a city that's home to all five major sports leagues. Oh man, I know, and we're running out of time.

Oh man, I'm just gonna throw a random one out there. Let's go. Did someone in say New York?

No, nobody, show me New York and we will conclude the feud next How about that, Mike Carmen.

That is a good call here for the tire Rack Studios. Greetings and welcome in our three of the program this morning, live from the tirerac dot com studios. Tire act dot com will help you get there an unmatched selection, fast free shipping, free road azerd protection and over ten thousand recommended installers. Tirerac dot com The Way tire buying should be coming up In just a couple of minutes, we'll get into the leak of Christmas Day games for the NBA. That's fine and good, but we've got NFL to talk about, and how do we translate that into our excitement and schedule watching and making things a marquee event. But we've got some unfinished business, Dan Byrn we do.

We have to finish the feud we have to finish the feud because this could be the last time Mike and I are together in the mornings for a little while. So I'm on vacation next week, so there's yes, I need something off and I am I Am, I am.

Fantasy Draft Part two.

No, that unfortunately up in last week, and I wasn't in a full draft mode either.

No, I know it takes a while to ramp up.

You hear the music. We're playing the feud here. It's the first time we've ever extended it into the next segment because we have the top ten answers on the board, and we got eight of them, and then we just ran out of time. There were three strikes. We didn't get the board cleared out, so there are two more answers, and we were looking for these top ten answers. And truly, when when we started doing the feud MIC, it was based off of the sports question. What were the cities in the United States that had the four then four major sports teams in them. We're adding the MLS to make it five. There are ten markets metropolitan area cities where they are home to all five of the major sports leagues. We've got eight of them so far Boston, Chicago, Dallas, LA, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, d C. We were about to go to Isaac glohingcron back against the wall. There is a pass available if you want. There are two strikes, Isaac, it is over to you.

I'm going to go Minneapolis slash Saint Paul because the hockey team's in Saint Paul. Minneapolis, Saint Paul.

Show me the Twin cities there, It is all right, number nine. Was there any any looking up of that Isaac Lohan crown in the last eight minutes when we were we were away or is this eight minutes or nine?

And no, I'm just kidding fortuitously for some reason, I actually am one of the there's actually a major league soccer team I know in Minneapolis.

Yeah, all right, Mike Carmen. It comes down to.

You can I can I do what we were just talking about the fantasy draft when the guy steals your pick and then you're left dumbfounded and you can't think of anything else, because I did the whole Minnesota Like, I'm like, all right, and they're here and there and so like I don't know, I know, and that would be strike three.

It's been a rocky road, but hopefully there's a little nugget there for you to maybe get this this bad boy. Any thoughts popping in your Denver? Denver? Oh? Man, that was an avalanche of a hint.

That was. That was beautiful, rapid, rapid answer, ically done. Yeah, I mean I really did. It fired off so quickly. I man, that was There was no bucket hat or standing around for me there.

It is. It's a it's an interesting list as well, especially when you're thinking of cities and you know a couple of the strikes, you're like, all right, I can't I forgot that that city didn't have that.

Yeah, Chris, I kept I kept thinking Bay Area. Then I realized it's that split because like the hot hockey team and MLS are down in San Jose. Yeah, and I don't know if that Yeah, that probably doesn't count unless you're counting the entire I didn't.

I did not count those two, but I mean I guess we could have as well.

I mean that that is a thirty mile Yes, they're intended.

Yeah, and I think their name is San Jose. They're not the baita it is. Yeah, it's the Quakes.

Yeah. Yeah, so if you if you use that, you can give yourself a half point. I got of dig that though.

I mean, that's the good exercise of where where you find your franchises and sustaining five sports as well.

Atlanta had the Thrashers at one point. I don't think this is where I went to a meetia.

Yeah, clearly paying a lot of attention to NHL movement. I do my college football.

But no, you know that they've got the soccer team that they love there, but I don't. They weren't together at the same time in that city. But it's just that it's a unique it's a unique list of cities, a lot more three teamers than you would think. But you know, Houston's got four, Chris nos Detroit's got four. It's just an interesting list for sure. Phoenix is four. They don't have a soccer they don't have an MLS team. So there you go.

There, there we went through a great exercise reminder pride of Detroit at Chris purfet uh soccer knowledge as well as all things for the really other than the Jets, the most type team in the NFL offseason, the Detroit Lions. People excited Jamison Williams obviously starting with a suspension, but a lot of talk about him the potential for the spectacular once he returns Jared Goff and company. So check him out at Chris Purfett, find Dan at Dan Byron, Fox, of course, Ilo at Isaac Loewen Kron, and me over at Swollendome if you want to curse at me for something I got wrong, or you know, just the the takes and opinions that are mine and not Fox Sports Radios or the management thereof Dan. Something you and I have talked about a lot during our years together is, you know, always trying to figure out that next jump off moment for the NFL schedule. We celebrate it when it gets released right that morning you're updating all your social media. We add another one because you know the opponents. But then it's just a matter of the sequencing prime time events and all of those how many did we get, Oh, they think we're gonna stink, so we only got one, and all of those kind of circumstances. But the NBA this week, you know, set everybody is at the world a blaze by the leak of the Christmas Day games. Sure always excited, and like people start getting very offended. Right we're in Los Angeles, so Clipper fans were pretty salty that they weren't included, Like, you can't guarantee me that your stars are playing, and obviously injuries are part of it and whatever. But the consideration is what we know and what we've seen of the squad. Do we think it's important for Paul George and Kawhi Leonard to get out of court Christmas Day?

No?

I don't think anybody just says, okay, we can count that no matter what the circumstances, they're going to try to battle to be on the court because the December game to them doesn't matter, it's the are you ready for April? So for the NFL, you know, primetime games are a big deal. Hard knocks and who ended up doing it was a big deal. But trying to find those equivalent to get folks excited outside of the opening day and Thanksgiving? Can you find similar?

No?

And the funny thing is is TV Networks too, Mike will argue over what games that they want in.

The conected game.

Yeah, the most you know, the it's not that all of them go to the prime time slot. On Sunday Night football. CBS and Fox want certain matchups for themselves as well, monster matchups throughout the season, and the NBA has the ability because everybody plays everybody, and everybody plays everybody twice at least during an NBA season, So you have some flexibility in making your Christmas Day schedule, and now with the end season tournament, you even have some flexibility in making that schedule out a certain way. So when you see the Christmas Day schedule that comes out, what you realize is is it is Mike. There is a reason that people get mad because it is a ranking of who is important in who is not, who is the bigger brands. And I would argue that you've got of the ten teams that you've put in this Christmas Day schedule, you may have eight of ten, you may have nine of ten, you may have ten of ten of the most popular teams in the NBA. And if you were to do that in the NFL, I think you would have an amazing schedule. And we know that the NFL has wanted to play games on Christmas Day, and in fact has done so in the past and has kind of taken over the day from the NBA because of the schedule the NFL puts together. But what the NFL doesn't have, Mike, is the ability to say, we're going to put our two most popular teams and have them play because it may not work out in the way that the schedule revolves. But I thought, why not try to figure out what an NFL Christmas Day schedule would look like without the restrictions. And I think the way that you do that is you have to look and figure out, all, right, who are the eight most pot popular teams right now in the National Football League. So I would think that the Chiefs would be one, right they Super Bowl in the one seed. Absolutely absolutely. I'd put the Buffalo Bills in there.

A lot of hype, a lot of expectation. Sure on the AFC.

Side, forty nine Ers in Eagles NFC Championship game. Yep, the Dallas Cowboys have to be in that conversation. And I'd also put the Cincinnati Bengals.

Like for Bengals where they're at right now, I take their division mate, the Steelers. They always travel well, you always watch Steeler games.

With the Steelers on there. For sure. I think you could put a team like honestly, the Lions. You just talked about. There's a lot of buzz about the Lions right now. So you're trying to figure out who are the top teams? Who do you want to watch Chargers? I'd want to watch the Chargers play. Heck, they got a lot of love and being flexed last year. I felt there was like a four week stretch where they were on Sunday Night Football.

Every single week saying meaningful games. And let's face it, there is and we at the risk of bringing up old, old kind of tropes of things like there are quarterbacks, there are players, there are teams that folks want to see see in primetime and see succeed Justin Herbert's a guy that you get a lot of coverage for what has been a mediocre team, like he's been fantastic, he got paid this offseason. But when you really break down the team, there's still a lot of finger pointing over at Brandon Staley, at least for the moment. How much becomes the deification of Kellen Moore. If this offense truly does hit another level remains to be seen.

Jets, I'm sorry, but you got to put it.

Yeah, for this year, they have to be there.

All right, So we've kind of got a we've kind of got a template.

Yeah, there's ten.

So here here's what I would I would put's and it may not be all those teams.

That's eight.

I'm sorry, that's but we're understanding. We have an understanding of where we're going with this. The NBA schedule for the Christmas Day was Bucks at Nicks, six Ers at Heat, Celtics at Lakers. I mean, you can't get any more NBA than Celtics at Lakers, Mavericks at Suns, Warriors at Nuggets. And while it may not be the rivalry in the NFL, I would think that the Celtics Lakers version of what we would have in the NFL would be the number one team in the AFC, which I think is the Kansas City Chiefs, and I think it's the most popular team in the NFC, and that would be the Dallas Cowboys. I think a Chiefs Cowboys game would be perfect for a Christmas Day matchup. It's the most I think it would be the most popular game in the NFL.

Puts it to all sorts of height. Yeah, and can Dak rise up and all of the expectation and hype there. I mean, there's a lot of pressure going on. He still hasn't gotten paid. On the other side, Mahomes after the Quarterback Show on Netflix, you saw a different side of him. Travis Kelcey. I've about had it with his fifteen minutes who he is. But you know that keeps going. He's a Hall of Famer and the growth of his brand and everything is good. He'd like that he tried to shoot a shot with Taylor Swift in the bracelet, which it can Yeah, no, exactly, take advantage of the opportunities. But yeah, I mean, that's a matchup that'll get tongues wagon in a lot of eyeballs.

So again, they don't play each other this year. But if that was not a restriction, that would be my NFL Christmas Day game, my number two game. It's the Chris Berman Super Bowl pick Niners Bills. Now, that would be magnificent. I think it's made that pick for like thirty seven straight years did and I'm sure we're probably gonna get it again this year. Niners Bills would be on my schedule. Now you're saying, well, what about the Eagles they went to the Super Bowl. How about Bengals Eagles. How nice would that be? Another cross conference game? We're getting some cross conference action here. So that's what I put in my top three games. Now we're going to kind of get into the the to round out the schedule, because like the NBA may maybe Bucks Knicks doesn't do it for a lot of people because for me, but you know, I'm a bucks Man and New York, but maybe people out on the West Coast don't care as much. You gotta have Aaron Rodgers in the game. And I thought, you know what, maybe maybe a matchup against Tua and the Dolphins, like we see that twice a year. Anyway, how about Jets Jaguars double j with that offense, the.

Old guy against yes guy.

Absolutely, how fun of a game would that be? And and considering I'm looking for fun, let's do Lions Chargers. That would be the final That would be final one. Yes, I think those would be great. No offense. Steelers. I just don't want to I think you're gonna have a great season. I just don't want to watch your games. But I think that these other games here, Jaguars, Jets, Lions, Chargers would be fun games to watch. How many points would be scored in Lions Chargers, you know what I mean? Like, how great would that be? You got two teams that are hot, expectations, great uniforms for both.

Gonna be a Brandon Stalley decision in the final two minutes in the game. So what everybody wants.

When it's forty two, you know the thirty nine. That's what I dig that.

And obviously this year you also have the This would be another great wrinkle for the battles for games because the rights changed, right, it was always a AFC NFC. All right, you're on CBS, you're on Fox, and now it's kind of a potpourrie and a free for all. Now you're you're vying for these games in terms of what you're protecting and clinging onto and getting the rights to. I love it.

That's it. It's not gonna happen because the NFL is so strict with their scheduling and their policies, and they make a boring schedule. Mike and I have talked about it one hundred times, how the Giants and Jets should play each other every single year, But there are even restrictions that would not allow us to see some great games. I just think I think Chiefs Cowboys, and we've seen a Chiefs Niner Super Bowl, we saw it a few years back. We just saw Chiefs Eagles. So to have the two best teams, I don't know. Still, the Cowboys brand is so heavy. You know, maybe if Aaron Rodgers was back in Green Bay and you know, another Chiefs Packers showed out. But I just think that of all the games that you could possibly play in the NFL, a Chiefs Cowboys game, which by the way, I know they played a year or two ago. It didn't It wasn't the high scoring affair that we thought it was going to be. But like you play in Dallas, on that surface, I think we'd have some we'd have some explosive offense going on. And if you're a Cowboy hater, maybe you'd see the Chiefs, you know, fly pass.

Well and you start getting a little a little sad because we're gonna be uh, Christmas Day on a Tuesday and Wednesday here soon enough. Yes, all right, then we got to take it. You gotta cycle that out for a couple of years until we get back towards the weekend. He's Dan buyer, He's an innovator, He's a forward thinker and a guy looking to make you a lot of money at Dan Byron Fox. Find me over at Swollen Dome. We're brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Progressive makes buddling easy and affordable. Get a multi policy discount by combining your motorcycle, RV, boat, ATV and more all your protection to one place you can bundle and say at Progressive dot Com. And coming up next, we'd be rems if we didn't take a turn down Fantasy Land. As you get ready for your drafts. We're gonna go week one over reactions on the draft board and maybe slide in a couple of ninjas while we're at it. Guys that you should be paying attention to later in your drafts. He's Dan on Mike and this is Fox Sports Sunday. Hey, welcome back in It's Fox Sports Radios. Fox Sports Sunday Live Fromthetirac dot Com Studios. Mike Carmen, Dan Byer with you here. Enjoying a little bit of kickball action. I just saw someone try to bunt in kickball. Unfortunately they got under it a little bit, so an easy pop out to end the inning. But Dan we've got live action. It's just all action whenever we can get it. Twenty four to seven.

Here, we had horse shoes earlier on in the day.

That some slide stare competition.

I was glad to see horseshoes because cornhole and bags, however you want to call it, is you really taken over. But if you play horseshoes, you're an og.

I just like the fact that most of those guys looked our age, perhaps another decade or two older. Yes, So it's like, all right, competitive sports continues.

Where I'm from, there wasn't a tavern that didn't have at least, you know, for sure, horse or place. Yeah, but you got the wood backing as well. There's a little in a little sand to make it worse.

Sure, But you know, now we're seeing so many places convert to axe throwing opportunities for folks, which mixed with alcohol doesn't seem like a good idea insurance wise. I'd love to know the particulars of that. But that's the next iteration, not to mention land has become a little harder, right, if you've got to add it off to the back of the tavern, which a lot of those places did, you'd have a nice little patio section where you'd have that those kind of activities corded off.

The days of horseshoes in softball, diamonds are being replaced by corn hall and axe throwing, kickball courts and soccer pitches.

So we did the report a couple of weeks ago. I mean, how much you know the pickeld is going to be uh, you know, hitting the insurance companies and injuries and time missed whenever they do those Challenger and Christmas surveys about what fantasy football and betting do. Now we're going to start act adding in all the pickleball injuries.

Nothing like the old clang of the horseshoe though.

No, that's it when you when you ringer, yeah, there's yeah, it is about the most unmistakable sound.

Nothing like it. And of course the pitcher on this softball game which is on ESPN two.

The hotel yes today, yes.

Number sixty nine. Of course.

He's also a good uh of course, three spins. I don't know how he's a left. If you've got to, i'd test him.

All right, cooking right, kicking a lineup.

But that was a nice chess pass by the third baseman to get the out there is now when talking about kickball.

The it's kickball, people love it.

No exactly. Hey, it's nice and easy. You get a ten dollars rubber ball, just a patch of grass, get after. It's nice and easy. Our second grand prize winner is going to be drawn today to win a set of four brand new tires in the Summer of tire Ax Sweepstakes. The winner will receive a set of four tires plus installation taxes and fees valued up to fifteen hundred dollars. Entered now at Fox sports radio dot com. It is free to register. You also get bonus entries into the sweepstakes by following Fox Sports Radio on social media by following Fox Sports Radio channel on the iHeartRadio app. To enter and to get the rules, visit Fox sports radio dot com. Sponsored by tire Ac dot Com. The way tire buying should be another winner getting chosen later on.

To date, that's pretty awesome. Not as awesome as the guy who just took the first two pitches at the kickball match and was down two in the count. I don't know. If you shorten up your kick, that's what you do.

You try to make contact at that point.

Yes, anyway, all right.

You're trying to get hit by the ball, like, hey, take one to the team, all right, damn meyern. The fantasy draft season is upon us. You last last week, you took one for the team. You guys drafted a lot earlier than you wanted to. Yes, And I could see it on your face that it's still problematic. I'm doing all these industry things and then you know, starting to get into the long guillotine league eighteen teams and we're in round twelve, So now it's all right, which guy will actually see the field beyond the third preseason game is some of the guesswork that you start to do at that point. Another long, slow draft going, and that's squat. I'm feeling pretty good about draft staples. For me. I seem to have found myself rationalizing Lamar Jackson a bunch. I also have your guy DK Metcalf, so he can't let me down. But what's interesting in this draft season is we still have just a giant question mark at the running back position because of all the holdouts, holdings, everything else. And talked about it at the start of the show. I had literally made a pick right before we started. It was my turn, and I drafted Melvin Gordon, who's in camp with the Ravens and from all accounts looking leaner, meaner, and looking like he's a guy that wants some level of a significant workload in that squad. So I'm like, all right, I'll take a shot. Because while they've changed everything with Todd Mounkin and again Lamar Jackson is a guy I think his prime for a big year. You're not abandoning your identity altogether, right, still about finding it out. John Harbaugh is still there no matter what you do with your coordinators. He has had a winning brand of football for years. But we talk about Josh Jacobs. Will they go sign Damian Williams Now obviously apples to oranges in terms of where they're at on their career timelines and all. But you're starting to sign warm bodies to a degree. But also it's insurance in the event Josh Jacobs doesn't decide to show up to camp. Yes, so we've got Jacobs, You've got Jonathan Taylor in his situation. You look at I mean, Austin Eckler's in camp, He's gonna play. He's still making his six million dollars, But in terms of his workload, how much do you see Kelly or one of these other backs take up a little bit of a role. But all the holdouts and those situations like Saquon signed his deal, we're not worrying about him anymore. So you draft accordingly. But with draft season on us, like, there's a bit of a risk here in the early rounds with the running back position just waiting for it to get settled. Rationality would say, these guys eventually come in and get their paychecks, but not everything works to rationality.

Dalvin Cook win higher in my draft than I ever thought that he would, so.

He doesn't even going high yet.

Yeah, you know, so there's there are a lot of a lot of question marks the Josh Jacobs, you know, Damian Williams sonning that they had in uh in Las Vegas. I think that puts also a little pressure on Josh Jacobs to be like, Okay, we're gonna just proceed as it's going to be life without Josh Jacobs.

And so if you get really done more, if they'd said, hey, here's four million dollars to Dalvin Cook.

Yeah, yeah, that would have done quite a bit for sure, but it does at least try to say like, hey, all right, are you gonna come in here or or not? What's the deal? I think at the in the end he's gonna show up, but this could end up pushing that forward. I right now, if I have Jonathan Taylor, I'm I'm worried. I am I am not not cautiously optimistic. I am in the worried stage because nothing has gone well, nothing has gone right in terms of that situation. There hasn't been a breakthrough scenario. So if you've got what Dean Jackson, you know, there's a lot of handcuffing in that scenario. Yeah, I think that's It's that would worry me as well. If I'm a Jacobs or tailor holder, I'm concerned.

Right then, there's one other top ten back. I wanted to get to it as we get through this, and you've got Tony Pollard. We talked about the Cowboys a little bit. The expectations right still, maybe Kansas City supplanted them as fully America's team, as people love Patrick Mahomes and doing Kermit the Frog impressions, but the idea that Dallas is always a marquee Marquee brand, Dak Prescott still looking for his deal. But you've got Ceedee Lamb, You've got these names, and you've got Tony Pollard where there's always been a debate of whether he should be a bell cow anyway, But now are you going Malik Davis? I mean, Duce Vaughan gets a lot of run, but that's because of his height. So's he's overachieving, Like he may be doing great things, but it's always going to be because of his stature. It's probably gonna get pushed up a bit. But like normally we look at handcuffs and you try to look at offenses that are gonna be potent and say, all right, I want some shares later in a draft. Here, I don't know that there's an obvious handcuff to go to, and they remain a mystery team. Does Ezekiel Elliott eventually sign a deal and come home.

I think so, Like I really think that that is a possibility. Heck, Ronald Jones got dinged up, so he's not available in Dallas, and it would just be seamless if Zeke did return. Despite the change in play calling, I don't think that Pollard is affected you're right, Like, I think there's gonna be a lot of Deuce Vaughan hype, but I don't think that Pollard is affected by it in terms of snaps. But your point of the handcuff is unique because if Pollard would go down Vaughan not to the greatness that Tony Pollard has, but would be a similar like if Zeke signs, it's I think it's gonna be Pollared and Zeke, and you're gonna sprinkle in a little du Swan here and there. But if Pollard is out, then Vaughn would be the one who would pick up that workload, whereas opposed, if Ezekiel Elliott doesn't sign, it's not like Dukewan's getting more snaps because of that, Like he would take up the Pollard roll, and Pollard's not gonna take what Zeke would have had anyway. So yeah, interesting. You know, if if you have Tony Pollard, maybe maybe you do want a handcuff with with du Swan. But yeah, I don't think anybody's gonna get those Ezekiel Elliott carriers except Ezekiel Elliott.

Yeah.

The running back position, just watching it in drafts has been so interesting because.

The you know.

We we debated it a few weeks ago. All Right, I had the number one pick in a draft. What was I gonna do? Do I go to the wide receiver route? Do I take McCaffrey. I decided to hold my nose and click McCaffrey. Four minutes later, I was upset about my decision, said, what am I doing? But at the running back position, I've seen all per mutations of that top tier. Some folks just looking at Nick Chubb and just saying, I know what I'm getting.

Yep.

If he's on the field, he's touching the ball twenty to twenty five times. I'll assume Deshaun Watson makes that offense at least serviceable, if not better, and then Nick Chubb feasts thereof Okay, I can listen to that. B John Robinson, we talked about him a lot. I've seen him go number one in a number of drafts, just jumping past Justin Jefferson, Jamar Chase, Cooper Cup all these guys and just straight to the head of the line. I've seen Austin Eckler, he's hungry, he's well, yeah, but there's also where's the tipping point? But you're expecting that offense to be explosive, and once again he got a guy catching the ball out of the backfield to the tune of one hundred and seven receptions an hour ago. That even with Johnston coming in Alan Williams, I mean, there's a lot of mouths. Defeed, I'm not banking on seventeen games of health from the three receivers, particularly the first two. Right the veterans.

Yes, I have Mike Williams that I am already prepared for, right, but.

For Allen and Williams, you draft them with the expectation of I will have them for maybe twelve games if I'm lucky, fourteen, and that's where we're at in that process. But Eckler a guy that you argue based on that, you know, workload that he has on a week to week basis that he could argue him up number one. So it's a bit more jumbled, I think than it has been in a while. That top tier.

I think we touched on this last week. But there are a couple of couple of spots that I think are interesting. Two in the same division. Number one I really like because there is there's the top tier gap Mike and then there's the guys that we talk about with the question marks of Taylor, of Jacobs, and then right under that, you've got Aaron Jones in green Bay, Green Bay. Right now, Luke Musgrave is getting rave reviews as a tight end. But who's going to be Jordan Love's safety blanket likely will be Aaron Jones, And I don't expect aj Dillon's workload to decrease. I like that two headed monster in Green Bay when you're talking about value in Jones higher than Dylan. But I think that there's I think that there's value into those guys, and I think that the numbers will be there, and honestly, I think that the numbers could be better. I think they're going to be relied on more than they were with Rogers. The other point is in Detroit, there's a lot of love for Jamiir Gibbs, ye first round pick. But the David Montgomery value, I know, it's something you said on the program a week or two ago. I mean, considering how it worked last year with Swift and Williams, you'd have to think that, all right, Montgomery's going to be able to maybe get a a little bit more than people expect he's a top thirty right now, gives in the top fifteen.

So Montgomery right now on average going as the back end RB to early RB three. AJ Dillon's being drafted as a back end three. Yeah, so potential for tremendous value there, because you've got a lot of other question marks along the way. I mean, you got guys drafting Bryse Hall as a back end one, high end two. Is he even gonna be ready? And are they going to give him a huge workload out of the gate? Right? And some of it is best ball scenario versus once we start parsing it out week to week, but certainly becomes a very curious proposition running back. Yeah, the zero running back to me is kind of dead. I'm not waiting on guys, but I recognize those that just say, give me three or four receivers in my PPR leagues and I'll come in to cobble together a running back stable later.

And Nick Sirianni threw quite the wrench and last night for the Eagles in their backfield, Kenneth Gainwelt didn't play well, DeAndre Swift and Rashade Penny did So now you're wondering what's the pecking order in Philadelphia?

Yeah, gain, well, fantastic run. Maybe they'll trade him to Indianapolis. I don't know, he's standfire. I'm by carbon here, Fox Sports Sunday, Fox Sports Radio. Hey, I just want guys to get their touches and if it's too crowded there, go somewhere and be free, my man. Actually, no, with the number of guys that get hurt, you need to have three or four capable backs on your roster, no question. Hey, let's turn it over now to Isaac lowen Kron get an update on this kickball game and so much more. In our Sporting.

Universe memories of elementary school, we played kickball with an all bright orange ball. As I recall, that's the burning Sun. I like it exactly like the old MISL, which was big back in the day the Major Indoor Soccer League. We will start with another ball sport, and that would be the NFL preseason. On Saturday night, the Los Angeles Chargers defeating the Los Angeles Rams thirty four to seventeen. The Chargers ran for two hundred and fourteen yards on the Rams side, their rookie quarterback and according to Twitter, your next Supreme Court Justice Stetson Bennett completed seventeen of twenty nine for one to sixty one at a touchdown, the Baltimore Ravens holding off the Philadelphia Eagles twenty to nineteen for their NFL record twenty fourth consecutive preseason victory. Justin Tucker a sixty yard field.

Goal for the Ravens. I would say he's ready for the regular season now, Mike and Dan.

You know when you're watching TV and you press the channel guide and it has this description of you know what you're watching?

Yeah? So, anyway, last night for.

The Ravens Eagles telecast on NFL Network in certain parts of the country on certain cable systems. If you click the channel guide, the description would read the following NFL football Philadelphia Eagles at Baltimore Ravens from M and T.

Banks Stadium in Baltimore.

Closed captioning violence, explicit language, adult situations and nudity.

Wait what you heard me? Wow?

Adult situations and nudity. If you click the channel guide for the Eagles Baltimore rad escalated quick tell it did. Shout out to Stuart Goldman of Overland Park, Kansas for notice.

Random Twitter handle being credited. No, it's good, it's Isaac Staple.

He digs deep.

Apparently there was sort of alternative.

What I thought he was gonna say was like Rod Jaworski and the egos, what we've seen before. Yes, somebody getting a team. Baltimore's Ted March of brotas crew looks to get a preseason win.

Earl Morrile expected a quarterback the second half. But anyway, no word yet if there was actually some sort of alternate telecast of that game anyway. In Major League Baseball, on Saturday night, the Baltimore Orioles what at Seattle in ten innings, wanted nothing, breaking the Mariats eight game woning streak. Dodgers now in seven game winning streak. They beat the Rockies four to one. The Arizona Diamondbacks over the San Diego Padres three nothing. Diamondbacks break their nine game losing streak. Padres have now lost five of six. Also Saturday night, Dwayne Wade, Dirk Tabitsky, Tony Parker, Pau Gasol, Becky Hammond, and Greg Popovich among those inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield.

I do what you're talking about.

Apparently he did during his twenty six minute speech back to you guys, thanks so much.

Ilo at Isaac Lowencrod where you fy him. Angel City FC Chargers are back. He's a man burning the midnight oil. He's Dan Byer. I'm Mike Krmon here Fox Sports Sunday and coming out next college football. The musical Chairs one conference tells two teams to beat it and rip them off of the playing table. We'll talk about that next here on Fox.

Welcome back in.

It's Fox Sports Sunday, Fox Sports Radio, Mike Carmen dan Byer with you live from the tire Ac dot Com studios. I'll say this, we did get a visual, you know, we'd paying attention to. We've got some golf on, some NFL preseason action rewatch of the Cowboys and Jaguars game, and then we got this kickball competition. There was just someone in the stands wearing a Washington Bullets jersey. I've not seen one of those in a while, so that's kind of cool. I love the throwbacks.

I know, I know, and I I just you know, of the name changes. I just I just I don't know. I felt bullets was I didn't think of actual bullets see neither.

So, yeah, Chris brings up bullet train, but yeah, I don't know. I just always thought about it as speed and whatever. I don't know. Yes, all right, Chris, what do you got?

So?

I wanted your guys opinion on this speaking of throwbacks, because I did see I think it was like last month, the Tennessee Titans are going to unveil Houston Oilers throwbacks, and I just I have conflicts in my mind. I know they own the history to the Oilers, but it's not their city and the people who have the memories the Oilers are in Houston, and this is always something that struck me as very weird. I was curious what you guys thought of those on that.

I agree one thousand percent. Now, there some may point out that when the Oilers did move, that did wear those same uniforms in Memphis and in Nashville before the actual team name did change. But to say that the the you know, eight games they played in Memphis and then the eight games they played at Vanderbilt Stadium, which I think I've told you, Mike. I was in attendance for an Oilers game at Vanderbilt Stadium in the late nineties that's sweet. Yes it was. It was crazy you still had the ticket stub. I actually what I ticket was up got dumped at some point. I'm still a little bit bitter about it. And sometimes those Ticketmaster the ink fades on it, and so that may it makes it even cool. That may have been the one. But to Chris's point, I agree with that that was actually one of the great things about when the Hornets moved. When the Hornets moved to New Orleans and then Charlotte got the team, they became the Bobcats, and then Jordan took over and was like, all right, we want the Hornets name back in the history, and they got it back. So then the New Orleans became the Pelicans and they started like they started fresh. Like I wish the same could have been done for Nashville and that franchise, and then the Texans would have been able to have the Oiler's history.

Yeah, like the Browns got their old history back. I should know this from immaculate Grid. It's not like the Raven's history. They can't just do a Brown's throwback. No, and like but and they're like, yeah, they played some games going up there, but love you Blue.

That's Houston. Yes, and when it was when when the Ravens came, they were put in as a new franchise, even though they moved, but they were technically, as you said, started from day one. That was their first days of franchise. It's not like they have the old Colts stuff. You know.

You know what, that was far more and far better orchestrated than the actual move undercover night Mayflower trucks maybe Mayflower trucks in the middle of the night, versus hey, we've already taken care of all of our trademarks. Something that the commanders could have used or whatever we're gonna call them in the future that maybe they should have gone down the process of trying to register all these trademarks.

I think the Timberwolves should be able to wear the Minneapolis Lakers stuff. I don't think the Los Angeles Lakers.

The North Stars for hockey, so sure, yeah, I mean, like all of those legacy players. Look, if we're going to do that and celebrate those, let's actually do it in the cities where it makes sense. He's dan Byer. I'll buy Carmen. There's a little trip down the nostalgia and bridging through all sparked by someone wearing a Washington Bullets jersey. And now I'm thinking of all the legends that play there. I'm gonna get Google, Outeff Malone. Nicely done. Yeah, you got Jeff Malone, and I can't stop that. Dan and Mike here, Fox Sports Sunday, Fox Sports Radio. Coming up next, we turn our attention back to college football and the conference that told a couple of teams to beat it. We'll tell you why why it all makes sense. Next on Fox Green Eggs. Welcome in. It is the final hour of the program this morning, live from the ti rack dot Com studios. Tyrack dot com. We'll help you get there an unmatched selection, fast, free shipping, free road hazard protection, over ten thousand recommended installers tire rack dot com. The way tire buying should be. Mike Carman, Dan Byer with you here at Dan Byer on Fox where you find him on Twitter. You hear him during the week part of The Doug Gottlieb Show and Cavino and Rich that's twelve to four Pacific time. I find me seven to eleven Pacific time alongside Jason Smith at Swollen Dome on Twitter. So much action. We're watching all of these preseason games. We've got a couple more later on today, Chief Saints getting a little bit of as we get into this next hour, Dan as well as all the other.

Chaos, Niners Raiders cause.

I sporting event Niners Raiders had a very spirited joint practice the other day. And it's so it's something that you and I were talking about a little bit. We referenced it earlier. We'll get to college football in a minute, but just the idea of preseason games and the more joint practices, and really, when you're trying to accomplish something, right, all right, we want to work on these drills, we want to work on these situations. How much more of that is a help than preseason games? Now? For preseason this year, I think we've just got a unique circumstance. Half the league change their offensive coordinators. Yeah, right, full sixteen teams, So maybe you need some live action in game situation, But it seems like also you can simulate that well enough in practices.

Yeah, you could get a little taste of stuff in a in a week one game and then in a week two. But the shortening of the preseason didn't take away from the fact that teams just aren't going to play their starters in Week three for sure, like they're they're holding out, even though it is a good full week and a half, two weeks before the actual season starts for these for these teams, after that Week three preseason game, Yeah, I just wonder, Mike, like, even watching like this full slate of games, looking back on it, I can't believe that we sat through four preseason games. Like HiT's crazy. I don't I don't remember the I don't remember those days, but I remember the the the four days because it was four games, because it was pretty recent and it was it it was a long time. You were almost kind of ramping up to that third game when starters would would play about the first half. But even of just this week, I got to the point of, you know what, I think two games would be great. And we know the reason why they play three preseason games is because they want twenty games on the schedule where they can open those doors to the stadiums. And if it's gonna be seventeen and three, then that's what it's gonna be. But now, Mike, for to add an extra game, which I know would be a lot. I think the addition of the seventeenth game has made this season even longer. So now I have the super Bowl go to mid February, does just make it a longer season. And if you added another preseason game, they're not gonna do it. They're not gonna play on Labor Day. They've moved away from doing that, So then you'd put it on President's Day weekend usually of where that falls on the calendar, and it would just be a long NFL season. But I almost think that we're there. I almost think that we're at to the eighteen game schedule because I've about had enough of preseason and we're not even through the Week one yet. And not usually a guy doesn't mind the preseason, but for some reason this time around, I'm like, all right, these guys could probably use another game for about who we're gonna see, and we should be pretty good. I know that maybe the Panthers, Colts, and Texans would like a little bit more time, you know, with their guys, But for the rest of the of the league and the teams, I think those joint practices basically do what they want to and accomplish.

Yeah, I think when we look at it, I mean the eighteenth game. As we know from the CBA, that could be triggered at any point. The owners have the right to do that, and there's just so much money at stage and there always has been, right, So I want to just you know, say that categorically it's always been a lot of money. Now it's just a little bit more, right, But we talk about it from the college angle of all these you know, giant contracts, who agrees who fights and which commissioner slash presidents get things screwed up. I mean from the NFL, it's now just a question. I think it's inevitability that the eighteenth game comes and then you make some sort of considerations in probably the next CBA is when this really would likely happen, where you start talking about roster and maybe you add a couple of jobs per team because of attrition and knowing that the eighteenth game probably creates a lot more turnover on rosters. But it's certainly for the preseason. It was interesting to watch Richardson play, fun to watch you know Stroud, Bryce Young and get their reps. Okay, not so much fun for CJ. Stroud because right now everybody's now thrown him to the bottom of the trash heap off of a very limited.

Yeah twenty one or whatever it is, and he throws in an interception and yeah, it wasn't a good interception.

It was a terrible throw. But I mean everybody's made that throw like you got you gotta have that. Welcome to the NFL moment. There it is in week one of the preseason. Yes, you're right, get it out of your system. I forget who I heard say it. You know X NFL player somewhere somehow, I don't know. It all blends together as you're driving around to and from soccer tournaments and stuff after sitting in the sun because you see, I'm thermometer head part two of the summer today. Yeah, I gotta get some more effective sunscreen when I'm out there. But the idea just being that you wouldn't you rather have people taking their chances throwing new wrinkles into the offense. And if you're a young quarterback, you're taking chances to see and test that speed difference from college to the proses testing all right, what is my receiver willing to do on this route? Yes, can they make a play for me? All the other things wouldn't you rather have that week one of the preseason than week one of the regular season and then realize, Okay, all of those throws are now off the table because they can't make it, and we can't make this part of our offense work.

I feel this is a Sunday sermon that you're giving right now. All of it is true. This is the opportunity to make mistakes. And how many guys just come in and it's as simple as can be, you know, like it's just it does doesn't happen.

No, it doesn't, like even rookie seasons, right, we seem to conveniently forget how terrible Peyton Manning was in large stretches of his first season.

Yeah, Pete, Yeah, And that's the thing that Peyton Manning threw for twenty six touchdowns that year, and you know, I thirty eight hundred yards something that could be off by a little, but there was the twenty eight interceptions. You know that That's what it is. It's it's it's different, like and that's but that's it. That's the other different thing, Mike if and I know Zach Wilson wasn't a rookie last year, but like Zach Wilson at times looked like he couldn't complete a pass.

Yeah, and he had the chuck knoblock yips is what it started to beat.

It's just like, I don't know if we're going to get this thing downfield. And that's you know, it's the it's the opposite of Jameis Winston, who again, I know he wasn't a rookie in the in the thirty thirty year that he had, but he still was able to throw thirty three touchdowns at the thirty interceptions. It's there are guys that you know, all of a sudden that you're just wondering, all right, can this football even go downfield. That's when you start scratching your head and being like, all right, I don't think this this guy is going to well Jackson going to get it.

Go back to Sam Darnold seeing ghosts, yeah right, And so all of a sudden, you're not making a throw because you're seeing defenders into a box like you can whatever trigger it in your head. So yeah, I mean jet sho. But the for Zach Wilson, I mean it was a very big deal. And now whatever Rogers is doing, at least you saw him on Cork that fifty seven yard pass that maybe some of those mental blocks are gone. But yeah, it's it's the growing pains of the position that we give guys such a short leash anymore to make a mistake, right the you know, over over use of quarterback rating and touchdown to interception ratio as barometers of how well someone plays.

Yes, well, you know, you're we're also in the dnage where people want to be the first with everything. Sure, and so as soon as CJ. Stroud throws an interception on the first game of the first week of the preseason outside of the Hall of Fame game, it's easy to make that declaration. You know, there's there's stuff that's going for c J. Stroud, there's stuff that's going against him. You know, you look at the other rookie quarterbacks. Their head coaches are offensive minded guys, Shane Stikeen and Frank Reich in Carolina and Indianapolis, and c J. Stroud's got a defensive minded head coach, and you know, Demiko Ryans and in his first year, and Frank Reich's obviously a veteran head coach. Shane Steikin's got his first year job so maybe Bryce Young scheduled a little advantage over the other guys because there's a lot that we could sit there and pick through. It felt like CJ. Stroud's interception was different than Anthony Richardson's interception. And that's the part that I that I don't get. Mike was prime time, Yeah, that's everybody was watching.

Yesterday was Saturday. Everybody's out and about moving, and it was just a blim on in your Twitter verse or wherever you found.

And that's not meant to say that Anthony Richardson should have gotten criticism. It's to say that maybe c J. Stroud didn't have gotten as harsh of a criticism because by all accounts, and I did not see the rest of richardson snaps on Saturday, but by the accounts he fared pretty decently. Well.

Yeah the stretch, Yeah he got comfortable. But sometimes you need to get like they always say, right everybody, what was in the Mike Tyson. Everybody's got a great plan until you get punched in the mouth. Yes, Likewise in the NFL, until you take that first hit, everything's happy, everything's good, and then you're hyper focused and ready to roll. Thereafter, I wanted to get to it for a minute, because it's been a it's been a long couple of weeks of it with college football and the reorganization of conferences at all. I like the Chip Kelly suggestion, but then nobody's ever going to enact that football teams are all independent and you're in conferences and the NCAA and whatever ruling body governs everything else. All right, you know, that's that's nice in theory, it's never gonna happen. But we had the report that the ACC old Stanford and Coal to beat it, and you had several schools, including Florida State, who's always already trying to exit the ACC themselves, but then realize they're locked in until twenty thirty six unless something gets blown up there. Look for the non revenue sports. We recognize some of those schedule logistics, and you and I went through it quite a bit a couple of weeks ago of what teams already do to make this stuff work, like long road trips, school and study hall and all that on the road. Like it's been done, Like there's nothing real new, really new to this. Maybe just you add another state to your United States passport, like you would have stamp if you were traveling abroad. But when it gets down to it, right, unless the dollars are are going to be augmented and you're not taking away from my pile, it doesn't make sense.

Well, what doesn't make sense at all with the ACC as nine the geography, but the economics. And what I mean by the economics is the well the ACC. I wouldn't say beat it because eleven of the fifteen schools were ready to welcome Callen Stanford. The problem is it's the four schools that didn't.

Well ready enough, right, because the reports were that there were a couple of schools that were just kind of like, Okay, what are we doing here? Sure?

And the four schools that voted against it were Florida State, Clemson, North Carolina, and North Carolina State. And Florida State we know about their angst towards the ACC right now in the amount that they get. Clemson has similar feelings. I think North Carolina, of every team in the ACC, is the apple of the eye of the SEC and the Big Ten. There's going to be a I think that the Big Ten would be fine if the ACC got Florida State. I think the Big Ten would be fine if the ACC got Clemson. I do not think the Big Ten would be fine if the SEC got Notre Dame or excuse me, North Carolina.

No, I get what you're saying, right, SEC can pick up everybody else but Carolina.

A lot of value there, Yes, and there's a lot of value with that school and even the program. And then it's ties NC State, Virginia and Virginia Tech I think have value as well. But the point is, Callan Stanford aren't going to the ACC because those four schools voted against it. It's also those schools saying, my goodness, take care of us. You know, we're not We're not worried about the ACC surviving. We're worried about us surviving. So your goals of adding Callen Stanford are trying to save what is left of or what is the ACC to try to stave off the Big ten or SEC from poaching any of those schools. And I think what Florida State, North Carolina, Clemson are all saying is maybe maybe care about us, you know, figure out a way where we are happy within this league, and then maybe your league will survive because we won't be going to the other leagues. I it's no surprise that those were the four schools that we were voting against it, because I think they're the ones that are getting screwed the most in the ACC And I just get it. It was a nice thought. But you use the term leftovers as well. That's what they are. They're they're the ninth and tenth options right now.

Well, but that's it, right?

Is that valuable?

There's not a lot of value unless you want to say, well, we add a couple of academic schools. But to the bottom line of any deal that's already in place, you either have to have the networks that you're working with rip up the deal and create a new one, or you have to give up some of your money. Who wants to give up any of their money? Right? They already think they got a bad deal. Right in the Big ten, they were able to go back to Fox and basically say, hey, we need a bigger check, so Oregon get in, Washington can come in, and they said, Okay, that's worth it, sir, yep. Right, they have the brand cachet and brand value. These others great schools, great institutions. They're not moving the needle economically, to where we need it to. So for these four schools, given their success, given their histories, anything else, if they're not satisfied with their deal, should is hell not giving away a penny yes to somebody else coming in if you're not a value add to where we can go back. Because again, you got to be a dope to sign a rights deal for fifteen years. Right, that's a whole other problem with your commissioner and your university presidents. It's the old Scottie Pippen Bulls thing. It's like, you want the longevity, you're doing your trade off, right, We'll give you the longevity and that long time commitment. However, when you want to come back to the table and say I need a little bit more, it's like, well, we gave you seven years.

I mean we invested in you. Ticking clock, the ACC It's going to crumble. It is going to crumble. It's going to.

Dam buy I'm buy carbon here. Fox Sports Sunday, Fox Sports Radio. Coming up next, James Harden. The trade season in the NBA. It's gotten awful quiet, real fast. But the theory, and I think a right one that Dan Byer proffers on why this all happened the way it did. We'll talk about it next year on Fox. Glose sticks up on a Sunday morning. Let's get it on live at the tyrac dot com studios by Carma dan Byer with you here as we roll on a little bit on. We're watching a little bit of Little League Softball World Series now, dan Byer. So we're getting a veritable potpourrie of sporting action. A little uh English Premier League coming up later on tonight, a couple more NFL preseason games, we got some golf man, Major League Baseball slate. There's a lot going.

On, tons going on, USA hoops going on, getting Yeah, gosh, can we think of anything more?

Well, we got to get the you know, start people pushing down that bandwagon because you know, it's been a week since the women's national team was unceremoniously dumped. You know what I did. I lost a lot of sleep this week, not because they lost, but because I still stayed up and watched a lot of the tournament. And the ratings, as our guy Steve Desager loves television ratings, they were still up at around one to eight, good for a lot of these these games. So while Fox lost the giant you know, boost that the women's team would have given them the tournament overall is performing quite well. Of course, if they just won their group, they would have been a more advantageous time slot television wise, but they also wouldn't have played Sweden, who has now beat in Japan and moved on.

So under the final four here we go.

We keep moving through as we roll it on here on Fox Sports Sunday. We'll get into Little League Baseball softball and some observations there in a minute. But in the NBA, for a while, it was every day we seem to be getting an update of guys wanting to be traded, demanding to be traded. And I know it's the summer, but doesn't mean you got to go quiet. You got to stay relevant. So we've had the latest twist in turn of James Harden, who either a reunion in the planet Houstinner somewhere else was expected to be dealt and now well, no serious offers means there's no longer James Harden trade in the offing anytime soon.

The interesting thing about this to me is now that trade talks have ended. We've seen this before. Heck, we've seen Darryl Morey hold on to Ben Simmons and then ended up doing a deal. It brought him James Harden. So now James Harden, I don't know if he's off the trading block, if that would be the right phrase, Mike. But as he said, trade talks now have ended. And the Sixers plan, and I'll use the air quotes that you can't see on radio, plan is to have James Harden be available for the team at the start of training camp. Now, there are a couple of things that I feel are very important to point out. It's tough to sometimes to realize your own faults, and you may have to ask a close friend, maybe ask one of your brothers, can ask your significant other. That you could say, am I really like that? This happened to me? This happened to me about a week or so ago. My father in law made a comment about me being on the phone not talking but Twitter okay, And you know, I said that it was a joke. But I said to my wife afterwards, I go, am I on the phone that much like? I don't think that I am. She goes, You're on a lot and I just it's scrolling and scrolling, I'm like, wow, Like I didn't realize it. I needed you to tell me the truth. And that's where I feel James Harden is right now and Darryl Morey, while he's the general manager of the team that's going to give you the contract, he's also the one that's probably being able to give you the truth that you probably don't want to hear but need to hear, and that is that you are worth this much in terms of a contract extension. If anybody would want to give James Harden, I think the most that he could it would be Darryl Moury.

Their history would say it, yeah, yes.

And even though even though the Clippers would maybe give Harden what he wanted in a trade or if he was acquired and get the contract that he wanted, I don't know if he's really worth that much. And in the the fact is this is, if you're another team, or if you're the Clippers, if Darryl Moury is unwilling to give James Harden what he wants, what does that tell you about James Harden. And that's the part where I think it's where James Harden knows Darryl Moray knows James Harden knows him up and down, front and back, knows the type of player. So it's kind of like, well, if he's not willing to, why should we be willing to?

Yeah, I think the harsh reality of James Harden at this point, while he can be a great player at times, we've watched playoff after playoff. That's winning time. I don't care about your stats in the regular season. You can win all the regular season awards you want. You can win fifty games, fifty five games. Whatever that metric's going to be is fill up the statu sheet. Can you play consistently in the playoffs? And once again he did not. In an opportunity to give them that giant boost and push them forward, he failed miserably. I take nothing like Look, Joel Embiid was awful as well, but Harden was terrible.

There were some forty point games, but when they needed, when they're up three to two in the series, they didn't get it done, couldn't finish.

So part of that is all right, your history there. You're also older. You're a guy that doesn't necessarily take I'm being kind here, doesn't necessarily take care of your body around the clock working your way into shape anymore. Is not the way any of these professional leagues work. Right the Hey, the guy's in the best shape of his life. You're always in the best shape of your life, unless you're coming back off injury and you did something to retool and maybe you changed your diet and muscle whatever. Otherwise you're just rolling into the next season and you're in shape. Like back in the day, you know, guys used to report to NFL training camp after working, you know, delivering milk and beer and stuff, right, steaks, and then you don't have to work a second job anymore. You're training because that is your job.

Kevin Durant and James Harden are really good friends. But one of the rifts between them when it came to the basketball team of the Brooklyn Nets was Harden showed up the training camp out of shape. Yeah, you know, and it was something that Durant didn't like. And now you wonder what is Harden going to do because he's opted in on his contract, so he's gonna make the thirty five million whatever it is for the upcoming season. But now that he's not going to get his way and be doubt and get the long term deal. Now is he going to be the Ben Simmons and just I'm not going to suit up? Is he going to just show up to camp overweight? But the fact that Darryl Mory is unwilling to give him the deal, I think is enough of a red flag for any other team to be like, maybe we don't want to give up the assets or give him the contract that he desires and make a trade for him.

Yeah, per sam Amick, you know the athletic he's been. You've read him for years, says quote. No one longer wants to play in Philadelphia and has no plans of taking part in training camp. Like at some point, like you got your thirty six million dollars, are you a thirty Like? Look, someone else can argue whether you're a thirty six million dollar player, but in years to follow, are you a thirty six to forty million dollar player? I'm not taking that on for a guaranteed deal of three years or whatever you're looking for. And sometimes you've got to be able to read the room and recognize where you are in your career continuum. But again, the playoff failures of this last year, if that's not the thing to slap you up side the head and say, hey, this is why you're not getting the long term deal, because I mean, you're telling me he's how many tickets get sold because James Harden's coming to town, not as many, you know what I mean. Like, it's not the same same thing of years ago. He's filling it up. You've got this scoring run where we're talking about he gets buckets, he gets to the fall line because that part of these game got taken away, right with some rules adjustments and stuff like, all of this plays into a you're still a good player. You're not a transcended guy. You're not a superstar. And if we're putting up all right, here's our twelve to fifteen best, I don't think you're making the back end of that list.

Yeah, no, you're right. And I know that Maury's asking price has been high, but Daryl Moury doesn't have a reason to lower the asking price. He held on to Ben Simmons and got what he wanted in return, like it worked out for him. It's out in the past, so why wouldn't this maybe end up working out. It's just a warning though to other teams that even though there's that high acting asking price. If Darryl Moury really truly believed that James Harden would help that team win a championship, I think they'd give him the big money contract that he actually desired.

Go get his contract extension, as it were. Mike Garman, Dan Byer with you here, Fox Sports Sunday, Fox Sports Radio.

Dan.

We were talking about it a little bit off air, and we've been watching a veritable poperie of sporting events, and right now we've got the Little League Softball World Series, Ages ten to twelve, Connecticut and Texas. I wanted to say, yukon, like just I'm so programmed.

So ed.

But we're watching this game. It's early on, it's being televised nationally, which is part one of what we're talking about here. And you've got all the infielders wearing masks.

Yep.

Safety absolutely, safety paramount in this process. These look like they're like five to ten. Me being a follow of five nothing, I'm jealous.

Did you say it's ages ten to twelve? I did, yep.

So yeah, so we're looking at what fifth to seventh grade?

Yeah, fourth to sixth yeah.

Something like that, depending on birthdays and all, but we got that, we got the Little League World Series. The team from El Segundo here in southern California has advanced, so that's been a pretty big local story here winning the West Regional.

But you showed me the.

Grid of what the bracket looked like for the Little League.

The world see the expansion of Little League and the expansion of the interest of Little League. Let me, that's a better way to put it to me as astounding, like think back to when we were growing up some thirty thirty five years ago, I know. And the reason that I need this timeline to explain why this is kind of a phenomenon. I remember the championship game being broadcast ABC's Wide World of Sports. US champion would take on Chinese Taipei team, or you would just see the championship game, and then it expanded. Then they said, all right, we're gonna show you the US Championship. So now you saw the US Championship game the day before, and then you saw the actual Little League Championship the next day. Then ESPN gets its hands on this thing and it's like, we're gonna show you the entire Little League World Series. This is what you've got Day one in Williamsport and Mike they are like, we need more Little League, So guess what We're gonna show you the championship games that are being played in these regions that will allow the team to punch their ticket to Williamsport. And then this past week, and it may have gone on for the last couple of years. I don't know, but to me it was it was so surprising we were looking at tournament games from these regions that weren't even championship games. I saw on TV Montana taking on Utah in a Little League game.

Say Live sports Man, and I don't watch.

I don't know if it's because there are so many networks and they maybe ESPN needs stuff to put on the networks, but I do think that there is there is something to putting your name of the state on that screen. Sure, So if you're from Montana or you're from Utah, you don't know where these kids are from, but you are watching like those that is the that is the squad that you are watching. Little League has also expanded its regions, so there's there's a bunch of different regions. Now they've gone to ten American regions, there's just a lot of different teams. Growing up, we were in the Great Lakes region. Now because the Great Lakes it was like its own region. Now there's a separate Midwest region. It's just more and more Little League. And I know that some people don't like it, they're not fans, But to me, it's just amazing on how much it has expanded. That it's expanded to all the way to semi final games in regionals that would even get you to the Little League World I just go back.

To when when we were playing, we had very rudimentary travel ball. Right, you'd make an all star team and we would go to southern Illinois down to Matune, and you'd have a host family that you'd stay with for a couple of days and that kind of stuff. That was about as far as it got, right, There were no considerations. But the Little League World Series. I just remember it's like, all right, normally we're getting whatever bowling, there's a shankle giving me some earl. Anthony mark Roth battles like, no, no, no, it's a Little League World Series this week on ABC's Wide World of Sports. Right, and then the expansion as you as you laid it out just bit by bit, it's that more expansive. And I mean, we've got the great meme of good old my name is Big Al and I hit dingers that's become so legendary, like the kid introductions. As part of these things, we've had some major league players that we get to go and find their old footage and to show them playing. I just think it's a great celebration of these towns and cities across the country. And look, we always talk about, you know, representation is a big deal, and I don't want to make it sound like I'm making light of it in other aspects, right when we talk about culturally, racially, all those things of people being able to see kids like them. But if you're like a little eight year old nine year old baseball player, the soccer they kind of do the same thing. Where we're starting to see more junior soccer being played, Like that's a big stage. Like how about you work on your game? You could be on TV too.

You're if you're an eight year old girl that likes to play softball in Texas, guess what Texas is on TV right now playing in a little league softball game that you could like there's there is absolutely something to that. I'm just astounded because I know in growing up in our town, we had a senior league baseball team that went they maybe won the state, so they went to the to the regional thing and they played games in Indiana and the you'd have to tune into the local radio station right to find out what the scores were, not that they were even broadcasting the game's live mic, because you didn't even just a news up there, yes, just a hey, so and so's dad called in to score from like you know, in that maybe very small town where I'm from, But that's how you would get these scores, or you would find out that way. Now it'd be like, hey, guess what we're gonna watch Charlie. He's playing on ESPN two. Like that's crazy. It's crazy to think on how much it has expanded that we would It's not even the Little League World Series, it's the tournaments they get you to the Little League World Series that are on team Well.

Let me pull it back from TV for a second. I know we got to get to Ilo here at a second. Is like from my daughter's soccer tournaments, right, she travels a bunch and like they were out in New Jersey whatever. Well, there's all these different companies where you can now buy a package to have a live stream for that weekend's tournament. And is the technology one hundred percent. No, You're still missing a lot of the corners and the camera doesn't quite track the ball as well as it will in two to three years. But you at least get to see your kid play and some function. And we see that for baseball, for softball, for soccer, for volleyball, and that has become a multi billion dollar business as well.

Yeah, I know we do got to get Isaac. But I'll just say the one thing with that that is active watching, because you're watching because your kid is in it or your nephew is in it. What this does This makes it very passive where you're just turning on the Oh, guess what team from Iowa. I'm from the Midwest. I'm gonna watch this game. And it works. It's a lot of times like we talk about, like when you put a flag on a team West flag, you're like, oh, I'm gonna watch this because it's USA. It's the same thing when they have those the states on that scoreboard. It brings people in and it's just crazy that it's expanded so much in little league or Little league softball.

And I didn't even know I was looking for it. Dan Byers, Yes, we're a live forth Tirack dot Com, Fox Sports Radio Studios. He's Dan Byer On Mike Harmon. Now it's time to turn our attention to a man among men. He is Isaac Lowenkron with a latest job title, the Forest Gump of the NFL. Stetsybeded.

Indeed, he will be among our documentation that we go here starting with this just actually a programming reminder, Mike and Dan along those lines coming up at the top of the hour on Fox FS one, Fox Sports Go and Fox Deportes. It'll be Greenbrier, Arkansas. Third grade football coach Anthony Hood's Blue team takes on Matthew Bates' Black team in their preseason scrimmage. Kevin Burkhart, Greg Olsen, Aaron Andrews, and Tom Rinaldi will.

All be on.

By the way, those are actually real coaches in a real league, Green Brior, Arkansas. We're probably going, wait a minute, what what what? Anyway, Actually, at the top of the hour, we have an NFL preseason game kicking off with the New Orleans Saints hosting the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs on Friday. Head coach Andy Reid said that Patrick Mahomes and the rest of the Chiefs first string will play the first quarter. A short time ago, the Miami Dolphins side receiver Kei key cut, who was released by the Saints on Friday. On Saturday night, in the NFL preseason, the Baltimore Ravens made a twenty four consecutive preseason victories with a twenty to nineteen win over the Eagles. The Los Angeles Chargers over the Los Angeles Rams thirty four to seventeen, but Rams rookie fourth round pick Stetson Bennett had a good game seventeen of twenty nine for one sixty one with a touchdown pass. One major League Baseball game going on right now, Tigers and Red Sox tied at one to the top of the third inning at Fenway. Finally, in case you missed it earlier, we have a tennis update. Yesterday, in the semi finals of the Montreal Open IgA, Swiantech and Jessica Pegoulo were in the middle of a rather intense rally during a second sent tiebreaker when there was a most untimely faux paw by the sound system.

Listen, Oh wow, Cotton Eye Joe just came on mid rally.

Oh wow, if I could name that song in two notes. I mean there was you know, name that tune the game show. And this guy just randomly, with no warning, is able to identify Cotton Eye Joe instantly.

So props to that guy.

Back to you, guys, legend at Isaac Lowancroft Banks, Isaac coming up next. I want to be immortalized in butter too. And we have the progressive play of the day celebrating a streak that I don't know how much you got, you get celebrated, but I kind of dig it. He's Dan, I'm Mike. This is Fox sixty.

Yard field goal.

Try to close out the ham Chucker, get out the legg into.

It at.

Prince upstut.

Hey, you go, justin Tucker, the excitement, the exuberance, the veteran progressive play of the day, progressive making things even easier. They'll help you bundle your home and car and church together. She can say, I'm both. Learn more at progressive dot com or dial up one eight hundred progressive dan Byer, the streak that continues. Network, I believe that's the Ravens Radio Network on the call, jacked up and excited about it. Sixty yarder and then you just say, all right, I'm putting on my baseball cap and walking away.

My bad ninety eight Rock, Ravens Radio Network, ninety eight Rock.

Even better specificity always for the win twenty to nineteen year final edge out the Eagles. And now we look at the Ravens with their twenty four game streak in the preseason, and I always struggle with how to I mean, how much weight to give it. I mean, obviously it's important to Harball that this stays alive. But we talk all the time, like I was on with Arnie on Friday, referenced it a little bit earlier, the fighting for a win, you know, slim margins and plays and you know, playing to the final whistle versus all right, we got what we needed out of this game, and let's move on.

I would say the second that it affected your regular season was the second that you stopped caring about the streak. However, remember this is a team that lost JK. Dobbins to a knee injury. Just a few seasons ago playing in a preseason game, and again, you can get hurt on any play in the NFL, understand, But that didn't change anything with what the Ravens have done. And obviously John Harbaugh feels it sets a tone for their culture and where they are. But I would I would think like, as soon as it affected your regular season, they're like, Okay, we're not going to do that anymore. But it doesn't seem to have effected the Ravens. What's you know one bit? Very much?

The Harbaugh next man up, if you ever want to see the application of it. The Dobbins injury would be as like, well, we got Gus Edwards for as long as he's ready to run, we're good. And we moved through. So a couple more preseason games today. We'll see some Trey Lance coming up later on this afternoon. There was some good fireworks in the Raiders forty nine ers the other day. Brock Purdy with extensive reps and struggling against that Raiders defense, and.

The fireworks between Kyle Shanahan and Jimmy Garoppolo just amazing, Like a war of words in the media, almost of revisionist history. And Jimmy gen and saying like, all right, don't believe everything you hear, and then Kyle Shanaan confirming they were looking at Philip Rivers and he was going to sil like there's just there's stuff that doesn't match up with the decisions that were made. So I don't necessarily know who is all telling the truth, but for them to go head to head just weird.

The Philip Rivers story is about as good as it gets, though, the idea that he might have been able to go and potentially win his Super Bowl, yeah, as a member of the forty Whiners after not playing at all, And.

Why didn't Jimmy get surgery? Like that's like the point, like you would have been on ir Hecky was inactive for the NCA.

If he was going to suddenly be ready like there's so much to it, Hey, Katelyn Clark got a butter statue at the Iowa State Fair. I'm turning fifty in a couple months. Should I get a butter statue? If I were ever to get a butter statue, this would be it. Anybody that knows how to sculpt one, let me know. He's Dan. I'm Mike Steve Hartman coming up with Jason Martin X on Fox