The volume. This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. What is up Straight Fire, fam, It's me Jason McIntyre. Straight Fire for Monday, February twenty six. Back from vacation. My old man likes to say a week off for good behavior. I don't know if it was that so much as the end of the football season and there was a some construction going on at Fox, so all the LA shows got the week off last week. It was awesome to be on a break. I won't rub it in that I was on vacation while you were slaving away working. I did go to the Bahamas with the family, not something I had done. Hadn't gone to the Caribbean in a while. And everybody instantly wants to know reviews because they were following me on Instagram and saw some of the videos. There's a new flight jet straight from LA to the Bahamas, because it's you know, if you're living out here in LA, usually you go Hawaii or Cabo. You don't want to fly all the way to the Caribbean. But this new jet Blue Flight rob made it only like a four and a half hour flight there. Now we hit that headwind on the way back, so it was six hours. Not great, But I did watch a couple movies. I saw the new Mission Impossible with Tom Cruise. I guess it's not that new. Have you seen a Rob?

The volume. This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. What is up Straight Fire, fam, It's me Jason McIntyre. Straight Fire for Monday, February twenty six. Back from vacation. My old man likes to say a week off for good behavior. I don't know if it was that so much as the end of the football season and there was a some construction going on at Fox, so all the LA shows got the week off last week. It was awesome to be on a break. I won't rub it in that I was on vacation while you were slaving away working. I did go to the Bahamas with the family, not something I had done. Hadn't gone to the Caribbean in a while. And everybody instantly wants to know reviews because they were following me on Instagram and saw some of the videos. There's a new flight jet straight from LA to the Bahamas, because it's you know, if you're living out here in LA, usually you go Hawaii or Cabo. You don't want to fly all the way to the Caribbean. But this new jet Blue Flight rob made it only like a four and a half hour flight there. Now we hit that headwind on the way back, so it was six hours. Not great, But I did watch a couple movies. I saw the new Mission Impossible with Tom Cruise. I guess it's not that new. Have you seen a Rob?

Absolutely love Tom Cruise.

Absolutely love Tom Cruise.

Dude, It's awesome, really freaking good. I was stunned how good it was. And then on the way back, Oh no, wait, I didn't see anything on the way back because Alaska Air sucks and doesn't have TV, so I had to like watch it on my phone. I'm not a huge fan of that, watching a movie on your phone. I know it's not that much smaller than the actual screen, but on the phone it's just not as awesome. And the movie I saw was called The Creator with the guy from Baller's John. I think Don John David Washington. Have you seen that one? Rob?

Dude, It's awesome, really freaking good. I was stunned how good it was. And then on the way back, Oh no, wait, I didn't see anything on the way back because Alaska Air sucks and doesn't have TV, so I had to like watch it on my phone. I'm not a huge fan of that, watching a movie on your phone. I know it's not that much smaller than the actual screen, but on the phone it's just not as awesome. And the movie I saw was called The Creator with the guy from Baller's John. I think Don John David Washington. Have you seen that one? Rob?

I have not seen that one.

I have not seen that one.

Yeah, okay, so this Both of these are centered around kind of AI ish, and I would assume we'll see a lot more AI movies coming out lately. I thought The Creator was good, a little predictable, but it was entertaining. So both the movies i'd recommend now. As for The Resort, I'm not gonna totally blast them here, but it was just a little too crowded. You know, I'm not into lines waiting for everything. Like. It was the kind of place where we did not go to Atlantis. We went to Baha More, the kind of place where if you wake up, you've got to go down and lock up a chair because if you get down by eight o'clock, all the all the chairs at the pools, pools, multiple pools are gone and you settle for the beach chairs, which aren't bad. But as I haven't been in the Caribbean in forever, I forgot there are no waves at Baha Mare, the little facility with like three hotels, there's no waves in the ocean, so we like didn't really go in the ocean. Hawaii. You got awesome ways. It's fun ride in the waves, you sit out in the water, blah blah blah. And we did go to this water park that they had there on the on the lot, which is incredible. I love a good water park. You know, Lazy River wasn't all that. It was no a Lani Lazy River. Anybody who's been to the Disney resort Alani in Hawaii knows that that is total fire. It's also a shit show in terms of crowds. But the Lazy River is one of the best I've been doing. They have like eight eight hot tubs there. They have like secret hot tubs that you got to like work hard to find. I like a good hot tub. But at the resort we went to, the place was one hundred percent capacity. Couldn't get reservations at the top restaurants, and you go to a hot tub and it's like twenty people. It's like backed. My kids swear they counted forty two at one of the hot tubs. I was like, no way, anyways, enough about my vacation. I did not go on Twitter, I did do Instagram, did not watch much sports. I did a little college basketball gambling. By the way, Monster Day Saturday. It was awesome this past Saturday. And I'll just be brief before we get to actual sports. Now. Luckily nothing happened. It's funny. I try to stay off the device and be present and read and hang with the fam and decompress, unplug, as they say on vacation. And but I did you know text cow herd Oh my gosh, look at this guy coming after me. But by the way, I guess my take on Cam Newton and we'll talk about his incident over the weekend. It really ticked people off. Evan Turner. You guys know him, basketball player Ohio State. Just an awesome basketball player at Ohio State. I think he went second overall in the NBA Draft. He's now retired. He hosts a podcast, because who doesn't. Evan Turner hammers me on some podcast for my Cam Newton take. Cam Newton was a legend. Ye had no shit, Sherlock. Anyways, we're trying to get Evan Turner on the pod. I'm gonna guess he ain't gonna show at any rate. I send that to cow Herd. I'm like, there's nothing going on. We're at the stage in post football where Evan Turner is hammering me on social media, and Coward's like, nothing happened this week. And I get back and I'm texting Rob some stuff, some ideas, and there's not a lot. I'll plead ignorance and I'll hear Rob's thoughts on it later. This JJ Reddick drama. I'm not well versed enough on it to talk about it, but I'm curious with Rob things. And it was like, nothing really happened until this weekend. Fortunately some stuff went down, and I will just wrap up my little vacation monologue here. Obviously I got to get back. My daughter had a volleyball tournament and I go to coach them in sports. Took our worst loss in basketball, my son's team that I've had as a coach, and we lost by twenty very rare. Our best player wasn't there. The other team only had five guys. All their five best players were there. It is a tough one. They're really good. We'll probably see him in the finals. And then my daughter's team had a game. Other team only had three players. They were like, can we borrow a player? And that's never fun. Nobody wants to go. None of the kids wanted to go, and I was like, fine, take our best, big tall girl. She goes over. There is four against five and our kids were getting tired. I know their team should have too. We're trailing it with like six minutes left, sixteen to ten, undefeated record on the line, and I can see it in some of our girls eyes. They're getting nervous. We don't want to lose, so we turn up. You can do full court pressure. Final five minutes we go full court pressure and got back in it. My daughter hits two free throws. Free throws are tough for fifth grade girls, trust me, a lot of bricks, a lot of air balls, and we force overtime. We go up seventeen sixteen, and then you know, they have a player who was on our team last year. She's awesome, probably the best player in the league, club player, and we knew it was going to her, and we you know, caused like a some traffic. She bumps into her own teammate who was sitting a screen loose ball, and we have a breakout and I go to grab my phone because I'm like, oh, this is a great win, awesome comeback. Jim is packed because it's overtime and like you know, the next game and everybody and I turn around to grab my phone and I can't like find it to record the moment. And the girl passes ahead to my daughter who makes a layup at the buzzer and like everybody, just the crowd exploded. It was one of those awesome dad moments, Like what do they call it? A core memory? Like I won't ever forget the look on their face. Everybody's jumping around and like it was just a great comeback, but I don't have any video of it, which sucks, but you know what, that's life sometimes. And then to cap off just an incredible week, I went to see Messi out here face the Galaxy, a buddy of mine who I coached soccer with. He got tickets and I fortunate enough to go. He's like, second row, pretty sick, and what happens. You know, A Galaxy outplayed them the entire game. A guy gets a second yellow card late, and then Messi scores in the ninetieth minute, just an amazing goal, like right in front of us, and you're just like, look at this guy. Messy is just unbelieva. I don't even know what to say. I'm sure a lot of you watched it on Apple TV. I got the Apple em Less package. It was just an awesome week. Rub And now I've rambled way way too freaking long. I am gonna ask Rob before I dive into what I think is an interesting story. I'm curious your thoughts on the whole JJ Reddick thing, assuming you followed it closely. If you didn't, just we can punt on that.

Yeah, okay, so this Both of these are centered around kind of AI ish, and I would assume we'll see a lot more AI movies coming out lately. I thought The Creator was good, a little predictable, but it was entertaining. So both the movies i'd recommend now. As for The Resort, I'm not gonna totally blast them here, but it was just a little too crowded. You know, I'm not into lines waiting for everything. Like. It was the kind of place where we did not go to Atlantis. We went to Baha More, the kind of place where if you wake up, you've got to go down and lock up a chair because if you get down by eight o'clock, all the all the chairs at the pools, pools, multiple pools are gone and you settle for the beach chairs, which aren't bad. But as I haven't been in the Caribbean in forever, I forgot there are no waves at Baha Mare, the little facility with like three hotels, there's no waves in the ocean, so we like didn't really go in the ocean. Hawaii. You got awesome ways. It's fun ride in the waves, you sit out in the water, blah blah blah. And we did go to this water park that they had there on the on the lot, which is incredible. I love a good water park. You know, Lazy River wasn't all that. It was no a Lani Lazy River. Anybody who's been to the Disney resort Alani in Hawaii knows that that is total fire. It's also a shit show in terms of crowds. But the Lazy River is one of the best I've been doing. They have like eight eight hot tubs there. They have like secret hot tubs that you got to like work hard to find. I like a good hot tub. But at the resort we went to, the place was one hundred percent capacity. Couldn't get reservations at the top restaurants, and you go to a hot tub and it's like twenty people. It's like backed. My kids swear they counted forty two at one of the hot tubs. I was like, no way, anyways, enough about my vacation. I did not go on Twitter, I did do Instagram, did not watch much sports. I did a little college basketball gambling. By the way, Monster Day Saturday. It was awesome this past Saturday. And I'll just be brief before we get to actual sports. Now. Luckily nothing happened. It's funny. I try to stay off the device and be present and read and hang with the fam and decompress, unplug, as they say on vacation. And but I did you know text cow herd Oh my gosh, look at this guy coming after me. But by the way, I guess my take on Cam Newton and we'll talk about his incident over the weekend. It really ticked people off. Evan Turner. You guys know him, basketball player Ohio State. Just an awesome basketball player at Ohio State. I think he went second overall in the NBA Draft. He's now retired. He hosts a podcast, because who doesn't. Evan Turner hammers me on some podcast for my Cam Newton take. Cam Newton was a legend. Ye had no shit, Sherlock. Anyways, we're trying to get Evan Turner on the pod. I'm gonna guess he ain't gonna show at any rate. I send that to cow Herd. I'm like, there's nothing going on. We're at the stage in post football where Evan Turner is hammering me on social media, and Coward's like, nothing happened this week. And I get back and I'm texting Rob some stuff, some ideas, and there's not a lot. I'll plead ignorance and I'll hear Rob's thoughts on it later. This JJ Reddick drama. I'm not well versed enough on it to talk about it, but I'm curious with Rob things. And it was like, nothing really happened until this weekend. Fortunately some stuff went down, and I will just wrap up my little vacation monologue here. Obviously I got to get back. My daughter had a volleyball tournament and I go to coach them in sports. Took our worst loss in basketball, my son's team that I've had as a coach, and we lost by twenty very rare. Our best player wasn't there. The other team only had five guys. All their five best players were there. It is a tough one. They're really good. We'll probably see him in the finals. And then my daughter's team had a game. Other team only had three players. They were like, can we borrow a player? And that's never fun. Nobody wants to go. None of the kids wanted to go, and I was like, fine, take our best, big tall girl. She goes over. There is four against five and our kids were getting tired. I know their team should have too. We're trailing it with like six minutes left, sixteen to ten, undefeated record on the line, and I can see it in some of our girls eyes. They're getting nervous. We don't want to lose, so we turn up. You can do full court pressure. Final five minutes we go full court pressure and got back in it. My daughter hits two free throws. Free throws are tough for fifth grade girls, trust me, a lot of bricks, a lot of air balls, and we force overtime. We go up seventeen sixteen, and then you know, they have a player who was on our team last year. She's awesome, probably the best player in the league, club player, and we knew it was going to her, and we you know, caused like a some traffic. She bumps into her own teammate who was sitting a screen loose ball, and we have a breakout and I go to grab my phone because I'm like, oh, this is a great win, awesome comeback. Jim is packed because it's overtime and like you know, the next game and everybody and I turn around to grab my phone and I can't like find it to record the moment. And the girl passes ahead to my daughter who makes a layup at the buzzer and like everybody, just the crowd exploded. It was one of those awesome dad moments, Like what do they call it? A core memory? Like I won't ever forget the look on their face. Everybody's jumping around and like it was just a great comeback, but I don't have any video of it, which sucks, but you know what, that's life sometimes. And then to cap off just an incredible week, I went to see Messi out here face the Galaxy, a buddy of mine who I coached soccer with. He got tickets and I fortunate enough to go. He's like, second row, pretty sick, and what happens. You know, A Galaxy outplayed them the entire game. A guy gets a second yellow card late, and then Messi scores in the ninetieth minute, just an amazing goal, like right in front of us, and you're just like, look at this guy. Messy is just unbelieva. I don't even know what to say. I'm sure a lot of you watched it on Apple TV. I got the Apple em Less package. It was just an awesome week. Rub And now I've rambled way way too freaking long. I am gonna ask Rob before I dive into what I think is an interesting story. I'm curious your thoughts on the whole JJ Reddick thing, assuming you followed it closely. If you didn't, just we can punt on that.

Oh no, I definitely followed it. That was one of those stories that had the sports media in a choke hold for like a good sixteen hours because at the time that it dropped, it was early East Coast time during First Take, so you had Doug gott Labe, who was feeling for you guys on the Herd all the way down until you know, midnight Eastern. All these different shows on every single outlet had a thought on it because they all interpreted his comments differently. The way I interpreted it was this is kind of normal for JJ to me at this point. He's a great NBA analyst. I enjoy watching him on the broadcast. He has great insight. His podcast that he does separately from the First Take stuff is very insightful. You learn a lot about basketball. He has great conversations People's reasonally had Luka Dancic. I thought it was a good podcast. I think he's very good at it. He's also the kind of guy who goes on First Take regularly and seems like he is just completely turned off by the format. So when he goes on this little most recent rant saying I did a video talking about Zion playing points center and it got fifty four thousand views, and then I have this thing where I take a shot at an next coach, he gets multiple ten tens of millions, you know, like what does that saying? And it's like, well, duh, like that's what happens on do So for him to go on a debate show and get mad at the format of a debate show to me was rich, Like that you have to know what you're doing. Like, if you want to talk about x's and o's on your podcast in that form, absolutely, one hundred percent there's an audience for that. But if you want to go on first Take where the format is literally strong opinions quote unquote hot takes, and you're mad that people would rather hear strong opinions and hot takes and drama than x's and o's, Like, you're just in the wrong line of work, buddy, hmm.

Oh no, I definitely followed it. That was one of those stories that had the sports media in a choke hold for like a good sixteen hours because at the time that it dropped, it was early East Coast time during First Take, so you had Doug gott Labe, who was feeling for you guys on the Herd all the way down until you know, midnight Eastern. All these different shows on every single outlet had a thought on it because they all interpreted his comments differently. The way I interpreted it was this is kind of normal for JJ to me at this point. He's a great NBA analyst. I enjoy watching him on the broadcast. He has great insight. His podcast that he does separately from the First Take stuff is very insightful. You learn a lot about basketball. He has great conversations People's reasonally had Luka Dancic. I thought it was a good podcast. I think he's very good at it. He's also the kind of guy who goes on First Take regularly and seems like he is just completely turned off by the format. So when he goes on this little most recent rant saying I did a video talking about Zion playing points center and it got fifty four thousand views, and then I have this thing where I take a shot at an next coach, he gets multiple ten tens of millions, you know, like what does that saying? And it's like, well, duh, like that's what happens on do So for him to go on a debate show and get mad at the format of a debate show to me was rich, Like that you have to know what you're doing. Like, if you want to talk about x's and o's on your podcast in that form, absolutely, one hundred percent there's an audience for that. But if you want to go on first Take where the format is literally strong opinions quote unquote hot takes, and you're mad that people would rather hear strong opinions and hot takes and drama than x's and o's, Like, you're just in the wrong line of work, buddy, hmm.

Interesting, Well, as I sure you would agree he's not wrong, right, sure, Zion Williamson right. And I hate to say it, but like the American sports fan doesn't want the highbrow shit. They just don't. They don't want a you know, nine minute breakdown of Zion Williams. And now I know people are gonna say you're generalizing, Yeah I am, because what do you want to reach like the a tiny audience and your show goes off the air, or do you want to reach the most people possible. Why do you think Lebron and the Lakers are a topic all the time when they're what the ninth seed in the West. Well, I think Steph Curry Warriors ten seed in the West, they were a topic all the freaking time. Is anybody do anybody talking Timberwolves number one? Okay, see number two. Nobody's talking about them. That's just how it works. Unfortunately, they have small fan bases, they're in small cities and people perform stars. Now again, we on this podcast were fortunate, like nobody's stepping in saying, hey, talk about this. Rob and I discuss it, and what we say goes. Now, if we go off the rails and we want to talk no disrespect to baseball, it's fun. I love going to Dodger game. If we want to open the podcast with baseball, like four days in a row, like right before the NFL Draft, the numbers will crater and the people who pay me will say, we're not gonna pay if you're not gonna deliver numbers. And maybe that happens anyway, I don't know. I want to talk college basketball. I'm champing at the bit to talk college basketball. I can't really do it, but there is in the audience. I start in a college basketball man, I don't have any ukon futures, but I probably should huh, and guys will start fast forwarding that's what happens, or they just see in the content. Well, this is not an NFL, this is not an NBA. This is gonna be a college basketball and I'm not gonna listen that one. I'm gonna go see what Let me see what Joe Rogan has. Let me see what this guy has. This guy, and you're gonna look around like I've got to, as they say, play the hits. Get in on the action with Draftking Sportsbook and official sports betting partner the NBA. New customers who deposit five dollars or more can get a no sweat bet up to one thousand dollars back in a bonus bet. Remember, download the Draft King Sportsbook app now and use code straight fire. New customers can get a no sweat bet up to eight thousand dollars if your first bet loses only on DraftKings sports Book with code straight Fire. The Crown is yours gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler or visit www dot one eight hundred gambler dot net. In New York called eight seven seven eight hope and Why, or text hope and Why four six seven three sixty nine. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling called eight eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven or visit CCPG dot org. Please play responsibly on behalf of boot Hill Casino and Resort in Kansas twenty one plus. Age varies by jurisdiction, Void and Ontario. Bonus bets expire one hundred and sixty eight hours after issuance. See dkg dot com slash football for eligibility and deposit restrictions, terms and responsible gaming resources. And I'm going to open what I think is again the most interesting story I know, Cam Newton is interesting, but I'll tell you why I didn't open with it. I think the Kevin Durant incident where he walks onto the court. He's jogging onto the court and Kevin Durant runs by the fans who came into the first row to take videos, get photos, whatever, and this woman yells Kevin Durant, you bitch, and Katie here's it turns around what walks right over and you're like, oh, good, kick these idiots out. And the video is so incredible because the woman's face instantly turns from oh no, I stepped in two, ooh, let me try to make a wrong or right. Let me put a smile on it, and she like sticks her hand and she said, Katie, what's up? But she's like spilling her beer because clearly she's on like beer two or three. And the husband's like, oh, I got a sports podcast. I was like, okay, Well, Kevin Durant cannot win here. If he gets these losers kicked out, they've got content for their podcast. Kevin Durant kicked me out of the arena, okay, if he says nothing? Did you have these jibbroni fans who want to get liquored up and then yell that players are bitches and mf's and all this stuff, right, and that's just gonna continue. So Kevin Durant can't win, except he kind of sort of did. He went back to them, listened to them, was like, you can't talk to people like that, and then walks away. Did not have them kicked out? He could have he did not, and so hopefully a lesson was learned here. I'm not optimistic because, as I just said, a moment ago, I lost faith in a lot of sports fans, obviously not the listeners of this podcast. But it's just disappointing that now those wackos are a story because they call because the woman called Kadi a bi tch? All right to me, that's wrong. Now, the Sons did go on and beat the Lakers yesterday, and the Sons are up for the moment, and I mean briefly with leading tie breakers in the sixth spot. But I do want to I just want to ask you, guys this about Kevin Durant and Rob. I haven't fully drilled down on this, but a couple of weeks ago, Kevin Durant made basically asked the question like, why am I not considered the go Why is it Lebron George? Why not me? Why am I not in that discussion? And as you guys know, I thought there was a time when KD was on the Warriors that he was the best player in the league. They were the best team, a historically great team, and he was the two time finals MVP. I know Curry was the engine and Draymond this and Clay was that, I don't that's fine. In the finals, KD obliterated Lebron had to head. It was one of those moments, and I still remember, I think it was Game three. Kad comes down the court late and I worked on this shot so many times because that's how I remember. It was Game three, Warriors up to nothing, and he does like the cross and he like kind of picks up the dribble all of one fluid motion and drains the three of Lebron's eye with like a minute left, and it was like, oh my gosh, what a dagger. And it was one of those is this your king from Black Panther, one of those references like Kevin Durantz better right now? He had a stack team and Lebron had Kyrie. They ended up losing four to one. The next year, KD beat A four to zero, and KD was on top of the world. I just want to remind you guys. I know he had the unfortunate injury, but before Golden State got to the finals with OKC, they traded hard and I'm not blaming him for that. They never got back to the finals after Golden State. He goes to the Nets with Kyrie. I don't want to call it a debacle, but it was a bit of a poop show. They almost beat the Bucks a year the Bucks on the title there was like the Kevin Durant, you know, inch on the three point line. In his final year with the Nets, they got swept by Jason Tatum and I'm talking swept out the gym. Last year they lose to the Nuggets four two. KD had had two really really good games, but ultimately Denver had a better team. And now it's like, okay, they're fluctuated between six, seven, eight, ninet ten and Rob KT's thirty five now turn thirty six in September. He's got an injury history that's, you know, not great. I like Kevin Durant man, you know that, even though we've had our issues, but back and forths. I just wonder if they say they go down in the plane, which is entirely possible, Okay, I think Dallas probably gets them, and if they meet in the plane. I don't know about Sacramento. I don't know about the Pelicans. I think the Lakers would beat them in the play in I don't know about the Warriors, but if Phoenix somehow loses in the plane, what do we do with Kevin Durant? And again, he's still got time to add to his legacy. But a lot of tread on those tires, a lot of injuries. You got swept by Tatum in Brooklyn. I know there's injuries in the Harden and Ben Simmons and Guyri, I get it. A lot of weird stuff happening. You demand it out. You can't lose in the plan here, you can't. Not two months prior saying why am I not in the Goat conversation, I don't know. I'm a little worried about Kevin Durant. Rob, That's my roundabout way of saying, I'm a little worried now. Bradley Beal's injury obviously not great. But I'll tell you right now, Royce O'Neal, I didn't say three is a game in the playoffs, Grace and Allen A hitting six three is a game in the playoffs. This is just not happening. And Rob, I'm concerned for KD because I feel like, I mean, the guy has two titles and two finals. MVPs. Charles Barkley has none, and we're gonna see Barkley go on TV if the Sun's losing the play in and get bounced and just dog about. And I'm gonna need to remind people that Charles Barkley jumped around teams multiple times chasing a ring and did not get one. Okay, I like KD a lot. Rob. I'm starting to get concerned because I don't know if this Phoenix thing is gonna pan out. They can't. If they have to match up with, say the Nuggets, they're screwed. You'll getcha annihilates them. I think Anthony Davis gives them massive, massive problems. Valentunas and Zion are probably gonna be a problem if they may match up in the play in, and Luka Doncic will destroy an eviscerate the lack of Sun's defense. I think Phoenix is in big trouble, Rob.

Interesting, Well, as I sure you would agree he's not wrong, right, sure, Zion Williamson right. And I hate to say it, but like the American sports fan doesn't want the highbrow shit. They just don't. They don't want a you know, nine minute breakdown of Zion Williams. And now I know people are gonna say you're generalizing, Yeah I am, because what do you want to reach like the a tiny audience and your show goes off the air, or do you want to reach the most people possible. Why do you think Lebron and the Lakers are a topic all the time when they're what the ninth seed in the West. Well, I think Steph Curry Warriors ten seed in the West, they were a topic all the freaking time. Is anybody do anybody talking Timberwolves number one? Okay, see number two. Nobody's talking about them. That's just how it works. Unfortunately, they have small fan bases, they're in small cities and people perform stars. Now again, we on this podcast were fortunate, like nobody's stepping in saying, hey, talk about this. Rob and I discuss it, and what we say goes. Now, if we go off the rails and we want to talk no disrespect to baseball, it's fun. I love going to Dodger game. If we want to open the podcast with baseball, like four days in a row, like right before the NFL Draft, the numbers will crater and the people who pay me will say, we're not gonna pay if you're not gonna deliver numbers. And maybe that happens anyway, I don't know. I want to talk college basketball. I'm champing at the bit to talk college basketball. I can't really do it, but there is in the audience. I start in a college basketball man, I don't have any ukon futures, but I probably should huh, and guys will start fast forwarding that's what happens, or they just see in the content. Well, this is not an NFL, this is not an NBA. This is gonna be a college basketball and I'm not gonna listen that one. I'm gonna go see what Let me see what Joe Rogan has. Let me see what this guy has. This guy, and you're gonna look around like I've got to, as they say, play the hits. Get in on the action with Draftking Sportsbook and official sports betting partner the NBA. New customers who deposit five dollars or more can get a no sweat bet up to one thousand dollars back in a bonus bet. Remember, download the Draft King Sportsbook app now and use code straight fire. New customers can get a no sweat bet up to eight thousand dollars if your first bet loses only on DraftKings sports Book with code straight Fire. The Crown is yours gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler or visit www dot one eight hundred gambler dot net. In New York called eight seven seven eight hope and Why, or text hope and Why four six seven three sixty nine. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling called eight eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven or visit CCPG dot org. Please play responsibly on behalf of boot Hill Casino and Resort in Kansas twenty one plus. Age varies by jurisdiction, Void and Ontario. Bonus bets expire one hundred and sixty eight hours after issuance. See dkg dot com slash football for eligibility and deposit restrictions, terms and responsible gaming resources. And I'm going to open what I think is again the most interesting story I know, Cam Newton is interesting, but I'll tell you why I didn't open with it. I think the Kevin Durant incident where he walks onto the court. He's jogging onto the court and Kevin Durant runs by the fans who came into the first row to take videos, get photos, whatever, and this woman yells Kevin Durant, you bitch, and Katie here's it turns around what walks right over and you're like, oh, good, kick these idiots out. And the video is so incredible because the woman's face instantly turns from oh no, I stepped in two, ooh, let me try to make a wrong or right. Let me put a smile on it, and she like sticks her hand and she said, Katie, what's up? But she's like spilling her beer because clearly she's on like beer two or three. And the husband's like, oh, I got a sports podcast. I was like, okay, Well, Kevin Durant cannot win here. If he gets these losers kicked out, they've got content for their podcast. Kevin Durant kicked me out of the arena, okay, if he says nothing? Did you have these jibbroni fans who want to get liquored up and then yell that players are bitches and mf's and all this stuff, right, and that's just gonna continue. So Kevin Durant can't win, except he kind of sort of did. He went back to them, listened to them, was like, you can't talk to people like that, and then walks away. Did not have them kicked out? He could have he did not, and so hopefully a lesson was learned here. I'm not optimistic because, as I just said, a moment ago, I lost faith in a lot of sports fans, obviously not the listeners of this podcast. But it's just disappointing that now those wackos are a story because they call because the woman called Kadi a bi tch? All right to me, that's wrong. Now, the Sons did go on and beat the Lakers yesterday, and the Sons are up for the moment, and I mean briefly with leading tie breakers in the sixth spot. But I do want to I just want to ask you, guys this about Kevin Durant and Rob. I haven't fully drilled down on this, but a couple of weeks ago, Kevin Durant made basically asked the question like, why am I not considered the go Why is it Lebron George? Why not me? Why am I not in that discussion? And as you guys know, I thought there was a time when KD was on the Warriors that he was the best player in the league. They were the best team, a historically great team, and he was the two time finals MVP. I know Curry was the engine and Draymond this and Clay was that, I don't that's fine. In the finals, KD obliterated Lebron had to head. It was one of those moments, and I still remember, I think it was Game three. Kad comes down the court late and I worked on this shot so many times because that's how I remember. It was Game three, Warriors up to nothing, and he does like the cross and he like kind of picks up the dribble all of one fluid motion and drains the three of Lebron's eye with like a minute left, and it was like, oh my gosh, what a dagger. And it was one of those is this your king from Black Panther, one of those references like Kevin Durantz better right now? He had a stack team and Lebron had Kyrie. They ended up losing four to one. The next year, KD beat A four to zero, and KD was on top of the world. I just want to remind you guys. I know he had the unfortunate injury, but before Golden State got to the finals with OKC, they traded hard and I'm not blaming him for that. They never got back to the finals after Golden State. He goes to the Nets with Kyrie. I don't want to call it a debacle, but it was a bit of a poop show. They almost beat the Bucks a year the Bucks on the title there was like the Kevin Durant, you know, inch on the three point line. In his final year with the Nets, they got swept by Jason Tatum and I'm talking swept out the gym. Last year they lose to the Nuggets four two. KD had had two really really good games, but ultimately Denver had a better team. And now it's like, okay, they're fluctuated between six, seven, eight, ninet ten and Rob KT's thirty five now turn thirty six in September. He's got an injury history that's, you know, not great. I like Kevin Durant man, you know that, even though we've had our issues, but back and forths. I just wonder if they say they go down in the plane, which is entirely possible, Okay, I think Dallas probably gets them, and if they meet in the plane. I don't know about Sacramento. I don't know about the Pelicans. I think the Lakers would beat them in the play in I don't know about the Warriors, but if Phoenix somehow loses in the plane, what do we do with Kevin Durant? And again, he's still got time to add to his legacy. But a lot of tread on those tires, a lot of injuries. You got swept by Tatum in Brooklyn. I know there's injuries in the Harden and Ben Simmons and Guyri, I get it. A lot of weird stuff happening. You demand it out. You can't lose in the plan here, you can't. Not two months prior saying why am I not in the Goat conversation, I don't know. I'm a little worried about Kevin Durant. Rob, That's my roundabout way of saying, I'm a little worried now. Bradley Beal's injury obviously not great. But I'll tell you right now, Royce O'Neal, I didn't say three is a game in the playoffs, Grace and Allen A hitting six three is a game in the playoffs. This is just not happening. And Rob, I'm concerned for KD because I feel like, I mean, the guy has two titles and two finals. MVPs. Charles Barkley has none, and we're gonna see Barkley go on TV if the Sun's losing the play in and get bounced and just dog about. And I'm gonna need to remind people that Charles Barkley jumped around teams multiple times chasing a ring and did not get one. Okay, I like KD a lot. Rob. I'm starting to get concerned because I don't know if this Phoenix thing is gonna pan out. They can't. If they have to match up with, say the Nuggets, they're screwed. You'll getcha annihilates them. I think Anthony Davis gives them massive, massive problems. Valentunas and Zion are probably gonna be a problem if they may match up in the play in, and Luka Doncic will destroy an eviscerate the lack of Sun's defense. I think Phoenix is in big trouble, Rob.

Yeah, I can't say I disagree. And that's even on the heels of them basically obliterating my Lakers on Sunday. They were up twenty in the first quarter. The Lakers made it close there at the end, but he was never really in doubt. I thought for Phoenix in that game. But my thoughts on Kevin Durant in this situation are twofold. My one Galaxy brain thought, and we talked before the pod, was I'd almost rather be in the playing if I'm in the Western Conference than be in that five to six seed, only because if the standings hold as they are right now entering you know, Monday February twenty sixth, and it's Minnesota and okay, see at the top, I'd much rather face one of those two teams in the seven eight seed than I would the Clippers or the Nuggets, only because of the experience factor. If you're gonna face teams at the top of the standings, teams that have been better than you throughout the regular season in a postseason setting, you'd much rather face a team that hasn't done it before, that doesn't have the championship pedigree like Denver, or doesn't have the veteran roster like the Clippers do.

Yeah, I can't say I disagree. And that's even on the heels of them basically obliterating my Lakers on Sunday. They were up twenty in the first quarter. The Lakers made it close there at the end, but he was never really in doubt. I thought for Phoenix in that game. But my thoughts on Kevin Durant in this situation are twofold. My one Galaxy brain thought, and we talked before the pod, was I'd almost rather be in the playing if I'm in the Western Conference than be in that five to six seed, only because if the standings hold as they are right now entering you know, Monday February twenty sixth, and it's Minnesota and okay, see at the top, I'd much rather face one of those two teams in the seven eight seed than I would the Clippers or the Nuggets, only because of the experience factor. If you're gonna face teams at the top of the standings, teams that have been better than you throughout the regular season in a postseason setting, you'd much rather face a team that hasn't done it before, that doesn't have the championship pedigree like Denver, or doesn't have the veteran roster like the Clippers do.

I like that.

I like that.

So that's one. But as far as Kevin Durant goes his legacy, if they let's say in this scenario, they lose in the playing game is very, very complicated, And that's coming from someone myself who said he was a top ten player all time, like four years ago, so you would think that in that time that was the same series that he you alluded to it toe was on the three point line. If his toe is you know, an inch and a half back, it's a different conversation. You would think within from that moment to now, he'd only be adding to his resume, only be adding to his legacy, only be adding to what would make came in my eyes, a top ten player, And the exact opposite has happened. They had the debacle in Brooklyn where they want exactly one playoff series. There was a thing on Twitter that Kate even responded to he had more trade demands out of Brooklyn. Then playoff series won like that, that's the truth. That then the harsh reality that that team in Brooklyn is, for my money, the most disappointing collection of talent in the history of NBA relatives expectations. So that's one he goes. Then he then he you know, gets destroyed by Jason Tatum and the and the Boston Celtics a four game suite. Finally, as the Phoenix, they win one playoff series and in this scenario they get bounced out of the play. And again, the one thing, the gaping hole in Kevin Durant's resume, in my opinion, is that he's never led a team to a championship. And when you're debating guys of his stature and his skill level, that's it's almost always the intangibles, the rings, the things that you can't truly quantify. It's why Steph Curry, even though I leave Kevin durant' is a better player than Steph Curry. Steph Curry is always going to be held in a higher regard because he was the guy who led his teams the championships. Away from Kevin Durant, He's got two more. Kevin Durant himself says he's had a complicated relationship with the word leader, that he's never considered himself to be a leader. He leads by example. He's never been the kind of guy to Galvani as a locker room. That's just not his personality. So for all of his skills and all of his talent, and and just watching him play and you realize how great he is if for whatever reason, that is never culminated with the championship where he's the unquestioned lead dog or even in this case, a conference finals appearance where he's the lead dog beyond what happened in Golden State. It's gonna get really dicey for him when you have that big picture conversation. Yeah, I don't.

So that's one. But as far as Kevin Durant goes his legacy, if they let's say in this scenario, they lose in the playing game is very, very complicated, And that's coming from someone myself who said he was a top ten player all time, like four years ago, so you would think that in that time that was the same series that he you alluded to it toe was on the three point line. If his toe is you know, an inch and a half back, it's a different conversation. You would think within from that moment to now, he'd only be adding to his resume, only be adding to his legacy, only be adding to what would make came in my eyes, a top ten player, And the exact opposite has happened. They had the debacle in Brooklyn where they want exactly one playoff series. There was a thing on Twitter that Kate even responded to he had more trade demands out of Brooklyn. Then playoff series won like that, that's the truth. That then the harsh reality that that team in Brooklyn is, for my money, the most disappointing collection of talent in the history of NBA relatives expectations. So that's one he goes. Then he then he you know, gets destroyed by Jason Tatum and the and the Boston Celtics a four game suite. Finally, as the Phoenix, they win one playoff series and in this scenario they get bounced out of the play. And again, the one thing, the gaping hole in Kevin Durant's resume, in my opinion, is that he's never led a team to a championship. And when you're debating guys of his stature and his skill level, that's it's almost always the intangibles, the rings, the things that you can't truly quantify. It's why Steph Curry, even though I leave Kevin durant' is a better player than Steph Curry. Steph Curry is always going to be held in a higher regard because he was the guy who led his teams the championships. Away from Kevin Durant, He's got two more. Kevin Durant himself says he's had a complicated relationship with the word leader, that he's never considered himself to be a leader. He leads by example. He's never been the kind of guy to Galvani as a locker room. That's just not his personality. So for all of his skills and all of his talent, and and just watching him play and you realize how great he is if for whatever reason, that is never culminated with the championship where he's the unquestioned lead dog or even in this case, a conference finals appearance where he's the lead dog beyond what happened in Golden State. It's gonna get really dicey for him when you have that big picture conversation. Yeah, I don't.

I don't see him transitioning to the media either. Do you know he's made too much money? Yeah? No, no, no, I mean.

I don't see him transitioning to the media either. Do you know he's made too much money? Yeah? No, no, no, I mean.

Other than his own his own content where no one really challenged. Does him on anything than sure?

Other than his own his own content where no one really challenged. Does him on anything than sure?

Yeah?

Yeah?

But other than that.

But other than that.

Now yeah, speaking of being challenged, I just I don't know what to do with the Cam Newton thing. So you know, he hosts a seven on seven thing for flag football. And I only know about this because no fewer than fifty people tagged me or texted me or DM me about it. At his camp this weekend, I believe it was Sunday, Cam got basically jumped by some of the coaches from one of the flag football teams. I don't it's unclear what it was about. But there's all these videos circulating of these guys attacking Cam. One of them sucker punches him, And I just want to remind you guys, at this time, Cam Newton's like six foot five, two hundred and forty pounds. Maybe that's generous in his retirement. He is a massive individual. I was talking to a couple people who were at Radio Row and they, of course, Jason Newer, I'm sure he wants to talk to you. You gotta see it. By the way, he's huge. Yeah, no shit, all of them said, he's just a large, massive person. Yet here we are some tough guy football coaches taking swings at him, and of course once Cam I didn't I didn't see him go down in the video, but it's like him arguing with two guys and then someone comes up to throws a sucker punch and then next thing you know, Cam's ragged alling these chumps and he gets pulled away from the pile and blah blah blah. But it's just an ugly video and Cam, for whatever reason, is and this is where it's tough for me. I have a couple of hot takes on what the hell happened, but I don't in an absence of facts, I'm not gonna just fill the void with speculation, baseless stuff and come up with hot takes. I have some hot takes on this, I don't think they're friendly. I don't think they're nice, so I'm not gonna say them. And no, I'm not being a woos. I don't know what prompted this. I don't know who these guys are. Let's how about this. I will come up with and I will present my theory once we find out what the hell happened. Like, were these guys inebriated? I have no idea. I can't imagine. It's broad daylight and you're attacking Cam Newton at his own football camp. Seems weird, But I just I can't go in on him for this, and it's tough for me to have a take. And I know, listen, I'm gonna get into the JJ Redditt conversation all of a sudden. You don't have to have a take on everything. This is super interesting. I think it's a little sad. I don't like that Cam has become a flash point now in the media over the last few months. I think there's some you know, digging into why that's happening. He's getting aggressive, you know, calling all these guys game managers. And I know game managing is not the worst thing in the world, but the way he framed it, it came off as game managers are basically average quarterbacks and a mid as the kids like to say. And it's just he seems to be getting in all these incidents, shall we say. And I just wonder, like, you know, what's life like for former quarterbacks? And you know, I was talking with Rob about some of them, you know, like Donovan mcdab transitioned to the media, did a bunch of Fox stuff, Tom Brady transitioned to the booth, Peyton Manning has transitioned into like a media company that's probably gonna sell for a ton of money, right. Ben Roethlisberger's kind of puttering around and doing podcasts, and I guess trying to make some noise. Tony Romo's down the booth announcing like what's Cam doing getting in fights at a flag football camp? Now, I guess you could argue like, oh, he didn't get a fight, these guys attacked him. Okay, well why, maybe it'll come out. I don't know, Rob, It's just it's a weird story. It's interesting, the visuals are stunning and sad. But am I wrong that Cam's just in the news for all the wrong reasons lately?

Now yeah, speaking of being challenged, I just I don't know what to do with the Cam Newton thing. So you know, he hosts a seven on seven thing for flag football. And I only know about this because no fewer than fifty people tagged me or texted me or DM me about it. At his camp this weekend, I believe it was Sunday, Cam got basically jumped by some of the coaches from one of the flag football teams. I don't it's unclear what it was about. But there's all these videos circulating of these guys attacking Cam. One of them sucker punches him, And I just want to remind you guys, at this time, Cam Newton's like six foot five, two hundred and forty pounds. Maybe that's generous in his retirement. He is a massive individual. I was talking to a couple people who were at Radio Row and they, of course, Jason Newer, I'm sure he wants to talk to you. You gotta see it. By the way, he's huge. Yeah, no shit, all of them said, he's just a large, massive person. Yet here we are some tough guy football coaches taking swings at him, and of course once Cam I didn't I didn't see him go down in the video, but it's like him arguing with two guys and then someone comes up to throws a sucker punch and then next thing you know, Cam's ragged alling these chumps and he gets pulled away from the pile and blah blah blah. But it's just an ugly video and Cam, for whatever reason, is and this is where it's tough for me. I have a couple of hot takes on what the hell happened, but I don't in an absence of facts, I'm not gonna just fill the void with speculation, baseless stuff and come up with hot takes. I have some hot takes on this, I don't think they're friendly. I don't think they're nice, so I'm not gonna say them. And no, I'm not being a woos. I don't know what prompted this. I don't know who these guys are. Let's how about this. I will come up with and I will present my theory once we find out what the hell happened. Like, were these guys inebriated? I have no idea. I can't imagine. It's broad daylight and you're attacking Cam Newton at his own football camp. Seems weird, But I just I can't go in on him for this, and it's tough for me to have a take. And I know, listen, I'm gonna get into the JJ Redditt conversation all of a sudden. You don't have to have a take on everything. This is super interesting. I think it's a little sad. I don't like that Cam has become a flash point now in the media over the last few months. I think there's some you know, digging into why that's happening. He's getting aggressive, you know, calling all these guys game managers. And I know game managing is not the worst thing in the world, but the way he framed it, it came off as game managers are basically average quarterbacks and a mid as the kids like to say. And it's just he seems to be getting in all these incidents, shall we say. And I just wonder, like, you know, what's life like for former quarterbacks? And you know, I was talking with Rob about some of them, you know, like Donovan mcdab transitioned to the media, did a bunch of Fox stuff, Tom Brady transitioned to the booth, Peyton Manning has transitioned into like a media company that's probably gonna sell for a ton of money, right. Ben Roethlisberger's kind of puttering around and doing podcasts, and I guess trying to make some noise. Tony Romo's down the booth announcing like what's Cam doing getting in fights at a flag football camp? Now, I guess you could argue like, oh, he didn't get a fight, these guys attacked him. Okay, well why, maybe it'll come out. I don't know, Rob, It's just it's a weird story. It's interesting, the visuals are stunning and sad. But am I wrong that Cam's just in the news for all the wrong reasons lately?

Not entirely I mean, I understand this obviously is not a good look. Again, we'll find out in the coming days exactly what led to this and why these gentlemen decided to swing on him first, because that's all the video show that they kind of attacked him. So we'll find out, I'm sure here in the coming days. But one thing that I'll say about Cam Newton, and I really like him, even if I disagree with his paint on my guy Brock party, because rock Party's my dude. I like Cam Newton. I think he's very entertaining. I like to watch him speak. I think his podcast is very good. I used to enjoy watching him play. The one criticism that I've had of Cam Newton, even going back to at the height of his glory days in Carolina, was that I thought that he allowed other people to touch him quote unquote the words like he allows other people access to him too easily. He went down to the celebrations in the end zone. How many times would we see highlights where he'd score, he'd do the Superman reveal, he'd dab in someone's face and people would get upset about it, like almost, you know, a couple times a season at least that would happen. Some defensive back would wouldn't like it. They'd push him, they shove him, whatever. And it's all in good fun. So I would enjoy watching it as a fan, but as somebody you know in the sports world, so to speak, I didn't want that from my quarterback. Like, let the running backs do that, let the wide receivers do that. I don't need my quarterback to be doing stuff like that. And even now into retirement, this is not even the first incident that I can recall on top of my head that Kem Newton has had at a camp. There was one a few years ago. I don't know if you recall where a teenage boy was yelling at him from the sideline and Can got right in his face. No, I remember, and he didn't say anything derogatory. Cam Can was very, you know, as respectful as he could be to a kid. He was talking shit that like three feet away from him. But it's like, you don't need to allow yourself to get in those positions, always need to respond. You don't always need to be in the mix and allow people to get that close to you when you are the quarterback, when you are the presidential candidate of your franchise. And I feel like that's something that's kind of followed Cam into retirement because I was at radio role at the Super Bowl. Everywhere Cam went there was a throng of people, and Cam, being the personality that he is, was engaging with him. He'd be yelling across the room to people. Not again, it was always in fun and it was nothing malicious because not in that setting. But if you keep doing that enough, you're gonna end up in situations, unfortunately, where you're gonna end up with clowns and guys who have nothing to lose, and guys who think that it's okay to swing on a six five and forty pounds man at a flag football event. Like at some point, if you're Cam Noon, you have to understand who you are and just kind of separate from those situations, because I'm sure those guys don't swing on him if he doesn't say anything back, you know what I mean, Like he's he's he's I have a hard time again. Maybe we'll find out in the coming days. It was totally unprompted, but I imagine there was some kind of john going on, and these guys took it too far.

Not entirely I mean, I understand this obviously is not a good look. Again, we'll find out in the coming days exactly what led to this and why these gentlemen decided to swing on him first, because that's all the video show that they kind of attacked him. So we'll find out, I'm sure here in the coming days. But one thing that I'll say about Cam Newton, and I really like him, even if I disagree with his paint on my guy Brock party, because rock Party's my dude. I like Cam Newton. I think he's very entertaining. I like to watch him speak. I think his podcast is very good. I used to enjoy watching him play. The one criticism that I've had of Cam Newton, even going back to at the height of his glory days in Carolina, was that I thought that he allowed other people to touch him quote unquote the words like he allows other people access to him too easily. He went down to the celebrations in the end zone. How many times would we see highlights where he'd score, he'd do the Superman reveal, he'd dab in someone's face and people would get upset about it, like almost, you know, a couple times a season at least that would happen. Some defensive back would wouldn't like it. They'd push him, they shove him, whatever. And it's all in good fun. So I would enjoy watching it as a fan, but as somebody you know in the sports world, so to speak, I didn't want that from my quarterback. Like, let the running backs do that, let the wide receivers do that. I don't need my quarterback to be doing stuff like that. And even now into retirement, this is not even the first incident that I can recall on top of my head that Kem Newton has had at a camp. There was one a few years ago. I don't know if you recall where a teenage boy was yelling at him from the sideline and Can got right in his face. No, I remember, and he didn't say anything derogatory. Cam Can was very, you know, as respectful as he could be to a kid. He was talking shit that like three feet away from him. But it's like, you don't need to allow yourself to get in those positions, always need to respond. You don't always need to be in the mix and allow people to get that close to you when you are the quarterback, when you are the presidential candidate of your franchise. And I feel like that's something that's kind of followed Cam into retirement because I was at radio role at the Super Bowl. Everywhere Cam went there was a throng of people, and Cam, being the personality that he is, was engaging with him. He'd be yelling across the room to people. Not again, it was always in fun and it was nothing malicious because not in that setting. But if you keep doing that enough, you're gonna end up in situations, unfortunately, where you're gonna end up with clowns and guys who have nothing to lose, and guys who think that it's okay to swing on a six five and forty pounds man at a flag football event. Like at some point, if you're Cam Noon, you have to understand who you are and just kind of separate from those situations, because I'm sure those guys don't swing on him if he doesn't say anything back, you know what I mean, Like he's he's he's I have a hard time again. Maybe we'll find out in the coming days. It was totally unprompted, but I imagine there was some kind of john going on, and these guys took it too far.

Yeah, sad to see. I mean, the guy's obviously had a really nice career. I don't think he's all of famer. He was the MVP of the league at one point. Like he had a good run, as they say, and he probably wishes he was still in the league instead of podcasting and hosting football camps. But I sid the hero of there, so Rob, I guess we can wrap up NFL combine starting up here very exciting. And I'll just say that the uh, the Justin Jefferson thing we talked about a while ago. Could he be available via trade? There's some reports out of Minnesota that Jefferson could be available. I always like to think by the rumors, sell the news. We bought the rumor of trading Justin Jeffers and months ago. Now that it's out here, I'm kind of sort of selling it. It's almost as if we haven't my read, we haven't gotten any good offers for Jefferson. But oh, by the way, if you float the right answer, we could have something. That's the vibe I got from it. I don't think they're actively shopping Justin Jefferson. That would be my guest. The salary cap went up. I think thirty million, is is that right, Rob? Thirty or summer clothing? Like, yeah, yeah, that's significant. I think that's what's unexpected. I mean, everybody knew it would go up, but just not how much. Thirty mil is massive, and I think it's gonna dampen free agency just a little. I saw t Higgins is probably gonna get franchise tagged if he wasn't already. And it's like they probably can pay Jefferson. Remember it's not the worst thing in the world to pay now and trade later. You can totally do that. Now. That's more of an NBA thing than an NFL thing. It's not like JJ's getting a no trade clause. I would suspect there's no chance of that, right Rob, No, No, that's only for quarterbacks.

Yeah, sad to see. I mean, the guy's obviously had a really nice career. I don't think he's all of famer. He was the MVP of the league at one point. Like he had a good run, as they say, and he probably wishes he was still in the league instead of podcasting and hosting football camps. But I sid the hero of there, so Rob, I guess we can wrap up NFL combine starting up here very exciting. And I'll just say that the uh, the Justin Jefferson thing we talked about a while ago. Could he be available via trade? There's some reports out of Minnesota that Jefferson could be available. I always like to think by the rumors, sell the news. We bought the rumor of trading Justin Jeffers and months ago. Now that it's out here, I'm kind of sort of selling it. It's almost as if we haven't my read, we haven't gotten any good offers for Jefferson. But oh, by the way, if you float the right answer, we could have something. That's the vibe I got from it. I don't think they're actively shopping Justin Jefferson. That would be my guest. The salary cap went up. I think thirty million, is is that right, Rob? Thirty or summer clothing? Like, yeah, yeah, that's significant. I think that's what's unexpected. I mean, everybody knew it would go up, but just not how much. Thirty mil is massive, and I think it's gonna dampen free agency just a little. I saw t Higgins is probably gonna get franchise tagged if he wasn't already. And it's like they probably can pay Jefferson. Remember it's not the worst thing in the world to pay now and trade later. You can totally do that. Now. That's more of an NBA thing than an NFL thing. It's not like JJ's getting a no trade clause. I would suspect there's no chance of that, right Rob, No, No, that's only for quarterbacks.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I don't know, Like I'm excited to watch it. It probably means nothing's gonna happen, but man, I am so here for it if it does. Like I love those big trades are so fun. Remember Russell Wilson was a big one. Aaron Rogers was that. I don't know if that was a trade so much as yeah, it was a trade. It just feels like we need big names on the move. That's fun to feed the content mill. And yeah, I think the Vikings are probably top five fascinating most teams in the league heading into the offseason. Maybe top seven.

So I don't know, Like I'm excited to watch it. It probably means nothing's gonna happen, but man, I am so here for it if it does. Like I love those big trades are so fun. Remember Russell Wilson was a big one. Aaron Rogers was that. I don't know if that was a trade so much as yeah, it was a trade. It just feels like we need big names on the move. That's fun to feed the content mill. And yeah, I think the Vikings are probably top five fascinating most teams in the league heading into the offseason. Maybe top seven.

The Vikings of all teams. Oh, I mean, I don't know, no quarterback.

The Vikings of all teams. Oh, I mean, I don't know, no quarterback.

They don't have a quarterback.

They don't have a quarterback.

Well that's kind of what makes them less exciting, right, Like if they don't have a quarterback, what am I gonna be excited about?

Well that's kind of what makes them less exciting, right, Like if they don't have a quarterback, what am I gonna be excited about?

I should say the lack of quarterback. The potential trade for Jefferson makes them to me an intrigue. Yes, okay, I should readjust that. Yeah, because those are fields. I can't imagine a division, but anything's possible. Russell Wilson could be a decent fit. There is there a quarterback they want to trade up for, Like, hey, hey, Arizona, you know you want Justin Jefferson to instead of Marvin Harrison. I probably not, but maybe we're right here. We're a phone call away. If you're interested in a wide receiver who's going to help Kyler, or you could get a rookie, you can get a proven veteran. You let me know. Like, there's just so many options for him. That's why I think Minnesota's fascinating.

I should say the lack of quarterback. The potential trade for Jefferson makes them to me an intrigue. Yes, okay, I should readjust that. Yeah, because those are fields. I can't imagine a division, but anything's possible. Russell Wilson could be a decent fit. There is there a quarterback they want to trade up for, Like, hey, hey, Arizona, you know you want Justin Jefferson to instead of Marvin Harrison. I probably not, but maybe we're right here. We're a phone call away. If you're interested in a wide receiver who's going to help Kyler, or you could get a rookie, you can get a proven veteran. You let me know. Like, there's just so many options for him. That's why I think Minnesota's fascinating.

Okay, I'll go with you, and that I got a hot take. I just kind of came over with it right now on the spot as you were talking. If I'm another team or I'm the Minnesota Vikings, I'm not giving Justin Jefferson. What he reportedly wants in this contract offer was that twenty according to this report that came out from the Pioneer Press, thirty sounds like an old school newspaper there. He wants five years, one hundred and fifty million dollars, so thirty million dollars a season. Again, I don't know how I was gonna work with the guarantee. That's always the biggest thing. But we'll say, for argument's sake, it's five for one point fifty and one hundred and twelve of it is guaranteed, right, something like that. I don't know we're throwing out there. I believe that we're reaching a point similar to what happened with the running back position maybe four or five years ago, where the depth of talent at that position is so immense and there are so many guys you can get in the draft on a year and year on basis both at the top and in this case Puku Nakua what the fifth round whatever that was, that you don't need to be paying these wide receivers thirty million dollars a season quarterback money because I'm just looking at the highest paid ride receivers in football right now entry twenty twenty four, and some of these guys aren't even on the list because of free agency. But it's like Tyreek Kill, Devonte Adams, Cooper Cup, AJ Brown's, Davon Diggs, Dickey Metcalf, Debo, McLaurin Higgins more allent, Like I have to go down to like the thirtieth high thirtieth highest paid receiver before I'm like, oh, yeah, I could understand why you'd want to overpay for that, but there's so many good receivers out there that like it does it really make a difference, you know, especially when you consider that what we saw in the the Final four this past season, Like the Chiefs didn't have a good receiver. Obviously the Niners had two good receivers, but I believe they could bine for like seven catches total in the Super Bowl. Like it's one of those things where the position now is so deep and it's so rich with talent, it almost behooves you to punt on paying these massive wide receiver price tags unless your quarterback is making zero dollars on a rookie contract.

Okay, I'll go with you, and that I got a hot take. I just kind of came over with it right now on the spot as you were talking. If I'm another team or I'm the Minnesota Vikings, I'm not giving Justin Jefferson. What he reportedly wants in this contract offer was that twenty according to this report that came out from the Pioneer Press, thirty sounds like an old school newspaper there. He wants five years, one hundred and fifty million dollars, so thirty million dollars a season. Again, I don't know how I was gonna work with the guarantee. That's always the biggest thing. But we'll say, for argument's sake, it's five for one point fifty and one hundred and twelve of it is guaranteed, right, something like that. I don't know we're throwing out there. I believe that we're reaching a point similar to what happened with the running back position maybe four or five years ago, where the depth of talent at that position is so immense and there are so many guys you can get in the draft on a year and year on basis both at the top and in this case Puku Nakua what the fifth round whatever that was, that you don't need to be paying these wide receivers thirty million dollars a season quarterback money because I'm just looking at the highest paid ride receivers in football right now entry twenty twenty four, and some of these guys aren't even on the list because of free agency. But it's like Tyreek Kill, Devonte Adams, Cooper Cup, AJ Brown's, Davon Diggs, Dickey Metcalf, Debo, McLaurin Higgins more allent, Like I have to go down to like the thirtieth high thirtieth highest paid receiver before I'm like, oh, yeah, I could understand why you'd want to overpay for that, but there's so many good receivers out there that like it does it really make a difference, you know, especially when you consider that what we saw in the the Final four this past season, Like the Chiefs didn't have a good receiver. Obviously the Niners had two good receivers, but I believe they could bine for like seven catches total in the Super Bowl. Like it's one of those things where the position now is so deep and it's so rich with talent, it almost behooves you to punt on paying these massive wide receiver price tags unless your quarterback is making zero dollars on a rookie contract.

Packers Jayden Reid's second round pick, Rashie Rice's second round pick, Tank Dell went in the third round. The kid Jalen Hyatt did did some nice things for the New York Giants. He's pretty promising. Josh Downs was good until they got the concussions with the Colts. I had him in fantasy, so I know. But yeah, you just look at the receiver. Michael Wilson, third round pick out of Arizona. I'm sorry, not out of Arizona, two Arizona, out of the Pac twelfth. Like he had a really good season. Now, obviously none of these guys are justin Jefferson, but you can get value of some of these guys in the third, fourth round. Charlie Jones, a burner, a small guy from Purdue. Yeah, I got a couple of big moments with the Bengals, Like you just need production, you don't need like, like how many playoff games is justin Jefferson winning? You? I think he has zero in his career. They lost to the Vikings. Vikings lost to the Giants.

Packers Jayden Reid's second round pick, Rashie Rice's second round pick, Tank Dell went in the third round. The kid Jalen Hyatt did did some nice things for the New York Giants. He's pretty promising. Josh Downs was good until they got the concussions with the Colts. I had him in fantasy, so I know. But yeah, you just look at the receiver. Michael Wilson, third round pick out of Arizona. I'm sorry, not out of Arizona, two Arizona, out of the Pac twelfth. Like he had a really good season. Now, obviously none of these guys are justin Jefferson, but you can get value of some of these guys in the third, fourth round. Charlie Jones, a burner, a small guy from Purdue. Yeah, I got a couple of big moments with the Bengals, Like you just need production, you don't need like, like how many playoff games is justin Jefferson winning? You? I think he has zero in his career. They lost to the Vikings. Vikings lost to the Giants.

Right, yeah, Danny Dimes your god.

Right, yeah, Danny Dimes your god.

But Puka Naku is the gold center fifth round pick the kid Wicks from the Packers. He went in the fifth round last year's Well, yeah, I'm with you. I'm not paying O. I'm sorry, I like justin for someon line. I'm just I'm not doing it. All right, that's it for today, back Maniana to talk sports. It's a fun thing we get to do. We're very fortunate. Hashtag blessed. We'll talk to you tomorrow.

But Puka Naku is the gold center fifth round pick the kid Wicks from the Packers. He went in the fifth round last year's Well, yeah, I'm with you. I'm not paying O. I'm sorry, I like justin for someon line. I'm just I'm not doing it. All right, that's it for today, back Maniana to talk sports. It's a fun thing we get to do. We're very fortunate. Hashtag blessed. We'll talk to you tomorrow.