Doug Gottlieb and Dan Beyer in for Dan as they debate the Colin Kaepernick situation, whether or not he is being truthful when he says he still wants to play in the NFL. FSR MLB Insider Jon Morosi joins Doug and Dan to discuss this new proposed rule regarding starting pitchers, and to give his thoughts on the Dodgers. Plus, Doug and Dan talk about the Aaron Judge-Caitlin Clark comparison.
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You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox Sports Radio.
What up with you?
Doug Gottlieb, Dan Byer and for Dan the Dan It's Dan Patrick Show, Fox Sports Radio. I hope you're getting ready for a great weekend. This is uh, this is it?
Kids?
By the way, right?
Is it?
Or?
No?
We get one more after that?
What is it? Today's date? Sixteen?
Yes, we got the like two more weekends this weekend and then one more weekend.
Week zero in college football is a week from tomorrow.
The week zero thing is always weird. That's the pre boarding thing, right. You can't board a plane before you get bored a plane week zero. That's because college football officially kicks off on the three first.
Then who plays next week?
Just so you've got the game in Ireland with Florida State and Georgia Tech, but Nevada SMU play Hawaii plays. I believe think about that.
SMU has waited, really since the death penalty, to be at least judged among the nation's elite. Right, just want to get in one of these conferences. They actually are not taking any TV money, you know, they get SMU has got plenty of money on their own. They do anything they can to get in a big time football conference. The one they get to join, bless you by the way, Dan, the one they get to join is just holding on for hope that they get to keep to stay together. Meanwhile, not just a game in Ireland, an ACC game in Ireland. And then the whole thing is this for college football, This is this is a year transition. And you could say I know what it's going to be like, but you don't. We've never had a college football playoff. And in addition to that, you have this massive expansion of the Big Ten, the expansion of the Big Twelve, the expansion of the SEC, the change in somebody these conferences. It's really going to be fascinating to see. And then of course you have the defending national champion Michigan.
Who on probation.
And oh yeah, by the way, they don't have their head coach, and Jim Harbaugh is no longer going to be what was it going to be the honorary captain.
Now he's like, now I need to spend more time with.
The Chargers, Like come on, man, that's just they didn't want the optics of him having a show cause and showing up his alma mater, which I think is weak sauce they won the national championship. He's an alum of Michigan. He was a hell of a player at Michigan. He should be there week one of the season. What are we actually doing here? But I'm just interested in what you think of this point or what point Jim Harbaugh was trying to bring up. Colin Kaepernick recently told Sky Sports that he still wants to play in the NFL. Earlier this week, New LA Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh wants his former quarterback in the NFL, but as a member of his coaching staff and not so much as a player. He said, he's spoken to him multiple times. I love but he's but he's not going to be on the coaching staff which is set for this year, and he's not going to be playing on the roster either, Right, what's your read into that quote, Dan Byer.
Well, my read into it is it originally was Kaepernick was going to be a coach, and Harball also revealed that he had spoken to him over the past couple of years when he was at Michigan about being a coach and so on the surface, and there's a lot more. But on the Harbaugh point of view, I believe that Jim Harbaugh does not think Colin Kaepernick is a player in the NFL anymore. And I think from the Jim Harball point of view of different opinions with Kaepernick, but on the Jim Harbaugh point of view, I think that's what he is telling us. And that's my takeaway from it.
My takeaway is that, but my takeaways a little bit more advanced, so as as many of you know, and.
I think what mine's just basic.
No, no, no, no, it's just just slightly different.
Okay.
So just I'll just reintroduce myself because you know, we're told like never assume in sports radio, right, So I've been doing sports radio sports television for twenty one years and three months ago is named head coach at Wisconsin Green Bay. Obviously, even before my press conference had that, I had to sit down here on the Dan Patrick Show with Dan and one of the things that I tell players in recruiting, and I mean it is you come play for me, especially if you come play for me this year. That's special because I don't have a track record. I don't have, you know, not John Caliperry I can't say I put this guy in the NBA, this guy in the NBA, this guy in the.
It's an act of faith.
But I believe the college football in college basketball coaches job and it's really always been this way, but it's harder now with the transfer portal. When guy's moving is you got to take care of your guys. The reason you stick it out is because when you do, you you have a football family that takes care of you. That's that's how it works in college sports. That's your family. And one of the things that people don't understand when they switch schools is you have the family right and then the new family you go to. Some of these guys are only there for you know, six nine months. You're not really in that family, so you're family less and they're like, why does that matter? Well, when you need a job and you played college sports, the first person you should be able to call is your coach, right, your coach, because those guys can pick up the phone and get you job or give you some direction. They are literally a second and sometimes first father for many people. I think Jim Harbaugh takes that very very seriously, and it strikes me as Colin Kaepernick is that guy, and I'm gonna have that guy. I My dad had those guys, my brother's coach for twenty eight years. He has those guys that you really want to help, Like, I just want to help this dude, and he doesn't know how to truly accept the help. He is not surrendered to the realities of a situation. And here's where I bring it up. If you remember, his shot of getting back in the NFL was ruined by his girlfriend, right because he was gonna sign and remember with the Ravens. He signed with the Races before they got Lamar Jackson. We're gonna sign with the Ravens. And then his girlfriend and I don't know if they're still together. I'm sorry, I don't follow this, but she's a I think radio host in New York City. She put out a she put out a meme of Jango Unchained, like, you know the slave owner in Jango Unchained, and compared it to Steve Bushatti, who's.
The owner of the Ravens.
Right, So, like, you're the owner of the Ravens and you're called a slave owner by a guy who doesn't have a job in the NFL, Like thanks, but no thanks. Right, And that's that's Jim telling John take care of my guy. Plus, remember his offensive coordinator who's now with the Chargers was the offensive coordinator the Niners, was the offensive cordineer of the Ravens. You know you go back then as well, Right, So it's all football family, and we try to take care of you. And then your girlfriend has this meme and Steve A. Schai's like, I'm not doing it. Sorry, I'm not going to be called No one wants to be called a slave owner when you're the owner of an NFL football team. Like, sorry, not not doing it. And so you fast forward to now he's not an NFL player, and I'm sure Jim called him up and he's like, hey, why don't you come just come to camp, work with Herbert. You know this offense, you played in this offense, You're awesome in this offense. Just teach it to justin Herbert. You know, see if you want to do the coaching things, see how that feels to you. And I'm guessing, and more than a guess that Kaepernick's like I still want to play, Like, yeah, we're not doing that.
We're not doing that.
And a big reason that guys have never given Kaepernick a shot is not because they didn't want to give him a shot. It's because if you cut him, are you cutting him because of his political beliefs? Are you cutting him because of his race?
Right?
No one wants to be called a racist.
No on wants You don't want to cut a guy like it's a third string, fourth string, fifth quarterback, whatever. But Kaepernick strikes me as a guy that here his football family is trying to take care of him and give him an opportunity to get back in the league in an offense that he knows just learn to be a coach. He probably still wants to play, and he hasn't given up the pipe dream. He's just not dealing with reality. And when you read that, that strikes me as Jim Harbaugh going like, he's not get me a player and you don't want to coach.
Sure, I think that's a reasonable assessment. The actually, the part that I would only vary for you is just right at the absolute end is I don't know if Colin Kaepernick wants to be a player, but I think that it helps Colin Kaepernick for him to say that he wants to be a player, Like he is in the spot right now where if you were to cross that line to be a coach, you are also giving in to an organization that you sued and that you had fought for years. Like, I don't know how you can reasonably think that you can play again in the NFL. And we just had Mark Dominic gon and he quickly answered, no way. To your point, Doug, he hasn't played great football in now over a decade, hasn't played in an NFL game since the twenty sixteen season, is going to turn thirty seven coming up later this year, and still thinks that he has an opportunity in that is waiting for his chance to play, which, by the way, if it were to happen in twenty twenty four, probably would have happened about a month or two ago when teams were still didn't open training camps and we're looking for guys to bring in. So it's just to me, it's not based in reality.
I understand. But you're thinking he's basing these things in reality. He's not.
And some of it is all athletes are like that, Like this is it's a really really hard one for most most athletes.
It's hard to say you can't still do it.
I mean, how many times are Tarrell Owens Like I'm gonna see Taroll Owens tonight at an event. Right, There's there's an event the Pump Brothers host. It's for it raises money for their cancer center in Northridge, California, and I get a chance to m see it. It's it's an amazing who's who, amazing who's who? And you anytime you run into Terrell Owens and you talk NFL, he will tell you stone cold. And obviously he was a much better player than Colin Kaepernick. I'm not comparing the two, but the point is that it's been about the same length of time with too okay, and he's still convinced he can still play. Most guy. There's not most guys. I would say there's probably like a probably twenty five to thirty percent of former players even three four years after it, Like, I guess still do it.
I get that. But when Colin Kaepernick spoke to Sky Sports, he says, I I'm training. I want to get that opportunity.
Yeah, he still thinks he could do it.
Dan No, But but the last line that he says, just waiting for an owner to give me that chance. Yeah, but I don't. That's where I think that the issue lies. I know, he's crazy, That's that's what I'm getting to. And why I say crazy, I mean he has a completely tilted view of the world, okay, because he thinks and I actually I would understand this if they were so vindictive. You know that they didn't want to have him in the NFL because he likened the NFL draft to slave trade, which is obscenely offensive and completely off the rails.
But that's not the point.
The point is that if he could win football games, he would be a quarterback in the NFL. Let's let's let's let's get to brass test, sure, DeShawn Watson. Deshaun Watson was accused of some sort of sexual improprieties of forty women.
Forty forty.
He signed the largest guaranteed contract in the history of the National Football League. Why because the Cleveland Brown thought he could win football games. They haven't had a good quarterback in forever. That's the reality of it. Just it's it's the whole nonsense of you know, did uh what's his name with who's now the running back coach or the offensive coordinator of Eric Vienemy. It's like the whole Eric Vienemy thing. Like Eric Enemy didn't get a job, not get a job because he's black, and didn't get a job because nobody thought he couldn't get along with people. You have to be a united as a head coach. He was. He didn't do well in interviews because he didn't dive in to all the nuances of running a program. NFL owners want one thing. There is one agenda in professional sports, only one winning.
I mean, look at the Kansaity Chiefs. Right, they have a wide receiver.
They have video of him leaving the scene of a hit and run, video of him. It's like, wow, let the legal process take No, they need a wide receiver, right, it's not that hard. They need a wide receiver. He's under contract. Play him until somebody says you can't play him. I wish it was about something else.
It's not.
Colin Kaepernick was good for like a year and a half. He's basically Scott Mitchell. Let's just catch the brass tacks. Okay, he lost his job because he wasn't that good. That's it now. The other stuff made it to he can't ever be a backup quarterback because he never want to be a backup quarterback, because a backup quarterback is about somebody else.
Here's the issue, though, Doug. Is Colin Kaepernick going to be known as a former quarterback in the NFL? Or is he going to be known as a civil rights activist?
He'll be known as a civil rights He.
Absolutely, And that's where his That's where he is right now. That is where Colin Kaepernick is. Colin Kaepernick and understand, cross the line.
I understand, but you're you're at finish.
I'm please because it's the fact of if Colin Kaepernick takes a coaching job, which he may want to do, he's giving into the again, the league that he sued. He is more powerful saying I am still the victim here. I am not allowed in the league. Owners are not allowing me to play in the league. Well, now, they're not letting you play in the league because nobody wants a thirty seven year old quarterback that hasn't been in the NFL for eight years. But it's not beneficial for Colin Kaepernick to say that. It's beneficial for Colin Kaepernick to say that I'm still not allowed in the league. I think that he was blackballed in terms of I don't think that he was given the opportunity that other quarterbacks of his talent at that time, whether he was good or bad, for at least the try it. You bring up the Ravens point, I think it's well put that. Then all of a sudden, the Ravens like, well, we're not going to risk this. This doesn't benefit us at all. So he moves on. But this is now eight years of this going on, and I think that for Colin Kaepernick to sit there and say, hey, I'm still trying. I'm still trying for that opportunity, he's saying that because he needs to be pitted against the NFL, And if he joins the NFL, he loses the identity of being that civil rights activist that he's the most powerful and probably has done the most damaged or not the most damage, but has done the most effect on the world. That's where I think Colin Kaepernick has done. He's made the effect as social activists, and he's done a lot of great things. But if you cross that line and it's not about you, it's about them, then it's about you, it's not about them. It changes who he is.
I think the way you're looking at it is super reasonable. I think Kan Kaepernick has not been reasonable for a long time and can go back. You remember the first team that he went and visited, Okay, first hawks was the Seahawks, right, And you remember what Pete Carroll said when he left his visit in the Seahawks he's a starter. That Yeah, listen, he's a starter. And what that how that translates is because all those guys have to measure their words is we brought him in and we like, man, we love you, we want you to be a backup to Russell. And he's like, I want to be a starter. Yep. Okay, had nothing to do with being black balled. This dude does it. He's never known who he actually is as a football player. And most the guys that stick, the guys that left. The guy's like, why is Chase Daniel?
Right?
Chase Daniel covers the NFL? Why did he last as long as he lasts the NFL? Because he knew at some point he knew who he was. Hey, I'm just here to get that other guy ready. It's not about me, it's about the team. I'll make a couple million dollars, and I just Josh McCown is, like, was considered like the greatest backup ever. I just come in maybe once a year. Hopefully you do it. Tim Hasselbeck transition to that role. It's a really hard role to transition.
Toby Brissett's doing it correct, and everybody says, like, oh, greatest job in the world. It is, but you got to sacrifice your ego and he's never been able to do that.
So you're you're absolutely right on a multitude of levels.
But again, you're looking at this like, and I don't want to say he's insane because that's unfair. I'm not making a clinical diagnosis on it. But you're looking at this as a reasonable, rational, rational person, and I think he's been completely irrational throughout so many of these stages. And I think that's what I heard from from heart, which is like, hey, I wanted to get him here, Greg ROBIN'SZC. He'd got to he'd be a perfect fit here to just be a coach and learn and get him back to football. And he wants to be a player that ain't happening. He doesn't want to be a coach that ain't happening either.
That then begs a question that actually Jason Stewart brought up, was basically, why is Harbaugh doing.
This because that's what you're like, going back to what I said originally, that's what you're supposed to do as a coach, got to take care of your guys.
But doesn't he put Kaepernick in a bad light, like if this is coming out publicly, Like, isn't this putt In Colin Kaepernick in a bad light? To say like he doesn't want to like none of this. We just found out that he had been talking to him while he was at Michigan.
Totally undermines Kaepernick's agenda. For Harbor to say I offered him an assistant coaching job and he didn't return the call, it undermines the agenda because Kaepernick can't be a victim and he can't improve his cause in the world as an assistant coach. Every time he's tried to come back as a player. You mentioned the Seahawks tryout, he sabotaged that. Yeah, remember the NFL tryout? Or he changed the venue last minute, he sabotaged that. Remember that letter to the Jets GM and then he leaked the letter asking if he could be on the practice squad. That practice with Mark Davis a couple of years ago was sabotaged by Kaepernick. I don't think his need to play in the NFL is genuine. I think it's good for business to be consistently trying to get in the NFL and not let.
In this this good stuff.
Who knew that at ten nineteen on the East coast, seven nineteen on the West coast on August sixteen, twenty twenty four, we'd have fifteen really good minutes of Colin Kaepernick talk. But that was excellent work. I do think, to answer your question again, why would he do it? I think it's Jim Harbaugh saying, I'm always going to fight for us guys always because people want to. That's a big thing in recruiting, that's a big thing in coaching, that's I'm always gonna fight for my guys, just like he did with JJ McCarthy saying, you know, he's the best quarterback in the class, the best quarterback class, Like nobody thinks that. But you always always fight for your guys. This hours brought to you by tyrack dot com, the official tire expert and retailer of the Dan Patrick Show. Go to tyrack dot com slash Dan, try the Tire Decision Guide and get a full line of tires, special offers, free road hasard protection and mobile tire installation tyrec dot com. The way tire buying should be. I'm Doug Gottlib, He's Dan buyer in for Dan. The dan Nets come up next to Dan Patrick Show. Odd timing for a new MLB rule proposal? Have you heard about this? Okay, a chance at guaranteeing pitchers extend their starts will take you inside to a potential massive change in Major League Baseball.
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Hey, what's up everybody?
It's me three time pro bowler LeVar Arrington, and I couldn't be more excited to announce a podcast called Up on Game?
What is up on Game?
You ass along with my fellow pro bowler TJ. Hutschman, Zada and Super Bowl champion Yep, that's right, Plexico Burris. You can only name a show with that type of talent on it Up on Game. We're going to be sharing our real life experiences loaded with teachable moments. Listen to Up on Game with me LeVar Arrington, TJ Huschman Zada and Plexico Birds on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast from.
Doug Allimin for Dan The Dan Ms Dan Patrick Show, Fox Sports Radio. Citing into the Weekend is brought to you by our partners at Kings Hawaiian who wants to get you together with your friends and in joy family and enjoy the weekend by making every Sunday a slider Sunday Sunday Kings Hawaiian roles, Kings of Waian rolls are amazing. That's honestly like that there's I don't believe there's a human being who's ever bitten into us a King's Hawaiian roll and be.
Like, nah no, don't get it.
Yes, yes, The problem is it's like a like a potato chip, you just can't have one, right, just can't have one. So I read this story on all the websites that there's a proposal out there. Okay, because what's like, what's your maybe frustration in terms of watching baseball games.
And and and and.
The allure of a baseball game. You always look at the starters, right, And I don't know if you guys seen this new documentary with Greg Maddox, how good is that? I mean, like, dude remembers pitch after pitch, approach after approach. Anyway, So the proposal is this, that starters would have to pitch for six innings six innings. Now, there's a couple amendments and dendums or whatever where if you hit one hundred pitches, they can pull you. If you give four give up four more earned runs, they can pull you. Of course, if you get injured, they can pull you. But a mandate of having your pitcher, you can't do a bullpen day. You can't do an opener. If you have a guy who's a starter until he hits one hundred pitches or gives up four more runs, he's got to be your starter. Let's welcome in John Morossi, who joins us here. Of course, mll be on Fox and he's our Fox Sports Radio MLB insider. What's the likelihood that they try this this rule out?
Well, first of all, good morning, agree with you again. I do think that there is a decent chance that at some point in the next several years that we will see a change to the rules. Now, is it the fixiting mandate? Is it what has been described as the double hook, which means that as soon as you pull your starting pitcher that you lose your DH and then effectively it's National league rules after your starter is out of the game, one which incentivizes I love it too. I love the double hook rule because it incentivizes pitchers to stay in longer. It's this is a problem, and it's amazing, Doug, how you look at the evolution of athletes and how almost uniformally we are seeing athletes across sports. We just watched the Olympics. They get better and better, and yet when it comes to the ability of pitchers to stay on the mound for longer within a game and to stay on the mound for more innings in a season, we are going in the wrong direction. I'll share this with you. I just this week interview Ferguson Jenkins. We've got a podcast, Throw to Cooper Sown. I'm interviewing Fergie Jenkins, and so as a part of this, I was looking at Ferguson Jenkins's numbers and Doug I'll just mention two stats that stand out to me the most. He had two hundred and sixty seven complete games, two one hundred and sixty seven complete games, and the nineteen seventy one season alone, he completed thirty games and threw three hundred and twenty five innings. Thirty complete games, three hundred twenty five innings. Nobody in the major leagues now was getting even close to those numbers, not even within half in terms of the complete games. So why are we going backward just because we're relying so much on maximum velocity? And I think anything that helps pitchers individually and helps teams reorient their training ideas to doing what will actually, to your point, make the game better. From a rhythm standpoint. You want to get into rhythm with your starting pitcher. You want to have a sense of what the starters out there doing and getting excited about a pitching matchup. That's better for fans, and it's better for the long term health of pitchers. It is a win win for everybody. And so however we can incentivize that. I think as a sport it's incumbent on MLB and the union to do that.
Does this fly in the face of a pitch clock, you know, like we're making all these changes like this would almost seem like it would be against what you're trying to do. You're trying to speed up games. But if you're speeding up games, you've heard complaints from pitchers. Doesn't this kind of fly in the face of that jown?
It doesn't, and it's a very fit question, but I don't think it does. I look at this being something that actually the tempo of pitching and the ability for starters to take less time now in between pitches and being more athletics, staying more in rhythm. It's a more athletic game. And there's been to this point in time no evidence to suggest that that any sort of correlation of injuries is tied to the pitch timer, and in fact it's basically been standardized across the last several years, even pre pitch timer, the overall incidents of whether it's Tommy John surgery or other pitching injuries. This is as far as I'm concerned. When I watch the game and talk to people, they say this is tied to the notion that you've got fourteen year olds and fifteen year olds and sixteen year olds at showcases in the US and also in Latin America who believe that to be able to get on the radar and sign a pro contract, they've got to throw ninety five and so you're chasing velocity at the expense of mechanics and long term health. I've made this point, and again I referenced to the podcast we're working on. I've had a chance, through doing this to speak with Tom Glavin. He wasn't throwing one hundred miles an hour, which you just dug reference to Greg maddox documentary. He wasn't throwing one hundred miles an hour. Entirely possible. Entirely possible that when you look at the origin stories of the Big Three of the Braves. John Smoltz was a multi sport athlete from Lansing, Michigan who was playing high school basketball through his senior year and wanted to go play for Judd Heath Cote and the Spartans in basketball as much as he wanted to play baseball. So he was a multi sport athlete from a cold weather state. Glavin was drafted in the NHL Draft in addition to the MLB Draft, and he was never thrown a hundred miles an hour. He was a hockey player from bill Rickham, Massachusetts. And then Greg Maddocks, who is not six foot five and does not throw a nine to nine miles an hour from Las Vegas, and he might have gotten overlooked as well. It's entirely possible that when you talk about the big three who defined that era that we're talking about, that none of them would have been described as being strong first round talents by the current scouting community because they didn't throw hard enough and they didn't specialize in baseball. And that is a massive problem. Think about the history of the game. We would have missed potentially, if not all three of them, maybe two of the three, or at least one out of the three, our game would have been weakened because the current system of scouting, what we prioritize overlooks three of the greatest pictures that we've ever seen. And that is a massive problem.
You know, I I I actually think there's a parallel there to basketball, right.
There's a parallel there to basketball, right.
And I actually I've talked about this with my own staff, John, where you're like, look, I understand, you walk into a gym and there's guys with jaw dropping athletic talent. Okay, but Luka Doncik is the best player in the NBA. Okay, he raised a pregnant woman and came in third. You know, you know Steph Curry. I mean I've underestimated him. He's been underestimated his entire life.
Right.
He knows how to play, and he has a specific skill and weight a way of playing which brings a ton of value, even even Jokic, right, I mean Jokic doesn't have a good body, not crazy fast, a below the rim guy like you never see him dunk, but he's just a great basketball player. I think there's a parallel there in understanding that sports is not always about and maybe mostly not about athletic dominance. There is a look, there is a threshold you do have to throw somewhere into the nineties. But you gotta locate, you gotta be intelligent, you gotta change speeds, you gotta you know, you have. You have to have a certain toughness with you and durability to you. I do think there's a there's a parallel parallel there. I want to ask you, really quickly about the series is just concluded at American Family Field in Milwaukee. Dodgers looked great first two nights and then the last two the bullpen and even Daniel Hudson blows it yesterday for for the Dodgers. Was that series more about the Dodgers and specifically, you know now you don't have a defined closure getting ready for the playoffs, or was it more about the Brewers, who Yelly Christian Yelich is gonna be out for the rest of the year and wondering if they can compete with the Dodgers, and then showing that they could actually take two from the Dodgers.
Yeah, Doug, I think that there are really important takeaways on both sides. That if the Dodgers, when you think about that series, it approximates what they're going to be able to go up against in the postseason, obviously against the quality Brewers team, and they were only able to sad with a split because to your point, Walker Bueller struggles in the third game, he doesn't even get out of the fourth inning, and then the bullpen lets him down in the fourth game. This series, to me illustrates why the Dodgers are vulnerable again. That they Yes they've got this lavish payroll. Yes they've got three MVPs back to back to back to begin every game in terms of the batting order. But they're vulnerable. They are a very good team. They are not what I would describe to be a dominant team. And by the way, they only have a two game lead in the National League West. So here come the d Backs, Here come the pot. I mean, they're again. It will not surprise anybody if they win the World Series, and it will also not surprise anybody if they're out in the first round. They've been out in the first round. He's the last two years because their pitching hasn't been durable and consistent enough. And that's exactly the kind of team they have. Again, it's and this gets back to the original premise of this conversation. Even the smartest teams the Dodgers. I asked Andrew Freeman in person last week, what do you got on this whole pitching thing. Why are we still seeing all these injuries? And he said to me, John, I don't know. The smartest people in the industry don't know. And so that's why the Dodgers are where they are. To your point on the Brewer side of things. I love their athleticism. Jackson Shurio is the youngest player in baseball. He is twenty. He could be playing for you this season based on his age, and he is a dominant player for the Brewers. Love what he's doing. Pat Murphy loves the I think the athleticism and use of that team. Milwaukee, so there going to be a force in the postseason. And to be honest, Doug, I'm not sure if the Dodgers will be the force that I expected them to be based on what we've seen from them just this past week.
Okay, I've got the final question. Who are you more excited to see tonight at the up fair, Fuel or Saliva? Both are playing at the grand stands.
Oh my goodness, Graces, I'll tell you this. I can I answer that. The thing that I want to see the most is what I saw in Marquette, Michigan, my my beautiful birthplace years and years ago, which is fin Fest. It is the festival of Finnish culture in the summer. A beautiful parade down right down Water Street there in Washington and Front Street there in Marquette, right in front of the Mining Journal building. The Marquette Mining Journal, one of the great newspapers in America. So I would just say my choice is see.
The finn Fat, Fuel and Saliva on the grand stand tonight at the up Fair.
I wish I could be there. I would drive right through Gwynn and Iron Mountain, Escal all those great places up there, but I'll have to enjoy finfest and and fuel at Saliva from Afar.
Yeah, I'm heading up to Niagara in like a week and a half to do a little white water rafting.
Nice.
Excited about that when they mount.
Yeah, that's gotta do it for a fall hits. The only thing I've found out about fall is inevitably it's followed by winter. So excited for the colors of fall. JP, You're the best man. Thanks so much for joining us getting excited about fall baseball.
Appreciate you joining us.
You got it, Doug, Dad, But my pleasure always on my conversations. Thanks so much.
All right, that's the one and only John Paul Morosi. I I here's my thing on the on the pitching thing. I hear what you're saying, Dan about it. I don't know, counteracting the whole idea of the pitch clock. I feel like Major League Baseball it's like, you know, you had a complaint box, right, and it's like people put in the complaint box too long, boring pitchers being pulled, not enough stolen bases, hate the shift, whatever, and they're just kind of going through trying to check all those boxes. And yes, some of these things do contradict previous modes, but I think that's what they're trying to do.
I think there are a lot of band aids. I think there's a lot of stuff that's being put in in a quick amount of time.
Yeah, let's you know, let's let's continue this conversation because traditionally, and how how do you how do you fix it? Because there was a picture of Aaron Judge, Okay, Aaron Judge and a far more famous athlete from a far less followed sport earlier this week, and how do you flip that? We'll get into that next to The Dan Patrick Show, Fox Sports Radio.
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Good morning to you, Dan Patrick Show, Fox Sports Radio, Little Bruno Mars of course, opened up the most expensive basketball arena, the best basketball arena and the history of Earth into a dome last night, which, of course is now we gonna host the LA Clippers, but also the Olympics.
Right it's the Olympic hoops there.
In twenty twenty eight with Dan Byrom Doug Gottlieb. This is Dan Patrick Show Fox Sports Radio. Dan, I don't know if you saw this or you discussed this as you were guest hosting Covino and Rich, But Kitlyn Clark. There's a picture of Kaitlin Clark, you know, during her break from the WNBA with Aaron Judge, and you're sitting there going like who's more famous?
Right now? And again I understand the snapshot of right now.
And one of the things that I think is gonna be interesting is Kaitlin Clark plays for first game back with a fever tonight, is like, are people still into the are you just has it been too much basketball?
Are we good? Did the break?
And we're now on the NFL and on the other stuff, right, and summer was fun, we on it, But like you could make a really easy case, I think that Caitlin Clark is a more famous and popular athlete currently in American sports culture than Aaron Johnes.
You weren't You weren't being serious when you said if I heard about this because Jason Stewart and I started the argument. He said during the show that Caitlyn Clark was more famous than Aaron Judge, and I said, hold on a second, and then I heard from Kitlin Clark Country for the next twenty four hours, just NonStop barrage. Even fake accounts were like they're not fake accounts, but spam accounts were chiming in. I was losing. It was like eighty to twenty percent that Caitlyn Clark was more popular. I couldn't believe it.
I think currently, yes, I think all told, All told he And that's yeah, like that's where I was coming from, Like this is six or seven years of Aaron Judge's greatness in baseball, but it is there is a point there where like we've not how many people know of the season Aaron Judges having as opposed to how many people know of the season Caitlin Clark.
Good point, yeah, right, And it's crazy.
I started in this business at ESPN Radio in two thousand and three, and I can tell you unequivocally the most important thing even in the fall was red Sox Yankees. You better be able to be conversant in baseball. Okay, here we are twenty one years later, twenty one years later, and we're talking about a guy who holds the home run record stop with the Barry Bonds. He's a steroid, dude. This is like that. The whole argument is, so dumb. Guy cheats on the SAT. You don't count the sixteen hundred score, right, So guy cheats in baseball? Why do we count those home run records? So he legitimately is a home run king. He plays for the New York Yankees. It ain't like he plays for the Toronto Blue Jays or he plays for the Diamondbacks. He plays for the New York Yankees. And it's not like he's a he's an opa lumpa. He's a he's built like an actual Greek god. When Aaron Judge walks into room, you think what NFL or NBA team does he play? For sure? Okay, he's he is an impressive physical specimen.
Pause and.
So all of these things, and yet I think we would all agree. People have followed Caitlin Clark's season and the trials and tribulations over the last three three months way more than they followed Aaron Judge. So let's dial back to where we were last. How do you you said that all of these changes in baseball are band aids?
Okay?
Is there a way Duck Dabaya to.
Go in and do some surgical procedure and fix it so that Aaron Judge is viewed along the along the litany of all time great athletes the way he likely deserves.
I think that I think time will tell on this, and it's such a flash in the pan. And the example that I used in our conversations that the lasted a couple of days was if Bradley Cooper has two hot movies out in the same year. Bradley Cooper is more on the forefront of your mind, but he's not more famous or popular than Tom Cruise. Tom Cruise is the guy. And I feel that Caitlyn Clark, while it's been well over a year of her popularity and has taken the WNBA to great, great heights, that it hasn't seen me for I still felt that Aaron Judge's six and seven years of greatness, which included the sixty two home run season, being the best player on the New York Yankees. All of that carried more weight than what had happened in the last year and a half. So it's up to Kitlin Clark in the WNBA, whether it be this season or other seasons, to continue that. And if she's a very good to great player, she probably will be more popular. But if she ends up blending in and maybe doesn't have the WNBA career that we think, which is not it's not an automatic. I still think that Aaron Judge would be the overall winner.
How do you fix baseball?
I just think we have to accept baseball with what it is. And my whole thing with the band aids was that there's just been so many changes in the last heck five years of what we've done in trying to fix things. And there are some things that I were probably good for baseball, but it just seems like a lot and and a lot of big changes for a sport that really didn't change anything for you know, twenty thirty years prior to that.
I think it's a good thing. I mean, you know, when you're so wrapped in tradition and baseball yeah, there's ratings issues there when they don't have the right teams in the World Series. The truth is that baseball, obviously it's very, very successful financially, and I'm with you, don't I do think you accept it's the one big time sport Okay that less and less kids play, but it's still the place that you take You can take somebody to a game and have a conversation. And there's a different in playoff baseball and regular season baseball.
But I just it.
I think you lean into it's a family summer or go out with the boys and drink a beer and have a conversation and put your cell phone down and just enjoy and be and disconnect from the rest of the world sort of event. Whereas the NBA is glitz and glamour and and the NFL it's so much about the gambling. This one's about the family. I get it. I actually think all these things have made the sport better. Athleticisms back in it. I don't know if people have recognized it, but I think this They've done a lot of changes, and I can't think of one that I would take back. It's they've eliminated a lot of the annoying habits of major League baseball, A lot of the annoying habits.
Of major league baseball. Right.
We'll get to get to some of this as well, coming up next on The Dan Patrick Show Plus plus Do the Patriots have an easy decision to make?
That's next on Fox Sports Radio.