Best of The Herd

Published Jun 19, 2025, 7:27 PM

Colin reacts to the Los Angeles Lakers selling to Mark Walter and why the Lakers now being owned by the same group as the Dodgers is great news for fans of the purple & gold. He changes his tune on Shedeur Sanders after he was cited for driving over 100 MPH and why decision making is key for all franchise quarterbacks in the NFL. Plus, author and journalist Christine Brennan joins the show to talk about her new book On Her Game: Caitlin Clark and the Revolution in Women's Sports to highlight the impact Clark has had on the WNBA and why the league should be doing more to capitalize on her popularity.

Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in noon to three Eastern nine am to noon Pacific. Find your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.

This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowver on Fox Sports Radio.

Oh, it is a Thursday. We have so much to talk about. We are live. It is the Herd.

Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, Thanks for making us part of your day. We got aj Perzinski talking about the Padres Dodgers rivalry, which is intense. Albert Breer. Christine Brennan has got a new book out. I started it last night, really interesting.

On Caitlin Clark.

Christine Brennan's been very very critical of the WNBA and I think deservedly sells.

So we got a lot on the Danta today Jmac.

But yesterday after the show, there was a and we don't normally talk a ton about this, but there was a sale. It wasn't long ago the Celtics sold for six billion. LA is a much bigger market. They sold for ten billion dollars yesterday, and nobody eat. Laker fans aren't quite sure how to react. And I'm here to tell you it is a great day to be a Laker fan. So the group that bought the Lakers already owned a part of them, Mark Walter Group, really shrewd la resident. All you have to do to wonder what's gonna happen to the Lakers is look at the Dodgers scouting research and development facilities. Patients A plus plus plus plus sharp dude, don't know him, No people that do. They spend more money than any one, but they are very judicious. They rarely miss. The Lakers have been a mom and pop shop for years. It's Jeanie Buss and friends of the family. That's cute. But this is twenty twenty five and it's pro sports. The organization needs more juice, more financing, more eyes, new eyes, and this is what they have. They're going officially from dial up to fiber optic. Yesterday was a great day to be a Laker fan. Now the reports are well, Genie Buss will still be the governor. She will still be in the front office. Yeah, and That's what Mark Cuban told us when he sold the MAVs, and then he didn't know about the Luca trade. That's sort of a big deal. She's not going to have any power now. I think she's done great in operations. She's beloving Los Angeles, a really cool person. Having her around the organization is awesome.

But this is a whole.

Different Bullget When you spend ten billion dollars to buy something, you're going to have the final say.

And that's what the Lakers need.

This Dodger group, I'm telling you, man, they update and upgrade constantly. They don't get money away. They could have had Manny Machado. Nope, Corey Bellinger MVP, Corey Seeger. They'll move off people. Since Mark Walter and his group have arrived. Here's the reality. The Dodgers are first or tied for first, and wins pennants titles, world series titles. And I hear this stuff. I hear all the fearmongers. Colin just another oligarc another billionaire that doesn't care about the team. You want to know the worst owners in my life, Ted Stepien, look it up, Donald Sterling, Marg Shott. None of them were venture capitalists. None of them, like Mark Walter, were global asset managers, small thinkers, bad people.

Not this group.

When you watch the Dodgers, man, they don't miss it's impressive. By the way, a lot of teams spend money. Yankees spend a lot of money. They're top heavy. Dodgers never are so. Even the way they finance stuff, deferred payments, They're always a step ahead. They go and get the very best people. When they took the Dodgers over, Andrew Friedman was the hot shot GM in Tampa.

They went and got him.

They were working on that Otawi deal three years when he was an angel. Three years out they started working on that deal. I would not be surprised if they doubled the r indeed doubled the scouting department. The Lakers have too many friends and family. I'm looking for a meritocracy, not a barbecue. This is a great day. Don't be afraid of something that's been in the building for years now.

They own all of it. Okay, I think the Lakers.

The Bus family owned fifteen percent for a couple of years.

Okay.

The media does something from time to time and it it kind of rubs me the wrong way they pander, and I get it. Athletes are young. I've said this before about the NBA. I'm not going to beat up on young NBA players making mistakes. They come into the league at eighteen, nineteen, twenty years old, okay, But the NFL is different. You come into the NFL at twenty two, twenty three. Now some guys are staying in college for and I'm el money maybe twenty five. And at the quarterback position, I am harsh and punitives. The media again tends to pand or too often. I warn Cleveland about Johnny Manziel. Colin, you're overreacting. Uncle Colin was right. I warned you that Baker was good but too immature. I was right on that too, and Stefanski eventually showed him the door. Baker now has grown up. I like this Baker, but I was right, and I was right about Deshaan Watson creepy, cringey.

That's not a lead at that position.

So yesterday Shador Sanders got caught speeding over one hundred miles an hour.

He's a quarterback.

Mike Tomlin often says two is a trend. Can't screw up three or four times. Two is a trend just two times. I'm not sure if I need two times. When you're a young quarterback, one bad judgment turns me off. But I have now in the last couple of months two things that really turned me off. Wi Shidor Sanders, who I have championed that cringey awful legendary draft room. Bro, you're a b prospect. You know your dad's prime time who led with his ego for years. You gotta have a little self awareness. I had more than one GM say total turnoff. Come on, it's not the end of the world. It's a bad look. And now this one hundred miles an hour. Yep, all you fanboys, go ahead. Manzill Baker, Deshaun Watson defended it to the hilt on your Reddit account. Sorry, don't minimize it, don't pander. This is not good for a quarterback, not good as of today. And I've said this for years. I do not cling to opinions, new information, new opinion. I'm an airline pilot. We got a storm coming, here's the latest radar. I'm changing my route, not flying headfirst into it. I don't think about him the same. There was a moment I thought Will Levis about four months out from the draft, had a chance, and I turned on Will Levis when he started showing up like a bodybuilder gun show.

And I had two.

NFL coaches, both needing quarterbacks, who text me, got my number and text me. They're like, this is the exact conversation we are having in our building right now. Two NFL coaches, head coaches. They're like, bro, we're laughing watching this. It matters, new information, legendary one hundred miles an hour judgment is fifty percent of being a quarterback when you fall to one forty four in the draft and then try to match that number behind the wheel of a car. Yeah, I don't think the same. You ignored signs with Manzielle and Baker, and apparently, based on the traffic violation, Shador was avoiding some signs too, the ones that say stop. I feel differently today. I'm not as high on him. I'm not sure he's mature enough.

Now. I'm gonna have to like Kenny Pickett.

J Mac Oh boy, I'm laughing at Kenny pick It not obviously the Shador situation, but calling it. It's an interesting one to eighty from you, my guy going from hey, put him in the Hall of Thing because of seven on seven drills in June. And now it's like, well he was going forty one over the limit.

Let's say, you know me, you and I are similar this way new information, new opinion. And I said I did not like the legendary draft room. It was cringey. It's not the end of the world. But people reached out. You add these two together, all you have to do Cleveland Manzell Baker, I kept saying, Baker did to It wasn't the end of the world. But it's something. It's a lack of self awareness.

You know.

It's like your shirt off posing with a tiger. It's like, bro, how about you play game like one before you go super model on us. But in the end, Stefanskiing and Andrew Berry, two smart guys, were like, yeah, we just he's putting he's starting too many fires not putting them out.

It's something yeah, interesting, So Dylan Gabriel QB one No, in all seriousness, though, arding shod or like a speeding tickets. Not the end of the world, not the end after midnight sounds like it was a nice new vehicle. He's got probably a V eight, A lot of power. I guess my question Colin is like, have you ever worked with someone who you knew was on thin ice? And you're like, man, they're looking for a reason.

To get rid of that guy.

He better not screw up, and.

He makes one misstep and he's gone, Hey, have you ever worked with somebody in that realm?

Listen, when you fall to the fifth round and are perceived as a first round quarterback, you are on thin ice. And when there's a perception that the owner wanted you drafted, not the GM, you were on perilously thin ice. They're not letting him practice with the ones Dylan Gabriel is. You're on even thinner ice. You can't get in trouble. You can't get in trouble. This is not good. Do not minimize. I can assure you this. Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski didn't go this.

Is super duper well. They rolled.

They probably were, you know, kind of we're looking at the owner like, see, I told you, But again, this is just a s meeting ticket. I'm gonna remind you Dak Prescott had an incident before the draft. Do you remember not great I had an incident and people were like oh, how can you do that before the draft? Like, where's the awareness?

But but Dak Prescott, if you went back to and I said, this the Dak Prescott stuff I talked about on this show, and and you know he did drop to the fourth round. Yeah for being a very good college quarterback. But Dak Prescott from that moment on has been one of the best leaders yet period at any.

Position in the NFL.

I'm saying it's not the end of the world, but when you used to and there by the way, there were four or five incidents. I saw one piece of video against Nebraska where Chedeurs did some stuff on the field I didn't love, Like, like there's there by the way, there are people on the internet that will find you four five and six pieces of video in college where he was a little into Shedeur Sanders not the greatest teammate right again, and I stayed away from that. But when I watched, when I watched the legendary draft room, I'm like, oh, dude, a little again, if he's a cornerback. You know my rule on this, I look at point guards and quarterbacks differently. I'm now, I look at it now and I'm just this maybe the last Sor Sanders segment.

I do no, yeah, yeah, I think it.

Is over a speeding ticket.

Colin, again, you're not listening. It's not a speeding ticket. It's multiple incidents in college. It's the draft room, just like just like you know, broadcasters, if your showed up and get ratings, you're on thin eye.

You overlooked all of that during the OTAs when he was crushing.

No, no, I didn't. I talked about it every day that it was amazing. I've never overlooked a thing. I've always gone over the top positive. J Mac. Let me give you some guidance. It an old guy, okay, very few people in important positions. You're judged every day. I'm judged by management at my company, and they like me every day. Doesn't take many screw ups. Narratives change, and that's after success. I mean, look at think how great Brady was. Belichick was drafting quarterbacks every other year. Just in case Garoppolo second round. They couldn't have used another receiver. If you don't think management's talking about I had a great agent years ago. I had an agent I brought him up yesterday named Nick con Nick. Con the greatest advice I ever got, he said. Companies make a decision a year before they tell you.

I now own a company.

I make decisions six months before I tell anybody. You think upstairs in the building, they're just like, it's just you know, his foot got stuck on the gat.

It's not the way it worked.

I agree.

If this is so weird. In you were a big Shador guy, I was kind of anti they like Dylan Gabriel. Now this and I've I find myself I kind of want to defend Shador a little bit. But it's it's not indefensible.

By the way you. Let's say that.

Let's let's not take you or I. Somebody's watching or listening my show, Love your wife, great kids, supportive, got your back. You walk in, she's with a mailman. What does it not change everything? I mean, it's not the end of the world. She's not an axe murderer. Infidelity in an instant changes everything, and it's not the end of the world. It happens all the time in relationships. It's something not appropriate.

Go ahead, how does he overcome this?

Again, it's it's not a great look. I don't think it's the end of the world.

You know, say it was for me. I didn't says that for me. It's different. Now it's different. Sorry, I'm out. Good luck fifth round guy. You know what, I'm gonna go to a Reddit board under CC and start posting some Dylan Gabriel's demand.

Get on board the hype trade, baby, Dylan Gabriel, Here he comes.

It's The Herd. We're back in a second.

Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and Noone Eastern nin a em Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.

All right, you're now entering the Noble Zone, sponsored by Credible Great Rates.

None of the ball.

A report that Lebron James is quote comfortable with the sale of the Lakers. He's forty, He's played twenty two seasons. And and I'll say this about the new ownership group of the Lakers, it's the ownership group of the Dodgers. That ownership group and the front office moved off Cody Bellinger, National League MVP, Corey Seeger A World Series MVP Max Suurser. They knew Manny Machado was going to go to the Podreys their arrival. All right, Sea, they could have paid for all of them. They'll move off Stars. If Luca doesn't stay in shape, if Luca doesn't defend at a higher level, they'll sign him to the Summer Max. He'll get his two hundred and twenty eight million. They'll move Offen. They will move Offen. Kobe Bryant, in my opinion, had too much control the last four or five years, and Lebron in the last two or three, to me, has too much control. He's the ecosystem of the offense. And Doctor Buss loved family and friends and understood stars. There's nothing wrong with that. But I think the Lakers, the Cowboys, the Bengals have been run like mom and pop shops. Too many friends and family not interested. I want the best person, not the best last name. That's what I'm looking for. So the Dodgers with this group have moved off MVPs, not just MVPs World series. MVPs in their twenties, thirties, young thirties, mid twenties don't move off guys.

They don't care.

They prioritize winning. And the Bus family, to their credit, has always understood the value of stars.

They've been very good about that.

You can go, you can go, You know, Kareem the Bus family didn't have but Magic Johnson. You know they understood it. Shaq Kobe, they get it, lebron A d they get it. Okay, but you got to get the right stars. When the Yankees signed John Carlos Stanton when they've already got Aaron Judge in the building, duplication, you got injuries with John Carlos Stanton. That's not a smart move, that's just bad money. He struggled with his health. He's never really been as good as you think. And you had a duplicate player who's better in the building, a power hitter. So to me that it's not just money. They will hold Luca accountable. And by the way, the second richest ownership group in the NBA right now is the Dallas Mavericks. And Day said, well, the max he could make with the Mavericks is much greater than the max with the Lakers. And they said, no, no, no, he's getting hurt, he's not in shape, he won't defend. He didn't do Walter Group, and they got a lot more sports property's in a lot more experience. If Luca doesn't get in shape, and I don't want to see another video of leg presses. He's a pro athlete. I do leg presses. I'm in radio and television. I do leg presses twice a week. I don't want to see that video. I want to see the results, and I want to see defense. All the great Laker players in my lifetime, Jerry West, elite defender, Kareem elite defender, Lebron elite, Kobe in his prime, Shack in his prime, Gasol would defend Anthony Davis, great defend, underrated defender, maybe the best defender in the league the last two years, Luca, come on, gotta do better. Gotta do better, all right, I mean Kobe has as many all defensive selections. The staff just sent this as Kevin Garnett. I mean, Kobe was took great pride in it, and you didn't have to send me videos of you know, Lebron James doing leg presses or or Jerry West pre TikToker pre ig. He was doing leg presses. Okay, I don't need to see that video. Look, he's doing sit ups on an off day. Not interested watch the games. Let me see results. Jmack with the news, No, no.

Turn on the news.

This is the headline news.

Sorry, get that out of my throat there, all right, let's get started. Game six tonight in the NBA Finals. Feels like it's over Tyrese Haliburton. They're calling him a game time decision. He did take part in yesterday's practic, which was a film session and a walkthrough with light shooting. If you're watching there on FS one, you could see the calf kind of tighten up when he went down there in uh in the last game, Colin, it sounds like Caliburton will not play here. He is talking about his status.

You have to understand the risks. That's directions. But I'm a competitor. I want to play. I'm gonna do everything in my power to play, and uh, that's just what it is. I'm questionable from time to time throughout the course of the season, and they trust me to make the right decision on my body when the power is in my hands, and you know, I'm gonna try my best to uh to do that. But I mean, you understand, I want to be out there, and you know that's the plan.

It's unclear, Colin, if he was doing any running at practice. It sounds like there was some shooting.

One thirteen one oh six.

Okay, see, yeah, I don't hate that lower scoring.

I got the where they can win it.

This is weird, Colin. I know it's NBA Finals. To me, this is your third best option on TV tonight. USA Soccer is number one. Obviously, it's a massive.

Yes, USA Satar here.

That's top game and you know we can't lose that game. Second is gonna be Caitlin Cork, which we'll talk about here sortainly. But for me, I don't have a lot of people saying, hey, Jay, any shot the Pacers come back. I want tons of text chains. People are not.

If Halla Burton was healthy, the series would have some juice his inactivity or marginal playing.

It's over.

They're not beating this team two times without him. This team is so good at ball pressure on the perimeter that literally the only way to beat them is with ball handling and ball movement. And the best guy arguably in the playoffs has been Halla Burton at that.

So it's it's not gonna work.

Yeah, it feels over all.

Right, Let's go to the next roy, which is the WNBA. Listen, I know you don't agree with this, but the WNBA has announced no oh suspensions following the fever sun What are we calling it? A melee, a kerfuffle, A lot of flagrant fowls, multiple ejections, and I poked there. Caitlin Clark got decked. I don't love this, Colin.

I'll tell you why.

I sayd I think you gotta said notice, you can't just rough people up like this.

Yeah, I don't like this. There's a lot of smart people out there whose opinion I read or trust that are like, hey, it's got to be a gotta be a suspension for that. It's got to be just beyond a flagrant or a technical foul, and that's a legit you we can argue both sides, but I think there's a legitimate argument for messaging. We're gonna suspend it for that. It may not be long two game suspension, but I think you can argue reasonably that it deserves a suspension. And I wouldn't push back, you know, not everything I'm definitive of on There are things that I'm like, Yeah, either side's fine, and I think in this if you think there should be a suspension, I'm good with that. You can argue that.

So here's the other layer to this. So tonight the Fever play the expansion team, the Golden State Valkyrie. I don't know. I don't know. I don't follow their team or any of that, but I read about a gambling guy does a write up and he's been following this Golden State team. The number one thing they do is physical defense. They get in your face listen. And the league announced it based Oh, no suspensions. It's fine this expect this team to go hard at Caitlyn Clark tonight. I'm just putting it out there. I'm not saying there's gonna be a fight or anything, but they play physical brand of basketball. Kitlin Clark better get her enforcers because this is gonna be a theme. And I'm excited for the Christine Brennan interview later. I got the book as well. I'm very pro Kitlyn Clark. You know that Colin. I am worried that she's going to become a target in this league. People are jealous. Oh, she's our show poet, she's carrying the league. Well, well I'm going to show her. I don't like some of this stuff that's whirling out there.

That's fair.

I got that, and it makes me want to watch the game. This game has more juice than the NBA Finals, no question, no question.

Now, Lion final story is to Major League Baseball. Last night had some drama, Dodgers padres, great rivalry.

Here we go.

Let's set the scene. In the ninth inning, Will Smith steps up as a pinch hitter.

Smith, who's is the fly ball? Right center field? Tatis on the round at the Wontie track.

Hit the walk.

It is gone. It's gone.

Hey, this game is over.

They celebrate in front of the play Oh walk up, home run crew, Will Smith. The Dodgers went in the ninth four to three. I actually thought it was initially caught.

How did not cut that?

I'm getting I mean, for a second, this rivalry is so good. They have played now twenty four times in the last two years, thirteen Dodger wins. I think it's thirteen to eleven, and this was a go either way a game. This is There are so many right players in this rivalry. It is insane how much talent these two teams. We saw these teams play last year and I remember if they played the playoff game and the Dodgers I remember went with a bullpen game and had did they shut them? Out or they had an incredible I remember being just shocked because I thought the momentum had swung in the Podreys favor. So the Dodgers just have a way of always winning the big games in this series. But it's a it is a star studded seven eight, nine elite players in this series minimum.

Yeah, Dodgers down five and one against the Padres this season, kind of dominant. Colin. I know you don't want to be hyping La, but between this Dodgers team that just won the World Series, probably going back, Lakers new ownership that's gonna spend to build around Luca. You got LAFCS as a beast out here inside.

Why wouldn't I want you to HiPE La. I'm flying their Sunday morn there.

I know the city awaits your arrival. By the way, the Rams, I can't think, according to you are going to the super Bowl. The Chargers and Jim Harball like everything's coming up.

We've said this outside of USC all the big brands in Los Angeles. I mean, you say what you want about the Lakers, but they're not I mean they're making the playoffs. The West is very hard.

The third scene in the West not just making No, it's right now.

Los Angeles has really really good ownership. The Dodgers, the new Laker ownership, Steve Ballmer They've got and they've got really good ownership, and a lot of cities don't. Stan Kronkey obviously, Spano's family has done a good job. Harbaugh and Justin Herbert and two great offensive tackles. They're spending big money now. So a lot of this stuff is how good are your local owners. LA's got really good owners and really shrewd front offices.

Are at bottom.

The New York teams, the Jets owners one of the worst in the league. Mara stepped in it recently, James Dolan firing Thibodeau. By the way, I read this long mixed piece last night. Oh my gosh, Nick situation is terrible.

Right now, I think we read the same piece.

I don't know if we'll talk about it later maybe you know, but h.

New York, New York Jmack with the news.

Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the herd Line News.

So again.

Uh, the Caitlin's Clark stuff is fascinating. And I've said this before. You can tell me you respect somebody, But you respect somebody. I don't want lipstopers. How do you treat them? Do you treat them as an equal? And I've said from the very beginning with the WNBA, if you want to respect them, then judge them like men. They're great, talented, competitive, intense athletes. Stop pandering, put the palm palms down, take down the protective shield. Caitlin Clark is tough. She got a lot of Larry Bird. She is feisty. So there there's a video that made the internet. It was yesterday and you could read what Caitlin Clark was saying, right, and she got a little blowback on that because at one point she said, hey, I can.

Do what I want.

And everybody took that poorly. They're like, look, I read an article this morning. She's telling J. C. Sheldon, the NBA, the WNBA has got her back.

No, she's not. That's not what she's saying.

She's saying, like Larry Bird did when somebody got into his face. Okay, who's planned for second place in the three point shooting contest. I'm gonna do whatever I want. Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Shack, I'm gonna do whatever I want that didn't mean the WNBA or the NBA has the athletes back. Folks, if you could have had this same internet lip breeding quality with MJ and Bird. I saw MJ and Bird after their retirement. It was a few years ago. They met at a game in the tunnel and they greeted each other with smiles and mfs. That's how they talked, and that is how athletes talk. Cocky and confident is the language of competition. Wall Street, Silicon Valley, Premier League, NFL, NBA guys drop f bombs at each other and golf the next week at each other's charity.

That's Caitlin Clark.

Stop treating this differently than you would treat a male athlete. If you could read lips with those players, don't treat them differently.

And I said this yesterday.

I have never been a huge WNBA fan, but I've gone to games and I followed it. The quality of play over the last ten years. Go look at the stats and the analytics. Bigger, stronger, faster, jump better. It'll never be a vertical league like the NBA. But this whole thing, well, you know what she's said. I see these articles. She's saying Hey, the WNBA, I can do what I want. I would argue the opposite is true. The WNBA mangled her first year, gave her a tougher schedule to start the season. WNBA, we'd argue, doesn't have her back enough. Christine Brennan on the show. That's where she's arguing. What she's doing is cocky and confident and self assured. And it's great. It's great for Caitlin, it's great for basketball players. You'll see college kids doing it soccer, UFC. Swearing confidence over the top is the That is the language of competition, from Silicon Valley to Wall Street venture Capital.

And the WNBA.

And I'm here for it. Aj Perzinski. By the way, here's Kitlyn Clark. She is a trash talker, much more than I thought. But you're hearing it and reading it now. Here's Caitlin Clark on her trash talking.

Everybody knows that's how I play, Like I want the crowd behind me, like they love when I get into it with them too, Like they're here for a show, and like that's what I try to give them every single night. That's why we try to give them every single night. And that's what makes it fun. This place is basically full, and there's so many young girls and young boys and adults and older men that you know this might be their first WNBA game ever, and like you want to perform for them.

Love it.

You go, Dodgers, Padres, Albert Breer. We're just starting and Aaron Rodgers is talking to somebody at FS one.

It's the Herd.

Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd weekdays and noone Easter. There not a Empacific.

Well.

She's written seven the best selling author seven different books. Her sportsbooks Inside Edge is considered one of the one hundred best sports books ever written. Sixteen of the last winter and Summer Olympics, She's been to all of them. Award winning national author and Christine Brennan now is joining us. She has a new book. I just started reading it last night on her game, Caitlin Clark in The Revolution in Women's Sports. You've covered a lot of women's basketball. That book is available in July, early July. And again I just got a sneak peak last night and started diving into it.

So I was pretty critical and you have as well.

With a WNBA, I mean, when they opened up with New York and Connecticut. I'm like, people, give this lady a break. This is rough, but I will be honest. I thought she would be a star. Can I defend the WNBA last year and say, hey, they didn't know she was going to become Tiger Woods with merchandise? Could I defend the WNBA or did they just Christine?

Did they?

Did? They just kind of butcher her first year?

You know, Colin, I think there were signs of what was coming, and I think those signs were missed when you look at as so many of us.

Did, watching her, you know, from home, right, and watching.

That junior year start to develop, obviously going to the Final four, taking an IOWA team that no one predicted would go that far, then to the final game losing of course to LSU. The logo threes, the forty one point games, the triple doubles.

Just you know, really the high wire act.

Right, It's Caitlin Clark is a basketball player, for sure, but she's really an entertainer and that was clear, I think to many of us. And then the senior year where you've got people lined up in eighteen nineteen, twenty thousand arenas seed arenas in you know.

At Maryland and Ohio.

State and in the in January, you know, for hours waiting to.

Get in to see her play.

She's barnstorming right around the country, or at least around the good chunk of it. I think the signs were there that this was a huge deal.

And as I.

Report in the book and talk about this issue, and I do have a lot on this topic, the look, you know, I think that there was probably a thought within the WNBA, which I've really covered from the get go, that could.

This be possible?

You know, the WNBA was basically ignored by the male dominated mainstream sports media for years, and you know that's that's one of the realities of our sports world.

Well, I'm wondering if it.

Was just something like, oh, could this possibly carry over? Obviously it carried over it. It's been an extraordinary story that you've covered that I've covered, so many of us have, and I think, yes, I think you could see something was coming. And I'm not so sure that the WNBA. In fact, I am sure the WNBA.

Was not prepared for the magnitude of the moment.

So Chris Broussard said something yesterday or the day before on FS one, and Chris said it actually was a bit beneficial that her skirmishes were not by African American WNBA players, because it because we got into this whole racial stuff. And Chris said, no, she's a trash talker. Nobody likes her off the Indiana Fever. And I thought it was an interesting whether that's writer or not, I thought it was an interesting take. Is that when there was a lot of talk earlier about Angel rees and the kind of a racial component, did you buy that?

Did you think that was a fair story.

Certainly, the issue of raise is a big deal in this story, and I delve into that with wonderful voices black and white, great leaders, thought leaders like doctor Harry Edwards of course, who was the impetus for the nineteen sixty eight Mexico City Black Power Salute, other voices Briana Scurry. You know, I think it's very important to deal with that. I think would be naive you and I talking if we didn't realize and of course understand, as Chris would say and did say that clearly that there are those issues involved, you know, the Kennedy Carter hitcheck, which I go into in depth, because that of course is last season. It was such a huge moment, not just with the WNBA, Frankly Colin, but in our culture, you know, but people are talking about it for days.

You know.

Of course that was Kennedy Carter, who is black, and that WNBA did not the referees did not deal with it in the moment, just like the one with Marina Maybray, of course, who's white. So you've got two of these kind of blindstet in fact not kind of blind siding situations of the person who is the biggest economic driver in the WNBA, one white, one black. And but yes, you cannot take race out of this conversation, nor should we take race out of this conversation, because there's there's so many elements of this story that do involve a seventy four percent black league that never got These players, never got.

Their due, never I fought for it.

I've written about it, I talked about it, and people will ignore them for decades, and thankfully they're not ignoring them now. Obviously, some of what we're seeing is some stuff that we would relate rather not see.

You know, it's listening to you Christine Brennan joining it for the radio audience. The game is the book is excuse me on her game? Kaitlin Clark in the Revolution and went in sports. It sounds like you think the WNBA is again making a mistake by not at least sending a message and suspending the young lady that ran her over yesterday? Am I right in interpreting that?

Yes, yes, you are.

You know, we got some interesting data a couple of weeks ago when Kaitlyn Clark was injured, missed those five games, gone about three weeks the USA Today, my colleague Jeff Szilgut actually reported that the TV attendance for the entire TV audience for the entire league, not just the dent of Fever, but the entire league TV audience dropped more than fifty percent. That means that more than half of the TV audience for the WNBA disappeared when.

Kaitlyn Clark was gone.

Crazy I covered Tiger the length of his career. We never saw those numbers with Tiger. We saw big drops with when Tiger was gone Michael Jordan, I looked nowhere near those kind of drops. So this athlete, Caitlyn Clark is so important to the financial future of the WNBA at the time. By the way, as you know that the CBA, the collective barnaining agreement is open and will be being negotiated. This is a key moment for the WNBA in terms of salaries and TV and the four times now that the TV contract is four times more than it was before, that's a wonderful development. Caitlin Clark is really the engine here driving all of it. And now you have this data, and I know that a lot of people don't like that. Fats are facts, numbers are numbers. That's it and for me, the whole reason I even looked at this story as I did, wrote a few columns for USA Today, and then eventually had a book deal. But even before then I realized, having covered sports for a long time, call it that I never thought that I would see arena's packed to the rafters and TV ratings more than the man as we know, four million more for the women's final in the NCAA Championship in twenty four than the men the next night.

Because of Caitlin Clark, all of these things that we would.

See arenas having to be games being moved to bigger arenas, and that we'd be talking about a female athlete. Never in my lifetime did I think I would see that, And I think that's what makes this so remarkable and so different from another, you know, phenom coming into a sport, the magnitude for her and what she means to the w and the WNBA. You know, we talked about Tiger. There was golf, you know, and Tiger did of course lift golf, but golf had already had Arnie and Jack and Tom Watson and so many others and even going away before that. The NBA obviously needed the boost of Bird of Magic, but it also had you know, of course great names from the past, Will Chamberlain, Bill Russell, those great teams, the Celtics and others. So what I guess I'm saying is that the WNBA needed this more than any other of the sports that we kind of try to compare. Caitlin too, with those great phenoms lifting a sport, she is even more important to her sport than those guys were to theirs.

This is Rick Buker mentioned this yesterday. I think Stephen add as well that you know, we're playing the victim thing with the skirmish a little hot. She is a trash talker, she's Larry Bird. And by the way, I don't know, I never am going to assume you've ever watched anything. But my taking this whole thing is if you respect women, then let's treat them more like guys.

Basketball. They're gonna fight, they're.

Gonna flagrant, they're gonna technical, they're gonna swear, they're gonna be inappropriate. That's how this thing works basketball. The WNBA is not a vertical league. It has been chippy for twenty years. It is a chippy It's a more linear, more horizon. They don't do Jah Moran and jump over you. They elbow. These are physical women and we're finding out they talk trash. And my take is it is a wonderful thing. But back to my initial point is are we making her more of a victim that she's got a little Larry Bird and some of this stuff.

Maybe she's got it common. Oh.

The last person who wants to be seen as a victim is Caitlyn Clark. Obviously, I spent a lot of time around the team, and by the way, I disagree with Chris on that point about that they hate her or don't like her.

They love her. They love her and some of the new players they.

Brought in wanted to come right. They saw what was going on in Indiana. They saw the opportunities to do the deals that you know, and go to the.

Supermarket and the gas station.

And whatever and meet people and get the whatever the fee is for that, the honorarium that Caitlyn can't.

Do all that stuff.

So there's a lot of people who like Caitlyn Clark a lot, but she is a trash talker.

Absolutely.

They had to have the de Escalation Committee last year to drag her away from trouble when she was close to getting the seventh technical that would have meant she would have had to sit out a game. Oh yeah, she's feisty, she's tough, she's strong the way she reps up a crowd, and people love her for that. Colin, So I agree with you. I think there's apps no reason to coddle these athletes. I certainly when the questions I asked, I'm not coddling them. If I'm going to ask a man that question I a male athlete, I will ask.

A female athlete.

Obviously that was something that people got mad about last year. That's journalism one on one to me, And yes, now Kaitlyn Clark absolutely can take it.

Now.

The question is, though the chief shots the out of the blue, you don't see them coming, cheap shot, the.

Freight train kind of thing of Marina Maybray.

Is that smart to not have them have that punished by a game or two suspension.

I'm thinking not.

With what we talked about before, Colin, the magnitude of Kitlyn Clark and what she means for this league at this moment.

Yeah, I know the league send messages all the time. I mean the NFL will change rules in a season, and I think I said this earlier. I didn't know what to do with it. Obviously garnered a technical, but you can make a compelling argument they should probably just for messaging. They should probably set that player down for a game or two, just if nothing else, just tone and messaging. My mom would from time to time when I was a kid, sit me down just for messaging, and it was always very effective. So that leagues have been doing that my entire life. Christine Brennan on her game, Caitlin Clark and the Revolution in Women's Sports, July eighth.

It's out. I started it last night, folks.

Last year I called her Taylor Swift in basketball shoes. This is a new frontier. This is this stuff is incredible. Think about this. They outdrew the Pacers, and the Pacers are in the finals, and the Pacers are the fastest paced NBA team, So they play an incredibly aesthetically pleasing style of basketball and the Fever outdraw them. That is in itself remarkable. Christine final thoughts on the book, and if I'm on the I don't know if I want to buy it. Tell people kind of where you go on this. A lot of stuff I've learned early that I didn't know.

That was my hope.

You know, it's a journalistic no holds bard look at this time, Kate, it's unauthorized, and that's a good things.

That means that.

I am not working with Caitlyn. She answered all my questions. She is amazing. She is as good as you'd hope she would be, looks you in the eye, answers, everything goes on for several minutes.

I write in the book Colin, she's twenty two going on forty or fifty.

Remarkable, especially with the issues and the things that were thrown at her, for sure, and she's kept it up again this year, and you know, I break a lot of news more on the Olympic snub that I think is the worst team selection decision I've ever seen in covering.

The Opics since the eighties.

Yeah, and a lot of yeah, thank you and yeah, I mean it looks worse by the day.

Obviously, it's a year old now, so.

We can move on, but it is I think people will be fascinated by that a lot from Caitlyn's friends.

You know, Kate Martin got Tamika catchings throughout the book.

As I mentioned talking about the start of the deb how tough that.

Was, how important that was.

I really tried to touch on every important issue of this last year and a half at this extraordinary time in our country.

And I do think people who follow.

Her closely will still be very surprised by some of the things in the book and very proud of it. And certainly again, Caitlin Clark is a worthy story at this time. I mean, truly, I think you can make the case not only is she one of our most famous athletes, she's one of our most famous Americans period.

Yeah, you grandmothers and grandfathers in.

The produce section would never watch that they're looking for where Ion is or whatever on their TV set to make sure that they can watch Caitlin Clark play. And that's a great thing for all those other players to get that attention as well.

Christine, thank you so much. Good Scenia, you too, Colin, thank you.

That's interesting when she goes remember when they didn't put her on the Olympic team and I said, folks on the team, what are you doing? And I got a lot of pushback, year out of touch, you don't understand. I said, here's what I understand. Sometimes an artist gets hot, Martin, you'd know this. You put him, You put him on the tour. Coachella is like, let's get him in. Well, I mean they've only sold so many records. Yeah, put him you just Coachella, get him out there in the desert. Is not putting her on the Olympics. I'm glad Twisting Brennan has that take, because ies didn't get that at all. The league got a little too precious, a little too precious. All right, j MC, where did you land on that one?

I'm like the Olympic one? Yeah, oh that was goofy.

I mean yeah, it goes back. Do you remember stiff Curry when he zoomed past like Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook and became like a major phenix in the country. Everybody knew Steph Curry. There was jealousy and hate for him from Chris Paul west Westbrook. They were supposed to be the next great stars and they were anger. I think the same thing happened.

With Kaitlin Clark.

She zoomed past everybody in the league, right, and they were like, well, we were putting a rookie on the Olympic team.

Let's settle down.

Yeah. I got the Christine Brendan book, very excited to read that thing.

Yeah, you know, we're all in.

On Kaitlin Clark, Colin She's a big story, like huge.

Yeah.

That Olympic thing was really polarizing. And again, and I remember at the time saying, sometimes just don't out think they're room an. Artists gets hot and athletes get just make make except people go, well, we don't want to create a precedence. Kaitlin Clark is the Precedent's there are no more. There's never been another Tiger Woods. Rory McElroy's got talent, but he doesn't have Tiger's will and force. There are no other like like, we may never see another Mahomes, Josh Ellen's great so is Lamar Mahomes, got Andy Reid.

We may never see this again.

Yeah okay, so like a lot of the greatest of all time, we'll never see a basketball player like Lebron no way not. Was it eight straight finals or Wayne Gretzky eight straight MVPs. That's never happening again. But we're never gonna see that again. Yeah, all right, herdline news around the corner back in a second.

The Herd with Colin Cowherd

The Herd with Colin Cowherd is a thought-provoking, opinionated, and topic-driven journey through th 
Social links
Follow podcast
Recent clips
Browse 7,450 clip(s)