The Herd with Colin CowherdOhio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day joined us to chat about their national championship win, the NFL Draft, and how he's adapting to this new age of College Football
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All right, welcome in. It's our two live in Los Angeles. It's The Herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, Thanks for making us a part of your day. So I tell you this morning, I got a call I was asleep from some Boston radio station that wanted to talk about Jason Tatum, Like, yeah, I'm probably not gonna do that at four thirty in the morning. I'm not gonna do it at four thirty in the afternoon, but I'm definitely not doing it at four thirty am. Did you actually wake up and take the call?
I heard my.
Phone puzzle, which I should have had it, you know, do not disturb? Yeah, I don't, you know. I get up at four thirty every morning anyway. So at tip us from that couple meat falls from Boston. Well, whatever you don't need to meat balls. I mean, trained professional.
They're just blindly calling your phone at four point thirty of the morning.
Well yeah, it's not how I would produce the show. But you know, to each their own. But I you know, the point being is we all. I said this again. I think Jason Tatum's great. I think he's a Hall of Famer, but you're trying to put him into the Lebron Steph Messi, Ronaldo and BOFE class, and that is so small. I mean, Derek Jeter's great. A Rod was a superstar. But but my mom, my late mom, didn't like sports. She knew who Ken Griffy was and A Rod was, she didn't know who Derek Jeter was. Way that that A Rod was a star. Jeff Gordon and NASCAR is a star. Tiger's a star, Scotti Scheffler's just great, Scotty Scheffler's unbelievable. Tiger Woods is an icon, polarizing. I knew. I can think of Tiger Woods close my eyes. I can see the shirt he's wearing. I can see the goat the shirt. I know it's controversies. I know it's people get this. Sports fans get it. Confused. They think everybody's a superstar. Superstars are like I mean, there's always fewer than you think, always fewer than you. Travis Kelsey because of Taylor Swift is closer to it then players that are better than him. It's just it's very rare. You got to have multiple national commercials, you have to be sort of global. Doesn't mean you're not great.
Now.
I want to talk about something quick here, though, And so the forty Night Tim Kawakami has been covering the Niners forever. He writes for The Athletic. He's been one of the better Bay Area Riders national writers in the country for a long time. And he was talking about Debo and Ayuk, and he says the Niners with Ayuk have a little buyer's remorse now.
They did not like the price that they paid for him. I think it was let's go for it.
We're going for the super Bowl from the football side, and I think the negotiators never felt good about that number.
Ever, thirty million a year.
I'll just say the general theme here is four nine ers top not being happy with those deals, not being happy with a lot of deals, not being happy with the money that they've paid, as John Lynch talked about in Minneapolis, top three to four in the league for the last few years. It's fine in I think Jed York's mind if you win a Super Bowl. So if you're at least getting there, and they went six to eleven last year.
Here's my only criticism before we get to Ryan Day. I understand NFL teams reaching on quarterbacks that is not extravagant. Everybody needs one, and they're worth ten points if you get it right. That's like reaching on a new home in a good school district. You want your kids to be safe. If you want them in a good school district, you reach on a home. That's not extravagant. Reaching on a receiver is more like Dad can't afford it, but buys a new motorcycle. That's a little risky. That's a little ego to me. I think too many gms are playing fantasy football with wide receivers. Now do they matter, yes, But in the professional football world it is a coach quarterback league. So I think they have over spent on white receivers. And I say that knowing having worked with John Lynston covered him. I think he's a brilliant guy. With that, Ryan Day the Ohio State Buckeyes national champs favorite next year, as well as joining US Live. You know, I was thinking about this this morning. I was thinking about this years ago. Mike Krzyzewski when they did the one and done he didn't like it, and then I asked him about it and he goes, I didn't like it. And then three years in I realized I was losing to all these one and done guys. So maybe it's time for me not to be stubborn. Your sport, Ryan has become incredibly transient. I mean's just what it is. Was there a moment when it all came down the hill transfer portal? Nil? Was there a moment where you said this is a I don't know if I like this is it? We're gonna just do high school guys? Or did you buy into it ten minutes in?
I mean, I I you know there's still things going on that I throw my hands up right now.
You know, there's so many changes I think about, you know, the NIL, the transfer portal, the conference realignment with eighteen teams, so now you know in the Big Ten we traveled to the West coast. Then you have the playoff change like just just those four things. Those are just four things that have all happened. Those are like major, major changes. So you just had to be comfortable being uncomfortable in solving it and getting it because nobody cares, like there's all kinds of things that happened, you know, in the last month or so that you know, after our game we can get into later, but nobody cares about, Like what matters is putting your talent, you know, a talent accusation on the field, and putting them together and putting a team together. So as much those things have changed, to me, I felt with this team it was about the kind of timeless principles of hard work and sacrifice and loyalty and resilience that separated us.
So I'm a friend of Chip Kelly, and he you know, he's told me about your friendship for years and years. And I said, I said, I predicted before the season. I said, Ohio State's gonna lose it. Aution I've been too many games there. You can't hear yourself think. I don't think anybody in the country is going to beat this Oregon team at Dotson. You got close. I said, Ohio State's gonna beat him. They're gonna meet, they're gonna beat it later, and Ohio State's got better personnel and Ohio State's gonna beat him. But one of the things I theorized, I said, Chip Kelly is a real advantage that you're not gonna notice until the playoffs. He knows how to stagger these games because college football now feels like pro football. You can lose late in the season. It's not a death now, it's about staggering. It's about slowly unveiling. Take our audience into the value of Chip Kelly in that playoff that I can't see, you know, guys like me can't see, but inside your building the additive value that Chip gave you, that had a little NFL field to it.
Well, yeah, well, I think like you said, when you're talking about now sixteen sixteen games in a long season with a playoff format at the end of the year, it starts off with even this time of year, making decisions on how you want to proceed.
Like, for instance, we decided to huddle on offense this year. We had never done that. Certainly Chip hadn't done that a lot, you know, with his background in tempo.
But but that decision was a huge decision and that you know, we wanted to continue to evolve as the season went on.
But but then you know, really have our best football for the end of the year.
And I think having the NFL experience, and I would think a lot of teams would tell you, you know, in the NFL and in September, there's you know, sort of the preseason October, they're finding their identity and then by the time they get to November and December, like now, now they're going to play for for championships and everything's on the line. And I wouldn't say that that's the way it is in college right now, but it's it's trending towards that, and having somebody that's been in that position before, certainly with his experience in the NFL, it made a big difference.
So you have a player, you have two players. And I had said this, I had an NFL general manager tell me a month ago that if Jeremiah Smith and Caleb Downs were in this class, they'd probably be the second and third guys taken. They're unbelievable players. And you guys have done a really good job. And I think this is really hard, especially now you're paying players that you have these superstar players, and yet it felt like such a team. You felt like such a team, your sideline, your body language. Is it harder when you have you know, Ohio State's one of four programs maybe three that gets those guys. When you have literally NFL players, they're just not eligible, yet you're paying them. You're not paying everybody big money in the NFL. Everybody's doing fine in college. There's a little gap. Is that hard for you to massage as a coach?
Well, I think it starts with the identific I mean, there's a lot of NFL players that you know aren't in at Ohio State. You know that that maybe just aren't the right fit for for who we are, and so we try to do, you know, a great job of identifying, you know, the right people that fit us. You know, there's a lot of great players out there, but what you know, Ohio State's not for everybody, and you know, we try to make sure that we bring in the right folks that fit our culture. Because now again, like you said, these guys are making money now, so it's now even more important to bring in the right fit. And then what you say to him in the recruiting process, you better follow through with because they can literally walk.
Out the door tomorrow if they wanted to.
So, you know, it's really forcing everybody to really, I think, follow through with what they talk about on the front end.
But then these guys still want to be held accountable, you know, and.
Coaching them hard and giving them life lessons and building trust within the building is very, very important. And I think you know our fan base and being in Columbus and what comes with that. You know, our guys understand that there's a big obligation when you come to Ohio State what comes with it. So you know, the fact that we were able to overcome some things this year and then prevail on the back end certainly is going to you know, carry over into the season.
You've got a bunch of guys that are going to be very good. I mean, you're really a factory. Now you've become the best. You know, you guys have done a little bit Alabama did so. Saban was a defensive coach and by the time he left, Alabama was known for wide receivers and quarterbacks. Ohio State in my lifetime was running backs, oh linemen, linebackers, and now it's wide receiver you and I've said this. I told Urban Meyer this once. I said, when you have receivers as good as Ohio State, you got to feed them. And I said, I think it can hurt your run game in physicality. How do you simultaneously build power football. It's easy for hardball with the Chargers now, by the way, because they don't have superstar receivers. Once you have four of them, is it hard for you as a coach? Okay, we want to be explosive, but we want a little nineteen eighty five Ohio State too. Is that hard for you?
Oh? I think it's a great conversation, Colin.
I think it's it's a great point because when you're in the Big ten, like you've got to play smash mouth football, but then you also got to be able to go out to the Rose Bowl or down to you know, the Cotton Bowl and play Texas and Oregon and attract me, you know. And so that's the combination of things that we're constantly trying to make sure we balance out. And the only way you can do that is if you have un selfish guys, so like you know, to have Trevon Henderson and quin Shawn Junkins together in the backfield together and let young players see that their unselfishness and willing to sacrifice being the guy or a number of carries so that they could play really, really fast and really physical down the stretch made a big difference. I think, yeah, And the only way that that happens is if guys are unselfish and to your point, you know, if you have selfish guys who just want the ball and don't understand how important is to establish their run, it's not going to work.
And vice versa.
You know, if you have you know, running backs who want certain number of carries when the ball needs to get thrown out to some of our receivers, it isn't going to work.
So buying into the team is critical.
You know, There's been a couple of moments in my life when I had my first child that I literally was floating, like I didn't feel like, I'm like, what's happening to me? I got salty discharge, I'm crying, you know, And so we have had that too. We've all had personal moments. But I want you to pivot now to a professional moment because there is a difference between work and home, even though we love both. Take me back to the moment you knew you were going to be national champion. Who was the first person you thought of?
Oh?
Well, for me, it was my father, you know.
And I didn't really make this public before, but since you asked me, I'm gonna answer the question. You know, I lost my father on January twentieth when I was nine years old, and I saw when the schedule came out that the National Championship game was on the same day that I lost my father, And so, you know, I just knew that he was with me that day, and that was the first.
Guy that I thought of, Oh, that's a great story. We've said this before. You know you're in a good program when you get heat for losing occasionally to Jim Harbond Georgia. Right now, it's the best program. In my opinion, it's the best program in college football, nil transfer portal coaching destination. It's Ohio State. Do you ever ever just get to go for a walk in the park in Columbus put a baseball cap on and not get noticed or do you sometimes feel like, man, this is a lot. This is a lot. Coaching the Buck guys in ohios, how's that land for you?
It is a lot, it is, but that's what you signed up for.
And I remember when the first press conference, you know, I was there with with with Urban and you know, a lot of people just kind of asked, you know, how do you follow up Coach Meyer a legend, and what if you don't do this?
And what if you don't do that? And I just kind of had the mindset of what what if? What if we do?
What?
I what an opportunity uh to be at a place where there's just such great tradition. And you know, my wife that night were on the bed together. I had three young kids, knowing that we were probably the first, you know, family to go through this with young kids, you know, going through elementary school and now into junior high and high school. And she kind of cried and she said, this is the last time our family will be normal. And I didn't even understand at the time, but she did and she was right. But but you know, it's it's it's it's part of the job. It's part of the obligation. And I think after this game, so many people have come up to me across the country. When I've traveled to different places and the first thing they say is thank you, just thank you for what you did this year. And they tell the stories of where they've been across the country or who they were when they watched the run that we went on, and it just makes you realize that Ohio State football is bigger than any one of us and the obligation that we have and it's just a you know, it's an honor to be the head coach Ohouse State.
I love all the you. I appreciate you giving these stories to us because you don't have to and you're opening up and it means a lot. Finally, a big thank you from me for playing Texas so Ohio State. A lot of programs won't do this and it drives me nuts. You guys, I remember when Pete Carroll you schedule the Trojans in LA you know, Ohio State played them at home and a lot of coaches won't do this, and you know you have just made a point. Let's you know. I don't mind the Youngstown State. I don't mind that, uh you know in State Ohio. But when you when you it's one thing to make a commitment three weeks before that game. Are you going to be thinking, you know, we could have played Texas State at Arlington, that would.
Have been.
That's a hell of an opening game. You're gonna lose some sleep when that thing's two weeks out.
Well, I think it's one hundred and seventy three days from today. So yeah, to say I'm gonna lose sleep, yeah, you night, I'm gonna lose sleep. I think a couple of things. I think one, it allows you, you know, an opportunity to figure out where you're at early in the season. But I think it's important moving forward with the playoff system that like in the Big Ten in the SEC, and as we start to work through this, that we do get automatic qualifiers and a certain amount of automatic qualifiers. If we don't, then you're never going to see these games schedule. To your point, that's right, that's right. Yeah, So I think that's critical if we want these games, which I think we should have these games, Yes, we need to make sure that that happens because I think it's really really good for college football.
Oh, I mean, I think the loss at Oregon, my takeaway is that was going to easily be the harshest environment you would play in. I didn't care what you did the rest of the year. I don't care if you're that was good. No, I mean I covered Oregon. That is as loud as any football stadium I've ever been in NFL or college. So in a way, you look at it at the time and it stinks flying back to Columbus, but it paid dividends later. Your guys saw what real duress is like. In Ohio State. You don't face a lot of that, you know, I mean, you know, it's just it's just I feel like the football gods, you should have won this year, and I love the way you won, and I want to thank you for coming on giving us a little insight into your life and uh impossible not to root for Ryan. Thank you so much.
I appreciate it. Colin much respect man.
All right, great football coach, and I really believe this is I think if you count transfer, portal, nil coaching, home environment, budget focus, I think Ohio State this moment is the best football program in America. Now there. It's always like you know, Bama, Georgia, Ohio State. You know it ebbs and flows. It never lasts forever. But that's that is a tough job. That is a you do not escape. I mean you can when you coach Ohio State. You can take your family on a trip to Florence, Italy, and they'll be buck guys over there too. Appreciate that. So j Mac got uh, you got your uh, you got Adjason Tatum Tomorrow's headlines today. You know it's what's really unfair is I am just a journalist. And when you're a journalist and you're just laying out data and people are attacking you, you know that's not I got into this business. Who is the I'm not attacking you. No, do you feel attacked? People in Wooster are up in arms? How many people are listening to the show? Can point out Wooster on a map. I used to live by it. Course I lived in Connecticut. I'm in Boston six times a year because of certain Wooster like what like a cultural cross roads. The guide people come up to you and they say you like produce, how you like these apples? And they punch you right in the forehead. That's what Wooster's about. No messing around in my kind of town. College lesson.
Oh yeah, one more heard The Herd streams twenty four hours a day, seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you lie.
You know, it's really interesting in the trade deadline, the Lakers and the Warriors got really good and really fascinating. But you know, there's this thing because the ratings for the NBA. The outside of the NFL, everything in this country is cyclical in sports. The WNBA, because of Caitlin Clark, is now really popular in college football this year Texas, Ohio State big brands playoff popular baseball Yankees, Dodgers, Mets. All of a sudden, the ratings are exploding best in a decade. Outside of the NFL, it matters. And right now in the NBA, when people say nobody likes the NBA, you know who likes it. The biggest city in the country in New York, the second biggest city, Los Angeles, the third biggest city, Chicago's gonna a lousey team and they lead the NBA in attendance for the four straight year. Philadelphia, Dallas, San Francisco, Boston, you know where people live in stuff like, big cities really like the NBA. And right now New York's energized, Chicago's bad and energized La San Francisco, Boston, Uh, you know, I mean you go to New York right now, it's a big deal. It is a big deal. So and I think what's happened is the NBA. When Michael Jordan retired, he was It's hard to explain to somebody in their twenties how big Michael Jordan was. It was like in my lifetime, Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, Pele Messi. There's been like four or five like I mean, just like like Oprah level, like everybody in the world knows who it is, right. You usually get that with like prime ministers and presidents like And the NBA outside of Michael lost fifty percent of its ratings. It's not because people didn't like the NBA. They didn't like who the NBA was telling everybody was the face of the league. And you've tried to make Jahn Morant in tiny Memphis the face of the league. He wasn't mature enough. Zion in tiny New Orleans he's the face of the league. He wasn't mature enough. Jokic he doesn't want to be in Denver and Minnesota. So the reality is Lebron and Steph are still the faces of the league, and that's why they get the highest ratings. And now you've energized both of them with stars next to them. So it's outside of the NFL every sport. I thought the college football got incredibly regional for about ten years, Clemson, Georgia, Bama, and nobody Denver West. They weren't watching the games. So that's why I was all for the Pac twelve's best four teams going into the Big Ten and Texas Oklahoma going into the SEC. So you get sort of an NFL vibe for it, but it's I mean, I'll give you an example. Cleveland's a small market relative to like the NBA big markets. We've cared about Cleveland two times in my life, the time Michael Jordan beat him on the Craig Elo shot and the time Lebron won a title. They're arguably the best team in the league right now. They're not going to move a number. That's just the reality of every sport in this country outside of the NFL, where if Jacksonville played in the Super Bowl, it's still get over one hundred million people to watch. It's like in England, everybody's going to watch the English Premier League. It doesn't matter who's playing, it's always going to be popular. The other sports like tennis can be really popular if you've got a superstar playing and he hails from the UK. So you know, I don't buy anything's dead forever. I don't buy it's politics. The minute you get better players in and better stories. Americans love the journey in the story. It's back to me an interesting when you get Boston potentially in New York in the Eastern Conference finals, and if you got Lakers Warriors in the Western Conference finals, are you kidding me? It would be really really great for all of us, not just the NBA. J mcklin news.
No, no, no, this is the herd Line news, all right, Colin.
First story is a little bit strange. H Eagles are riding high, right, Jalen Hurts a superstar. Eagles win the Super Bowl, but now they're starting to move off players and Darius Slay was released right in an attempt to save some salary cap space. Since the news of his release, Sligh aka Big Play Slay made a recent podcast appearance and kind of admitted a certain quarterback from the Elite group.
The Elite goes to the top four guys. You know what I'm saying, gonna that's how I do elite and like elite for me in the quarterback world is Joe.
Borrow, Mahomes, Dang mamar H and Josh Allen. Yeah, that's that's right. You know it's it's not Yeah, I forgot Jalen Hurts. Jalen Hurts is not a group. He is certainly come.
He went to the Super Bowl a couple of years ago, nearly nearly won it, outplayed Mahomes and then now beeped down the Chiefs in Mahomes head to head dominated the Chiefs defense that you love.
What not what GM in the league? If given the four guys on the screen and Jalen Hurts would take hers, well, I'm not saying you take Hurts over them, but he's in that group. No, he's not. Them's fighting words here, Colhurt.
I will defend Jalen. I'm just telling you, man, he's where's the flaw on his game? What's what's the problem, what's the weakness?
He is not, as Greg Kosell tells you, the film says he had eighteen regular season touchdown passes. He is not a great pocket quarterback. Okay, So what's the I mean, Sam Darnal had thirty five. Does that mean he's elite? No, it doesn't. The four guys that are elite are beyond just production. They can carry battle lines bad Joe Burrow couldn't carry a bad team to the playoffs, got to the super Bowl with me.
Oh boy, uh huh, he could carry listen. Obviously Burrow is great. I'm not I'm not knocking him.
Those four are superstars. I think Hurts he has reached that group. I don't. So who would you have his five? Doesn't matter? You're Darius Slay said, these are the elite eyes in the league, and that's why I would variously just released. That doesn't mean he doesn't know who the elate quarter.
Well, he's clearly upset that he got cut because Jalen Hurts got paid.
Everybody would be getting paid. Salad, great, I got cut here, I'd be upset. It's okay to be upset.
So the other part that's a little weird is this isn't the first guy on the team who's had some.
Issues, shall we say, with Jalen Hurts. You know a J Brown? Remember Jay?
You know this?
I like this about Jalen Hurts. Let me tell you something I like about Jalen Hurbs positive. Okay, let's hear it. He doesn't care if you love him.
It's a great point.
You know who does Jason Tatum that you're gonna say Jason backintire No, I mean Jalen Hurt. Troy Aikman wasn't losing any sleep because he had to rip a wide receiver's head off and yelled a OC Troyman lose. Tom Brady never lost sleep ripping Josh McDaniels or yelling at receivers to get open. Peyton Manning's yelling at one of his best friends, Jeff Saturday. That's what leadership looks like.
Leadership looks different for everybody calling you. You're the leader of this race, you show number one show in the country. You're not yelling at people and cursing. I've never witnessed it in the two plus years. Actually, because you show up late and you.
Don't go to our meeting. Stop it. I'm on the call. I mean, I can hear everything. You're not ripping anybody.
Leadership looks different to everyone, and I just because Jalen Hurts isn't barking at guy's like Brady or Peyton doesn't mean he's not a superstar.
I like quarterbacks who don't need to be everybody's best friend. I'm totally cool with that. Leadership is doing uncomfortable things. If you want to be comfortable, that's the substitute teacher. Sometimes the teacher has to give you an af has to make you go to summer school. The substitute teacher never tells.
You to do that.
The teacher does.
Wait.
At this rate, we're never going to get Jaalen hurts there, Jason Tatum on the sofa.
He's not coming to the show, not the way you're treating him.
Next story, Colin, is the Knicks loss last night? Oh no, i'm Is it the nixt No, no, I'm sorry. It's the Raiders. The Raiders are a hunt for a new quarterback. They bounce to Gardener Minshew and Aidan O'Connell's not the guy. They were all in on Stafford, but he ended up staying with the Rams. Diana Russini says the Raiders are exploring veteran quarterback options, and they are willing to entertain the possibility of trading for a current starting quarterback now one of the Raiders fans on staffs at knee.
There's a report that Geno Smith could be the guy. Pete let me tell you something, Snyder would We'll take that call. I would take that call. And if Pete likes him a lot, so Gino Smith. It's funny because Pete does not like interceptions, and Gino the last couple of years has and because it's Gino's funny because he's got the trades, He's big, he moves, he's a nice guy. He works hard, he's got a decent arm, but he just makes it's a lot of Darnold. It just sometimes he lets go that ball and I'm like, Nah, that's not gonna do it.
What's the look like for the Raiders if they actually call and trade for Gino Smith as opposed to go after Aaron Rodgers.
Well it's Sam Darnold. Well I think Donald right now is the best of those three. Yeah. I would put Aaron second, Gino third.
I don't disagree.
My final story, Colin is the NBA.
This is the story I'm depressed about as this Jalen Brunson injury.
He was magnificent last night and then you watch him land here.
It looks like he lands on Austin Reeves as Lebron comes up for the chase down block.
Ankle turned badly.
He did make his free throws and went right to the locker room, and there's concern he could be out a week or two, but Chris Haynes is now reporting it's only an ankle spray, no ligament damage, nothing significant. There are twenty games left in the season for the next At this point, you need him healthy if you want to have any kind of run.
Don't you just shut him down for a week or two. Well, hey, as long as they don't face Boston or Cleveland in the first round, New York's good enough and deep enough to win a playoff series with him playing two games.
They're looking at Pacers or maybe Bucks possibly pissed it.
Do you buy the Bucks? I mean, not totally, but they're good.
But I don't know about them like challenging Boston. I don't like them against Cleveland.
Well, Cleveland's gonna be everybody they play except maybe watch the Knicks last night.
If you're the Knicks, you don't go into that series intimidated. If you've got a healthy Jalen bruns in Bridget it again, Knicks, Calves, are you intimidated bite anybody on that team?
No, I think the Knicks can play. Listen, I've watched the Knicks play the Calves and get handled. And I watched them twice against Boston and the game was over in seven minutes. The Knicks has currently constructed do not match up with the Calves and Celtics. They do match up with, you know, the Lakers. I think they match up with Minnesota and Denver. I think and this is not a knock on the Knicks. I think the Calves and the Celtics are a notch above the rest of the league.
Well, if that series happens, Calves and everybody's healthy, I'll think nix.
You can have gaps. Oh boy, who's garden Dylan Brunson. It ain't Garland. He can't defend anyone. And I like Darlin, I don't know if he can handle the men's leag.
Guy playing to be a defender like Brunson will cook them for thirty five a night.
They have Cleveland offensively has a lot of options. Yes, they do have FI I mean they have They can score thirty eight in the back court.
The front court, they defend, and they're gonna pick on Carl Anthony Towns over anybody.
Yeah, they're gonna just go right at Carlin Luka going at him. Last night. It was back and forth.
Brunt says like, give me Luca go at him, and then Luca's like, bring me Karl Anthony Towns. And it was just creating this matches Towns man. I don't know you had a theory, didn't you that the Knicks should go after Giannis.
Yeah, I think I think to get to the next level, I would move Carl Anthony Towns if I had to move Og five picks for you know, whatever you want, just get some flexibility if you're you know, if you're Milwaukee, get flexibility, get picks. But I always felt Carl Anthony Towns was the move before the move. J Mickle the.
News, Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the Heard Line News.
Ryan Day was good today.
Boy.
He opened up his heart and gave us stories about his late father and stuff he didn't have to, and I really appreciate that.
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That's interesting. Jason Tatum, you know, he scored thirty five again last night and he was talking about the game against the Lakers tomorrow night. So Lakers Celtics will be the big national TV game. Austin's a better team, a deeper team. They're better defensive team. I don't care what the I don't care what it says. They defend the wing, they defend the bucket. It's a really, really good team. Joe Hawlly is kind of banged up, but Tatum said he doesn't consider the Lakers Celtics to be a rival.
Listen, you respect to understand that the history and all the the guys that wore the Lakers in Celtics uniform and what it means to the game of basketball and the NBA, and it's honored to be a part of that for sure. From my time in the league, Like I wouldn't look at the Lakers as rivals. We only play them twice. You know, the teams that we played over and over again in the in the playoffs, Philly would be one of them, and you know the other teams as well.
I agree with them. I look at the Lakers and I think their rival is Stephan the Warriors, and I I look at the Celtics and I think their rival has been Philadelphia and now the next So it's weird. College sports has rivalries. You know, Ohio State Michigan is probably the best rivalry in the country. You know, obviously Duke Carolina and basketball massive rivalry. You have a lot of regionals, you know, Oklahoma Oklahoma State. But I it's it's I don't know why this is. But even in baseball right now, I mean the Subway Series, I do think, you know, the Sodo move rams that up a little bit. Pro sports is not really a rivalry thing to me. Maybe it's because there's so much mobility in it. You know, stars aren't facing off against stars for very long. It's interchangeable pieces. I mean, the reason I think the Lakers Warriors is so big because it's Lebron and Steph. If Lebron and Steph retire, tomorrow. I wouldn't feel the same way. I feel like pro rivalries are often based on the player. College rivalries are based on the institution, and you know, pro athletes are moving all the time. So I mean, before Jalen Brunson got to the Knicks and they got their act together, I didn't think the Knicks had a rival I mean it's now Boston is the King, and Philadelphia and you know Cleveland now and New York kind of trying to punch up at the King. But yeah, it's I don't It's just pro sports, isn't college football there are absolute rivalries. I live in Los Angeles. You know, the City Championship USC UCLA. They don't even have to be good, and generally both aren't simultaneously good. It's a big deal. You can feel it. I went to Notre Dame USC this year that felt big teams don't even have to be great. So, you know, Dion Dawkins last hour, you know, we were talking about this yesterday. It is funny, all joking aside on Jason Tatum. He's obviously a great kid, but what is star power? And I do feel Steph Curry has a little bit of this he's performative. You know, in our business you see people, Yeah, he's doing the falling asleep thing. There is something certain people have personality. I mean, you see it in politics like Reagan. You know, put Reagan. Not only did Reagan beat Mondale, but just their personalities. Reagan was a star, Jimmy Carter was a nice man. They were both president right like one. Historically, history will be kinder to Reagan than the late you know, Jimmy Carter. But there are some presidents that feel i mean Bill Clinton had this a little bit. They're a little rock star quality. And you know, and Tatum. I think sometimes Celtic fans think you're banging on Tatum. No, we're not. It's just there is an aura, a component to it. And I'm not doubting the great stuff. And I do think Tatum plays on every single NBA team in the league, and he fits everywhere. And I've said this, Steph Curry because he needs the ball, Luca because he needs the ball, Lebron because he needs the ball. They don't necessarily feel like they fit everywhere. KD fits everywhere. I think Tatum fits everywhere. Bruceard yesterday talked about Jason the argument against Tatum.
You know what a lot of people will say when they really get into the basketball is that a lot of his.
Moves are you know, manufact moves. They're the moves you learn when you work out with a trainer every day from the time you're a teenager. They're not instinctive like the older guys moves used to be.
Just make a move up because you need to do it.
We talked about this this morning. I can't buy that as a criticism. So what you're saying is Tatum's hard work should be punished. I could make an argument that Tom Brady the best quarterback ever. His strength was repetition. It wasn't r moobil. Tom Brady's greatness was based on constant repetition of accuracy, hips efficiency throwing in cold weather. Jason Tatum. Michael Jordan, by the way, had three stock moves where he scored seventy five percent of his points. You know, I've said this before, Jordan was electric. But eighty percent to ninety percent of what Michael Jordan did were mid range jumpers off two to three moves, and about twice a game, Michael would give you something you'd never seen before. Ninety percent of Mahomes is just curl routes, drag routes, kelsey for eight and then about twice a game Mahomes does something left handed side arm. Oh, I've never seen that before. So now does Tatum give you those iconic moments switching hands? No, But I think it's hard to criticize somebody because they're a workaholic and have you know, manufactured or sort of predictable moves. I don't know. I've gone to see him play live three times. He's the first guy out there. He is a worker and I think he's fun to watch, and I think he's the best Celtic. I don't think there's any question. But this whole thing has been about is he the face of the league? A I don't think we need a face of the league, and I think there's only been three all time. There are certain things that people think they're a lot more of than there are, like experts. They're not that many experts in the world, and even experts make mistakes. Sports fans tend to think everybody loves sports. I mean, Taylor Swift is ten times more popular than Patrick Mahomes globally, ten times Bruce Springsteen in his prime ten times more popular than Derek Jeter. But for a sports fan, no, I mean everybody knows Jeter, No, they don't. Jeter wasn't flashy. Jeter wasn't electric. A lot of people don't watch baseball. A Rod controversy, the look, the swag. Sometimes he'd get in trouble. A Rod felt like a star. I've always said this. Otani's a star. Mookie Betts is amazing. But Mookie Betts, he's just excellent. If I say Mookie Betts is not the face of baseball, it's not a knock. He's unbelievable. He does more things well than anybody I've ever seen, except maybe Otawni. Otani feels bigger, the presence, the aura. He's global. He's the face of a Aaron Judge. By the way John Carlos Stanton hits home runs two Aaron Judge feels closer to the face of baseball. Aaron's got the look, I mean, the look, the humility, the pinstripes, it just he feels. Aaron Judd isn't just big, he feels big. There's a lot of guys that can hit the ball a long way. Bryce Harper I thought when he came into the sport, had a little bit of the face of the league thing. So and the and the other one that jumps out is there have been look at track and field. Look at how many amazing track and field stars there have been. Usain Bolt for a while felt like the face of track and field. There have been a lot of fast guys. But Carl Lewis, if you go way way back, Carl Lewis felt like the face of the Olympics. There was some controversy. I think that was the Mary lou Retton fell. Oh that's the There have been gymnasts better than Mary lou Retton. When I was a kid growing up, there was somebody named Olga Corbett. Right, there's been There's been so many great tennis players, right, like but but, but like John McEnroe is still a topic, by the way, Jimmy Connors was great, Ivan Lendall was great, Boris Becker was great. I mean, I can go I can go on and on on tennis players. John McEnroe is a superstar, and part of it was the inappropriate nature of his personality at times. I mean, so, there's a lot of great track and field soccer superstars are are are? I said, did I say this earlier today? That the NBA at any time into my life has had two superstars and then about fifteen stars. So when I say, well, you're not Lebron like I think Lebron and Steph are superstars? Is there a third? I'm serious. I don't think Jokic is a superstar. I think he's the best player in the game. I'd argue there are two superstars in the NBA right now, superstars, global superstars. We can argue about who's third, but it's Steph and Lebron. Everybody knows Stephan Lebron. My son doesn't like sports, he knows Steph. My sister doesn't like sports, she knows Lebron. They don't know who Jokich is. They don't know Yokich is. It's not a knock. It's just the reality of the world we live in. It's very broad world now. There's a million platforms to stand out, so everybody knows you. You gotta play a long time, and you gotta have some flair and aura in that personality.
