# Pulisic's World Cup Fallout, Inside Jaylen Brown Trade, US Soccer's Future

An episode of [The Colin Cowherd Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1551365571), 8 Jul 2026, 1 h 02 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/arttrk.com/p/D5CA5/pscrb.fm/rss/p/prfx.byspotify.com/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/4013d28e-5f67-4885-bff1-ae3300346830/11f5396f-677f-4be6-b058-b481016f5c60/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=e829cf60-fc06-4d61-8691-ae330034683e

Colin Cowherd is joined by 'First Things First' co-host Danny Parkins on the podcast. Colin explains why he missed The Herd today off the top. Then they go into Christian Pulisic's rest comments and give their takes on the US Soccer player and what the future holds for him. Next they deep dive into the Celtics trading Jaylen Brown and why Jaylen's value across the league wasn't as much as fans & media thought. Lastly they go back to the World Cup to discuss the future of this year's tournament and which broadcast partner could land it in the next deal. How can the USA grow from hosting the World Cup and get to the next level in soccer. TIMELINE 03:00 Christian Pulisic & Team USA 25:00 Jaylen Brown Trade 49:00 World Cup Future All lines provided by @hardrockbet (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.) Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates! #Volume See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:01] Speaker 1: The volume.
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[1:09] Speaker 2: at Square dot com slash goh slash Colin, s q
[1:12] Speaker 2: U a r E dot com slash go slash Colin. So,
[1:20] Speaker 2: by the way, if you're wondering, I am healthy enough
[1:22] Speaker 2: to do a forty five minute podcast today, but my
[1:24] Speaker 2: boss has called me after yesterday's show. I played hurt yesterday.
[1:28] Speaker 2: I had a fever and the stomach virus is going
[1:30] Speaker 2: around the Midwest. So I went to bed last night
[1:33] Speaker 2: at seven thirty five, took thorough flu. I broke my fever.
[1:36] Speaker 2: So I'm okay, stomach's a mess. It's a Midwest thing. Whatever.
[1:40] Speaker 2: But we had this planned and I think it's it's
[1:42] Speaker 2: fitting because there's so many things I want to talk
[1:44] Speaker 2: about with Danny Parkins. So you know, listen, every four
[1:48] Speaker 2: years after we lose in the World Cup, the drum beats.
[1:54] Speaker 2: It's our culture, you know, it's our youth movement. But
[1:59] Speaker 2: I did think it was kind of instructive that Carli Lloyd, Stuholden,
[2:05] Speaker 2: Alexi Lawless all kind of had the same drum beat,
[2:08] Speaker 2: which is, hey, Christian Pulisic, nobody wants to hear about rest.
[2:13] Speaker 2: This isn't baseball. You don't have a game tomorrow. We
[2:18] Speaker 2: don't want to hear about rest. And I think it's fair,
[2:20] Speaker 2: and I'll tell you why. Pulistic's twenty seven. Messi is
[2:24] Speaker 2: a smaller athlete, has never messed a World Cup game,
[2:26] Speaker 2: and you know he hasn't been healthy one hundred percent
[2:28] Speaker 2: of the time. We know Polistics not Arling Holland he's
[2:33] Speaker 2: not a soccer version of Gronk, but he gets banged
[2:36] Speaker 2: up a lot. He's twenty seven, But there is an
[2:38] Speaker 2: indifference or a lack of urgency sometimes that comes off
[2:42] Speaker 2: as condescending from Polistic, like he's above it all, and
[2:46] Speaker 2: we don't like that from our athlete. By the way,
[2:48] Speaker 2: if you said that in Argentina, the Argentinian press would
[2:51] Speaker 2: savage you. If you said it in Greece or Italy
[2:54] Speaker 2: or London, you'd get crushed for it. I think my
[2:57] Speaker 2: knock on Polisic is that this is this is different
[3:02] Speaker 2: than the other sports is that it's every four years.
[3:07] Speaker 2: Soccer already faces a little cynicism because of the flopping,
[3:11] Speaker 2: so you kind of fake injuries all the time. So
[3:14] Speaker 2: like when you come up and say, all right, I
[3:17] Speaker 2: can still see on the pitch, you can still move.
[3:21] Speaker 2: I don't want to hear about rest. I don't think
[3:23] Speaker 2: that's unfair. I think it's pandering to call that unfair.
[3:27] Speaker 2: I think that's very reasonable. International Soccer commentary by Carly
[3:32] Speaker 2: Stewing Alexi.
[3:33] Speaker 1: Of course, I mean he after the game said that
[3:38] Speaker 1: he thought he maybe sprained his ankle. We expect you
[3:43] Speaker 1: to play through a sprained ankle, right right, Like I
[3:46] Speaker 1: mean if he would have come out afterwards, that he
[3:47] Speaker 1: would have ruptured his achilles. You know, no one would
[3:50] Speaker 1: have said anything, you know, but it was like, wait,
[3:52] Speaker 1: you you kicked the other guy. You kind of stubbed
[3:55] Speaker 1: your foot into the ground. You were hobbling around out there.
[3:58] Speaker 1: We expect you to be able to hobble that off.
[4:01] Speaker 1: And I'm not saying that I could do it, but
[4:03] Speaker 1: I am saying that world class athletes should be able
[4:06] Speaker 1: to do it.
[4:07] Speaker 3: And this is the thing.
[4:08] Speaker 1: I am not a twenty four to seven three sixty
[4:12] Speaker 1: five soccer person, but I really prepped very hard ahead
[4:17] Speaker 1: of this World's Cup. I take my job very seriously
[4:20] Speaker 1: with how first things. First overtime is going, like Nick
[4:24] Speaker 1: Wilds and Brew are not on the show with me,
[4:26] Speaker 1: so I'm doing the full hour with me and Dax
[4:28] Speaker 1: McCarty and maybe other soccer people that we bring on. So, like,
[4:32] Speaker 1: I prepped my ass off ahead of this World Cup.
[4:34] Speaker 1: Part of that was watching the five part Team USA documentary,
[4:39] Speaker 1: and in the documentary there was a whole section of
[4:42] Speaker 1: time on Polisic feeling defensive and pushing back against the
[4:49] Speaker 1: old American soccer establishment, guys like Alexi and Landon who
[4:53] Speaker 1: had criticized him for skipping the Gold Cup. They were like,
[4:56] Speaker 1: you've got to play in the Gold Cup. It's because
[4:59] Speaker 1: this is such huge tournament for Team USA and it's
[5:02] Speaker 1: a home World Cup, and he was like, I need
[5:04] Speaker 1: the rest and I have to prioritize rest, and they
[5:06] Speaker 1: really criticized him and he pushed back against it. And
[5:09] Speaker 1: then Polisic also, I know he's not the most media
[5:14] Speaker 1: friendly guy, but I think that's a little overstated. There's
[5:17] Speaker 1: also a nine part documentary just about him on Paramount
[5:21] Speaker 1: It's the Polisic Story. And then he was profiled in
[5:24] Speaker 1: GQ ahead of this tournament and he said it's just
[5:27] Speaker 1: another big tournament. Like I came out of this thing saying,
[5:32] Speaker 1: I honestly wonder if the World Cup is as big
[5:37] Speaker 1: of a deal to him as playing for ac Milan.
[5:40] Speaker 1: He makes his money from ac Milan. It's the biggest
[5:43] Speaker 1: American transfer fee in the history of our country. Like
[5:47] Speaker 1: it's weird to say, but I honestly felt like, do
[5:52] Speaker 1: we care, does Donovan care? Does Alexi care more about
[5:57] Speaker 1: wearing the crest of America than Polistic? And I know
[6:01] Speaker 1: he laid his body on the line and had the
[6:03] Speaker 1: great goal in the last World Cup against the Iran
[6:05] Speaker 1: and all.
[6:05] Speaker 3: Of those things.
[6:06] Speaker 1: But you would never catch Messi saying it's just another
[6:11] Speaker 1: tournament about the World Cup, and so I think when
[6:14] Speaker 1: you combine skipping the Gold Cup, it's just another tournament,
[6:20] Speaker 1: asking out of both a group stage game and a
[6:22] Speaker 1: knockout stage game with non devastating injuries. These people who
[6:28] Speaker 1: are soccer establishments, people in America who played the game,
[6:31] Speaker 1: they did not reach this conclusion on Polisic just because
[6:35] Speaker 1: of the game against Belgium. This is years in the
[6:38] Speaker 1: making for them with Polisic, and I think it's totally
[6:41] Speaker 1: fair to question if playing for America in the World
[6:45] Speaker 1: Cup is his absolute number one priority.
[6:49] Speaker 2: Listen, I've said this about Luka Dantage his reality now
[6:53] Speaker 2: and Joe Burrows. They're both like one more injury away
[6:57] Speaker 2: from we're out of the peak. They're injury problem. Like
[7:00] Speaker 2: I've said that about Luca, He's never in great shape.
[7:03] Speaker 2: He now has three straight years of being injured. If
[7:05] Speaker 2: it becomes four, that devastatingly great. Trade isn't as great
[7:09] Speaker 2: as you thought. Neither Dallas or the Lakers are viable.
[7:12] Speaker 2: So and I think but one of the things that
[7:15] Speaker 2: pushes back, I would push back is our soccer culture
[7:18] Speaker 2: isn't terribly hard. I mean, we still consider playing college
[7:21] Speaker 2: soccer a big deal. Where if you go internationally to
[7:24] Speaker 2: a Morocco, the best African nation now in terms of soccer,
[7:28] Speaker 2: if you go to England and you go to other
[7:30] Speaker 2: places like that that collegiate soccer, it's academies and ours
[7:34] Speaker 2: is hey get a D one scholarship and it's a
[7:37] Speaker 2: little I would say it's a little precious. It doesn't
[7:40] Speaker 2: really it's And by the way, in basketball, one of
[7:43] Speaker 2: the reasons there's so many great international players that if
[7:46] Speaker 2: you serve like our great domestic players is their academy
[7:49] Speaker 2: system is better than our aau system. And I do
[7:52] Speaker 2: think sometimes the people that cover soccer for a living,
[7:55] Speaker 2: especially the print people New York Times, the Athletic they
[7:58] Speaker 2: get a little precious, they get a little defensive, they
[8:00] Speaker 2: start pandering. You don't understand soccer. I don't have to
[8:03] Speaker 2: be a chef to know the fish is undercooked. I'm
[8:05] Speaker 2: sending it back to the kitchen. I don't have to
[8:07] Speaker 2: be a music critic to know that guy's a hack
[8:09] Speaker 2: and that person's great, Like you don't have to be
[8:11] Speaker 2: an expert. Pholistic is twenty seven injury prone And to
[8:15] Speaker 2: your point, there's a sense he lacks kind of like urgency.
[8:19] Speaker 2: There's a certain esthetic and a certain commentary where I
[8:22] Speaker 2: feel like, bro, this shit matters like a lot. I mean,
[8:29] Speaker 2: I mean this, this World Cup was so successful, America
[8:32] Speaker 2: is probably going to get another one sooner than anticipated.
[8:36] Speaker 2: I've read that several times. This has been a ground
[8:39] Speaker 2: breaking World Cup.
[8:40] Speaker 1: Yeah, listen, it's a that's why you have There's a
[8:44] Speaker 1: lot here and I think it's fascinating. And I know
[8:47] Speaker 1: sometimes like the hottest take is the best take, but
[8:49] Speaker 1: I think there's a lot here, Like the World Cup
[8:52] Speaker 1: has been a huge success. Ratings, attendance. My six year
[8:58] Speaker 1: old asked, were a messy jersey?
[9:01] Speaker 3: Like you know what I mean?
[9:02] Speaker 1: Like he's getting into it, so like growing soccer in America,
[9:06] Speaker 1: all that stuff that is happening even without the US
[9:09] Speaker 1: stepping forward. I also think the US did make progress
[9:14] Speaker 1: in this specific way. If you look in the rearview mirror,
[9:19] Speaker 1: like I think the say we're the eighteenth best team
[9:21] Speaker 1: in the world for a number, yeah, I think the
[9:24] Speaker 1: gap between us and like the fiftieth best team has grown.
[9:28] Speaker 1: Whereas like we've the last now four World Cups that
[9:31] Speaker 1: we've made, we've made it to the same round every time,
[9:33] Speaker 1: the round of sixteen. Yeah, but in the past we've
[9:36] Speaker 1: kind of eked our way there draws won to one
[9:40] Speaker 1: games and in this World Cup, and I know part
[9:42] Speaker 1: of it is where the host country so we got
[9:44] Speaker 1: the pot one draw. I know part of it is
[9:46] Speaker 1: expanded field. So there's a round of thirty two now,
[9:49] Speaker 1: so a little bit weaker competition. But we kind of
[9:52] Speaker 1: kicked the shit out of some teams. Scored three goals,
[9:54] Speaker 1: scored four goals, had the most first half goals of
[9:57] Speaker 1: any team in the whole tournament. Through the round to
[9:59] Speaker 1: thirty two. We were putting the ball in the back
[10:01] Speaker 1: of the that I do think we have separated ourselves
[10:03] Speaker 1: a bit from Paraguay and Australian teams like that. But
[10:09] Speaker 1: when you lose as convincingly as we did to Belgium. Right,
[10:13] Speaker 1: the whole thing was are you going to take a
[10:14] Speaker 1: step forward? We still have a huge gap between us
[10:18] Speaker 1: and the truly top teams.
[10:21] Speaker 2: Yes, well it's interesting you bring that up. So here
[10:24] Speaker 2: are the quarter finalists. France, Argentina, England, Belgium, Spain. Those
[10:29] Speaker 2: are world powers. Yeah, Switzerland once again, fifth sixth straight
[10:34] Speaker 2: World Cup. I think this is the third or the
[10:36] Speaker 2: fourth time they made it to the quarters. Historically respected
[10:40] Speaker 2: Morocco is now brilliant federation apparently depths top African nation
[10:47] Speaker 2: and then Norway has a superstar Yeah okay, so either
[10:51] Speaker 2: superstar soccer power, respected, historical relevant European team or the
[10:57] Speaker 2: best African nation that who beat us out. And I
[10:59] Speaker 2: would say this between Casey Keller, you know Tim Howards.
[11:06] Speaker 2: We were uniquely weak in goalie. We had an MLS goalie.
[11:11] Speaker 2: Our goalies have always been English Premier League Casey European
[11:16] Speaker 2: guy for fifteen years. If we had one of our
[11:20] Speaker 2: usual goalies in we lose two to one. Yes, we
[11:22] Speaker 2: don't give up the second or the third goal, we
[11:24] Speaker 2: give up the first. We give up the last. We
[11:26] Speaker 2: lose two to one. We're out played. But the sense is, well,
[11:30] Speaker 2: if Belgium beat Spain, we're losing to really good people.
[11:32] Speaker 2: So A, you're right, there's growth. B look at who
[11:37] Speaker 2: ends up in the quarters, the best African nation superpowers.
[11:41] Speaker 2: The other thing that should be noted is participation. Remember this, Danny,
[11:46] Speaker 2: look at the world going forward. A lot of parents
[11:48] Speaker 2: don't want their kids to play football because of violence.
[11:51] Speaker 2: Basketball genetically, Let's be honest, it is a really tall person.
[11:55] Speaker 2: Sport Baseball to kids often a lot of standing around
[11:59] Speaker 2: and boring. He's super expensive. Soccer's fun. There is pay
[12:03] Speaker 2: to play, but it's cheaper than hockey, probably two to
[12:05] Speaker 2: three times cheaper. This will increase participation, no rues. And
[12:10] Speaker 2: my guess is although albeit or pay to play, I
[12:14] Speaker 2: think in communities, if you really saw, if the local
[12:17] Speaker 2: teams really saw a spectacular kid at eight, nine, ten, eleven,
[12:20] Speaker 2: twelve years old, you'd find a way to engineer it
[12:22] Speaker 2: and get him in. There's a lot of visibility now
[12:24] Speaker 2: with soccer, the academy system is broader. So I do
[12:28] Speaker 2: to think to your point, this was an absolute win.
[12:31] Speaker 2: Better goalie. We lose two to one, and we were embarrassed.
[12:36] Speaker 2: We weren't beaten. It's not that we lost, it's how
[12:39] Speaker 2: we lost. And it got really embarrassing in the last
[12:41] Speaker 2: thirty to forty minutes.
[12:42] Speaker 1: Yeah, I thought, Look, I mean honestly, I thought it
[12:44] Speaker 1: was kind of embarrassing from jump with how cautious they played,
[12:47] Speaker 1: Like I did not consider the fact that we could
[12:50] Speaker 1: get blown out in that game, and we did, And
[12:52] Speaker 1: I thought that that was a parent Pretty early on.
[12:54] Speaker 3: I was like, oh my god, like it just like
[12:55] Speaker 3: the moment felt a little too big for.
[12:57] Speaker 2: Them, and it is.
[13:01] Speaker 1: I mean, Egypt almost beat Argentina and would have been
[13:05] Speaker 1: further than us, and then we would have been like,
[13:06] Speaker 1: well what about this group that is to like, why
[13:08] Speaker 1: can't we be Egypt? And I do think it's totally
[13:10] Speaker 1: fair to be like, why can't we have our earling Holland,
[13:13] Speaker 1: Like we thought it was going to be Freddie Adouo,
[13:15] Speaker 1: it wasn't. We thought it was going to be Christian Polisic.
[13:17] Speaker 2: It wasn't.
[13:17] Speaker 1: Now people are like, there's this kid, Kevin Sullivan who's
[13:20] Speaker 1: sixteen on Philly and MLS and I'm like, I can't
[13:23] Speaker 1: keep waiting for the Great Savior to come right, and
[13:27] Speaker 1: I do think, and again I am not an expert
[13:29] Speaker 1: on the pay to play thing, but there is something too.
[13:35] Speaker 1: Our best player is Floren Balligan, who was completely developed
[13:40] Speaker 1: in England, Like.
[13:42] Speaker 2: Yes, you know what I mean.
[13:42] Speaker 1: His parents are Nigerian. He came up through the English
[13:46] Speaker 1: club scene and the only reason he was able to
[13:47] Speaker 1: play for America is because his mom had him here
[13:50] Speaker 1: in birthright citizenship because she was pregnant and deemed that
[13:53] Speaker 1: it wasn't good for her to fly back when she
[13:56] Speaker 1: was pregnant. And he was like, I don't know that
[13:58] Speaker 1: I'll start if I play on England because of Harry
[14:01] Speaker 1: Kane everything that they have, So I'll go play for America. Like,
[14:04] Speaker 1: we got to figure out why they were able to
[14:06] Speaker 1: develop our best player and figure out a way for
[14:10] Speaker 1: us to be able to develop a couple of our
[14:11] Speaker 1: own best players.
[14:13] Speaker 2: Yeah, and and by the way they're they're you know,
[14:16] Speaker 2: if you look at France and a lot of these nations,
[14:19] Speaker 2: there is these routes to get your best players. Apparently
[14:23] Speaker 2: the Federation in Morocco. I was reading about it this
[14:25] Speaker 2: morning actually as my stomach flew was ravaging through the house.
[14:30] Speaker 2: Morocco's Federation apparently has done a really good job to
[14:34] Speaker 2: find connections through Europe and that's why they have so
[14:37] Speaker 2: much depth. If you watch Morocco talking about a dark horse,
[14:40] Speaker 2: like you watch them and maybe the fastest team left
[14:42] Speaker 2: Many they are like in France speed. They they they
[14:45] Speaker 2: got a bunch wings, midfielders, they move, they're hard to defend.
[14:50] Speaker 2: So I think a lot of this is Federation based,
[14:55] Speaker 2: academy based, and it's hurting our basketball a little bit.
[14:58] Speaker 2: I mean, who are at best the mess players Cooper
[15:00] Speaker 2: Flag and Edwards, Jason Tatum, And it feels like I
[15:04] Speaker 2: was a drop off, like like what Trey Young. I
[15:06] Speaker 2: mean the analytics don't like Jalen Brown. Yeah, so yeah,
[15:10] Speaker 2: I mean I think, I think, but I do believe
[15:13] Speaker 2: every four years there is this chorus is that we're
[15:16] Speaker 2: not growing. There's clear growth from participation to elevation of
[15:21] Speaker 2: skill and technical expertise. I think we're a little soft.
[15:25] Speaker 2: I think the soccer culture is a little harder in
[15:28] Speaker 2: England than Argentina than it is here. But I felt growth.
[15:31] Speaker 2: I did too.
[15:33] Speaker 1: I felt growth, like I said, kind of looking like
[15:36] Speaker 1: we distanced ourselves from the lesser teams, which we were
[15:41] Speaker 1: a part of and I'm not sure if we grew
[15:45] Speaker 1: enough in the direction of the top teams. And I'm
[15:49] Speaker 1: going to be very interested in like because listen, poach
[15:52] Speaker 1: Tina was expensive, Like, what what do they do with him?
[15:55] Speaker 1: I know everybody wants him back, and I do too.
[15:58] Speaker 2: I like him.
[15:59] Speaker 1: It did seem interesting to me that it was like
[16:01] Speaker 1: we weren't tough enough, we weren't ready to play, but
[16:04] Speaker 1: we love the manager.
[16:05] Speaker 3: It's like, I don't know, some of that might be
[16:07] Speaker 3: on coaching, Like I don't.
[16:09] Speaker 1: Exactly know, but it seems like, but I do think
[16:11] Speaker 1: that you know, they've opened up USA soccer complexes and
[16:16] Speaker 1: training development programs, Like you spend more money on it,
[16:20] Speaker 1: you will develop better players, and you need a continuity
[16:22] Speaker 1: of program. And to your point, this tournament kind of
[16:26] Speaker 1: flipped my whole life watching the US on the international level,
[16:30] Speaker 1: it was like, can we score goals?
[16:33] Speaker 2: Right?
[16:33] Speaker 1: Like we we had four goals? We had four goals
[16:36] Speaker 1: in the twenty twenty two World Cup in total, our
[16:40] Speaker 1: in total.
[16:41] Speaker 2: This time, it's like, okay, we can score goals.
[16:43] Speaker 1: Like if we took Tim Howard and a couple of
[16:46] Speaker 1: great American defenders from the past and put them on
[16:49] Speaker 1: this team with Balligan and some of our midfielders and
[16:52] Speaker 1: you know, forward players, we could have had a great team.
[16:56] Speaker 3: It's just we don't have the We gotta we got
[16:58] Speaker 3: to put it all together once.
[17:00] Speaker 2: See. I feel better about this because I'd rather say
[17:03] Speaker 2: we got to find a better goalie, then we just
[17:05] Speaker 2: don't have the technical skill to score goals. I feel
[17:07] Speaker 2: broadly great about our technical skill. It'll only get better.
[17:11] Speaker 2: This whole team comes back, probably with three to four
[17:13] Speaker 2: editions at least, but we just have to find a goalie.
[17:16] Speaker 2: I always felt like we got a goalie. I wish
[17:18] Speaker 2: we had seven guys a could pass and dribble like
[17:20] Speaker 2: they do in England. So I feel broadly very good
[17:22] Speaker 2: about it. Yeah, I think that makes sense.
[17:23] Speaker 1: I mean, listen, Tim Reim was too old and too
[17:26] Speaker 1: slow as like our main defensive player, right, so I
[17:29] Speaker 1: think it is probably.
[17:31] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[17:31] Speaker 1: I was reading articles about like projecting the twenty thirty
[17:34] Speaker 1: men's national team roster and it's very difficult to do.
[17:37] Speaker 2: But there are names.
[17:39] Speaker 1: You know, Dax McCarty are our first things, first analyst
[17:41] Speaker 1: who's been great. He played a ton of MLS, he
[17:43] Speaker 1: played on the men's national team. He knows MLS. He's like, yeah,
[17:46] Speaker 1: there's a lot of really young talent, but they just
[17:49] Speaker 1: we need to hit like need we need to hit
[17:52] Speaker 1: on some stars. I mean, Belgium is sobbing in Lukaku
[17:56] Speaker 1: and it's like we would he be our best player.
[17:58] Speaker 3: He can't. He came off the bench for them.
[18:02] Speaker 1: Weston McKinney is really good for us, but he's been
[18:05] Speaker 1: like okay on Juventus. You know, Christian Polistic a huge deal.
[18:10] Speaker 1: He led Milan in goals and assists, but Milan was
[18:14] Speaker 1: really disappointing, like they weren't. You know.
[18:16] Speaker 2: He was like a good.
[18:16] Speaker 1: Player on a historically great team that also had a
[18:19] Speaker 1: bad year. So we do need to We have players
[18:22] Speaker 1: who are playing in Spain and Italy and Europe and
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[20:32] Speaker 2: want to shift to Jalen Brown. That's obviously a bit
[20:35] Speaker 2: of big story, overshadowed by the Olympics, overshadowed by the
[20:38] Speaker 2: World Cup. Obviously. So it's interesting when analytics football analytics,
[20:42] Speaker 2: we don't talk about a lot soccer analytics, hockey analytics
[20:44] Speaker 2: not so much. It's really been it's taken over baseball
[20:47] Speaker 2: and basketball analytics if you're not upstairs, if you're not
[20:52] Speaker 2: in on analytics all in to like a Celtics level,
[20:55] Speaker 2: you're falling behind and your viewed as sort of hacky
[20:58] Speaker 2: and jurassic. Baseball analytics marginalized the manager. Players didn't have
[21:05] Speaker 2: to love it, but it was really about the manager.
[21:07] Speaker 2: Now may not even fill out the lineup that going
[21:10] Speaker 2: with your gut instincts. It's like it sounds like a
[21:13] Speaker 2: bad president. Now you have to read the briefings in
[21:15] Speaker 2: the morning. You can't go with your guy, right. Analytics
[21:18] Speaker 2: in basketball isn't about the coach because they all believe
[21:21] Speaker 2: in it. It's about the high scoring player who's a
[21:25] Speaker 2: bad analytic player. So whereas baseball managers grumbled about it
[21:29] Speaker 2: like moneyball, you know the Art Howe moment with Brad
[21:32] Speaker 2: pitt right, in basketball, the analytics punish often the Trey Young,
[21:39] Speaker 2: the Jalen Brown, not the baseball manager. The first time
[21:43] Speaker 2: I heard about analytics, a good player in analytics was
[21:46] Speaker 2: Monte Ellis for the war for the Warriors, who people
[21:49] Speaker 2: just in it. I wasn't even like paying attention, but
[21:51] Speaker 2: I remember high usage rate, didn't do much of the
[21:54] Speaker 2: defensive end, didn't necessarily elevate teammates. And so the point
[21:59] Speaker 2: being is, so now you're seeing players get a little
[22:03] Speaker 2: like the Jalen Brown story is really an analytically behold enfranchise.
[22:07] Speaker 2: Nobody's more formulaic than the Boston Celtics, and Brown's a
[22:11] Speaker 2: bad analytics player. So in the departments of the Celtics,
[22:15] Speaker 2: so the coaching staff asks about Jalen Brown and they're like,
[22:19] Speaker 2: and he doesn't really he pushes back in analytics. The
[22:23] Speaker 2: analytic department with the Celtics is like, yeah, move him.
[22:27] Speaker 2: Tatum's camp, according to stories, is not close to it,
[22:30] Speaker 2: and the ownership guys are He's really expensive. So if
[22:33] Speaker 2: somebody was going to get rid of me, there'd be
[22:35] Speaker 2: several departments at Fox you go to if all four
[22:39] Speaker 2: were like, eh, Coward doesn't work in analytics. He doesn't
[22:44] Speaker 2: get along with Nick Wright, you know, to be honest
[22:47] Speaker 2: with you, he's really expensive. And the boss at FS
[22:51] Speaker 2: one in him. He said he's not that coachable. So
[22:54] Speaker 2: the truth of the matter is analytics to baseball marginalized
[23:00] Speaker 2: most managers. What it's doing in the NBA now is
[23:03] Speaker 2: the Trey Young's and the Jalen Browns. We're conditioned to
[23:06] Speaker 2: think they score twenty eight, they're great, and the data
[23:10] Speaker 2: now says they don't work for a shoot quickly pass,
[23:15] Speaker 2: quickly offense. Yeah, I think that there's also you know.
[23:19] Speaker 1: The the CBA and this it gets confusing. First apron,
[23:25] Speaker 1: second apron. You know, bird rights. People don't like talking
[23:28] Speaker 1: about it. But in baseball you do have some owners
[23:33] Speaker 1: that are willing to just kind of spend over it,
[23:35] Speaker 1: and if they're willing to pay the tax, they can
[23:37] Speaker 1: pay it. Basketball doesn't really operate that way. And so
[23:44] Speaker 1: Jalen Brown, I do think is a I think it's
[23:47] Speaker 1: been a little overstated. He is an excellent basketball player. Yes,
[23:51] Speaker 1: but if he was making forty million, everybody would want him.
[23:55] Speaker 1: But because he's going to make fifty five million, people
[23:58] Speaker 1: are like, eh, we can we can replace that production
[24:01] Speaker 1: in a different way.
[24:02] Speaker 3: So I think it is.
[24:03] Speaker 1: It is like, yes, analytically driven, but it's also analytically
[24:07] Speaker 1: driven relative to the cap, Like that's how you have
[24:10] Speaker 1: to look at it, Like can we get ninety percent
[24:14] Speaker 1: of the production for seventy percent of the cost and right,
[24:18] Speaker 1: which is business? And I think that that is And
[24:21] Speaker 1: then you add in the personality stuff with him and
[24:23] Speaker 1: Tatum and all of it that you go in that
[24:27] Speaker 1: direction and listen, Brad Stevens. I've said it before, I
[24:31] Speaker 1: will say it again. For my book Pipeline to the Pros,
[24:34] Speaker 1: we talked to dozens of coaches and executives in the NBA.
[24:39] Speaker 1: He is maybe, other than theo Epstein, the smartest person
[24:43] Speaker 1: I've ever talked to in sports media, coach, player, executive.
[24:48] Speaker 1: He didn't like get the wool pulled over his eyes
[24:50] Speaker 1: on this one, right, like he got fleeced.
[24:55] Speaker 2: No, he didn't, like I don't.
[24:56] Speaker 1: I have not spoken to him about this. I haven't
[24:58] Speaker 1: spoken to him since the book. He's not that kind
[25:00] Speaker 1: of guy. But like it is a he didn't get fleeced,
[25:05] Speaker 1: And so I actually came out of this trade thinking
[25:09] Speaker 1: they actually weren't close to getting you, honest, Like I
[25:12] Speaker 1: don't like I think that the Bucks used that as
[25:15] Speaker 1: leverage with Miami to get as much out of that
[25:17] Speaker 1: deal as they could have possibly wanted. Like, I don't
[25:18] Speaker 1: think the league viewed Jalen Brown at that contract as
[25:22] Speaker 1: a supremely valuable basketball talent. And it is fascinating because
[25:28] Speaker 1: it might be the biggest disconnect Colin that I can
[25:31] Speaker 1: remember in basketball between media and eye test and watching
[25:36] Speaker 1: the games and analytics and understanding of the money, because
[25:40] Speaker 1: the media just voted him sixth per MVP. If you
[25:46] Speaker 1: would have said to me a month ago top ten
[25:50] Speaker 1: two way players in basketball, I think Jalen Brown would
[25:53] Speaker 1: have been on my list, just like removing money from it. Well,
[25:58] Speaker 1: and now he's traded for Paul George and a couple
[26:01] Speaker 1: of picks. Is it is a crazy story to wrap
[26:03] Speaker 1: your head around.
[26:05] Speaker 2: Well, Joel Embiid one MVP, I would argue pushback that
[26:09] Speaker 2: he didn't even fit with the Olympic team when you
[26:11] Speaker 2: put him with winning great players, most of analytically superior,
[26:14] Speaker 2: Embiid didn't really fit, like so Embiid's the classic. I mean,
[26:19] Speaker 2: I don't know what his analytics are. Paul George is
[26:21] Speaker 2: a very good analytic player. I think what's happened with
[26:24] Speaker 2: the second Apron is everybody chooses one player in Denver,
[26:29] Speaker 2: it's Jokic, and then what you do is build to
[26:33] Speaker 2: support his weaknesses. Jokic wasn't a good defensive player. Let's
[26:36] Speaker 2: get Aaron Gordon from Orlando Athletic springy. Now Gordon has
[26:41] Speaker 2: sorted do age and have injuries. They probably stuck with
[26:43] Speaker 2: Jamal Murray a little longer who's not super athletic, but
[26:46] Speaker 2: they they're like they fit like a glove, right. And
[26:48] Speaker 2: then in Boston they made a decision. They're like, Okay,
[26:51] Speaker 2: we're gonna go with one of these guys going forward.
[26:53] Speaker 2: We can get out of the Paul George contract sooner.
[26:56] Speaker 2: And he's also not going to get an extension. We're
[26:58] Speaker 2: not going to get into those talks. And the be
[27:00] Speaker 2: truth is, if you have to put it next to
[27:02] Speaker 2: each other, we're into analytics. Tatum is better analytically, the
[27:05] Speaker 2: coaches feel more strongly about him. We win when a
[27:09] Speaker 2: usage rate is here with Tatum and Brown is struggling.
[27:14] Speaker 2: You know, he can be a dribble the air out
[27:15] Speaker 2: of the ballplayer at times and you can't get that
[27:18] Speaker 2: usage rate. According to the Celtic staff, I mean you're
[27:21] Speaker 2: seeing stuff now. This is why it's coming out. It's
[27:23] Speaker 2: leaking the Celtic staff saying, here's the usage rate. We
[27:27] Speaker 2: win ninety percent of the times. When Tatum has thirty
[27:29] Speaker 2: three percent usage rate, we struggle to get there when
[27:33] Speaker 2: Brown's on the floor with him. It really comes down
[27:35] Speaker 2: to this organization is more formulaic than any and they
[27:40] Speaker 2: had to make a choice, and they chose the guy
[27:42] Speaker 2: they probably liked a little more. They felt what it
[27:44] Speaker 2: was more willing to listen to coaching, and that analytically
[27:47] Speaker 2: was superior. Yeah.
[27:48] Speaker 1: Yes, So I need to be very clear. I am
[27:50] Speaker 1: not shocks that they traded Jalen Brown. The thing that
[27:53] Speaker 1: is still hard for me to wrap my head around
[27:56] Speaker 1: is that you could only get Paul George and a
[27:59] Speaker 1: couple of picks for him. Like that's the part that
[28:02] Speaker 1: like I would have thought you could have gotten more
[28:04] Speaker 1: for teams that didn't have a guy like Jason Tatum
[28:07] Speaker 1: that has some redundancies with Jalen Brown, like that that's
[28:11] Speaker 1: the thing, Like he did just be the He was
[28:13] Speaker 1: just the best player on a team that won fifty
[28:15] Speaker 1: plus games when Tatum missed the whole year.
[28:17] Speaker 3: He is a finals MVP.
[28:19] Speaker 1: He does we were talking about polistic, Like he does
[28:22] Speaker 1: play like you know what I mean, Like he doesn't
[28:24] Speaker 1: sit games, he doesn't get hurt, he is tough, he
[28:26] Speaker 1: does give you effort on defense, like all of those things.
[28:29] Speaker 1: Like I just I still am surprised that you weren't
[28:32] Speaker 1: able to get more for Jalen Brown. But I think
[28:35] Speaker 1: because of the Apron and the money and all of it.
[28:40] Speaker 1: More teams are going in that direction. And just to
[28:43] Speaker 1: bring in another story, like I wouldn't love giving Donovan
[28:48] Speaker 1: Mitchell the contract that the Cavs just gave him.
[28:51] Speaker 3: Guy who has.
[28:52] Speaker 1: Had inconsistent playoff performances, guy who hasn't one big, guy
[28:55] Speaker 1: who is undersized, guy who has had some injuries, and
[28:59] Speaker 1: you're gonna pay him all of that money, you know,
[29:02] Speaker 1: into his thirties as an undersized guard.
[29:05] Speaker 3: I wouldn't love it.
[29:07] Speaker 1: But my guess is they're like, what other top ten
[29:12] Speaker 1: player are we going to be able to get? Free
[29:14] Speaker 1: agency is basically dead. Maybe we'll trade this contract in
[29:17] Speaker 1: the future, but like we are in the Donovan Mitchell
[29:20] Speaker 1: business because we have no other path.
[29:23] Speaker 2: You have to keep our own. That's right, that's right,
[29:26] Speaker 2: And Harden is not a guy you want to do
[29:28] Speaker 2: that with. Mobley is probably not a guy you're gonna
[29:30] Speaker 2: pay that. Whereas the Celtics fault we got two of them, Yeah, right,
[29:34] Speaker 2: we have, and so we're gonna move the guy that
[29:37] Speaker 2: the staff decides. I mean you can tell from leaks, Yeah,
[29:40] Speaker 2: you can tell what gets out how people felt about him,
[29:44] Speaker 2: Like you can tell coach ability. You know, I was
[29:47] Speaker 2: thinking about this the I was thinking about this last
[29:49] Speaker 2: night because, as I said, I got into bed at seven,
[29:52] Speaker 2: so I did time. It took me a while to
[29:53] Speaker 2: fall asleep that I thought. You know, I was in
[29:57] Speaker 2: Local for fourteen, ESPN for a decade, Fox for a day.
[30:00] Speaker 2: I own my own company now, so I've I've seen
[30:03] Speaker 2: a lot of this stuff where corporations all the time.
[30:06] Speaker 2: I've seen it a lot, not on air people, but upstairs,
[30:10] Speaker 2: like when talented people leave and the CEO of a company,
[30:15] Speaker 2: whether it was a local, TV, Fox, ESPN or even
[30:19] Speaker 2: at the volume when you move off productive people. And
[30:22] Speaker 2: it does come down to some of the stuff that
[30:24] Speaker 2: you've read leaked with Jalen Brown, Like I was reading
[30:27] Speaker 2: this stuff and it just it kind of jarred memories.
[30:29] Speaker 2: I thought, you know, I sometimes, first of all, companies
[30:33] Speaker 2: make mistakes and let the wrong person go.
[30:35] Speaker 1: That could be, that could be the case case in
[30:37] Speaker 1: point Colin Coward, whatever the record, but that that is
[30:43] Speaker 1: that is out there.
[30:43] Speaker 2: They're like, where was a mistake. That's nice? Well, ESPN
[30:48] Speaker 2: also let go of Mike Tarico, and I should say
[30:51] Speaker 2: NBC bought in. But when that happened, I remember calling
[30:55] Speaker 2: one of the top three people at ESPN. I'm like, you,
[30:58] Speaker 2: let who going to be who's your lead voice at
[31:02] Speaker 2: the company. But I don't understand what you're doing. Like
[31:04] Speaker 2: the NBC came in and you know, paid him a lot,
[31:07] Speaker 2: but it was like there are times companies I think,
[31:09] Speaker 2: in my opinion, make mistakes. Of course, so that that's
[31:13] Speaker 2: if Tatum gets hurt again, you're like, yeah, you made
[31:16] Speaker 2: a big mistake. Secondly, it usually comes down to these
[31:20] Speaker 2: are the discussions you hear. Remember when NBC had to
[31:23] Speaker 2: pick between Letterman and Leno. Bill Carter wrote about this
[31:26] Speaker 2: at the time of The New York Times. Is that
[31:28] Speaker 2: Robert Wright ran ge who owned NBC, and he comes
[31:33] Speaker 2: in the air conditioning's broke the meetings in Florida. He
[31:36] Speaker 2: walks into the room. It's a great movie, it's a
[31:37] Speaker 2: great book by Bill Carter, and he asks who's easier
[31:40] Speaker 2: to work with? Leonardman or Leno. Everybody's like that Leno.
[31:43] Speaker 2: Everybody I'm Jayleno right, Like, like Leno won the room.
[31:47] Speaker 2: He'd gone to NBC affiliates. I even saw him in
[31:50] Speaker 2: Vegas when I was at an NBC affiliate. Leno played
[31:53] Speaker 2: the affiliates he played to the advertisers, and the question
[31:56] Speaker 2: was who's easier to deal with? There are According to
[32:00] Speaker 2: certain reports out now, they give people felt like, you know,
[32:04] Speaker 2: the staff worked with Tatum more easily than Jalen Broun.
[32:08] Speaker 2: I've seen that happen twenty times in my career. That that,
[32:12] Speaker 2: and and and again, companies make mistakes. If Tatum gets
[32:16] Speaker 2: hurt again, they made a mistake. But it's sometimes it
[32:21] Speaker 2: is just yeah, the staff likes him, listens a little better,
[32:26] Speaker 2: you know, whatever it is. And so I kind of
[32:29] Speaker 2: feel like the stories I'm reading coming out is the
[32:33] Speaker 2: staff chose Tatum, they like Tatum.
[32:35] Speaker 1: Yeah, and Tatum is a Tatum is awesome. Tatatum is
[32:39] Speaker 1: an awesome.
[32:40] Speaker 2: Better jump shooter, higher ceiling, more fluid. Yeah.
[32:44] Speaker 1: And they're like, we won what it was it, fifty
[32:47] Speaker 1: six game? We won fifty six games with Jalen Brown
[32:51] Speaker 1: doing it, and now we'll just have Tatum do it,
[32:54] Speaker 1: and we're going to reallocate that and like they're not
[32:56] Speaker 1: going to be the same team. They'll they'll have Paul George, Okay, fine,
[33:00] Speaker 1: they'll have Mike Conley, okay fine, But they also added
[33:03] Speaker 1: Mitchell Robinson, like one of the best offensive, rebounders, defense.
[33:06] Speaker 1: Like the whole thing was we need to change our
[33:09] Speaker 1: you know, our our identity and who we are and
[33:11] Speaker 1: be more diversified and you know, not do the same
[33:13] Speaker 1: thing all the time. Well, Mitchell Robinson is going to
[33:16] Speaker 1: make the Celtics look really different next year, Like they
[33:19] Speaker 1: should have a fully healthy Tatum, a better backup point guard,
[33:23] Speaker 1: and one of the best rebounders in the entire sport.
[33:25] Speaker 1: Like They're probably going to win fifty four games next
[33:28] Speaker 1: year and be a real threat in the Eastern Conference.
[33:31] Speaker 1: So I'm not like predicting the demise of the Celtics
[33:34] Speaker 1: over this at all.
[33:35] Speaker 3: I just I did this on the show.
[33:38] Speaker 1: But like when it was like Jalen Brown's clearly going
[33:41] Speaker 1: to get traded, I did some mock trades, you know,
[33:45] Speaker 1: and I just put them in the trade machine, had
[33:47] Speaker 1: some fun for thirty minutes, came up with something that
[33:49] Speaker 1: I liked and put him out there. And it was
[33:51] Speaker 1: like Jabari Smith, Kevin Durant and a couple of draft
[33:54] Speaker 1: picks to Houston, And it was like Kawhi Leonard and
[33:58] Speaker 1: a couple of first round picks and send him to
[33:59] Speaker 1: the Clippers, and like, send him to Atlanta and give them,
[34:03] Speaker 1: you know, Nikhil Alexander Walker and Kamenga and Risha Chet
[34:08] Speaker 1: and some picks. And if you go and you look
[34:10] Speaker 1: at the comments from people with Celtic clovers.
[34:15] Speaker 3: You're an idiot. You don't know ball like that.
[34:19] Speaker 2: That's that's fifty cents on the dollar.
[34:22] Speaker 1: And then they all hated the Paul George trade and
[34:24] Speaker 1: I was offering way more for Jalen Brown than they got. Like,
[34:27] Speaker 1: so I think again, Like the surprising thing is Brad
[34:32] Speaker 1: Stevens does not appear to be an outlier and how
[34:34] Speaker 1: he views Jalen Brown, like the market says, Jalen Brown
[34:39] Speaker 1: is nowhere near the sixth best player in basketball, And
[34:43] Speaker 1: I think that is what a lot of us, myself included, Like,
[34:47] Speaker 1: I really am still like recalibrating on like because I
[34:50] Speaker 1: like analytics, I like I like umbers, but I'm pretty
[34:53] Speaker 1: sure Jalen Brown is better than whatever calculation even with
[34:57] Speaker 1: his contract that people are are are telling me that
[35:01] Speaker 1: he's worth.
[35:02] Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we're all conditioned to think. You know,
[35:05] Speaker 2: I can remember the pushback I got for years saying
[35:09] Speaker 2: Carmelo Anthony's over right right, he won't take one step
[35:12] Speaker 2: back to take a three. He's going to age quickly
[35:15] Speaker 2: because he's not in great shape. He doesn't care about defense,
[35:20] Speaker 2: and in the end, that's right. Yeah, he aged quickly.
[35:25] Speaker 2: He wasn't a winning player. And I've said the same
[35:27] Speaker 2: thing about Luca. Anybody that's listened to me knows I
[35:30] Speaker 2: thought the Lakers won the trade. I said, if you'd
[35:34] Speaker 2: have thrown in Austin Reeves or given me four first
[35:37] Speaker 2: round picks instead of one, right, I would have slept
[35:41] Speaker 2: on it because my take was back to back years,
[35:45] Speaker 2: not in great shape. Increasingly, Hurt plays himself into shape
[35:49] Speaker 2: atrocious defensively. You have to build the right team around him,
[35:54] Speaker 2: Anthony Davis and Max Christy and a pick's not good
[35:57] Speaker 2: enough Anthony Davis, Max Christie, four first round picks and
[36:01] Speaker 2: Austin Reeves. I probably make that deal like so because Austin,
[36:05] Speaker 2: because I Austin Reeves. At that time, I didn't feel
[36:07] Speaker 2: about injuries was an issue. Yeah, So I guess my
[36:09] Speaker 2: whole point is I can remember getting a lot of
[36:12] Speaker 2: pushback initially on the Luca thing when I said, I
[36:16] Speaker 2: get the call on him, and I got a ton
[36:19] Speaker 2: on Carmelo. So we're conditioned to think twenty eight a game.
[36:22] Speaker 2: That's great. Now it's twenty eight a game. Are you
[36:26] Speaker 2: giving up twenty four on the other end? And are
[36:28] Speaker 2: you alienating teammates because you dribble the air out of
[36:31] Speaker 2: the ball?
[36:32] Speaker 1: Listen, I think it's fascinating. And you just you mentioned Luca,
[36:36] Speaker 1: and I'm thinking about that team too. Like Austin Reeves
[36:42] Speaker 1: is an incredible offensive player and a great story, right,
[36:46] Speaker 1: the best undrafted player in terms of money made now
[36:49] Speaker 1: in the history of the NBA. Right, it's a great story.
[36:53] Speaker 1: I'm not sure that that's what I would want next
[36:56] Speaker 1: to Luca, but yes, you want shooting and spacing, no doubt.
[37:01] Speaker 1: But to me, next to Luca, you want plus defensive
[37:05] Speaker 1: players at every position, right, every you want you on
[37:10] Speaker 1: three in D guys like which I know the whole
[37:12] Speaker 1: league wants three and D guys, but like you want
[37:14] Speaker 1: like athletic wings next to Luca who can catch and
[37:18] Speaker 1: shoot the three, because he is going to dribble the
[37:20] Speaker 1: air out of the ball, like Austin Reeves will catch
[37:22] Speaker 1: and shoot it. But he's not a plus defensive player.
[37:25] Speaker 1: Walker Kessler is. Walker Kesler's really good. And I get
[37:27] Speaker 1: that Luca needs a center for the lobs and the
[37:30] Speaker 1: pick and roll game and all that. Like Walker Kessler move,
[37:32] Speaker 1: I understood completely, But you are now you have no
[37:36] Speaker 1: draft picks that you can trade, and two of your
[37:40] Speaker 1: three highest paid guys are minuses on the defensive end
[37:43] Speaker 1: of the floor.
[37:45] Speaker 2: I would be very I'm very, very.
[37:47] Speaker 1: Skeptical of what the ceiling is for the Lakers with
[37:50] Speaker 1: that as your construction around Luka.
[37:52] Speaker 2: Doncic, Okay, I want to end on this. I saw
[37:56] Speaker 2: this was this was interesting and it's a little myopic
[38:01] Speaker 2: because I love college football and a little provincial. But
[38:05] Speaker 2: the Big Twelve got some pushback because they signed a
[38:08] Speaker 2: deal with the Monster Energy drink. Yeah.
[38:10] Speaker 1: I saw this on Twitter. I gotta be honest. I
[38:12] Speaker 1: didn't even click the link because I wasn't one hundred
[38:14] Speaker 1: search sheriff. It's real, So fill me in on the details.
[38:16] Speaker 2: Go ahead, So Jersey patches on teams, court logos, field
[38:24] Speaker 2: markings all over the Big Twelve. Did you see how
[38:29] Speaker 2: much it cost? Monster Energy? Wasn't only twenty million bucks?
[38:35] Speaker 2: That's it, twenty million dollars and they're gonna be on
[38:40] Speaker 2: all jerseys, all courts, all fields. I'm like the Big
[38:45] Speaker 2: Twelve like that that is. I mean, you should have
[38:50] Speaker 2: done it for the literally I thought the volume. Maybe
[38:56] Speaker 2: I would have needed a partner, but we could have
[39:00] Speaker 2: afforded that.
[39:02] Speaker 4: Like to me, the whole take, I wasn't outraged because
[39:05] Speaker 4: they sold their soul. I'm outraged because that's I mean,
[39:09] Speaker 4: if you get a stadium naming rights deal for one stadium,
[39:14] Speaker 4: you'd be.
[39:14] Speaker 2: Like twenty million for ten years. I don't know. My
[39:19] Speaker 2: take is forget selling your soul.
[39:21] Speaker 3: You gave it away. But how valuable is the Big
[39:26] Speaker 3: Twelve these days?
[39:28] Speaker 2: I don't.
[39:28] Speaker 1: I mean it's a right. I mean everything has gone
[39:31] Speaker 1: Big ten sec top.
[39:35] Speaker 2: But look how many times your Jersey's fields and courts
[39:38] Speaker 2: are on television.
[39:41] Speaker 1: Social I know, So what the Big Twelve? Yeah, I
[39:46] Speaker 1: get it. I mean you're at Allen Field House a
[39:48] Speaker 1: lot for KU basketball.
[39:52] Speaker 2: I love some of these schools, but like what, maybe
[39:55] Speaker 2: Lubbock rings more true and relevant to me than you.
[40:00] Speaker 1: I I don't know, where would you rank the Big
[40:03] Speaker 1: Twelve among conferences right now?
[40:05] Speaker 2: Colin Big ten sec? Because Notre Dame in Miami are
[40:10] Speaker 2: surging in football acc Big Twelve's four.
[40:17] Speaker 3: Big twelve is four.
[40:19] Speaker 1: It's just you know, like there's just there's not a
[40:21] Speaker 1: football power in here, TCU. I don't know it's a
[40:26] Speaker 1: good basketball I also just it is it struck me
[40:31] Speaker 1: as low to to be one hundred percent clear. Also
[40:34] Speaker 1: it struck me as like a little little tacky like
[40:38] Speaker 1: forget like the patch on the jersey, like that that
[40:40] Speaker 1: ship is hip? But is it literally like the Monster
[40:43] Speaker 1: Energy Big Twelve Conference? Like do I have to say?
[40:47] Speaker 1: Do I have to say that every time I say
[40:49] Speaker 1: the Big twelve? Like is that welcome back to the
[40:52] Speaker 1: Monster Energy Big twelve Game of the week? Like is
[40:54] Speaker 1: that what this is going to be?
[40:56] Speaker 2: Like that? Just I don't know. It makes my skin crawl.
[41:00] Speaker 2: Bit no, it does. I you know it. I remember
[41:04] Speaker 2: the first time I went to a movie theater and
[41:06] Speaker 2: there was an ad and I thought, all right, well
[41:09] Speaker 2: there's a rubicon we've crossed. I guess I'll just it's
[41:12] Speaker 2: like I thought that was well popcorn. I guess it.
[41:15] Speaker 2: You know, twelve movie reviews and an ad. I'll live
[41:19] Speaker 2: with it. So I know I've gotten used. You know,
[41:20] Speaker 2: you get you of course you get used to it.
[41:22] Speaker 1: It's just I just I don't know where on the
[41:26] Speaker 1: court at the press conferences, on the jerseys I'm fine with.
[41:29] Speaker 1: But if the conference is the whole conference is sponsored
[41:33] Speaker 1: by the energy drink, I don't know.
[41:35] Speaker 3: I'm sure i'll I'm sure i'll watch Ku Arizona this year.
[41:46] Speaker 2: Let me throw one more thing at you.
[41:47] Speaker 3: Yeah, I didn't have much.
[41:48] Speaker 2: So another story that a story that sort of exploded.
[41:53] Speaker 2: We can end on this. A story that sort of
[41:55] Speaker 2: exploded is who gets the next World Cups? And a
[41:58] Speaker 2: story came out that wants to combine Spanish language, English
[42:04] Speaker 2: language and combine the next two World Cups together in
[42:09] Speaker 2: one big, massive payment. And it's really interesting because obviously
[42:13] Speaker 2: Netflix came in and about the Women's World Cup, and
[42:16] Speaker 2: Fox has hit it out of the park. And this
[42:19] Speaker 2: is nothing against streamers, but I don't watch, don't. I
[42:22] Speaker 2: don't love streamers and sports right now. I don't love
[42:25] Speaker 2: I really don't. I think Amazon's gotten much better than Netflix,
[42:32] Speaker 2: but I don't love streamers and sports. There is something
[42:35] Speaker 2: I think the broadcast networks all do a better job.
[42:38] Speaker 2: It's what they've been doing forever. They understand the kitchen,
[42:41] Speaker 2: not just the front of the restaurant. The production's excellent.
[42:44] Speaker 2: There's a feel NFL, Major League Baseball, even when Baseball
[42:48] Speaker 2: goes from like Fox to like a cable network. Sometimes
[42:51] Speaker 2: I just don't feel it quite rings as true, It
[42:54] Speaker 2: doesn't feel as big. But it's interesting because the next
[42:58] Speaker 2: two World Cups, the time zones change, right, one of
[43:03] Speaker 2: them's in Saudi Arabia, meaning it probably ends once again
[43:07] Speaker 2: in the Lands in the football season, which is problematic
[43:10] Speaker 2: for any company, especially ESPN and Fox and NBC. Right, so,
[43:14] Speaker 2: I don't think NBC is going to be in it
[43:15] Speaker 2: because of what they spent for the NBA. They're not
[43:17] Speaker 2: going to be a better It'll be you know, Disney,
[43:19] Speaker 2: it'll be Fox, it'll be Netflix, that kind of stuff.
[43:23] Speaker 2: But I thought to myself, let me throw this analogy
[43:26] Speaker 2: at you. As great as the World Cup is and
[43:29] Speaker 2: has been, football's family. You wake up with it every day,
[43:37] Speaker 2: you go to bed every night with it. Football is family.
[43:43] Speaker 2: World Cups are like the cousin. Every four years, you
[43:47] Speaker 2: rent a lake house in July, you hang out for
[43:49] Speaker 2: four weeks. It is awesome. You love your cousins, but
[43:54] Speaker 2: then they go away. That if I had a choice,
[43:58] Speaker 2: I would take NFL, college football, Major League Baseball. That that,
[44:04] Speaker 2: Olympics and the World Cup. And I'm a much bigger
[44:07] Speaker 2: World Cup fan than the Olympics, but are if you
[44:09] Speaker 2: had to make a choice as a network president, there
[44:13] Speaker 2: is something about college and pro football and baseball and
[44:16] Speaker 2: even and even NBA, like it's family. It's in your
[44:20] Speaker 2: living room every day or eight ten months out of it.
[44:24] Speaker 2: One is a little bit the most awesome family member
[44:30] Speaker 2: you don't see regularly, but god do you miss them
[44:33] Speaker 2: and you can't wait for it and every time they
[44:35] Speaker 2: come here like that's the best month I've had in
[44:36] Speaker 2: four years. I would choose the family, the pro football
[44:41] Speaker 2: in the house every day over and it would be
[44:44] Speaker 2: a tough choice because I love the World Cup. Yeah,
[44:47] Speaker 2: but I do think I'd probably land on the on
[44:50] Speaker 2: the you know, the annual stuff.
[44:53] Speaker 1: I don't think not a network executive, I don't think
[44:57] Speaker 1: that that would be much of a debate for an
[44:59] Speaker 1: America and network executive think you would one hundred percent
[45:02] Speaker 1: choose the NFL. If the NFL is just like what
[45:04] Speaker 1: makes this whole thing go round. It's the most watched,
[45:08] Speaker 1: you know, telecats in America. Every year it's NFL all
[45:12] Speaker 1: the way. Now this year, obviously the World's Cup will
[45:14] Speaker 1: crack that code that or that list, but again it's
[45:17] Speaker 1: not every year, it's it's every four years.
[45:22] Speaker 2: You know.
[45:22] Speaker 1: The World Cup is an amazing event, and I think
[45:25] Speaker 1: if it landed on a streamer, it would be it'd
[45:29] Speaker 1: be a huge test for them and their ability to
[45:31] Speaker 1: do it. And my guess is the technology, you know,
[45:34] Speaker 1: it's just going to keep getting better and better and better.
[45:37] Speaker 1: Why I would think that a streamer would be like
[45:39] Speaker 1: a pretty good position to do it is there's not
[45:41] Speaker 1: a lot of like game overlap. Like what I don't
[45:44] Speaker 1: like when sports are on streamers is if I want
[45:46] Speaker 1: to change to another channel or another games, like I
[45:48] Speaker 1: got a log out of that app and then go
[45:50] Speaker 1: to my thing like whatever. But like for single standalone events,
[45:54] Speaker 1: I think that they would be fine with it. But yeah,
[45:57] Speaker 1: I mean if for an American just through that prism,
[46:02] Speaker 1: it's clearly behind the three that you mentioned, right, and
[46:05] Speaker 1: it's probably behind the NBA too, just in terms of
[46:07] Speaker 1: like volume of games, right, you want, you want, you want,
[46:10] Speaker 1: quantity of live sports rights for your for your partner,
[46:15] Speaker 1: I would think it would be behind all of them
[46:17] Speaker 1: for well. And then the fact that the time zones
[46:22] Speaker 1: of the game's air in the middle of the night
[46:24] Speaker 1: and the one in Saudi Arabia that would happen in
[46:26] Speaker 1: like October.
[46:27] Speaker 3: Like of course that makes it way less less valid.
[46:30] Speaker 2: Well, we even see now a day game and a
[46:33] Speaker 2: night game. The numbers are half like the reality is
[46:36] Speaker 2: the next two World Cups, the time zones all shift
[46:40] Speaker 2: and they're problematic for the American consumer.
[46:43] Speaker 1: I I do love it, though, like I don't. I
[46:46] Speaker 1: don't want to add any like it's not my money
[46:48] Speaker 1: to spend. And I've really liked the career and like
[46:53] Speaker 1: I've loved being like I haven't gotten one ticket to
[46:56] Speaker 1: one game I haven't gone to, but like I just
[46:58] Speaker 1: I just like being a part of it, just like
[47:00] Speaker 1: talking about it and promoting it and having the countdown
[47:03] Speaker 1: clocks on the show and like feeling like it's a
[47:05] Speaker 1: big deal to the network. It's been it's been really
[47:09] Speaker 1: really fun and just from our business, we haven't had
[47:13] Speaker 1: to talk much NFL Top one hundred list yet, Like
[47:16] Speaker 1: it's been really nice to have like a thing in
[47:18] Speaker 1: the football off season that feels big and matters and
[47:23] Speaker 1: gets ratings and that people care about. I was asking
[47:25] Speaker 1: my boss the other day about, like how are the
[47:27] Speaker 1: ratings for these shows, and they're like they're good, like
[47:29] Speaker 1: really yeah, absolutely, I'm doing I'm doing full hours on
[47:33] Speaker 1: the World's Cup and everyone's like, yeah, rating was solid,
[47:36] Speaker 1: rating was strong, rating went up. I'm like, awesome, great,
[47:39] Speaker 1: let's keep it up.
[47:41] Speaker 2: No. I think one of the things when you're a
[47:43] Speaker 2: talk show host that I think about a lot is
[47:46] Speaker 2: I never wanted to work at the NFL network. Nothing
[47:49] Speaker 2: against it, no interest. I want to talk about what
[47:52] Speaker 2: I want to talk about, and there are days I
[47:53] Speaker 2: want to talk about Otani and baseball. I mean their day.
[47:56] Speaker 2: I've said this before, their days nights. I will choose
[47:59] Speaker 2: a baseball playoff game over a Monday or a Thursday
[48:01] Speaker 2: night football game, Like I want to watch a big
[48:04] Speaker 2: NLCS ALCS World Series game. They're just they're just these
[48:07] Speaker 2: big brands and it feels really special. Nothing against Thursday
[48:10] Speaker 2: night football or Monday night football. But I will say
[48:14] Speaker 2: this is the most fun I've ever had in June.
[48:17] Speaker 2: I do think this felt different. And when the WNBA
[48:21] Speaker 2: and Caitlin Clark exploded for a year, it doesn't feel
[48:23] Speaker 2: as big now she was injured, but it gave me
[48:27] Speaker 2: like twelve segments that were really fascinating. And I've always
[48:32] Speaker 2: felt like I take big chunks of time off in
[48:35] Speaker 2: July and August. And the reason is because I feel
[48:38] Speaker 2: like I'm just making up topics and like this is
[48:42] Speaker 2: the only June in the last decade where like every
[48:46] Speaker 2: segment has felt worthwhile, like everything's authentic. I'm interested in
[48:50] Speaker 2: every topic. That's not to say that I don't love
[48:53] Speaker 2: the NFL. But in July Camp stories, I got I
[48:57] Speaker 2: got three hours to fill I got to fill it
[48:59] Speaker 2: with something.
[49:00] Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean like I make it. I go back
[49:03] Speaker 1: and forth the producers all the time. They're like, you know,
[49:05] Speaker 1: this person said this about this NFL team, and I'm like,
[49:09] Speaker 1: I don't, I don't care. I love the NFL basically
[49:14] Speaker 1: more than anything, like outside of family, but.
[49:16] Speaker 3: Like I love it.
[49:18] Speaker 1: But like this person said that Dak Prescott could throw
[49:20] Speaker 1: for five thousand yards this year. Do you want to
[49:22] Speaker 1: do a topic, I'm like, will Dak Brest, I'm like, no,
[49:25] Speaker 1: I don't like that's I'm much more interested. And I
[49:29] Speaker 1: get that the NFL is what drives the bus and
[49:31] Speaker 1: all of those things, and it rates the highest and
[49:33] Speaker 1: the most people care about it. Again, I'm all for
[49:35] Speaker 1: every morsel of like real NFL stuff, but not having
[49:39] Speaker 1: to conjure up NFL topics and you know, we'll start
[49:43] Speaker 1: in a couple of weeks, but we'll be you know,
[49:47] Speaker 1: camp will be opening soon, and like there'll there will
[49:50] Speaker 1: be real things to talk about, or at least like
[49:52] Speaker 1: like normal fake things to talk about, and the will
[49:56] Speaker 1: take some vacation and then football season will be here.
[49:58] Speaker 1: I would have the World Cup every year if I good,
[50:00] Speaker 1: it's been fantastic. Oh no, it's or something like the
[50:05] Speaker 1: World's Cup. You know, something like the World's cupanies like well,
[50:08] Speaker 1: because the Olympics, to your point, unless you get a
[50:12] Speaker 1: Simone Biles Michael Phelps like phenomenon type thing, it's really
[50:18] Speaker 1: just like it's so splintered that like, yeah, maybe we're
[50:23] Speaker 1: all rooting for team USA, but we're not all like
[50:26] Speaker 1: rooting for the same thing. Like there aren't there aren't
[50:28] Speaker 1: like big events within the World Cup that like drive
[50:32] Speaker 1: culture and conversation for three or four weeks.
[50:35] Speaker 2: When you watch soccer crowds, it's a lot of young men,
[50:37] Speaker 2: it's a lot of sports fans. When you watch the Olympics,
[50:39] Speaker 2: it does very well with older women who aren't necessarily
[50:43] Speaker 2: watching to the level of younger men sports. It's a
[50:47] Speaker 2: lot of human interest stories. It's a lot of you know,
[50:51] Speaker 2: that's what that's what The Olympics has always been sports.
[50:54] Speaker 2: I don't care about people I don't know, but the
[50:56] Speaker 2: late Rue Norledge made me care about them. Well, I
[51:00] Speaker 2: know the United States men's national team because it's the
[51:02] Speaker 2: same guys that were in the last one. They're coming
[51:04] Speaker 2: back for the next one. And I like watching international
[51:06] Speaker 2: soccer because it's sports. Like, it's not lose, it's not
[51:09] Speaker 2: a device, it's the athletes.
[51:11] Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a team. It's a team game, you know.
[51:12] Speaker 1: And I always marvel at the Olympic broadcast. I'm always
[51:15] Speaker 1: like I don't care, I'm not interested, and then you
[51:18] Speaker 1: turn it on and within four minutes you're like, I
[51:21] Speaker 1: really hope the person in lane three wins, like like
[51:25] Speaker 1: they do an incredible job of like this is the
[51:28] Speaker 1: human interest story. This is why you should care, this
[51:30] Speaker 1: is their backstory, and the race starts like it is
[51:33] Speaker 1: an incredible broadcast.
[51:35] Speaker 3: But I don't have.
[51:38] Speaker 1: Days, weeks, months of like attachment and build up to it.
[51:42] Speaker 1: It's literally just if I choose to turn on the television,
[51:46] Speaker 1: which is very different than these team sport events.
[51:50] Speaker 2: Yeah, the you know, I always I always kind of
[51:54] Speaker 2: push back because I think the Fox coverage has been great.
[51:58] Speaker 2: I pushed back a little bit when and you know
[52:00] Speaker 2: you'll see the kind of predictable print criticism. Well, it's
[52:04] Speaker 2: very jingoistic, it's very over the top. And my take is,
[52:09] Speaker 2: let's go watch next World Cup Brazilian coverage. I'm guessing
[52:14] Speaker 2: it's very pro Brazil. Like, guys, if you watch the
[52:19] Speaker 2: CB seed dur in the Olympics, if you watch NBC
[52:22] Speaker 2: during the Olympics, you wrap your arms around your country.
[52:26] Speaker 2: It's okay. Like I think the coverage. We have a
[52:28] Speaker 2: lot of international voices, a lot of British voices. But
[52:31] Speaker 2: I was really encouraged, Like I really like Carly Lloyd.
[52:35] Speaker 2: It's do hold an Alexi, like holding Polisic accountable. There
[52:39] Speaker 2: was no pandering, Like I felt that was really a
[52:41] Speaker 2: healthy dialogue.
[52:42] Speaker 1: Yeah, listen, obviously we both work for Fox, but like,
[52:45] Speaker 1: I think that it's been really compelling stuff like and
[52:50] Speaker 1: they got star power and they got people from other
[52:52] Speaker 1: net I mean Rebecca Rebecca low is awesome, Like like
[52:55] Speaker 1: I have never met her, never spoken to it. Really
[52:57] Speaker 1: she is a great studio host who clearly knows everything
[53:01] Speaker 1: that she's talking about. She's excellent, and so I just
[53:04] Speaker 1: I think it's been really good. The people on site.
[53:07] Speaker 1: I like the presentation of like a desk outside the
[53:13] Speaker 1: stadium and inside. I don't know, I can just like
[53:17] Speaker 1: in terms of like scene setters of the crowds going
[53:19] Speaker 1: crazy before they're let in, and then like when you
[53:22] Speaker 1: go into the stadium, Like I know you can't do
[53:24] Speaker 1: that for every NFL game because there's just so many
[53:27] Speaker 1: of them.
[53:27] Speaker 3: But I do think they're like, let's put you if
[53:30] Speaker 3: it's like Okay.
[53:31] Speaker 1: Now I'm in Atlanta, now I'm in Kansas City, now
[53:33] Speaker 1: I'm in Seattle.
[53:34] Speaker 3: Like, I think it's been great.
[53:37] Speaker 2: Can I also defend American fans. I always read this, Oh,
[53:42] Speaker 2: the United States standing in Europe is not very good.
[53:46] Speaker 2: Right now, let me tell you something. American fans have
[53:51] Speaker 2: put their arms around Moroccan fans and British fans. We
[53:58] Speaker 2: have been really good hosts and they been amazing visitors.
[54:01] Speaker 2: Oh yeah, but they I mean, if I have to
[54:04] Speaker 2: read another story like Americans are not liked overseas, Listen,
[54:09] Speaker 2: we are good hosts. We love showing people a good time. Listen,
[54:15] Speaker 2: we're having a backyard barbecue. Come on over. We'll show
[54:18] Speaker 2: you what it tastes like. I think the visiting fans
[54:22] Speaker 2: have there's a certain amount of wonderment and just you
[54:25] Speaker 2: know our big box retail stores. And I also think
[54:29] Speaker 2: our fans have been great. You haven't seen there's no
[54:32] Speaker 2: stories about us throwing stuff for being idiots, which you
[54:36] Speaker 2: often see in our domestic sports. I think our fans
[54:39] Speaker 2: have been I mean, I've been like proud to be
[54:41] Speaker 2: an American. I love our fans and how they've treated
[54:43] Speaker 2: all the visibles.
[54:44] Speaker 1: I think generally speaking that stuff is like on like
[54:49] Speaker 1: a geopolitical level, and then like when you get to
[54:52] Speaker 1: like a human being level, we're not that different. Everybody
[54:55] Speaker 1: just wants to like have a good time and have
[54:57] Speaker 1: healthy kids and you know, raise their famis in a
[55:00] Speaker 1: good situation. I live in New York, so I've been
[55:02] Speaker 1: around a ton of these World Cup fans. Like Norway
[55:05] Speaker 1: fans are a blast. Like I said, I was at
[55:07] Speaker 1: a Cubs Mets game hanging out a bunch of Norway fans.
[55:11] Speaker 1: They're rowing, they're drinking, they're having a good time, they're
[55:13] Speaker 1: asking about baseball, they're doing whatever. They're rowing through Times Square.
[55:17] Speaker 1: My wife's family is from Lawrence, Kansas, Uh where Ku
[55:20] Speaker 1: is and you know, they were the host for Algeria
[55:24] Speaker 1: and like they were doing like instead of Rock Chalk
[55:27] Speaker 1: Jayhawk Rock Rock Chalk Algeria the k you hey you banned,
[55:31] Speaker 1: like learned the Algerian national anthem and went to their
[55:35] Speaker 1: training complex and was playing it for them before practices.
[55:39] Speaker 3: So it's just like yeah, small towns, big cities.
[55:42] Speaker 1: And then the viral videos are hilarious, Like my I
[55:44] Speaker 1: think my favorite one is the guy who discovered Popeye's
[55:47] Speaker 1: and he's like he's like he's he's like, for six dollars,
[55:54] Speaker 1: you get three pieces of chicken and the biscuit and
[55:59] Speaker 1: the drink.
[56:00] Speaker 2: He's like, this is an amazing place. It's just unbelievably warm.
[56:05] Speaker 1: I'm like, this video has nine million views, It's just
[56:08] Speaker 1: have nine hundred million. I'm like, that's the greatest piece
[56:11] Speaker 1: of content I've ever seen. Uh And so yeah, I
[56:14] Speaker 1: think I think I got a human being level.
[56:17] Speaker 2: It's it's it's all. It's great. You know, Danny, we
[56:20] Speaker 2: always talk about how divided we are and what will
[56:23] Speaker 2: bring us together, and once again, it's sports.
[56:26] Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean it Listen, there was a there
[56:28] Speaker 1: was a healthy amount of like you know, I don't.
[56:31] Speaker 1: I don't think with the Balligan decision, I don't think
[56:33] Speaker 1: we were tremendously popular amongst some European countries.
[56:37] Speaker 2: Let me tell you the var replay and in Egypt
[56:40] Speaker 2: right now is not going over right. That might be
[56:43] Speaker 2: the thing that brings us together the most. You ate
[56:45] Speaker 2: va R we ain't v a awesome We all can
[56:47] Speaker 2: hate it together.
[56:48] Speaker 1: Yeah, no, listen, man, Sports is a It's a great unifier,
[56:51] Speaker 1: right you there. There is something to going to a game,
[56:57] Speaker 1: something happening, big goal, big shot, touchdown, big save, whatever,
[57:02] Speaker 1: and high fiving a stranger. It is a great sense
[57:08] Speaker 1: of community thing like being at Wrigley the Cubs sitting
[57:11] Speaker 1: a home run and me turning around in high fiving
[57:14] Speaker 1: a random person. Is It's an endorphin rush of community
[57:19] Speaker 1: that I don't get in a ton of other areas
[57:22] Speaker 1: other than sports. I'm sure that people get it in
[57:24] Speaker 1: a different way, but like I do, really like love
[57:27] Speaker 1: that connection with people.
[57:29] Speaker 2: Well, I thought we were watching history with MESSI. It
[57:31] Speaker 2: doesn't matter where you're from, you're watching it. You're going,
[57:34] Speaker 2: holy shit, Yeah, this is the greatest soccer player ever.
[57:38] Speaker 2: He's in our country. They're down like that. That moment
[57:42] Speaker 2: I think encapsulates this World Cup. Like I've said, Fox,
[57:48] Speaker 2: They've gotten some breaks. England's good, Argentina's good like Earling.
[57:53] Speaker 2: Holland is our grond, like USA, Mexico, Canada. We're all viable,
[57:59] Speaker 2: the stars scoring and Messi's the best player. You're like it.
[58:03] Speaker 2: We kind of got We checked a lot of boxes
[58:05] Speaker 2: for the Super Bowl.
[58:06] Speaker 1: Yeah, other than like one more game from America, if
[58:10] Speaker 1: we were going to get really greedy and then and
[58:12] Speaker 1: then other than that, it would have been. It's been
[58:15] Speaker 1: a perfect World Cup for Fox and for storylines. I
[58:18] Speaker 1: don't remember I told you this last time, or if
[58:20] Speaker 1: it was somewhere else where I made the point, but
[58:21] Speaker 1: it's this World's Cup has felt like NFL teams with
[58:25] Speaker 1: NBA stars, like the big brands are all winning and
[58:30] Speaker 1: performing and playing in good games, like Argentina's been in
[58:33] Speaker 1: a bunch of good games, Spain's been in good games,
[58:36] Speaker 1: England's been in good games. But they don't get upset,
[58:39] Speaker 1: Like they almost get upset, but then they advanced. We
[58:42] Speaker 1: get into like if Cape Verde would have beaten Argentina,
[58:46] Speaker 1: it would have been unbelievable. It would have been the
[58:48] Speaker 1: biggest upset in the history of the World Cup, but
[58:50] Speaker 1: we would have been robbed of more games of Messy.
[58:53] Speaker 3: So it's like we get the best of both worlds.
[58:55] Speaker 1: We get this, like like when the two when Cabral
[58:58] Speaker 1: scored the second goal for ver Day and he ran
[59:02] Speaker 1: into the stands to find his mom and his girlfriend,
[59:04] Speaker 1: and I was like, I don't know if he's coming back.
[59:07] Speaker 1: I was like, I was like, I think his head
[59:10] Speaker 1: exploded from him, because like how shocking that moment was.
[59:14] Speaker 3: That is such a great moment.
[59:15] Speaker 1: But then Argentina is going to play at least two
[59:17] Speaker 1: more games, and we get to keep going with Messy.
[59:19] Speaker 1: So it's been Imbape Holland Cain Messy. Obviously, it's been
[59:26] Speaker 1: It's been amazing. It's been an easy World's Cup to
[59:28] Speaker 1: fall for because the stars that you know have been
[59:32] Speaker 1: performing and the countries that you care about have been winning.
[59:36] Speaker 2: And the games at the perfect times. Yeah, for the
[59:39] Speaker 2: United States consumer, and that's not what you're going to
[59:42] Speaker 2: get in the next two. So it's like, folks, put
[59:43] Speaker 2: your arms around it. The next one's not going to
[59:45] Speaker 2: get these numbers. Not everybody's going to stay up late.
[59:48] Speaker 2: I mean, I'm listening to British fans. The other day,
[59:50] Speaker 2: I listened to a British it was like a British
[59:53] Speaker 2: host or a British Oh was Ricky Gervais. It's like,
[59:56] Speaker 2: bloody hell, it stops at nine point thirty. I watched
[59:58] Speaker 2: the first half. I went to bed, and I'm like,
[1:00:00] Speaker 2: you're Ricky Gervaise. You don't go to a lug nut
[1:00:03] Speaker 2: factory at eight in the morning. You can watch it.
[1:00:05] Speaker 1: Stay in nap, stay up and watch the game. Honestly, Like,
[1:00:09] Speaker 1: you know, if my kid and I don't like it
[1:00:11] Speaker 1: was so expensive, like I I didn't go to a game.
[1:00:14] Speaker 1: I kind of wish I did, but I couldn't justify it.
[1:00:17] Speaker 1: He's he's six. He won't remember it like I went
[1:00:20] Speaker 1: when I was eight and I have like flashpoint memories
[1:00:22] Speaker 1: of it. Like but if he's still really into it,
[1:00:26] Speaker 1: like I'll feel like I'll probably spend the money and
[1:00:30] Speaker 1: fly to Spain, you know, like it's because it is
[1:00:34] Speaker 1: a great thing and so like the next World's Cup.
[1:00:36] Speaker 1: I know the times won't be as ideal, but that's
[1:00:39] Speaker 1: not that Also six hour seven hours from New York,
[1:00:42] Speaker 1: it's fine.
[1:00:44] Speaker 2: And I went to Madrid this last month. I know
[1:00:50] Speaker 2: May late May, I went to Madrid with my son.
[1:00:52] Speaker 2: I will tell you I always thought London was my
[1:00:56] Speaker 2: favorite city. It was like a warm London.
[1:00:58] Speaker 3: Madrid people spend is awesome. I love Spain.
[1:01:02] Speaker 2: I best airport I've ever been to. Best food I've
[1:01:06] Speaker 2: ever had. It's California without some of the California stuff. Yeah,
[1:01:11] Speaker 2: Like it's it's that climate. There's there's shade and trees.
[1:01:15] Speaker 2: I went to the zoo. It feels like a combination
[1:01:18] Speaker 2: of like like it's San Diego esque, Like it feels
[1:01:22] Speaker 2: like San Diego but not much of a police presence.
[1:01:26] Speaker 2: Great public transportation. Nobody eats dinner till nine, you walk
[1:01:30] Speaker 2: home at eleven. Everybody's safe, coffee, wine everywhere. Octopus is unbelievable.
[1:01:37] Speaker 2: Go to Madrid, go to Spain. Hey, I'll tell you.
[1:01:40] Speaker 2: You could sell me on doing a week of shows
[1:01:42] Speaker 2: in Spain during the next World Cup if we had,
[1:01:43] Speaker 2: Oh Colin.
[1:01:44] Speaker 1: I don't have that kind of juice, but if you
[1:01:47] Speaker 1: want to, if you want to, I will call, I will,
[1:01:50] Speaker 1: I will do the shows from yeah, you know, and
[1:01:53] Speaker 1: I'll buy the ball. You want to do Madrid, you
[1:01:55] Speaker 1: can dispatch me to Barcelona or Seville. I'll be fine.
[1:01:59] Speaker 3: I'll bite that b it for you. If you need
[1:02:00] Speaker 3: to be in Madrid, so you'll you'll.
[1:02:03] Speaker 2: You'll do that. You'll do the Sam Sebastian game, the
[1:02:06] Speaker 2: afternoon game.
[1:02:07] Speaker 1: No problem, you get prime time. You're Colin Coward. Just
[1:02:11] Speaker 1: let me hang out in Barcelona and do do the
[1:02:14] Speaker 1: noon kicks. That's not a problem. Whatever you need, buddy,
[1:02:18] Speaker 1: I'm there for you.
[1:02:19] Speaker 2: Danny, Daddy Parkin's good talking to man.
[1:02:21] Speaker 3: Feel better.

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