The NBA has fundamentally changed its competitive culture by removing defensive resistance and physicality to accommodate international players and maximize entertainment value, which has led to a decline in competitive integrity and respect for basketball history. This transformation is evidenced by Bam Adebayo's 83-point game against a tanking team, where intentional fouling and lack of defensive pressure made the achievement meaningless, contrasting with historical greats like Kobe Bryant and Wilt Chamberlain who achieved similar feats through genuine competitive excellence. The league's shift toward player empowerment and revenue generation has created a culture where players prioritize personal statistics and social media engagement over team success and respect for the sport's traditions.
Bam Adebayo's 83-Point Game Sparks NBA Integrity Debate | Fearless Analysis Ep. 1112
Added:[music] Oh, it's a bam shame.
What the NBA's turned to for people like me and people like you. That was a disgrace last night. Bam. out of bio.
Miami Heat forward/center disgraced Kobe Bryant, Will Chamberlain, Michael Jordan, Elgen Baylor, the entire NBA. Rick Barry, D. Wade, Alonszo Morning, Shaquille O'Neal, bam out of bio, and the Miami Heat disgraced the NBA last night. 83 points in 42 minutes, 20 of 20, 20 of 43 from field goal, 7 of 22 from three-point range, 36 of 43 from the free throw line, and it was an absolute disgrace. He embarrassed himself. He embarrassed the Heat organization. He embarrassed all of sports. He He diminished all of sports last night. He He exposed what is wrong with the National Basketball Association. What's wrong with the whole player empowerment deal?
I I know you should celebrate. It was a great accomplishment. I I last night when this thing happened, I started calling the basketball people in my life just to check my sanity. I started texting them. I texted Willie Clark.
Willie Clark's my best friend from high school. Willie Clark, hardcore NBA guy.
Willie Clark's been an NBA junkie for 50 years.
Embarrassed last night. disgusted last night has finally given up on the NBA.
I texted Fred BS grew up one of my best family members grew up with him like a cousin my entire life. Freddy and Bubby think like, "Hey man, that was disgraceful." Freddy, if you guys remember, his son Jordan used to come on the show, the kid from Purdue.
And so I wanted to get a take from, you know, like a kid's perspective, a young person's perspective. And of course, I got exactly what I was expecting. He's too young to know any damn thing. His daddy raised him, right? But he doesn't he's he's one of these young people and so he wouldn't condemn what happened last night. Wanted to give it credit.
You got to appreciate, you know, 83 points. No matter how he came about it, he came about it because the uh Washington Wizards are tanking and the NBA and the people in charge from Pat Riley, I will include to Eric Spolster. They have no control over these young people. Hey, give me anything they want. Bam wants 10 scoops of ice cream before having dinner. Well, we don't want to make Bam unhappy. Give him 11 scoops.
So, they started plotting at I think Bam had 43 points at halftime and they get there and hey man, we can denigrate Kobe Bryant. We can denigrate the entire NBA.
Let's go for it.
The Washington Wizards are tanking the games aboard. We're going to kill them.
We are killing them. Let's just go for it. And so they just started feeding Bam the ball. This is Bam out of bio, nine-year NBA player, averages 16 points for his career.
19 points this season. And now he has scored the second most points in the history of the NBA in a single game.
Kobe Bryant's 81point night was damn near as legendary as Wilt Chamberlain's 100point night.
Do Do you get Wilt Chamberlain, an all-time great NBA player, a freak of nature? Kobe Bryant, an all-time great player, a freak of nature.
Bam out of bio. You know what he was famous for before this debacle last night?
Dating Asia Wilson.
This game will live will live in infamy because of what it exposed. But no one is sitting around talking about oh what an incredible performance. No there this is a BAM shame. This is I'm going to analogize this game, this performance to women's high school basketball.
I don't know how many of you remember this, but uh Cheryl Miller scored 105 points in a women's high school basketball game, the the all-time great Cheryl Miller.
And in 1990, as a high school junior, Lisa Lesley, hell of a college and pro basketball player, but she decided as a high school junior at Morningside High, that she would make an attempt at breaking Cheryl Miller's 105 point scoring record in high school.
And Lisa Lesley scored 101 points in 16 minutes of the first half.
101 points.
The opposing team, South Torrance High School, refused to come out and play in the second half out of embarrassment. The referees gave South Torrrens like two technical fouls to start the second half trying to force them to come out and play. They had Lisa Lesley shoot the technical foul free throws and she hit all four. Got herself to 105 points. But in the aftermath they wrote, "Hey, those points are no good. We're wiping them off the slate.
You did not tie uh Lisa Leslie. You did not break this record.
You embarrassed yourself. You embarrassed the opposition. They refused to come out and play. I think the score was like 102 to 24.
There was a 102 points scored by Morningside High School. Lisa Lesley scored 101 of them.
No one remembers or recalls. No one thinks she accomplished anything.
It's meaningless.
That's what's going to happen to Bam Adabio in his 83point night.
Who? I believe it was Robert Ay. Do we have the clip? Robert Aie said there should be an asterric by this 83 point night. Play the clip.
>> 83 from Bam Adabio.
>> Oh my good. I you know it was one of those things you have to see. I remember 43 [laughter] shots, 43 free throws. I'm like and then you I saw some highlights, you know, if y'all noticed when the [music] show came back, I was looking at the highlights and bam. I'm like, let me just say this, 83 points is impressive, [music] you know, but it gets to a point where you have to respect the game. And I think there was moments in this game where it was not respected, but still though, 83 [music] points is a lot. I appreciate the effort and it's going to go down as we know second most of the game but it's like you always say on certain things just have asterk about it. I'm putting [music] ashes by this. It's still a lot.
I'm not taking away anything. Bam.
It's a lot.
Bam. Out of bio should renounce this 83 point night. You don't do this to Kobe Bryant. You don't do this to all the great players that have come before you and set the table for you to make all of this money. You have respect for the game and for the people that laid the foundation. You don't denigrate their accomplishments with a gimmick because the Washington Wizards are tanking and because to entertain yourself, you go for some break. You're up 25, 30 points in the fourth quarter and your teammates are filing the Wizards to create possessions for you to break this record. You're a forward/ center who shot 22 threepoint attempts.
This is a joke. The the NBA has a credibility problem. This look, they've jumped the sharp a long time ago. But I do think this was a line in the sand.
This is like when I c again these guys don't mean a lot to you, but when I when I think about hardcore watch the NBA every night, talk about the NBA every day. When you lose Willie Clark, when you lose Fred BS, when you lose Bbby BS, when you lose me, my passion, my first passion in sports was the NBA. My father used to take me and my brother to ABA basketball games with the Pacers. This is my first love. Magic Johnson up until Tiger Woods was my all-time favorite athlete.
I I I've lived and died with the NBA.
They've destroyed this game.
They They've made it a joke. I I can't believe Pat Riley's organization was involved in this.
The Pat Riley great reverence for the game.
He former player, former assistant coach, former four or five time fourtime champion with the Los Angeles Lakers. He's attached. They just put a statue of Pat Riley up at the forum. He's attached. He didn't coach Kobe Bryant, but he's attached to that legacy in history. his organization, the the most respected organization, the organization that's old school with rules that the they did this pandering to BAM in the moment, not sitting him down and saying like, "Hey, man, we we can't do this to Kobe.
We can't do this to the game."
Bam Adabio's name is right there now with Wilt Kobe Elgen Baylor the the great scorers the great bucket getters.
So Willie sent me this last night and it's an amazing stat and I should have told the guys here uh to pull this.
This is just he was just looking at AI in his discuss last night as we were both like what have they done to the NBA? As of March 10th, 2026, there are approximately 50 to 55 players in the NBA currently averaging 20 points per game or more.
Dial the clock back 20 years ago, 2005, 2006.
Exactly 20 players average 20 points or more.
This is remember when Don Carleon was looking at Sunny in the casket all shot up. Look what they did to my boy.
That's Look what they've done to the NBA.
They've made it a joke.
It's I I I get it. Max Crosby, the the trade got called off. We're going to discuss it.
We're We're going to I know how big and mammoth the NFL is. I I I get it. But what just happened to the NBA is a huge story for all of sports because the the the elimination of resistance is transpiring in all sports. We made the games too easy in in in search of safety.
We don't want guys to get injured. They we don't want them to foul hard. We don't want him to go through what Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, and Matty Johnson and Isaiah Thomas had to go through. We want to make the games easier.
Just everybody run around, shoot three-pointers, and let guys dunk any kind of way they want. We want to remove the physicality.
It's going on in football. You can't touch the wide receivers, can't touch the quarterbacks, you can't you can't hit like you used to. These games have been dramatically changed. I want to go back to that Pat Riley's organization, the only organization in the NBA, maybe the Spurs with Greg Papovich, that had a standard, a system that they adhereed to, an old school system.
And I want you to listen to Eric Spolstra, guy that I respect, a hell of a coach, but he's on board with this craziness, this mockery that happened last night.
Play the clip.
>> This was just an absolutely surreal night. You know, obviously we've been blessed to have been a part of a lot of big moments uh in this arena. Um this one um it just happened.
moments that happen, you know, and I'm grateful that we were all able to uh be a part of it and witness it. Um, you know, he had a a monster first quarter, uh, and then, you know, had 43 at at halftime, you know, and we just talked about, you know, continuing uh to play our game and, you know, the ball was finding him um regardless of whether, you know, we're calling dead ball calls specifically for him or atto's in the second half. was a little bit more intentional trying to get him some touches. Uh but I would say once he got to 50, then we're thinking, all right, let's, you know, maybe maybe he can get to 60. Uh then when he got to 60, you know, it just kept on going. Then we might as well go for 70. Uh and then, you know, I I didn't dare, you know, even think about taking him out, you know, at that point. We just kept on going. I wanted to have a moment. You know, I didn't know when that would be.
He just kept on going. Otherwise, I was going to foul and and allow the crowd to really enjoy the moment with him and allow him to enjoy, you know, this historic night uh in front of all the the home fans. Um but it just kept on just kept on going. So, you know, to to answer your question, I I just didn't stop until once he got Kobe's.
>> I wanted Bam to enjoy the night. His family was there. This was the moment for Bam.
this.
You've disgraced the game. Let me give you some analogies.
it.
If if if Rocky Blar, running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers back in the 70s, 80s, if he rushed for 2,000 yards, 2001 yards, just short of OJ Simpson, that would denigrate the running back position. People would be questioning [snorts] like, "Hey, what's this league about? Are they tackling out there anymore? Rocky Blar just ran for 2,000 yards.
What's going on here?
That That's what this is like. Bam Adabio is not qualified to score 50 or more points in the NBA.
He damn sure I think his career high before last night was 43 points. He damn sure not qualified to score 83 points and to put his name next to Will Chamberlain and and and Kobe Bryant.
What are we doing? And and for Eric Spolster to be selling this and celebrating it, what are we doing? You got to tell these guys no.
Hey man, we ain't doing that. I got too much respect for the guys that came before me.
I want to play. There's a mentality that has been changed that we give these kids, give these young people whatever they want.
They want to hit the transfer portal every other weekend. Let them transfer.
[snorts] We got to give. They're not earning. They're not worth millions of dollars. They're not overzealous groupy boosters are paying college athletes millions of dollars.
The business model isn't creating that much money that you can pay these college basketball players and football players millions of dollars. We But if you say that, oh, you're just a hater.
You just want to exploit the black athlete. No, man. I I want reality. And kids just don't get to do everything adults do. Oh, coaches get to change jobs. Why shouldn't they be able to transfer? Because they're kids.
And there needs to be a right of passage. And the whole world isn't built around just give a kid whatever he wants.
That's not how the world should operate.
But that's what we've done. There used to be a different mentality. Brian Shaw talked about it with with Kobe Bryant the same year he scored 81 points. There was a chance he could have gotten 70 in a game and Kobe's like, "No, I'm good.
We're blowing them out. Don't put me back in here." Play the clip.
>> Um, we're playing the Dallas Mavericks.
Uh, I can't even remember what year it was [music] now, but at the end of the third third quarter, Kobe had 62 and the the Dallas Mavericks had 61.
And we [music] were up, I think, 30 or 33 points, something like that. And it was a timeout. And, uh, I mean, it was the it was in between the third and fourth quarter. and Phil Jackson asked me to go [music] ask Kobe if he wanted to start out the fourth quarter um and see if he you know to to try and get 70 points and uh so I walked over [music] out of the coach's huddle and and asked him and he looked up at the scoreboard and we were up like I said 30 or whatever [music] and he said nah you know I I'll get it another time you know when we really need it. So I got kind of pissed off. I was like, "Look, man. Not too many people can say that they scored 70 points against another team. You got a chance to score 70, man. You got to play." He was like, he looked at the scoreboard again. Nah, I mean, we're up 30. We don't need it right now. So, I I'll do it another time. So, I went back over the field. I said, "He doesn't want to he doesn't want to go back in."
Well, about three weeks later, three or four weeks later, we're playing Toronto in LA and [music] they're beating us for the majority of the game and you just see the points piling up and you know when it's all said and done, he scores 81 points.
There's a huge culture shift.
We don't have guys like Kobe Bryant that have respect for history, have respect for the people that came before them. We have We have a culture that's, hey, what's in it for me? I I don't care how I get it. As long as I make money, I don't care if it's Only Fans. If it's uh rapping about degenerate stuff and and and grooming kids into a degenerate mindset, hey, if I make money, it's all good. It doesn't matter. Doesn't matter how I make it. It doesn't how how I achieve anything. There's no standards.
Alex Chovvetkin had a chance to pass Wayne Gretzky for most goals in NHL history and he eventually did pass Gretzky, but there was a game where he there was an empty net opportunity and he's like, "No, I'm good." Play the clip.
>> Alex, you said you didn't want to break it on an open net. You looked like you told your coach, Spencer Carberry, no.
Can you just tell us about your decision there?
>> Um, yeah. Um I have a pretty good chances in the last minute. Um if Stormer gave me a nice pass like a flat one like I'll probably lay in. But uh um yeah um I think I tell I tell carbs right away like um I don't want to do it. Um I tell Strowmer asked me, Carly asked me, everybody asked me like do you want it? Do you want it? I said let's wait. So, uh I'm happy for it. Uh Alo, he lo he's uh scored his first NHL goal. Uh the kids have a great future like uh yeah. So, uh it's how I said tonight is a unbelievable night for the organization, for hockey, for DC. Um Wayne Gretzky uh saw that and uh you know it's unbelievable.
I'm absolutely disgusted. It's a BAM shame. I want to bring Steve Kim and Jay Scapenick into the conversation.
Uh before I do that, I want to remind you all uh to go to Apple. If you're wa listening over Apple, if you're listening watching over Spotify, hit the fivestar rating. It's important. Helps us fight the algorithm. The other thing you guys need to do is make sure you're supporting our sponsor today. and our partner in this, Pre-born. Pre-born is the organization that supports our worldview that life begins at conception. They provide expectant mothers an ultrasound, introduce that baby's heartbeat to the mother. While the baby's in the womb, a visual image of that baby. While the baby's in the womb, the mother is now twice as likely to choose life. pre-born steps in, steps up, supports that woman that has chosen life for up to two years, the woman and the baby for up to two years. It's an amazing deal what pre-borns do does.
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Or dial pound 2550 and say the keyword baby. That's pound250 keyword baby. Jay Scapenick, Steve Kim, welcome into the show. Uh [sighs] Scap, I got to go to you first cuz you're the Kobe guy.
I bam out of bio disgraced Kobe Bryant in the NBA last night. Your reaction, >> Jason, thanks for having me on today.
Um, I listen, I I haven't slept much.
Uh, I am thoroughly disgusted, nauseated. I'm sick to my stomach. I I want to empower your staff to have the dump button ready. You can mute me at any point. I can't be held accountable for exactly what what might come out of my mouth right now. We have seen a lot of disgusting things on an NBA arena on an NBA hard hardc court over the last 10 to 15 years. Last night was undeniably the low of low points. I threw up in my mouth while watching a basketball game for the first time. I I am still at a loss. I I really I'm I'm seldomly am am I at a loss for words, but I I really can't completely wrap my head around this when when you look at all of the different components that went into it.
Jason Eric Spolstra and the entire team strategizing this at halftime against a team that is intentionally trying to lose games this year. The Washington Wizards are the worst team in the NBA. I know they don't have the least wins, but they do have the lowest net differential per game. They are losing games by 11 and a half points per game. They are the worst team in the league. They are not trying to win games. So, the Heat are up by 15 to 25 points basically the whole game. This guy plays 42 minutes in that in that game while jacking 43 shots and 43 free throw attempts. 86 shot attempts total in a game that they were up by like 30. Jason, let me just say this. If you want to stay in there chasing in the in the fourth, I vehemently disagree with it.
It's to me just poor sportsmanship. It's a farce uh of a of an accomplishment, but at least stay in there and at least get get it in the fourth quarter based on merit then like score the baskets.
They took a timeout with three minutes to go. Jason up 25 points and he had 77 at the time. That's still a pretty good distance away from 83. 77 with with 255 to go up 25. They sub him back in and he immediately jacks up three threes and misses all three of them. So, you failed, bro. It's over. Instead, the Heat start intentionally fouling a 16- win team up 25 to extend the game.
Jason, the Heat players were getting fouled that weren't bam. They were intentionally missing free throws trying to get offensive rebounds to just feed Bam Adabio. It was disgusting. It is a crime against basketball history. And to watch the display, the classless display by Bam Adabio and the Heat and Spolster after the game, it just makes it that much worse. Did you see these guys dousing him with water in the middle of the court like they just won game seven of the NBA finals for beating a 16- win team by 30 points? Jason, he had Asia Wilson at the postgame press conference with him. He was hugging his mom and sobbing in on the basketball court. It was disgusting. A literally a crime. And then he has the audacity to invoke Kobe's name in the postgame presser, claiming that he was a big Kobe fan growing up, that Kobe was his favorite player, that he really would just love to hear what Kobe has to say to him. Let me not mince words here, Bam. Let me speak directly to you. You're a disgrace, bro. What Kobe would say to you is you're a disgrace. He would laugh in your face. This is a joke. He would call you a joke because your accomplishment is just that, a joke.
>> Steve, lowest point in NBA history or am I going too far with that? Is this the jump the shark moment where people come up out of their delusion?
>> Well, first of all, I want to note that was a very somber sounding scat, but he got it going. He started to roll downhill like an avalanche. Well, is that they jumped the shark? Uh, guys, I've been ahead of the curve here for at least 10 years. It It's jumped various sharks like Arthur Fonzerelli and Bob Beaman in Mexico City. Uh, I've look, this particular achievement, 83 is 83. I get it. Um, you know, just this past weekend, we had the LA Marathon in our fine city because, you know, we don't need any more traffic. And but I didn't want to compare it to Rosie Ruiz because Bam actually did play. But this to me it's like climbing Mount Everest but taking a helicopter there and say, "God, we made it. Look at this view." You know, um it's interesting.
I heard Guy, remember Guy? Good band back R&B ' 80s. Yeah, they have a new song. Sham.
Oh, [laughter] sham. It is because this is where I have to agree with those like Scap who have to put this in context. I still remember driving home from Las Vegas. It was one of the Manny Pacquiao, Eric Morales fights in mid to late January of 2006, I believe. And it was also the Sunday of NFL playoffs. And I still remember getting a call somewhere around 7:30ish saying, "Steve, Kobe's having an unbelievable game." Now, that was the era post Shack preow where Kobe would put up unbelievable numbers for months at a time. And someone said, "Steve, he's at about 60 with a lot of time left." Now, that particular game, guys, they were actually down by 1718 in the second half. That game actually mattered. It wasn't a blowout. And I'm not saying Toronto was any good, but guess what? Neither were the Lakers. And and to watch that 81 was incredibly special. And now Jason, you talk about the 62 where he outscored the Mavericks.
This is the the most amazing part of that particular achievement. The Mavericks actually should have won the NBA Finals that year. They're up two nothing on the Miami Heat before the referees got involved and won the MVP.
So, I'm alienating all the Miami Heat fans here, okay? But yes, the 83 is the 83, but I think it deserves a big big asterisk next to it.
>> Guys, guys, wait. Hang on. He shot 43 free throws. That's the most in NBA history. Look at the guys on the list other than him. Like Dwight Howard did 39 twice. Um I think DeAndre Jordan did 36 once. These were intentional free throws because those guys were sub 50% shooters. That was a tactic that the other team was deploying like giving them the free throws. Bam averages 4.8 free throws a game right now and he shot 43. Like what kind what in the name of God's foul baiting and free throw merchining went on last night. We need to do a deep dive investigation. The NBA needs to investigate this. Those officials should lose their job. 43 free throw attempts for a guy averaging four a night and 16 in the fourth quarter, may I add, in a game they were up by 25 against a tanking team. 16 free throws in the fourth. S his final six points from 77 to 83 after that timeout I talked about at 255 came from the free throw line. Investigate it. Blow it up.
Wipe it out of the record books. This is an absolute disgusting display of classless basketball.
>> I actually do think they should wipe it out of the record books. There's just no way Kobe should beat that. I really believe that. Steve, the other thing, Steve, I I'm just shocked that a Pat Riley organization was involved in this.
Am I wrong? No, because Spo like you know you heard the speech from Spo and you know he doesn't want to alienate the players. I think maybe in private Riy is probably unhappy. I mean I can could you imagine the 1991 through 94 Knicks just giving a free pathway to any guy driving the lane? That's the one thing that I noticed. Um, when it wasn't the free throws and it wasn't the long range shots when Bam was going to the rim, how there was almost no contact. I mean, guys were just backing away from the cylinder. And that's that's what's mindboggling about these people. I'd say, well, they run more, right? They do a lot of cardio during these games, but there's no contact. There's no physical contact. There's no intimidation factor.
And I'm just, it was funny because they were playing the old Wizards, right?
There'd always be the Wizards to me.
Man, we needed some milk. filthy and some Mcnasty Rick Mahorn and Jeff Rulan would never have allowed that. But this whole notion, what it really proved to me last night, the ongoing debate the past week that could Jordan score 40 in today's NBA every night, I think that's an insult. Yeah, he'd score 45 and still shoot probably over 50%.
So with this whole notion that somehow the game is tougher, yeah, they run more, but when you look at the level of intensity, it's not like they're sprinting up and down the court. It's a very leisurely pla pace from what I've seen.
>> I I'm I'm going to go super big picture here, guys. And and I was talking to my buddy Willie last night uh via text and we were trying to ask how did we get here to where there's virtually no resistance in NBA defenses that this would even be a possibility and and that you know obviously the competition's been diminished and and we both kind of agreed on that this desire for international play and international following and an international fan base and revenue stream is what made the NBA say, "Hey man, we got to relax the defensive rules and play a more Europeanfriendly game of basketball."
And and and and I started thinking, I was like, "Well, you know what? The dream team did this that that when they the 92 Olympic team dream team made David Stern and the NBA fall in love with this is our path to surpassing the NFL is this international deal and so they just started changing the rules because I do think this is true and Scap I'll let you fire first here. I do think this is true. Like the European players aren't great defensive players. Uh and and they came up with a style of play that fits makes the European players more valuable in the NBA than in the old system. Uh but what do you think of just that is like how did we get here where the game got this easy that a BAM could score 83 points?
I honestly don't think it's Look, it is.
Yes, it's true. Historically speaking, the Euro players specifically, yes, the Caucasian Euro players are not uh predominantly elite defenders. So, that that is absolutely undeniable. But Luca Donuch has been on record for basically like the last seven, eight years. like before he even like when he entered the NBA initially, the first year or two, he's been saying it since then that it is way easier in the NBA to score than it is in in Europe. Way easier. And you know, when you see when you watch that style of basketball, like it's actually like a slower, more methodical game.
Those guys are I they have much more a much higher skill set than Americanborn players by and large at this stage because of the AA uification of basketball which I think is really the the major problem in this country which speaking of Kobe Bryant he talked to that before uh his untimely uh death but look I I think it it's unfair to blame the European style. I think it's honestly I think it's more so is the the Americanb born players that are to blame for this because they they're just so obsessed with stats, highlights, scoring like e making it easier just shooting chucking up 50 threes or it's basically shoot a three or run underneath and try to dunk the ball every time. Like there is no like intermediate game or middle game anymore in the NBA at least from guys that are being born here. Uh let me just say this one final thing about Europe. Victor Webbyama. Jason, I keep talking about this guy as he is the guy like the flag bearer that will maybe if there's any coming back, which I'm I'm doubting it more and more that there is when I see things like this. But if we are if we have not reached the point of no return, he will be the one that like carries us on his back back to the promised land where the NBA means something again. He reacted last night to this to this game in the pre postgame press conference. He looked disgusted. Someone asked him if he saw it. He looked so unimpressed, so unenthusiastic about it. He was so dismissive of the accomplishment. I I can't be more impressed with this young kid. And he of course is from France and he is bringing defense and competition back. So hopefully look there's other people that follow his lead around the league in in really dismissing this as an accomplishment and it is happening Jason like Eay Udoka talked about it and was disparaging this. Even JJ Reic was like I watched those last three minutes and I I I didn't even know what I was watching that that that's a different kind of basketball that was being played in those last three minutes. So I there's a lot of guys around the NBA that are already pushing back against this. Maybe Adam Silver can take the queue and just seriously wipe this out of the record book.
>> Steve, you think there's any chance of that? Wiping it out of the record books that the blowback could be that strong because I I will stay >> aluminum from Adam alum. No. OKAY.
>> HE KILLED MAGIC CITY NIGHT.
>> OKAY. YEAH, he made that disappear.
Okay. So, that that that's true. Now, a couple things, Jason. You bring a part uh bring up a very interesting subject.
And is there a socioeconomic factor to this? I believe so. I'm going to go deep here. I'm going to go get my Jason Whitlock tinfoil cap on. There's a famous quote. I remember back in the early to mid 90s and Gary Payton said, "I need some tougher guys around me."
And before the term dogs, he actually said, "I need ghetto guys. I need some ghetto guys." You know what the funny thing is? If if you if you delve into what basketball is nowadays, it's becoming more and more of a gated community club sport where you need some money. It's no longer just a black top game. So, do you have the ghetto guys anymore? Cuz when I was growing up, you had tough guys, and I'm talking about guys that didn't care about scoring.
They took pride in their defense. And like Ruben Patterson, he prided himself because of his one year on the Lakers, he called himself the Kobe Stopper. Like him and Kobe got into great battles.
There's been chapters written about it.
Didn't always work out, but but he was a tough guy. Anthony Mason, Charles Oakley, Dennis Rodman before his transformation was one of those guys.
So, there was a time when I thought of who was the archetype for the American basketball player outside the occasional white guy. A lot of guys from the inner city that played ball on the black top.
They were tough. They were hard-nosed.
right now. You see a lot of these guys with the twos and the threes after their name cuz they're juniors and their fathers played in the NBA. They did traveled club teams. So that in itself, these are not hardened young men like the ones we used to get. That that's part of my theory about what has changed with the NBA.
>> Yeah. A guy with a ponytail is not going to pick a fight with Bam out of bio because Charles Bley probably would have thrown hands if they they try that against the Knicks and Charles Oakley during that time, he probably, you know, bam out of bio would have gotten a fight like, "Hey, what are you guys doing?"
And and I I don't know how much the Wizards were protesting or yelling at the Heat like, "Hey, what are you doing?" But they can't do it probably because they're tanking and so they're a part of the problem, too. So, they can't complain about what the Heat are doing because they're in on it, too.
>> Jason, remember the malice in the palace? how it really started. The game was kind of over. Wasn't a blowout, but it was over and someone went in for a layup. They should have and they it was a hard foul and then guess, you know, the guys at the epicenter of it. I'm not saying they completely caused it. Our test Steven Jackson, I I think Gary Payeyton would call him ghetto guys.
They weren't just going to sit by idly and that thing set off, right? So, it's a it's and now I think it's an issue where guys like the ones on the Wizards, they don't even know how to react. They they really don't. I don't even think they understand what is the value of sending a message with a hard foul because let's be honest, a lot of that has been legislated out the last what 10 to 15 years.
Scap, I was gonna Well, I I'm gonna Well, I'm not gonna move on or I'm gonna slightly move on and connect it to Steve Kerr uh saying the regular season needs to be shortened, which I kind of agree with, but anyway, let's play the clip.
>> I know this will not be uh a popular opinion in the league office, but I will continue to to say it because it's obvious. We need to play fewer games. we need to take 10 games off the schedule.
I think it would be great for the league. Um, and I get it. It's revenue and you'd have to get everybody to agree to take a little less money. Um, and that's a really hard thing to do. But what I know about the league, about coaching, about how hard it is to play the modern game with the pace and the space, um, I think it would be a more competitive and healthier league if we played fewer games. Would that help in this regard in any way? And to >> Would it stop the tanking? Would it stop or help stop the tanking?
>> Would it help in any way?
>> Jay, I I can see why Jordan slapped him.
[laughter] My only regret with Jordan is he didn't throw a combination at him.
This This Steve Kerr N HEY. HEY, STEVIE.
THEY ALREADY PLAY LESS GAMES. NOBODY'S doing 82. There's no AC Green or Randy Smith out there. What's he talking about? They've already fudged it where they're already playing less games with more amenities with more concessions in terms of scheduling.
This is again what happens when you just pander over and over and over again. You turn into Steve Cer and Scap.
Yeah, look, there's they have been playing between 80 to 82 games in the NBA's regular season since the 1960s, and guys sure were competitive in all of the other previous eras and generations until this one. Guys sure did strive to play as many games as they possibly could and play as hard on both sides of the floor as they could in as many games as possible in every other era and generation until this one. So realistically speaking, while I understand the push to to shorten the season to some degree, all you're going to get is guys not trying for a lesser amount of games. Like if you make it 72, you're just going to have guys sitting out 10 or 15 games of those 72 guys, you know, jogging up and down the floor, not giving any effort on defense. It it doesn't really matter how many games you play, uh how what you want to reduce it by. The problem is the mentality of the players in the league today. And and look, we've talked about it before. It it by and large, it more so speaks to a a larger issue at the societal level of just a pervasive weakness of mentality by by young people in today's younger youthful generations that unfortunately are populating all of the the sports the professional sports leagues. So they're really just echoing what we're seeing a at a nation and like a societal level I should say. So so really unfortunately this is just where we're at. I think at least in the NBA and we're getting there in the NFL too. And who knows how many sports will be left where there's actually guys that are playing the game for the right reasons.
>> Gentlemen, I got to go. I'm late. We haven't even talked yet. I got to get to Bucky Brooks. Talk about Max Crosby. uh that deal being called off. We thought that was uh the biggest news in the sports world and and maybe it it is and was. But the significance of this autobio deal and to see the NBA fall even further into a hole couldn't pass it up. But we're going to bring Bucky Brooks on to talk about Max Crosby.
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You will enjoy the purchase. Uh let me uh move on to the National Football League and the story that rocked the National Football League uh yesterday.
Uh Max Crosby uh that deal, the Baltimore Ravens backed out of that deal, saying claiming that he didn't pass the physical. Bucky, are you buying the story that Max Crosby is not healthy enough to be a Baltimore Raven?
>> Uh, I'm not buying that because as you know, Jason, National Football League, physicals are subjective and typically the better the player, the easier it is to pass the physical regardless of the ailments that a player may have. To me, this seems it kind of smells of the Baltimore Ravens realizing that there might be a better deal on the horizon for them. And given that this is the legalized tampering period where you can have discussions, but the league year doesn't start until 4:00 today, um they were well within their right to make a hard decision and maybe an embarrassing one to move out of that deal where they would have surrendered two first round picks and pivot towards a deal that allowed them to get Trey Hendrickson at a much cheaper cost but maybe a comparable player in their minds when it comes to sack production.
Do okay in their mind is the key word.
You think Trey Henderson is comparable to Max Crosby?
>> I mean I don't think if you look at the tape that he's comparable but I would say if you look at the numbers Trey Henderson has put up numbers on par with Miles Garrett and others over the last five years. If you look at his sack production, he's right up there with Miles Garrett and TJ Watt in terms of being able to get it done. Now, he's been tucked away in Cincinnati and some people haven't paid attention to their defense because their defense hasn't been top flight, but he's a good player.
And I don't want to dismiss him like he's not a good player. I think with Max Crosby, um you can see a lot of things about Max Crosby in terms of his pass rushing ability, his relentless effort, the way that he gets down, but that hasn't necessarily helped the Raiders parlay his success into a lot of team success. Um, I think when we talk about comparable, both guys are high-end pass rushers. The difference is Trey Hendrickson is over 30 or is at 30 or more. And sometimes when you're be looking to do a deal, you don't pay for players that are in the twilight of their respective careers.
>> Uh, I think I want to play a clip first of Max Crosby saying he wants to finish his career as a Raider. He said this shortly after the trade was announced. This is a comment I didn't like in real time. And now 72 uh 96 hours later, I'm like, I wonder if the if this didn't sit right with Steve Bashadi and the Ravens. Let's play the clip. I wanted everything good for the Raiders. I I bleed silver and black.
That'll never change. And I'm a Raider for life. And I truly want to finish when it's all said and done, you know, in a Raiders jersey. uh whenever that time comes. But for the time being, um it's a new day. Um I'm going to Baltimore Flock Nation.
Everybody in the whole city of Baltimore got a lot to learn. Um everything is going to be new to me and I'm excited and and attacking this head-on like I do everything else.
>> What's your reaction to that? Is that a potential red flag?
>> No, not at all. I think if you've been with the Raiders, I I will say this, having played for the Raiders, uh the one things that they pride themselves on is when you're a Raider, you're a Raider for life. And that doesn't go anywhere, and everyone feels that no matter how uh long, how much time you spend with their organization, they always treat you as family. So, I understand the sentiment that Max Crosby expressed, but I also understood that he was kind of offering uh an olive branch to the Ravens fans.
Hey, I want to be a part of this. I'm looking forward to uh the next chapter of my career and I need to learn all the things that are near and dear to the hearts of the Ravens and their fans. I don't think this would be something like what he said that would be out of pocket or viewed as out of pocket where Steve Bashadi would say, "Hey, let's ditch the deal because he doesn't appear to be all in on being a Raven." I think look in the business of pro sports and in the business of the league they found out after sitting there hey maybe we got a better deal on the table with Trey Hendrickson after some reflection after hearing the outside noise maybe they got cold feet at the alt and decided that hey we'll walk away from this one we'll pivot to another one and we will retain our first round picks while also getting a player that can give similar production that >> that seems just implausible to me only Because if you thought Trey Henderson was in the same ballpark as Max Crosby, you you know, you wouldn't have to give up two first round picks to get >> uh Trey Hendrickson. So I I I just I I don't that just doesn't make sense to me that that someone in the organization, hey man, we're better off getting Trey Hendrickson rather than going all in on Max Crosby.
it something has to be either his comments or or I don't want to I read a bunch of different rumors on the internet that you know maybe something showed up [sighs] I I >> well I would say I was I I would say this I would say that uh you can have multiple things that are true at once.
You can have a thing where, hey, we like Max Crosby, but then you get in there and the doctors are talking to front office and ownership about, hey, here's the situation when it comes to the knee.
This is when he would be ready to play.
This is the long-term prognosis and those things. And at the same time, maybe Trey Hendrickson's representatives are having dialogue with the front office, and you begin to have this conversation where ownership is like, "Hold on, wait a minute. So, you're saying that this player that we agree to a deal with could have these long-term issues, this [clears throat] other player who may offer similar production is available and ready to go and we can get him maybe at our price point without the things. Well, maybe we need to explore player B instead of going with player A. I think those conversations can happen after you've already initially agreed to the deal based on the feedback from the medical personnel.
Now, it doesn't look great for the Baltimore Ravens organization to back out of a deal like this. Um, I know they've done it, I think like two times or whatever, before in their history where they had significant deals where they've done it, but it doesn't look great. I think one of the players that he did before was a running back from Green Bay, Ryan Grant, who they originally agreed to a deal, then they backed out at the last minute. Um, and he was able he had to go back and and play elsewhere. He couldn't he couldn't sign with the Baltimore Ravens. doesn't look great. You don't want to deal with people who aren't going to live up to their word. But if this was an opportunity where they felt like, hey, this is a better business move for me.
We'll stand in the storm for a little bit.
I I guess you have to deal with it.
>> What What do you think the Raiders are thinking that I mean, they made a bunch of free agent moves, gave Blender bomb a bunch of money, signed some other guys.
What What do you think they're thinking right now? Well, I mean, it's terrible for them. I mean, because you've already made moves anticipating that his salary is off your books. So, that changes the numbers in the like it changes the math all over. Salary cap, who you bring in and those things, but on a personal level, Max Crosby anticipated being out of the building even though some would say that he suggested, hey, I want to be done. I want to be moved. Well, now he's back. And if you can't move him for the value that you want, if he has to return to the team, man, you got a lot of hurt feelings and bruised egos that you have to deal with on both sides. Whether ownership is mad at Max Crosby because he won the league, whether Max Crosby is is mad because he has to stay, all those things. So, it's going to take some big boy conversations to be able to patch this up if he does have to suit up for the silver and black again. And if not, they have to find a trade partner and they have to know that they're going to have to get them at whatever they get in return is at a much lower cost. You talk about the wire because I know you're a big fan of the wire and how it goes down.
Today's prices are not yesterday's prices. I mean, it goes down and they they did them and so this is tough. This is tough.
>> Yeah. This is not a another what was it?
70°ree day or 60°ree day. This is a really cold weather day. Uh finally, the Ravens given all the exodus of players.
I went from Monday having a conversation with you like, man, there's all this pressure on Lamar. They got to win it this year.
Look at all this talent that has I Tyler Lindab, Isaiah Likely, uh Draymond Jones, Charlie Kohler, Jordan Stout, uh Jake Humble, Patrick Ricard, are Darius Washington. It's a laundry list of guys out of there. Are are have they now they have a horrible off seasonason or is this franchise in jeopardy of missing the playoffs two years in a row?
>> No, no, no. I think if you look at it, like four of those guys are Giants, so they just followed their old coach to New York and that is to be expected. But let's be honest about the Baltimore Ravens. The Baltimore Ravens underachieve. And anytime you have underachievement, not only the coaches get fired, the roster gets flipped over.
And this is a team that's trying to bounce back under Jesse Mener. Jesse Mener certainly wants to have his own guys and his own brand of ball within the culture that's been established by the Ravens. I don't think this does anything to it because if you look at it, Tyler Lindabal certainly is a notable name, but the rest of those guys were more role players, key contributors that you would like to have, but there's also something to bringing in some fresh blood as you're beginning to think about starting a new chase in a new era. Uh, I don't think anything is out of line.
That said, there's still a lot of pressure on Lamar Jackson and this team to get it done because you can't con you cannot consistently be on the fringes of being a title contender without at least advancing to the this Super Bowl. They have to get to the Super Bowl for this team to be legit. And Lamar Jackson needs that to kind of validate all the things that we talk about him being as a two-time MVP.
>> Bucky, I can't let you get out of here without asking you about the topic of the day. I know you're a sports fan. I would imagine you probably played a little hoops at some point.
>> Bam out of bio.
>> 83 points last night. In my view, disgraces the memory of Kobe Bryant.
This was an atrocity last night. There's no way. Wilt Chamberlain, Bam Adabio, Kobe Bryant. I mean, all the great scorers in the NBA. Uh your reaction to Bam's 83. Okay, I'm a little biased because I am a Miami Heat fan, so I appreciate Bam Adabio being able to go crazy. Now, having watched him for a long time, 83 points seems a little out of pocket for who he's been for most of his career. The fact that he was able to get 83, I still can't comprehend how that happens given Will Chamberlain his 100, Kobe 81. This is unexpected. So, I would say it's probably the biggest surprise outburst that we've ever seen from an NBA player. Bam Adabio dropping 83. I don't think anybody could ever have that on an NBA bingo card. So, I'm shocked. Uh I appreciate it, but yeah, I'm shocked that he was able to drop 83 on a team.
>> I'm going to make this prediction.
Someone's going to drop 84 before the end of this season. that [laughter] seriously I just I'm going to make that prediction because of the tanking and you know some play and again it could be anybody cuz it doesn't have to it's like oh man only Steph Curry could do this. No, Bam just proved anybody can do it if they set their mind to it given the lack of resistance in the NBA and with teams tanking.
uh he's legalized a gimmick and I expect someone else to say, "Hey man, let me get me some social media traction and and and [laughter] cuz BAM will get commercials out of this probably." Someone else will say, "Hey, let me get 84.
>> The Heat did it. Pat Riley did it. Eric Spa did it. Why can't we?"
>> I mean, it's an unbelievable thing. But it wasn't like he was Ricky Davis throwing it off his own backboard and and stat stuffing like he he he had a legitimate game. 23 free throws is not a legitimate game, Bucky. You need to go watch >> fouls. There are a lot of fouls. There were a lot of fouls. He did just did a great job of hitting his free throws, Jason. Like, they're free. You should cash me in on them.
>> Remind me to only talk football with Bucky [laughter] again.
This is a disgrace. I damn near I cussed out Jordan BS last night uh via [laughter] text. He He's my boy's son. I wanted to get a young per, you know, Jordan's probably 23, 24, and he was defending it as well. And I was like, your generation, they got no respect for us old people. Uh anyway, uh thank you, Bucky. I want to move on to Danny Canel.
I'm I'm We'll ask Danny Canel. We got some football stuff with Danny Canel as well from Max Crosby. Uh to Danny Canel's take on youth sports. We'll ask him about the 83-point game. Before we do that, I want to tell you guys one other thing. you can do uh before we get to Canel, go to fearlessmission.com, become a subscriber to everything we're doing here at Blaze TV. It's important.
This content, this very honest content, you can't get it everywhere. You can't get it anywhere. And the reason we're able to do it is because some of you have jumped on board and supported us in a real way. Best thing you can do for me, this show, and for just honest conversation about sports, go to fearlessmission.com, become a subscriber to everything we do at Blaze TV. Use the promo code fearless for $20. Uh a $20 discount to save $20. Uh when we come back, uh Danny Canel, >> somebody offers you $50 million for what is essentially an hour of work. Would you consider it? Would you have a meeting about that? I would have a meeting about that.
>> He's not having a meeting. sign the deal. It's at me September 19th.
>> Exactly. He spent his whole life boxing, so he can box. Obviously, you wouldn't think about that. 49.
>> There are some things you give up, you know? It's like, look, I can still go to strip clubs. I gave it up. Just at my age, it's not the right look. Not that it was the right look at 40, [music] but you know, some things >> as a as a neutral decision. But if someone's offering you a ton of money to do something that you did don't really want to do anymore, but you could do it, would you think [music] about taking the money? I think that's a reasonable question for anybody. Like Floyd doing something he's great at. They're going to pay and he might win. He beat Mandy 10 years ago. Why can't he beat him again? What's the difference?
[music] [singing] Welcome back. Uh joined now by Danny Canel. Danny, uh crazy crazy events in the National Football League. The Max Crosby trade voided by the Ravens allegedly over uh failing the physical.
Are are are you buying the official explanation or do you think Baltimore got cold feet?
>> I think it could be a combination of both, right? Um it was a little complicated the end of the Raiders season when he was held out. He was saying he still could have played. They sat him down. He wasn't happy about that. Um, you never know really what to believe, but I also think they probably looked at the price, giving up two first round draft picks, probably started to get a little bit hesitant, and then they looked at Trey Hendrickson, who was sitting there on the market, who is also coming off an injury, but you don't have to give up anything for him as a true free agent. So, I think this might be a combination of both. They had the good excuse. They're looking at it, surveying the market. Trey Henderson was still out there. They come to him and say, "Hey, would you be interested to come to us?
It's a little bit cheaper as far as what they have to shell out. Um, he's a little bit older, but it was a costly costly move to get Max Crosby to the Ravens." So, I think it's probably both.
I think they had a reason. Like I don't think it was just out of nowhere. But if there was any hesitation and any doctor that surveyed him said, "Well, I don't know if he's going to come back 100% or this may take longer than expected."
Then I think if I was the Ravens, I probably would have done the same thing.
Uh I was I sent the wrong uh person this question. Do we have the uh clip of Max Crosby saying he wishes he or he wants to return to the Raiders? Because I I I found that statement very odd. Uh and if I were the Ravens and had just given up two first round picks and Max Crosby is saying we got it. [snorts] >> Yeah. Max Crosby saying he wants to finish his career as a Raider. That would be a red flag for me. Let's play the clip. I wanted everything good for the Raiders. I I bleed silver and black.
That'll never change. And I'm a Raider for life. And I truly want to finish when it's all said and done, you know, in a Raiders jersey. Uh whenever that time comes. But for the time being, um it's a new day. Um I'm going to Baltimore, Flock Nation, everybody in the whole city of Baltimore. I got a lot to learn. Um, everything is going to be new to me and I'm excited and in and attacking this head-on like I do everything else.
It if I'm Steve Bashadi, the owner of the Raiders and I'm have to pay this guy owner of the Ravens. I'm about to pay this guy a lot of money. I I don't want to hear about I'm a Raider for life.
>> Yeah. I don't want to hear I'm going to retire as a Raider. I want to hear you retire as a Raven and you're going to have multiple Super Bowls. Like that should be the dream. That I had not seen that sound. Um definitely again like I think there's a lot of contributing factors to this the price tag the health then you throw in that I think there were a lot of red flags which is probably why they have this period this 48 hour window you know 72-hour window from the start of Monday morning to today when it becomes official so that if you do get cold feet you do have an out you know where you can change your mind before you sign in on the dotted line. It's exactly why this is in place.
>> Le talking earlier in the show, uh, the Ravens have seen a lot of talent. Exit, Tyler Linderbomb, Isaiah likely, uh, uh, Charlie Kohler, uh, uh, Jordan Stout, uh, Darius Washington, Jake Humble, Pat Patrick Rashard, it it goes on and on and on and on. We went from or I went from like, "Hey man, all the pressure is on Lamar Jackson this season. They got Max Crosby. He's got Derrick Henry." To now like, man, the RA the Ravens are in disarray. I don't see Trey Hendrickson as a suitable replacement for Max Crosby.
>> Um, when he's impactful, I mean, he's up in that category of production. You know, he was getting 17 and a half sacks backtoback seasons. He was up in that stratosphere. He's a little bit older.
He is coming off a major injury as well.
But I do like I'm similar to you. I do look at this Ravens team. I think it puts more pressure on Lamar Jackson because he doesn't have some of these pieces around him. And it does feel you already got, you know, Jim Harbaugh's gone. You're bringing a young coach and Jess.
>> Yeah. John Harbaugh. You have a new coaching staff. you have a new offensive coordinator like Derrick Henry is not getting any younger. There has to be a sense of urgency. I the the Ravens have to do something with Lamar's contract before 4 p.m. Um which we'll see if they just kick the can down the road, give him um restructure some of the money or do they give him a true extension? We'll see what they do with Lamar because the cap hit that he would take this year is pretty significant if they don't. So, I think most people think that something will get done uh before the start of free agency. So, I think it puts a ton of pressure on Lamar Jackson this season to have to step up and maybe carry some more of the load as the franchise quarterback for the Ravens.
>> D, I'm going to move on. Uh Dave Portoi offered up a theory that Tom Brady is I rate with the New England Patriots that he wanted ownership uh with the Patriots and Bob Craft was like, "Nah, we're good. You know, I got my son." Uh and and that Tom Brady, you know, he's got Bob Craft's got his own son and Tom Brady's got some animous uh towards the New England Patriots over that he didn't want to be the owner of, you know, have a small stake in the uh uh Raiders. Let's play the clip here from Port Noi. Tom Brady, there's a report, pro- football talk with the Max Crosby trade that he absolutely refused to trade uh Max Crosby, the Patriots, and it's starting to get uh sound like a broken record here where Tom Brady is slighting the New England Patriots.
Whether I have no dog in the fight, who do you think the MVP should be, uh Drake or Stafford? He says Stafford. It's just one thing after another to the point if you're a Patriot fan, you can come to no other conclusion that he hates the New England Patriots. It's not an accident.
We just put a statue of the guy. I say tear it down. Uh, thank you for your Super Bowls. You're just a guy. Go play your flag football game. Go be in a million different ads, but I don't need you in my life anymore and you don't need us. I have a theory on what this all stems from. Um because from the outside makes no sense, right? Bellichc gone. Uh he's friends with Craft. So So he Vables he played with. So what is this hatred of the New England Patriots?
The only thing I can think is he wanted to buy into the Patriots. Uh and he wanted it basically for free like he got for the Raiders and it didn't happen.
He's holding a grudge. Nothing else makes sense to me. But hey, I'm not one of those guys. If you don't like me, I don't like you. Thank you for the Super Bowls. You have them. We have them. Go on your merry way, but I'm done with this crap.
[laughter] >> I kind of agree with Portoi.
>> I think you're talking about somebody who is hyper competitive, right? That's not a secret. Somebody who's hyper competitive. Um, by the way, Bill Bich isn't exactly in good standing with the Patriots either. You know, he doesn't like the way his tenure ended. I'm sure both of them would have loved to have finished out the career and called their own shots. That's very rarely the way it works. I'll float a theory for you. Um, you tell me if you think it's that crazy because even Portoy in there mentioned said, "Hey, Brady wanted in for next to nothing." Do you remember the narrative around Tom Brady throughout his career that he was never the highest paid quarterback in the NFL and that he was always playing on a discount? M >> is it crazy to think that Robert Craft said, "Hey, one day you you take care of me, I'll take care of you." I don't think it's that crazy to think that Tom Brady, whether it was official, whether it was a handshake deal, or whether it was just insinuated, that Tom Brady would have thought, "Yeah, I played at a discount for you guys for, you know, 10, 15 years. You guys will take care of me on the back end." And then when he went to go cash in on that offer, either there was a misunderstanding in exactly how much that would be and he could get a bigger piece of the Raiders or it was completely off the table.
>> Danny, you've solved the mystery. I I don't think there's any doubt about that. Uh Tom Brady's agent, I think, was Don Ye, uh for a long time. I I I I think your explanation makes so much sense when you play that many years giving the team the financial break uh so that they could build a roster and look and it's they didn't even he did that and they still didn't give him all the pieces for a long time. He was you know making chicken salad out of chicken doodoo.
Yeah. I could see him feeling like, "Hey, you guys owe me." And Robert Craft and his son Jonathan Craft was like, "Well, we'll give you 1% of the team, right?" And and Tom's like, "Oh, you going to treat me like Serena Williams or one of these rappers, Jay-Z or whatever? I'm out here risking my life for you." Uh, wow. I I think you've solved it, Danny.
>> I think so. I really do. I mean, there was rumblings in NFL circles, too, that Brady had sort of side action, you know, and then the public thing was, "Oh, his wife's a supermodel." Remember Jazelle was like, "Oh, he can take a discount because his wife is a supermodel is the highest paid supermodel in the world, so he can do this." I always thought that was a total sham as well. Like, I don't think any player would take a discount just because his wife is super successful. The reason you would take a discount is because you had a deal in place for one day to become an owner.
So, I absolutely think there's also the part of me that just being that super competitive guy of why you would refuse Max Crosby any sort of trade to the Patriots, why he took Stafford over Drake May, I think it is sort of that that deep down he wants to be the GOAT, which no one I don't think anyone's ever going to challenge Tom Brady, but he doesn't want to have anything look like it was close to the same amount of success that he had with the Patriots cuz I mean the Raiders were not a good fit. It didn't make a son of ton of sense. He had really no tie to that organization, but it was an opportunity that the Patriots wouldn't give him because you talk about legacy. That would have been the ultimate legacy to be a, you know, the greatest of all time, bringing them six Super Bowls and then just stepping right into the ownership role and kind of helping that transition and see wherever it takes you for the future. That's where I do think the plan probably was and it fell apart.
So, I don't blame Tom Brady for being upset if there was something given or promised. Danny, I'm This is so massive what you're saying because if I'm Tom Brady, it's not just the financial discounts. I guarantee you Tom Brady sitting there saying, "Hey, man, you guys were a problem for me and Jazelle and my approach to everything that I gave and sacrificed for. You know, the the whatever led to their divorce, it probably started in New England with him just going all in with Bellich. He again, the thing that I praise him for the most is like he surrendered to Bellich and the Patriots organization and went all in and he feels like Bill Bich did me wrong. He he wanted me out of there at the end. And then even and Robert Craft who was probably in my Tom I really don't want to do this or you know I'm on your side bill's wrong you know I'm your guy and then when push came to shove Robert Craft even like nah man I got my own kid and we're not giving you anything of significance th this this much success among those three men and not leading to happily ever after Instead, it's like uh what's the movie that I love? Uh about the the R&B group that all broke up and all these the great bands all break up. They sell all the music, make get rich and party and everything together and then they all hate each other at the end. No different than in football, >> right? Egos get involved, money gets involved. Five heartbeats, power, influence, you know, like all of it comes into play. They're humans and again they're all hyper competitive, you know, they all are very worried about legacy, you know, perception, you know, how popular they are. So, it absolutely comes into play. You've got so much involved in here and in this case, a lot of money that potentially was left on the table that Tom Brady thought he was going to be coming into.
>> Well, and it's the movie I was thinking of was The Five Heartbeats. It's a black classic. I don't know if you've ever seen it, but it it it generally it >> it it all ends over who gets the most credit >> and and you know, oh, you were the lead singer, but I wrote the song. Uh, I could have sang that, but I you know, the the label wanted you to do it. Blah blah [laughter] blah. It it all ends over credit. And to see Bellich, Brady, and Craft, you would thought the three amigos, they'd all go into the Hall of Fame and that that did. Bellich and Craft are at each other's throats and they're Craft is undermining Bellich's uh you know, Hall of Fame bid. Th this is an This [laughter] 30 for30 documentary on those three >> if people would tell the truth would be incredible. No, because it's highly illegal, right? I mean, you can't Yeah.
You You'd be circumventing the salary cap, you know, if you're giving back room deals. So, that's where I don't know if we'll ever get the true details of what was potentially agreed to because then the Patriots would find themselves, Robert Craft could find himself in a huge, you know, mess if that and they've already had enough controversy, as we've known, they tried to skirt the rules constantly throughout. This would just be yet another example of them trying to do it.
That might be Craft's explanation. Hey Tom, if I give you some sweetheart deal, Roger Goodell, the NFL media that hates me and us are going to say, "Hey, now we know why Brady took all the tax or all the contract breaks. It's because they had promised him something." It would just be another accusation.
Craft may have a legitimate excuse.
>> Yeah, I think he probably does.
>> Wow. Uh Danny, that was awesome. almost as awesome as uh your take on youth league uh sports over the weekend. When you put that video out and put that post on X, I would think you you weren't thinking like, man, this is going to go massively viral. I'm going to be trending. You were just a dad ranting, uh complaining. Did you have any idea that, you know, your complaints about being up at 7:30 at a volleyball tournament on a Sunday that it would be that big of a hit?
>> Um, yeah, because I see the type of passion what some of it incredibly misguided um from youth parents. I see the reactions that I see on a daily basis. I hear some of the complaints from other parents.
Uh, and I hear some parents that are incredibly pro, you know, let's keep them travel, let's play all year round.
So, I knew it was a hot debate, like a hot topic, but I didn't know it would get that much attention. Um, so, full disclosure, our pastor at our church is awesome. He's great. Uh, and we miss a lot of church because we're on the road or even locally we have games on Sundays and it drives me nuts and I feel very convicted sometimes. My wife and I will be driving home because he'll say, "Hey," he'll call it out like, "How many of you guys have made, you know, youth athletics a god in your life, you know, or an idol? How much is that taken away?" And even if you're not a Christian, even if it's not because of Sunday is a holy day to be set apart, what if it's just how much tax it takes on families to, you know, Sunday, everybody needs a day of rest, right? I mean, it's a biblical principle, but it also is something the NFL Tuesdays are mandated days off. Like, they get days off. There aren't many breathers if you have multiple kids like I do to just get to be a family, to just get to hang out, have a Sunday, whether you go to church or not, to go to the beach, to go swimming in the pool, to go on a hike, to just let kids be kids. So, I had already kind of had that thought on my mind. And what was interesting is kind of a lot of people were, "Amen. Yep.
Give us a day off. We're tired of it."
And then there was a lot who were, you know, making the counterargument, when when are you going to fit in all the games? You know, you can't play during school days. When are you going to fit in all the games? And I didn't reply to everyone.
But I'm thinking, why do we need to play eight games in one weekend, which is usually what we play on a volleyball weekend. Same thing with soccer. They play multiple games a day and they've got to cram all these games in because it's about the almighty dollar. You know, I was in Boston. I didn't don't even get me started on the ticket prices to go watch my own kid play volleyball when I've already spent money to travel to Boston when I've already spent money on a hotel room. When I've already spent money to be a part of this team and this league and then oh by the way we're going to charge you 30 bucks to get in to watch your kid which is not cheap.
It's not it's not a donation of uh five bucks. Sure, let's just support the local cause. It is a massive money maker. And that's been my biggest issue and probably the biggest discouragement for me is to see how athletes today, they're not they're not treated as, oh, let's do what's best for the athlete.
Let's see them develop and work on their skills. Every player is seen as a dollar sign. And it is so evident and obvious when you start taking part in the kind of youth sports culture especially the travel sports culture which is I'm a part of it is absolutely a money maker and the powers that be have realized there are millions and millions of dollars to be made and I think it's come at the expense of families and their time off and their ability to just let kids be kids and yet I am guilty of being a part of it because my daughters love it and I want them to have access but a lot of these sports And basketball's starting to see it trickle in. You have to It's a paytoplay system.
You have to pay to get access if you want to have your kid have an opportunity to play at the next level.
>> So you pro you pay a fee to join the team. Correct.
>> Yep. Yep.
>> And that fee doesn't cover entry into all these event. I can't >> It covers the team entry. Like every team and I was doing some math. Every team that was in Boston, there's a thousand dollar entry fee from the team, right? And I'm telling you, there are a hundred courts and they are stocked from 7:45 a.m. till 10 at night with, you know, games going on, teams coming through. Hundreds of teams, you know, play and arrive for this weekend. Um, yeah. So, you pay that. So, that's probably a part of your fee that already goes in. We pay well over a,000 for the, you know, for the season just to be a part of this club, which, you know, uniforms are extra and they got to have multiple color combos now because you can't just have one uniform like uh you and I probably had back in the day. It is just a massive money maker. A lot of the club teams in basketball, volleyball, soccer are being bought by private equity companies to really maximize the earning potential. It is it has been such an eye openener to watch this unfold. My oldest is 18. You know, we've been in club sports, travel sports for five or six years now. My youngest is in it. My 13-year-old, we're traveling to Minnesota this weekend for a 13-year-old volleyball tournament, which to me it feels completely unnecessary. Like I And that was a lot of comments people asked me, well, didn't you play on Sundays when you were growing up? Didn't you play all the time? And I was like, absolutely not.
Like, and it wasn't even a it just wasn't common. It was very rare because the sports leagues and the sports the directors of the leagues would say, you know what, Sunday's probably not the best idea. You know, it's an off day.
It's a family day. Maybe it's church.
Maybe it's something, but we're going to kind of keep games away from Sunday. And I would say I could probably count on one hand how many times a year. I would say probably two or three times a year there might have been a baseball game that had gotten rained out. They had to find a makeup day so they throw it on a Sunday. And even more so I never traveled. Like I played AAU basketball, you know, we might take a road trip to Orlando. We never traveled international, you know, nationally across the country. uh you know, five, six, seven, eight times a year to go play against national competition. It just was unheard of.
>> And I'm we're in March and so like when I was a kid, traveling was during the summer.
You know, we had summer baseball, not that I play, but my friends did. And they would travel around the state, maybe neighboring state, uh to play baseball. But it was during the summer.
This is during the school year.
>> This is that that kids are traveling like that's unheard of in in my travel leaving the state during the school year.
>> Oh yeah. Yeah. I mean it really starts in January. There's one there was one tournament in December. Um but I think teams traveled. We was in Florida. We were lucky. It was close to us, but there were teams that were traveling out of state to come play in that tournament. And then this is sort of the hot season for volleyball at least. And I know for soccer, too. Um, what's even more fun, Jason, is when I'm in one city with one child and I'm paying for a hotel room and my wife is in another city paying for a different hotel room at a different event uh, tournament that's unfolding. It is um, it is absolutely insane the lengths that we'll go to to see our kids play sports.
>> And so, you have two daughters and and that's it.
>> I have three. The other one, thankfully, she's 17. She was a swimmer. She's kind of She's kind of out of She does high school sports, but she doesn't do a travel or anything like that. So, thankfully, they're just two.
>> And so, I I got to I I think you posted a picture over Twitter or over X of you and your daughters and like how talented the daughter that's traveling with all the volleyball. She's a division one prospect. I would she looked pretty tall. So she actually so and I made this very clear to my wife because when they were little and we were deciding to go down this road. It was expensive and my wife was like she would make comments and I was actually sitting next to a lady two weeks ago. I was in Orlando and I was talking to another mom from another club and she was she said a comment like I just hope this investment pays off meaning at college to get some money. And my wife early on 15 14 years old my wife would say something similar.
And I was like, "No, no, no. That is not why we're having our daughter play sports. That is a bonus. If it happens, great. But that cannot be our mindset cuz I don't think that's a healthy mindset to have. I don't want to see this as an investment in my child's future from, oh, she has to get a scholarship. I want my kids to play sports because of the lessons that teach you. Life lessons, you know, how to deal with losing, how to be in a team culture, how to deal with bosses that maybe you don't like, how to be accountable, how to be on time, like how to work hard. And if she plays in college, that is great. That is a bonus.
That is icing on the cake. But I really want to make sure that we were doing it for the right reasons. I don't think that's the case for the majority of, you know, parents that I talk to. It is all about getting a scholarship. It is all about getting free tuition when ironically if you just set the money aside from the money you spent on traveling and the amount of sports on private, you know, coaching and all that, you could easily pay for a pretty elite institution for a college for a four-year degree. Um, we were lucky. My daughter did sign. She got a full ride to Elon in North Carolina. But again, that was that's great. I'm happy for that was a goal of hers, but that was not going to be the be all end all for why she was playing, you know, volleyball and traveling all over. She really enjoyed it. She's made great friends. She's made great friendships.
And I think it has taught her a lot of those things that I want her to learn from playing sports because I I I see a lot of parents who get priced out and then their kids get burned out or they feel the stress from their parents and they feel that investment and then they're view they're they feel like a commodity and then if they don't play well or the scholarships don't come in.
I think it does a lot of damage and harm to young athletes who are under enough stress as it is with social media and the pressures. But I think that added stress really does some damage to some relationships.
>> I I I I don't know if this is an appropriate question, but I got to ask.
I'm a sports fan. I I Your your daughters look tall. Am I >> She's 6'2.
>> 6'2. And And then the other one looked maybe just as tall or six feet. [snorts] >> She's probably 5'9. So I actually So I And like that's what I've tried to do is make these trips as fun as possible. We went to the Celtics game on Friday night and I brought my 17-year-old who's not playing. So, she we got to have a little more fun, a little more of a family vacation, uh, which is hard when they're at the, you know, convention center from 7:45 until 3:00 in the afternoon and they're tired after. And they have, you know, team bonding events which are great and they love those. But yeah, so that was my other one. And then my youngest, my 13-year-old is kind of shorter. She's not that tall. So, we'll see. She hasn't hit puberty yet. We'll see if she has a growth spurt, but she her she's told me from the time she was seven, eight years old, she wants to, you know, she wants to be a star. She wants to play. She wants to work hard.
Her goal is to play in college as well.
So, I want to do everything I can to help her to do that. Um, but again, I try to tell her, look, that's a great goal to have and I'm going to help you chase it, but make sure you're having fun. Like, that's just something that gets completely lost in all this. The other benefit which is obvious with particularly with taller girls is just the confidence uh of and >> yes >> being around other girls that are tall and athletic gives them a peer group uh and and confidence. Danny, the question we had this conversation on Monday on my Harmony channel and I and you're the perfect guy to to ask this. I I made the point that all of this traveling, all of this uh going from here to here to there with your kids, it also could put a a strain on your marriage because >> totally >> you and your wife don't Everything is built around following your kids around the country, around the city, around the state. It it can really change your marriage.
>> Absolutely. And that was one thing that the pastor said when he was talking to us at church was it does put a lot of strain on marriages when we're in different towns and we're hardly ever.
So I'll have seven weekends in a row.
Seven weekends. I'm on number six. So I'm almost down. I'm almost out of the weeds here. I have this weekend Minnesota then I go to Indianapolis the following weekend and then I'm done. I get a breather. But my wife and I, we've in our marriage, we've always kind of kept very sacred a date night. like once a week we go out on our own. When they were little, we got babysitters. We go out to dinner and maybe it was only an hour and a half when you're worried about the babysitter and the kids are young. Uh but we've kind of maintained that throughout our marriage. We've had a date night and now you know what I'm doing tonight, Wednesday night, date night. So, we just kind of maneuver our schedule so that we still get that time alone together where we can talk about adult things or we can talk about our kids, but it's just us and we kind of just have each other. But a lot of people don't have that luxury, you know, or they don't, you know, have the opportunity to do that. We're very fortunate that we can do that. But it's not easy when you're out of town, you know, two or three nights a week. Um, and you are away. I mean, it and sadly, there's a lot of temptation out there for some parents because there's a lot, you know, I'm sure you can imagine some of the parents like to party. They view it as a fun trip. Like you see the hotel bar and it's pretty crowded. You know, it's just it's there's a lot of stuff around it that does put a lot of stress on marriages for sure.
>> Not specific to your situation, but give us a ballpark estimate of what it cost per kid a year to be this active in sports.
>> I would say per kid probably 25,000.
you know, combining all the travel, uh, you know, because it's two plane tickets. You know, last year I bought my other daughter, last week I bought my other daughter three plane tickets. Um, you know, hotels aren't cheap. They give you a little bit of a discounted rate, but usually it's three nights. It's around a,000 bucks a weekend just for that. Then all the meals that you've got on the road, you know, if you rent a car, I'd say 25,000. I remember my first year in there, a guy told me that. I was like, whoa. I was like, really? And then once you start tracking it and you start doing all of it, um, in addition to the practice, you know, most kids have private, you know, private instructors.
They'll get privates. Those usually run 100 to 150 an hour. You know, start throwing in a couple of those a week. It adds up. It adds up really fast. That's why I was saying if you set aside the money, you set aside 25,000 for the, you know, a lot of these kids start this travel at 11, 12, 13 years old. you set that aside for five or six years, you would easily have enough to pay for college.
>> I I just feel so bad for the parents >> that just just can't afford that.
>> Uh I mean, what a disadvantage they're at. And then if you got two kids, that's $50,000.
>> Yes. Yes. It's nuts. It's nuts. And we do sadly we do see a lot of parents that you know some parents don't travel so they have to send their kid alone because they can't they'll have their kid you know share a roommate share a hotel room or stay with another parent and I hate seeing it but those parents they want to give their kids an opportunity. There [clears throat] was um I'll have to I'll have to text it to you another time. There were a couple NBA players and they were talking about how sports are becoming exclusive to the upper class and one of the guys countered and said, "Well, you're not talking about basketball." And he was like, "No, no, no. Basketball is going down this road as well where you see basketball tournaments held around the country and you've got to travel and you've got to be a part of it and the cost is starting to add up where again it is pay for you have to pay to be able to play and get the opportunity." And so they were concerned that it's starting to weed out a lot of inner city kids who aren't getting the opportunity to travel and develop at the same rate that some of the upper class are able to do it. It has come all throughout sports.
>> Finally, I got to ask you about u our topic of the day. Uh I know obviously you played basketball, [clears throat] you're live down in Florida. Bam Adabio >> 83 points last night. I think he's disgraced Kobe Bryant, Wilt Chamberlain, the NBA, and and >> come on, you didn't see ESPN just celebrating this accomplishment, saying it was a where were you when this happened? You're not going to remember the night that you sat down and watched Bam out of bio get 43 trips to the foul line. You're not going to remember that night, Jason. Come on. It is um I'm a Heat guy. Like I grew up I I was at the first Heat game in franchise history. I have gotten so just down on the NBA and I I went to the Celtics game. It was really cool to see a great environment to see Jason Tatum come back and to see Cooper flag. But even as I was watching the game, I'm like these guys do not play a lot of defense. I mean, it is just a different game. We've got Steve Cerr out there saying they need to play 10 less games, which I'm like, fine. Pay them 15% less money if you want to do that. But that to me was sort of peak why I don't like the NBA because it is all about me. It is all about building brands. It is all about manufacturing moments which is exactly what it was. Um you know you're scoring 150 points. I mean that's all you have to say about the defense that was on display or lack thereof against the Wizards. It was a joke. I just I'm a little disappointed I haven't seen more people calling it out on ESPN. I get why they have a major deal with the NBA, but I think most people that are very familiar with the sport realize exactly what happened and it was just something for show.
It it I'm shocked that it happened with the Miami Heat because Pat Riley has such a strong culture with the Heat and has such reverence for the league that he played in, coached in, now he's the president of the Miami Heat. I'm shocked that Pat Riley because they said Bam said, we started talking about this at halftime and you know by the third quarter I can't believe Pat Riley said, "Hey man, take this dude out. We're up 20 some odd points. We're making a mockery of the game. I'm surprised that it happened with the Heat.
>> I am too. I just think it shows you how hard it is with today's player to weed out the me mentality. Even a guy like Pat Riley who Riley who's been one of the best culture builders and team builders. I still think it's almost impossible in today's player. But I am just very very thankful. very thankful we got to hear from Asia Wilson after the game at the PO like sitting right next to Bam because we definitely needed to hear from the girlfriend after the game. I mean, you could not miss that opportunity.
>> You know what I my initial thought were was to criticize that, but I think they did the media a favor. She was at the game. She's a WNBA superstar. She scores a lot of points. the the the media did want to ask her questions and so they made it easy for her for them, brought her to the podium. I think they actually did the media a solid there. So, but my instincts were like yours.
>> Thankfully, we got I'm just glad we got to hear from her. I definitely needed to hear like what what went into that performance, you know, what what she what did they do the night before? Like what happened? I want to know.
>> Yeah. Well, now you know. Now you know.
Thank you. Thank you, Danny. Uh great job as always.
>> Uh we'll see you next week.
>> Uh thank you guys uh for watching. Uh we'll see you tomorrow on Fearless.
>> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music]
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