Speaker 1: You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Speaker 1: Sports Radio. It is our two of the Dan Patrick
Speaker 1: Show here on Fox Sports Radio. Jason Smith and Doug
Speaker 1: Gottlieb in for Dan and the dan Ets today. Doug
Speaker 1: and I having a big bubble conversation a few minutes ago.
Speaker 1: We'll continue that with Rick Buker, who's coming up in
Speaker 1: about twenty minutes. Fox Sports One Bleacher Report NBA Insider
Speaker 1: is the NBA getting down to it when we see
Speaker 1: teams report in the coming days. However, this story has
Speaker 1: kind of blown up in the past forty five minutes
Speaker 1: or so, so we're gonna get to this now for
Speaker 1: a bit. As on Twitter about forty five minutes ago,
Speaker 1: President Donald Trump called out NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace on Monday,
Speaker 1: saying that a noose found in his garage at Talladega
Speaker 1: last month was a hoax, and he also is questioning
Speaker 1: NASCAR's decision to ban the Confederate flag. Here's the quote
Speaker 1: from President Trump has at Bubba Wallace, apologized to all
Speaker 1: of those great NASCAR drivers and officials who came to
Speaker 1: his aid, stood by his side, and we're willing to
Speaker 1: sacrifice everything for him, only to find out that the
Speaker 1: whole thing was just another hoax. That and flag decision
Speaker 1: has caused lowest ratings ever. This is a tweet from
Speaker 1: President Donald Trump just a few minutes ago. I'm a
Speaker 1: Bubba Wallace story. As you know. Look, Doug, this story
Speaker 1: honestly was was was done being a front burner story.
Speaker 1: It happened, We dealt with it. We talked about at
Speaker 1: NASCAR United, which was a great moment. And you know,
Speaker 1: President Trump is bringing this up again and and throws
Speaker 1: this out here on a Monday morning. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: it goes in the on the back of his speech
Speaker 1: in South Dakota Mount Rushmore, you know, which in a
Speaker 1: moment where you think a leader unites, a leader, the
Speaker 1: leader of the free world divides. I look, do I
Speaker 1: think that Bubba could have you know, when he immediately
Speaker 1: found out or when when he was told several times
Speaker 1: that it had been hanging previously? Could could he have?
Speaker 1: You know? Was there a different way to handle it?
Speaker 1: Of course there was, of course there was. But I
Speaker 1: would also tell you that, you know, I'm not a
Speaker 1: black person, but you know, if I find if somebody
Speaker 1: says there's a noose hanging near your garage, you know, whatever,
Speaker 1: however long it had been there or whatever the intent
Speaker 1: of a garage pull or whatever that somebody that that
Speaker 1: it's alleged to have been, Like, I probably would have
Speaker 1: freaked out too, you know. I mean like, look, I'm Jewish.
Speaker 1: If somebody put a swastika in my garage or something
Speaker 1: that looked like a swastika, I would have been like, what,
Speaker 1: what what is going on? Well, the swastika has been
Speaker 1: there for a couple of years, Like that doesn't change
Speaker 1: it to me, So I I I actually, look, I
Speaker 1: understand his freak out, and I do believe that there
Speaker 1: was a moment where he could have really really won
Speaker 1: the day and said, look, obviously it was a misunderstanding
Speaker 1: in terms of was it directed at me? But I
Speaker 1: cannot think my fellow drivers enough, you know, like we're
Speaker 1: making these correlations about ratings waiting to popularity, I guess.
Speaker 1: But part of it is fewer and fewer people are
Speaker 1: are watching sports on TV because right now everyone's watching
Speaker 1: news on TV or they're just done with everything on
Speaker 1: TV and they're not watching any of it until sports
Speaker 1: comes back. So there's a there's it's a lot, it's loaded.
Speaker 1: But I don't understand the need to apologize at this point,
Speaker 1: other than saying it was a misunderstanding, right, like that's
Speaker 1: really what it was. Yeah, for the beginning for everything,
Speaker 1: how it unfolded, I don't see how NASCAR could have
Speaker 1: done anything differently. Here's the garage. Hey, this is a news. Wow,
Speaker 1: this is a news. NASCAR went and told Bubba Wallace, Hey,
Speaker 1: there's a news in your garage. Okay. At this point,
Speaker 1: the story was going to go how it was going
Speaker 1: to go, because what does it look like if NASCAR
Speaker 1: says we're looking into we're looking into this and it
Speaker 1: could be a noose, we're not sure, and then what's
Speaker 1: the blowback? They can't even admit that it's a noose
Speaker 1: and a sport that has made big strides forward with
Speaker 1: the Confederate flag controversy saying listen, it's no longer welcome
Speaker 1: at our track suddenly is playing defense and okay, well
Speaker 1: wait wait wait. Conversely, if you say, well, with what's
Speaker 1: gone on with with driver Bubba Wallace, we're looking into
Speaker 1: this and we'll have a statement in a couple of days.
Speaker 1: We don't want to we don't want to go crazy
Speaker 1: on this, then it's wait a minute, a noose was
Speaker 1: found in his garage. How can you say we're investing it.
Speaker 1: How can you say there was no way NASCAR could
Speaker 1: come out with anything other than how they did it,
Speaker 1: how they went we were going to get to the
Speaker 1: point where, boy, there's a little bit of embarrassment because
Speaker 1: it was there for a while. We don't know how
Speaker 1: or why it got there. But I don't know how
Speaker 1: there was going to be anything that was going to
Speaker 1: change how it went from when the story was first
Speaker 1: reported to the finding out that Okay, this wasn't put
Speaker 1: there specifically for Bubba Wallace, it was somehow they're fashioned
Speaker 1: as a rope. I don't know how they would have
Speaker 1: gotten past any of that point to get to that
Speaker 1: point of it. Um, there are ways, but but like
Speaker 1: look here this is and again, Jason, feel like one
Speaker 1: of the things that I think you and I have
Speaker 1: done a really good job of here is we're having
Speaker 1: a conversation like this is actually the way it's supposed
Speaker 1: to go, right, It's it's in any of these, In
Speaker 1: any of these, like all people should be like, all right,
Speaker 1: here's what I think. Well, here's what I think. It
Speaker 1: doesn't happen. We shouldn't necessarily operate in this there's only
Speaker 1: one thought, right, Like, there's a bunch it's even even
Speaker 1: if you go to the NBA and what they're allowing
Speaker 1: players to put on the back of their jerseys. If
Speaker 1: you want to open up free speech to make political
Speaker 1: or you know, social justice thoughts, then you can't limit
Speaker 1: it to ten different things you can say, right like it,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't put it on my jersey, but it's and
Speaker 1: I don't think anybody would. But the idea that you
Speaker 1: can't put Trump twenty twenty on the back of your
Speaker 1: jersey when you can make other political statements, I think
Speaker 1: as a mistake. I think that's actually limiting free speech.
Speaker 1: It's doing the opposite of what you're saying you're doing.
Speaker 1: But I think here, here's what this particular incident to me,
Speaker 1: that's the micro to the mac grow, which is we
Speaker 1: have to take context. Everything is about context. The Redskins
Speaker 1: nickname is about context, and we've lost all context. The
Speaker 1: statues that are put up for Christopher Columbus or Thomas
Speaker 1: Jefferson or whatever, it's about context. And the but happen
Speaker 1: with Bubba Wallace and the reaction to it is all
Speaker 1: about context. Like let's not forget that the week before
Speaker 1: they said, hey, no Confederate flags, which I don't know
Speaker 1: why it took so long, but congratulates to NASCAR. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the twenty first century, right, Okay, So they do
Speaker 1: that first. Then they're getting ready to race on Sunday
Speaker 1: before it was canceled or postponed, and somebody pays for
Speaker 1: a plane or somebody puts in the back of their plane,
Speaker 1: you know, the Confederate flag, and they fly it over that.
Speaker 1: So now you create this tension after a decision was made,
Speaker 1: which there was already it was already tense. Then you're
Speaker 1: Bubba Wallace and you hear there's a noose in your
Speaker 1: garage and you don't see. It becomes a game of
Speaker 1: telephone and it gets and you're like, wait, it's it's
Speaker 1: only in my it's in my garage, hanging over my car.
Speaker 1: Like So, I think that it's really important that while
Speaker 1: Bubba Wallace's reaction when he was on with like Don
Speaker 1: Lemon and a couple other people was over the top,
Speaker 1: and I do think it missed the mark and it
Speaker 1: was unwilling, and the term hoax is I think a
Speaker 1: little strong. I just think it was a misunderstanding, is
Speaker 1: really what happened. I give Bubba Wallace more of a
Speaker 1: pass than I give other people a pass because of
Speaker 1: the context, because it because of the It was the
Speaker 1: first race where there are people there and they weren't
Speaker 1: supposed to be Confederate flags, and somebody did fly a
Speaker 1: Confederate flag over the Sunday race before the Monday And look,
Speaker 1: my net takeaway is my net takeaway from a lot
Speaker 1: of these things, which is the net net is all
Speaker 1: these NASCAR drivers like they don't want to be considered racist.
Speaker 1: They want to lock arm in arm without like like
Speaker 1: we just want to raise and we want to have
Speaker 1: a great time and we want to make a lot
Speaker 1: of money and we don't care what the color of
Speaker 1: your skin is. Which is my net net from a
Speaker 1: lot of these things. Of humanity is against racism. They
Speaker 1: really are. And we we have a tendency to hyper
Speaker 1: focus on the smallest, infantest mol percentage, which it's like,
Speaker 1: it's like white supremacist March. They've they've they've been in
Speaker 1: this country forever. They're smaller really than ever. They feel
Speaker 1: louder than ever because we amplify it with social media,
Speaker 1: with right and traditional media, and I think that we
Speaker 1: always have to take context into a remark, into a nickname,
Speaker 1: into a reaction, that that paints a much clearer picture
Speaker 1: for what really happened for Bubba Wallace, Jason Smith, Doug
Speaker 1: Gottlieb In, for Dan and the Dan Nets. It turned
Speaker 1: out to be a moment of incredible of forwardness for
Speaker 1: NASCAR with whatever, even though the news wasn't put there
Speaker 1: for him. The powerful photo of him on the track
Speaker 1: with all the drivers with their masks on behind him,
Speaker 1: showing you know that we are we are for stamping
Speaker 1: out racism. We drive together, we stand behind Bubba Wallace.
Speaker 1: It's not just about that. You're also talking about the
Speaker 1: Confederate flag controversy that was not even in the background
Speaker 1: of this. I mean, this is forefront, here's the Confederate
Speaker 1: flag controversy, and here is the news and Bubba Wallace's garage.
Speaker 1: The two were kind of melded together because this is Hey,
Speaker 1: we want to stamp out racism. So okay, So this
Speaker 1: is why Bubba Wallace is is talking to people, and
Speaker 1: this is why I think you talk about his interview
Speaker 1: with Don Lemon and in other aspects of other interviews
Speaker 1: he did. I think this is why there's been that
Speaker 1: bit of backlash, because Bubba Wallace went on and did
Speaker 1: these interviews and didn't really recognize the fact that, Okay,
Speaker 1: this wasn't meant there for you. This was something where
Speaker 1: Bubba Wallace wanted to stand up and say, this is
Speaker 1: my chance. When am I ever going to get a
Speaker 1: chance to talk about equality and and stamping out races
Speaker 1: and being and us being inclusionary. This is my moment
Speaker 1: to do it. And the Confederate flag is really what
Speaker 1: we're talking about, as well as the news in my garage.
Speaker 1: So I think that's why he went forward with the
Speaker 1: strategy ad doing the interviews, and I could see where
Speaker 1: that turned some people off and going, oh, well, he's
Speaker 1: got to just at least admit the news wasn't that.
Speaker 1: I can't but I can't believe you. But what he
Speaker 1: was doing was really just saying, hey, we're all in
Speaker 1: it to end racism. Look at look at me and
Speaker 1: all of our drivers who are here together doing this.
Speaker 1: And I think that's what got lost in the messages,
Speaker 1: just that oh, he's got to apologize for it. He's
Speaker 1: got to say this, he's got to says now he's
Speaker 1: just putting out a message of being inclusionary for race
Speaker 1: and I don't see anything wrong with that. And if
Speaker 1: that's what comes out of this, that suddenly NASCAR, as
Speaker 1: you said, joined the twenty first stretcher, And I think
Speaker 1: that's great. I think if this is where we're at,
Speaker 1: and I'm actually looking at the selfie he took right
Speaker 1: now that keeps playing on the story in the background
Speaker 1: of the of the Donald Trump tweet story, I think
Speaker 1: that's overwhelmingly positive for NASCAR and for sports in general
Speaker 1: going forward. I do I mean, like, look, did it
Speaker 1: was it? Was it uncut? He? You know, was it
Speaker 1: a little uncomfortable? And how over the top and defiant
Speaker 1: he was about what how sure he was and how
Speaker 1: he felt? Yes, right, but this but again, you know
Speaker 1: though I I don't necessarily know like there's there's a
Speaker 1: difference there between like an outright apology and hey man,
Speaker 1: I freaked out a little bit. But again, like my
Speaker 1: net takeaway is, you know, all these all these people
Speaker 1: had my back, and that's really what's important, right, Really
Speaker 1: what's important is and and it's also I think it's
Speaker 1: also important to realize recognize that I would hope the
Speaker 1: largest percentage of NASCAR fans are not in fact racist.
Speaker 1: They're they're they're not that That is one thing that
Speaker 1: I think, you know, Trump is capitalizing on, is there
Speaker 1: there is a a pushback from some to which you're like, look,
Speaker 1: it's okay, it's it's very very Oh, it's it's okay
Speaker 1: to not agree with everything everything of the progressive left
Speaker 1: and not be a racist. You know, there's a there's
Speaker 1: an in between between you know, everything is bad and
Speaker 1: America is bad and or you're a racist. Right, there's
Speaker 1: a whole huge span in between. And I think that's
Speaker 1: one of the things that Bubba Wallace could have sort
Speaker 1: of capitalized on, which if you actually take it as
Speaker 1: you and I do, as what happened, that's I think
Speaker 1: what happened, which is like, I'm sure there's guys that
Speaker 1: don't align with Bubba Wallace politically or with you know,
Speaker 1: the super far left politically, but are good, gentleman humans
Speaker 1: who just want to race or just want to as fans,
Speaker 1: just want to support NASCAR or whatever. Like, look, they're
Speaker 1: they're parts of the story. And you know, Ryan Music
Speaker 1: is producing this version of The Dan Patrick Show here
Speaker 1: on Fox Sport tradit with Jason Smith. I'm Doug Gottlieb.
Speaker 1: There are parts of the story that at the moment
Speaker 1: that it happened, I was sitting here and going like,
Speaker 1: this doesn't seem right. Right, just there was nobody in
Speaker 1: the garages, because there's only five thousand people in one
Speaker 1: hundred thousand seat stadium, and there's cameras everywhere. There's just
Speaker 1: why would why would it would be the dumbest crime
Speaker 1: of the century in terms of you if you don't
Speaker 1: want to get caught. So that part just didn't seem
Speaker 1: right to me. And I do think kind of to
Speaker 1: go back, and I would counter you to what was
Speaker 1: NASCAR to do. NASCAR could have taken a breath and said,
Speaker 1: hold on, like, let's who was Let's check the cameras,
Speaker 1: let's see who is here. This is one of the
Speaker 1: things that we're doing now with political marches, which is
Speaker 1: we can want justice, but justice isn't vigilante justice. Justice
Speaker 1: is And I think I know what happened because I
Speaker 1: saw it on a cell phone camera or even saw
Speaker 1: it on a body camera, and I determined that's exactly
Speaker 1: what happened. Justice is investigation. Justice in many cases is Okay,
Speaker 1: Now it goes to court, and then there's twelve jurors
Speaker 1: and there's a try, and then when it comes out,
Speaker 1: then there's the ruling, and maybe there's the appeal. Like
Speaker 1: that's what justice looks like. It isn't jumping to conclusions
Speaker 1: and determining everybody's a racist or everybody's not a racist whatever.
Speaker 1: I do think though, the net takeaway is NASCAR's united
Speaker 1: in trying to be viewed differently than the traditional view
Speaker 1: of NASCAR is. And you can try and deny this
Speaker 1: all you want, but NASCAR is widely considered a southern sport.
Speaker 1: There it was the home of Confederate flags. Not all
Speaker 1: people were we were racist, but there was. There's it's
Speaker 1: like the it's the whitest sport in America, right, And
Speaker 1: so you sit there and you could make you could
Speaker 1: have a predetermined bias if you're someone of color. That's
Speaker 1: that while it may not be reasonable in facts, it
Speaker 1: could be reasonable in feelings. And NASCAR's trying to eliminate
Speaker 1: eliminate some of that. And I just I wouldn't take
Speaker 1: the bait if I was Bubba Wallace and I would
Speaker 1: just go like, hey, look all my brothers supported me,
Speaker 1: and we're just going to keep racing and we want
Speaker 1: we want the support of all fans, especially ones. They
Speaker 1: just want to see great racing, you know. And now
Speaker 1: that's gonna be The big question is what happens with
Speaker 1: NASCAR now coming off of this, Well, how do they
Speaker 1: deal with this with this tweet? And I would hope
Speaker 1: that NASCAR, as you said, Bubba, look, we want a race,
Speaker 1: we want to be together. I would hope that NASCAR
Speaker 1: would learn of the missteps of the NFL. When President
Speaker 1: Trump first started tweeting about kneeling, the national anthem was,
Speaker 1: oh my god, the President is tweeting about us. Oh
Speaker 1: my god, what are we gonna do? And it was
Speaker 1: they were scattered and they had no game plan. It
Speaker 1: was wait a minute, wait a minute. And then you
Speaker 1: hear you know, many many people online, I'm never going
Speaker 1: to watch the NFL again, And this may be why
Speaker 1: ratings are going down and all of this crazy stuff,
Speaker 1: and the NFL didn't nowhere to go. Why is the
Speaker 1: President attacking us on this when this was a topic
Speaker 1: that had really been settled right, It wasn't a front
Speaker 1: burner story when the President brought it back up with
Speaker 1: the NFL know how to deal with it. Now we're
Speaker 1: years later, and obviously the aftermath of the killing of
Speaker 1: George Floyd has us different. But the NFL has decided,
Speaker 1: I'm we're going to stand behind our players, and we
Speaker 1: understand that not everybody's gonna agree with this, but we're
Speaker 1: behind our players. That's how we're going to go forward.
Speaker 1: And also, you know, three years later, you realize that
Speaker 1: President Trump tweets about everything, you know, I mean, he's
Speaker 1: he's probably he is on from there now. Obviously he's
Speaker 1: doing this. He wants to fire up his base. Yes,
Speaker 1: you know that this is what he's trying to do.
Speaker 1: But in the end, if NASCAR ignores it, it's not
Speaker 1: like we're suddenly now we're going to be in a
Speaker 1: big back and forth and this is the front burner story.
Speaker 1: Something else is going to happen that's going to take
Speaker 1: President Trump's attention away, and maybe he circles back and
Speaker 1: tweets about it at some point. However it is, but
Speaker 1: I think the NFL would say, boy, if we had
Speaker 1: just ignored it, everything would have been fine. And I
Speaker 1: think NASCAR would say, if if we take that tack
Speaker 1: of it and just he said what he said, We're
Speaker 1: going to ignore it and move on and race, and
Speaker 1: we're about racing, and and we said what we've said,
Speaker 1: and we're going on. I think that's the right thing
Speaker 1: to do. This is this is what we're doing. We're
Speaker 1: going on. I would agree. I would agree, but to
Speaker 1: this point, just about everybody else has taken the bait.
Speaker 1: And I do think like that. I do think the
Speaker 1: flag thing there is a there's there's enough people who
Speaker 1: are bothered by people kneeling before the flag. They they
Speaker 1: just are. I think it's a different but all these
Speaker 1: things are the same, which is our brethren in the
Speaker 1: media always take debait, and I'm wondering if NASCAR does
Speaker 1: as well. Twitter at how about a Fresca Doug at
Speaker 1: Gottlieb show again. This story just coming in now President
Speaker 1: Trump calling out Bubba Wallace, a NASCAR and a tweet
Speaker 1: asking for Bubba Wallace to apologize to the NASCAR drivers
Speaker 1: who came to his aid, only to find out the
Speaker 1: new situation was a hoax. And he says that and
Speaker 1: the flag decision has caused lowest ratings ever. We'll have
Speaker 1: more on this story throughout the show today, but coming
Speaker 1: up next we got Rick Buker stopping buy Is the
Speaker 1: NBA is getting set to report to the bubble in Orlando?
Speaker 1: Is everybody still all in on it? We got a
Speaker 1: couple of teams closing their facilities this week because of
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen concerns. Keep it right here for all this
Speaker 1: and more. This is Fox Sports Radio. Be sure to
Speaker 1: catch the live edition of The Dan Patrick Show weekdays
Speaker 1: at nine am Eastern six am Pacific on Fox Sports
Speaker 1: Radio in the iHeart Radio WAPP And a big day
Speaker 1: in the NBA as now things are starting to get
Speaker 1: tight as teams are getting set to report to the
Speaker 1: Orlando bubble. We have a couple of teams who have
Speaker 1: shut down their own practice facilities, the Bucks and the Kings,
Speaker 1: the latest two teams due to coronavirus concerns. You have
Speaker 1: players talking about the nervous anxiousness surrounding the NBA bubble
Speaker 1: that there is and joining us now on the hotline
Speaker 1: to help us break it all down. Bleacher Report, Fox
Speaker 1: Sports One. NBA insider Rick Buker, Rick, what's happening? Man?
Speaker 1: Not a whole lot. I'm not in the bubble, but
Speaker 1: I am, but I am positive that I am negative Okay,
Speaker 1: So I guess, Look, there's like a dry run here
Speaker 1: with the TBT, the Basketball Tournament, and they've had they've
Speaker 1: had some issues. They had four teams that couldn't even participate.
Speaker 1: Now a fifth team, Everline Drive, is not even going
Speaker 1: to get to play because they had one guy test positive.
Speaker 1: What about some of these NBA teams that have had
Speaker 1: some players test positive. Will they then rejoin their teams
Speaker 1: in Orlando. My understanding is they're going to attempt to
Speaker 1: do that, but it's I mean, this is a it's
Speaker 1: a very fluid situation. And now that we've been talking
Speaker 1: about this for weeks and there's been a certain degree
Speaker 1: of optimism that they are going to get this done.
Speaker 1: I know that the NBA is still committed to finding
Speaker 1: a way to get this done. But now that we're
Speaker 1: actually having to make it happen, now that it's the
Speaker 1: reality of guys have to show up, they have to
Speaker 1: stay they have to stay virus free, and they have
Speaker 1: to have this collection of people stay virus free. They're
Speaker 1: finding the challenge in doing that. So I still believe
Speaker 1: that they're going to find a way to get this done,
Speaker 1: but it is and I can tell you that people
Speaker 1: in the league are more concerned that they're not going
Speaker 1: to be able to as much as they want to
Speaker 1: simply because of the protocol that they've put in place
Speaker 1: in terms of the standards that if you test positive,
Speaker 1: then you got to be quarantine for two weeks. And
Speaker 1: all we need at this point are some you know,
Speaker 1: some significant players testing positive or having to be quarantined
Speaker 1: for a couple of weeks, and this whole thing could
Speaker 1: go sideways, so we'll see. But it is not a
Speaker 1: good sign that teams are having to shut down their
Speaker 1: facilities because it makes it in infinitely harder for these
Speaker 1: guys to get back into the shape that they need
Speaker 1: to be in. It's still not getting back to any
Speaker 1: sort of five on five yet, but guys need to
Speaker 1: get in the look. There's for those who think every
Speaker 1: player has his own home gym and his own home court,
Speaker 1: those are you know, maybe a dozen guys in the
Speaker 1: league have that readily available. Most of them need their
Speaker 1: facility open and order them to get the kind of
Speaker 1: even individual training that they need to prepare for a season.
Speaker 1: Do you think Rick that Because Dug and I had
Speaker 1: this conversation a few minutes ago, we got into it
Speaker 1: about the being in the bubble versus not being in
Speaker 1: the bubble. At this point, does getting there helps so
Speaker 1: much because right now there's so much, so many problems
Speaker 1: with players trying to stay healthy when they're living everyday
Speaker 1: lives in addition to playing, that once they get to
Speaker 1: the bubble and the NBA's in charge of things and
Speaker 1: you're in that quarantine that they can keep a lid
Speaker 1: on COVID nineteen, we can actually focus on the basketball. Well, certainly,
Speaker 1: I would hope that they'd have a better chance in
Speaker 1: the bubble. I know we're going to Florida, and my
Speaker 1: suggestion is they should be doing this in Montana has
Speaker 1: the fewest cases built build your build your own little
Speaker 1: park there or facility. Certainly, we we got a hoop
Speaker 1: up in time for Jordan to make space jam. You're
Speaker 1: telling me that we couldn't we couldn't do that someplace.
Speaker 1: I know getting players to Montana versus Florida is might
Speaker 1: be a little more difficult. Then again, we don't have
Speaker 1: fans and they're not supposed to be going out going
Speaker 1: crazy anyway. So I mean it's partly in Jeff, but
Speaker 1: it's like, how badly do you want to get this done.
Speaker 1: And that's the thing that is going to have to
Speaker 1: come home. How badly do the players want to want
Speaker 1: to get this, get this done and to play Because
Speaker 1: the rules and the protocol and everything, the resources that
Speaker 1: the NBA needs to keep the league safe enough to play,
Speaker 1: they are going to be there. It's going to be there.
Speaker 1: It's going to be a question of do the players
Speaker 1: adhere to that or does human nature take over? And
Speaker 1: as we've seen in various places in the country, are
Speaker 1: our younger citizens feeling like, Hey, I'm asymptomatic, or I'm
Speaker 1: young and it's not going to influence me, or hey,
Speaker 1: I want to live my life. That's what has kicked
Speaker 1: this thing sideways. And are you know, the the players
Speaker 1: in the NBA buy and large fall into that demographic.
Speaker 1: So we will see whether guys are willing to do it.
Speaker 1: But I think in some ways this these warning shots
Speaker 1: now perhaps could send the message, hey, we can't mess around.
Speaker 1: If we want to get this done, We're going to
Speaker 1: have to do it right. There is the one thing though, Buke, like,
Speaker 1: are these guys really not just at risk forget of
Speaker 1: contracting it, of getting it, but are they actually at
Speaker 1: risk if they get it right, There's there doesn't seem
Speaker 1: to be any statistical data that tells you that if
Speaker 1: they get it, these guys are in danger of not
Speaker 1: just losing their lives, but of losing substantial lung capacity.
Speaker 1: That just doesn't there doesn't seem to be the data
Speaker 1: to support that. Yeah, if you if you really dig
Speaker 1: into the medical issues. Uh no, But this is the
Speaker 1: NBA is not It's not just a matter of is
Speaker 1: there damage going to be done? But are what kind
Speaker 1: of example are we setting for the rest of the
Speaker 1: country in terms of how to approach this if we
Speaker 1: simply and and by the way, it may not affect
Speaker 1: the players, but we've got sixty five year old Mike
Speaker 1: D'Antoni who's going to be there. We have any number
Speaker 1: of assistant coaches in their fifties, other coaches in their
Speaker 1: fifties and their sixties. There are plenty of people that
Speaker 1: could contract it and would be uh severely in danger
Speaker 1: if they did. And so that's that's the issue. It's
Speaker 1: not just you know, the players will be safe or
Speaker 1: the players would not not suffer any you know, dire
Speaker 1: consequences as a result of having it. It's that the
Speaker 1: NBA community is bigger than that. No, no, I I
Speaker 1: get it, but I mean, like, look that that is
Speaker 1: a if you're if you're if you're a coach, that
Speaker 1: old either you know, you coach in the third row
Speaker 1: you know, uh where gloves in a mask, or have
Speaker 1: somebody else coach. But I just the players that I
Speaker 1: don't something doesn't line up with some of these guys
Speaker 1: who say, you know family because we never questioned a family, like,
Speaker 1: we're never going to do that. But the truth is that,
Speaker 1: like you have, you have better medical care there than
Speaker 1: you would have at home. At home, you're not living
Speaker 1: in a bubble. You're not you're not quarantined at home.
Speaker 1: So the idea that you have a stronger likelihood of
Speaker 1: contracting it for your family not as much. It's really
Speaker 1: more you know, people sixty years plus and those the
Speaker 1: people that have to make their own individual decisions. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well look I'm not debating that, and I've said it
Speaker 1: like guys, uh NBA players will be safer in the
Speaker 1: bubble than they would be any place else. So there's
Speaker 1: not there's not the excuse that, hey, I'm worried about
Speaker 1: contracting this so I don't want to go to Florida
Speaker 1: or I don't want to go to the bubble or
Speaker 1: whatever it is. I do think that's an excuse, but
Speaker 1: it still comes down to be in the bubble and uh,
Speaker 1: and then be smart because you know, I mean, I've
Speaker 1: had dms tell me this, Like, the great concern is
Speaker 1: guys are going to try to be you know, not
Speaker 1: out of how family. It's trying to sneak people in
Speaker 1: that aren't supposed to be in, or sneaking out or that,
Speaker 1: you know, especially especially once they get there and they're
Speaker 1: we're talking about like a three month adventure here. At
Speaker 1: some point guys get a little restless or they think,
Speaker 1: oh it's not that bad, or I'm okay, or you know,
Speaker 1: I need a night out, or I need to bring
Speaker 1: somebody in. And then who knows what happens, because there's
Speaker 1: going to be testing throughout and all you need is
Speaker 1: really all you need is one case like that and uh,
Speaker 1: and then the NBA has to deal with a potential
Speaker 1: pr nightmare. Who is Uh, let's let's get to the
Speaker 1: actual teams. M Yeah, Avery Bradley not going, Louilliams still TBD.
Speaker 1: I'm thinking he's going. How does it change your perspective
Speaker 1: on the West with Avery Bradley not going uh, it
Speaker 1: does someone. I mean, look, it doesn't because I've always
Speaker 1: thought that the Clippers, because of their age, in their
Speaker 1: depth um and their relative size, that uh that they
Speaker 1: they've They've always been my favorite uh in in the West.
Speaker 1: I do believe as I as I start to think
Speaker 1: about the dynamics of playing again that the ability to
Speaker 1: play slower and and it's funny because we've gone to
Speaker 1: this small ball league, I think size is going to
Speaker 1: be a huge factor. Having to play this many games
Speaker 1: and having to play at a very high level and
Speaker 1: an intense level right away. I think teams that can
Speaker 1: control tempo and that can play a little bit slower
Speaker 1: and still be effective are the teams that are going
Speaker 1: to have uh an advantage. So you know, I like Toronto.
Speaker 1: I think Boston is hurt by that. Philadelphia. You know,
Speaker 1: if those guys come back in any kind of a shape,
Speaker 1: any kind of shape, I think suddenly they haven't an
Speaker 1: advantage that that they didn't previously have. The Lakers still,
Speaker 1: but Dwight Howard has to be there and and uh
Speaker 1: and the other concern that I have is is agewise,
Speaker 1: UH the older teams. I have my concerns about can
Speaker 1: you get all your guys can Rajon Rondo, Danny Green,
Speaker 1: can they get revd up and uh and in the
Speaker 1: kind of condition that they need to be in without
Speaker 1: suffering injury? How quickly can you get there? And that's
Speaker 1: whe again, that's where I think that depth is a
Speaker 1: is a huge factor because, uh, you're you're you're not
Speaker 1: gonna want to play anybody you know over thirty thirty
Speaker 1: two minutes. Because if you have to play anybody forty
Speaker 1: in order to an order for your team to be
Speaker 1: at its best, then I think that's a recipe for disaster.
Speaker 1: Rick Bucky with us here, Jason Smith, Doug Gotlie been
Speaker 1: for Dan and the Danetts. Okay, Rick, so let do
Speaker 1: you do this quick? If I said to you fill
Speaker 1: in the blank. With all this stuff going on right now,
Speaker 1: you have the favorites, you have the Bucks, the Clippers
Speaker 1: of the Lakers are still at the top. If I
Speaker 1: said to you, it wouldn't surprise me if surprise team
Speaker 1: X won the NBA title. What team would you tell me?
Speaker 1: Surprise team that wouldn't really surprise you if they won
Speaker 1: the NBA title? Oh? I can't believe I'm saying this.
Speaker 1: The Knicks are not there, just so you know then,
Speaker 1: or something like that, the Knicks are not there. It's
Speaker 1: gonna say the Rockets or something. No, you know what.
Speaker 1: I have a hard time with the Rockets again because
Speaker 1: it runs counter to my idea. Yes, they play slow,
Speaker 1: but they're small and they got it and they have
Speaker 1: to really rely on on James and Russell. And I
Speaker 1: hate to say it, but like James is one of
Speaker 1: those guys that I could see breaking protocol. I just
Speaker 1: you think, think you think the guy who has his
Speaker 1: jersey hanging in the rafters of a strip club. You think, Okay,
Speaker 1: you said it, you said it. I didn't. Uh so. Um, Actually,
Speaker 1: you know most likely to contract? Is there a Betty
Speaker 1: line for most likely to contract? COVID? Oh? Wow? These
Speaker 1: lines on everything? All right? So go ahead, go ahead,
Speaker 1: budget Um, there's so much that I don't like about them,
Speaker 1: But the Philadelphia seventy six ers I think have a
Speaker 1: better shot, like better shot than I than I ever
Speaker 1: thought that they did. As a result of the return,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna offer the counterthought here for a second. Rick, Um,
Speaker 1: what's the longest road trip you've ever been on with
Speaker 1: with a friend? Did you go like you are a
Speaker 1: dartmouth guy when you graduated? Did you did you do it?
Speaker 1: Did you go backpacking through Europe? No? I drove across
Speaker 1: the after I graduated. I drove across the country with buddy.
Speaker 1: Were you guys still friends at the end of that drive? Uh? Yes,
Speaker 1: we were, but we didn't. We were. We were still friends,
Speaker 1: but we took a break, but the relationship was strained
Speaker 1: for a while, and we didn't when we did, when
Speaker 1: we didn't talk for a couple of months. Okay, So
Speaker 1: that that's kind of my point, which is like one
Speaker 1: chemistry one Ben Simmons, in terms of likelihood of breaking
Speaker 1: a protocol, he'd be on the list. Secondly, like there's
Speaker 1: some personality quirks between he and Embiid, which you know,
Speaker 1: again like normally normally you go in your own cabs,
Speaker 1: you go at your own ubers or whatever, you go
Speaker 1: your own way. But I do think that for the
Speaker 1: Clippers who haven't hadn't yet totally come together, it could
Speaker 1: really help for the seventy six ers that had been
Speaker 1: together and had seemingly struggled to fit all these personalities
Speaker 1: on and off the floor together. I actually think that
Speaker 1: could hurt them. Well if you like so you just
Speaker 1: around each other too much. No, No No, my team, my team. See,
Speaker 1: I don't think they're a surprise team. You were asking
Speaker 1: me for a shock team, like the team that I
Speaker 1: could see this winning easily for a number of reasons
Speaker 1: that do fit with my All of my theories are
Speaker 1: the Toronto Raptors because but I don't know if you
Speaker 1: look at them as a shocked team if they want
Speaker 1: it all and they would be defending their championship successfully,
Speaker 1: but they don't have chemistry issues. They have size, certainly,
Speaker 1: they have experience, and and I love that. It's a
Speaker 1: sign that you know, they already went They're already in Florida.
Speaker 1: They already took their team down there. It's a little
Speaker 1: odd that they already took their team down they're considering
Speaker 1: what Florida is. But the fact that they've done that
Speaker 1: and we haven't heard a peep about any issues from
Speaker 1: anybody on that team about doing that to me is
Speaker 1: all are all positive sign So I just but they've
Speaker 1: been a team that I thought had a legitimate shot
Speaker 1: at the championship all year long. So I was trying
Speaker 1: to go out of the box. But your points about
Speaker 1: chemistry are very good, and I kind of knew there
Speaker 1: was something about Philly that I just couldn't get on that.
Speaker 1: But but from the size standpoint I do. I still
Speaker 1: stand that they have better opportunity because of their potential
Speaker 1: of the way that they play. I'm my other caveat
Speaker 1: with that is it's hard for me to believe that
Speaker 1: Joel mbat has been staying in tiptop shape all this time.
Speaker 1: I know there's been Instagram stuff out there where he's
Speaker 1: in the weight room but doing the hard kind of
Speaker 1: aerobic conditioning necessary. It's just not what I've known Joel
Speaker 1: MBA to be. I hope I'm wrong, but that's that's
Speaker 1: one other reason why, as much as I want to
Speaker 1: go with my theory of size is going to stand
Speaker 1: out and they are one of the biggest teams in
Speaker 1: the league, there are a lot of other factors that
Speaker 1: intangible factors that could send it the other way. He's
Speaker 1: on Twitter at Rick Bucker, that is at buk or
Speaker 1: Fox Sports one Bleacher Report NBA insider about to take
Speaker 1: a cross country trip to Orlando with his three best friends,
Speaker 1: so wish him box if you see it as far
Speaker 1: as and after that silly explanation, I'm going to back
Speaker 1: pedal there the whole way. Take it easybody, We'll talk
Speaker 1: to you, you guys. Great stuff there from Rick Buke.
Speaker 1: You know, I've done one cross country trip. Luckily was
Speaker 1: with my wife, so we got along, well, we drove
Speaker 1: across country, but at the end it was okay, we
Speaker 1: got to kind of get there. You know, let's let's
Speaker 1: let's let's let let let's get there. I see the
Speaker 1: finish line, let's go. I know, we can do a
Speaker 1: couple of days here here, let's just get there. I'm
Speaker 1: kind of ready to go. Yeah we we haven't. I
Speaker 1: actually want to do that this summer with my with
Speaker 1: my kids. Um yeah, I want to. I want to
Speaker 1: do the RV thing. I've want to do it forever.
Speaker 1: I don't have an RV, but I'd like to have
Speaker 1: an r V. I don't want to buy an RV
Speaker 1: because not because I'm cheap, but because I have friends
Speaker 1: that have had a really cool RV And after a
Speaker 1: couple of summers they were like, yeah, but I don't know.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm I want to do it, but I do.
Speaker 1: I've I've done some cross country journeys. I've actually you know,
Speaker 1: like look when I was, um, well you can write one,
Speaker 1: you know, now I know we've done that. And you'll
Speaker 1: go for like three or four days and feel like
Speaker 1: you're gone for a week and a half. Yeah, I know,
Speaker 1: that's that's the vacation. It's kind of like so. But
Speaker 1: but I will say this in terms of basketball team
Speaker 1: in different personalities. When I was in high school, the
Speaker 1: AU circuit was you'd play one tournament in Long Beach,
Speaker 1: one tournament in Vegas, and one tournament in Phoenix, right,
Speaker 1: and they were you know, three different weeks. Those were
Speaker 1: the open weeks. And by the way, you'd you'd have
Speaker 1: a camp. You know, there's either the biggest camps that
Speaker 1: was ABCD or Nike at the time, and then there
Speaker 1: was a smaller camp so you'd actually be with the
Speaker 1: same people for a better part of a month. And
Speaker 1: I'm telling you that every year we got to Phoenix
Speaker 1: and some there was a fight. It was always a fight,
Speaker 1: and that was one month. You're about three months. That
Speaker 1: will challenge the chemistry of any team. Twitter at how
Speaker 1: about a Fresca Doug at Gottlieb Show, Jason Smith Doug
Speaker 1: Gottliebin for Dan and the dan Nets. I we'll have
Speaker 1: more bubble talk coming up in a minute, but straight ahead,
Speaker 1: we have a big story coming out of Major League
Speaker 1: Baseball today, one team really not happy after what's gone
Speaker 1: on the past couple of days. We got it right
Speaker 1: here for you next Fox Fox Sports Radio has the
Speaker 1: best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of
Speaker 1: our shows at Fox Sports Radio dot com and within
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio apps. Search FSR to listen live Jason Smith,
Speaker 1: Doug Gottlieben for Dan and the dan Nets. Thanks to
Speaker 1: Rick Bucher stopping by a few minutes ago on the
Speaker 1: Mercedes Benz hotline, do you suffer from leadfoot? Do goosebumps
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Speaker 1: a few minutes ago, we talked Repbuker about life in
Speaker 1: the NBA bubble and now life in Major League Baseball
Speaker 1: is starting to take a bit of a turn, as
Speaker 1: today the Washington Nationals have closed their camp. GM Mike
Speaker 1: Rizzo making the announcement on Twitter a few moments ago,
Speaker 1: saying that because of the MLB testing protocol, they don't
Speaker 1: feel safe opening camp because they are still waiting for
Speaker 1: their players COVID nineteen tests quote. Without accurate and timely testing,
Speaker 1: it is simply not safe for us to continue with
Speaker 1: summer camp. Major League Baseball needs to work quickly to
Speaker 1: resolve issues with their process and their lab and Doug.
Speaker 1: This is something we had heard some players talk about
Speaker 1: over the weekend that boy, after the first couple of
Speaker 1: days to go through this process, I don't know the
Speaker 1: Major League Baseball quite has their act together on this. No,
Speaker 1: But again, I just think there's a certain reasonable nature here, right,
Speaker 1: Like there's a bigger question. The David Price question is
Speaker 1: really interesting. Right, here's a guy who has a two
Speaker 1: hundred and ten million dollars overall contract, a guy who,
Speaker 1: it should be pointed out, is giving a thousand dollars
Speaker 1: to I believe two one hundred minor league players who
Speaker 1: lost their job. Right, that's two hundred dollars my mask
Speaker 1: not great, but two hundred thousand dollars that's a lot
Speaker 1: of money. Like, that's a lot of money to guys
Speaker 1: that you don't know anyway where he's not pleased opting out,
Speaker 1: you know, because of COVID concerns. I just think there's
Speaker 1: a reasonable nature which is like, yeah, i'd be I'm
Speaker 1: a little you know, Mike Trout, his wife's pregnant. I'm
Speaker 1: a little off by this, but I'm gonna trust that
Speaker 1: there's some kinks they'll get it worked out. And that's
Speaker 1: kind of where I am with it. Like if you
Speaker 1: just if you're reasonable about it, and you understand that
Speaker 1: this is all, you know, new territory for all of us,
Speaker 1: especially these sports franchises. That is not how they're they're
Speaker 1: not usually built for these things. Generally figure it out,
Speaker 1: and I think that's a reasonable nature. Like, look, I
Speaker 1: guess the question is this, Jason, this is a question
Speaker 1: I have for you. I know my answer. If we
Speaker 1: operate on the premise that there is no vaccine at
Speaker 1: least until twenty twenty one, and this is out there
Speaker 1: and you're not going to be able to maintain a
Speaker 1: completely clean bubble, do you think we should have sports?
Speaker 1: Because if you're gonna have sports, you're gonna have positive
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen tests. That's the way it goes. Certain sports
Speaker 1: I think we can have and certain sports I think
Speaker 1: are going to be impossible to have. You know, there's
Speaker 1: a certain sports. Well, you know, we've gotten back golf,
Speaker 1: we've gotten back NASCAR, we've gotten back UFC, and we're
Speaker 1: going to have those sports all the way through. I'd
Speaker 1: like to think that baseball is the most I would
Speaker 1: say most COVID friendly. I guess for lack of a better,
Speaker 1: no question where, well COVID you able to have this
Speaker 1: where where you could play and not worry as much
Speaker 1: about infection because you're not as close. You're not you're not,
Speaker 1: you're not you know, swapping bodily fluids. Mainly, it's you
Speaker 1: know where the NBA and the NFL you're going to
Speaker 1: have that. Yes, and they're playing in Korea, they've been
Speaker 1: playing Korea for two months. Like we can do this, Clearly,
Speaker 1: it can be done. I mean baseball, with exception of
Speaker 1: the baseball, you don't come, you don't have to come
Speaker 1: anywhere near anybody, especially in an empty stadium. So like,
Speaker 1: I think being cautious is reasonable. I think freaking out,
Speaker 1: especially in baseball, is being unreasonable. But now's the freak
Speaker 1: out time. This is no, now's the time to take
Speaker 1: a breath and to go like, all right, let's what's
Speaker 1: the problem out here and doing I think now that
Speaker 1: you're here and doing it and you actually have to
Speaker 1: do it, and it's not an idea in the abstract
Speaker 1: of oh, yeah, of course we want to play baseball. Well,
Speaker 1: now you're here and you're playing and everybody's wearing math. Oh,
Speaker 1: I don't know, there's that freak out time that's just
Speaker 1: gonna happen. And I think we got you got to
Speaker 1: get past that freak out time, Okay, I it's it's um, yes,
Speaker 1: you have to get past it. And I don't. I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't believe. I don't know. Shutting down camps I
Speaker 1: don't think is actually the way to go about it.
Speaker 1: But I don't again, I don't know how dysfunctional this
Speaker 1: process is. Again this news story, the Nationals have shut
Speaker 1: down their camp because they have not gotten back their
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen tests and they want Major League Baseball to
Speaker 1: have better issues with being able to process tests and
Speaker 1: their lad This is developing story will continue on with
Speaker 1: but coming up next. Boy. One tweet from the president
Speaker 1: earlier today has one sport, all kinds of in the news.
Speaker 1: This is next on Fox