Speaker 1: And we continue on Jonas Naxen today for Rodney on
Speaker 1: a five seventy LA Sports. So last night we lost
Speaker 1: someone who made a great impact in the city of
Speaker 1: Los Angeles, longtime USC coach, longtime RAM coach, John Robinson,
Speaker 1: and John eighty nine years old, had not been in
Speaker 1: good health and we lost him last night. Our buddy
Speaker 1: Eric Dickerson played for him with the Rams and Eric
Speaker 1: comes in now. Eric, well you appreciate you jumping in
Speaker 1: here today, No problem, Fred, All right, did you know
Speaker 1: John Robinson was ill? What did you think when you
Speaker 1: found out?
Speaker 2: Yes, I'd heard about a week and a half ago
Speaker 2: that he was not doing well. I got a couple
Speaker 2: of Texas and then I talked to his wife last
Speaker 2: week in the last week, I think it was Saturday,
Speaker 2: I talked to his wife. I'd sent her a text
Speaker 2: and just totally give me a call when you get
Speaker 2: a minute that I left a voice message in min
Speaker 2: me back and she told me that it was She's Eric,
Speaker 2: it's just a matter of time. He's in hospice and
Speaker 2: you know he's comfortable, but she says, it's just it's
Speaker 2: you don't know if it's gonna be a week three days,
Speaker 2: four days be a matter of time.
Speaker 1: And it was, it was. It was.
Speaker 2: It was shocking, you know, even though you know coach
Speaker 2: is eighty nine years old, but you just kind of forget,
Speaker 2: you know, because you know I'm sixty four, you know,
Speaker 2: I'm still thinking I'm young. But yeah, yeah, it was,
Speaker 2: it was. It was sad to hear it really was.
Speaker 1: All right when you were select when when you were
Speaker 1: selected by the Rams. He was a coach, right right?
Speaker 1: What was that like?
Speaker 2: Well, first of all, John Robinson recruited me to come
Speaker 2: to USC, uh Man, Johnny even came to Sealy, uh
Speaker 2: him and god was I forgot the other coach that
Speaker 2: came with him, John Jackson. John Jackson came with him
Speaker 2: to my hometown of Sealy, Texas and tried to get
Speaker 2: me to come to USC. And I really considered USC.
Speaker 2: Now that was one of my first official visits to
Speaker 2: a university that was coming. I came to USC and
Speaker 2: watched the I came to the Rose Bowl game when
Speaker 2: they played Michigan, and I think was the phantom fumble
Speaker 2: that Charlie White had. I think he won the game.
Speaker 2: But I like coach Robinson, you know, it was he
Speaker 2: was he was he was a funny guy. He was
Speaker 2: like a one liner. He had some of these one liners, man,
Speaker 2: And he said, you just it was just he was funny,
Speaker 2: I mean, and just a really good human being and
Speaker 2: a really good coach.
Speaker 1: All right, So when the Rams selected you and you
Speaker 1: walked in, what was it like? Because you said he
Speaker 1: did recruit you to go to USC, so then he
Speaker 1: sees you.
Speaker 2: What was it like when he said when he when
Speaker 2: he saw me, and I forgot and he said, I'd
Speaker 2: forgotten that he had had recruited me and to come
Speaker 2: to us. You know, it's been been so long, and
Speaker 2: I you know, I knew kind of knew he was
Speaker 2: the head coach, but I forgot all about that that,
Speaker 2: you know, he recruited me. And when I walked in,
Speaker 2: he said, I finally got you, and I just started laughing.
Speaker 2: I'm like, oh, that's right, you recruited me to come
Speaker 2: to USC.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: You know, when I came up for my press conference,
Speaker 2: it was it was not like you know the deal
Speaker 2: they do today. You know, I came in for the
Speaker 2: press conference and talk to him, and I talked to
Speaker 2: Georgia a long talk with him, and uh, you know,
Speaker 2: it was just kind of you know, what they what
Speaker 2: they wanted, you know, when he's you know, seeing me
Speaker 2: play and all that kind of stuff and kind of
Speaker 2: how he envisioned certain things with the offense. And and
Speaker 2: believe it or not, even though what we talked about
Speaker 2: then the offense changed from the time that you know,
Speaker 2: we got to training camp. You know, it was we
Speaker 2: had we run the split back set. And I won't
Speaker 2: forget we played the Redskins in a preseason game and
Speaker 2: John Riggins was the was the running back at the
Speaker 2: one back set, and I was I think I was
Speaker 2: like on second team, you know, I was behind a
Speaker 2: couple of guys Robert Alexander, I can't think of the
Speaker 2: other guys behind you, Jerrell Thomas, Jerrell Thomas, and uh,
Speaker 2: we got beat up on in that in that preseason game.
Speaker 2: And I and he came in like the next day
Speaker 2: and said, forget everything we learned. He said, we're gonna
Speaker 2: go to the one back set. He said, Eric, and
Speaker 2: you my back. And that's how that's kind of how
Speaker 2: I came the starter.
Speaker 1: Uh. And once got in, was there a point where
Speaker 1: you knew, because he obviously did you were his guy? Uh?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I did. I mean, I won't forget.
Speaker 2: One day in practice, man, we ran we ran the
Speaker 2: ot play. It was kind of like the like the
Speaker 2: forty forty six and forty seven gap play. And I'm
Speaker 2: following the guard and the tackle and you know, I'm
Speaker 2: you know, I'm running. I'm running. I'm running. I'm running fast.
Speaker 2: But you know I don't. I don't do that, make
Speaker 2: it all run hardly, you know, like man crazy.
Speaker 1: But I was.
Speaker 2: I was running fast, you know, just to give them
Speaker 2: room to block and me make make a cut off
Speaker 2: of them. And John Blouet will stop, stop stop stopping.
Speaker 2: Oh say hold Eric, he said, you can't be out
Speaker 2: here jogging. I said, Coach, I'm not jogging. He said,
Speaker 2: he said running again. She ran it again, blueto whistle again. Eric,
Speaker 2: I said, coach, I'm telling you. I said, I'll tell
Speaker 2: you what. Coach, get out here and try to catch
Speaker 2: me and see if I'm jogging. So I think it
Speaker 2: was my I think it was our fourth game. We
Speaker 2: played the New York Jets, and I had my eighty
Speaker 2: five yard touchdown run and I come to the sideline
Speaker 2: and he said, well, I guess you wasn't jogging in
Speaker 2: practice that day because it looked like he was jogging
Speaker 2: right there too, so I guess you were running fast.
Speaker 1: All right, Now you get traded to the Colts, all right?
Speaker 1: What was that like with John Robinson?
Speaker 2: Man? You know, I'm gonna tell you. The thing about
Speaker 2: that was that was just a bad deal. I mean,
Speaker 2: I never wanted to leave LA. I love playing for
Speaker 2: the for the Rams. I love playing for Coach Robinson,
Speaker 2: even though we as players knew the Rams are not
Speaker 2: all in on winning. I mean, we just saw we
Speaker 2: felt it because we wasn't doing some of the right
Speaker 2: things that we knew we needed.
Speaker 1: But j R.
Speaker 2: You know what they did to me, to jer A
Speaker 2: lot of guys said it. They put JR. In a
Speaker 2: position where he wanted him to keep us out of
Speaker 2: the front office asking for contracts and put him in
Speaker 2: the middle of it. And you know, man, I was
Speaker 2: making nothing. I mean I was making my first year.
Speaker 2: I was making one seventy five. The next year when
Speaker 2: after I take that back, I was making one fifty
Speaker 2: my next year. I was making one seventy five and
Speaker 2: a round for two thousand yards. Then I held out,
Speaker 2: and I think then they upped me. But I wasn't
Speaker 2: happy with that. But you know, you had you kind
Speaker 2: of was stuck. I was making I was making like
Speaker 2: three fifty and uh it was it just it wasn't good.
Speaker 2: And but then when you know, the whole trade thing
Speaker 2: came up. Because then I'm like, you know, I went
Speaker 2: to I went to meet with John Shaw in la
Speaker 2: at his office. I won't forget it. And it's you know,
Speaker 2: and think about it. It took me like three weeks
Speaker 2: to get a meeting with him, you know, and you know,
Speaker 2: think about your one of your star players, one of
Speaker 2: your players want to meet with you, and you're trying
Speaker 2: to meet with him, and it took that long. So
Speaker 2: and I go to meet with John Shaw. I go
Speaker 2: in his office and he says, so.
Speaker 3: So Eric, So Eric, what do you want?
Speaker 1: What are you meaning about?
Speaker 2: I say, I said, John I said, man, my contract
Speaker 2: is not I said, come on, man, I know this
Speaker 2: contract ain't no good. And you know, I was like,
Speaker 2: I always think to mock him the way he sounds.
Speaker 3: You have a contract.
Speaker 2: I said, Well, I tell you what I said. This
Speaker 2: is what I'll do. I said, I left the league
Speaker 2: in Russian last year.
Speaker 3: No you didn't, Walter Payton did he last league?
Speaker 2: I said, John I left the league in Russian. I'm
Speaker 2: talking about John Shaw. I had eighteen twenty one. Oh, Walter,
Speaker 2: he said, let me get the book. I'll never forget.
Speaker 2: He goes up and get this book, opens it up,
Speaker 2: and I'm like this mug. I'm something like, oh you did.
Speaker 2: I said, yeah, I left the league in Russian, I
Speaker 2: said John. I said, look, I said, pay me like
Speaker 2: the quarterbacks are getting paid. I said, I'm like the
Speaker 2: quarterback of this team. I said, I'm a running back.
Speaker 2: But I said what I'm doing. What quarterback does? I
Speaker 2: said this. I said, give me a contract Marino or
Speaker 2: always something similar to that. And I said, I tell you,
Speaker 2: I said. He said, well, Eric, I don't know about it.
Speaker 2: They said, no, we can't do it. I said, I
Speaker 2: tell you what. This is what I told him. I said,
Speaker 2: I said, if I have fifteen hundred yards or more rushing,
Speaker 2: give me that contract and we'll go year by year.
Speaker 2: I said, if not, I'll go back to my old contract.
Speaker 2: He sit there now, We're not gonna do that. And
Speaker 2: I just said okay. And in that point I just
Speaker 2: knew it wasn't gonna work. I mean, it was just
Speaker 2: it was a debacle over there man, and it was
Speaker 2: I was frustrated. I love my teammates, you know. And
Speaker 2: it's funny how the media portrayed me at that time,
Speaker 2: as I was just n grade And I tell you,
Speaker 2: if I an't know the ningrade, well n grade and
Speaker 2: I was selfish, and nobody liked me on the team.
Speaker 1: Man. We had one of the close We had.
Speaker 2: A close knit football team, I mean a really close
Speaker 2: knit football team because John had it set up. I mean,
Speaker 2: the running game was us and all we needed was
Speaker 2: a quarterback. I mean really, and it was I was.
Speaker 2: I was sad to leave the Rams. I really didn't
Speaker 2: want to leave the Rams. I want And when I
Speaker 2: talked to I just I talked to Barbara a couple
Speaker 2: of days ago. She said, Eric, I want to tell
Speaker 2: you something. She said, John, She said, John loved you.
Speaker 2: She said. He said he hated the Rams for that.
Speaker 2: He hated the Rams for for what they did. You
Speaker 2: and you know, and trade and you say, because he
Speaker 2: said he had everything set for for that team, and
Speaker 2: you and you know, I always felt that we were
Speaker 2: just a player or two away from a super Bowl
Speaker 2: here in LA. But we can never get the right
Speaker 2: players in place. I mean think about it. I mean,
Speaker 2: we had a we had a great defense, had a
Speaker 2: great offensive line to the NFC Championship game, and they
Speaker 2: go get a quarterback like, no, no offense. But Adita Brock,
Speaker 2: Come on, man, I mean, let's be for real. I mean,
Speaker 2: they might as well they they might as well put
Speaker 2: you at quarterback, smaller, I mean really, I mean it
Speaker 2: was and we were and we are a team like man,
Speaker 2: he you know, I just got a call. I mean,
Speaker 2: I just you know, the truth is the truth. He
Speaker 2: was not a good quarterback. Nice guy, but it was
Speaker 2: not He was not accurate. He was short. I mean,
Speaker 2: we trying to roll out and throw the football and
Speaker 2: it just it killed us. And then that year that
Speaker 2: you know, I got traded in the eighties eighty seven.
Speaker 2: I guess I won't forget. I told you I was
Speaker 2: a man. I was so mad at him. I was
Speaker 2: so pissited around because man, I was just frustrated. I mean,
Speaker 2: because I won't forget. I talked to my friend Roy Green,
Speaker 2: who played for the h he played for the eras
Speaker 2: the Saint Louis Cardinals at the time, saying they were
Speaker 2: in Saint Louis, and I said, ro I said, I
Speaker 2: you know, I said, how much money you're making? You know,
Speaker 2: because we're friend, he said, My said, I think Sarah
Speaker 2: was six ninety. I said six hundred and ninety thousand
Speaker 2: times like damn, man, what I'm like, I'm sorry, I
Speaker 2: didn't mean it like that.
Speaker 1: I'm like, that's how much. I'm like, do you know
Speaker 1: how much I'm making?
Speaker 2: I say, say, I say, I'm making like three I
Speaker 2: think I was making three hundred. They say, damn, they
Speaker 2: got the best deal in town on you. I mean,
Speaker 2: I'm leading the league in Russian you know, every year
Speaker 2: of most every year I was with the Rams, and
Speaker 2: it was just frustrating. Like I said, I went to Indianapolis,
Speaker 2: and I mean, look, only the reason I really went
Speaker 2: there for sure because they paid me. They I mean,
Speaker 2: I went from making three hundred thousand to making a
Speaker 2: million at that Ye're making two million dollars in Indy.
Speaker 2: I mean, Fred, I mean, come on, then I had
Speaker 2: to take that money. I didn't. I didn't want to leave.
Speaker 2: I mean, I really did not want to leave the Rams,
Speaker 2: but but I had to. And then on top of that,
Speaker 2: people don't know, you know, I had a I had
Speaker 2: my signing bonus down a sign because you know, I
Speaker 2: was allocation of signing the bos until you, Sarah, making
Speaker 2: make it seem like it's but it's really not signing.
Speaker 2: My signing the bonus is six hundred thousand dollars when
Speaker 2: I know my rookie, my Rickey's signing bonus. So what
Speaker 2: they did was it was supposed to be in a forgivableloan.
Speaker 2: So when I got traded, they made me pay it back.
Speaker 2: And I probably didn't have to pay it back, but
Speaker 2: I was so pissed at them that the coach gave
Speaker 2: me a five hundred thousand dollars signing bonus to sign
Speaker 2: with them. So my salari was really one point five.
Speaker 2: My signing bones made it two million dollars. So I
Speaker 2: wrote them a check for I wrote the Rams a
Speaker 2: check for six hundred thousand dollars and gave them money back,
Speaker 2: and you know, and then I was.
Speaker 1: Just I was just done.
Speaker 2: I mean I was, you know, I gotta say, and
Speaker 2: I you know, as a as an athlete and especially
Speaker 2: as a black man, you know, you don't want to
Speaker 2: say your feelings are hurt. But man, I was really
Speaker 2: really hurt. I mean I was really hurt, you know,
Speaker 2: because at that, but I would do I mean I
Speaker 2: played hurt. I did anything that they asked me to
Speaker 2: do for that football team. And John two for John
Speaker 2: Robinson too, And I don't you know, for a while
Speaker 2: I did blame John, but I couldn't blame John because
Speaker 2: I saw what they were doing to him. Man, John
Speaker 2: was just a he was a players coach. We loved him.
Speaker 2: I mean he was he was a likable coach. He
Speaker 2: was fun, he was fair, you know with the players.
Speaker 2: If you if you if you acted like a man,
Speaker 2: that's what I liked him. And run mind because if
Speaker 2: you act like a man, I treat you like a man.
Speaker 2: Maybe like kid him she's like a kid. But that's
Speaker 2: what That's what I liked about John Robertson.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he seemed to have this this glow about him.
Speaker 1: Wherever he went, people just liked him.
Speaker 2: You couldn't you could not like him because he just
Speaker 2: had these and I can't think of any it was
Speaker 2: just these one line was he pop out and you'd
Speaker 2: be sitting there like, okay, that's funny, man, it was
Speaker 2: just funny. I mean he just had he had that personality.
Speaker 2: He was casual, charismatic. I mean, he could talk to anyone,
Speaker 2: make anyone feel comfortable and talking to him. It wasn't
Speaker 2: like you talk to someone and you know, you go
Speaker 2: stop talking, like okay, then so what's next. It wasn't
Speaker 2: like that with John. John was just he was just
Speaker 2: full of life. And you know, I, like I said,
Speaker 2: when when I heard he was ill, and I just
Speaker 2: saw him about about uh seven months ago at Marcus event.
Speaker 2: He Marcus had him come down to his event uh
Speaker 2: in San Diego, and we all hadn't had a big
Speaker 2: thing for him, and like I said, it was just
Speaker 2: it was good to see. It was good to see John,
Speaker 2: you know, it really was. And uh, like I said,
Speaker 2: is his his wife said, Man, Eric, he just he
Speaker 2: just he hated the RAMS for what they did, you know,
Speaker 2: with that situation with you, and and so did I.
Speaker 2: I mean, I told you, man, I hate I hated
Speaker 2: the RAMS for a long time. I mean, I mean
Speaker 2: I hated that organization because I knew that they treated
Speaker 2: me wrong. I mean, the they vilified me, made me
Speaker 2: like I was this bad, bad guy, like nobody I
Speaker 2: was arrogant nobody like I mean, because you know, back then,
Speaker 2: you know the writers they had they had to beat
Speaker 2: writers and the writers wrote with the with the team
Speaker 2: told him to write, you know, and and you know
Speaker 2: that's that's why like and I think about uh, my
Speaker 2: mother in football. She hated she hated football because she's Eric.
Speaker 2: You know, son, she said, I don't like that sport.
Speaker 2: But I really hate what they write about you because
Speaker 2: that's not you. I know what kind of I know
Speaker 2: how I raised you. I know kind of son you are.
Speaker 2: And and and it was it was just it was
Speaker 2: just it was just a messed up the you know,
Speaker 2: I wish I go back, and I wish I could
Speaker 2: have stayed with the Rams. But I always say this, man,
Speaker 2: everything happens for a reason. I mean, and I believe that.
Speaker 2: I mean I was, I mean, I was meant to
Speaker 2: leave that football team. But while I was there, let
Speaker 2: me tell you something. Fred teams feared us. Teams feared
Speaker 2: our running game. They feared you know when we came
Speaker 2: to town because they knew that we were gonna run
Speaker 2: the football. Now it's a way and if you couldn't
Speaker 2: stop it, oh we're gonna keep running it. That was
Speaker 2: the great thing about it. I mean, and uh and
Speaker 2: John knew how to run the football. I mean, it
Speaker 2: wasn't fancy. It was from all different kinds of sets
Speaker 2: and stuff. But I got to give him credit. Man,
Speaker 2: he was a run genius. He knew how to run
Speaker 2: the football and John knew talent.
Speaker 1: Yeah he rand it with the rams you ranted at
Speaker 1: USC two Yep, yep, student by the right student body left. Yep.
Speaker 1: Then it worked, Eric K, thanks for coming in, Thanks
Speaker 1: for sharing that stuff today. Hey, thank you, Fred. All Right,
Speaker 1: it was good to hear from Eric Dickerson and certainly
Speaker 1: losing John rob it was a very difficult thing. All Right,
Speaker 1: we've got to talk about some emotion. We got to
Speaker 1: talk about some emotion and we'll do that next. Jonas
Speaker 1: Knoxen today for Rodney on seventy LA Sports. All right,
Speaker 1: So in competitive athletics, obviously the objective is to win
Speaker 1: really at any level. But you know, this is a
Speaker 1: different generation at a different time, and uh, oftentimes we
Speaker 1: don't see the same level of intensity or more over,
Speaker 1: there are times where when it's all over, when it's
Speaker 1: all said and done, it's the old you know what,
Speaker 1: we give it our best shot out there, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: we did the best we could and let's celebrate. The
Speaker 1: game is over. We lost, we lost. Are you on.
Speaker 3: Are you one of those consolation prize guys, Fred?
Speaker 1: No, yeah, no. When I used to coach the travel
Speaker 1: basketball team, so the kids are like twelve thirteen whatever.
Speaker 1: If you know you finished second in the tournament, they
Speaker 1: give you a medal. Right, we want a lot, But
Speaker 1: we finished second sometimes and uh, when they'd hand out
Speaker 1: the second place medals, our guys would go up and
Speaker 1: wouldn't take them. No, we don't if we didn't win,
Speaker 1: we don't want the medal, the consolation prize, the way
Speaker 1: to go.
Speaker 3: I mean, look, you got to let him know like
Speaker 3: that this is not tolerated here. All right, we will
Speaker 3: not like second place is losing. Fred, Like, if you're
Speaker 3: not winning, then we don't want any of this rubbish.
Speaker 3: You're trying to throw it around our neck.
Speaker 1: Well that you know that calls for the great Little
Speaker 1: Owen story. Who do you know the story of Little Owen?
Speaker 3: No, I'm not familiar with Little Owen.
Speaker 1: Uh, Kevin, should I tell Little Owen? Ronnie? Do you
Speaker 1: think I should tell it again?
Speaker 4: Of course? Right, go ahead, a good Little Owen story there, Fred.
Speaker 3: By the way, Fred, if Kevin had said no, you
Speaker 3: still would have said it would the story?
Speaker 1: No, I do what Kevin says. Whatever Kevin says I.
Speaker 4: Do, that's not one hundred percent true.
Speaker 1: But you know I started doing that today.
Speaker 4: Oh did you Yeah, and you change your mind tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Well it's a new day, Kevin, But right now I
Speaker 1: do what you say.
Speaker 3: It's a brand new day anyway.
Speaker 1: So I'm coaching a basketball team. It's Josh's team. He
Speaker 1: always said, Dad, you always coach Jack's team, and say,
Speaker 1: when I want you to coach my team. Fine, I
Speaker 1: coached the gout shows. We have this group of players
Speaker 1: around us, and you know they were selected, and there's
Speaker 1: always that kid at the end. You know, he seems
Speaker 1: like a nice enough kid, nobody picks them. And the
Speaker 1: kid's name was Owen, so we called him Little Owen
Speaker 1: because Little Owen was short. He wore wire rim glasses,
Speaker 1: and he shot with his left hand. And maybe these
Speaker 1: kids are ten at this point, they're like ten years old.
Speaker 1: So I call him around for the first practice, say
Speaker 1: I'll come into the key and we're talking, and you know,
Speaker 1: I'm holding the ball. I said, guys, what is our
Speaker 1: objective here? What are we trying to do here? What
Speaker 1: are we trying to do? And I look around at
Speaker 1: all of them, and then I see little Owen and
Speaker 1: he is standing to my left, and Little Owen, as
Speaker 1: if he was in a sitcom or a commercial, takes
Speaker 1: his fist I'm set up into the air and makes
Speaker 1: this statement, we're here to have fun, just like that,
Speaker 1: and that's what you would expect somebody would do that.
Speaker 1: And I looked at him, I looked down at him.
Speaker 1: I said, no, Owen, we're not here to have fun.
Speaker 1: We're here to win. Winners win, losers lose. Winning is fun,
Speaker 1: Losing is not. What are we here to do, Owen?
Speaker 1: When yes, that's what we're here to do. We're not
Speaker 1: just here to go through the motions that we're going
Speaker 1: to be competitive and we're going to win. And I
Speaker 1: told that story to a group of parents at one
Speaker 1: point they were horrified, horrified, How could you say that,
Speaker 1: it's a little Owen, because that's the objective here in life.
Speaker 1: You don't get the consolation prize. Hey, if you didn't lose,
Speaker 1: what are you If you didn't win, what are you?
Speaker 1: Your first loser? You're not second place? You still lost.
Speaker 1: And when you teach people, well, the objective is to win,
Speaker 1: then they don't want to settle for second place.
Speaker 3: Why didn't you just do the decent thing and cut
Speaker 3: him in front of everybody. I did that to another kid, like,
Speaker 3: I mean, but it's a teaching moment for Owen, who
Speaker 3: you just shamed on the air and said he's never
Speaker 3: going to play anyways because the guy looks like Egon,
Speaker 3: Like okay, well you look like that little kid from
Speaker 3: Little Giants who had the snot bubbles like you. I mean, like,
Speaker 3: what's the just cut him?
Speaker 1: Well, you can't cut him that. That's a teaching moment, Joe.
Speaker 4: Why not?
Speaker 3: Why so make up a story that he was using
Speaker 3: steroids like dud like, do something decent for once in
Speaker 3: your life.
Speaker 1: Red, I could assure you I could never have made
Speaker 1: that story up that he was using steroids.
Speaker 3: Or you could just be like if the parent came
Speaker 3: back to you and said, I mean yeah, but like
Speaker 3: look it's not working, and just be like, no, we
Speaker 3: don't know that. Just imagine how bad he'd be if
Speaker 3: he wasn't on the gas.
Speaker 1: Well there's that. I could have tried that. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: I let little Owen go. And by the way, the
Speaker 1: Gauchos didn't win the championship, Thank.
Speaker 3: You did Little owen get a ring or like a
Speaker 3: bracelet or anything to go along with it.
Speaker 1: I think they got a ring pop. I can't remember.
Speaker 1: We got trophy. I think everybody got a trophy.
Speaker 3: By the way, you big fan of ring pops.
Speaker 1: I don't mind them.
Speaker 3: Kind of an interesting, uh, kind of an interesting little
Speaker 3: gimmick they had going on there, right, you know, just
Speaker 3: like you can just lick your hands, so everything it
Speaker 3: looks like they're like they're a cat.
Speaker 1: It's weird. But you know what, the thing that's interesting
Speaker 1: because I used to just lick my hands, So that's
Speaker 1: why it's good they created ring pops. I've heard and
Speaker 1: there was something to lick on my hands. It was
Speaker 1: a problem I had as a child. I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 3: Somebody wrote that on a stall at Staples Center back
Speaker 3: in the day about you, all right.
Speaker 1: So anyway, Georgia coach Kirby Smart called backup safety Jake
Speaker 1: Pope's actions just stupid.
Speaker 4: Like alfraidous road right through that one.
Speaker 1: After the player was caught seemingly celebrating with old miss
Speaker 1: fans on the field on the wake of the rebels
Speaker 1: twenty eight ten victory over the then number three Bulldogs.
Speaker 1: So what happened was the guy lost, but then was
Speaker 1: celebrating with the fans that won. Kirby Smart the coach
Speaker 1: said that was just playing stupid. First, you shouldn't be
Speaker 1: celebrating with them, and second, you shouldn't be celebrating with
Speaker 1: them after we lost. What do you think of that? Jonas?
Speaker 3: Now, how much playing time did this guy get?
Speaker 1: No, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 3: Okay, So this is what I wonder. Have they started
Speaker 3: to look into this a little bit like maybe, Well,
Speaker 3: I'm not trying to make any false accusations, Okay, I'm
Speaker 3: just simply asking the question. There have been some incidents
Speaker 3: that have taken place in football over the past couple
Speaker 3: of years, in the NFL and in college where people,
Speaker 3: as it turns out, may or may not, have had
Speaker 3: a little bit of money on the game. Sure, and
Speaker 3: I just wonder was he maybe celebrating because he had
Speaker 3: a little bit of coin on the game and his
Speaker 3: bet came through, And maybe there needs to be a
Speaker 3: bigger investigation into this.
Speaker 1: So you're suggesting that Jake Pope may have profited from
Speaker 1: his team's loss.
Speaker 3: I'm just I'm asking the quote, like why would you
Speaker 3: go over and celebrate? Like why would that be something
Speaker 3: you would do? Everybody knows, like, hey, you know there's
Speaker 3: a time and a place. You know, this is not
Speaker 3: the time and place for this. We just lost this game.
Speaker 3: You know, it's our second loss of the season. It's
Speaker 3: a mistake to go over there and celebrate, Like why
Speaker 3: would you like if that's the case? Like, what do
Speaker 3: we look? I mean, you got to do a deeper
Speaker 3: dive on this.
Speaker 4: Well, I'm looking at the box.
Speaker 5: Jonas and Jake Pope did not register the no tackles nothing, so.
Speaker 1: And maybe that would and maybe that was it. He
Speaker 1: ran in the game and did nothing.
Speaker 3: I mean so. He spent a couple of seasons at
Speaker 3: Alabama before he transferred. Apparently he took to social media
Speaker 3: afterwards because that'll make everything right, Like, and especially college
Speaker 3: football fans in the SEC, they're really a forgiving bunch
Speaker 3: when it comes to making mistakes. They're not going to
Speaker 3: hold hold anything again. And he just blah blah blah
Speaker 3: blah blah. Sorry, sorry, sorry, this is not representative of
Speaker 3: who I am in any other well kind of is
Speaker 3: this was coach called him an idiot's own it's a
Speaker 3: dumb thing to do unless he had money on the game.
Speaker 1: But here's the thing. The feeling is that the guy
Speaker 1: he was celebrating with with the Ole Miss fans, that
Speaker 1: guy was a childhood friend and he hadn't seen him
Speaker 1: for years. So what you're saying is they both had
Speaker 1: money on the game.
Speaker 3: They must have also. By the way, if it's a
Speaker 3: childhood friend that you haven't seen in years, we call that.
Speaker 3: We call that a stranger. Okay, there's a reason why
Speaker 3: you haven't seen him in years because he probably sucked
Speaker 3: as a kid, and he probably sucks even more now.
Speaker 3: Like this, like, if he's a friend, why has it
Speaker 3: been years since you've seen him? That This isn't like
Speaker 3: you know some kid who was like taken away from
Speaker 3: his family and you find out like all these years
Speaker 3: he's playing on the Dominican Little League team. Like like,
Speaker 3: what are we talking about here? Like if he's not
Speaker 3: a friend, Like, hey, like, who is so and so
Speaker 3: a childhood friend of yours? Well, I don't know. I'm
Speaker 3: not a child anymore. And if we haven't kept in
Speaker 3: touch since then probably not. I don't know what to
Speaker 3: tell you.
Speaker 1: So all your theory about the money now makes more sense.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Like what are we talking about? Well, I haven't
Speaker 3: seen him in years. Well, whose fault is that? I mean,
Speaker 3: so this is the time. Hey, let's get together, Like
Speaker 3: if you just ran into each other, Like did he
Speaker 3: not know he was playing for the other team? Does
Speaker 3: he not have a scouting report like that? Like none
Speaker 3: of it makes sense. There needs to be an investigation.
Speaker 3: I want to know whether or not this guy had
Speaker 3: money on the game. That's what I want to know.
Speaker 1: And even if he didn't have money, I would look
Speaker 1: at it like this. This is a function of everybody
Speaker 1: gets a trophy. Everybody's a winner. Hey, we lost, but
Speaker 1: you won, So I'm gonna run over and celebrate with
Speaker 1: you because you know that feeling that you won is
Speaker 1: as good for me. So I'm with you, buddy, my
Speaker 1: pal who I haven't seen in years, I'm with you. Hey, anybody,
Speaker 1: no one's a loser, everybody's a winner. Jonas, Well, here's
Speaker 1: a follow up for you.
Speaker 3: Whatever happened to Egon or Lucas or whatever that kid's
Speaker 3: name was that you ashamed in front of everybody who
Speaker 3: had the big glasses and like pencils for arms, Like,
Speaker 3: what happened to him?
Speaker 1: He's either running Google or he's in parts.
Speaker 3: Unknown how long ago we talking here?
Speaker 1: Fourteen years?
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, and that probably sat with him for a.
Speaker 1: While, and that's why he's a winner today. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: you know what, don't say thank you. Don't say thank you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, don't dare, don't you dare even think about it.
Speaker 1: You're welcome. Okay, we'll come back and say goodbye after this.
Speaker 1: Jonas not sitting in today for Rodney and Jonas, I
Speaker 1: really want to thank you.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's the least I could do, you know.
Speaker 3: I mean, you just you inspired the masses, Fred, And
Speaker 3: so the least I could do is show up and
Speaker 3: give my all, because God forbid, I don't want to
Speaker 3: be a little Egon standing there, you know, trying in
Speaker 3: a basket that too, whatever his name is. But I
Speaker 3: don't want to be him standing there trying to get
Speaker 3: excited about playing in a basketball game, and have you
Speaker 3: shame me? So I just wanted to do a solid
Speaker 3: show here and.
Speaker 1: I thought you did what you know, as we wrap
Speaker 1: up today, and it's maybe something we should do more.
Speaker 1: What do we take away from today's program? What are
Speaker 1: the moments that will carry with us? Jonas?
Speaker 3: Moments will carry you with us? Are that the Dodgers
Speaker 3: are flirting with showhit with Juan Soto potentially landing him,
Speaker 3: which we both agree is not going to happen whatsoever.
Speaker 3: We also talked with Jacob and Ronnie about just sort
Speaker 3: of how to handle situations and also what he feels
Speaker 3: like the LA sports scene is like with the Dodgers.
Speaker 3: But my biggest takeaway, yes, of the show, yes, is
Speaker 3: that this town has a hangover. The Dodgers were so
Speaker 3: magical and so amazing and so special that everything in
Speaker 3: town since then just can't compare quite yet. I mean,
Speaker 3: it'll take a little time they're gonna get but you
Speaker 3: obviously we got usc UCLA next week. It'll take a
Speaker 3: little time for everything else to start to bubble back
Speaker 3: up again. But I think people are exhausted and big
Speaker 3: and fat and happy with what they saw from the Dodgers.
Speaker 1: All right, Here's what I think I took away from
Speaker 1: the show today. What's that that a you're of the
Speaker 1: opinion that college football is fixed? That we had a
Speaker 1: player from Georgia actually bet against his own team and
Speaker 1: then was celebrating on the field after Georgia lost. That's correct, Okay,
Speaker 1: I took that away from the show. I also took
Speaker 1: away from the show that Lincoln Riley may have been
Speaker 1: a bad match for the USC job. On paper, it
Speaker 1: looked pretty good upon closer inspection, perhaps not so good
Speaker 1: that he has not lived up to whatever expectation there was,
Speaker 1: and the expectation certainly is it would be better than
Speaker 1: it is. So I took that away from today's program
Speaker 1: as well. I also took away the fact that both
Speaker 1: of us agree relegation would be wonderful in professional sports.
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, let's spicing this thing up. Come on,
Speaker 3: like I stopped rewarding mediocrity and stop giving away number
Speaker 3: one picks to teams that finished last in their league.
Speaker 3: Just take them out of the league altogether.
Speaker 1: I think it would work. And I'll tell you one thing.
Speaker 1: You'd see a lot guys, a lot more guys playing
Speaker 1: a lot harder. Yeah, if they knew next year they'd
Speaker 1: be on the South Bay Lakers, No, they wouldn't mind.
Speaker 1: They'd be with Brownie James.
Speaker 3: Oh that's right.
Speaker 1: Lebron would have a chance to play with his son
Speaker 1: if the Lakers got relegated, they could play together and
Speaker 1: elsa guns See.
Speaker 3: That felt unnecessary. That felt like the same guy who
Speaker 3: shamed the kid with glasses. That's enough, all.
Speaker 1: Right, before we go.
Speaker 5: We don't want to ask Paulie and Fritzie what they
Speaker 5: learned today too. That's what it seems like, what we're doing.
Speaker 1: Okay, here's the thing, Kevin. I didn't say, what did
Speaker 1: we learn?
Speaker 3: Oh, well done?
Speaker 1: I said, what do we take away? Oh?
Speaker 4: I see semantics? Fred? No, you know, Fred, the more
Speaker 4: you know it's new.
Speaker 1: It's a new twist on an old thing. Cue the graphic, Ronnie,
Speaker 1: thank you, Kevin, appreciate it, Jonas. Let's do it again.
Speaker 3: Tomorrow, Let's do it always.
Speaker 1: Fine