Speaker 1: You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
Speaker 1: KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2: It's Later with Mo Kelly. Let's go beyond the box
Speaker 2: Score with Jackie Ray. Jackie Ray is good to see you.
Speaker 2: Let me ask you this. We knew that we're going
Speaker 2: to have to answer this question, but now we have
Speaker 2: to answer this question. The Philadelphia Eagles have decided as
Speaker 2: a team to not go to the White House and
Speaker 2: do the celebratory handshake with the President and be honored
Speaker 2: by the White House.
Speaker 3: Is it a big deal or not?
Speaker 4: Obviously that's going to be depending on who you ask.
Speaker 4: For most people who are paying attention, it is not
Speaker 4: a big deal right now. A lot of the people
Speaker 4: who are going to be upset about this are the
Speaker 4: same people who would say, hey, you know what, athletes
Speaker 4: shouldn't talk about anything political. And I think if you're
Speaker 4: one of those people, then you should also say they
Speaker 4: shouldn't have to do anything political either way, because going
Speaker 4: to the White House symbolically means you support the president.
Speaker 4: Not going symbolically means you don't support the president. So
Speaker 4: if we don't want that to be a thing, if
Speaker 4: we don't want athletes talking about or speaking their opinion
Speaker 4: on the political landscape. Then I don't know why we're
Speaker 4: still doing this at all. Honestly, it used to be
Speaker 4: where it was just the president.
Speaker 2: Whoever the president was acknowledgy greatness in sports, regardless of
Speaker 2: the sport, regardless of the team. But to your point,
Speaker 2: since everything is viewed through a political lens, and I
Speaker 2: would say sports figures have more of a microphone because
Speaker 2: of social media. You can have Lebron James, for example,
Speaker 2: just fire off a tweet or some other social media
Speaker 2: statement and it then becomes news. It wasn't like that
Speaker 2: ten years ago. I understand how we got here, but
Speaker 2: I'm not exactly sure why we got here. Why don't
Speaker 2: we just say be done with it were there's no
Speaker 2: more invites to the White House, respective of sports.
Speaker 5: I think that's the best thing to do.
Speaker 4: I know this might also be a trigger for some people,
Speaker 4: but I've also said the national anthem shouldn't be played
Speaker 4: at the beginning of sports. Now, for context, the national
Speaker 4: anthem wasn't always played at the beginning of sports. That
Speaker 4: became something that happened when the military wanted to do
Speaker 4: a push for patriotism and then potentially recruits so this
Speaker 4: was a marketing scheme. It wasn't a symbol of yes,
Speaker 4: we're patriotic. That's not what it was. You have to
Speaker 4: pick a side, and if you're on the side that
Speaker 4: sports are just sports, it shouldn't be a political landscape,
Speaker 4: then you have to take everything out of it that
Speaker 4: is potentially political.
Speaker 2: You've often said that athletes are people too, athletes are
Speaker 2: citizens as well. Are you then suggesting that if we
Speaker 2: take the politics out of sports, or the political element
Speaker 2: out of sports, that then athletes should also shut.
Speaker 3: Up and dribble.
Speaker 4: That's a great question, but no, that's not what I'm
Speaker 4: saying at all. Because all of us have a job
Speaker 4: in nine to five that we go, we behave as well.
Speaker 4: I don't want to say all of us, because clearly
Speaker 4: there's one percent of us that don't, but most of
Speaker 4: us have a regular job, and our thoughts and our
Speaker 4: views we typically kind of keep to ourselves when we're
Speaker 4: at that facility, when we're doing our thing. We also
Speaker 4: have things that we volunteer at outside of work. We
Speaker 4: have lives outside of work that are just as important,
Speaker 4: and I think it's very important to make sure that
Speaker 4: everyone remembers that. Speaking your voice is part of our
Speaker 4: rights as Americans. So I absolutely am not saying that.
Speaker 4: But what I am saying is you can't have it
Speaker 4: both ways. You can't have it where you're saying, we
Speaker 4: don't want athletes involved in politics, but we want them
Speaker 4: to stand for the national anthem. We think you should
Speaker 4: shut up and dribble, But now we want you to
Speaker 4: go to the White House and co sign on a
Speaker 4: president that for very much for this team. He might
Speaker 4: even think that Jalen hurts. It might be a DEI higher.
Speaker 4: So it's one of those things where you have to
Speaker 4: be calculated in the way that you are moving and
Speaker 4: what you are saying.
Speaker 5: And if you are one of these people who are
Speaker 5: who lead with.
Speaker 4: Patriotism, keep that same energy across the board and don't
Speaker 4: put people in positions that you say they should have
Speaker 4: they shouldn't even be in.
Speaker 2: We know right now it's NFL football. We know that
Speaker 2: NBA basketball will finish up in June. We know that
Speaker 2: historically basketball players have been more vocal than NFL players
Speaker 2: when it comes to social media expressing politics and what
Speaker 2: have you. Do you think that possibly before we get
Speaker 2: to any final decision on whether the White House or
Speaker 2: we give some sort of grand agreement about not going
Speaker 2: back to the White House. Where do you think the
Speaker 2: NBA might come out on this. Watching what the NFL does.
Speaker 5: Adam Silver knows better.
Speaker 4: What might be the knee jerk reaction if you're the
Speaker 4: commissioner is to say, this is our policy, because they
Speaker 4: have a national anthem policy, so they might want to
Speaker 4: institute this is our policy with regards to the White House.
Speaker 4: If we're going to the White House, we are all
Speaker 4: going to the White House.
Speaker 5: This is our policy. However, I think.
Speaker 4: He understands his players and things that will not fly,
Speaker 4: So I don't think that he's going to implement a policy.
Speaker 4: I think he's going to leave that to the end
Speaker 4: individual and the teams.
Speaker 2: Now, the flip side is we want the players to
Speaker 2: act a certain way. Now we have to expect the
Speaker 2: president to act a certain way. The president chose to
Speaker 2: show up at the super Bowl, the president chose to
Speaker 2: show up at NASCAR. Would you then recommend that we
Speaker 2: have an actual physical distancing as well. Yes, the president
Speaker 2: is an American, but it's not a civilian in the
Speaker 2: traditional sense. Should we pull away from having the president
Speaker 2: or other political figures high level political figures going to
Speaker 2: these sports events because they're obviously political photo ops.
Speaker 4: That's a logical standpoint, But I don't know if that's
Speaker 4: a standpoint we can really debate when we have the
Speaker 4: leader of the free world making a fake Time magazine
Speaker 4: and calling himself king and saying long Live the King.
Speaker 4: So I don't think that we can have that conversation
Speaker 4: now because I don't think we can have a logical
Speaker 4: conversation about that. But I do think going forward, maybe
Speaker 4: four years from now, then we do have to have
Speaker 4: a solid conversation about what is your purpose? Why are
Speaker 4: you going at these events where people have to have
Speaker 4: a reaction.
Speaker 5: People are in the spirit of cheering.
Speaker 4: Rooting, for booing, whatever, So there's going to be an
Speaker 4: automatic reaction from people when you attend an event like
Speaker 4: this as a politician. So I think that there should
Speaker 4: be the same guidelines that you want for the people,
Speaker 4: you should set for yourself. And I think that's something
Speaker 4: that we should expect from the White House. I just
Speaker 4: don't think that's something that we can expect right now.
Speaker 2: The temperature in America is increasing for whatever reasons. We
Speaker 2: have the president's proclamations, we have the president's policies and
Speaker 2: people are going to be impacted by that. Maybe you
Speaker 2: know someone who is a federal worker who was laid off,
Speaker 2: Maybe you are somehow impacted by dose. And I expect
Speaker 2: using history as a guide in the past is prologue
Speaker 2: that we're going to see more pronouncements from athletes speaking
Speaker 2: out on these issues.
Speaker 3: I don't know what the answer is.
Speaker 2: I do think it's kind of nih Eve, and I
Speaker 2: kind of agree with your point. It's kind of naive
Speaker 2: to believe that you're going to have athletes not speak out,
Speaker 2: You're gonna have politicians come to professional sporting events and
Speaker 2: then say, hey, you know, I don't want politics in
Speaker 2: sports to mingle. So we're going to have to find
Speaker 2: some sort of consistency in this somewhere, right.
Speaker 4: Because if you don't, it's a level of hypocrisy. Now,
Speaker 4: if you're saying the president shouldn't abide by any sort
Speaker 4: of higher level of consciousness, which I think every president should.
Speaker 5: I don't think that the president should be like.
Speaker 4: Well, I'm a fan of football, I'm just going to
Speaker 4: go to a football game. No, you are a leader
Speaker 4: of the free world, and how you present yourself matters,
Speaker 4: So there should be a disconnect in some way. It's
Speaker 4: a logical expectation to think that that disconnect should be automatic,
Speaker 4: But I just think that right now we are not
Speaker 4: in a logical time, So we just kind of have
Speaker 4: to ride this one out and then look to the
Speaker 4: future and say these are the things that should happen
Speaker 4: going forward.
Speaker 2: When we come back, let's talk about the NBA. Anthony Edwards,
Speaker 2: who's probably one of the most talented guards in the
Speaker 2: NBA for the Minnesota Timberwolves, not only received his fourteenth
Speaker 2: technical foul and on the verge of being suspended per
Speaker 2: the NBA Rules and Code of Conduct. He's also being
Speaker 2: asked about whether he is going to be the face
Speaker 2: of the NBA or whether he wants to be the
Speaker 2: face of the NBA. Spoiler, he says he doesn't want
Speaker 2: to be. Let's talk about that when we come back.
Speaker 2: It's Beyond the box Score with Jackie Ray here on
Speaker 2: Later with Mo Kelly KFI AM six forty live everywhere
Speaker 2: on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
Speaker 1: KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2: KFI AM six forty, It's Jackie Ray and b Kelly.
Speaker 2: Jackie Ray not everyone may know Anthony Edwards. He was
Speaker 2: on the Olympic basketball team won the gold medal. He
Speaker 2: is one of the most exciting players presently, also one
Speaker 2: of the younger superstars in the NBA. The NBA has
Speaker 2: always been about who is the face of the league.
Speaker 2: In other words, when you think of the NBA, which
Speaker 2: player comes to mind, be it a Kobe Bryant or
Speaker 2: Michael Jordan or Lebron j teams going back in the day,
Speaker 2: the Magie Johnson and Larry Bird who are like co
Speaker 2: faces of the NBA. Today, the discussion is whether Anthony
Speaker 2: Edwards could or should be the face of the NBA.
Speaker 2: And he was explicitly asked that to which, and I'm paraphrasing, says, no,
Speaker 2: I don't want to be the face of the NBA.
Speaker 2: And so people talking about whether Victor or Wiben Yama
Speaker 2: will be the face of the NBA. Is it necessary
Speaker 2: or important to have a face of the league. The
Speaker 2: NFL doesn't promote players like that. They promote the shield
Speaker 2: the league. The NBA promotes players. Where do you come
Speaker 2: out on that?
Speaker 5: Historically that's been the thing.
Speaker 4: If you really go back to when Michael Jordan became
Speaker 4: the face of the league.
Speaker 5: It's because the league was failing.
Speaker 4: So the NBA has a model now that has worked
Speaker 4: for them, where people good or bad, they gravitate to
Speaker 4: certain players, whether it's you gravitate to Magic or Larry.
Speaker 4: That was a rivalry and the league pushed that in
Speaker 4: order to gain new fan bases. So I think the
Speaker 4: league at one point had evolved past the need for
Speaker 4: having a face of the league. They had a product
Speaker 4: that was well watched, It was fun to watch.
Speaker 5: People were die hard fans.
Speaker 4: You had the bad boy Pistons out here beating up
Speaker 4: everybody that you could. Everybody could hate them, or everybody
Speaker 4: could hate the Knicks. It became this entity that drove
Speaker 4: itself because the level of play was great, the teams
Speaker 4: were great, the fan bases were great. So even though
Speaker 4: you had faces during that time, I don't think it
Speaker 4: was really needed. But now we're seeing a decline in
Speaker 4: the level of play. The level of play isn't as exciting.
Speaker 4: There's no such thing as a player. Well, I don't
Speaker 4: want to say no such thing, but technically I think
Speaker 4: I'm right on that there's no such thing as a player.
Speaker 4: Just saying I want to start my career here, and
Speaker 4: I want to end my career here. Now players are
Speaker 4: saying I'll start my career here, but I'm going to
Speaker 4: end with a team that's paying me the most.
Speaker 5: So you don't have player loyalty.
Speaker 4: I'm a strong example of not having team loyalty because
Speaker 4: I go where Lebron goes. I'm not the only one
Speaker 4: who thinks like that. You follow players around. So the
Speaker 4: need for the NBA to have a face of the
Speaker 4: league is necessary because the product is failing. But if
Speaker 4: the NBA decides to invest in the game a little
Speaker 4: bit more, it probably won't be necessary because the fandom
Speaker 4: will be so intense that people are gonna watch their
Speaker 4: favorite team regardless no one on if you're if you're
Speaker 4: a Suns fan, you don't care about Anthony Edwards. You
Speaker 4: care about who's on your team, and that's how.
Speaker 5: You should be.
Speaker 4: You should try to be building team loyalty over a
Speaker 4: face of the league.
Speaker 2: You've made some great points, So I'm gonna put it
Speaker 2: just a little bit differently. Back in the eighties and nineties,
Speaker 2: there were storylines between franchises. It's the Lakers history and
Speaker 2: majesty against the Celtics dominance and Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.
Speaker 2: They embody that decades long struggle. Even into the nineties
Speaker 2: with the Bulls and their dominance, you had consistent storylines.
Speaker 2: Now you can't develop those storylines because players do not
Speaker 2: stay so and also with fantasy sports and betting, people
Speaker 2: care more about individual players than they do teams or
Speaker 2: even the league. And the NBA has I think struggled
Speaker 2: and failed in trying to reverse that trend or develop
Speaker 2: something new because the product, to your point, is subpar.
Speaker 2: And I get tired of all the excuses. I get
Speaker 2: tired of watching these players run up and down the
Speaker 2: court and pull up for logo threes, or they're running
Speaker 2: a fast break and they pass it back for a three.
Speaker 2: The skill set being demonstrated is less than I don't
Speaker 2: care about the athleticism shooting lower percentage shots. Going back
Speaker 2: to Anthony Edwards, he recently received his fourteenth technical foul,
Speaker 2: and I believe it's fifteen or sixteen in the NBA.
Speaker 2: If you get that in the season, you're automatically suspended.
Speaker 2: Anthony Edwards, for all of his talent, is not as
Speaker 2: let me say, marketable or as savvy as other players.
Speaker 2: As far as the public presentation, and I think he's
Speaker 2: self aware. He's saying, you know what, I don't want
Speaker 2: to be the face of the NBA because I don't
Speaker 2: want the pressure of everything rising and falling on me.
Speaker 3: I just want to play basketball. Are you cool with that?
Speaker 4: Yes, I'm cool with anybody who is self aware. And
Speaker 4: to be fair, Michael Jordan might have had the same
Speaker 4: amount of fouls if he didn't have a team of
Speaker 4: people who protected him.
Speaker 5: So the game has changed.
Speaker 4: There was literally people who were on the team to
Speaker 4: make sure that Michael Jordan was okay. And we all
Speaker 4: knew that, and we used to all get mad about that,
Speaker 4: but it pulled you in. But when you really think
Speaker 4: about the league right now, it would either be Anthony
Speaker 4: Edwards or John Moran.
Speaker 5: We know John Moran is in the.
Speaker 4: Rebuilding of his reputation right now because but he is explosive.
Speaker 3: And Yoki studying even talk.
Speaker 4: He does it, and Yokich will tell you really quick
Speaker 4: he's ready to go home right now, right So he
Speaker 4: is not the one.
Speaker 5: I love Jokic.
Speaker 4: I think Joker he's one of my favorite players because
Speaker 4: of how grounded he is as a human. But that's
Speaker 4: how that's me. I like the totality of players. I
Speaker 4: like a great basketball player who's also a great human,
Speaker 4: so that will draw me in. But that's not the
Speaker 4: average basketball fan. The average basketball fan wants to see
Speaker 4: something exciting. So to your point, I love Victor Wominyan,
Speaker 4: but there is no way he could be the face
Speaker 4: of the league because there is not an ounce of
Speaker 4: explosiveness in that he's too big to be explosive.
Speaker 2: And the thing, and going back to Joki, sorry to
Speaker 2: interrupt you, I don't know if the NBA, and is
Speaker 2: so very American based fan base, will embrace a foreign
Speaker 2: born player as of yet.
Speaker 4: That is a great point because Jannis said when Luca
Speaker 4: came to LA he said it was great because he
Speaker 4: wanted more Europeans to be in big markets so people
Speaker 4: could start focusing on European players. So there's definitely a shift,
Speaker 4: and it's interesting to me because we are very One
Speaker 4: of the other downfalls of the NBA, in my opinion,
Speaker 4: is the lack of us having the ability to attach
Speaker 4: ourselves to young talent. Because now these players are going
Speaker 4: to college, they're usually one and done, so we don't
Speaker 4: have the opportunity to build up that fan base for
Speaker 4: that specific player. The WNBA right now is the opposite.
Speaker 4: These women are staying in college for three four years,
Speaker 4: and so they're taking their fan base with them to
Speaker 4: the w Now, when these kids are coming into the NBA,
Speaker 4: what you're probably going to do is watch the combine
Speaker 4: real quick, watch a bunch of his highlights, and then say, oh,
Speaker 4: is he good for my team or not. But you're
Speaker 4: not connected to that person as a player or as
Speaker 4: a human. So there's a bunch of different places where
Speaker 4: if I was a marketing person in the NBA, I
Speaker 4: would say, let's take a step back. Sometimes, if it's
Speaker 4: not broke, you shouldn't fix it. We fixed a lot
Speaker 4: of things that are negatively impacting the NBA right now.
Speaker 2: Well they need to fix something because there's a lot
Speaker 2: broken with the NBA, and it's all about eyeballs. If
Speaker 2: people don't want to watch, they don't want to pay
Speaker 2: to come to the games. It's very difficult for that
Speaker 2: any organization, much less of multinational global organization to grow
Speaker 2: it's fan base.
Speaker 3: It's Later with mo Kelly. It's always good talking to
Speaker 3: Jackie Ray.
Speaker 5: Yes, thank you.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on Demand from
Speaker 1: Kfi a M six forty