
Colin Cowherd Podcast Prime Cuts - Sam Darnold Injury, Drake Maye’s Ugly Performance, Sophie Cunningam
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He gives his reaction to the Seahawks come from behind win over the Patriots, Sam Darnold’s injury and Drake Maye’s ugly performance (2:00)
Then, Colin is joined by Sophie Cunningham, WNBA star and host of the “No Hesitation” podcast on The Volume to discuss her new podcast, playing with superstar Caitlin Clark and more (20:30)
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The Herd with Colin Cowherd — Colin Cowherd Podcast Prime Cuts - Sam Darnold Injury, Drake Maye’s Ugly Performance, Sophie Cunningam. Machine-transcribed; use the interactive transcript above to jump the player to any line.
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Well, it was a pretty ugly and discouraging first half was Sam Darnell getting hurt, but Seattle in a really, really sloppy 13 to 10 win. They're talent just overwhelmed you. And that's one of the great things about the NFL is if you draft well, Philadelphia, Seattle Detroit lions, um, you can overcome, you can overcome injuries, you can overcome losses. And I mean, that Seattle defense. I mean, Drake man, that final drive had three great plays. He twice ran for a first down once on fourth, once on third had a big, big completion to the veteran Mac Hollins. He throws this inexplicable interception in the end zone. That's like Drake. He's still a kid. You know, you forget that like this is year three. This is the first game of year three, you know, um, and he's still raw.
He still makes bad decisions. And we knew that coming out of Carolina. He was, he was raw. So this, this, this game has so many things to talk about. First of all, the Sam Darnell injury reminded me of a Ryan Fitzpatrick injury years ago where he jammed his knee into the turf and ended up pulling his hip. And they thought it would be a six to eight week injury. And he had to have a surgery and he was out for the season. You cross your fingers. Darnell displayed hurt. He's been beat up a lot of those games in New York. He is tough. I mean, Darnell is like like a Herbert or a Josh Allen, uh, Patrick Maholmes. Jalen hurts. He just plays her. And so, I mean, you really have to force Sam Darnell out. He's got to be in real pain to leave. I'm not a huge Drew Locke fan. He reminds me a little bit of Will Levitt. Um, Will Levitt's, you know, both Southern guys, good looking confident, good arms.
Don't love their judgment. Make weird throws. But I mean, they're talented. I mean, Drew Locke has a good arm. Will Levitt has a good arm. They're not dumb guys. They're, they're kind of sometimes overly confident, little too cool for school. Uh, don't make me love Drew Locke, but I thought he was good enough, right? Right. Not a very good red zone series, couple of penalties. But again, he's a backup thrust into a starting role, uh, against a very well coach, New England defense and a very good New England team. Um, you know, I look at Brian Flurry. This was my big concern. So when I've said this before, in creative spaces, music, art, uh, comedy, um, acting, uh, and offensive football, the creative side of football, you can spot talent really early. It separates now Samuel L Jackson or Rodney Dangerfield develop later. It happens, obviously, but the Spielbergs and the Eddie Murphy's and the Sean McVase,
uh, and the, you know, the Richard Pryor's, you, you just see in the creative fields, it hops early. And a lot of these guys, the Ben Olsins and the Shane Stikens and the McVase and the Shanahan's and the Sean Patens, uh, you know, late 20s, you know, that, that hot zones like 33 years old and the world goes, who is this? So a 47 year old former defensive coach who gets his first OC job at 47. Yeah, worries me. Not that he couldn't be capable, but he wouldn't be special. And he replaced Clint Kubiak, who looks like he's really, really special. So when I, and I've said this before, um, when, when a great offensive coach leaves like a, like a Kyle Shanahan or a Ben Johnson leaves, I mean, good luck replacing him. Liam Cohen leaves Tampa. They've never quite looked the same. Good luck replacing him. So we'll see how Brian Flurry looks, um, really choppy, a lot of offensive
penalties. Again, how much is the first time OC? How much is Drew Locke? And let's be honest about Drew Locke. This is not a rookie. It's not a second year guys been in the league forever. So I, I think a lot of the penalties, we can always blame the player. We always love to blame the player. I didn't think they looked terribly dialed up in this game. I just, I just didn't, but it's game one. Let's not overreact last year. The Patriots lost game. One of the Raiders went to the Super Bowl. Don't overreact. Um, two overwhelming takes. Uh, Drake May had some really bad picks late in the game. Um, Drake May three picks in the fourth quarter. Only had one of those in the fourth all of last season. So that's discouraging. Um, and again, AJ Brown got hurt. So he gets thrust into a weird situation where, okay, now Romeo dobs is my number one. Romeo dobs has a drop problem. That's why green Bay bailed on him. By the way, that game could have been sealed earlier.
Romeo dobs drops a ball out in the flat. That's the ball game, potentially. That is potentially the ball game. Drake May would have been free and clear. They could have been more conservative. Um, instead they had to go back again and Drake May throws a pick. And again, it's Seattle. It's on the road. I don't think Drake May is going to have three fourth quarter picks the rest of the season. Seattle is, I mean, that they're just, they got talent everywhere. Um, I mean, last year week seven against the Texans, the Seahawks had four turnovers and 13 penalties and beat playoff Houston. Week 11 against the Rams. Um, they get, they missed the game winning field goal as time expired against the Rams. They had four turnovers. Week 16 against the Rams. They trailed 30 to 14 eight penalties, three turnovers. They beat the Rams. So I mean, Seattle just got so much talent that they, you know, that's why when they went clean in the playoffs,
they won the Super Bowl. It just didn't make any mistakes. So I mean, Seattle last year Rams Texans tonight, you know, Seattle was sloppy. They have a backup quarterback, but they have just hit on so many draft picks and they just have enough. Their veterans are really quality guys like Leonard Williams. They're just such a great guy. One of the best USC players ever. Big personality. People love him. Team guy. I mean, they signed him even it is aged to an extension. They paid him big money. He's great in the room. Super, super smart football player. So I just, I just look at Seattle and it's like, yeah, they're missing Nick Almond, worry, yeah, they're missing Sam Darnell, but you still watch their speed. They're everywhere. This game just had so much. There were like if Seattle loses and they could have without that great interception in the end zone, if Seattle loses this game, what would we be saying?
Brutal Red Zone series, flurry drew lock brutal. What was it? Five tries from the four yard line subtle for a field goal. That's your ball game. But Seattle's talent overcomes it. We could have said multiple times. I mean, Drake May was unbelievable. Yeah, he made mistakes, but he ran for two first downs. He finds the receiver on a third, fourth and fourth and nine. Like this game is a game of inches, not feet. Is that Drake may? Let's give New England credit on the road in Seattle. All these turnovers. And they should have won that game. I mean, once Drake May on a third down scrambled for a first down, and Chris Collins was like, oh, all the all the advantage goes to New England. That's why when he threw the pick, you're like, what are you doing? If you're going to throw that ball, you know, you got to throw it long. You have to give the defender no chance to make that cash. So almost uninteresting first half,
fascinating fourth quarter with plays everywhere. And, you know, one of the things, yeah, I'm looking at this right here. You all say this about Sam Darnal. You know, I love Darnal. But, you know, he leaves Carolina. They're worse. He leaves Minnesota. They went five fewer games. You know, he leaves Seattle in this game. And I mean, they didn't score in the first half. Like it was, it was pretty rough. But I do think the advantage of having like drew lock, drew lock. This is his second stint with Seattle. And this happens in the NFL where you bring a guy back. He kind of understands the culture of the team. He gets the room. People in the room like him and knowing drew locks. Not a threat to Sam Darnal. But what is a backup quarterback? A backup quarterback is what drew lock did. Me drew, drew play pretty well. He made two or three really big throws. I mean, he had one to Cooper Cup called back because of an offensive penalty. But a backup quarterback, I've said this for years.
If your starter goes out two games, they can win one of them. If your starter goes out four games, they can win two of them. But don't expect long winning streaks. That's not what a backup quarterback or they'd be a starter. If you have to start up six games, they may not go three and three. They may go two and four. But two four game sample, can they win every other game? And I thought drew lock made enough good plays. Again, he's got talent. He's no dummy. He kids been around the league. The Seahawks were a great organization with a great culture. They brought him back again. So they obviously like him. And he, you know, he's shining in a couple of big moments. So, you know, Seattle did what Seattle does. Sloppy turnovers, penalties win. And I mean, that game was getting to a point before that JSN touch down where I text Josh, my producer, hi, Josh, I said,
if they don't score on this drive, you want to do this 10 minutes early. He's like, I got a feeling. Well, what do you know? JSN changed it. JSN's such a unique talent. He is such, you know, I remember when Emmett Smith played for the Cowboys. And one of the knocks on MS Smith was he's not going to have break away speed. Yet nobody ever caught him. And JSN's one of those guys, nobody's like, oh, he's a burner. Jamar Chase is like this. When Jamar Chase came out, his speed's okay. Nobody ever catches a Jamar Chase. Nobody ever catches JSN. You know, it's just deceptive speed. Ended up being. A wildly entertaining football game. So what are the big headlines? Darnold future. I mean, tomorrow we're waiting for the results of what do they do? Do they do? Do you do an MRI? I'm not sure what you do. I'm not, I'm not going to play a doctor on TV. Basically tomorrow, the story is, is Darnold okay?
Because again, Drew Lockenwin, okay? Remember New England didn't play any of their starters in the preseason. And I think I don't know if it was Mike Sereko or Colin's worth. I thought accurately pointed out, I thought it was really good broadcasting, pointed out these guys look tired. I thought New England looked really, really tired. Of course, they had the cross country trip. I thought that I didn't think Seattle looked tired. I thought New England looked tired. And I was wondering, I was thinking about this. If you're Josh McDaniel and Vrable, you're like, okay, we're in Seattle. We didn't play our starters in the preseason. Do we just go for it? We go for the win. That's the one thing about that interception. I can see the New England staff saying the Super Bowl champs, the roster's deeper. We got them where we want them. Let's not play for the tight. You're on the road. Let's go for the win. Because I thought Seattle was, they, they were as fast, laid as they were early.
They were, they were making plays all over the field offensively. I didn't, I thought New England looked a little gassed. So I mean, maybe that, maybe it's not that inexplicable. Maybe it's a go for it. If we can get out of here with a win, let's not play for over time. I don't like our chances in that space. And I don't think that's wrong on New England's part. I don't think that's crazy. I mean, maybe I'm wrong here, but I thought Seattle, they have a deeper roster. I didn't think they looked, I thought they looked fast on the final interception. I mean, I, I didn't think that was an issue. New England, you looked at the body language, you looked at the sidelines, they looked tired. Seattle will do that to you. If you're listening to this, you're probably not a casual NFL fan, as you know, neither am I. Bud Light understands that our passion runs deep. They've given us a chance to do more than just live and breathe our NFL teams. We can, we can drink them. Check out the Bud Light NFL team cans. And more than that, you can take your game day to the next level.
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About three months ago, I called Logan Swame and Logan runs our content for the volume. And I was checking and I call Logan every week and just kind of update me on the gripes positive negative. And I asked him, Hey, how Sophie and West doing on the podcast. And this was probably three months, maybe two and a half, maybe three and a half. And he said, I think Sophie wants to talk more basketball. She loves West. You guys are still close, but she wants to talk more basketball because the WNBA is getting really popular and she plays with the superstar in the league. And so when you guys, your podcast took a hiatus, there was a lot of speculation on the inter web about what it was. And I, as somebody who's founded the volume, I get a kick out of speculation.
And so I just let things play out because actually it's good for our business when people are talking about the volume. And so what Sophie was doing was rebuilding her podcast, which is now called no hesitation. And her co-host is Drew Hamlin, her shooting coach, very well known, very highly regarded. So when you were hearing Sophie, when you were hearing, oh, is controversial. What was my reaction was, oh, God, this is funny. In fact, I had texted you, but what was your reaction to it? It's just dumb. Like it's just dumb. And like I think, you know, before you're kind of have this platform and before you're kind of in the spotlight, you know, maybe I would have believed some of those stories or like would have got caught up in the gossip. And now that I'm on this side of it, I'm like, all these news outlets are just fake. They're all fraud. Nothing is real. And I think honestly, that is why I wanted to kind of, first of all, I thought
of a, you know, this WNBA, great business opportunity. Like there is no really good WNBA, NBA podcast, really WNBA that strictly talk about basketball and like all the great things that it has in the WNBA. And so I was like, why are we not talking more like this? And so I loved West. I think we had a really fun time together. I know that he's off doing great things too. But, you know, he was going through some stuff, then I was going through some stuff. Everything was very, you know, main media for both of us for a little bit. So I think a lot of people thought we were going at it. We've really burnt. We were just rebranding. He was going to do his own thing. The volume was going to take care of him. I wanted to go more basketball. And so when I first thought I was like, this is so goofy. And like we sent stuff back and forth. I mean, West, it were like these people are just dumb. So it was fun. I still love West to death. And I had a great time with him. Well, I mean, let's just say this was the NBA and Caitlin Clark came into the league. And I've compared her to Michael Jordan, where she literally changed the direction of the league. You would think it would make sense to talk about Michael Jordan, then or Caitlin Clark.
Now you play with the league superstar. Um, you know what I've said she has a Jordan quality where she literally changes the ratings. She has a Steph Curry quality in that she shoots like we've never seen in her sport. She also has a Larry bird quality, which is she's kind of gets pissy. She's physical and she's pissy and there's a Midwest toughness to her. And I think you can rub people, including WNBA rivals the wrong way. I look at her and I think she's got Jordan's ascension, Curry's game and Larry birds personality. Am I wrong? No, I don't think you I think that Larry bird honestly might have a little bit more sass than a little bit like more, um, like Caitlin is just her own her own personality, like especially off the court. Like she is strictly basketball. She loves to sit on the couch. She loves to watch TV. She's very simple. I don't know Larry bird, but I doubt that I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm
a little bit more fun off the court. I don't know if you know that. I don't know. I was comfortable. You know, they, they called him the Hick from French lick. So I think he was basically all basketball too. I love it. But, but you know, I think it's just like it's been a blessing that she has been in our league. I think the talent has always been there in our league, but just like the, the eyes and the platform and how she's transforming our game. Like we can be thankful for the people who came before us, but you can also witness greatness and say that she is great and she has done so, so much for our sport right now. And I don't know why people are so reluctant to give her her flowers. And maybe it is that Midwest mentality that people don't like. But should I love it? I'm from Missouri. I'm like, Hey, bringing on sisters. So I'm a big fan. You know, I, um, I said this about Kathy Engelbert. I said, I've worked in broadcasting for 40 years. I've been very lucky. I had very, very good bosses, but not all my bosses have been great. And I said, and you were publicly critical of Kathy Engelbert. And my take was when the league wasn't making money. And it was growing, but slowly, kind of methodically, she was fine.
And then literally in 15 to 18 months, the league exploded. It's getting, it's beating hockey. It's beating baseball. And now we need a new commissioner. And that, that's not that she's not capable. But it's just like, I mean, Kathy, it's the volume slowly grew. If the volume went from what it was the first week to Spotify in a month, we would be over our skis. And I think part of what Kathy struggled with, the league is so popular, so big, so many eyes. It needs fresh management and fresh leadership. Is that, I thought feels fair. I think it's, I think it's very fair. And then truly, I, you know, I hate to be critical because I know that job is so tough. And anyone who's in that position, it's, it's, you're going to get loved and you're going to get hated. And so you need someone who has a backbone who is bold, who is courageous, who is going to try to unify. I think the WNBA is such a spot where it's really easy to be diverse, but you need a leader
who's going to come in here and give us a common goal and unite people. And I think the our biggest thing is players, I'll just say myself, I don't want to speak for other players, but I do know this is the conversations we've had is we want to commissioner who, first of all, wants to engage in our, engage in our players. Like, we need to have a conversation. I'm telling you, like, if we were in a room and she walked in, she wouldn't even say, I know us. She would just go do her own thing. It's like, this is a player's league. So now the relationship with your players, being communication like, yes, you will like work for the owners. But at the same time, we're both trying to grow this league and make it bigger and better than ever. And so, you know, I think you're right. I think when she first came in the league, she was doing an okay job. She made some good business decisions for us. But once we exploded, I just don't think that she was ready for it. I don't know if anyone would have been ready for it. But I think our biggest thing is we want a commissioner who is going to fight for us. Who's going to have a relationship with us, who is going to listen to us so we can work and work together. And I just don't think that we had that relationship whatsoever with Kathy.
Well, I think I don't know how many people know this during COVID, Adam Silver was on the phone with LeBron James every other day. Yeah. So Adam Silver has always leaned on his star players for guidance. Remember during COVID, there were players, Dwight Howard, Kyrie Irving, that were saying, shut it down. And Adam would listen, but he really listened to LeBron James. Exactly. And I think that and I don't think that's a, I don't think that is a, I don't think that's a weakness. Rob Manfred. Oh, I think Rob Manfred, the baseball commissioner really wants to raise the floor of salaries, not necessarily cap them at the high end as much as raise the floor. He wants players to make money. He just doesn't, he doesn't want one payroll to be 80 million and one to be 450 million. So I don't know. Roger, I've seen Roger Gidell with players, like they're close. Roger calls and talks to star players all the time.
The, um, it is, it is interesting. And I'm going to throw this at you. I'm asking, I mean, I'm close with my sister. Um, I have my, my daughter and two step daughters. I was closer to my mom than my dad. Although I, I love my dad, but I was closer to my mom. Yeah. So I've always felt, uh, the volume we have, we have a lot of women in management. And so I, I think I sort of get sometimes the sensibility of women, right? My wife's very strong, very opinionated. But this question's different. And if you're offended, uh, you can virally smack me. But when you are kind of viewed a little bit, and I don't know any other term, a little bit is the leagues, um, just say it. I don't care. Sex symbol. Is that fair? Oh, hey, that is way better. I thought you were going to go somewhere conflict with this. So I'll take it. So, but my take is you lean into it a little bit like you're, you're an interesting
contradiction. You're tough. You'll fight anybody. You'll talk to anybody, but you'll make sure coming into the arena. I look good and I want you to know I look good. Tell me how you view that. Are you conflicted or is that, is that just like, Hey, it's, I mean, Dennis Rodman was wearing a dress. It was good for everybody, right? We need a star. How do you, and I don't know if that's semi offensive, but how do you view that? It's not, it's not for me. Um, maybe some people take it. I don't. And I think for me, um, the reason why I really lean into that is, first of all, I have always been super girly since a little girl. I've always loved to dress up. I love dresses. I love high heels. I love all of that. And for some reason, our society, if you play basketball, you can't dress that way. You can't be girly. No one's ever said it, but it's like the kind of feel that you can't be both. Screw all that. Yes, you can. You can be girly and you can go out and take someone's ass. Like I, I love that combination.
And I'm not just going to say that. I also think on the other side, you can go and dress a little more masculine and go out there and still kick ass. Like there's not one way to do it right. And so, uh, for me, I just, um, I know my lane. I'm going to stay in my lane. But I also know that I have a lot of young girls who are girly who are raised like I was, who have aspirations to be where I'm at that. They're like, oh, well, can I, can I do both? Can I still be girly and get my nails done and have my hair done and dress up and, you know, kind of look real hot coming into a game and they go, uh, be sweaty and work hard. Yes, you can. And so I feel like that I am just showing that you can have both. And for girls who, um, are wavering in, in their confidence, first of all, if you look good, you play good, typically is how it goes. And so, um, I also say when I first got into the league, like, ton of way, like we weren't dressing up. I was literally wearing kind of what I wore to bed. Like you were just rolling up and sweats and, and like sweatshirts, like pajamas, like I don't know, but now that we have so many eyes on everything that we do,
um, why would I not, you know, maximize my opportunity? Because if people are seeing how I dress, well, guess what? That's business. Now clothing brands are coming and sending me clothes and wanting to work with me. And so, um, I have a very kind of business mindset at times, but at the end of the day, I also just like to be a girl and I like to dress up and I like to look a certain way. Yeah. By the way, I had a, um, a coworker, probably five years ago, um, beautiful person. And, and, and, and they were getting makeup on. And we were, we were talking about this and I said, there is a reason, Tom Brady wears beautiful suits and has his hair styled and looks, it looks like a model when he's on the air. It's okay for both sexes to want to look at it. You're a public figure. I'm in TV. I wear makeup. Otherwise, I'd be hideous to look at. I get my hair fixed, right? Like so my take is people shouldn't be offended by that. You guys are brands. Yes. Okay. When they do serial commercials, that's not milk.
That they're trying to make that, you know what I mean? Like they're trying to make that look as white as possible. And, you know, like putting glue in it. It's like guys. This is all about marketing and branding outside of just the strict basketball. Years ago, James Harden, I forget what the team was. Maybe it was the rockets. They had a runway and the guys out came out. Who gives a shit? I think it's fun. No, exactly. And I, at the end of the day, um, you said it perfectly. All my friends and family. That is like game days and like when I have to be on TV or when I have to do photo shoots or stuff, responders, that is the best that I will look. Otherwise, I literally damn near look homeless and I barely wear makeup. I barely brush my hair. And so those are my days to have my shit together. And so I, I'm right there with you, but I do think it's fun. And I think the males like it. I think us females really like it. And so I think it's just the fun part of sport that you could just see kind of our style and what we like outside of the field, that's out of the court. Uh, and the fans love it. So why would we not do it? You've been in the league haven't a year, six years, seven years.
Seven. Oh, God, I'm getting old. Yeah. Seven. But so I've said this on the air outside of baseball. You guys run sort of unopposed in the summer. And when I fly around and grab the clicker, I think your sport is very clicky. I think it's very sticky that I probably two dozen times during the summer landed on a WNBA game. And I've said this, the quality of play is so much better. The passing, the ball handling, it's more, it's more of a vertical sport than almost 10 years ago. Go to your first year and go to now. What part of the basketball to you is like significantly better. Because I still hate the officiating, but what part of the basketball to you is next level compared to even seven years ago. Yeah. The girls are just so athletic. Like you would have, I feel like the women's basketball, you've always had to have pretty much a very high IQ fundamental.
Yes, you still have to be athletic and you're probably more athletic than your average. But the girls nowadays and like I say this in like the most respect, this is like probably the highest compliment you can get. Like there are girls coming out of college who play like dudes. Like in that, like just the way they, they move the way they are quick with the ball, like their skill set and me, you know, I'm like, oh, shit, I got to guard that. Like I just like to sing her out of the three-poil line and then she's my shot. Like someone else guard that. But you really see the athleticism really changing. People can dump. People are fast as hell and it's like a Libyan miles. She is. Oh my God. Like she's killing it and she literally plays like a dude and that is no disrespect. Like that is one of the highest compliments you can ever get. And so you just see more and more girls like that. The Sophie, when when we hired you at the volume and my take was the league, the quality of play was good and getting better. But there is something to be said about being a provocateur.
And many times the best players aren't. Rodman wasn't. But he knew what he was. Um, when you pointed the finger and did that gesture, I thought it was hilarious. The amazing thing, it became like this massive meme. Where did you ever just sit and go? I mean, I don't know if you had, was that spontaneous? Yes. I, I am just, I am just sassy and I don't give a flying F. I just, I just, just who I am. And so I've kind of mastered it and getting in people's heads and I get it. I've had teammates who I played against like we freaking hated you. But then one time on the same team, people like, Oh, you're actually so cool and we love you. Like we love you as a team. I'm like, yeah, duh. Like I just who I am. And so when that happened, you know, I just got in the other girls head and she got mad that I was pointing a finger and she got like mad man. And so I was like, shouldn't have done that. Like once I saw I gotcha, I gotcha and so then I just kept it there.
And so it did go viral. It was like all over the world. Oh my god. For two weeks. Oh yeah. And I walk around now and like when people asked for photos like last year was like, Hey, can you put me in a headlock? And now this year it's like, Hey, can you point at me? And I'm like, what am I doing? Stick with basketball. But it's part of the game. So who cares? If the fever offensively, you're the best team in the league. But if the fever play their very best brand of basketball, can they win the title? I think you have the fifth best record or fourth right now. I think we're fifth. Yeah. Is there what what is missing to be the first? I think consistency. And I think as a team, we know that when we are clicking, I don't think anyone can beat us. But are you going to get that version of us that night? And I also think defensively we struggle. I think we're like 11 or 10th and that is that's not good whatsoever.
And yes, we're able to outscore opponents, but play also a different ball game. It's a different type of beast. And you got to shore up on your defense. And I know in the W, the last, I'm pretty sure like six teams who won it, they've all been top three or four, maybe sides one in defense and in the ratings of defense. And we're just not there. And so during this break, we're on a two week break, because people are playing in the feba, the feba going on. Feba, yeah, feba, yeah, feba, yeah. Feba, yeah. Feba, right. Yes. Clearly I'm not over there. But we're working on our defense and we're shorn up on that. And so I think if we can just get a little, a little bit better defensively, then yeah, I mean, I wouldn't want to play us in the playoffs and we have the experience. We definitely have all the offensive threats you could ask for. And so we're a dangerous team. But again, there's a lot of dangerous teams. So it's the little details. You do understand though that getting booed and getting cat calls is actually great. Like outside of Jordan, most of the best players in my life and sports were hated in every
arena except their own. So when you get like, I don't know, I like, I think Dremon Green lives for it. I think I, I mean, I've heard, I've talked to pro athletes my whole life. They're like, I'd never seen this publicly. I love winning on the road more than at home. It's the best. And they'll never say it because they don't want to tick off the fans. But yeah, my take is when you go into a rival arena and they give you shit, it must be unbelievable to walk out with a W. Oh, it's so fun. I think both sides, when we're here at Game Bridge, it's so much fun because our fans are awesome. That like, you know, you just feel leaving good and that you put on a good show for them. But there is something special about, especially this year going into a different arena. And like, everyone knows it. I get boo 24 seven. If I touch the ball, I get booed. Like it's, it's just what it is. And the thing is, I fucking love that shit. I love it. Like bring it on. Then I think people don't know that. People don't know that I love that. And I thrive off of that. And so there is a extra good feeling about everyone hating you.
And then you guys walking out with the, with the dub and like smiling and having fun and getting on the bus and going home, we're going to the next game. So it's a good feeling. No hesitation. Sophie Cunningham. We love her at the volume. And it's great to finally talk to you. Yes, it's been a minute. We need to do this more often. We love you. This podcast presented by Bud Light, easy to drink, easy to enjoy. Hey, this is Lava Arrington here from two pros in a cup of Joe. And the biggest moments and sports are streaming live on Fox one from MLB on Fox two big noon Saturdays to NFL on Fox and so much more. Fox one brings you the games, the rivalries and can't miss moments all season long. And it doesn't stop when the final whistle blows, catch the highlights, expert analysis, interviews and the stories behind the biggest moments in sports. Watch live or on demand. At home or on the go.
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