After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 4

You're listening to After Hours with Amy Lawrence. I will be the most powerful Jedi ever. Soon the rebellion will be crushed. It's a trap! Now, fulfill your destiny.

It's unfair. Liar! Impressive. Most impressive. What have I done? I am your father.

If you only knew the power of the dark side. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. I don't know what it says about me, but there's never been a day in my life that I have heard the Star Wars score or the Imperial March and not broken into all kinds of smiles. And actually coming up this Saturday night, I cannot wait. I've got tickets to see a John Williams tribute concert performed by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. It's actually one of two concerts this spring that I'm really excited about. I love symphony music. I love it performed live. And I've told you before that the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra is my new favorite thing. I've gone to a ton of concerts.

I saw Yo-Yo Ma with them in November and it blew me away. But coming up this Saturday, they're doing a John Williams tribute concert because he has written music for more than 100 movie scores. The man is brilliant into, I think he's in his 90s now or late 80s, early 90s. And he still will conduct on guest appearances here and there. He's still doing some writing, though limited. Was just nominated for a Grammy, actually, for the music that he wrote for, shoot, it was a recent Star Wars series, I think. It was one of their new series that they do now.

They've got the various series that they do either animated or live action on Disney Plus. So he's still brilliant and he's my favorite composer and I cannot wait. That's coming up Saturday night and I'm going to see how many of the scores that I can guess before they reveal it. But he wrote the music for almost all of the Star Wars properties and it was supposed to retire and then he was supposed to retire again. And so I can't wait. And then coming up in May, this is something neat that a lot of different orchestras will do. They will perform the score of Empire Strikes Back while the movie is airing on a big screen in the auditorium. So yeah, I'm really excited about that, too.

I saw Jaws that way in October and it was phenomenal. So anyway, that's what I got going this weekend. Some music, also speaking to a college conference.

So it's a huge conference in New York City with hundreds of students and I'm part of a couple of different media panels which will be fun, too. So looking forward to Saturday. But first, we've got some more radio time here. This last hour before we launch you forward into your Thursday and then, of course, we're back Thursday night as the NBA resumes what is not the second half but the stretch run.

Moving forward, just 20, 21, 22 games left for all these teams as they try to position themselves for the postseason this spring. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Thanks so much for joining us. A couple of great conversations on this edition of the show. If you missed it, Mark Falwell, the Dallas Mavericks TV play-by-play voice last hour as he looks ahead to what is the final 22 games with Luka and Kyrie and how they can fix what's been an inconsistency for them, kind of a roller coaster ride, but also Dirk Nowitzki, a finalist for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. I can't imagine he's not a first-ballot Hall of Famer, but good to hear Mark's sentiments about Dirk and also the impact that he had on the franchise, now a few years removed from his retirement. In addition to that, coming up you will hear a little bit from Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love, even Landry Fields actually from the NBA arena. He's the one that made the decision to fire Nate McMillan and is now looking for the new head coach or the next head coach of the Atlanta Hawks. We may have to bring back an NFL player, an actual NFL player labeling a quarterback a sack of potatoes.

That was pretty interesting. And Carlos Beltran getting a second chance as well, finally. And speaking of second chances, Myers Leonard, my goodness. It's been two years since he was, well he was hurt already when he made the anti-Semitic slur, used the anti-Semitic slur on a live gaming stream. But he was banished, then he was traded, then he was cut, and has not played basketball in the NBA in two years.

But the Milwaukee Bucks have given him a 10-day contract and the emotion in his voice really says it all how grateful he is. So we'll put as much as we can into this hour of after hours. I don't know, sometimes I think about changing the name of the show. The name was actually given to us by a listener. We held a contest the very first weekend of CBS Sports Radio as a network.

We held a contest and this was the submission that I liked the best. And it is after hours still if you think about West Coast, 2 o'clock in the morning Pacific time. Heck, we have listeners in Alaska and Hawaii. So yeah, it's middle of the night for them. But I know a lot of our listeners are early morning here. Not that you all put that much thought into the name of the show, but I do. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio, Facebook, and then Twitter, A-Law Radio. Lots of great traffic this week, even though it's been an atypical week, a quieter week, which I love because we can get off the beaten path.

You know me, I do not stick to the script, haha, or stick with convention. It is actually the second night in a row in which college basketball was the lead, partly for what's happening on the court, but partly not what's happening on the court. Last night we spoke about Tom Izzo in Michigan State returning to hoops in East Lansing and the compassion and leadership that he showed. But we also gave you a little bit of what was happening with Alabama and Nate Oates, the men's basketball coach, who made some comments that he wanted to walk back about his star player, Brandon Miller. Now he has since indicated that he not only used a poor choice of words, but that he was uninformed at the time. He was coming from practice, he didn't know all of the info, and he recognizes that he was tone deaf in talking about his star freshman as though he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, it was just an accident, and also talking about NBA scouts when we're looking at a murder investigation and when we're talking about a 23-year-old mom and gunfire that erupted on a crowded street corner in Tuscaloosa late on a Saturday night. So even before Nate talked about a basketball game, he still was apologizing for the way that he came across. I'm not here to make excuses. I want to make it clear that I didn't have the details from the hearing that morning since I was coming straight from practice, and I used a poor choice of words making it appear like I wasn't taking this tragic situation seriously, which we asked throughout the course of it.

I sincerely apologize for that. I know Greg shared some information earlier today on the situation. I don't really have anything more to add. That's Nate Oates talking about not just his comments, but also Greg Byrne, the athletic director of Alabama who earlier in the day did his own video call in which he tried to elaborate on Brandon Miller's playing status. Remember, on Tuesday there was a bond hearing for Darius Miles and his longtime friend who are both accused of capital murder. It was Miles' gun that he supplied to his friend who then allegedly pulled the trigger and killed this 23-year-old mom. But also there were bullets that hit the windshield of Brandon Miller's car. Brandon was there to pick up Darius Miles, and in addition, he is the one that transported the gun.

We don't know if he realized the gun was in the back seat, if he didn't realize the gun was in the back seat, but he was there. And so trying to put this together, trying to take the information from the authorities as well as from Alabama, even the attorney for Brandon Miller, you recognize that you're getting different perspectives. And there's been a call for Brandon to be benched by the team or even cut by the team. So the Alabama athletic director, Greg Byrne, says we have the new info, we've considered the new info, and we've done a full investigation. When the incident happened, it was a conversation between myself, Nate Oates, a conversation with myself and the president. We have a legal counsel involved for the university.

We have our different offices within the university that are at least aware of it. And so we had normal conversations like we do for other issues, and that information was shared collectively, and collectively we decided that Brandon was able to play. That's earlier in the day, about three and a half hours before tip-off between the Crimson Tide, number two in the country, and the South Carolina Gamecocks. This game took place in Columbia, and there was a lot of booing. There was also a lot of heckling, inappropriate stuff.

I'm sure you're not surprised with college basketball fans or just college sports fans in general. But I suspect that Miller will continue to hear this, Alabama will continue to hear this. This is some new information that Greg Byrne wanted to share on Wednesday. The new information that we learned yesterday was there had been some text messages exchanged with Brandon and Darius. And that information was news to me.

I had not been told that before. And so that was that information. And then we were able to receive some information since then about the text exchange that has not been out there publicly. For instance, Darius had been asking Brandon to come pick him up for close to an hour.

He was his ride that evening. Brandon was already on his way to pick up Darius when he received the text message from him that was reported in the media yesterday. That clipped a little bit there at the end. But what Greg Byrne is saying, and maybe it makes a difference to people, maybe it does not. Seems like it makes a difference to the authorities.

But the text that Miles sent in which he told Miller that he needed a gun, he called it a joint. The text is out there. It's on the internet. You can see it. It's part of the investigation. There's obviously other words in it.

There's more to it than just that. But the text in which he indicated that he needed the gun or his gun is the one that Byrne says Miller received while he was already en route to pick up. At the time, his teammate Darius Miles. And, according to the attorney for Miller, the gun was wrapped up in some clothing in the back seat and Brandon had no idea that it was there.

It is an attorney's job, obviously, to defend his client. Who knows if that's the case. Who knows if Brandon Miller realized the gun was back there. Didn't have any idea what was going on with Darius Miles. There's been some dispute as well about where he parked and whether or not he and another teammate parked in. The victim who was sitting in the passenger seat of a car, there was a dispute with her boyfriend. So there are some accounts that don't match up. But at this point, the authorities have made it very clear they're not charging Brandon. Based on speculation.

And how can you? Unless you have some proof that he knew the gun was back there, I don't know that the charges would stick. Now I still say we're talking about a situation that could have been a whole lot worse. And the gun did get there because Brandon Miller showed up with it in the back of the car.

So there's maybe no way that we're ever going to know what he was cognizant of, what he knew, what he didn't know. But the authorities are not charging him and Alabama has determined that because of that, he is allowed to play. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Not only that he's allowed to play, but that he is an active member of our team.

That's the phrase that was used by Greg Byrne. And wouldn't you know, the freshman who is considered maybe one of the top picks in the upcoming NBA draft, he's certainly a lottery pick. He goes out and he explodes for a career high 41 points in Columbia, including a highlight reel moment in OT. Miller directing traffic 11, 10, 9, Brandon at 8, still with it at 7, at 6, Brandon at 5, at 4, at 3, at 2 for the win.

It is good! Let's get out of here! They look to trigger it in, they throw it in at mid-court, they heave it at the buzzer. It banks off the glass, it didn't go in, and hallelujah, I'll say it again.

Let's get out of here! Bama hangs on and wins it! 78-76.

That's Chris Stewart for Learfield Sports and the Crimson Tide Radio Network. So the game-winning layup in the final second of overtime. There was, I think it was.9,.8,.9 seconds left on the clock. So South Carolina did have an inbounds, which is why it wasn't over at the first point at which he thought it was.

Most ever points scored by an Alabama freshman in school history. And this was one hell of a performance, it really was. As you can understand why Nate Oates not only is thankful that Miller is part of the team still, but that he's battling through a lot to be able to perform the way he did. We make decisions based on available facts.

And that's what we did here. He's one of the most mentally tough kids I've ever coached. So not surprised, I mean, 41 points, you don't want to say you expect that, but not surprised he came ready to play and played well tonight. He was asked about the distraction, which I suppose, 41 points, not only the most for an Alabama freshman in their school history, but the most by a freshman in Division 1 this season would seem to indicate that he's handling it just fine. But there are sure to be questions moving forward. The issue, the case itself hasn't even gone to trial. Maybe the issue they hope will not impact Alabama moving forward as we get closer to conference tournaments and March Madness. And I can imagine that Nate is relieved to have the opportunity to focus solely on basketball.

But still, Darius Miles was a part of their team. He's now charged with capital murder. And the investigation, while it's not gone to trial yet, continues to be a major story in Alabama, in Tuscaloosa. All right, you can find me on Twitter, ALawRadio.

Just put this question up on my Twitter and also we'll throw it up on Facebook. As we wait to hear from one Aaron Rodgers and as we recognize that the Jets are going, maybe not all in, but 90% in, trying to convince Derek Carr that he's the one that they want. He could be a first ballot Hall of Famer.

That's the report that's out there. First ballot Hall of Famer if he wins in New York. Do you think that that's because Eli Manning is headed to the Hall of Fame? Now, different franchise, obviously, but Manning's got two Super Bowl wins with the Giants. And I don't think it's any question that he's a Hall of Famer. I think it's fairly clear if you consider his career numbers, but also those two Super Bowl rings. In fact, I even think Philip Rivers is a Hall of Famer just based on sheer numbers and his longevity.

Maybe that's more of a debate. But I was wondering if the Jets tried to pitch Derek Carr on a similar situation. You keep playing in New York, you put in another 10 years, you'll have 20 years in the league.

If you win here in the Big Apple, which actually the stadium's in New Jersey, but if you win with the Jets, then you can be like Eli Manning. I don't know about that. That's an interesting pitch though. Maybe that's their over-the-top attempt to make him believe that he's their first choice though. As opposed to, hey, we're waiting on Aaron Rodgers. I don't know. That's the source of my question. That's the basis for my question.

Considering age, ability, money, personality, and drama, or lack thereof, right? Because you're considering all these factors. Age being a big one because for Derek Carr, you're looking at giving him a longer deal. You're looking at him not being a stop-gap. But at the same time, you also have Zach Wilson. They're not ready to give up on him yet. He was the number two overall pick. So if you bring in Rodgers, and he and Wilson apparently have a good relationship, then it's for a couple of years. Wilson's ready to go, theoretically. And you can move on after that.

He's definitely the better quarterback, though he didn't have a great season, although neither did Derek Carr. But what about personality? His eccentricities. Should we call them that? His eccentricities. I had an NFL analyst say to me, and I will not identify him recently, but I think the word he used was quack. That's not a technical term, okay?

That's not scientific. But there is definitely a lot of eyebrow raising around Aaron Rodgers these days. So who would you rather have?

On Twitter, I'll put it up on Facebook as well. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. Steve Holman on Hawks Radio, and they are languishing below.500 and need a major push coming out of this All-Star break. As I say, people think it's the halfway point.

It's not even remotely. We're talking about the stretch run here, 20, 21, 22 games left to go. The Hawks are at 29 and 30.

Right now they're sitting in the 8 spot, so they'll be part of the play-in tournament, but they're looking for a surge with an interim head coach. Why? Because the new president of basketball operations, Landry Fields, well, he fired Nate McMillan. This is my decision, and it's something that I don't just put on Nate. I absolutely believe that no matter who is in that lead role, that voice has got to be partially who they are, but also just with our players and the accountability that they must have.

At the end of the day, they've got to own their stuff. They've got to own their roles and their own professional habits, take accountability towards one another. It can't just always be on the coach, but I do believe that there was slippage, and this was an area that we needed to address in order for us to continue to build out how we want to build out here in Atlanta. Slippage. I'm not sure I've ever heard a president of basketball operations or a GM, a front office type, use the word slippage. Interesting.

That's got to be a millennial thing, a Gen Z thing. How old is Landry Fields? Slippage. That's got to be a drop when producer Jay gets back.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. They needed a change. He says it was solely his decision. Slippage.

These decisions are never easy. A lot of thought went into it, a lot of conversations, and it's something that we've obviously arrived to today, and I just first and foremost want to say thank you to Nate. He has done an incredible job for us, taking over as interim after Lloyd Pierce, getting us to the Eastern Conference Finals. The band has over 750 wins in his career.

That is an unbelievable achievement for him. Just getting to know him over the past few years, the amount of respect and honor that that man has even in hearing the news is something that I'm honored to say that I was glad to have worked with him here. But as of late, my pulse and my read on this team and the changes that we're making and the things that we want to implement felt like this was the time to make a change. And yes, Quinn Snyder is considered to be a front-runner, though there are other candidates out there.

It's after hours on CBS Sports Radio, on Facebook, as well as on Twitter. A-Law Radio were asking you if your team is in the market for a quarterback, would you rather have Aaron Rodgers or Derek Carr, given all factors, not just numbers, not just for NFL MVPs, but considering the other factors as well. So if you think about the Eastern Conference, it's not quite as crowded and thick around the middle as the Western Conference, but certainly there's going to be a fight as we head through these final 20-plus games. And one of those teams that has major aspirations always, the Miami Heat. And the Heat at this point, they believe they've got a team that can fight.

They certainly believe they've got a team that's battle-tested. But they went into the All-Star break just barely above.500. They dropped two in a row, and now they're adding a veteran piece in Kevin Love. Now, this is a five-time All-Star, certainly part of a championship run there in Cleveland. But it's been mostly in reserve role with these new-look Cavaliers. Eight-and-a-half points, seven rebounds, he's played 41 games to this point. And he was kept out of the lineup for a couple of weeks because the Cavs knew that they were likely going to release him.

So now he lands with the Heat. I know a lot of these guys have been in the league for 15 years, haven't played against them. A lot of guys, I admire what they're about as well as this team and this culture here. It's a special organization. Not many teams, if any, are capable of what they're doing year in and year out.

And I've seen it, man, since I started this league and got drafted in 2008 until now. They just have a tradition of excellence. They want to win and win now, and that's something I want to be a part of. Just compete, go out there, and just get into work. And just help further this thing. They've already established themselves for so long, this year included.

So, again, just taking that to the next step, seeing where I can impact the game, impact the guys, and just make the game as easy as I can for them. Bam out of bio, apparently, was one big reason or was a major push for the Heat to sign Kevin Love. By the way, that comes from the Miami Heat social media, so we did not add the music.

That was funky. Speaking of the Heat, they were the team that Myers Leonard played for the last time he appeared in an NBA game. This goes back two-plus years. Twenty-five months since we last saw Myers Leonard on an NBA hard court. He was rehabbing a shoulder injury in the spring of 21, so he's away from the team, rehabbing a shoulder injury, when he was caught on a live gaming stream using an anti-Semitic slur. At the time, he said he had no idea what the word meant.

He just heard it, wasn't aware of its context. But the Heat essentially banished him, told him to stay away, later traded him to the Thunder, who promptly cut him. So he's been out of the league for almost two years. As you can imagine, it's been a painful stretch of introspection. He admits he nearly quit.

He had multiple surgeries over the time, shoulder and I think knee was the other one. But he believed that would be the coward's way out. And now the Milwaukee Bucks, with Coach Mike Budenholzer vouching for him, vouching for his character based on the last two years, the Bucks have given him a chance to restart his NBA career on a 10-day contract.

I'm so incredibly thankful for the Bucks organization, John Horst, Mark Lazar, the other owners, everybody. To take a chance on me like this is, I guess, it takes a lot of courage. Like I said, I plan on speaking on everything that I've done here while I'm standing here. And I think people will hear that. And hopefully, I guess my only hope is that they'll see this and be willing to give me a second chance, maybe show me some grace. That's all I can do. And I can promise you this, you'll see me standing up on the sideline.

If I get in there, I'll play as hard as I can. And I plan on trying to connect with the Jewish community and just the community in general here in Milwaukee because it seems so genuine here. Everybody I've met is so kind. I will say this, we hear a lot of apologies from athletes, really public figures, not limited to athletes, but celebrities, people who mess up in the public eye. And whether or not you believe that he knew the word that he was using, let's just say he did it on purpose. And he's anti-Semitic. Well, over the last couple of years, he's done everything he can to make amends. He's worked with Jewish community centers. He's worked with various Jewish organizations, not only to try to understand, but also to try to make up for what he did and to convince people that that's not who he is. In addition to that, he's held basketball camps for Jewish kids, which I think is awesome. I mean, he was banished from basketball, but he didn't want to give up on it. And he used a talent and a skill as a seven footer. Right.

Imagine what those kids think of him. To try to do some good. And ultimately said he wanted to play again.

And has also not shied away from talking about his mistakes. I felt like I owed it to anyone who's ever believed in me, my family, my son to to make this right. I remember one day the next morning after everything was kind of breaking down around me and I felt like my world was collapsing. I looked in the mirror and I said, you better go make this right. Show the world, show the Jewish community your heart and learn and do everything in your power and my power to just show them that I'm very remorseful.

So now here I am. Honestly, it's. It's pretty hard to believe. You know, I don't want anybody, but I guess it was it was a difficult road, but I've made a lot of amazing relationships in the Jewish community. And like I said, spend some time with my family and tried to rehab myself and feel pretty darn good about where I'm at.

I don't know Myers Leonard personally, but as apologies go after public screw ups, after public mistakes and poor choices, that one seems really sincere. And the two years that he spent away, he hasn't been wallowing. He's not spent himself pity. He's now a dad. He's got an eight month old little boy.

You can tell that that matters to him. I hope he succeeds. And I hope the Milwaukee fans recognize that as a society, we're we're pretty big on second chances. Third chances, fourth chances. As he says, grace.

I hope people will show me some grace and how many of us at some point will need that in our own lives if we haven't already experienced a situation like that. So I'm rooting for him. I'm looking forward to seeing him getting into a game. And I applaud the Bucks for taking him on.

On Twitter, a law radio, also on our Facebook page, asking you a QB question. Why not? It's just why not?

It never goes out of style. Clevenger to Muncie, the three one ground ball left side base hit rounding third coming home to score is Will Smith. Max Muncie goes the other way. It's against the ship. Smith comes in to score and the Dodgers take a two nothing lead.

Here's Amy Lawrence. Now, see, that makes me excited. I know we still have a ways to go about six, actually five weeks until opening day in its universal opening day. March 30th, all 30 teams on March 30th.

That's how you can remember it. It's not happened this way since, what, the 60s that every team has started on the same day. Still got a ways to go.

Not happening yet. But hearing Charlie Steiner on Dodgers radio gets me a little more of a thrill. The Dodgers have brought a lot of new pieces in. Stop me if you've heard this before.

But this time it's about veteran pieces, a lot of different guys that they're mixing and matching. So Jason Hayward joining the Dodgers. J.D. Martinez also signing with the Dodgers. And then Noah Syndergaard. Did you guys hear what Dave Roberts said about Noah? This is actually pretty funny as they add him to their pitching rotation.

Noah is we're still learning him and kind of what gets him going makes him tick. And he feels that, you know, to have it out there potentially and how he feels to maybe it'll be a lighter pen if it is the back to back. So that's kind of what I understand today.

So we'll see how it goes. And this is a guy that's been around a long time. So I think for us it's just trying to learn him and what his routine is.

It's a lot of guys that are in that position, right? A little bit of a rehab feeling to the Dodgers. Jason Hayward now getting an opportunity with L.A. It's been a lot of fun. What a great group to be a part of. Of course, there's a lot of championship rings in here, a lot of accolades, but a lot of experience. And also on the other side of that, there's a lot of balance with young guys coming up hungry to have an opportunity with this club and to soak up some knowledge and just have a chance to be a part of this team. So you think about those two guys who come from very different places, right? But still would like to see a resetting of their career.

Maybe not a restart so much as just a fresh start and a place for them to soar. And the fact that there are so many vets on the team, it makes sense. J.D.

Martinez, same type of thing. Why sign with the Dodgers? I was at the point in my career where I had made my contract. I had won a World Series already. I've been wanting to win another one. I've always respected the Dodgers, and I've played against them for so many years. And they're always in the playoffs. They're always in the mix.

And that's one of the main reasons I'm here, is for the opportunity to win. So think about the guys that they already have there. Freddie Freeman, of course, last year signing with them. They lose Trey Turner. They don't have Turner anymore. But they've got a Gavin Lux who's played various positions in the infield. Max Muncy is part of that infield. They recently signed David Peralta as well. So they've got him in the outfield. Chris Taylor, who can pretty much play every position on the field except for pitching and catching. Mookie Betts, J.D. Martinez, a lot of veteran guys. And yeah, the Dodgers, they're always about trying to win a World Series. It's World Series or bust. And I'm telling you what, Mookie, he's still dynamic.

And now with this kind of hodgepodge, Will Smith in there as well, and Austin Barnes that people know. I mean, he's expected to set the tone for the Dodgers. I'll do whatever it takes to win, and that's why we're here. You know, we've got a lot of vets here that can definitely lead the charge.

And so I think maybe we'll find a groove in that. But starting off, that's not even a concern of mine. Like I said, I just kind of read the situation. I'm not here to try and be the leader or try and try to do this, try to do that. Just whatever the situation calls for, you just be ready for it.

That's kind of what I do. Not sure if you all saw his comments earlier. I think it was part of that same kind of press scrum. And they were talking about the sign stealing scandal because he was with the Red Sox at the time. And so going back to 18, and we'll hear from Carlos Beltran here in a second because he, along with Alex Cora and A.J. Hinch, were kind of the poster kids for that whole scandal with the Astros. Of course, they won the 17 World Series, and that made the whole thing even more of a combustible combo. But yeah, Mookie Betts, he was asked whether or not the Red Sox were using live video feeds to steal signs, which was illegal.

And his response on Sunday was, yeah, everybody was. We heard that around the Astros. Remember that both the Red Sox and Yankees had been accused of using technology to steal signs. And it was the Red Sox who had a video replay coordinator who was punished.

He's now with the Dodgers. And so that's why it kind of came up with Mookie Betts and why there continue to be questions about what the Red Sox did, what they knew, what was happening. So the fact that Betts would say everybody was, it's just these teams, these three teams that got caught, and the Astros really who, because the players were given immunity, felt like they could open up about it. Now, those players who opened up about the trash cans and the sign stealing and the video feeds, they were the ones, I don't think they got off scot-free necessarily, but they were the ones that had the immunity while Alex Cora got fired as the manager of the Red Sox. Now he was rehired, but he got fired and had to take a year hiatus.

A.J. Hinch got fired as the manager with the Astros. The general manager, Jeffrey Luhnow, also got fired. And then Carlos Beltran, who was just hired as the manager of the Mets. It was his first opportunity and he was never given another chance until now.

It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. He's been given an opportunity in the front office of the New York Mets to potentially find some redemption. It's just weird how we pick and choose who we punish, and by we, I just mean society. Who we label a cheater, who we won't forgive, who we refuse to allow to have a second chance, and so here's Beltran trying to work his way back. I went through a moment in my career that was tough, and I also knew that I have some fans and now I don't have those fans anymore. But at the end of the day, I have to live with my life. I have to move on. I went home, reflect on what happened, how it happened, and that's it.

That's all you have to do. We grow from moments that are tough, but at the same time, we learn a lot from people. In my case, I'm okay where I am today. So welcome back to Carlos Beltran. All the redemption stories that we've got going on with Myers Leonard, as I mentioned earlier, and you heard from him. Very contrite, also very grateful to be back in the NBA, at least on this short-term deal with the Bucks. And now Beltran, back with the New York Mets.

I don't know. Carlos, if the team fired you because of your involvement, and let's be fair, Beltran and Cora were fingered as the two who were orchestrating the sign stealing and the trash can banging. Beltran at the time was on his way out. He was considered the grandfather of that clubhouse. He was kind of, I don't know, like the Peyton Manning piece to the Broncos when they won Super Bowl 50.

Let's do it for Peyton. Beltran, he was with them. He was on his way out as a player. He was more of an advisor.

What would you say? Like a mentor type of a guy? And he was hired by the Mets and then fired by the Mets. Would you go back if you were Carlos Beltran?

I wouldn't, but I can already see the seeds in place. Buck is not going to do this forever. This might be the heir apparent move that they're getting ahead of it to bring Beltran back into the fold to give him the job that maybe some people thought he shouldn't have lost in the first place. Buck is a different guy, too. He's more old school.

He's not a judge-y type. I mean, Buck is even keel and he brings a lot of maturity and credibility to that clubhouse, so you're right, it's different than what it was. But it was kind of interesting because Beltran, who's a special assistant to the Mets GM, Billy Epler, he was asked whether or not he thought he would ever work for the Mets again and his quote was, No chance.

That's what he said. No chance. But now three years later, if no one else is knocking on your door, and as you point out, there's potentially a chance for him to be groomed to retake that spot.

It's just crazy how we pick and choose who gets banished for life and who's allowed to return. And I've said this a couple of different times about Kyrie Irving versus the Myers Leonard situation. Now, Kyrie did not use a slur.

I understand that. But even in speaking with Mark Falwell of the Mavericks TV, he said there are fans who have pushed back about the Mavericks bringing Kyrie Irving based on the tweet that he put out there that promoted that movie that was anti-Semitic. And so here's Kyrie Irving, who, yes, gets, what did he get? Suspended for eight games? I think it was eight games. He gets suspended for eight games, but he's not contrite until the team forces him to apologize, forces him. And then the second he gets traded, he deletes his apology off of social media. You know he's not sorry. Myers Leonard spent two years waiting for another opportunity.

Again, it's his voice using the slur, regardless of whether or not he knew the word, he was responsible for using it. It's just so, it's different, right? A.J. Hinch is back. Alex Cora is back. You've got Astros who are still playing and now have another World Series. Carlos Beltran, three years later, is allowed back and it's not even at the same status as what he has.

Yeah. As a society, I love that we offer people second, third chances. We are big on reclamation projects and redemption, but it's certainly not handed out equally.

It's certainly not given and distributed equally across the board. I didn't intend to take this all the way up to the top of the hour so we didn't get to hear Tariq Woulin call Russell Wilson a sack of potatoes, but you know, maybe tonight. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Boom!