11-2-23 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 2

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For important information, visit Principle.com slash disclosures. One of the things I love about this job, one of the things I love about covering the world of sports is that a couple times a year, the impossible happens. Defies logic from the category of you can't make this stuff up. And while the Texas Rangers were built to be a champion, they did not take an easy path. This odyssey, it was anything but typical.

In fact, it was completely unconventional. And as we celebrate with the Texas Rangers on this first night of November, we want you to hear those final moments as the Rangers ascend to the pinnacle, the promised land of baseball. Two balls, two strikes. Spores, kicks and fires.

He struck him out looking. It's over. It's over. The Rangers have won the World Series. Ranger fans, you're not dreaming. The Rangers are the World Series champions. After 52 years in Texas, 63 years of the franchise, the wait is over. And the celebration has begun.

Straight up 8 o'clock in the Mountain Standard Time Zone, 11 o'clock on the East Coast, 10 o'clock back home in Texas. Josh Spores wraps it up. And the Rangers are your World Series champions. Can you believe it?

Wow. May the ghosts of 2011 be forever erased. On Rangers Radio, the team of Eric Nadel and Matt Hicks getting to call the final out of the 2023 World Series as the Rangers are champions. And we are so pleased to have Eric join us now from the desert, from Arizona, where the party continues.

But he's taking a couple of minutes for us. Eric, what's it like to hear that final call back on the radio? I got goosebumps, Amy.

I really did. I heard it once on our postgame show. I haven't heard it since.

But, oh man, I still can't believe it. You know, this is my 45th year on this job. 45 years. And, you know, we've spent, I think, three generations of Ranger fans over the course of this franchise's 52 years in Texas. And so to actually get to say the Rangers have won the World Series is, to say it was a bucket list thing for me would be a gross understatement. From the beginning, this team has had some character, of course.

They've got some really impressive individual talents. Bruce Bochy added to the mix, though, and he's an old-timer like you are. Actually came out of retirement to guide this team. How do you summarize or even begin to explain his impact on the Rangers? Well, he has a calm but really assertive presence.

I guess that's the best way I would put it. And, you know, as the Rangers were going through all that adversity in the second half with a bunch of guys getting hurt, particularly their All-Stars, and having this incredible roller coaster of winning streaks and losing streaks, you know, he kept everybody calm. He kept people from panicking. You know, he stayed pretty constant in his lineup.

You know, he didn't show any signs of panic to the team. And it just seemed he's got the magic touch. There's something about him that, you know, instinctively he just makes the right move, starting with spring training when he took Josh Young, a raw rookie, and put him in the number five hole in the lineup. And just about everything he's done since then has worked out right.

He's got a gift. He's obviously great at handling people. And the game strategy is fantastic. We've had some really good managers in Texas, Buck Showalter included, you know, one of the best game managers of all time. And, you know, Boach has everything. He's got the ability to handle the players better than anybody else. And the game strategy, he misses nothing. And he just, he's got the touch. And now will soon have a fourth World Series ring. You will have your first. What does that feel like to know you're going to have a World Series ring, Eric?

It's crazy. I honestly never thought it would happen, Amy. Chris Young got the job as the general manager. And I knew Chris when he played for us in 2004. And he's one of the very few players who I stayed in close touch with. Because he, you know, he lived in Dallas. He grew up in Dallas. And when he got the job, he told me, you've got to stick around for a few more years because we're going to win this thing.

And it's not going to take that long. You know, he knew he had the commitment from ownership to go ahead and go for it. And honestly, I love Chris. He's super intelligent.

He's super competitive. And I didn't believe him. I really didn't believe him. And I was thinking all along that, you know, there's no way, when we lost over 100 games two years ago, there's no way that he's going to turn this team into a champion, you know, in any time soon.

I'm 72 years old. And for him to have done it as quickly as he did, you know, with the help of John Daniels, who really built the nucleus of the team, and the majority of the players on the team were acquired during John Daniels' regime, the fact that they have done this, it's just absolutely unbelievable. I mean, it really is still unbelievable.

It's four hours since the game ended. And I'm still in disbelief. Incredulous. But it's a good feeling.

It's certainly a good thing to be incredulous over something positive like this. Eric Nadal is with us from the desert, where the Rangers have just wrapped up the World Series in five games, their first ever in franchise history. And Eric's been with the team for 45 years as their play-by-play announcer.

It's after hours on CBS Sports Radio. Why do you still do it? What keeps you coming back to that microphone? Well, Amy, it's actually still fun. You know, I honestly can say that it started dragging for a while, for a few years, but the new rules this year, with the pitch clock in particular, have really revitalized the game. You know, I think the fans feel that way, and I feel that way too, and I think almost all the announcers feel that way also. There's just less dead time. You know, when you look at an average game time going from about 3.05 to about 2.40, that's 25 minutes of time when nothing was happening that has been pulled out of the game. And all of a sudden now, this year, the game has a rhythm again. The game, you know, feels like the game felt when I started doing these games in 1979, and that's about what the average game time was.

It was just over two and a half hours. And as an announcer, you don't have all this dead time to fill. The game just moves along at a decent pace, and it made it so much more fun this year to work with the pitch clock than it's been the last couple of years. But, you know, it's basically, I get paid to watch baseball games, you know, and shoot off my mouth about it. It's fun.

I've got two great partners who I love working every day, and I don't do a full schedule anymore. And as long as the Rangers, you know, work with me on the number of games I'm going to do, why would I not keep doing it? It's still fun. I want to ask you, if you don't mind, about 2011. For baseball fans, they certainly remember the Cardinals' iconic rally. It's considered one of the best World Series in baseball history. What do you remember about calling that series? Oh, game six was the biggest, you know, the biggest nightmare that I've gone through. And I really, you know, if you had asked me about this yesterday, I would have said, I really don't want to talk about it. But today, today, now that the Rangers have won, you know, it really did erase the demons for me.

Now I can talk about it. But, you know, I thought it brought Ranger fans together, you know, as a grouping, having gone through that thing. And I know a lot of the fans who were Ranger fans in 2011 probably aren't with us anymore. And I feel really badly that they didn't get a chance to experience this. But it was a horror show. You know, the Rangers had never won.

They'd been around for 40 years in Texas. And 51 years, you know, including their time in Washington, they'd never won. And they were a strike away, not once, but twice, and didn't get the job done. You know, a fly ball to right field didn't get caught in the ninth inning. And then in the 10th inning, after Josh Hamilton hit a two-run homer, Lance Berkman hit, you know, this little lucky bloop hit that tied the game up. And it just ripped our heart out. And, you know, we've, as Ranger fans and announcers, we've been haunted by that since 2011. And now, just as the Red Sox fans, you know, could release the demons of Bill Buckner when they finally won the World Series after their long drought, I think Ranger fans can do that too. And, you know, I never wanted to hear the name of David Freese.

It just made me shudder. And now you can say David Freese as many times as you want, and it's not going to bother me. Redemption is sweet. That's true. But yes, the Rangers and their fans have had to suffer to get to this point.

I'm sure you've been asked this question a thousand times if you've been asked it once at all. What made them such incredible road teammates? What made them so good on the road? I have no idea because during the regular season, they weren't that good on the road. You know, they had a losing record on the road. They didn't score runs on the road.

They scored far more runs at home than they did on the road. But all of a sudden in the postseason, they put it together. Maybe it's because the season ended with a seven-game road trip. And, you know, they lost the final game of the season. And by doing so, they lost the division and had to play in the wild card round instead of having that bye. They had to go to Tampa Bay and play a team that had won 99 games. And, you know, maybe that experience brought the team together.

They went directly from there to Baltimore. We were on the road for 15 days starting with the final Monday of the regular season. And I've got to think that it was some sort of a bonding experience, some sort of an experience of believing in each other, especially when they beat Tampa Bay two games to none. And the Rangers were heavy underdogs in that series. I think maybe that was the key to winning on the road.

Nobody seems to have any plausible explanation. You know, Mitch Garber said maybe it's the hot dogs. At home, the Rangers have this fancy executive chef, but they don't have hot dogs in the clubhouse. But on the road, they order hot dogs in and he thinks maybe that has something to do with it. Eric Nadel is with us from Arizona, where the Rangers have just captured the first World Series title in their franchise history.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. You talk about the travel and the number of days away. I'm always so blown away by the idea of 162-game schedule where these guys spend more time with each other because it's long hours at the ballpark. In addition to traveling, they spend more time with each other than they do with their families during a season.

That's double the number of games of, say, the NBA or the NHL. I can imagine, you know, like all the long hours traveling. That can wear on you too. But what would you say is the spirit, the character of this group of guys? Well, the word that keeps getting used and, you know, it's a bit of a cliche, but it's true is resilience. You know, they bounce back from injuries in the second half to five of their six All-Star players. You know, they kept dropping like flies. In the first half of the season, they lost Mitch Garver and Corey Seeger each for over a month. And somebody always stepped up and filled in for them. You know, Ezekiel Doran did a tremendous job filling in for Corey Seeger. Jonah Heim became the everyday catcher and just hit like crazy and won a spot in the All-Star game. Then in the second half, Heim went down and Josh Young, the third baseman, went down. Seeger got hurt again. Nathan Iwaldi, you know, who was on his way to a Cy Young Award, it appeared, missed six weeks. And then finally, Adolis Garcia missed 10 games. And that might have been the best thing that happened to the Rangers because it caused the Rangers to call up Evan Carter. Carter would not have been called up most probably if Adolis hadn't gotten hurt in early September. You know, all Carter did was hit over 300 during the regular season in 23 games and hit over 300 in the playoffs too, batting third or fourth or fifth in the Ranger order. It's just unbelievable the way things happen this year.

Now the Rangers have won the division previously three times in the 90s and in 2015 and 2016, but it was never as improbable as this year with all the ups and downs in the second half. So Eric, how will you celebrate when you actually have a chance to get home and unpack, because we talked about being road warriors, so you've been living out of a suitcase. What will you do to mark this occasion?

Well, that's a good question. We've been told that there will be a parade in Arlington on Friday. And, you know, I was talking to Bruce Bochy about that tonight, because this is actually the 13th anniversary of the night when Bochy won his first World Series with the Giants, and it was the first World Series win for San Francisco back in 2010. It happened on November the 1st. And I was asking Bruce about it on the manager's show today, and he said, and he said, you know, it was an incredible feeling. It was totally surreal. And then the next day he woke up and there was no baseball. He didn't know what to do. He said, I had dreams about what the lineup would be the next day, and it was over.

So I imagine I'll probably go through some of that same stuff once we get home tomorrow afternoon and then after the parade is over on Friday. But I'm more than willing to deal with that after 45 years of not having it in this way. Did you shed some tears? You know, I did on our postgame show.

You know, I'm so fortunate in that Jared Sandler, who's one of our free announcers, grew up listening to me, and I mentored him from the time he was in college at USC. And some of the things he said on the postgame show about, you know, how happy he was for me and how he wouldn't be doing this as a result if it wasn't for listening to me growing up, that was pretty much too much for me to take. And the emotions kind of spilled over. But the whole idea of the Rangers being the world champions is just so unbelievable to Ranger fans who have followed the whole thing because, you know, there's been more losing than there has been winning. And we're all just so elated now. We're just over the moon, and you don't know whether to smile, laugh, or cry.

But right now we're doing a lot of all those things. Yes, and also just wanted to mention it was very kind of you, generous of you, to talk about Greg Schulte in his final broadcast too and what a ride the Diamondbacks gave him as he retires. He's such a great guy and such a great announcer too. It's so much enthusiasm even this year in his final year. I remember talking to him at the start of the season and he said, you know, I think we've got a chance to, you know, maybe make the postseason and I'll get a chance to do some postseason games again before I retire.

And, you know, like the Rangers they lost over 100 games two years ago and had a losing record last year too and they weren't close to 500. And, you know, we're both thinking, you know, this is crazy. And here we are in the World Series and, you know, getting a chance to visit with Greg every day and talk to him and Tom Candiati, his partner, was really fun for me. And Greg came in while we were still on our hour and a half postgame show tonight. Greg came in as he was on his way out of the building and, you know, shook our hands and I'm sure I'll talk to him tomorrow and, you know, process some of this.

But for him to go out by doing a World Series, man, that's the way to go. Absolutely. Well, you've been talking for a really long time so we appreciate you spending a few minutes with us. We are hearing from Rangers fans on our Twitter to say we can't wait to see Eric at the parade.

Send him our best. We can't sleep. We're still listening. So, yeah, lots of excited fans and you've been their voice for decades.

So, Eric, congratulations on this moment and your opportunity to not just earn a ring but also to call a World Series again that ends in victory. And thank you so much for a few minutes. Thanks, Amy. Thanks so much for giving me a chance to talk to you. I really appreciate it. Absolutely.

So cool. Congratulations to Eric and to Matt and to Jared and to the Texas Rangers. From Bruce Bochy who gets his fourth to the majority of the guys on this roster and in the front office who will have their first. And as he points out, and I love, love, love that, as he points out, it's no longer as painful to talk about 2011 when they were a strike away, not once but twice. Now there is redemption. There is healing in that. I talk about this a lot.

It's sports, but it's also real life. When you fail miserably, painfully, emotionally, there is an opportunity there. And there's a crossroads. You can either give up and that can be the end or you can pick yourself up. You can decide, I'm going to learn from that failure. I'm going to move forward.

I'm going to try again. So failure is only the end if you allow it to be the end of the end of your road. And anything that is worth having is worth sacrificing for. The Rangers have done that. These players have done that. The franchise has been through the lowest of the lows to get to the highest of the highs, but they will never take it for granted. It will never just be a World Series ring because they had to suffer for it. And I love it. We are always about the first in sports. And this is yet another super cool first for the Texas Rangers and their fan base.

So congratulations to them. On Twitter, A Law Radio. On our Facebook, page two, it's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio.

You are listening to the After Hours podcast. Here on After Hours, we like you as much as you like us. Hey, how are you doing? I'm good. First, I just want to thank you and all your colleagues for keeping me busy while I work all night.

You're welcome. Hey, Amy, how's it going tonight? Great.

Good. I just started listening to you about a month ago. I'm a new night pharmacist. Hey, Amy, I really enjoy the enthusiasm you bring to the early morning hours. It's so nice to listen to someone this enthusiastic this early in the morning. How you doing, Amy?

I'm good. Thanks for putting on a good show every night. I listen to it at work. It really helps me get through the night. I appreciate that you're tuning in. Thank you. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Back in studio, back at our CBS Sports Radio headquarters located in lower Manhattan, not that far from the Freedom Tower and Ground Zero. And it's good to be back in studio after a couple of nights away. Thanks again for all of your kind words on both Twitter and Facebook. ALaw Radio and then After Hours with Amy Lawrence. I did go back and answer a bunch of your questions from Ask Amy Anything.

Didn't get to all of them, got to a lot of them, but it's been one heck of a busy week. And crazy enough, for the first time in my life, I'm old, for the first time in my life on Wednesday, I went to see an allergist. So a doctor who specializes in not just diagnosing, but treating allergies. Now I've never had allergies in my life, but for some reason this year in 2023, not sure if it's because of all the rain we've had. We've been inundated with rain and wet weather in my neighborhood, or if it's because I am getting older. Maybe it's because I'm getting married.

I have no idea. I just know that all summer long, so starting in the spring, but stretching all the way through the summer, I've had a runny nose. I've had like thick kind of in the back of my throat and it never really went away, which again is not a problem I've ever had before. And it started to, well not started to, well yeah, you know what, I'll continue with that. It started to make me nervous, to concern me because I couldn't, I haven't been able to for most of 2023, get a clear voice. And as much as my voice is so strong and my vocal cards are extremely healthy, they've not been clear and there's been this thickness to them. And it started to bother me.

It actually made me wonder what was wrong with me and has something changed with my voice. And so I decided that I would go see, well I'd go to an ear, nose, and throat doctor. And I started out with the guy who specializes in the allergies in that area. And for those of you who have allergies or you have experience with a doctor who's an allergist, maybe this is familiar to you. It was the first time in my life that I'd ever had an allergy test. Do you know what they do?

They put irritants and allergens all over your arms and wait to see where you're going to have a reaction. Jay, have you ever gone through anything like this? No, I haven't. Me neither. I've never had allergies in my life.

But there I was on Wednesday afternoon. So they pull up my long sleeves on my, on my, I think I was wearing a fleece, pull up my long sleeves and all over my arm, they, well they mark it up with a pen actually, to indicate where the various sets of allergens are on the arm. And then she took what looked like, you know when you get pizza? In the middle of the pizza, there's that little plastic piece that kind of stands up in the middle of the box. Okay, the table. And it stands up in the middle of the box and it keeps the top of the box from falling in on the pizza, whatever.

Right. So it, it looked like that. Only it had six different plastic fingers that were hanging down. And so, yeah, she just would take all these different allergens on the tip of this plastic piece with the six fingers and just dot my arm one, one by one. And she said to me, this is going to itch, do not scratch. Cause there's a control group where you know that you're going to have a reaction. And so within seconds, both of my arms had points on them, just, they were so itchy. It was like torture.

Wow. And it's not a prick, right? It's just like contact. Yeah, it's contact there. It's not like they're drawing blood or anything. They're just putting these allergens onto your skin on the inside of your arm to see which ones have a reaction. Right.

And so Marco is here in studio. Have you ever been through an allergy test? I have not.

Okay. So this was my first time on Wednesday and I was telling the people that I went to an ENT, an ear, nose and throat doctor, and he wanted to do an allergy test. Cause I've been having some issues with just a thickness in my throat.

It's not really clearing up. And my nose has been running all year long. Like the entire 2023, my nose has been running, which has never happened before. I've never had allergies in my life.

So it's very strange for me. And so he takes the, the nurse takes these, these, these, these, these, these, these, these plastic pieces with like six fingers and, and there there's, oh gosh, there's probably eight of them. And she, they're dipped in allergens and she takes them out of the case and then puts a mark on your arm. And you can see actually took a, I'm not going to share the photo, but I actually took a photo of the different allergens, the spots on my arm. And then I had three reactions. So the control group is supposed to have a reaction.

There's a big welt where the control group was and then other places. So ragweed had a major reaction. Apparently I'm allergic to ragweed.

Again, I did not, this has never happened before. The doctor did say it's pretty common when you get older to develop allergies to various substances, but also mold. And I'm thinking mold. My house doesn't have mold, but he meant mold that you breathe in outside, sports, mold sports. And because I spent so much time outside training for two half marathons this year and just hiking and everything else I do outside. And because it's been such crazy wet weather, there are a lot more mold spores. So yes, I have allergens.

And so the first or allergies, I should say the first step is to try a couple of different over the counter allergy medications. And he said, if that doesn't work, then we'll move to the next step. But yeah, for those 10 minutes, he said, just find your happy place because it's going to itch. You're not allowed to touch your arms.

You're not allowed to scratch anything. This is me in the waiting area. I was going like blowing on them to try to get them from being irritated. So 10 minutes of torture to figure out what's going on. And then we don't know how to fix this. No, no, no. He said, he said, we'll try the medication.

Hopefully that will work. Just allergy medication. He said, if not, then we'll send you to the nose and throat side because here's something else that I didn't know. He asked me, do you have heartburn?

I said, no, never. But apparently acid reflux can manifest itself, not with pain in your esophagus and that area. No, but it actually can do it with just the thickness in the back of your throat, dripping the drainage.

I'm sorry. It's so gross, but that's what I've been dealing with. And so, yeah, he actually said that can be the only result of acid reflux.

And he said it's rare, but it does happen. So if the allergy medication doesn't work, I have to go back and visit him in a month. If the allergy medication doesn't work and clear up my throat and he could hear it, which I'm thankful for because I've been dealing with it all year long and I kind of felt like maybe it was just me. Like something's wrong with my voice. It's not healing, but it's actually not my voice. It's something going on with my nose and throat. Well, at least it's not like tonsils or something like that. No, no, no.

He said if, you know, the medication doesn't clear it up, then we'll have you do an actual scope down the hatch, which great. That's actually not fun at all. Have you ever had one of those? Yeah.

But I'll do a month of this. Also really funny. He walked into the office and he said, hi, my name's Justin. I was like, he addressed himself by, or he called himself by his first name, not by doctor. All those years of school for people to call him Justin.

Older guy too, older than me. And he said, hi, hi, I'm Justin. Okay.

Thanks. Hi, Justin. I actually said, hi, Justin. And then I, when I saw the nurse again, I asked her, am I supposed to be calling him Justin?

She laughed like a hyena. So I guess it's something he does. Do you have like certificates on the wall? Like, is he a doctor? Of course he's a doctor.

Yeah. He's a, he was recommended by my, my insurance and my hospital system. So yeah, he's a legit doctor, but he said, he said, hi, I'm Justin. All right.

Hi, Justin. I guess there's no precociousness there. You don't care whether or not you're called by doctor blah, blah. Yeah. It was, it was funny. Anyway. He was great.

I really liked him a lot. But now we'll see whether or not these allergy medications clear it up. It was, I'm telling you it was 10 minutes of just flat out torture. Yeah. Itchy as heck. And I, I don't even know.

I'm sure I have some allergies that I'm unaware of, but I'm not going through those tests to find out that I can't fix them anyway. So like, I give you a lot of credit. I just can't imagine the 10 minutes of torture. It just seems extreme.

Yes, it was. Then if it was any other part of my body, I wouldn't really care, right? If it was any other part of my body, but if it's affecting my vocal cords and my voice, I understand. No, it makes sense. I just, it just seems funny to me. There's always kind of like, yeah, we have no idea. Let's try this. Let's put you uncomfortable for a while. And then we'll roll the dice on something later. Oh, thanks. No, I mean, he's, he's definitely got a plan, but this was stage one.

He even said to me, do you want to go see a nose and throat doctor now? Cause you can if you want to, or we can start with this and see if it works. And I would prefer that.

So we actually know we're changing one variable at a time to know how it's going to work or not work. So I'm okay with that. If I can avoid the scope, I would be happy to. Yes.

I did that 20 years ago in my career and I have zero desire to do it again. Yes. So yeah, it's not, again, not bad. Probably most people can't hear it, but I can hear it and it bothers me.

And I never noticed. Well, that's good, but it does bother me. And my nose is running constantly.

I was gonna say it's uncomfortable and it's annoying. Yeah, I can get it. It's like almost feeling somewhat sick constantly through the year. Yeah. No one wants to feel that.

No, no one. And I know there are myriads of people out there who deal with allergies. So they definitely understand.

If you have any advice, just let me know. All right. On Twitter, A-Law Radio. On our Facebook page too, it's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Daryl Morey speaks out in the wake of trading. James Harden and Ty Lue after the Clippers game on Wednesday night. They're second in a row. Harden is with them, but hasn't played yet.

So his reaction too. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. When I got traded here, my whole thing was I wanted to retire a sixer. You know what I mean? Like, I wanted to be here and retire a sixer.

And the front office didn't have that in their future plans. You know what I mean? So, like, it's literally out of my control. It's something that I didn't want to happen. And it's just being in this position. But, you know, I got to make a decision for, you know, my family to understand this is a business. You know what I mean?

So it's just as simple as that. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. I'm not sure if this music is intentional. Is it the Clippers? Another one bites the dust. Another team bites the dust by bringing in James Harden. Going back to October, mid-October, I should say.

We're very early into November, so it wasn't that long ago. But James Harden, more than once, airing his grievances publicly with the Philadelphia 76ers, specifically Daryl Morey, a man with whom he had a working relationship for years, going back to their days in Houston. But the reports are now that he never wants to speak to him again. He's called him a liar publicly because he didn't get the contract that he wanted. He didn't get the max deal that he wanted.

And so instead, he demanded a trade. And the idea was he was going to make life as miserable as possible for the Sixers until he got his way because that worked in Houston. And now he is a member of the Clippers.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. We will hear from Daryl Morey before the top of the hour. But Ty Lue, head coach of the Clippers, watching his team against LeBron and the Lakers on Wednesday night.

And they come up on the short end of the stick. And so, Coach Lue, as you're watching this game, do you see anyone, anywhere, anything that James Harden can do to help you win? Yeah, I saw him for 53 minutes. And along with T-Man, because now, defensively, you know what I'm saying, we would be a lot better.

So yeah, I've seen him for 53 minutes. It's funny that he would put James Harden and defense in the same sentence because they won't be better defensively because of James Harden. However, yes, Harden is another option, a veteran team. I saw one listener on our Facebook page say the Clippers will have the oldest starting lineup in the history of baseball.

P.J. Tucker would make them better defensively. Whatever his role is, he is a guy that brings that dirt dog, tough, gritty, never back down mentality. And so he actually played in his first game against the Lakers.

Harden did not suit up, but Tucker was out there on the court. So it was good to see him. He's one that can fit into any locker room. He's vocal in his leadership, in his support of the guys, of course, but he also has a standard that he demands and he is a champion himself. He likes to talk about the dogs, or he did like to talk about the dogs in Milwaukee.

So will that also work when it comes to the grind with the Clippers? I hear you. Coach Lou, have you talked to James Harden about his role yet? First time really being around James, you know, for a full day, but you know, we'll get to that.

We got four days off to kind of sit, you know, our four guys down and kind of talk through, you know, what I see and what I need from each guy and, you know, kind of go from there. You remember Lawrence Frank, former NBA head coach? He's now the Clippers president of basketball operations and he said the Clippers like how Harden sacrifices his game to adapt to the talent around him, especially going back to his days in Brooklyn and then again with Joel Embiid in Philadelphia. Quote, he has an elite skill set and all he cares about is one thing. He wants to win a championship for the LA Clippers.

So that comes from Lawrence Frank. I'm sure that Daryl Morey thought the same thing when he brought James Harden on board and obviously the idea was also to send Ben Simmons out of Philadelphia, which he did, but this is James Harden's fourth team since the start of the 2021 season. He does have the player option that he's playing under now, but he'll be a free agent after this season.

We'll see how that translates for his future. He's 34 years old, not the same guy that he was, and there was a limited market for him, but now he joins a group that has Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Russell Westbrook, and these guys, other than Kawhi who does have a title, these guys have the same goal. They wanted to play in Southern California and they want to win a title.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. As for Daryl Morey and the Philadelphia 76ers, he actually says that there wasn't anything that happened recently that forced this trade through, but that the Clippers finally met the expectations of the Sixers and finally gave them what they were asking for in a trade for Harden. We sort of set this bar and, you know, we were probably a little too public, you know, just because this played out a little more public than I think either side would have liked, but I think it was pretty well known what we were targeting. We're very excited how Tyrese and Joel and the team is playing, but look, it's 82 games. It's a real mistake to make any decisions after three games, so we really work hard to avoid that.

This was really about the Clippers hitting the price we needed for this trade. Daryl Morey doesn't sound like he's brokenhearted over the fact that he's been called a liar multiple times by one of the game's biggest names, a guy that he's worked with extensively, but he is glad that finally the Sixers can move forward and put this in the rearview mirror. I think for our fans, you know, now they see, okay, hey, this is our group.

It's Joel, it's Tyrese, it's Tobias, it's Melt. It's like the young players we have. It's the great vets we have.

You know, I could name all of them. Pat, you know, these guys that have really come in and contributed right away and now a bunch of new vets and young players that could help. Will it help them get past the second round of the playoffs?

That is the question. So the Lakers and the Clippers do battle on Wednesday night. They go into overtime. Lakers are able to win that. LeBron James in his 21st season.

You're going to hear that a lot. 35 points, 11 rebounds, and Austin Reeves with the big surge in overtime, but the big narrative around Los Angeles basketball is that Harden is eager to sacrifice and win a title. That's the word sacrifice and win a title. Except that he wasn't willing to sacrifice a max deal moving forward with the Clippers to win the title. Did Daryl Morey promise him a max deal?

Well, we may never know that, but certainly sounds like the relationship is fractured, at least from James' perspective. He chose to handle things certain ways that I wouldn't have. He might feel the same on us, that we should have moved quicker, whatever. Look, he's a great player. He's going to do great things for the Clippers, PJ Tucker as well.

I'm glad they're in the West. We wish him well. Had a long run with him, as you said. I think this will just be a blip and something that we won't remember when we're at James' Hall of Fame induction someday. Interesting.

I like how he lands the plane. By the way, I don't know if you guys saw this, but Nick Nurse, after practice on Tuesday, apparently he was called about the deal and he was asleep. Sounds like my kind of guy. When I am sleeping or attempting to sleep, I turn my phone on silent and I'll never turn it off, but I turn it on silent so that I can not be awakened by text messages and emails and phone calls. And a lot of times during the day, phone calls will come in. So apparently, Nick Nurse got a call and slept through it.

But he said, I got up a couple hours later and I was able to come into the office. So there's no more James Harden, who hadn't played with them this year. So it didn't play under Nick Nurse and PJ Tucker, who did start the first three games.

And I actually liked that piece for the Clippers just as much as the James Harden piece, though Tucker won't be as widely celebrated. All right, we're going to pivot to football at the top of the hour. Kimmy Cechs of NFL Network joining us from Los Angeles. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. Magnificent Jerk is an Apple original podcast produced by Pineapple Street Studios. All episodes are available now.

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