After Hours with Amy Lawrence Hour 3

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Void where prohibited. Let's talk to, is it Bright Man? Who is in New Orleans? Welcome to After Hours. What's going on, Amy? Kyle Harrison says the earth is flat.

Is he crazy or what? So I thought about it for a second and I said, well, I love what we're told, what we're taught. Let me at least look at, learn something about it. I'm perfectly comfortable and confident in my knowledge that the earth is spinning on its axis. That's why we have gravity and that's why we don't fall off. The sun and moon, the sun travels just like the moon. The sun and moon are the same shape and size. Wait, wait, hold on. Did you say the sun and the moon are the same shape and size? They're about the same size. No, the sun and the moon are not the same size, man. After five, maybe eight, nine months, I was told there's thousand percent sewers that the earth is flat. No, no, sir, sir.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. My favorite part of that whole conversation is that I called him sir multiple times. I was trying really hard to be polite even after he came up with some cockamamie ideas about how the sun and the moon are the same size. My goodness, the moon and the earth aren't even the same size. Forget the sun and the moon. Anyway, who cares if we have photos? After last night's show, in which we were talking about the moon landing, in the larger context then of the historical events you wish that you had witnessed in person, either on TV or actually being there to see it with your own two eyeballs, and the number of people, Ryan, who replied on our Facebook page that the moon landing, quote unquote, was done in a studio in Hollywood or some such nonsense was astounding.

That is crazy to me. Forget the fact that there are people who are alive who worked on that project, that there were people. Did the last astronaut just pass away or is there still one that's alive that was part of that project?

I think Buzz is still alive. Okay, so there are astronauts out there who were part of it, right, and who told their stories repeatedly. There were hundreds of people who worked with NASA on that moon landing.

There are movies and documentaries made about it which feature actual footage. Forget all of that. Do you really think that many people could keep a secret? There's no, there's no way. Not that secret, but other secrets, yes. Okay, well if you're sworn to secrecy and your life depends upon it, but think about it, hundreds and hundreds of people worked on NASA at that time to get us to be, to win the space race and be the first country to land on the moon.

There's no way. You have eyewitnesses who were part of it and yet somehow you think that hundreds and hundreds of people, even now, how many years removed, right, 40 plus years removed, oh sorry, 60 plus years removed, that it's going to be a secret still. Like all those people are sworn to secrecy and no one ever leaked it for the sake of going viral or doing a podcast or dropping a bombshell. That's ridiculous. That is ridiculous.

They call them senile now. No one can keep a secret that long. That many people can't keep a secret that long. It's impossible. Trust me, it's not a fabrication. It actually happened. The fact that Occam's Razor, it's like the most logical thing in this situation is like they actually landed on the moon compared to filming it. The fact that the people land on the moon, the program worked over a studio recording, that's crazy to me how the logic works on that one. But it wasn't just that particular broadcast. I mean there were other broadcasts of other elements of the space race, right, and there were news reports and there were all kinds of newspaper articles done. I mean all those people, they all just made it up. It's too complicated to make sense. For it to be a fabrication would require too many people and too many people keeping a secret and it's not even possible.

It's more believable that we actually went to the moon than it is that we made the whole thing up and that no one has ever peeped a word about it. Yes. Right.

Alright, cool. And that was the historical moment that I wish I had seen or had been alive to witness on TV. So we were asking you and you blew up our Facebook page and our Twitter accounts with your moments and I really loved it. Some of you went back to ancient history. Some of you told me your accounts of seeing the moon landing. Others of you didn't have to go back that far, right? So Ryan pointed to Woodstock and there were other people that did the same thing.

Some people actually said 9-11. So we have a very wide range of ages when it comes to people who listen to the show, which is cool. That's great validation for the work that we do here that we are able to appeal to multiple generations. But honestly it's the power of sports. Sports don't know any age limits. You start out as a kiddo.

You may not have any clue what you're watching and you learn and you grow and maybe you stick with one team. Maybe it's a family affair. A lot of people who are in their 80s, even older than that, into their 90s. We've had callers here before.

My grandmother passed away at 100, but she was still following the Packers as a good Wisconsin native all those years of her life. So sports is something we can carry through whether we play or watch or maybe we do both through the course of our lives. And a lot of times it provides the soundtrack and maybe the backdrop for some of the big events that we'll experience with families and with friends. And you know I say sometimes on the show, pretty frequently actually, it's one of the hallmarks of me as a host. This is one of my clever lines that I repeat frequently because it's so true. And I get a good reaction every time I do.

So it's become one of my signature phrases. We agree on nothing in this country except for football. It's the only thing in the world we agree on is football.

The United States of America, we're divided 18 ways to Sunday and I actually don't think that's bad. I do wish we could get more done politically. Sometimes it seems like we're being ridiculous. But it's okay that we don't agree on anything.

I say this too, mostly as it comes to sports radio, but I think that you can apply it to larger society. If we all agreed, life would be really boring and we would get a whole lot of nothing done. So we shouldn't be seeing eye to eye all the time. We are better when we're more diverse and when we have different ideas, different backgrounds, different cultures, different languages, different areas of expertise, talent, skills, abilities. That makes us stronger as a nation. But we agree on almost nothing. Politics, religion, money, marriage, I mean, we just go on and on. We agree about nothing except football.

It's the one thing that can bring us together like nothing else. And I know some people would say, well, all sports are like that. That's not accurate. There are a lot of sports that are much more regional audiences now and that are actually not seeing nearly the support that they did, say, five years ago or ten years ago. The NBA is a great example of that. It has a fantastic online and social media presence, but it's a major problem for Adam Silver and the NBA owners that people are not watching games on TV anymore. The ratings continue to plummet even when there's star power. NHL still has an issue on TV, though there are these stadium series games and the outdoor games that people really seem to dig.

But even now with a couple of new media contracts, you're not going to get a lot of people who are flocking to watch the NHL on TV. It's not a great sport to translate on TV. It is much better in person. The speed, the power, the strategies of the game don't translate as well on TV.

To me, you have to see it in person. And I feel the same way about NASCAR, about racing. You do not understand the drama. You can't get gripped by all the emotion and how challenging and difficult it really is until you've actually gone to a race and then you might be hooked. But the other sports, most of the other sports in our country are seeing waning viewership.

Doesn't mean they aren't making money. College football, well college football is one of those where again it's a regional sport. And when it comes to the playoff games, when it comes to the huge matchups, whether non-conference or conference, yes, you'll see people flock to their TVs.

The NFL can hook us with a game that features two teams below 500. I mean it's like, it's uncanny how popular the NFL is. And I know part of it's gambling, I get that, but that's not the entire reason.

It continues to grow its fan base in incredible ways. And over the last 10 years, one of the top growing segments of the NFL population is women. Female fans who stand up and be counted, who spend more money on the memorabilia and the jerseys and the tickets and all of that. So the NFL has done a deep dive into how to market to women specifically to the point where they actually have clothing lines, right, that are specifically for women.

Erin Andrews is one of those. She's in partnership with the NFL. She's designed some, I don't know if it's jerseys, but it might be, it's definitely football memorabilia and football clothing for women. And so she has made, I don't want to say a lot of money because I actually don't know, but I'm assuming you partner with the NFL.

It's one of those deals. She's kind of gotten to this place where she's not just reporting, she's also got a clothing line that works in conjunction with the NFL. And you may see her on commercials.

She's one of the models that's kind of showing off the clothing. So more and more these sports are targeting women as well as international fans. Don't know if you saw the column that was out on ESPN.com this week. Actually it may have just dropped in the last 24 hours about how the Dodgers are very intentionally going after the international audience or the international group of fans. Whether it be Japanese because of, not just Yama, Yama, that's his nickname we found out from Teosco Hernandez, Yamamoto, but also Shohei Ohitani of course. And the idea is, and the Dodgers are calculated, they're strategic in this, they're willing to spend the money now on these international players because they believe then you're going to have an entire generation of Japanese children and children from the Far East who grow up as Dodgers fans. Which means what? Well, potentially they could travel to games and make that trip to LA, which is an easier access point for many people who travel from Asia to the United States.

They go across the Pacific Ocean. So it's about getting this young generation to grow up as Dodgers fans. Because when they grow up as Dodgers fans, likely they'll stay Dodgers fans, they'll spend more money, they'll be invested. I mean, that's brilliant. And so they're willing to spend the money on Shohei Ohitani who absolutely makes the money in return.

I mean, he's a global sensation. And so it was worth every penny for the Dodgers. 700 million, right? Fully guaranteed. Worth every penny for the Dodgers.

Not only do they have the money, but they can see down the road how this is going to pay them back in dividends. But also going after Yamamoto. And according to Yama's camp, now I want to call him Yama. What's his first name again? Yoshi Nobu. Yoshi Nobu Yamamoto.

It's amazing. So you want to call him Yoshi, I want to call him Yama. Okay. Mr. Moto. No, not calling him that. Makes him sound like an old man with something wrong with his teeth. Anyway, Yoshi Nobu Yamamoto.

That's great. He apparently, as kind of the talk goes now, always wanted to sign with the Dodgers. And was really only using some of these other teams and negotiations to try to get more money or to get the best deal. But he, regardless of whether or not Shohei was there, that's the story he tells. Whether or not Shohei Otani had signed with the Dodgers, he still planned to go there.

But getting Otani, you have to think solidified the Dodgers' position as front runner for him. Because it's hard sometimes to assimilate into a new culture. For heaven's sakes, my husband is going from Texas to the New York City area and he feels like it's a whole new culture.

And so to have someone who is not only a peer but a countryman who can share that experience with you is so much easier. I know it's more prevalent now, far more prevalent now than it used to be. But more and more Latino players and Hispanic players are on each team.

There seems to be groups of them. And what I heard from them in my time covering the Red Sox back in, well, it was 03-04 that time, how much more attractive a team was when a Latino or Hispanic player was looking for a home or looking for a free agent deal if there were other Hispanics on the team. Because, again, shared experience, shared culture, shared language in some cases for guys who don't speak English. And so more and more it's sports as an international way to make money, an international sensation. And the NFL is brilliant at that now with a game in Brazil coming up to start next season.

And so, yes, the NFL has turned into a cash cow in the league that every other league wants to be when it grows up. We agree on football in this country. We do. But I have to amend my statement just based on the last two hours. Would you like to know why?

We agree on dogs in this country, too. You all are blowing up. And, I mean, you would have thought this was a really slow week if you talked to anybody in media. Nah, you all are listening. You're out there. You're paying attention to social media because you have sent us hundreds and hundreds of dog photos already.

And I have said this a couple times. I can't really talk about it because I will start crying. It's likely to be a tough weekend for this dog mama. Penny is, she's real tired and she's dealing with a couple of different serious health issues.

It appears as though finally now they've gotten to the point where they're causing her to struggle. And as hard as it is to say goodbye, she's still eating, she's still drinking, she's still walking. I don't want her to suffer, not after all this time. And she is 14 and 3 months, so she has lived a lot longer than many big dogs do, the majority of big dogs do. She's an Australian Shepherd and their average lifespan is 11, 12. And so I'm so grateful for every last day that I've had with her. I haven't made the appointment yet. It is so painful, as you all know.

But I believe that I need to do the right thing by her this weekend. And so for that reason, your dog photos are encouraging me and some of them are making me laugh. Dogs have the funniest expressions, funniest expressions. They really do laugh at us.

They look at us, they smile, they get all excited, their eyes can tell a story. And then the way they sleep, what in the world? We have a dog, so this is my mom's dog. Her name is Gracie and she insists on sleeping upside down with all fours in the air against a door, right? So she'll start out laying next to the door, but before long she'll stretch, she'll roll, and then boom! All four, her back is on the floor, all four legs are up like paw prints on the door, the back door. We don't know why, but that's her spot. And she has no clue that we're taking pictures of her, none whatsoever.

Just tongue hanging out, all fours up in the air, happy as can be. But you know what, when you're 11 and you're a dog, you've earned whatever you would like to do. And that's how we feel about Penny. But she's starting to struggle to walk a little bit. I mean, she still loves her walk, she gets very excited.

And she has melanoma, so the tumor, the one tumor that's real prominent is starting to create some other challenges for her. But it's still really hard, right, because we tell ourselves, well, she's eating, she's drinking, she's taking her walks, she's still getting up and down the stairs. Can you believe my 14 plus dog still goes up and down the stairs multiple times per day? It takes her longer, but she is insistent on going up and down the stairs. But she doesn't get real comfortable, and she has a harder time sleeping now.

I don't like to give her drugs, but I've been giving her some to help her sleep, because a lot of times she'll be up all night moving around. She can't find a way to get comfortable. I know she's in some pain. Even though dogs are real high tolerance for pain, it's starting to become obvious that she's at the very least uncomfortable. And she doesn't run anymore, but I was trying to help her on Thursday afternoon, or Thursday morning actually, when I got home. And she was trying to escape me, which she's never done before, so I do think she's in a fair amount of pain and discomfort.

So it's really hard to do. I decided to wait until the weekend because I didn't think it was possible for me to work after saying goodbye to my puppy. Twelve years, twelve years I've had her. Actually, twelve years and just a couple of weeks. She's been running my life for twelve years, and boy, what we wouldn't give for twelve more, right?

We say, I would do anything, and I would, I would do anything to take care of her, but I just don't want her to suffer. So thank you for all your dog photos. They are priceless, and I mean that. They are precious, and they are priceless, and I have taken it back. Here's my new amended statement.

We agree on nothing in this country except for football and dogs. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. A little birdie told me, and I said this many shows ago, Russell Wilson coming on over there to the Steelers. I think right now I saw DraftKings, the betting favorite is Justin Fields to end up in Pittsburgh. No, he's going to Atlanta.

I told you, I got the script. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Lest you think you're the only one who's debating where these quarterbacks will end up, you are not. Even guys who played in the league, that's the Nightcap Podcast with Chad Ojosinko and Shannon Sharpe. And I think Gilbert Arenas is part of it as well.

I think it's the three of them. I was doing a little bit of research on their podcast because I heard it's starting to gain momentum. My favorite thing about it is that it's billed as your opportunity to get the sports news and headlines and analysis at night. Instead of waiting until the next day. What a novel idea. Grounded reeking. I mean, it's who in the world? I just don't know how they ever came up with that. Who gets credit for that exactly? Isaac Newton when the app fell on his head. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio.

Oh, for the last 11 plus years. On Twitter, ALawRadio. Thank you for your dog photos. I could spend the rest of the show just telling you how much I love them and reading their names even. That alone is making me giggle. You all have beautiful, funny, intelligent, smart and goofy puppies. But also some of you are sharing their ages which is awesome because my dog is 14 plus.

And a couple of you have sent me photos of an 18 year old dog, a 15 year old dog. I even saw a post from, I think it was on Facebook, a listener who says that his dog lasted until 24. Whoa. I know that little dogs can often live, depending upon the breed, can often live until 18, 19 in some cases.

But that is, whoa. We had a cat live to 24 once but she could barely move at that point. All she did was lay on a heater in my mom's house. It was the cat that we had when I was growing up. At some point she just couldn't even stand up anymore so they had to put her down. But that probably was carrying it a little bit too far in retrospect. The poor thing, she couldn't get it into the litter box even. And so they did put her down.

But yeah, she lived into her early 20s. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Lots of speculation about quarterbacks and this musical chairs game that takes place every off season, silly season, whichever you prefer.

The Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw was a guest on the Rich Eisen Show on Thursday. And he actually thinks that Justin Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers would be a really bad idea. Doesn't like it. They're going to beat him up and they're going to want to trade for Fields in Chicago and I say that's a huge mistake.

You don't need Fields. Stay with what you got. Just build him up.

Stay with what you got. Well, what the Steelers got is Kenny Pickett. And he is a big fan of Pickett for a couple of reasons. I love Pickett.

Kenny Pickett is, I tell you what, Rich, I know him. I know him well. And he's fiercely competitive. He's a tough minded kid.

Things don't bother him. I really like him a lot. I just want my quarterback to be poised.

All right. I just want him poised. If he's poised, then his brain is going to be calm. He's going to see the coverages. He's going to be quick with his decision making.

And Pickett has all of that. High praise from a Hall of Fame QB who, of course, is a Steeler through and through. Terry Bradshaw on the Rich Eisen Show. Now, that doesn't mean the Steelers are leading that direction. The reports coming out of Pittsburgh seem to indicate that they're torn.

They're actually not sure which direction they're going to go. They've already cut Mitch Trubisky. Right. So Pickett is under contract as well. He's under a rookie deal as well. He'll be going into his third year. Right. So he's still under his rookie deal. They do have a little more time to decide. It makes no sense to cut the guy unless you can get something for him in a trade, which I honestly don't think so because of the injuries and the fact that we haven't seen a real consistent performance from him in games that count. Right. The talk about him coming out of the preseason.

Oh, man. The offense is poised to take off and we've seen flashes from him, but not enough. Now, at the beginning of the year, I'm not sure that was his fault. Remember, the Steelers steadfastly refused to run the ball. It was the question every single time Mike Tomlin got in front of a microphone. What about running the ball? What about running the ball? Well, we're trying to run the ball.

We're trying to run the ball. And of course, they did make an offensive coordinator change halfway through the year. I don't know if it was exactly halfway, but at some point during the season and Pickett got hurt. And so they ended up using Mitch Trubisky for a bit. But ultimately, Mason Rudolph was able to step into that role.

Find a balance between the pass and the run. Najee Harris came on strong toward the end of the year. It's one of the reasons they made the playoffs.

But they haven't yet found the formula. Mason's also a free agent, though there's a lot of talk they want to bring him back, but he could have offers elsewhere. I mean, that's kind of the deal is he played so well toward the end of the season and the Steelers did make the playoffs.

All right, then. Will there be a couple of other teams that are interested in bringing him on board? And so the Steelers do have a little time left with Pickett, but also internally there is a reported debate about him as the franchise guy and whether or not they should continue to invest in him, meaning keep him as their starter. But a lot changed for the Steelers. The offensive line was a challenge last year. They really did mix and match some pieces and they were starting fresh with different pieces on their offensive line.

We don't ever talk about the offensive lines until they stink. And that was a major problem for them. So transition on the offensive line led to or I guess contributed to them not having a solid run game. And not having a solid run game was a recipe for disaster for their young quarterback. So it all kind of dovetail and snowballed together. And then you throw in the challenge and offensive coordinator, maybe a disconnect there with what they wanted to do. So, yeah, it was a mess.

It got better toward the end. Is that enough for them to give Mason Rudolph a competent contract, a long term deal? So that's one question. But then keeping in mind the number of other teams that are out there that are also looking for QBs or wanting to upgrade.

So they may have one, but they'd like to upgrade. Prevailing sentiment still seems to be, even though Justin Fields is an incredible athlete, the prevailing sentiment still seems to be that the Bears are going to take Caleb Williams. They dare not pass up on him. Even though outside the college football world, there are questions about him.

I think they're mostly about mental and emotional. And honestly, the video of him after a loss, crying to his parents, just it went viral and turned into this big thing where now all of a sudden, in the eyes of some, he's not tough enough to withstand the rigors of the NFL. Are you kidding me? We see NFL players cry a lot after big losses. My goodness, Pittsburgh had its own issue with Ben Roethlisberger sitting on the bench, crying after that loss to the Browns a couple years ago.

I mean, yeah, they invest so much in it. They're exhausted mentally, physically. I understand why tears come. When I'm tired, I'm much more emotional.

That's why they say don't ever make a decision when you're exhausted, because you tend to make more emotional decisions. But I digress. There are question marks at quarterback for a good chunk of the league. I'll just run through the teams.

And then this doesn't even include the teams that may want to upgrade if they can find a better option, which I'm not sure is possible. The Jets, they've got Aaron Rodgers, but they're likely to release Zach Wilson. What do they do behind him? Do they bring in someone behind him? The New England Patriots, no idea what they're going to do at quarterback.

And maybe Gerard Mayo doesn't know either. So right now they're kind of in that process. Yes, they still have Mac Jones. And yes, they have Bailey Zappi. But I'm pretty sure they would upgrade if they could find a better option. The Cleveland Browns have a bazillion quarterbacks.

They don't need any more. But Joe Flacco is out there if anybody's interested. Pittsburgh Steelers, we just talked about. Then you go into the AFC South, where I love the Colts, with Anthony Richardson coming back, and Gardner Minshew as a great backup who helped to spark them to a winning record.

But in that division, the three teams, Houston, Jacksonville, Indianapolis may be set, but Tennessee, they've got Will Levitz, but they're going to want to bring in someone behind him, especially since it feels like Ryan Tannehill is out the door there. In the AFC West, the Broncos appear poised to part ways with Russell Wilson. Now it's not his decision, though he and his wife have quietly put their Denver home on the market.

Does that mean he knows something that we don't know, right? Because it's not his choice. He's under contract. He could ask to be traded until the cows come home, but if the Broncos decide they're going to continue forward with that contract, it's not his choice. But it appears as though the writing is on the wall or he knows something and his agent knows something that we don't know as the public, because he is selling his home in the Denver area.

Okay, so that's a big one. For the Raiders, too, heavens, what do they do? They've got Aiden O'Connell, we know that. I don't know if Brian Hoyer is under contract for this year again. He was kind of brought in as a Josh McDaniel special because of his time with New England. Don't know if he stays there, but what do they do at quarterback? Jimmy Garoppolo is out the door, of course, and he's got the two-game suspension to serve anyway. Now transitioning to the NFC, do the Giants stay with Daniel Jones or do they go a different direction?

He still has to recover from the ACL. The commanders, how many years in a row have we asked the question about them and their quarterback position? It's been a revolving door there and they are desperate to start fresh and to get on a winning track. I know they brought in a coach that they really like in Dan Quinn and they've got owners that are committed to winning.

You're going a whole lot of nowhere if you don't figure out what to do at quarterback. Do they draft, start fresh? Do they go back to Kirk Cousins?

That was like two regimes ago in Washington. Anyway, the commanders, they obviously are question mark always. Let's see, Vikings would like to keep Kirk Cousins. No doubt Justin Jefferson would like to keep Kirk Cousins there, but that's not a done deal either. The Bears, as we've talked about, have the number one overall pick, which means Justin is likely available at some point unless they choose to keep him, but to me that's a major issue. A young quarterback who's losing his job to a younger quarterback, both under rookie deals, and Justin, I can't imagine, I'm trying to put myself in his shoes, that he wants to serve as a mentor. I mean that would add to all of the angst, so I think that's a really terrible idea and the Bears probably know it is too. In Tampa, they want to re-sign Baker. He wants to be there, but also not a done deal. The Falcons, this is why you heard Chad Ochocinco and Shannon Sharpe talking about the Falcons, because they don't know what they're going to do at quarterback either, though Desmond Ritter and Taylor Heinecky are under contract, I believe, but did that work?

No. The Panthers have Bryce Young. I don't know if Andy Dalton will stay there as the veteran backup, but they're resetting with a new coaching staff.

In the NFC West, Geno has actually had a rework deal, so he's staying in Seattle. That may be the only division. Is that the only one of the divisions I just went through, Ryan, that does not need a quarterback?

Yes. I mean I can imagine that you might see some backups change hands or maybe even third strings, but San Francisco, LA, Seattle, Arizona, all set at quarterback. Well that's rare. Very rare.

They're not all comfortable, but they're set right now. No, I think Brock Purdy is. Matthew Stafford definitely is. Stafford is definitely good. I think if there were other QBs out there that Seattle thought they could get a hand on, they would probably, well I shouldn't speak for them, maybe they would look to move past Geno, but they finished above.500 last year. I know they were out of the playoffs in week 18, but they're not drafting high enough to get one of the top prospects, unless they move up. And the Cardinals have Kyler, and they love what he did toward the end of last year. He and Jonathan Gannon are just now starting to get comfortable together. So that's maybe the only division where we're not going to see a starting quarterback change. Drama.

So much drama on the horizon for us in the NFL. Alright, coming up, I'm about to start touting him as the Dark Horse candidate for MVP. Luka Doncic with another big night for the Mavs. And, oh gosh, this is fun. We didn't get to this last night, but we should tonight as we head into a Freaky Friday. Kevin Durant, yeah, he's not having it, Charles.

Sir Charles, step back. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence. When the whole family comes together to watch the game, nobody wants to miss a second of the action to run to the grocery store. With Instacart, you can get all your weekly groceries in as fast as an hour.

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Offer valid for a limited time, $10 minimum per order. Additional terms apply. OK, picture this. It's Friday afternoon when a thought hits you. I can spend another weekend doing the same old whatever, or I can hop into my all-new Hyundai Santa Fe and hit the road. With available H-TRAC all-wheel drive and three-row seating, my whole family can head deep into the wild. Conquer the weekend in the all-new Hyundai Santa Fe. Visit HyundaiUSA.com or call 562-314-4603 for more details.

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Void where prohibited. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. It was Kyrie who was on fire in the first quarter of this game between the Mavericks and the Suns. That's Chuck Cooperstein on Dallas Mavericks radio as Doncic finished strong. Half-dozen triples. Perfect from the free-throw line. So 41 points. 11 assists. 9 rebounds.

3 steals. As I was talking to Colin Ward Henniger, CBS Sports' NBA insider about the second half, we were going over MVP candidates. And I actually believe that Luka Doncic should be in that conversation. The Mavericks don't have the same record as the Oklahoma City Thunder and he was going with Shay Gilges Alexander.

But the top of the West is very, very tight and thinly separated. There's very little margin for error or very little margin of difference among the top four. And that includes the Thunder as well as the Nuggets who are a game and a half back. But then the Mavericks are sitting in the 6th spot in the West right now. They're tied with the Suns in terms of record but have at least the current tiebreak.

Who knows how it's going to break. Which is why this game was so important to start the second half. The Mavericks have won 7 in a row, 8 of their last 10. And that includes the victory over the Suns just a few hours ago.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Luka is in the top 5 in nearly every offensive category. But I do recognize that there are incredible offensive stats everywhere you look in the league. It is an offensive league. More than ever. We know that the majority of these guys can light it up.

And they do, right? And the league's rules are built to facilitate motion and scoring and offense and they've worked. I personally can't stand to see a team take 53 pointers. I'm okay with a few mid-range jumpers and some inside-out basketball but that's just not the game anymore. And so when you have a team that goes 19 to 44, I'm just using the math numbers, from beyond the arc, they shoot better than 43% from deep, well yeah, they're going to be able to put up a big number of points. But 123 isn't even that gaudy anymore.

It barely moves the needles now. These two teams have the same exact record. Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, kind of the one-two punch along with Jusuf Nurkic, two for the Phoenix Suns, though didn't have a great offensive night last night. But then you look at the Mavericks and the way that Luka and Kyrie have settled into a nice groove.

It's impressive. It's going to be a dogfight in the West, which I love. Let's hope these guys can stay healthy. But wasn't it Super Bowl week last year when James Harden got traded? No, not James Harden. Two years ago, James. No, it was last year, wasn't it? Meaning not... To the Sixers? Yes, two years ago. It was before the Super Bowl because he got traded, I think, in October or November. He was one of the first ones to go. No, this is not to the Clippers.

This is to the Sixers. No, it was in season. It was in season, but I think it was November-ish.

Are you sure? Because I thought it happened on the heels of Kyrie and... I think it was early in the season because Ben Simmons was out for majority of the year and then Kyrie was like, I don't want to be here. And then Kevin Durant then requested a trade after that, too. I have to go back and look at the dates. Anyway, I do remember that there were... Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving were traded last winter.

It was later in the season, so maybe that's what I'm thinking of a Super Bowl week. And they end up, both of them hurt when they go with their new teams. It really worked with the Suns a little bit better than it worked with the Mavericks, but now that both of those guys are healthy and they both ended up staying put. Well, KD was under contract, but Kyrie ends up staying put with Dallas.

Now you're kind of seeing the potential with the other two there. And I am impressed with the way that they've been able to assimilate because Kyrie's not always a team player, if you will. But the Mavericks are 10 games above.500, as are the Suns. They're right there in the mix, and so I think Luka Doncic should be part of the MVP conversation. Yes, Nikola Jokic, he's won the award before. They may be a little biased there.

It's kind of easy. Jay Gildas-Alexander, I don't want to hear Jason Tatum much, and I know that the Celtics have other guys who can do damage, but they do have the best record in the league. And Jason, if you didn't see his recent conversation with Malika Anders, I think it was, where he said he was the best player in the league, he certainly got the confidence to back it up. So yeah, seven straight wins for the Celtics as well, and I think sometimes they kind of get overlooked. Jason's only scoring 27 points per game, but he also leads the Celtics in both rebounds and assists. So there's a lot there, a lot of different options, whether you go scoring, whether you go record for a team, it really does depend upon how the voters define value. Kevin Durant and Charles Barkley in a bit of a war of words while we're talking about KD and the Suns, and he's got this podcast platform called The Boardroom.

It's actually a media company that he owns, and he was responding recently to Barkley saying that he's a bad leader, that really it's about perception and it's not the truth. I'm not as charismatic as my peers. I don't have a personality that's like fit for TV.

And a lot of those stories of what we talk about don't get spoken about in the media. You got to sell what you're doing as well, and I haven't sold it enough. I don't feel like I need to. I don't feel like I want people to call me a leader, but I also don't want people to say I'm not one either because they don't see what goes on behind the scenes or what I talk about on my intentions. All the relationships that I've built with my teammates and support staff, but when guys like that say that, I just got to chalk it up to them just not being aware, push a narrative for myself, expose the truth for how great of a leader I am.

I don't feel like it's necessary. I just chalk it up to those guys not being aware of who I am. It is amazing how many different analysts KD mixes up with, right? And then on Twitter, whether it's his burner accounts or whether it's his actual accounts, Twitter and I think Insta too. He, you can never believe that KD doesn't listen, right? Because he responds to pretty much everyone. It bothers him. It gets under his skin. And I swear there are some former NBA players who do it on purpose because they know they're going to get a rise out of Kevin Durant.

So yeah, leader, not leader. The only people that really matter are the ones inside your locker room. So why waste time responding to anybody else?

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