This episode is brought to you by Bleacher Report. How do you follow sports? From college football to the NBA, Bleacher Report brings you the latest news, live scores, and epic highlights from your favorite leagues, teams, and athletes all in one app. Dive into exclusive shows hosted by your favorite athletes and original Bleacher Report series with breaking news, rumors, and predictions all season long. Download Bleacher Report to personalize your coverage. A generative AI assistant that can securely understand your business data, summarize results, and streamline tasks.
Learn what Amazon Q Business can do for you at aws.com slash learn more. The show's studio in Los Angeles. Oh my gosh. And now, sitting in for Rich, here's Brian Weber. Welcome to the program. We are live.
We'll do it live on this Christmas Eve. Always an absolute pleasure to sit in for Rich and the fellows. Do my best to support and defend his outstanding brand. We're going to jump right in talking NFL with takeaways from a virtually unwatchable Monday night football game. I watched it.
It is my job after all. I cannot blame you if you bailed out after midway through the second quarter. If you did, you missed virtually nothing. Here's a preview of our in-depth recap of what went down last night at Lambeau Field as the Packers delivered a beat down to the Saints and clinched a playoff berth in the process. New Orleans is terrible. We knew that.
Green Bay is a legitimate Super Bowl contender if they can survive the gauntlet that should be the NFC in the postseason. We'll get there coming up. This is a big college football house because Rich, as you know, is a proud Michigan man. I tried yesterday on three separate occasions to go for a 10-minute soliloquy. It's a big word Tuesday.
The polysyllabic. Oh, my goodness. Just flashing the education a minute into the show. The big words don't stop during the holidays.
Can't take a break from having a little bit of a brain. I had mapped out monologues that had so many facts and strong arguments and passionate takes about why the expansion to the 12-team college football playoff format was always doomed to give us what it did on Friday and Saturday. We know the ratings are in.
The spin machine is cranking up. We'll get there coming up in the next hour of the program. But every time I wanted to opine about why eight would have been the ideal number, we knew that the college football playoff was always going to expand. So we knew this thing was always going to go to eight. Now it's 12.
In two years, it's 14 or 16. But every time I tried to be filled with passion and energy, the phone lines lit up. Maybe that was you telling me, hey, fill-in guy, whoever you are, we don't need you on a soapbox. But there is significant news in college football that broke yesterday, and it wasn't a complete surprise because we knew Georgia's starting QB, Carson Beck, went down on a Hail Mary final play, first half of the SEC title game against Texas, which, incidentally, generated a bigger TV rating than any of the college footballs. Which, incidentally, generated a bigger TV rating than any of the college football playoff games did in the opening round, speaking to what the SEC folks always tell us.
It just means more in that part of the country. Undeniably, the undefeated heavyweight champs of college football, even though Michigan won the natty last year much to Mr. Eisen's delight. So Carson Beck was already projected not to play in the quarterfinal matchup coming up against Notre Dame. And if you care about the view from Las Vegas, the Irish were initially installed as a slight favorite. Well, if you're thinking about future odds for Georgia's ability to win it all, it became official yesterday, Beck needed surgery on the elbow. It was an elbow and shoulder issue, you'll recall he suffered against Longhorns, meaning if Georgia is going to get back to their familiar spot of competing for a national championship, they're going to have to do it with sophomore Gunnar Stockton, who we saw in the second half of that SEC championship game. We'll get to the college football coming up in the next hour of the program.
The NBA still has a major presence on Christmas Day, whether you are aware of that or care about that or not. So, because in addition to being old school beyond my attempt to have a very enthusiastic delivery, and I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen, we're wide open in this first hour of the program. You can slide in at 844-204-7424 to be fully candid with you. I'm not going to take a phone call or even be open to the possibility until 40 past the hour. So if you're on hold, stay there or if you want to hang up, you can give us a call back in a half hour. As always, your best bet is social media.
Hit me up on the X platform, B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's. I am going to talk some NBA coming up in a half hour. It feels like even though we have not even gotten to the new year, haven't even reached the All-Star break, which if you follow the NBA, you know, is not the midway mark. It's really about two-thirds of the regular season in the books, and now the All-Star game is going to be even more of a debacle because they've just given up. And they ripped off the format from hockey's All-Star exhibition. But coming up later in this hour, what do we make of all of the hand wringing even by pro NBA circles? And I'll be totally upfront with you, I love basketball even more than football. In fact, I should get to the football in 30 seconds if I want to return live on Christmas Day. What is really going on with the NBA that's led to a massive dip in TV ratings once more?
Is the audience voting with their clicker or are there larger things at play? And does the league really need to consider radical change, like for example, knocking the regular season down to 65 games? There's a school of thought the NBA opening day should be tomorrow.
We will cover that coming up. One thought on Christmas Eve, and I try to be open-minded, and you get to a point in your life where you wonder, am I going to continue to learn? And I'm not saying go back to school. I've already had my rant about wasting way too much money that mom and dad wouldn't loan me on a master's degree. But I'm saying there's nothing wrong with admitting that you don't know something. It's the ignorant thing to say, well, I don't know what I don't want to learn, right? So I'm on the elliptical yesterday.
Believe it or not, thankfully, no simulcast. I'm reading the paper, another sign that I'm 140 years old. I like to have a physical piece of material in my hands. I don't want to be scrolling through the phone.
Plus, I'm an original sweat hog, so there's some technical issues there. And I came across the term with a reminder. Today is Christmas Eve. And if you celebrate Hanukkah, we have the rare alignment of Christmas Day and Hanukkah coming up tomorrow. So happy holidays, however, and whatever you celebrate. I was yesterday years old when I learned that some people call December 23rd Christmas Adam. Why?
Well, the article spelled out Adam came before Eve. So I guess that's a thing and just want to throw that as an aside. No commentary there. I'm Paul Harvey.
Now, you know the rest of the story. I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen. We will not have a guest coming our way until our number 2, 140 Eastern. We will take you around the NBA with Joe Farden of the Athletic 240 Eastern. We'll wrap up the program with the NFL insights provided by my good friend Eric Edholm of NFL.com. In addition to being on top of everything going on across the league, he spends a lot of time year round focusing on the draft. So not too early to start thinking about Chador Sanders.
Thank you very much. Will he wind up with the New York football Giants? The Saints could desperately use a quarterback that was on display for all of us to endure last night. And I'm not going to sit here and crush Spencer Rattler, as mentioned with that long winded aside. It should be pretty obvious that I'm as passionate about college football as I am about the NFL. And if you actually know who I am, probably the sole reason would be my time at NFL Network.
That's how I met Rich, and that's why I'm lucky enough to be in the chair again this week. But if you track college football, you know who Spencer Rattler was. He was a poor man's Baker Mayfield, not only because they shared the Oklahoma link in common, undersized, listed about 6 feet tall, wrapped up his career at South Carolina.
And we saw last night he was a fifth round pick for a reason. That ends your New Orleans analysis. I have nothing more to offer on the Saints who were the biggest mirage in all of football this year. And I realize the season is so long, we sometimes forget things that happen in even September or October.
It feels like ancient history. Forget about training camp or the preseason. You shouldn't pay any attention to exhibition football other than injuries. But do you recall a time in which the Saints were considered to be an offensive juggernaut, unstoppable, and yeah, they shredded the Cowboys as everybody did to start the season, but don't look now. Big Mike, all sides pointing to McCarthy, going to have the ability to survive an advance. You cannot bury Mike McCarthy even when you lose Dak Prescott and other significant injuries, the Cowboys somehow, someway, primarily because they have nothing to play for. That is the typical Cowboy move, but the win over the Bucks on Sunday night makes it four of their last five. But the Saints were running wild on people, and the hot take industry was saying, well, is this the year, for example, that Derek Carr saves his career?
We found out that was not the case. In fact, we found out that Derek Carr, in all likelihood, has ended his brief run in New Orleans. They made the coaching change.
The Rizzler, Darren Rizzi ain't going to get that job, so let's shift to something that really matters. How good are the Packers? Now, it's hard to come up with a fair assessment based on what happened last night.
That was a hospital job. Still, it does reflect some of the key components that would lead you to believe Green Bay can at least duplicate their surprising run to the divisional round in part last year in the postseason because the Cowboys just did not show up at home, which was reason number 17. Why, Mike McCarthy should have been fired immediately after that game, but Jerry Jones, I'll be kind.
It's the holiday season, and plus I know Rich has a good relationship with Mr. Jones, and I want to come back on New Year's Day. Let's just say the Cowboys work in mysterious ways. So the Packers proved that was not an aberration by hanging tough with the Niners, you'll recall, for the better part of the first half and change in the divisional round. And they were the youngest team to make the, quote-unquote, tournament, the NFL playoffs last year. Jordan Love was a year ahead of schedule, and if you're a Packer fan, here's what you got to like. The defense, if you care about metrics, after a wobbly start this year, looked up this morning just to confirm I wasn't deluding myself, Packers are right there, top five, top ten, depending on what measurement you want to use.
If you throw out the first four games, and the NFL is so long of a season, it's better to digest it in chunks. The defense, with the shutout, reminding us that this is a formidable unit. And for all of the question marks about would Jordan Love be able to build on what he did last year, and he, like the defense, went through some ups and downs, another clean sheet last night.
Now, if you actually stayed up and watched the entire thing, you saw Malik Willis come in in mop-up duty, but Love was not asked to do much, and he delivered exactly as was sent his direction with the play calling. An efficient night, what do you have, 182 yards, most importantly, another game without an interception. That was the huge flaw in his game mid-season, he had just become a turnover machine, it appears for now, he has put that behind him, and the Packers proved, once more, running backs do matter. Saquon Barkley, the most glaring example of that, as he makes his case to be the MVP. Remember, he still has a shot at breaking Eric Dickerson's single-season rushing record, and it's not going to require ludicrous numbers the last two weeks. He needs to average roughly 165 yards per game, he could certainly do that, but Barkley is the example we always point to, along with Derrick Henry, that all of the discussion that running backs are largely interchangeable, plug-and-play. For Henry, the question mark was, he's 30, ton of carries in Tennessee, how much mileage did he have left? Well, he looks pretty good from my perspective, however, of course, I never played the game, I just bark into a microphone, so Henry, shining for the Ravens, Saquon, probably going to win the Offensive Player of the Year as a consolation.
MVP, I believe, is heading to Josh Allen for self-evident reasons, it's a quarterback-only award now, other than Adrian Peterson in 2012, when he came back from the torn ACL and ran for over 2,000 yards, and Ladani Tomlinson wrecking the league back in the day. But, as Barkley and Henry have pointed out, running backs are still relevant, and we saw that on display last night, and if you're a Packer fan, again, it is hard to come up with firm analysis here, because New Orleans is just that awful, but it wasn't just Josh Jacobs, and couldn't the Packers use that kind of intensity when we get to the postseason on the ground? Let's say it's a Green Bay-Philadelphia matchup, and I realize this is hard to say today, but I'm trying to take a big picture, reasonable review of the season. Yes, I'm aware of how hideous that performance was by Philadelphia, defensively blowing the 21-7 lead on the road in D.C. on Sunday, but Jayden Daniels had a lot to do with that, because he was superhuman with the five touchdown passes, overcoming the five turnovers his team coughed up, including two interceptions he threw. But I think Philadelphia's defense, if you look at their body of work, is very stout. So let's say it's a Green Bay-Philadelphia matchup.
I'll get to the seeding possibilities in a moment. You're going to need to run the football, and Jacobs last night looked like the human Heisman, right, with the stiff arms, and he had plenty of help. In fact, you put it all together, and again, I looked it up this morning just to confirm, because I have no life. I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich Eisen. If you want to find that out by picking up the phone, have at it, 844-204-7424.
I'll turn on the personality for you. Packers ran for 188 yards, and at one point early in the game, seven different players had already carried the ball midway through the second quarter. So it was a comprehensive win on both sides of the football.
Don't you think the Raiders, because suddenly this show becomes all Raiders all the time when I'm in the chair, don't you think the Raiders could have used Josh Jacobs? Of course not, because they are the silver and black after all. Here is my question about the authenticity of Green Bay.
How much can we really buy into them? Show me their marquee win. I mentioned the Eagles. Well, that was not a hypothetical game, although many of you probably don't recall it was played, because it was contested in Brazil, and it was streaming only on Peacock.
But if you watch that game, on that horrendous soccer pitch, with all the players slipping and sliding, it felt like a Super Bowl atmosphere in South America, because for whatever reason they can't fix the field at the Super Bowl anymore. Remember Jordan Love went down with the tweaked knee at the end of that game. Eagles beat the Packers early on.
You can say, okay, week one, throw it out. Moving along, Green Bay has also lost to Detroit twice, and if you're thinking about head-to-head against Minnesota, which is their next opponent in a spicy matchup coming up on Sunday, they kept it close, but they lost 31-29. So at some point, be it head-to-head against Minnesota, or if you're thinking about how things could play out in the postseason, at some point Green Bay's got to beat a quality opponent. I'm not bashing them.
I'm not trying to poke holes for unnecessary reasons. I'm just saying I need to see more, and that's what the playoffs are all about. And if we're stacking divisions right now, it is incredibly top petty, as you probably know, in both the NFC North and the AFC West, although I don't believe in the Broncos that much. Yes, quite an achievement to make the playoffs, and they're in great shape. They have a two-game lead over the floss'em and jets'em hanging on, on the outside looking in. I'm talking about the Colts, the Dolphins, and the Bengals all at 7-8.
Bengals the best 7-8 team you've ever seen. Joe Burrow putting up MVP numbers, and it's all not going to matter because of their absolutely horrible defense. But flip it from the team with the best record in all of football going after the three-peat, Chargers, like the Packers last year, ahead of schedule as Jim Harbaugh continues to do remarkable jobs of fundamentally changing the culture wherever he goes, and the Broncos, while I have doubts about them much more than Green Bay as a wildcard comp, they in all likelihood are going to the playoffs. Think about all of the power residing in the NFC North. Detroit right now has the inside track on locking up the top seed and home field advantage throughout the playoffs, but if you haven't looked at the schedule, and after all, why should you?
It's Christmas Eve. I mentioned Minnesota, who like Detroit, is sitting at 13-2. It'll be the Vikings taking on the Packers in Minnesota this Sunday, and then the collision at Ford Field, Lions and Vikings, division title, and likely the top seed in the NFC on the line. And while I understand the absolute incredible atmosphere that's generated by those passionate fans in Motown, the Lions have proven recently, just go back to the wild game against Buffalo, that shootout that they were able to rally from the early deficit to make it competitive, but lost in. The Lions are vulnerable, whether they're playing home or away. Straightforward equation, going to the Bay Area against a beat-up Niner team on Monday night, but the winner-take-all game effectively against Minnesota, I don't think it's that huge of a factor that game will be played in Detroit. It really comes down to what's more significant at this time of the year, the Lions. Wave of injuries. I'm talking about six or seven defensive players who make a huge impact, not available, along with David Montgomery. Or do you think, in a high-leveraged situation, Sam Darnold is going to revert to the Sam Darnold we saw with the Jets and the Panthers, and we saw in too many competitive games at USC, and I'm talking about his pension to come up with ghastly turnovers.
We'll find out coming up, not this Sunday, but next Sunday. I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen. I give out the phone number for Reason, 844-204-7424.
You can hit me up on the X platform. Don't call it Twitter. We don't need Elon coming after us. It is B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's, no guest here in hour number one. It's just me and you in 20 minutes. We'll get to the notion that the NBA is in such a predicament, it should be open to significant, massive change. Is that a fair statement, or are we cranking up the old hype machine? Coming up, just a little bit of baseball. I'll use the AP naming Shohei Ohtani their athlete of the year, male athlete of the year to be precise, yesterday as a catalyst to put that season in proper perspective.
Does Ohtani deserve even more props for what he did on the diamond as much as many of you have completely tuned out the grand old game? We are just getting started on a jam-packed Tuesday. I appreciate the company during this holiday week. I know you got a lot going on, so thanks for carving out some time for the Rich Eisen Show. I'm Brian Weber, always a pleasure to be in for Rich and the Fellows.
It is a Tuesday edition here on the Rich Eisen Show. Let's talk O'Reilly Auto Parts, people. You love their jingle, you're going to love their friendly, helpful service even better.
Because they're in the business of keeping your car on the road. And the parts knowledge they have, it's all you need for your maintenance and repairs. They've got thousands of parts and accessories in stock, either in-store or online, so you never have to worry if you're in a jam. The team at O'Reilly Auto Parts can test your battery for free in or out of your car. If it needs to be replaced, they'll find you just the right battery for your vehicle.
Need your windshield wipers replaced, a brake light fixed, or quick service? They'll help you there and find the right part or point you to the nearest local repair shop for help. The professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts are your one-stop shop for all things auto. Do it yourself and you can find what you need in-store or online. So stop by O'Reilly Auto Parts today or visit us at OReillyAuto.com slash Eisen.
That's OReillyAuto.com slash E-I-S-E-N, O-O-O-Reilly Auto Parts. As a business owner, you're always going that extra mile to pursue your passions. So you deserve partners who can help you go further with premium benefits and rewards. The American Express Business Platinum Card offers world-class business and travel benefits. So you can get more for your business wherever it takes you. With the Amex Business Platinum Card, you can earn 1.5 times membership rewards points on select business purchases. And you can get complimentary access to more than 1,400 airport lounges worldwide, including the Centurion Lounge. So you can keep running your business while you're on the go. See how the Amex Business Platinum Card gives business owners like you the tools and rewards to do more of what you love.
Terms and points can't apply. Learn more at American Express dot com slash Amex Business. Welcome back to the Rich Eisen Show Radio Network, Brian Webber with you. And I'm proudly sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you. Call click Grainger dot com or just stop by. 844-204-7424 is the phone number.
I am a veteran of working the holiday shifts, especially and specifically. And I always enjoy the opportunity here on the Rich Eisen Show. I know from years of experience, many of you are focusing on things that are more important, believe it or not, than what happens here in the sports world. So I will continue to read the phone number if you're new to my approach and we get to the end of the program and I haven't taken a phone call. You're going to say, why did that auctioneer continue to rattle off the phone number? It is part and parcel of what we do in the radio industry. And when I get to tomorrow without a phone call, you're going to hear me say phone calls taken selectively.
But since it is the holidays and I'm in a great frame of mind, I'm open to chatting with you if you want to pick up the phone or slide over to the X platform. B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's. In 15 minutes we talk NBA. I'm not getting granular. I'm not breaking down all five games coming up tomorrow. We're going to look at the state of the league. And unfortunately, if you love basketball, the NFL now has hijacked another holiday.
Not too long ago, Christmas Day was all about hoops. I do have one thought that could give the NBA a slight, just a slight edge in some households tomorrow. Remember, Netflix enters the NBA NFL war and they're going to be a huge factor in eyeballs because Netflix is a global platform. The Netflix debut comes tomorrow.
That is an NFL streaming exclusive. So maybe some old school folks like my relatives will just flip on either traditional cable or network TV and they'll stumble across an NBA game and think Michael Jordan's playing and it's 1992. Speaking of 1992, that was the last time many of you cared about baseball. But even if you have totally tuned out MLB, you have to, if you have a degree of objectivity, have to admire and appreciate what Shohei Ohtani continues to do. I mean, it is not only historically exceptional, it is transcendent. And he earned the recognition of the AP yesterday being named Male Athlete of the Year for the third time in his career. That ties him with Jordan only behind the four-time winners that include LeBron, Tiger, and Lance Armstrong. Which one of these things, or perhaps two of these things, do not belong there? But I'll keep moving.
After all, it is the holidays. Ohtani to me, and it comes down to a few, I think, fairly direct explanations, does not get the credit he deserves. You say, wait a minute, tough guy, you just told me he won a prestigious award.
Okay. Why was Ohtani not the biggest story of the entire year? Yes, he's being recognized by the Associated Press and that reflects the old days of newspapers. But if you think about what he accomplished on the diamond last year, a 50-50 season is unfathomable. And my gimmick when I got into this industry decades ago was I was captain sports history in a pre-Google universe. That was a skill.
I actually made decent money in my 20s and then the internet came along and I had to hustle a bit harder. If you love sports history, what's better than baseball? Because you have a century to chop up and all these arcane facts like, what can I give you, Hack Wilson, 190 RBI in 1930. And the baseball is so weird, they found him another RBI. They went through the box scores about 20 years ago. Or Johnny VanderMeer, back-to-back no hitters, that'll never happen again. You get my point. Baseball gives you more of a historical sample size than anything.
I guess boxing and horse racing would be the only other cops. So for Ohtani to break through with a 50-50 season, that should have been the most buzzworthy, the most talked about pursuit. And when he got there, acknowledged achievement in our lifetimes. But I think it comes down to a few things. As Stephen A. Smith said inelegantly and certainly got the pushback he deserved, Ohtani's limited ability to speak English is a factor.
Let's just tell it like it is. Most countries embrace people who can speak the native language. Ohtani can speak some English. And he's tried. And guess what?
How much Japanese can I speak or can you speak? I think it's a nonsensical factor, but it's out there. The language barrier is something that I think has in some ways kept Ohtani at a distance from casual fans. Now, if you want to get nerdy, you're going to get inside the numbers and say, wait a minute, Bill James. 50-50 is special. But remember, he did it as a DH, so he never had to expend energy playing in the field.
And my counter to you would be get a life. Is it that hard to wrap your head around how incredibly unique 50-50 was? I'm hearing people disparage the 50 stolen bases because of the rule changes. And yes, I am aware. To speed up the game, they've limited the throws over the first and pick off attempts.
And I'm aware they expanded the size of the bases and now the bags are roughly equivalent to a large pizza box. I get it. The guy still hit 50 home runs and stole 50 bases. Are you kidding me? Now, maybe it's a Dodger thing. I get it. The perception is the Dodgers bought themselves a World Series knowing, just go back to the Mets bloated payroll a couple of years ago. What did that get, Steve Cohen?
Absolutely nothing because baseball is the most random of all the sports when you get to the postseason. So I can understand those of you who do not appreciate the Dodgers, you view them as an evil empire. I fully can appreciate that point of view. I don't agree with it, but you're entitled to your own opinion.
However, you're not entitled to your own facts. So I'm glad Otani got his flowers, as you kids say. And perhaps it's also my work schedule that I'm with you a full week in early July. Rich typically takes July 4th and the adjacent days off. And I'm talking a lot of baseball there.
Or I'm back with you on Labor Day. And the last guy talking just a little bit of baseball with the stretch run before football dominates everything. But if you had told me 20 years ago, 15 years ago, somebody would get to 50-50.
We just lost Ricky Henderson over the weekend. I realized his power stroke came later in his career. But Ricky could never approach 50-50. Canseco got to 40-40 and given everything he was taking, he probably could have gotten to 50-50. He cared about it, but I don't want to get into the whole PED asterisk.
Otani, to me, is such a unicorn. Maybe we just can't fully comprehend what he's doing because he is one of one. Because he's going to be Ruthian again when he comes back from the latest elbow procedure and pitches next year.
And I'm just wondering what the criticism or the apathy will be when he becomes a two-way player again. Hits 40 home runs. Maybe the stolen bases go down because he wants to protect his arm.
Think about that as well. The guy consistently put his body on the line on the base pass. But you're telling me somehow he's jaking it because he's a D-edge. I am not trying to be an Otani fanboy.
I do not. It will not work for the Dodgers. I'm never going to have anything to do with baseball again. I'm just trying to be fair-minded for the life of me. I cannot understand why this was not a bigger story over the course of the year.
Other than it did not involve the letters NFL and we know that the National Football League crushes everything in its path. The face of NFL media is Rich Eisen and it's a delight to be in the studio for Rich and the Fellas. You can keep me company if you want to pick up the phone. 844-204-7424.
I will check out the X platform coming up. That's B.W. Weber. Weber with two B's. Back to the NFL in 25 minutes as we ease into hour number two. If you did not sit through the majority of an absolute demolition applied by the Packers, shutting out the Saints last night, clinching a playoff berth with the win, I can't blame you. But I'm going to use that as a way to pivot into the conversation about coaching openings.
The Rizman, the Rizzler, Darren Rizzi will not be keeping that job as the rimhead coach. How attractive an opening is? New Orleans, we know it's a great town. How about the Saints?
When you look at that roster, how much hope would you have other than you play in a mediocre division? We'll get there, tipping off hour number two. Straight ahead, we will get to the NBA.
I'll connect it to the Otani conversation. Just as many of you yawned your way through a 50-50 season, a lot of you have absolutely no interest now that five NBA games come your way tomorrow because the almighty NFL has a double header lined up with good matchups. If you don't know the schedule, again, I can't blame you.
It's a holiday week. Chiefs and Steelers, Ravens and Texans, four teams on their way to the postseason. Does the NBA now, beyond going head-to-head with the NFL tomorrow, does the NBA have existential, on a big word, Tuesday, threats?
Is this league in crisis or should we not believe the hype? That's coming up. I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich Eisen. We continue here on the Rich Eisen Show. This year, Santa's bringing the power of Energizer into his workshop. Whoa, the Energizer Bunny's got so much power. Wait, he's powered up all the toys. I think that means we're done for the year.
I love this bunny. He's the hardest-working helper the North Pole has ever seen, and he wants all your gifts to have the power of the number one longest-lasting AA battery. So this holiday season, stock up on Santa's and the elves' favorite battery, Energizer Ultimate Lithium. This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. The holidays mean more travel, more shopping, more time online, and more personal info in places that could expose you to identity theft. That's why LifeLock monitors millions of data points every second. If your identity is stolen, their U.S.-based restoration specialist will fix it, guaranteed or your money back. Get more holiday fun and less holiday worry with LifeLock.
Save up to 40% in your first year. Visit lifelock.com slash podcast. Terms apply. We continue on The Rich Eisen Show. We're live on this Christmas Eve, and we'll do it again tomorrow. Rich believes in making sure his fabulous audience is fully lined up, even on a holiday. So if you have nowhere to go, now I'm going to get dark.
This is going to be like It's a Wonderful Life, which, after all, is a movie about taking one's life. But again, I try my best to be upbeat, especially during the holidays. But if you're working tomorrow, if you're on the road, if you don't have a place to go, and again, I'm not trying to make light of any of those things because all three apply to yours truly, I'll be here for you. 844-204-7424.
You can always hit me up on the X platform. That's B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's. Going to handle the NBA here, and thankfully I went to the Mike McCarthy School of Clock Management. I didn't leave myself too much time to kill the momentum of the program. We will go in-depth and get the insights of a longtime basketball journalist coming up an hour from now, 1.40 Eastern Time, when we check in with Joe Vardon of The Athletic. He was in Philly last night for the latest Sorted chapter provided by Joel Embiid. He actually played a game last night, or attempted to, before he got thrown out in the second quarter.
Didn't like how the whistles were being blown. We'll talk about the particulars of that, and more importantly, is there anything Philadelphia can do to salvage their season? They did come up with a victory over the Spurs, so what should have been a marquee matchup between Embiid and Wambunyana was cut short because Joel was sent to the showers before halftime. We'll talk about the NBA's need to reassess the current state of the product when Joe joins us, and that's what I'm going to tackle here with the NFL taking center stage coming up in less than 15 minutes as we go through coaching openings that we already know about.
New Orleans, the New York Jets, and Chicago, and we'll do some deductive reasoning to try to figure out jobs that, and I'm not wishing for anyone to lose their vocation, especially during the holidays, but the likely jobs that will be opening up when we get to Black Monday in a couple weeks. So, if you're not aware, the NBA is supersizing the holiday coverage once more, became their new approach a few years ago. Five games, wall-to-wall basketball, and they're going with bright, shiny objects in the attempt to get ratings, so Knicks versus Spurs to get things going. That's Wembley against the brand that plays at the world's most famous arena and upgraded the roster with the Karl-Anthony Towns trade. We'll talk about the impact for both the Knicks and the T-Wolves who've been scuffling when Joe Vardon joins us from the athletic in an hour.
T-Wolves taking on the Mavs. Hopefully, Luka Doncic will be able to play. He's been banged up, and we'll go through the other matchups as the program rolls along, but I mentioned the Doncic injury. Some of what is slowing the NBA down this year is unfortunately just bad luck. You cannot control injuries. Now, it's going to sound counterintuitive when I get into what's coming up because I'm going to defend load management to an extent, but there's no way you can forecast the wave of injuries. We'll connect it to the NFL because football drives every conversation, just as the Lions could not have foreseen being absolutely decimated, primarily on the defensive side of the football, led by the absence of Aiden Hutchinson, but unfortunately David Montgomery, the running back who is the one-two punch with Jameer Gibbs lost for the season a couple weeks ago. Injuries happen in sports. That's why I think Chidora Sanders and Travis Hunter are making a major mistake by agreeing to play in the Alamo Bowl on Saturday. I don't care that Coach Prime, and Dion's a good friend of Rich who I'll tread lightly here, but Dion putting out there that both his son and the Heisman Trophy winner will have the most insurance any college player has ever had to take the field. Okay, how do you insure against, let's say, a torn ACL in a bowl game when you, Chidora Sanders, are projected to be potentially the number one overall pick unless you want to go with Cam Ward? It makes no sense to me. Because injuries are the one thing we can't control in sports, or life for that matter.
Why do you think I walk so gingerly? I can't afford to go on the IR. There's no pool of money for me to dip into. I'm not talking about Workman's Cup, but I don't have the Players Association on my side to say, yeah, I tweaked my hammy. I can't lean into this mic but still pay me.
I don't have to show up tomorrow to work on Christmas Day, which I volunteered for, so I don't want to sound like I'm looking for your empathy. I'm having a degree of sympathy for the NBA in this one area. Injuries happen. It is part of the sports landscape. Now, the bigger elements this league has to overcome are self-inflicted. Once load management became acceptable, how do you reverse engineer it?
How do you take it out of the mix? And the league has tried with the 65-game threshold to be eligible for first and second All-NBA honors, which triggers the supermax contract. And now we're talking Powerball dough. NBA contracts, as you know, 240, 280, insane. Those are millions, by the way, absolutely ludicrous amounts of money.
Once you have 200 million in the bank, do you need another 200 or will you settle for 170? So I understand what the league was trying to do with that requirement. It has not really changed too much behavior other than Tyrese Halliburton, who hasn't stacked away 500 million yet and also plays for an old-school head coach in Rick Carlisle. But Halliburton grinded through the injuries so he could play the 65 games. And then what happened when the Pacers got to the postseason?
He got hurt again, which made their improbable run to the Eastern Conference Finals all the more impressive. So unfortunately, load management's not going away. Here are things the league can do to make the product more watchable. Because if you believe ratings are the end-all, be-all, NBA is off to a very challenging start. And I'm not talking politics here, not because I'm scared or going to shut up and bark into the microphone, because I don't think it's relevant. I think this has nothing to do with those of you who subscribe to the go, whoa, get broke nonsense. I'm not lining things up left and right.
These are strategic miscues by the league, namely the overabundance of three-point shots. And I'm not against math. I'm not against smart people. I used to be smart before I got into sports media. At least I thought I was smart.
Or the people who gave me good grades because I did extra credit led me to believe that kind of nonsense. Analytics is not necessarily a negative, but when it, like anything, is taken in excess, it fundamentally alters the product. And the current NBA is largely unwatchable because it is all 3s all the time. We have centers now jacking up a dozen 3s, and nobody bats an eye. So obvious fixes around the three-point shot could be made at the All-Star break if Adam Silver wanted to, if he believed the league was in crisis. For example, get rid of the corner three.
These guys are too good with their accuracy. That shot is too easy for NBA players because of the dimensions. It's the shortest one, right? Think about it. I'm not getting into geometry.
It's an arc out there. The easiest three is to knock down the corner three. Get rid of it. Just have a straight line wherever you want to put that line. I think you've got to push it back. Although the problem is, because guys like Steph Curry and Trey Young can knock them down from mid-court, dudes are still going to chuck up 3s even if the line is pushed back to 37 feet, 39 feet.
You pick it. I think the more tangible solution is you limit the number of 3s a team can attempt per game, or per quarter, however you want to break it up, meaning they will, like timeouts, view them as precious assets and not waste them early on because let's say you're down six with 90 seconds to go, and if you've been wise, you have not expended all your three opportunities, you have an easier shot at catching up. I don't like math, but we did that, I think, in pain-free fashion. I don't buy for a second that the NBA should start on Christmas Day, and part of that also would say knock the schedule down to 65 games. Now, I think there's too much of everything now in sports, which, again, sounds like I'm biting the hand that feeds me because I work in sports media.
However, I'm just telling you what's realistic. Never forget, these are television shows. The league, for all of the criticism I think justifiably it's taking, just signed a new media deal that kicks in next season that runs for a decade in which they effectively got a 75% increase in the media money because they went to Amazon, because streamers have unlimited resources. So, to make the product more watchable, don't tell me that they're going to cut inventory because that's where the revenue comes from. Yes, in a perfect world, 65 games would be better than 82 because the guys would be more rested and you wouldn't have the load management nonsense and lackluster play, although they diminish back to backs, but now the wrinkle of these two game sets, which are odd, but I understand why they were constructed that way. So, 65 games is never going to happen. You can throw whatever nonsensical ideas out you want.
I'm just telling you, deal with the facts. It would be too massive of a revenue hit. So, if you want to start on Christmas Day and we're playing 82 games, now we're having the NBA Finals in August? How's that going to work out?
TV ratings tank once you get to roughly early June because many people have lives and they finally go outside after enduring a long winter and a middling spring. So, I think a lot of this is just fantasy speculation. That's not going to happen. But one straightforward fix that would fundamentally improve the game and get us back to a semblance of post-play mattering. Remember we had big men in the NBA and we have Wen Banyan, but like Otani, he's a unicorn. Another one-of-one kind of setup here.
Limit the number of threes, eliminate the corner three, and I think the product would be instantaneously upgraded. And if you're Adam Silver, you've already completely abandoned the All-Star game because that was unwatchable. Now you've got to think about more systemic change. Back to the NFL and the upcoming coaching vacancies. No victories there. I'm Brian Weber and for Rich Eisen on The Rich Eisen Show. Thank you.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-12-24 16:28:24 / 2024-12-24 16:46:41 / 18