Best of the Week on The Dan Patrick Show

00:00:00
Speaker 1: You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox Sports Radio.

00:00:04
Speaker 2: Undefeated Chargers. They've beating the Chiefs, the Raiders, Broncos, they got the Giants coming up, and then after that they've got Washington. He's Jim Harbaugh back on the show. Who has it better than we do?

00:00:16
Speaker 3: Nobody?

00:00:18
Speaker 2: I coachy, Dan, I'm doing great. I'm doing great. How about you?

00:00:24
Speaker 4: Yeah?

00:00:24
Speaker 3: Doing really really good? Really, uh, really happy. I'm happy about our team, our organization. There's a there's a never give up, never give in personality, and that that bodes well for Uh. That's the kind of hearts champions are made up. Makes me happy.

00:00:42
Speaker 2: How long will you wait to call your brother after that game last night?

00:00:48
Speaker 3: We've already texted, so I'm sure we'll talk sometime today.

00:00:53
Speaker 2: What do you add? Does he ask you or do you volunteer?

00:01:00
Speaker 4: All?

00:01:01
Speaker 3: Oh? I think? Uh? I don't know. I don't know how this one will go up. Uh, I mean, uh, he saw a lot more than I did, and Uh, it was a heck of a football game. I'm sure he knows, he knows what his team needs this. Uh.

00:01:17
Speaker 2: Punching the ball out? Do you teach that to your players?

00:01:21
Speaker 3: Yeah? Punch it out, rip it out. I mean lawn more. Uh that that ball. Everybody's going for that ball.

00:01:30
Speaker 2: But when it seems like Peanut Tillman might have been the first who was punching the ball out, but you know we're not. There's certain guys that are hard to tackle. But is that the philosophy? Derrick Henry is tough to bring down, so why not go for the most vulnerable part of him and that's the ball.

00:01:47
Speaker 3: Yeah. I think you're up a great point. I mean, if if something if mister Tailman can do it, then another man can do it once. You know, once somebody sees somebody do something that hasn't been done. Uh, then uh, you know, see if I can do it that way. You know, that's the uh, that's the mentality there. It's it's it's across sports.

00:02:08
Speaker 2: But you're teaching that to your guys.

00:02:11
Speaker 5: Sure.

00:02:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, and and you teach me every week. You show the you show the ways that that the ball is coming out and getting loose, you know, in the in the running game from non aggressive angles. Uh, you know, the quarterbacks the most at risk and the ball carrier. You know, the different ways that the that the ball comes out. You show it every single week, you know, for the for the sake of the ball carrier and for the sake of those trying to get it out. And you know, in the in the in the passing game and the interception turnovers. Uh, tips and overs. Throws are still the leading cause of turnovers in America.

00:02:53
Speaker 2: The Chiefs, Raiders, and Broncos. You've beaten them. Which out of those three was your best game so far?

00:02:59
Speaker 3: Oh? That's Uh, it's it's it's like your kids. You yeah, I mean the wins. You love them all? Uh, you you love them all the same weather.

00:03:10
Speaker 2: Has to be one where you know.

00:03:12
Speaker 3: You say that, you know, you say that as a parent. There's gotta there's gotta be a favorite. There's gotta be.

00:03:16
Speaker 2: One that I have favorite kids, Jim.

00:03:19
Speaker 3: The division wins, definitely, Uh, the division wins. You know, the ones that that that it seems are better. You know that you're you're you're right. There's there's some that are better and those are the division wins.

00:03:31
Speaker 2: Are you preparing for Jackson Dart to play this weekend with the Giants?

00:03:36
Speaker 3: Uh, we'll prepare for for the Giants.

00:03:41
Speaker 4: Uh.

00:03:41
Speaker 3: And in both you know, both both quarterbacks.

00:03:46
Speaker 2: How do you prepare you prepared differently for Russell Wilson and Jackson Dart?

00:03:52
Speaker 3: Uh, I mean somewhat. I mean some of the Uh, I mean just off the you know, just off off of what we've seen. I mean Jackson Dart, the quarterback driven kind of game as uh, you know, would be more in play.

00:04:07
Speaker 2: Talking to Jim Harball, they got the Giants coming up on Sunday. The Herbert throw across his body. As a former quarterback, how would you describe that throw? And was was that scripted to throw it that way?

00:04:25
Speaker 3: No, that was that was a that was an extended play justin it was extending the play out of the pocket. I do have the I do have the adjective to describe it. Uh, impossible. It was an impossible throw and it was an impossible catch by Keenan Allen both both justin to his left, a quarterback to his left. You know, as he's throwing it, he you know, runs into the arm of the defender. So he's really got about that much extension and and then it was just then it's just risk. You know, it's that much momentum plus wrist and you know that throws the ball. What was it twenty five thirty yards as the crow flies there and maybe thirty five with a defender covering Keenan. Uh, you know, perfectly placed. And you know John Justin's Justin's throws. Uh, you know they never die at the at the receiver. It's uh, it's got that it gets. When I catch his ball pregame, it's like none I've ever caught before, because when it's halfway to me, I know I better get my hands up and especially protect my face because it just at the end it I think baseball pitchers call it hop right when it's uh, when it speeds up at the end. And you know there's quarterbacks that that when they throw, I mean it'll hop and as it's and go up. But his will hop and go go straight on the line that it's going. It's it's uh, it's different than than anything I've ever seen. Pussy Pussy gets hit in the head uh as he's throwing it. Uh, it was all of that impossible.

00:06:21
Speaker 2: Was it a good throw? Though? If it like were you on the sidelines going no, no, yes, yes.

00:06:29
Speaker 3: Uh no, I've really learned not to not to do that anymore. There was there was, there's times there's time in practice there there's been times in games where I said, no, that he's you know, the guy's covered. But he's got the ability. And we tell our receivers everybody running, everybody alert, even if you think you're covered. You know, our quarterback can put the ball to a spot. Uh, you know, he can hit the bulls eye. It's to me, I think of it as a handoff. You know, it's a thirty five yard handoff or it's a forty five yard handoff. I've seen it fifty five yard handoff, and that's what a forty yard handoff looks like. You know, with the way he can, he can put the ball right on, right on the bullseye.

00:07:19
Speaker 2: We had him on preseason and I ask him if he would incorporate more running, kind of like Josh Allen because when I saw him in college, certainly in the Rose Bowl, like he looked really impressive running. And Steve Young comes on the show and he says, there's so much you know, real estate out there. If you you got to take advantage of that, you got to use your legs and go get that. Is that being incorporated into the game plan more this year than it has been before.

00:07:49
Speaker 3: Well, it has it definitely has. You know, Justin's making so many plays that way. He's always really been that kind of quarterback. You know, there's there's nothing he's not good at it. There's an old saying. I don't know when I heard it, but uh, you know that God doesn't give anybody a monopoly, maybe except Justin Herbert and in all seriousness, and he has people ask me, you know, was he improved on this year? You know, he's he's he's just always been great since I've been here day one. You know, it's it's like watching greatness every single day. What has he improved on? He did get a mile an hour faster this this off season week previously had talked him on the GPS at twenty point seven miles per hour, and then in training camp he took off ran and we got him at twenty one point six miles an hour, so almost a full second faster. And he works on it every day. His training is is elite. He's he's conditioning, he's he's it's speed training, and he has he has gotten faster and uh and it's and it's showing up in the games.

00:09:06
Speaker 2: When did you realize there was unfinished business in the NFL.

00:09:13
Speaker 3: When when I walked off the field at the at the Super Bowl in twenty and thirteen, you know, I was really proud of our team and what they did to get there and uh and how they played in the game, and felt like, you know, there'll be another day, almost almost like, uh, who's the actor, who's the actor? And field of dreams? Uh Burt Lancaster, Uh when he said he got his one at bat in the major leagues and he walked off the field and thought there would be other days. But then there weren't any other days. So yeah, I thought there would be other days, and then for a long time that there wasn't any other days. And now with the Chargers, with the team that that has the license and the ability to do it, I I'm I'm feeling that there's going to be another day.

00:10:14
Speaker 2: How's your dad?

00:10:15
Speaker 3: He's good. Thanks for asking. He's uh he was. He was in Baltimore the last the last two weeks and UH so been uh been talking with him Texan Texan this morning. I haven't talked yet, but UH looking looking forward to that. We we uh he my mom, we we talk about every other day, so uh get I need to talk to my dad today. See what Uh see how he's doing. Get his football perspective of of the game last night and our game and uh and my son Jay's game. Uh, Jay harball. How about the you talk about the trifecta. He's the special teams coach coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks. And they had a ninety five yard kickoff return for a touchdown I think the longest maybe in Seahawks history and maybe in the first in the last ten years they had they had oh that was a pump return punt return ninety five and then a kickoff return for sixty five and and they blocked a field goal. I mean, that's that's the trifecta right there. Man.

00:11:19
Speaker 2: Well didn't John John started out with special teams, didn't he dead?

00:11:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, sure did. Uh And it's uh, it's it's it's it's the coach that uh probably I mean coaches everybody. Uh and James Jay's a great coach. We were together at Michigan for seven years and Uh, I feel like, you know, like in a proud way, in the in the in the in the best kind of way that uh, you know, I'm here and he's kind of like he's going, he's going above me, he's getting he's better and I mean, uh getting better and is better and and just ascending in every way as a as a coach and a dad, you know, just one of my favorite coaches that I've ever ever worked with or been around. Uh. And that's what we want for our kids, right, we want them to be We want them to be better than us.

00:12:15
Speaker 2: Look at that smile on your face. Look at you round dad. Do you think your dad could take me?

00:12:23
Speaker 3: Take you? Yeah, in a fight?

00:12:25
Speaker 5: Yeah, I don't know.

00:12:26
Speaker 3: That's always the same may That's a that's never really resonated with me, Like, who could? Who could? Why would you want to fight? Let's let's be friends. We'll make an enemy. You can make a friend.

00:12:39
Speaker 2: Maybe arm wrestled.

00:12:42
Speaker 3: I mean, I don't know.

00:12:43
Speaker 2: Don't you know what he came Hey, when he came in that night.

00:12:46
Speaker 3: You're a really good shape. He's a really good shape. I don't know that'd be uh.

00:12:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, but he's eighty six. He's eighty six.

00:12:54
Speaker 3: It's a pretty good shape.

00:12:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know that's what I'm saying. He could probably take me. So, but you're right, well, speak.

00:13:00
Speaker 3: If I wanted to, I a would want to tangle with him, did you ever? Right? He's one of the And my great grandfather Harball was a was an amateur boxer, a little thunder. And then my grandfather Bill Harball was a boxer. He had eight eight fights, eight or nine fights, and uh, my dad was never a boxer. But my dad can handle himself, uh that way, and I've seen it, I've seen Maybe that's the story for another show. I've witnessed to take care of himself.

00:13:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know that, I don't deny that. Congrats on the start. Great to catch up with you, Thanks for joining us.

00:13:43
Speaker 3: Thanks Dad, thank you.

00:13:44
Speaker 2: That's coach Coach Harball.

00:13:46
Speaker 1: Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.

00:13:56
Speaker 6: Hey, we're Cavino and Rich Fox Sports Radio every day five to seven pm Eastern. But here's the thing, we never have enough time to get to everything we want to get to.

00:14:05
Speaker 7: And that's why we have a brand new podcast called over Promised. You see, we're having so much fun in our two hour show. We never get to everything, honestly, because this guy is over promising things. We never have time for Yeah, you blubber.

00:14:18
Speaker 1: Liam in me.

00:14:19
Speaker 6: Well, you know what it's called over promise. You should be good at it because you've been over promising women for years.

00:14:23
Speaker 7: Well, it's a Covino and Rich after show and we want you to be a part of it. We're gonna be talking sports, of course, but we're also gonna talk life and relationships. And if Rich and I are arguing about something or we didn't have enough time, it will continue on our after show.

00:14:36
Speaker 2: Called over Promised.

00:14:37
Speaker 6: Well, if you don't get enough Covino and Rich, make sure you check out over Promised and also uncensored by the way, so maybe we'll go at it even.

00:14:44
Speaker 5: A little harder.

00:14:45
Speaker 6: It's gonna be the best after show podcast of all time.

00:14:47
Speaker 7: There you go, over promising, and remember you could see on YouTube, but definitely join us. Listen Over Promised with Covino and Rich on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:14:59
Speaker 2: Dan Hurley, he's got a new memoir, Never Stop Life, Leadership and what it takes to be Great. Before we get to the book, do you want to weigh in on this topic of driving in the fast lane? What kind of driver, are you.

00:15:14
Speaker 4: I mean, it would probably you know, surprise people. But I'm actually a pretty calm driver. You know, my wife drives like a Jersey person. You know, I listen, I'm you should not be driving, you know, five or ten miles per hour below the speed limit in the left lane, like left left furthest lane. Slow drivers, I you know, they're very frustrating. I would say my biggest frustration is like when you're getting off an exit and there's a backup, when you're getting off on an exit and people cut you, you know where you've waited in traffic to get off an exit and people drive, you know, drive past that can question and then crossover at the last second and don't sit and wait the ten minutes to get off the exit.

00:16:07
Speaker 2: Have you been flipped off a lot?

00:16:11
Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, a lot.

00:16:12
Speaker 8: I'm more, but I'm not a flip off person.

00:16:16
Speaker 4: Well, I think it aggravates people more when you kind of when you give them a thumbs up, like hey, great job.

00:16:21
Speaker 2: You're like, all right, so you're writing a memoir here and by the way, next Wednesday, October first, you can celebrate the publication of the new book. It'll be on campus. The Jorgensen Center for Performing Arts forty dollars for adults, thirty five for Yukon students. All tickets general admission. What was the biggest challenge of being vulnerable in this book?

00:16:54
Speaker 4: Yeah, I would say, you know, for you know, for me, Dan, it was probably like reliving, like reliving some of the tougher parts of your life. You know, you end up reading the manuscript, you know, eight or nine times, and you make some subtle changes or some bigger changes with wording or what have you. But when you're reading those tough parts of your life, whether it's uh, you know, just my experience as a player in college, dealing with you know, some severe you know, mental health issues, serious depression, you know, the tough parts of your career, UH and your family life like being you know, being a young husband and a young father and dealing with uh, you know, career adversity and financial struggles. I think, like, you know, when you're when you're working on the project and you're like reading those tough parts about your life and rereading them and rereading them and rereading them, you know, it became a little bit uncomfortable. It was almost like I was re experiencing.

00:18:00
Speaker 2: That again, your brother's one of the great point guards in college basketball history, but you felt the brunt of that, It felt like because you weren't Bobby Hurley. How do you address that that stress level being mocked and you know how that factored in with depression.

00:18:21
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think for me, you know that this book was you know, an opportunity, you know, to to reach people that you know suffer. You know, for me, you know, I've had an unhealthy relationship you know, with perfectionism. A lot of you know, I'm obviously I'm filled with insecurity, which is at times really a positive thing you know, to keep you striving, but at times like fear of failure. Insecurity an unhealthy relationship with perfectionism. And I think the thing that cost me the most suffering, you know, really throughout my life, my playing career and then when I became a coach, was you know, the comparison trap. You know that that that comparison game that you play with yourself, you know, relative to others is something that uh, you know became tortures for me as a player, you know, with with my brother, and then as a young coach, you know, with with.

00:19:24
Speaker 3: With my dad.

00:19:26
Speaker 2: Are you satisfied. Can you be satisfied.

00:19:30
Speaker 3: Now never?

00:19:32
Speaker 5: Uh?

00:19:36
Speaker 4: I don't think so, not not the way I'm wired. I think, you know, for you know, for me, it's uh, it's embedded, you know, the standard, the drive, you know, just the you know, the household you grow up in. You know, your your own competitive fire. You know that's a byproduct of where you grew up, how you were raised. Uh, the mentality you've developed, the place that you coach at, Like when you choose to coach at a place like Yukon uh and coach the basketball team here, you know, there's a constant pressure to uh, you know, to deliver you know, externally.

00:20:15
Speaker 8: But you know when that internal drive, uh.

00:20:20
Speaker 4: You know begins when when I start accepting losing or when I'm not devastated by a season like last year, that then you know, it'll be time for me to get out.

00:20:30
Speaker 2: How close did you come to leaving college basketball recently?

00:20:35
Speaker 4: I would say for two or three days, like I was, you know, I had pretty extensive conversations you know with my guy Jordan Bizont, you know, over at Fox for a couple of.

00:20:48
Speaker 3: Days, and.

00:20:51
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean it was it was it was like the perfect storm of things, you know, the the sport itself, not not having any idea what the rules of your game are going to be, you know, relative to you know, we're hearing rumors that there's going to be potentially a fifty year for players. You know, so you've got you know, nil where you have no idea what the market is right now you have this the player is going to now be getting five years, you know, potentially five years to play five you know, there's been no restrictions relative to the portal. It's still a free agency at the end of every year. And then you put on top of that, for me, you know, you go back to back, those seasons are longer, so there's a little bit of a you know, success fatigue, you know, the Lakers things happens, so your ego is at an all time high. Then you have a horrible season, and then you take the criticism throughout the year that you know, and and and a lot of times it's it's justified.

00:21:50
Speaker 3: And so it's like the perfect start with stuff.

00:21:54
Speaker 2: You Stan Hurley the book is Never Stop like Leadership and what it takes to be great, and he co wrote this with great writer Ian O'Connor. Do you have imposter syndrome.

00:22:10
Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean imposter syndrome insecurity. Uh, absolutely, insecurity. You know, there's definitely a feeling that's been pretty embedded in me, you know, that that I'm never quite good enough.

00:22:24
Speaker 8: But it's not just relative to basketball.

00:22:27
Speaker 4: You know, I also feel that way, you know, as as a husband, as a father, in other aspects of my life. You know, I just have this, you know, mindset where I feel like like I can always I can always do more, I can always be better.

00:22:43
Speaker 3: And one of the first things that coach Calhoun told me when.

00:22:46
Speaker 4: I got the job here, you know, besides cat your assid gear, uh, get this program fixed, was like, you know, the best coaches have a have a have a level of insecurity about them.

00:22:58
Speaker 8: That's a that's a real drive her.

00:23:00
Speaker 4: To continue to get better and and always be prepared.

00:23:04
Speaker 2: What's the difference between coaching intent or coaching angry?

00:23:13
Speaker 4: Well, I think I coached intents and in twenty twenty four, and I coached angry you know what, you know, Like it's for me, I think in my life I've done probably you know, and you know, two or three things could be true about any any any one thing, but I would say, for me, I got really I got really good at handling you know, failure or struggle in my in my career and in my life in basketball. And I would say that what I've reflected a lot during the course of the season and the off season was just how I handled the success and how I didn't have the season as a coach in twenty five, you know, and I think that, you know, I'll be much better coach in twenty six because I don't. Yeah, I don't think I handled the success, you know, and where we were as a program very well last season.

00:24:08
Speaker 2: How dark did the days get for you, whether it's when you were playing, when you left.

00:24:15
Speaker 4: Playing, Yeah, you know, dark to the point where you know you give serious consideration, you know, to doing something to harm yourself, you know, potentially do something to uh, you know, to end things, to take your life. Just feeling like you know, back then, it was not there was a stigma around around mental health and being vulnerable and opening up, especially for men, especially for men with other men about your feelings, so with your fathers, with your coaches back then, you know, you didn't feel like there was anyone that you talk to about how you're feeling. Your struggles or your difficulties you're suffering. And you know, for me, it was you know, getting into therapy, meeting sister Katherine Waters at seat in the hall, you know, really changed my life.

00:25:15
Speaker 2: Are you built for this?

00:25:19
Speaker 8: For going on the show, I'm definitely built for I've watched you.

00:25:23
Speaker 2: For a coaching ten more years, Danny? Are you? Are you built for ten more years?

00:25:29
Speaker 4: I don't know about ten I don't really, you know, I think that sometimes I'll say I'm gonna coach so I'm sixty.

00:25:36
Speaker 8: Or you know, I'm gonna I'm going to coach, you know, just my fifty ninth year.

00:25:42
Speaker 4: I mean, I would like to enjoy, you know, a part of my life where I have some vitality, some health. Because I love my wife, I want to and I want my wife and my family to experience life outside of basketball, where you could travel and and be more of a civilian, live a more normal life, have a normal Christmas holiday in a new year.

00:26:06
Speaker 8: So I'm like, i feel like I'm always playing.

00:26:09
Speaker 4: On New Years or New Year's Eve, and I feel like I was gonna pit my stomach on Christmas Eve or what have you. But then the other aspect of it for me is like when you're in a sports world, whether you're a player or you're a coach, and you're making the type of money that we're making. You know, I just feel like you have an obligation to literally push yourself to the point of burnout for the seven or eight million dollars a year that they pay me to coach Yukon, I should work myself close to death for them to make that type of living to be a basketball coach. Or if you're an NBA player or an NFL player making twenty thirty forty million dollars a year, you should last thing you should be thinking about as longevity. What you should be thinking about it For me, for the way I look at it is pushing yourself to the absolute max until burnout hits and then you obviously at that point then you could retire.

00:27:06
Speaker 3: You know. I grew up.

00:27:07
Speaker 4: Yeah, the coaches like Dickford Meal, you know, were the coaches that that that I idolized.

00:27:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, but you gotta have quality that has to be balanced.

00:27:19
Speaker 3: I've got that ahead of me.

00:27:20
Speaker 6: You know.

00:27:21
Speaker 2: No, No, you need it. You needn't. Trust me. I did not have balance when I did Sports Center, and it was less stressful by far than what you're going through. And until I found some kind of balance, I didn't enjoy it. And I don't know if you enjoy those two championships as much as you probably should have, you know, the highest of highs. You're probably you know, fixated on what happened last season, and you know that's you gotta have balance, man, you gotta.

00:27:49
Speaker 4: It's listen, you enjoy I mean the the uh Like when you realize you've won the championship.

00:27:56
Speaker 3: There there's a uh.

00:27:57
Speaker 4: There's an elation and an indescribable feeling of joy and love. You know that that reaches you, like the deepest parts of your soul. And this this this incredible realization of this of climbing Mount Everest and being at the top, it does, it.

00:28:18
Speaker 3: Dissipates so quickly.

00:28:20
Speaker 4: But you know, Dan, I think with just a way that I'm wired, and I think a lot of I think you know a lot of the best coaches and the people like my dad that I've modeled. It's like the season feels a lot like suffering and relief, suffering and relief, suffering and relief, and then it either ends in elation or or it ends the way it ended for me in Florida versus Florida. And then there's the tunnel and there's the sore loser.

00:28:48
Speaker 2: Danah, Do you think back on that at all? What you know? Sore loser? Dan I do? I know you address it, but you know where did that come from? Where?

00:29:04
Speaker 3: You know?

00:29:06
Speaker 2: Well, maybe it's just the competitor in you.

00:29:08
Speaker 3: It is.

00:29:09
Speaker 4: And I think again, like, you know, I think a couple of things could be true. I got to get better that way, you know, like that's something that trusts me when it's over, you know, and you know I lack that that that that self control and and and awareness to be.

00:29:28
Speaker 3: Able to just walk away. You know, like, yeah, I.

00:29:31
Speaker 4: Mean that's disappointing. You know, I end up, you know, tarnishing my reputation and you know, like you know, it's embarrassing and it's it's not a positive thing, but it's also too a lot of you know, my superpower that I bring to your organization is this relentless competitive drive that that my teams embody. Uh. And I do think in sports you do need more more characters that go I think kind of uh life or death urgency with with winning and losing, I think is what makes sports great. So I think you you know, not having characters that that look at games, uh you know, I don't look at it like a game. I look at it like a battle, a fight.

00:30:22
Speaker 3: It's not a game for me.

00:30:25
Speaker 2: Your voice sounds like it's in mid season form?

00:30:27
Speaker 3: Does it?

00:30:28
Speaker 2: Does it ever sound good?

00:30:31
Speaker 4: I mean, yesterday it was day one and uh, you know, and and I'm ready to go. And this is winter Dan. I think summer Dan, you know, is late, a little more laid back. Uh, you know, but this is the time of year where we all turn it up. I'm excited about this team. I think that this team, you know, you don't go into the year like last year. I think you have enough time with your team in the summer and in a preseason where I think going into last year there was a feeling amongst the staff that maybe we didn't have enough relative to what we put together to be able to go for the three p That will not be this team story.

00:31:15
Speaker 8: This team has enough.

00:31:17
Speaker 4: If we give absolutely everything and if our pursuit is honorable, if it's an honorable pursuit of championships with the way that we approach things, this team will have a chance to compete for all the championships.

00:31:32
Speaker 2: I hope the book is cathartic for you because you you're visiting a lot of different places. Hopefully you don't have to revisit them anymore. But you know, when you write a memoir, you've got to dig deep down, and you certainly did in this book with the help of Ian.

00:31:49
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think Dan for me when I when I read it, you know, I always walked away from it saying, you know, like you know, your your life is kind of it's it's a little bit like a movie, you know, like you're you know, you've got this kind of a little bit not that I'm a hero, but you got this kind of a little bit of a hero's journey, and it's got all the elements of of you know, you know, your struggles becoming you know, your strength and the end and just it's a real human story of like you know, personal struggle, family struggle, career struggle.

00:32:27
Speaker 3: You know, you've got this.

00:32:27
Speaker 4: Coach, you know, with dragon underwear laying under his desk before games because.

00:32:33
Speaker 8: Of his anxiety. You know, I don't know who would play me.

00:32:38
Speaker 4: I guess I've been told like maybe a Billie Bob Thornton because of the cursing.

00:32:44
Speaker 8: But I don't know who would play me.

00:32:46
Speaker 2: We can work on that. Hopefully it's a happy ending when that movie comes out, a happy ending. Great to talk to you again, Thanks, thanks for sharing.

00:32:56
Speaker 3: Thanks brother.

00:32:57
Speaker 2: That's Dan Hurley. The book is called Never Stop Leadership and What it Takes to Be Great.

00:33:03
Speaker 1: Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to listen live.

00:33:14
Speaker 2: Commissioner Major League Baseball since twenty fifteen, Rob Manfred back on the program. We spent a lot of time yesterday talking about abs, but I want to know how did we land on robo umps. I don't like the phrase. It conjures up something that I think needs to be explained.

00:33:34
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, Dan, it's interesting.

00:33:36
Speaker 10: I was with a couple of my guys traveling yesterday and I said exactly the same thing, and I've said it repeatedly. I mean, the fact that the matter is the system was designed in order to preserve kind of the management role of the home plate umpire. It's completely invisible to the fan, right, I mean in terms of there's no device or anything on the field that they can see, and all of the calls, including correcting an erroneous ball strike call made by a human being from the fans perspective, So you know, we do prefer the term abs to robot lumps.

00:34:17
Speaker 2: Okay, this is an entertainment business. Are you going to show anything on the jumbo tron? You know, like tennis will show you if the ball was in or out? What is baseball going to do?

00:34:27
Speaker 5: We are going to have.

00:34:28
Speaker 10: A rendering on the scoreboard so the fans can see it. I mean, you know, at the end of the day, it is about the fan experience in the ballpark and our experience in the minor leagues as well as the testing we did in the spring and at the All Star Game suggests that fans are really interested in seeing that rendering.

00:34:46
Speaker 2: How do the umpires feel about big Brother over their shoulder?

00:34:51
Speaker 10: I would say the umpires have been generally cooperative on the issue.

00:34:57
Speaker 4: You know.

00:34:58
Speaker 10: You know, it's always tough when you get corrected publicly, and you know, I understand that, and you know it is important to say although we've taken this step, you know, our umpires do a phenomenal job on the vast, vast majority of calls, and you know, I think over time this may reduce the amount of complaint we have about ball strike calls.

00:35:21
Speaker 2: Okay, whenever I see something that we kind of dip our toes in and then all of a sudden we're in over our head, then this is going to be the future of Major League Baseball. How long will it take before this is the future?

00:35:37
Speaker 5: You know, that's an interesting question.

00:35:39
Speaker 10: I think that if you had talked just to the owners about this topic a couple of years ago, they would have been in favor of, you know, calling every pitch, and we're certainly capable of doing that, calling every pitch with a BS. I think what made us take the intermediate step is we got a lot of input from players, particularly players who had used it in the minor leagues, that they preferred the challenge system, that you know, it preserved a human element in the game at the major league level. We also got a lot of input about the significance of framing catchers and you know, individual players who had the skill set that could be really impacted by this. So, you know, we took that input to heart and landed where we did. I think that we will see after the twenty sixth season whether there's a push to go.

00:36:36
Speaker 5: The whole way.

00:36:37
Speaker 2: Why did we allow is if it was part of the charm of baseball that an umpire could have his own strike zone.

00:36:45
Speaker 10: Yeah, you know, going back to you know, when I first came to the Commissioner's office in nineteen ninety eight, Actually Sandy Alderson and I started the.

00:36:54
Speaker 5: First the same day, and you know, one of the first things Sandy.

00:37:00
Speaker 10: Embarked on was an effort to get away from that notion that individual umpires could have their own strike zone. And we have dramatically increased the uniformity of the zone that's called by our umpires by having a computer based system like ABS that we've been using to evaluate umpires for more than a decade.

00:37:24
Speaker 5: You know, after each game when they miss a.

00:37:27
Speaker 10: Call, they get that pitch, they have to log in and look at it, and it has produced greater uniformity.

00:37:34
Speaker 2: Okay, but it was a charm, you know, like that's Joe West strike zone, or that's Eric Gregg's strike zone or Yeah.

00:37:41
Speaker 10: The problem the problem is sometimes you know, you talk about people who are just too charming, you know, I think there were games where that charm became excessive. I mean, I think Eric Gregg's game in the World Series is probably an example of that.

00:37:56
Speaker 2: He's the commissioner of Major League Baseball, Rob Manfred. Okay, give me the to help me understand starting the tenth inning with the runner at second base, which I do to test. But where are we with that? Is that here to stay? Commissioner?

00:38:11
Speaker 5: Well, look, the most.

00:38:13
Speaker 10: Important thing I can say to you is starting next week, you're gonna have postseason baseball where you play it out no matter what.

00:38:20
Speaker 5: So your your month is stopping.

00:38:22
Speaker 10: It's gonna be a great postseason, and we're gonna play the games.

00:38:25
Speaker 5: Out the yap again.

00:38:28
Speaker 3: You know.

00:38:29
Speaker 5: Look, I think that that was interesting.

00:38:32
Speaker 10: I'm not sure that was at the top of my priority list in terms of rule changes, but it came with the COVID changes that we, you know, felt we needed to do to get through the season.

00:38:48
Speaker 5: The players really liked.

00:38:49
Speaker 10: It, and I think the push to keep it was based on, you know, player preference and avoidance of putting you know, really valuable players in positions of asking them to do something in extra innings that they didn't ordinarily do you know, the outfield are pitching, and you know, I do think it is consistent kind of with the notion that the game has to be quicker to be responsive to the audience that.

00:39:19
Speaker 5: We're serving in today's world.

00:39:22
Speaker 2: But these leagues are becoming highlight leagues. Adam Silver, the NBA commissioner, said, we're kind of a highlight league. How do you guard against that of just being a highlight and not going the experience of going to a game or watching a game.

00:39:37
Speaker 10: I think we have a huge advantage in that effort, and it is an effort for all sports. I mean, you know how younger people consume things. We don't need to revisit that. But I think that our in ballpark experience largely due to the work of the individual teams and what they do in the stadiums, the enner payment, they provide, the food and beverage options, what they do in between innings is so good that it does creating people the desire to see the whole game, the whole product, and the fact that we play every day also important in that regard. So we have some assets there and it's something that we're really focused on.

00:40:20
Speaker 2: When all the owners get together. How often does the topic of a salary cap come up.

00:40:28
Speaker 5: You know, it's interesting. It really is episodic.

00:40:34
Speaker 10: You know, it's more frequent when you get closer to a labor year like we are now. I think it's natural for people to discuss, you know, options that are available. I think what's really important for me to say is, you know, we haven't decided what exactly our approach is going to be. We have a whole other season to get through, and you know, while obviously there's conversation, you know, it remains to be seen what substance position the owners.

00:41:05
Speaker 3: Are going to take.

00:41:06
Speaker 2: Where do you stand on it?

00:41:09
Speaker 10: I think that it has been my view for a really long time that you sell competition to your fans and that we need to always be looking for things that enhance the perception of the competition.

00:41:27
Speaker 5: And I think.

00:41:28
Speaker 10: One way to do that is reduce and regulate the disparity and payrolls that you get.

00:41:34
Speaker 2: I also want to make sure that you know the minimum spend because some of these owners they may not be spending as much as they need to.

00:41:42
Speaker 5: How do I think that's I think that's one thing.

00:41:45
Speaker 10: Well, I think that's one thing that is widely misunderstood. You know what people The name of the mechanism that people use in the other three sports is a salary cap. But a necessary element of that system is a minimum as well as a cap, and I agree with you that the minimum in some ways may be more important than the cap.

00:42:11
Speaker 2: The Cal Rawley story is a fun story, But how does baseball's like your marketing arm. How do you approach a story like that to let people know he's playing in Seattle, he's hit sixty home runs, great nickname there. How are you guys doing enough to promote some of these other stories?

00:42:32
Speaker 10: Yeah, look, I think that it's really important with a story like Cal for Major League Baseball, in addition to the club, what the club is doing locally to promote that player build his brand. You know, we have a massive social media program now that is all player directed. Almost everything we do on socialism is player You're going to see a set of postseason advertise Heisman's that will start airing.

00:43:01
Speaker 5: Cal is prominently featured in that.

00:43:05
Speaker 10: You know, honestly selecting him for the home run Derby is another example. You know, you want a player like that in a home run derby where he's going to get a national audience. I think going forward, one of the things that we are really focused on is more presence on national platforms for regular season games, so that people across the country see more of players like cal.

00:43:28
Speaker 2: How important is gambling to Major League Baseball?

00:43:32
Speaker 10: You know, I think it's something that is really misunderstood. We have a you know, nice little business where we sell data and we sell some sponsorships, but the overall revenue impact of gambling for us is really not significant. Actually, the biggest expenditure of time on the topic is working with our partners, the sports books, to make sure that gambling doesn't present an integrity an integrity issue for us over the long home.

00:44:07
Speaker 2: Are you allowed to have a man cave at home?

00:44:11
Speaker 3: You know?

00:44:11
Speaker 10: I do have a room that my wife has is a bedroom that she has reluctantly seated to me.

00:44:20
Speaker 5: There is a lot of you know, a lot of baseball stuff, a lot of golf stuff.

00:44:25
Speaker 10: And some exercise equipment, So I guess that qualifies.

00:44:28
Speaker 5: You know, you can't quite have a cave in an apartment in New York.

00:44:32
Speaker 4: You know.

00:44:33
Speaker 10: If there's something you know, it's sort of an oxymorn, right, So.

00:44:38
Speaker 2: You're not the commissioner in your own House.

00:44:41
Speaker 5: Yeah, well that's certainly true. That's certainly true.

00:44:44
Speaker 2: Great to talk to you again, Great to talk.

00:44:46
Speaker 10: To you, Tant Really, you know, I know, I hope, because we'll be playing the games out, you'll be paying attention to what's going to be a great postseason for us.

00:44:55
Speaker 5: It's been a really exciting week this week trying to.

00:44:58
Speaker 10: Figure out who exactly is going to be there, and we're looking forward to some great series next week.

00:45:03
Speaker 2: Thank you, Commissioner.

00:45:04
Speaker 5: All right, thank you.

00:45:05
Speaker 2: It's Rob Manfred