Impact of technology on sports officiating

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And on season three of The Unshakables, my co-host Kathleen Griffith and I are bringing you more incredible stories of overcoming the impossible. Listen to the Unshak ables wherever you get your podcasts and learn more at Chase.com/slash podcast. JPMorgan Chase Bank and a member FDIC, Copyright 2026, JP Morgan Chase and Company. Thanks for listening to the Herd Podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in noon to three Eastern, 9 a.m. to noon Pacific. Find your local station for the herd at FoxsportsRadio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. Now let's get this party started. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio . Oh, we'll have a hot one today. We're live. It is Chicago. It's the herd. Brad Underwood, Illinois head coach, getting ready to face UConn, stopping by wherever you may Well, today is one of those stories where half of you will agree with me and half of you won't, and the half of you who won't are not going to listen because Christians in America feel marginalized, and sometimes for very good reason. Um, most of my friends are Christian. I've said before, I'm kind of agnostic. I got no idea what's going on upstairs. But there was a story yesterday that developed, and it just so happens I got lucky with this story because I had context and context around it. I know somebody that went to Purdue and played with uh Jaden Ivey. And I know somebody in the NBA that's been on a staff with Jaden Ivy. He doesn't necessarily mesh well with others. So yesterday the Bulls let him go. Uh he, went to Instagram multiple times. He he called out the NBA for promoting Pride Month, saying it celebrates unrighteousness. And um again, his reputation at Purdue. I've got it sourced and in the NBA. He only had seven games left with the Bulls this year, and they were not going to bring him back. So they said, you know, hit the road. Good luck in free agency. Um, here's the first thought I thought about was never screw with a locker room . Never screw with a workplace. And I'll give you an example. I own a company, we got about 60 employees. It's called the volume. If I found out somebody did something illegal and it was bad, a DUI, maybe it was a misdemeanor. But they were good people , they made a big mistake, um they were contrite, they were apologetic, they worked well with others, and they were really, really a good person in the building. Despite committing a misdemeanor, I'd keep them . But it's a private company. And if they were annoying, odd , sometimes talk too much politic s and religion, and multiple employees came to me and said they're not good for the workspace, they're disruptive. I'd fire them in 30 seconds. I would keep the criminal . And I would let go of the annoying coworker. And that's a private company, and I could. The Bulls, for the record, are a public facing company. Athletes, you'd you'd get to this point, they'd figure out, keep rel igion and politics out of it mostly. There's thousands of Americans who have been arrested, who have made serious mistakes, who are tremendous employees and their workers , their boss love them. But you know what there's not a million of in America? Annoying weird people who talk politics and religion at work and don't mesh well with others . Don't screw with the workplace. Too many of you are getting into this dopey freedom of speech. Jaden Ivey's not a lawyer being disbarred. He's not going to prison. He got seven games left and, the Pistons, who strangely made him a top five pick and let him go. The Pistons are dying for guard play. And they let him go. Hmm. Why would that be? Bulls, seven games left, seven You are always entitled to your own opinion , but you're never entitled , especially if you're not productive or you're disappointing, to disrupt the workspace. And that's the thing about life. I tell my kids jokingly, half jokingly all the time: be really great at something. You'll be able to get away with more . The legendary stories that Bill Belichick tells about Lawrence Taylor when he was a defensive coordinator for the New York Giants. And one time he showed up fifteen minutes late to a meeting, and Belichick goes to Bill Parcells and says, Bill, I just thought I'd tell ya, Lawrence showed up fifteen minutes late to our meeting, and Bill Parcells said, Why the hell did you start the meeting? He's the best football player in the league. Jimmy Johnson, guy falls asleep at a meeting , kicked him off the team. Troy Aikman did. Troy, get up. Troy, the meeting's still going. Life's full of gray. And I understand that Christians feel marginalized. I get it . And you often have a point . And you can often take these disruptions to court. Gina Carano, an actress, right? Stuff like that happens. But the more skilled and talented , I know it stinks, right? You get away with more. We all know that Dennis Rodman and Draymond Green created some headaches for Steve Kerr and Phil Jackson. But they got four and a half more rebounds per game than headaches per game. And so they stuck around. And that's one of the things that you say life is not fair . So many Christians this morning or last night re,ad that story and feel attacked, and I understand it. Some of what he said I'm sure has been said in churches last weekend . But they're not a locker room, and they're not necessarily a workspace. They're a house of worship. Timing, place matters. I mean, in Hollywood, if you're a B lister and you're just you're talking politics and sports on set, you're only in two scenes, they'll reshoot 'em. If you're an A-lister, they're not redoing the movie poster. They'll just try to get through this puppy as fast as we can. And of course, there's lines that you can cross and you can't cross. But I literally had this sourced. And a Purdue, former Purdue player, said he was viewed as a guy that didn't always mesh well with others. And the injuries have compounded his frustration. He went to Detroit desperate for a guy of his talent, and they let him go quickly. And now Chicago with seven games left said, you know what? We wish you the very best in free agency. And I'll give you an example of this. That place and time matter is that a Josh Giddy, there was an alleg ation when he was a very talented young player for Oklahoma City. It was an ascending roster, very good roster. Now you've seen it a couple years later. It's like wow. There was an allegation , no arrest, nothing proven with Josh and an underage person, a girl. And in conservative ascending OKC, Sam Pres tey said, we're gonna let you go . Big City Chicago Bulls are like, come on down, bro. We need, we, we, we, we'll give you a chance. You made a mistake, you've showed contrition, we need it, and he's been a great pla yer. Different organization, different maybe political environment, different, you know, small town, big city, conservative, liberal, all that stuff plays into it. All of it plays into it. You know, which way you lean in Hollywood may not be in Dallas. And in this instance , Jaden Ivey is for a public team in a locker room is viewed as, bro, if you average 29 points a game, and I thought about this this morning. What if he averaged 29 a game? I and he didn't just have seven games left and several injuries. My guess is he and Billy Donovan would have uh discussed it, and he would be given a second chance . Or a fifth . That's life . Let's make this instructive. Is that it is unfair , but rules aren't even, and the internet wants to make everything black and white . Life is gray . What you can say and I can say and others can say and where it's at and what time and what ev I understand Christians feel attacked. I get it. I mean, I watch the media, and I am often uncomfortable with how Christians are marginalized for things that uh I'm not a religious person Are probably close to doctrine in a church. But in this instance, bro , injuries, you're not really the kind of personality that meshed at Purdue all the time or Detroit all the time and Chicago . Can't go there. I agree with what the Bulls did. You just can't go there. Again, it it it's's they're not disbarring him from the law firm. There's seven games. They're like, bro, somebody, you know, he's a talented kid. Somebody may pick him up. Right? People deserve second and third chances. But I hope what you 've taken from this rant from me is I own a small company . I would absolutely move off an employee who I viewed as disruptive to the work environment 10 times faster than somebody who made a big mistake in life, showed contrition, well liked, highly productive, good teammate, even if the mistake was something that you should know better, even if the mistake is something that gets public scorn, people make mistakes. This society, America, we allow them. One of the great things about America . But odd . You know, back in nineteen eighty-six , I was a sports caster. This is my first year as a sports caster out of Eastern Washington University . And I was at, it was the first time I'd ever gone to a really nice restaurant. My boss, at the time, the late Larry Kentuck took me to his golf club, the Desert Inn. If you ever watch the movie Casino, it plays a part, The Desert Inn. And so I go with Larry. I don't even have I mean my suit is like a wool suit in Vegas. It's a hundred ten. I mean I, just don't look the part, right? All these guys with big Rolexes and Tans and open shirts, and I'm just some rural kid. And we go to uh lunch at Desert End, you know. I don't even know what the order. And as I w'malking out, some big rich guy comes up and Larry introduces me. He says he wants to be a sportscaster. And I never forget what this guy said, this big tall, kind of looked like a Texts and a strappin' guy at the D.I. That's what they call the desert and D-I. He said, Well, kid, just don't talk politics or religion. In your business, you could probably commit a crime . He was right . Life is full of gray . Live in Chicago, it's the Herd . Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the iHeartRadio app. Hey, it's me, Rob Parker. 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I gotta tell you, with the emergence of college basketball being so good now with the last several years, due in large part to the NIL and all these colleges being able to go by and recruit the best European young players and really good players staying in college another year. Uh they're just col I don't think I've watched as much college basketball uh in a long time, and it's given us so many stories. And one of them is, you know, Dan Hurley. He's very intense. I I would say this and I would say it to his face. I'll say it the next time I have him on. He's so intense sometimes it's odd. Uh I mean his coat's coming off him, his glasses are on, they're half off, he's barking, spittle . He you know, he's a lot. I mean he admits he's had anxiety on therapy. He's you know, he he's very honest about his issues, his struggles, and so he's an easy guy if you want to pick on him, because he's not like everybody else, he's not always perfectly buttoned up. I mean, look at the picture over my shoulder. That's like his default face. You know, mouth open, outraged. But Duke fans need to lighten up. One of the things that drives me crazy since we legalize gambling, sports gambling in this country, is when a f a team loses, they never look in the mirror. It's rigged. It's the refs. It's the television network. Now the Kansas City Chiefs were bad last year. That's why they didn't do well. It wasn't the networks . Okay, Duke blew the game. They blew it. Not great coaching , too many turnovers. The two men involved in what a what looks like a headbutt, Dan Hurley and Roger Ayers, know each other, get along, and both say it it it may look weird, but it's a non-story. I mean there's Hurley on the screen, his jacket's half off. He's looking at him right there. That's Hurley. If I saw Dan in his office, I mean look at him. He's physical. He chess bumps players, his jacket's half off. He's not Bobby Knight. He's not barking, trying to intimidate here. He during the games, he barks at refs, but he acknowledges he likes the refs he barks at. And so this is just this is just hur ley to a T . Jacket's half off. He's looking over his glasses. It looks like he's an old man with bifocals. And Roger Ayer says, it's no big deal. We know each other. It's all good. It was I I took the train to work this morning. I get face to face with about four people every morning on the train. It was just a brief, tight space. The ref and Dan walked by each other. The ref may have said something. Dan didn't say anything. He just looked at him and they moved on . And so it it's like a lot of this is just Duke fans, apople ctic, outraged, that they lost and they're like, hey, hey, you gotta throw that guy out . We have to understand there are certain people in society that are wired differently. Dan Hurley is one of them. And jackets off . He is just perpetual motion. It was brief. It was a tight space. Both men involved said no big deal. I mean, I went and looked at some of the complainers. It was remarkable how many are Duke fans? Duke, you blew it. Own it. Here's Hurley last week on my show . I'm more relaxed this time of year. I think you work so hard to put yourself in position uh where you're in contention. Now you find yourself with a team that's in contention. You got you you're more relaxed this time of year. When you're coaching in December or January, you're really uptight, man. It's like if things start going bad in December, now you're looking at that staring down the barrel of, man, I got two or three more months of hell with this group if we get on a two-game losing streak where you don't worry about picking the pieces up this time of year I don't think he was mad at the official. I think it was one of the happiest moments he's ever had and most relaxed moments. Like just beat Duke, down big, roaring back, miracle shot. It's not like there was a bad officiating call that sent Duke to the line and won the game. He that's as happy as he has been since the last time he was with his wife at a Billy Joel concert. That is as happy as Dan Hurley Getz right there? And he's just a quirky, unique, intense, brilliant guy, and you're seeing all of it all the time. J Mack with the news . No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the Herd Line News. The free throw merchant went to the line 25 times. 21 to 25 from the charity stripe. Um, and the Thunder beat the Pistons in overtime. That's the Cade Cunninghamless Pistons. But afterward, what everybody's buzzing about is SGA was asked if he wants to uh, you know, talk about the MVP race. Here we go. I think it's good for the league. I think it's good chatter. Um it gives people something to talk about. There's a lot of good players in this league and um a lot of guys in the conversation because of that. There's been chattering on behalf of other players. Would you like to chatter on behalf of yourself? Uh no, I'm good. Um thanks for asking though. But yeah. Uh I'm good. I let my game do the talking . I know his nickname is SGA . It should be smooth. Oh he is just dapper. He's that guy is smooth. You know, there's just Walt Frazier, the legendary, just had his 81st birthday. Walt Frazier is one of the all-time great characters in the NBA. You know, Frazier was just a great player for the Knicks. He just kind of smooth. SGA's game. You know, it 's not highly vertical. He's not dunking over you. He's not shooting from 38 feet. He's just both hands. He kind of gets you off balance. A little leaner to the right. And I like his personality. He's just he's just one of those never too high, never too low. I think the the OKC embodies you know Sam Prestey's the same way. Sam's never too high, too low. It's analytics, it's data. This whole organization, the GM, the star player, it's just their smooth, adult , high EQ, IQ operators. I really like his personality. He's cool. I mean, they got a great leader face to the franchise. I will say I was watching last night and uh tie game, fourth quarter, he makes one of his patented shots, but Connell, they called the offensive foul on him because he clearly pushed off, and everybody was like, Oh my gosh, I can't believe they actually called it because the refs protect this guy everywhere. Uh, anyways, uh, Thunder with the good win. This was obviously a dig at Wemby. I'll let my game do the talking because Wemby got to the podium and was talking. about it I'm just telling you how it's gonna work right now. The media loves SGA. They are going to vote for him. They don't like Luca because he whines. And they think well, oh, Wemby's gonna have his shot, he's got the next 10 years. The media votes for it. I have no problem with SGA winning it. I ha I would vote for Wemby and SGA too, but I don't have a problem because again, here's a prime example. So this is a J Mac, this is a subjective vote. Yep. Just like we talked about in the opening segment. Life is a lot of gray. SGA is always available to talk to the media. I mean, uh you know, you can say what you want. Oh, the media just loves LeBron. LeBron 's always available to talk to the media. LeBron's always been great with the media. And that's part of why people like him. And there's other players in the league that have been you know discouraging to cover, disrupt it. People don't like that. It shouldn't be that way. But part of it is to your point. The feeling is Luca complains too much. Wemby will get his. And SGA is such a likable, great player. He's an easy guy to vote for. I kinda wish they just kept it to basketball and and uh the the my the goofiest is this whole whoa the thunder have the best record. Where were those where were these morons when Russell Westbrook averaged a triple double was like the sixth seed in the West , and they gave him the MVP. It's just like there's no consistency. Well then there's a that's a prime example. Yeah. That was a great story. Westbrook lost KD. There was some sympathy for Russ. Russ put up unbelievable numbers, and people are like, you know, Russ got abandoned by a star. That's cool. Kevin Durant left him. Let's give him the MVP. No, Russell had a great year. He was he had a great year, yeah. Now, I will say the rebounding stats were goosed a little, obviously. Uh but in fairness, he did put up historically. He had a great season, yeah. No doubt about it. Uh all right, let's move on to the NFL where the Cowboys franchise tag George Pickens. I mean, who knew? Nobody could have guessed, Colin, that this would come back to be a potential issue. Well, reports are now indicating Pickens could sit out the voluntary OTAs. Brian Schottenheimer, of course, is not concerned . GP loves it here. We love GP. We have plans for GP to be here for a long time. So we'll let the business side of this thing see where it goes. I haven't pushed that on him. I mean, again, we're all going through the process. It's almost April. Uh we're still a couple weeks away. Uh it's gonna play out the way it plays out. And again it's all voluntary . Squeeze in a cowboy story. Yeah, hey, listen, man, that was not me. And I even got I'm like, I I loved your opening rant. I loved the Jaden Ivey stuff. I'm like, I that that's a great topic. Schottenheimer though is annoying to me. And listen, I have some bias here, Colin. He was the Jets OC when we went to uh the AFC Championship game, we and I did not like his play calling at all. So I come in bias to this. It's probably not fair for me to chime in. I'll let you chime in on Pickens versus Schottenheimer. I mean he's not going to show up. Let's be real. Well, they didn't give him a long-term contract. I don't think he's a long-term contract personality. I think he's a super talented player. Yeah. But uh yeah, I like my receivers like JSN. I like my receivers like Abuka. They go, they Amar on St. Brown, uh Larry Fitzgerald. It is a position with a lot of personality and mood swings, and for whatever reasons. So I I think at wide receiver there are things that concern me uh in terms of long term that doesn't mean I wouldn't acquire somebody for a year or two. I like Amari Cooper's personality. I didn't love Des Bryant's personality. I I I like my wide receivers and I understand they're the most talented players. They they have kind of an NBA feel like you they can take a game over, but uh you know, George's history it, would worry me with a long term contract. I'm just curious, you know, uh I I my team is the Jets, so I know they're going nowhere. But I'm just curious, if you were a Cowboys fan, you watch the offseason, now you see the picking stuff, I mean like,, are you even optimistic about next season? And uh if they went into the secondary in the first round and got Caleb Downs and then got the third best corner with Rashawn Gary, Quinn and Williams, Kenny Clark, Overshone. Damn right I'd be excited. So you you think there's some optimism around? I th I I want them . Um, I want now. I want them to get cheaper and less expensive on the back end of the defense because now they're spending money. The cap hits go up for Quentin Williams, Kenny Clark on the front end. So my take with Dallas is if they go secondary, I I love Caleb Downs. I mean, I think he's un I think he's the most undervalued guy in this draft. I see him going 11th. I'm like, you don't you think there's 10 guys better in college football than Caleb Downs? You're crazy. Okay, so you you're optimistic. Do you want to guess the win total on the Dallas Cowboys right now? Six and a half. Come on. Six and a half. The Jets are five and a half. Dallas Cowboys over is eight and a hal f wins. How are you optimistic if your win toll is? If they nail their draft, let me revisit that. I would say what's under like a win? Come on, half a win. If you get Caleb Downs, who I think I'll make an argument . Caleb Downs is the I've done this before. I did this years ago when Patrick Willis played for Ole Miss and the Niners got him at 11. I said the Niners just got the only can't miss guy in the first round at number 11. Caleb Downs and Jeremiah Love. Those are the two players. I also love Fernando Mendoza, but it is the Raiders. If you told me there's two guys that cannot miss, I would say it's love the running back out of Notre Dame and Downs for Ohio State. They even if they went to a bad team, a dysfunctional team, those guys are there it's really funny about this. There's very few guys that fall into Jonathan Ogden came out at left tackle. You're like, he was a can't miss guy. Like he literally you just couldn't he was he was like trying to block the sun. Get around the sun. But there's not that many Nick Alman Wori went to the Seahawks in the second round and almost everybody went, that is as good a pick in the second round as there's been in years. Like everybody knew that was John Snyder, that he was a first round talent, slid to the second . Dallas gets Caleb Downs with their pick, and I've seen mock drafts, they ace the first round, regardless of their next pick in the first round. All right, finally, the Ravens and Max Crosby, that deal that kind of blew up uh earlier this month. You know, everybody knows the Ravens backed out of the deal. It's obvious regardless of what they want to say. But how about this one? Team President Sashi Brown is acting like, hey, you gotta hear our side of the story. Here we go. I think it's a slow slow news cycle. I don't want to at all downplay the experience uh that uh that max had coming that we all had the Raiders Ravens Max our locker room as Eric said uh we were incredibly excited and just as equally, if not more disappointed that we weren't able to pull off that transaction and bring Max to Baltimore Huh? Slow news cycle? Well they this is the biggest story of the offse-ason, Colin? I will say what's bigger. I will say. What's he talking about? When the NFL season ends, there's about a three-to-a-four-week stretch, and you and I do this for a living. That is really slow. In fact, you and I generally go on vacation. And that you do Max Crosby story fell in that space. I people ask me all the time, what's the worst time to be a talk show host? And I say, well, March is amazing. They're like, oh, I always tell people, June, take your vacations in June, and that three or four weeks after the season . So that is a time when you you and I are Balin' Water, and that Max Crosby story was getting daily play for hours on shows . I don't think it was worth that. I really don't. I think it was it it it happens. It's odd. You think you'd have medical clearance before trades were made, which I've always thought's weird in the NFL. Like shouldn't you have clearance, then you have a trade? But it it it works the inverse. But I But I I think he's gonna be great with a r I think he's gonna be a great raider for the rest of his career. I really I don't think he's gonna get traded. J Mac with the news . Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd line . Okay, this made me laugh . Uh The Athlet ic , great journalism, subscribe. It's great. They did a this is funny to me . They pulled fans of every major league team. They called it the Hope Om eter . Okay . Um the Dodgers and the Blue Jays were one and two. They were in the World Series. That's not surprising . The Reds were 11. The A's haven't played in their stadium. 12 . Pirates 13 . And the New York Yankees hobometer . They were one spot ahead of the Marlins at 2 2 . Yankee fans have officially become the unhappy billionaire who's no longer the richest man in the world. He's like number two, and he's miserable . The Yankees haven't had a losing season since 1992. I looked up since 200 5 . They lead baseball in wins . Yet they're neck and neck with the White Sox and the Mar lins in the Hopometer . There's a saying: comparison is the thief of joy, and this is a great example. Yes, if you compare them to the Dodgers, the last eight years, they're not number one. Or if you compare them to their own dynasty in the late 1990s, well, they're not that either. So they're not as special as a current dynasty or their dynast y . But today is 2026. And here's the good news. If Garrett Cole, when he comes back in May or June, if he is 85 to 90 percent of what he was . The Yankees starting staff is one of only two or three in the sport that could beat the Dodgers if they met in the World Series. Never forget the last time they met . The Dodgers beat them. What were the two games in the series the Dodgers couldn't hit? Garrett Cole starts . So the Yankees starting staff, I mean, I don't know how many runs they've given up this year. The answer is not many . So the the the the Yankees staff, if Garrett Cole comes back and is 85%, 80% of what he was, they actually match up great with the Dodgers. Don't forget, Otani was one for eighteen against the Phillies pitching. Great players have bad series and bad postseasons. The Yankees have given up three runs in four games. Their pitching is great now without Garrett Cole. So, I mean, to me, if you said who could beat the Dodgers in a series, I'd say Yankee pitching . Right now, Yankee pitching could beat the Dodgers . They wouldn't be favored. But I I watched that World Series a couple years ago that went five games. The Aaron Judge Air one, they couldn't hit Garrett Cole. When Garrett's on, nobody hits Garrett Cole . Nick Swisher on the uh uh uh recently on our show, part of the Yankee broadcast, on on uh the critics of the Yankees. And one of the things that I really appreciate about spring training this year was: listen, there was this narrative about how you know the Yankees are just running it back. Like they weren't very aggressive in the offseason, didn't get a whole lot of names out there, like Braggman, the whole nine. But at the end of the day, you're talking about the team that won the Team Silver Slugger Award, right? So that just goes to show you how talented this team is. Now all of a sudden you not only have an unbelievable offensive roster . You now have some depth with your pitching staff. Yankees are going to be just fine. That is funny . Fans hope om eter . The A's and the Pirates and the R eds . 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