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April 12, 2024 - Doug Collins Podcast
57:48
Hello Friends...We interrupt this broadcast, we believe thats OJ Simpson in that car
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You want to listen to a podcast?
By who?
Georgia GOP Congressman Doug Collins.
How is it?
The greatest thing I have ever heard in my whole life.
I could not believe my ears.
This house, wherever the rules are disregarded, chaos and mob rule.
It has been said today, where is bravery?
I'll tell you where bravery is found and courage is found.
It's found in this minority who has lived through the last year of nothing but rules being broken, people being put down, questions not being answered, and this majority say, be damned with anything else.
We're going to impeach and do whatever we want to do.
Why?
Because we won an election.
I guarantee you, one day you'll be back in the minority and it ain't gonna be that fun.
Hey everybody, welcome to Friday's Fine.
It's bad to be here.
We're going to get at it hot and heavy today.
It's Masters weekend.
Can't wait for this.
This is, again, golf is a lot like NASCAR. They put their best event in the first part of the season, and early on in Masters is typically one of the best shows and golf tournaments that you'll ever want to watch.
The drama, the way CBS has done it for years, just the...
I mean, it's just an idyllic setting for this place.
So we're going to get into that.
We've, of course, got James, got Chip with us here after the break to talk about Masters.
We've got a lot of other issues coming up today.
But you are right where you need to be, right here on Masters Week, right here on Friday's Finest.
We'll be back right after the break.
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All right.
Jumping in and Chip, let's jump in a little bit of politics here because I just can't keep being astounded by the absolute chaos of the House of Representatives right now.
It just gets worse.
I mean, it's not getting better.
They just took down another role.
Now, here's the one part I will have to say, Chip.
I think the bill that they just took down is not a good bill.
I mean, I would like to see them actually put some stuff into it.
But, Chip, I mean, where do we go from here as a party?
Unfortunately, Doug, it can get worse.
James and I addressed this a little bit on Wednesday.
When you have the construct that exists today with one member of the House able to I call it any time what is essentially a motion to vacate the chair, a vote of no confidence for the chair.
Yeah, it could get worse.
Marjorie Taylor Greene's five-page letter to colleagues that she sent out on Tuesday this week indicated that it could get worse.
I was a little chuckled, and James and I talked about it.
We talked about it on Wednesday.
At the end of Marjorie's letter, she said, She said a three-word sentence.
It's just math.
At the end of the day, it is just math.
Math dictates that if you have to pass something with the Democrats, that's just math.
That's how they ended up having 15 votes to get Kevin McCarthy's speaker to begin with.
That's how eight or nine people got rid of Kevin McCarthy.
So, unfortunately, Doug, it could get worse.
I think we need to buckle up our seatbelts because it could get worse pretty quickly.
Yeah, I mean, Chip, I get you on that.
And I think the biggest thing is it can get worse.
But the question will come, and I want to dive into a little bit of political here.
I'm going to throw this out there, and I think we're going to find out.
I don't think...
I used to think this was not going to matter in the election cycle.
I'm now beginning to believe it could matter in a few of these races, but the crazy part about it is what all of us see as dysfunction in Congress is not really moving the needle on elections.
No, it's not.
And look, I guess we could say that's a good thing, right?
Because if people were to base their vote on who they were going to support in Congress based upon how stable the House of Representatives was, I mean, we'd come back with 75 members.
You know, so I just, you know, this is a national election.
Most of these presidential elections, as you know, Doug, are.
And so, you know, we have a divided country.
We've got Joe Biden versus Donald Trump.
And I think both of their floors is around, you know, is around 47%.
And both of their ceilings is around 50.5%.
So, you know, that's the margin of error in which we're working on now.
I mean, their floors and their ceilings are less than a margin of error is on a regular pole.
So it's just the space we live in right now.
Yeah.
And that's not taking into account any possible after effects or anything else of a third party in certain states.
And I think that is just- That's exactly right.
That's exactly right.
Yeah.
So it'll be interesting to see.
Well, another thing talking about this, and I'm torn on this one as well, because, you know, look, I'm very pro-life.
You know that.
We've worked together.
We've done this.
The abortion issue, look, at one point, I think it's becoming the health care issue to me.
In fact, when you, quote, the do away with Obamacare, what are you going to replace it with mentality, which Republicans, you know, in 17 look like.
We didn't have a plan, which in fairness, we did have a plan.
It just didn't come together and the narrative got rolled.
Abortion is becoming that same issue, it looks like now, because Republicans are not able to properly frame the debate.
There are some who are pushing for no abortions, or some who are pushing for Democrats, who are pushing in their own platform for abortions up to 40 weeks.
But the 80 percent of the middle of the country is at some kind of restrictions on abortion, especially after viability, anywhere from 22 weeks down to 15 weeks or lower.
Is this the legs that it is beginning to look like it's going to have, especially now with the turn from President Trump actually talking about the states' rights issue, which many of us have talked about before, but alienating life groups?
I mean, what do you think?
Well, I mean, gosh, a lot to unpack there, right?
I mean, I would agree that Republicans haven't done a good job of framing the abortion issue.
Where I might deviate from you a little bit, Doug, is that I think this issue for us and Republicans is very similar to the issue that the Democrats find themselves in on the issue of immigration and border, right?
I mean, you know, if you talk to a diehard Democrat today, every one of them will tell you that they can win on the border issue.
We can win on the border issue.
We're just not messaging it right.
You know, we need to frame Republicans as, you know, not agreeing with Senator Langford's compromise in the Senate and we'll win on the immigration issue.
That's ridiculous.
I mean, the reason that the Democrats are getting beat over the head on the immigration issue is because everybody knows that Joe Biden doesn't care and is unwilling to do what needs to be done to fix the problem at the border.
You can talk about a compromise in the Senate all day long.
I'm afraid the abortion issue has already cost us in the ballot box.
It cost us last cycle.
I mean, all of the characteristics existed for there to be a national wave, and there was no national wave.
And I think there was no national wave because that election happened four months after, five months after, four and a half months after, I guess, Roe versus Wade was overturned.
And, you know, I'm with you.
I'm split on this issue, Doug.
But I got to say that I think President Trump and, you know, candidate Trump is...
I got to agree with how he's handling it, right?
I mean, we can't go into this election cycle.
I mean, it does seem like a bigger issue to women who are likely going to vote against us than the disastrous immigration issue.
And so, yeah, we got to message it better.
But, you know, we also, especially Trump, I mean, Trump produced...
You know, picked Supreme Court justices that overturned Roe.
So, you know, to me, it would be disingenuous for those on the right to be really upset with what he's doing right now, because at the end of the day, he gave us the three of the five votes on the Supreme Court that overturned Roe versus Wade.
Yeah, I think it's just the way I think some is being perceived.
It's just, look, I think there's a big communication issue.
It's something Republicans have got to deal with because now the debate is getting framed into absolutionists on both sides.
And that's a narrative that neither side, frankly, wins.
And again, we'll see how that comes out as we go further here.
Just to pick, before we get into some fun stuff here, I am of the opinion that in the national election cycle, which I agree with you, most of these are nationalized, and also the fact that there's only about 10 to 15 truly what I call swingy congressional seats in the House.
The only thing that we go back to that first question we had is, can it get worse?
Well, if two people, because basically that's all that's needed right now is two people to vacate the chair with Mike Johnson.
You know, the Trump campaign can't want that.
Others can't want that simply because, you know, here it goes again with the narrative that will feed the airwaves in September, October of a dysfunctional conservative Republican Party.
That's exactly right.
And that's the danger that we face, right?
I mean, that's the space we find ourselves in.
And so, you know, I was wrong in my assessment two years ago that I didn't think abortion would be a deciding issue, and I think it was.
And, you know, it's hard to believe it's still here, but when you look at what happened today, You know, with the Arizona Supreme Court ruling, and that was on a statute that was an 1843 statute.
You know, I think we've got to pay attention to those things.
And yeah, look, what's going on in the House right now, Doug?
Yeah, I mean, here's the good news is that it's pretty obvious we don't have our act together.
You know, but the good news is, you know, they don't really have theirs together, too.
It's like the old saying, democracy is the worst form of government with the exception of all the rest of the forms.
And that's where the two parties find themselves now.
Yep.
Yeah, I agree.
And I think that's the part that we dig into as we go forward.
So look, there's a lot of, you know, we're going to spend more time.
We'll take a, probably folks, we're going to take another, you know, few weeks here and we're going to take, and Chip and I will break down political for a long time.
But I think just hitting the highlights right now, I think, look, frankly, Speaker Johnson is doing, you know, is knowing him personally.
I think he's doing the best he can.
He just is, is just giving, frankly, a no-win situation.
And then you've got the Senate who, Is becoming basically the same thing.
I think the next big thing will be is if the Republicans can actually force the Democrats into having a hearing on Mayorkas.
I think that's going to be an interesting debate of power in the Senate.
And is Schumer going to actually give into it?
It's going to be interesting to see.
All right, let's move on.
Friday's finest, all we got to look back on.
The O.J. saga is over.
O.J. is no longer among the land of the living.
O.J. Simpson is now dead.
He passed away.
Has there ever been a more iconic figure in American life that has went from major hero to major pariah in the lifetime of O.J. Simpson?
Someone who wasn't alive for his glory days as an athlete or his days as an actor, though I do love the Top Gun movies.
Let's talk about Yeah.
Talk about Tiger Woods after his little sexual or sexcapades or whatever we want to call them.
This is literally the – he went from – he was like – somebody described him sort of like a Michael Strahan character where he's super famous in football and then super famous outside of football and everyone pretty much loved him.
And then, you know, 1994 happens and the world is so split on him and divided.
It became a racial issue.
It became this, that, and the other thing.
And he's the most hated man on the planet for half of America.
Is that not...
Like, that is a...
And now he's gone and you've got people saying rest in peace, which is...
I don't even have the energy for it.
There are plenty of people who should be resting in peace.
I don't know if OJ's one of them.
Yeah, well, Chip, I mean, think about it, because I think you and I have, I mean, it's interesting to hear James' perspective on that, is only knowing the post-Bretwood OJ. You and I both know the prior, the thing that actually got him to Brentwood, if you would.
I mean, I remember as a kid thinking OJ Simpson was, you know, in the 70s, when I was playing football as an 8-, 9-, 10-year-old, you know, OJ, everybody wanted to be OJ. Oh, yeah.
I mean, he was the man.
I mean, he was a stud on the field.
I mean, he was in many ways, and I think this is kind of a fair comparison.
I mean, he was the Bo Jackson, Eric Dickerson, Walter Payton kind of thing before there were all those guys.
Yes, he was.
He threw it all away.
He was brutal.
Yeah.
He threw it all away.
But look, let's just take a moment to celebrate the fact that he is, as the Babylon Bee says, O.J. Simpson is excited for God to tell him who the real killer was.
After all of these years, O.J. finally gets to know who the real killer is.
Oh my God.
Did the Babylon Bee post that today?
That's hilarious.
They did.
Wait, did you see that apparently, and I want to make sure this is true, but I'm going to say it anyway because who cares.
Apparently the Heisman Council said rest in peace to former Heisman Trophy winner OJ Simpson, but Reggie Bush still doesn't have his Heisman back.
Are we all on the same page here?
No.
Oh, wow, yeah.
I didn't see...
Well, first of all, I think Reggie Bush should have his Heisman, but second of all, I didn't see that the Heisman committee...
Yeah, I think they actually posted it.
I want to make sure before I'm in trouble here.
But yeah, if that's the case, though, that is the crazy...
You know, I'm going to throw something in here, though.
And just for a minute, okay, just as we're having, this is what Friday's Finest is kind of about.
We are talking about an individual who was acquitted in a court of law by a jury of their peers.
And it's one of the craziest cases in that absolutely nobody, it seems like outside those 12 people, Believed he was innocent.
No.
But, Doug, I disagree with you.
I think those 12 people knew he was guilty.
They didn't care.
Because Mark Furman lied to them It lied to them, and it did become very racial.
I'm sure there's somebody on the jury that they probably convinced he didn't do it, but this was the first case where I learned the difference between No, Well, the court found him innocent.
No, no, no, no, no.
The court did not find him innocent.
They found him not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt after a police officer lied to them on the stand about the glove and, you know, was caught using the N-word.
And it was just a disaster for the prosecution.
It had nothing to do with whether or not O.J. Simpson killed Ronald Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson, but it was certainly something that...
That persuaded the jury.
And, you know, look, we have the best government in the world.
It's not without faults.
I think we have a great court system, too.
But the court system doesn't always get it right.
There's no such thing as perfect.
And I think that's kind of where the dust settled on the OJ Simpson verdict.
James, from your perspective, on a younger perspective here, it's actually, frankly, only knowing him post-Bretwood.
Do you think, and I'm interested to see this, and Chip weigh in as well, do you think the OJ verdict began the downward spiral of people's It's a deeper question.
I guess this is what I... Alright, you know what's funny?
I heard this today.
Someone actually said this case, and I know you used the word downfall, so I want to use that again, was a massive...
It sounded like some of the progress we had made racially and otherwise had all been pushed back to this moment and started a downward spiral since.
I know that doesn't technically answer your question, but...
I guess, yeah, go ahead.
Your generational perspective.
Yeah, your generational perspective.
Chip, I think from our generational perspective, I mean, I can see that it became the, if you were, you know, if it was a racial tone to it, but also very much of a financial tone to it, that there were, you know, so many people, he could buy the best attorneys in the world.
And there became this idea that if you can Buy your way out of something that I think, you know, maybe initially doesn't approach what we're seeing these days, you know, in the DOJ stuff, the Trump stuff, the Biden stuff and everything else, or Hillary Clinton stuff or anything else.
But it does go back, I think, you know, so that reinforcement of It depends on who you are, no matter what justice you get.
I can see that, Doug.
I really didn't view the O.J. Simpson trial through that lens.
And I say the trial, it was really the verdict and the response to the verdict.
Because I remember, look, I'm 51 years old, right?
So I'm not young.
But I was in college when that verdict came out.
And I remember vividly.
You know, I remember vividly the differences in how the white student body responded to the verdict and the black student body responded to the verdict.
I mean, I remember watching the verdict from my 398 Sanders Street home, and then I remember seeing video of African-American black students watching it at the Student Union, and they were celebrating like their team had just won the Super Bowl.
It was the first time, I guess, in my life where the court system had the whole world's attention.
The court system in the United States had the whole...
Well, it did have the whole world's attention, but it certainly had the country's attention.
And I think the Mark Furman testimony and the fact that O.J. Simpson was African-American and he killed his former white wife and Ronald Goldman, who was wife.
It was the first memory that I had of You know, how juries can make decisions based upon race.
And I think they did there.
And look, let me be clear.
I mean, there are African-American defendants and there have been African-American defendants all across the country who have been on the other side of that dynamic.
So it's not a one-sided dynamic.
I'm not trying to say that it's a one-sided dynamic, but it certainly was for that trial.
I was young.
I was a kid in my early 20s.
It was when I realized that our court system is not perfect and is going to make some mistakes.
Yeah, and I think that was the eye-opening fact for most people, this idea of innocence and guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
And I think that standard, as you talked about earlier, yeah, there was.
I can remember being a little bit older.
I was already, you know, when this verdict...
I'll tell you what's interesting here, and I'll just throw that out here and just let it rest for a second.
The OJ, the killing, and the trial...
From the time that Nicole and Goldman were killed until the trial of O.J. Simpson went faster than some of the January 6th defendants have sat in D.C. district jail.
Yes.
In court.
Something's wrong.
Well, not only did that go faster, imagine the Young Thug trial in Atlanta.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, my God.
It's been going on for years.
That's the longest trial ever.
Yeah, it's just...
Yes.
And brought to you by...
I saw something where they said, and I don't know, because, again, I was literally...
I guess this happened in, what, June of 94, right?
Yeah, so I was a year and a half old.
Please don't attack me for being a young child.
But there were a lot of people that said that, although, yes, this was a race trial, this was more specifically geared towards the fact that the Rodney King beatings...
Didn't result in the way it should have.
And that no matter what happened, whether they believed OJ was innocent or not, had nothing to do with it.
Was that part of this back then?
Because again, I really wasn't around for it.
I only watched the...
It was, right?
It was a major discussion point where people were like...
It was almost like...
When people were, and this has nothing to do with the actual politics of it, but there were people, I remember at the time, that were making jokes about the fact that they were like, yeah, we voted Obama in.
We didn't know what he was doing.
We just, we voted him because he was black.
And that was sort of the same way it was for the OJ case.
It was like, I don't care if he's right or wrong.
I'm voting against this.
I mean, I'm rooting for him because of the injustices prior.
Yes.
Yes.
Yep.
The police became an issue.
Chip is his act.
Mark Furman did damage.
He did.
Yeah, it was.
Well, and also, if you remember back at that time, again, James, you being younger, I mean, this was a whole rise of the urban scene, the urban hip-hop scene, the cultural change, the grunge movement that was coming on.
I mean, this was the rise of, you know, NWA, Dr. Dre, you know, these were, I mean, it was just a time in which this was really highlighted coming off of a decade of the 80s, in which this had been moving, quote, forward.
It was a culmination of a lot at one time.
Oh, there's tons of stuff.
It was the perfect storm, and I know we've discussed OJ longer than anyone should ever discuss him, but...
It is amazing because they were like, why did people care about this so much?
OJ was famous for multiple reasons, but also because OJ was the fun person.
I guess there's probably people out there, and I can't name them because I'm not going to start naming people that I think could be murderers.
But if you heard somebody, certain people were murdered, you'd be like, you know, that might make sense.
It never made sense for OJ. And it was so violent.
And then he tried to escape to Mexico, which should have been the number one thing saying, hey, what did they say?
He was under distress?
That's the reason that he fled to Mexico?
Yeah, I remember watching the Bronco.
Okay, so it was, I mean, I can actually remember watching.
Cut off the NBA Finals for me.
Yeah.
Well, I mean, coming off of this, I mean, there's a lot to unpack here.
I mean, I think that there's so much to unpack.
I mean, because, you know, you go on to the, you know, acceptable, you know, who was crossover appeal to all races.
OJ was that, you know, some in the, you know, communities didn't like.
I mean, look, there's just a lot, lot to unpack.
But either way, it's now, it's consigned to history.
Because he's no longer on the land of the living.
Speaking of those who probably wish that they were not in the land of at least publicity is Mizuhara was the translator for Shohei Otani, who now it is coming out.
James brought this to my attention, but 19,000 bets, none of which were on baseball, understandably, but he won $142 million and lost $183 million.
That's right.
$40 million in the hole, baby.
It is so funny that we are here right now.
You know what?
I'm sorry, go ahead.
It's crazy.
No, it's crazy.
The effort to put 19,000 bets in a loan to an illegal bookie sounds exhausting on its own.
I agree.
What about you, Chip?
Would you miss $40 million?
I mean, holy cow.
I mean, where do we start, right?
I was just going to say what James said.
I mean, the idea of putting 19,000 bets in, I mean, you know, I've been known to gamble recreationally.
And, you know, I have trouble getting, you know, 10 football bets in on a football weekend.
I mean, I can't imagine.
I mean, when did he have time to translate?
And by the way, how did Shohei Otani not know this was going on?
I mean, there's just no way.
I still believe there's got to be more.
I am firmly under the impression.
This is my firm impression.
I think this is what happened.
I think it's Ipke, right?
This is his first name.
I feel like I'm getting that wrong.
He put up money.
He made illegal bets.
Couldn't cover them.
Asked Shohei if he could cover his bets.
Shohei said, do not let this get back to me.
In other words, you can change all my passwords, do all this stuff.
You can do whatever you want for your absurd gambling addiction because I don't want to lose you.
Do not bet on baseball and we're good.
And that's what happened.
But 19,000 bets is...
I don't even know...
I don't know how anyone has the time to place that many bets.
Someone said it would be placing 200 bets a day for 345 days straight.
Something like that.
I don't know the math, but it's crazy.
Yeah, I mean...
Yeah, I don't see how that could happen.
That's a staggering...
I mean, that's a staggering amount.
And to think here, the problem that I think most people are going to have at some point in time is he's still playing baseball and Pete Rose is not in the Hall of Fame.
Okay?
I'm sorry.
Well, he didn't bet on baseball.
As long as he didn't bet on baseball, it doesn't matter.
If he bet on baseball, then yes.
Then it would be a travesty.
But he didn't bet on baseball.
And there's nothing linking him directly to the bets.
Shohei, whether he was in and on it or not, he was protected in every single sense.
Okay, did we just not talk about another famous athlete that had something to do with California?
What we're saying is LA is the problem.
LA is dangerous.
It's California.
Not being legally...
Legally bound here, Chip.
Yeah, I was about to say.
Yeah.
He's going to get life because not only did he do it, but he did it stupid.
People were betting on unders on how many rebounds and points he was going to have in two games in which he left early due to injury and illness.
Duh.
You can't make this up.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Can't make it up.
Well, speaking of stuff you can't make up either, and that is the glory and the wonder that is The Masters.
And The Masters is kicked off today, and right now it looks like that if you drew a late...
Tea time today, and you're one of the tops in the world.
You are struggling.
The later tea times on Thursday, and we're, you know, of course, it's Friday Science.
We're taping this late.
Just for information, we're taping this late on Thursday.
The Gala and several of these who teed off after 4 o'clock are, at this point in time, at one over their...
There's nobody in the lower rounds here.
And also, if you look at this, you have another live player sitting at the number one spot.
And right behind him at this current moment is, guess who?
Scotty Scheffler.
He's taking that money, baby.
Yeah.
Yeah, look.
Yeah, look.
I was telling – I told James on Wednesday – I told James on Wednesday, you know, Scotty Scheffler was plus 400 to win this tournament.
That's 4-1.
I really thought he would come out at plus 200 at 2-1.
So speaking of illegal betting, I loaded up on plus 400 Scotty Scheffler.
And I got to tell you, I feel pretty good about that bet right now.
Despite the fact that, you know, Bryson just went crazy today and shot seven under.
But yeah, I mean, look, tomorrow morning, these guys that are on the course now, if they finish their round, they're going to have early tee times tomorrow.
That's how it works.
And so, you know, when 15 mile an hour winds are blowing and it's 41 degrees, it feels like a lot more wind.
Then if it's 15 mile an hour winds, it's 75 degrees, which is what the afternoon tee time guys are going to get.
So yeah, but look, I'm just happy it's Masters week, man.
I'm so excited about it.
And I love it that the forecast is dry for the remainder of the week.
So looks like we won't have any more rain delays.
Yeah, it looks like the guys, you know, here's the sad part.
Those guys who are actually teeing off probably at 8, 9, 10 in the morning are going to have 10, 12, 15, 16, 17 mile wide winds, and it's going to pick up in the afternoon.
So all of them are going to be affected.
Here's an interesting, would be a prop bet.
The winds seem to be dying a little bit toward the weekend.
The interesting bet will be what will be the cut line this year at Augusta.
Yeah.
I'm predicting plus three or better.
Look, the cut line is different in the Masters than any other tournament.
It's not the top 50 or top 60 players.
It's the top 50 players or anybody within 10 shots of the lead.
So even if that number is 62, 63, and in years past it has been, and so this could be one of those years, unless DeChambeau goes crazy on a round tomorrow, and then that won't come into...
That won't come into it, but it's only an 88-person field, so it's a small cut.
This is the smallest cut of any of the four men.
Yeah, it is.
I got a question for you, as we talk about it, because you're sitting here with live players all over the leaderboard.
Look, I may disagree.
I think they should play 72. They say they should play 54. I get it.
I mean, in a thing, they're making a lot of money.
But, you know, a lot of these live players are going to be on the weekend.
They're playing in.
You've got Bryson on top.
You've got, you know, some of these others that are coming in.
Well, here's Mikel Rory is at minus two.
But you've got some of these coming in that are going to be around.
Rahm's at minus one.
I mean, look, they're all going to be there.
Reed, the question will be, And this is an interesting one.
It came out yesterday, I guess it was, that the Augusta National did not, through professional channels, give or let purchase Greg Norman passes to come to the Masters.
This is the second year in a row.
The Masters, of course, can do whatever they want to do.
They're the only golf club in the world.
They're the only tournament in the world that can basically tell your sponsors, we're not going to have sponsors.
We're going to do this anyway, and everybody would still show up.
Okay?
Is it getting a little punching down in weight here for the Masters to not extend?
Someone who, by the way, you go back to the 90s and early 2000s, Greg Norman had some of the most amazing losses, but amazing rounds at the Masters.
Are we punching down here, Chip and James?
I don't think so, Doug.
I mean, I think, look, the Augusta National Golf Club has not only let in LIV players, but they gave a special exemption and a special invitation this year to an LIV golfer, which I think shocked everybody.
Joaquin Neiman did not qualify for this tournament.
When the special invitations came out, I think it was the right thing to do for the Augusta National Golf Club to give it to somebody like Joaquin Neiman.
They largely gave it to him because Joaquin Neiman tried to get into this tournament by playing other players.
Global events outside of LIV that guys like Taylor Gooch didn't play.
Look, the Augusta National Golf Club has been known for years to want all the focus all the week is to be on golf.
Had they extended an invite to Greg Norman, then you have to let him behind the ropes.
You have to let him have access to the press that's behind the ropes.
And then all of a sudden, you know, you lose the narrative.
Now, what you can't control is if Greg Norman does what he did yesterday.
You know, he buys a ticket on the secondary or the third market and you let him in, but...
But I don't think so.
I mean, it's, look, LIV has been very disruptive to golf.
You know, the Augusta National Golf Club doesn't like, you know, they're the antithesis of disruption.
I think they've handled LIV well.
But, you know, I don't know if I was, and by the way, they didn't call and ask my opinion, but I don't know if I was at the Augusta National Golf Club that I would have extended an invite to Greg Norman either.
Right.
James, do you agree with Rory that golf is in a crisis right now and basically implying that the live problem is done?
Yeah, live is the problem.
You know what else is the problem?
No one cares about golf without Tiger Woods.
That has literally been a proof of that every year.
Yeah, live golf is an issue because it's got unlimited funding.
They could...
Bury themselves in debt and it wouldn't matter, right?
So they can just keep going.
Listen, I am not going to sit here and tell you that there's a world where I'm one of the top golfers and the PGA Tour says you can earn your money or the other one says here's 50 up front, come play for us.
And I'm like, oh, you know what?
I got a family to feed.
Let me go pretend to be in a real golf league.
No, I'm going to go take dirty money I'm going to swing the club, whether I win or lose, take home $50 million and relax.
And I will do it with a smile.
I can't pretend that I'm better than any of these people.
So, yes, it is a huge problem.
Until the TGA Tour says, we're going to give you money up front, we're going to give you all these benefits, blah blah.
I mean, you're talking about people's lives here.
The reason the big leagues work is because they take care, for the most part, of their players.
The NFL, despite the fact that they have made some major mistakes, has done a lot to try to protect players.
And as long as that keeps happening...
People will play in the NFL. With golf, they need to protect their players.
They need to give them every opportunity to earn and give them a good salary up front, and these guys will stay in the U.S. playing real important tournaments.
Yeah, I would say two things to that.
That's why I like Jon Rahm so much, because I hated to see him go to live.
But unlike a lot of the original golfers that went to live that tried to justify going by, well, it's another league, it's fun, there's music, you know, we only played three days, it's a lighter schedule.
When Jon Rahm went to live, he essentially said, hey, I went for the money.
I mean, I'm going to take care of my family forever.
You know, it's less on the body.
But yeah, I went for the money.
I mean, I don't know that he quite said it as crass as I just said it.
But he didn't try to hide it, right?
And I like that.
And I make no mistake about it.
If the kingdom of Saudi Arabia wanted to spend this much money and take over the game of football or basketball or tennis or baseball, they could do it.
And they could do it for the same reason James just said.
There has never been another professional sports league in the history of the world that has lost more money than LIV.
LIV doesn't make any money.
They're not profitable.
They don't make money selling hot dogs and Diet Cokes and Michelob lights, right?
You make money on huge TV contracts and they don't have one.
And they're paying these exorbitant purses.
And so, yeah, look, it is creating a problem for the money.
But, you know, let's call it for what it is.
It's sports washing.
I mean, it is sports washing, and it is.
If LIV ended today, and it won't end today because it can go on forever as long as Saudi Arabia wants to continue to fund it, but don't tell me that the NFL won't have the same problem if Yasser El-Ramayan goes to all free agents or everybody even under contract and says, hey, I'll pay you three times what the Chicago Bears are paying you.
I'll pay you four and a half times what the Cincinnati Bengals are paying you.
Then there would be another football league, and it's just money talks.
Doug, you and I have talked about that a million times in politics, and we ran into it when you ran against Kelly Loeffler, who spent $59 million running for a set.
Money just talks, and we saw that, and it was disappointing, but it is what it is.
Same thing's happening with golf.
I'm sorry I'm off on my soapbox now.
No, that was the equivalent of live in politics.
Yes, it was!
Well, but here's the thing, though.
I disagree, Chip.
I think golf is the one area you could do it.
Could do what now?
They could come in and buy.
I don't see, because it's easier, because it's single player.
It's not team oriented.
So it'd be harder to buy the entire NFL. I mean, you couldn't do it.
I mean, the USFL tried to do that in the 80s and it failed.
They didn't have the money, though.
They failed because they ran out of money.
Well, they ran out of money.
Initially, they had it, but again, I see your point, and I think this is the point, though.
Michael, let's turn to what I think is the inevitable here, okay?
When do they come back together, and how do they do it?
I can tell you.
I can give you a real idea.
This is going to sound stupid, but I'm going to say it anyway out loud.
Like NASCAR, there are teams.
Like Formula One racing, there's a team.
There should be big clubs or whatever you want to call them and players get paid ahead of time and they golf for that club.
So when they win, that club wins.
That's it.
You have ownership.
End of conversation.
Everybody gets paid when there's ownership.
But look, I see what you're saying, James, but golf, I mean, for those of us who do golf, and I do it badly, in fact, I just went out to the range the other day and hit balls, and I'm like, okay, 60% of these were fine, and 40% of these, like, God, did I ever start, why did I ever play?
But golf is just something different, and Chip and James...
Chip and we have another dear friend who's family with us three that we text between.
And we went off this about a couple of weeks ago.
And Liv cannot match PGA, in my opinion, on the drama because of the way they do their tournaments.
The format's horrendous.
The shotgun start is awful.
I mean, nobody knows who's winning.
Everybody's playing.
I mean, it's like going to the Kiwanis or Rotary at your local club and everybody's shotgun starts and everybody's lying about their scores.
But, you know...
But when you have the Nick Dunlap story from earlier this year out in California, here's an amateur from Alabama who's winning and he's coming in.
And James, where I differ on you about the pay, I think there's ways to infer pay.
But to me, the biggest advantage of PGA is...
I mean, we were talking about this the other day.
I had my boys on a text chain.
It was Sunday in the final round.
And you get down to where putts, and Chip, you know this, putts are literally worth $200,000 or $300,000.
Yeah.
You don't have that.
Yeah.
Yeah, Doug.
And going back to your question, you know, when is this going to resolve itself?
Well, I'm going to tell you a very big item of differentiation in this Masters from last Masters with respect to LIV is this.
The LIV is...
Is not eligible for the official world golf rankings.
They're not.
They sued and they lost and they're not eligible.
And so, you know, last year there were 21 LIV players that teed it up in the Masters.
This year they're 13. And that doesn't mean that seven of those players or eight of those players, however many it was, aren't good enough to play this year.
They just didn't accumulate any world ranking points.
And so as every year goes by...
That becomes more and more important to LIV golfers if they want to play the majors.
And so far, they really haven't run into an obstacle to play the majors because if they get into the majors, Brooks Koepka in two majors last year accumulated enough exemptions where he can play for the next five, ten years.
Not everybody's like that, right?
And so I think that dynamic...
We'll, you know, we'll ultimately end up to some agreement because right now the parties are talking, but they want two different things.
You know, I think it might be another year.
It might be another year.
Does that hurt the fans more and the league or the players more?
Because...
Realistically, if they stop letting these guys be ranked and they slowly fade off, they're still getting paid by Liv.
They're fine.
That's exactly right.
It's going to come to a head close.
It's going to be PGA's problem less than it's the guys playing for Liv's problem.
They'll just be like, okay, I'm not in it.
Whatever.
Well, James just brings up a good point, Chip, as we sort of round out this discussion here.
The DJ, Dustin Johnson, who I have a lot of respect for, I mean, he basically said also he went for money.
I mean, he said, I had to do it for what I want to do, and I don't really care.
But at a certain point in time, all these guys, there's a shelf life to their...
Greatness, okay?
Of course, you bet.
And so if they don't win, I mean, most of them are getting invites like to the Masters.
Like a Master Champion will always get an invite.
They're there for life.
Right.
U.S. Open is like 10 years.
I mean, so these champions, but you're right.
I mean, I didn't realize that statistic.
But next year, out of that 13, you could probably cut that in half.
Right.
Even next year, where you only have six live players there.
And all of them are former champions.
Or top ten.
Yeah.
But his top ten can get in as well.
Well, that's right.
So I think this is where it's going to come in is...
You just really wonder about some of these, like Koepka in particular, who is, I mean, he's wired to majors.
That's just what he's wired to.
Shambo, similar situation.
DJ could have, I think if he had stayed, probably would have won a couple other majors in this time.
Here's the interesting thing.
Who it really helped was those 15, ranked 15 to 45 players in the PGA Tour who are now at the top of leaderboards who nobody has any clue to who they are on Sunday.
they wouldn't have been in those leader positions if you still had a full field of 30 or 40 golfers that took out of the top 50 in the world.
That's right.
I mean, guys like Jake Knapp, guys like Nick Dunlap, we would have never heard of those two in all likelihood, you know, if not for LIV, right?
Or Tom Kim.
Tom Kim, that's right.
And I'll go back to kind of something James said.
And here's the dirty little secret about all this is that if you were to talk privately about With all the big name players that moved to LIV, not one of them will tell you that they think that their league is sustainable, right?
They think...
They moved to LIV to make quick money because they thought they'd be back on tour in three or four years.
So if Yasser El-Ramayan drags this out...
And it looks like that's not going to happen.
I'm just curious to see how that goes because they all laugh thinking they'd make quick money.
I mean, they know that, you know, playing with rock and roll music 15 times a year, you know, having shotgun starts in three rounds, they didn't think that was sustainable.
I mean, come on, who does, right?
And so...
I don't know.
The longer this is the third year now of Lev, we're in the third year and we're halfway through the third year.
If this makes it six or seven years, it'll be very interesting because do they continue to cherry pick a John Rahm every year or do they come to an agreement?
It's a fascinating dynamic.
How long are their contracts?
Because they're only a couple of years.
Well, I would say that's the million-dollar question, but it's probably more than a million-dollar question.
Yeah, it's probably the 50-plus million-dollar question.
If their contract's only three or four years, they get their money, then they'll go back to the league.
Well, if the league will have them, right?
No, the PGA will...
I'm telling you right now, the PGA is not stupid enough not to take these guys back.
If they are, fine.
But they would have to pay a penalty of some sort.
Yeah, for them to pay a couple million dollars, it's nothing for them now.
Yes, they would have to.
And yes, I think if that happens, but the reality is we don't know how long their contracts are, right?
It's possible that these players' contracts could all be of different durations.
That's right.
And so that's a fascinating dynamic.
I don't know how long I would imagine Phil Mickelson...
Four years for Brooks Koepka.
It ends in 2025. Yeah, interesting.
$100 million.
Yeah, it's a pretty good contract.
There's no world I'm not taking that.
I'm greedy as hell.
I know.
I get it.
Look, I'm not that good at golf and they haven't asked me to play for them, but if they are, if they do ask me, it's hard to say no to that type of money.
It really is.
Well, and they're able to keep it quiet as well, and I think that's going to be the key as we go through here.
Well, folks, here's the deal.
I think Scheffler's...
Look, I've got a prediction.
I think...
Look, I think Scheffler's well on his way to winning the Masters.
I agree with Chip.
It's the safest bet.
It's the best bet.
I think that it is probably true, but I'm still of the opinion, especially with some of his wins, some of his others, you could get...
Another name in there.
But I have a prediction.
It came close last year.
I think it will happen this year.
It goes into this conversation we're having here, though.
I think they will be a live champion this year at the Masters.
Then you're betting against Scotty Scheffler?
It's hard, believe me.
It's the question is, you know, Scheffler seems to have gotten in toward the end of this round.
It'll be interesting to see how it goes.
Look, I think Scheffler is the win.
If I put in money, I'm putting Scheffler.
But I do believe that the majors do, because they took, I mean, here's the thing with Liv.
Liv took the best They took the cream, okay?
They didn't go down and pick up.
I mean, they got some just to fill out the roster.
Don't get me wrong.
But they did take the ones who are pretty much in their prime right now for going, you know, to play golf.
So, I mean, you're looking at it no matter what because the ones that they took are actually the prime players.
I think the Rams, the Johnsons, the Shambos, the DeChambos, the Kepkas are the ones that if they were on PGA Tour right now, all of them would be in the top five of anybody predicting along with Sheffler to be a winner this week as we go.
So here is the Question that will sort of end it with this today on the podcast.
In the Masters this week, I have you two questions.
One, does Tiger make the cut?
The second is, does Rory make the top ten?
Chip?
I hope Tiger makes the cut, and I'm going to say yes.
And I'm going to say yes, Rory finishes top 10, but it's going to be 9 or 10. He's not going to be top 5, but I think he will be top 10. Cool.
James?
No to Rory, yes to Tiger Woods.
Okay.
I think it's going to be yes to both.
I think Rory's going to have that strained pain look on his face like he is still needing to go to the restroom because he's constipated coming into the 18th knowing he's four shots down and doesn't have a chance.
Although it's been interesting, if any of you have watched, a curious question, for those of you, have y'all watched Full Swing the second season?
I have not, but I want to.
Yeah, you need to.
When y'all do, tell me and we'll talk about it on the Friday's Finest.
Look, I don't dislike Rory.
I think Rory now realized he got screwed.
And Full Swing sort of brings some of that out.
So I encourage you to watch it.
It's pretty cool.
As we leave here on the last time, also something that, again, for me, it's amazing how news channels pick up on the craziest stuff to put out.
And now they have determined, as everybody's favorite quarterback wife, Brittany Mahomes, has now dyed her hair red.
Yo, what are we going to do?
So, that's where we'll end it here.
A red moment here on the Friday's Finest for the Doug Collins Podcast.
Glad y'all are with us.
Go to the Doug Collins Podcast.
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