Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - Off-Season Dumpster Fires: Deshaun Watson and the Browns, Jack Del Rio Twitter Rant, and Tyreek Hill Talking KC Trash

Episode Date: June 15, 2022

Geoff and Gabe review another crazy week in the off season! With the continued development in the Deshaun Watson allegations, what will happen with the Browns? Geoff weighs in from a player��s perspective on the very suspicious NDA stuff surrounding Deshaun’s charges, the Browns’ probable next moves (ripping up the contract, or hoping everyone forgets the allegations by 2023?) and how the Texans may or may not have been consciously involved. However, with Jack Del Rio’s most recent politically-charged Twitter rant, the D.C. Commanders may even be a bigger dumpster fire than the Browns. Next, Gabe and Geoff discuss Tyreek Hill’s questionable Chiefs-bashing in his podcast episode, proving once and for all that all wide receivers are divas. Geoff and Gabe wrap up the show with some Over-Under predictions about Baker’s future, PGA remarks, and the Celtics’ odds this season. Make sure to leave a rating and follow the pod if you enjoyed, and leave a comment or tweet @geoffschwartz to share your take.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

it's wednesday june 15th i'm jeff schwartz alongside gabe goodwin this is jeff schwartz a smart new power by the varsity podcast network it is never a quiet time for the nfl the browns and deshaun watson are making headlines daily tyreek hill will not stop talking about his former team and the commanders seem to be the biggest mess in washington dc plus we'll have some over as usual a little live golf tournament talk g as usual. A little live golf tournament talk. Gabe, how are you, buddy? Live golf tournament talk. That's what I'm here for, Jeff.

Hey, man. If they want to pay me $200 million to do a live podcast, I might be in. I don't know. I could ignore some atrocities for that. I think $200,000 is a little low, man. The money they're giving out these days. No, $200 million.

$200 million. Okay. $200 million, yeah. $200 million to do that. I'm on the West Coast this week, and every time I come out here, I want to move back home because of the time zone in sports.

Like last night was Game 5 of the NBA Finals, and I was able to watch it with my son. Like back home, he's sleeping here. I've been watching basketball and some college baseball, man. The weather, it's beautiful today. I could have the window open. It's 102 in Charlotte today. I'm not home, but man, you guys are living the life out here.

It is very nice here. I just traveled to Austin, Texas. I had a great old time in Austin, Texas. Terrific city. But it was 109 degrees. Very nice here. I just traveled to Austin, Texas. I had a great old time in Austin, Texas. Terrific city. But it was 109 degrees. I literally didn't leave the pool for like five hours straight. Oh, man.

I'm sorry that you didn't leave the pool. It was a good way to live. I'm just saying 109. There was nothing we could possibly do. Did you have a bunch of barbecue? Every meal. I ate barbecue for breakfast. You would have been proud. I ate,

I ate beef ribs. Brisket tacos? I had brisket tacos at one point. I had ribs for breakfast two days in a row. Dude, I'm very, I'm very proud. I,

I had an experience with New Orleans gumbo for last week and, oh buddy, that was an experience. Delicious. Yeah. I have a fun food project coming out i mean i filmed it it's coming out soon i can't even announce it it's a weird business man this media business is in on one gabe i don't really get it people like to keep their keep their secrets tight

well yeah you've been up to a lot of fun rolling around town that's why people might not have heard the show last week you were shooting some stuff but we're back this week you mentioned a few of the stories in the news um i'm gonna bring up maybe the most sensitive one and hopefully we can have a conversation about this that isn't all about like legal analysis and certainly not about like the awful things deshaun watson is accused of i kind of want to understand where this leaves him the team in the league so not surprisingly uh there are now more accusations um against deshaun watson we thought everyone was waiting until the legal part of this saga ended before a team would sign them and move on well now the legal part is not actually over because of some very good

reporting by the new york times and uh you know women coming forward and saying hold on something like that happened to me so jeff with two new charges and what apparently are 66 women who had one of these encounters with him over about 18 months, the Browns can't possibly really say that they fully investigated and that they knew all of this was coming. This has to be a surprise. So two takes available is what I'm seeing out there for you to unpack. Either his suspension is going to be a lot longer than we originally thought, like at least a year, or the Browns could maybe somehow opt out of this thing before it even ever gets started. Do you agree with either of those takes? Well, they're allowed to opt out of something like significantly new happens or they're lied to. So yeah, the New York times reporting came out that Deshaun Watson booked massages with

66 women over 17 months. Correct. I think that's like, ends up being like one a week essentially. It's very clear. I want to make this point. When you are an athlete and you have someone to work on your body, you have one or two people do that max.

Cause you want the same person to work on you each week, a couple times a week, because they understand your body. Hey, my hamstring's tight. Can you work on it? Okay, cool. How's it feel next time? How's it feel the time after that, right? So Deshaun Watson was not using these women

for their therapeutic purposes, right? He was trying to hook up with women on Instagram, which by itself is fine. No one's judging him for that, obviously, right? It's the other, it's allegations. And we're at a point now where we have, I think, 25 women now with the same story over and over again. And the Browns knew there were 22 when they traded for him. And I think they knew there was a possibility there were more. And they moved ahead with it because there were no criminal charges. And I don't know why, quite honestly. Again, we're not getting a legal part of this. I don't know why there were no criminal charges. And I don't know why, quite honestly. Again, we're not getting a legal part of this.

I don't know why there are no criminal charges. We have 25 women again with the same exact story. Same story. 25 of them. It happened. And the Browns, not only did they sign him or trade for him, I should say, they traded three first-round picks and then gave him the richest deal NFL history by $70 million game.

It is gross, dude. It is so gross. And they're hoping that we forget about this after suspension is over. Really more importantly, that we forget about this in 2023. Because I don't think he plays this season. I can't. How can he play this season? How can you say, we've had players suspended six games

for one woman accusing them of something and the NFL investigators saying yeah I'm not quite sure we should spend that person six games for them but now we have 25 women with the same general story right I he asked me to come over to work on him and things got a little a little out of hand he was was a little handsy. Things happened here and there. It ended poorly. It's not what I asked for. He did this against my will. Same story, Gabe, right? 25 women now with the same story. And so the NFL has to do something about this. And the question I think, too, is not whether like when they do it, because it's not going to be based upon what's happening in the court system because civil cases take a long time if these go one at a time man and they're not even

going to start till next offseason uh if they go to court so they're not going to suspend him based off that they're going to suspend it based off their investigation they've done and then i mean let's say you just spend him a year and then these civil cases go to court eventually and we might go through this again next year where we're hearing all the details from all these cases after he's been suspended for a season um yeah and then today today's wednesday assuming tuesday the 14th is record this was the first time he spoke to the media as a Browns uh quarterback since his press conference and oh man it's it's I keep using gross as the term man I don't know it's icky like it's just it's wrong man it feels wrong like again it's not that it's not just the trade for Deshaun

Watson it's the money and it's a guarantee it's the way they structure the contract to where if he gets suspended this year, he gets basically off. He gets no financial penalty besides the million dollars he's owed. He gets $229 million after that. And again, 25 different women have come forward. There's also new revelations, you know, that maybe the Texans helped facilitate some of this. Now, again, it goes into what did they know know which seems maybe unlikely they knew i don't mind them giving him getting him a hotel room if they think the quarterback's doing legitimate

work if i said to you hey guys i need a hotel room to get a massage i don't want to do it at home you don't think that's a that that feels not that bad okay but then isn't the follow-up question like oh okay did you talk to the trainers which one of them is coming over like yeah i'm going to a hotel room to get a massage but it's not with the person who does that for the team well well no no you you normally don't like i never use the team's person i use my own person but like okay well can you explain a little bit more about that to give us some perspective from the player so in with the panthers when i was young i didn't really have anyone i used they had a team massage therapist that i would use like in the off season once i started needing because when you're younger you typically don't you just you know your body's

fine when i got to kansas city um minnesota i had no one kansas city um i didn't have anyone but then in new york so by 2013, when I was in Kansas City, I started training a little differently, and I found out there's people that stretch you, the massage therapist and stuff. So when I was in New York, I had a stretching person. His name was Nick. I had a massage lady, and I'd see Melissa once a week

and Nick once a week. And they'd come over. I'd see Nick stretch me. I think it was every Monday or Tuesday, and Melissa would come over on Fridays. And that was the way it went. She'd come over every Friday. I'd see Nick every week.

If I needed extra, typically stretch, maybe I'd go Friday as well. And then that's the way in Detroit I had my own person. In Charlotte, my own person actually left, unfortunately, to go with a baseball player full-time. I was kind of bummed that she was leaving Charlotte. So, again, you see one person. Now, if I told the Giants, hey, I need a hotel room, I guess they would look at me kind of strange.

But I don't think their first thought was that I'm doing something bad. Part of the other report, Gabe, was about how they advised Deshaun Watson to get NDAs, right, non-disclosure agreements. Yeah, that's where I was going to take it. That's not weird, dude. That's not the weird part. The only weird part is if – Yeah, I my people that

you know my house like my my nanny my house my they sign ndas like my house now and i'm just a i'm a player is that's just because you you are a you are a public figure on some level um certainly when you were playing in the nfl there's certain privacy yeah that's what it is and and this person's working on your body so you don't really need them talking about you. But where the problem becomes is if the Texans gave him the NDAs after hearing about issues with the massages. So if they hear like, hey,

and again, I don't know how much detail they knew, but if Deshaun Watson comes in, hey, man, I'm having trouble with these massage ladies. And maybe they don't ask questions. They're like, okay, here's an NDA, have them sign it. I don't know what that was like. The N an NDA have them sign it I I don't know what that was like the NDA itself to me is not a big deal um again I I have I have nannies I have housekeepers sign it I think my wife even has her friends sign them sometimes like not has

been a while but like we have them readily available for people to sign um and sometimes they're not even enforceable to like they're just you know kind of like a i don't even know what the law is on those but nonetheless um that's not odd the odd part again is that if they knew and this is not even odd it's it's a part their texans would be in trouble for is if they knew about specific things happening that we've heard allegations of that they decided to ignore because he was their quarterback again ndas aren't a problem in my opinion the hotel room a little weird not not not that big of a deal if they knew what was happening there obviously there's a concern i get back to the browns man um i think the the browns knew about this stuff they knew gabe and they did anyways and they're hoping that

we forget about it they're hoping that by the time he plays in 2023 we have forgotten about it once week four hits of 2023 we forgot about it once week 12 it's what but i think the browns have done a lot of damage in the community to their own fans to the nfl by not only training for him but giving him the richest contract nfl history so okay so that other take that i mentioned and and smart people are suggesting this, this isn't, you know, just dummies on Twitter that they, you know, this is a pretty tightly written contract. Do you think it will take much more than what we've already seen for the Browns to, whether they did or didn't know to claim, Hey, this is more than we ever knew about. We,

we feel misled. We want to tear this contract up and get out of this. Do you think that that's now on the board? Because it feels like it is to me. No, no. I think the Browns don't care. You really don't think so? You think they're going to ride it out? Okay.

If there were 22 allegations of this, why would 23 and 24 change your mind? You already knew this was happening. They knew this and decided to trade for him anyways. Yeah, I mean, you're not wrong. I just think that there was some ability. I think the strategy was what you described. Make the decision, be decisive, have him get suspended and then move on.

But now it just feels like this slow, it's just not going to go away. And Jenny Varentis, a good reporter at New York Times, wrote her piece. Surely she'll have follow-ups. Other good reporters might dig into this. We'll get some answers to the questions you were just asking about what was going on in Houston. And I think it just doesn't go away. And then maybe they say this was a mistake. Now, we're going to talk about Baker Mayfield in our over-under game that we like to play.

But let me just ask this question. At this moment, this week, knowing what we know, what the hell is the quarterback room looking like week one and who's starting? It's Jacoby Brissett. The Baker Mayfield, I think, is gone. So it's Jacoby Brissett. It's not Deshaun Watson. Okay, so Trevor Bauer got two years for baseball

for allegations of sexual assault. Again, he was not criminally prosecuted either. So same kind of Deshaun Watson, but allegations were way more physical, right, in nature. He got suspended two years, Gabe. Do you expect him to, do you expect the NFL, I should say, to feel like they need to suspend Deshaun Watson

also two years because baseball showed the way with a Bauer two-year suspension so two-year suspension for Watson because of what Bauer got yeah it's an interesting question to ask I think if media spend time talking about it and framing it that way they might I mean that's why I think it's interesting you know when I see colleagues people we we both respect and like um go on tv Mina Kimes went on around the horn I think it's interesting. You know, when I see colleagues, people we both respect and like go on TV. Mina Kimes went on Around the Horn, I think it was, and spotlighted all the things Jenny Varentis reported and talked quite a bit about it and tweeted about it. And it got shared a lot. Like, I think if it stays in the headlines and those types of comparisons get made, like people feel pressure. I think it works a lot like politics in that way. So, yeah, maybe. I don't

know if the Trevor Bauer case is exactly apt, but but maybe it does become the benchmark. It's not the same thing. Right. But it's the same idea of suspension. Like, yep. Is that something they're going to feel comfortable doing if you're maybe. Well, let me shift gears to another equally insane story about a franchise that just can't seem to get anything right. So the DC Commanders might be even more of a dumpster fire than the Browns. So I think most people listening to this show have already processed the news and they may not feel the same way, by the way, about the news. Let me just quickly recap. So D coordinator Jack Del Rio went on a basically a Twitter rant. And essentially the thing that got him in trouble was he claimed that the January 6th, you know, riots at the Capitol were quote unquote a dust up. But he seemed to think that BLM protests

were more violent or worse. And that upset a lot of people. And he then later apologized. And then coach Ron Rivera said they had a conversation. Coach told him exactly what he thought of all of that. Find him a hundred grand and basically said he's on a short leash. So Jeff, I mean, first of all, anything I missed in that summary and also like, huh, what, what, how is this possibly the way things are going in the off season? How is Jack Del Rio part of the organization? Well, he tweeted it out, which is why he was asked about it, right? That's why he was asked about it. Yeah.

He then deleted his Twitter and moved it along. So what I found interesting about a couple of these things you just mentioned is that Ron Rivera personally fined him. This wasn't a Dan Snyder fine. It was a Ron Rivera fine. Yeah. And again, to be very clear the first amendment because i know people are going to say this does not protect you uh for

like private speech right it's government it's government related right like you have free speech from the government not from you can't go to your employer and say screw you employer be like first amendment you can't fire me doesn't work that way right it applies to the government so jack derulo is free to say what he wants ron rivera is also free to give him consequences for what he wants um and obviously ron rivera was upset about uh what he said and so he fined a hundred thousand dollars let's be very clear about the nfl i've made this comment many, many times. The NFL is a business of making money, winning games and making money. If they feel that you do not help them win games or make money, you will not be on a roster, whether you're a coach or a player. Whether you are liberal,

conservative, red, green, yellow, blue, purple, it doesn't matter. If you can help them win football games, you'll be on a roster. If you help them win football games you'll be on a roster if you help them with football games you're a distraction but you're Antonio Brown you're on a roster right if you are a bad football player and you're a distraction you can't help them win you're off the roster okay and Del Rio was fined because he's a distraction not it doesn't mean that everyone on the team disagrees with Jack Del Rio I hope they do but maybe I'm sure they don't there's some that don't doesn't even mean the owner disagrees with with with Jack Del Rio but it's a distraction for the team

it doesn't help them win he's got to coach players now who who have a coach going out there it's funny how the same people who are shut up and dribble to lebron are also like jack dorick and say what he wants yeah it's like well okay we have to have both ways right right so certainly i think as a player i really didn't care about what my coach had to say politically but if he did say something that i didn't agree with that was kind of as polarizing as this i'd still play hard for him of course yeah, there's a little bit of like, screw this guy, right? I would imagine in that locker room. So those are all the reasons he was fined.

It's not that the organization vehemently disagreed with him. It's that this comment does not help them win football games. Right. So I guess I'm confused and let's make this an X and O conversation, I suppose.

So what does he do so well for them? I mean, I perceive Jack Del Rio. I didn't know his politics. I don't necessarily even care. I don't look to defensive coordinators for enlightened takes on the world affairs. Correct. I kind of saw him as a retread guy who never really impressed all that much anywhere he went. He just kind of bounces from team to team.

He's kind of a rah-rah guy. He's obviously an old school guy. Is he some genius of defense? Like why wouldn't they just cut him loose? I don't get what he does well. Well, that part, that, that might be tough. If you fire him for those statements, you might get sued. Like that, that probably feels like that's accurate. Wrongful termination. He's shared an unpopular opinion and you fired him without cause. Yes. All right. Well, so, okay.

So then that gets to the only question we ask every time something like this happens. But usually it's with a fellow player says something that might piss a few teammates off. And how do you handle that? Here it's a coach. This guy's paid to be a leader. He has no role on the field. All he's there to do is get the buy-in of the team and have them believe in the things that he's saying correct so doesn't this jeopardize his ability to do that it possibly does um because again if players don't

respect their coach that's a problem right like i've had coaches i respected they were terrible coaches but i respected them right if if you don't respect your coach then you're not going to get a lot done because guys will not believe in you guys will still play hard of course but there's not that belief that I trust my coach that's looking out for my my best really the team's best interest is mine as well oh that's that's the concern right and I we won't know that answer game until they play this year right this is the off OTAs. So that's why I think he was just suspended and deleted his Twitter and moving along. And again,

it's not because the organization vehemently disagrees with it. I know Ron Rivera does, but it's because this doesn't help them win football games. Yeah.

Well, okay. I mean, let's fast forward to September. Let's assume Jack is still there. They got a defense that could be very, like that could be the best thing they've got going in DC. It was a couple of years ago. Like, what do you think about them as a team? And will we quickly forget all of this nonsense when they're just playing games and sacking quarterbacks?

Well, I think if the defense struggles and he gets fired, he'll be brought up. Yeah, okay. I don't think he'll be brought up in day-to-day conversation, no. I mean, it happened a week ago now almost. It feels like, I mean, it's not being discussed anymore now. So I think he'll be brought up in a firing or if they don't play well, it'll definitely be brought up. And also, if Jack DeRio makes more comments, it'll be brought up.

Yeah, well, he seems willing to share his opinions, so he could find himself in some trouble. I don't think that the D.C. team is really worth spending a lot of time talking about this year, now that they have the quarterback who shall not be named. Oh, I forgot. Oh, my God. Oh, God, I forgot about him.

Yeah. Right. They don't have Alex Smith there to bail them out. Alex Smith plus a great defense was enough to have a miracle run a couple years ago. I don't think he who should not be named plus an okay defense with now a coaching staff that can't get along. It doesn't seem great in D.C. Certainly not. All right. Last one. Another one. Sort of just weird, silly drama.

But this is the offseason after all. So your boy Tyreek Hill has a podcast. I think it's called It Needed to be Said. This is starting to feel like a misnomer to me. I don't think what he said needed to be said. This is a quote. Obviously, like I'm going to go with 15, meaning Patrick Mahomes, as the strongest arm.

But as far as accuracy-wise, I'm going with Tua all day. Tua, of course, is his new quarterback in Miami. I think Tyreek is trying really, really, really hard to talk himself into the idea that he made a good decision to leave KC for Miami. That's all that's going on here, right? He doesn't actually believe Tua is more accurate than Pat. So Tyreek Hill, this whole podcast was just ridiculous.

He mentioned that about two and Patty also mentioned that the chiefs are going to miss him and all this other, he didn't get targeted enough and just a bunch of nonsense. What it feels like is what you mentioned, but he's trying to convince everyone. He made the right decision, but he's trying to convince everyone that his, that his ex was the reason why they broke up and that his ex is going to be,

is going to be tougher without him. And it's going to be, oh, my ex won't survive without me. But obviously in this situation, there's no need to talk about your ex. He didn't have to mention these things. He didn't have to say the two is more accurate. He just said, amen. I'm enjoying my time in Miami. Two, I mean, he's accurate.

He's on the, you know, those are where I need to throw, blah, blah, blah. He gets it all without mentioning Pat Mahomes. He could have mentioned a bunch of stuff about the Chiefs without mentioning that they're going to miss him or that Pat Mahomes is going to need him, all those things. It sounds like someone who's trying to convince everyone it's his ex's fault. He doesn't play as well. Here's the thing about this guys. Andy Reid has been a good offensive coordinator before Tyreek Hill. And guess what, guys? He'll be good after Tyreek Hill. Pam Mahomes will be fine.

I promise you, everybody. Small sample size, four games, 4-0 without Tyreek Hill over 300 yards passing. They're going to be fine. Now, I would wager, if I had to wager on who is more fine, quote-unquote fine, after the trade, Pam Mahomes or Tyreek Hill? The answer is Pat Mahomes. Tyreek Hill will not be the same player in Miami. Sorry about that. But I just didn't feel the comments were appropriate

considering the success he had in Kansas City, their willingness to bring him back for just a little bit cheaper than he wanted. There seemed to be no animosity between him and Pat Mahomes, him and Andy Reid. And the comments didn't make any sense to me. I did not understand taking the shot to the Chiefs, who you were very successful with. Yeah, yeah.

And I mean, I can't disagree with anything you just said. And I'm scared for him as a fantasy player what this will mean. Oh, is he on your team already? Is he one of your keepers? No, I actually have Jalen Waddle. So I don't even really know what the implications are here. I feel like Jalen's going to get a lot of balls and now have even lesser players trying to cover him up because

they're gonna be on Tyreek but uh no I I think the guy is it's what you said it's the ex-girlfriend thing meanwhile his ex is like remarried with kids and as happy as could be and has forgotten about him his pictures are not on the wall uh but you know i think you've played around a lot of receivers like they're just wired differently right like i know it's a cliche but like these guys are all nuts they're just they're they're self-absorbed wackos uh it's a very it's a very selfish position right because you you're your reliance obviously is on the quarterback to get you the ball but you're oftentimes one-on-one you're on an island you're making the catch and taking it you know after the catch it's i get why

the wide receiver room tends to be very diva-ish because it is a a position where you're basically looking out for yourself yeah it's funny you mention it that way i never quite put this together but let me throw it at you this way they're a lot more like they have the attitude more of like what boxers do which is they is they're constantly in a one-on-one fight. And then they believe anytime they win that that proves they're the greatest ever. And so their mouth sort of goes with this and they have to constantly hype themselves up because it's a terrifying job. If you aren't telling yourself, you're it, you're the guy, you're the greatest of all time, you're going to lose those fights. So boxers and wide receivers just have that mindset.

100%. 100% agreed. Yes. Yes. That's the way it is. They have to be that way. Yeah, they wouldn't make it otherwise. So then that's what's interesting to me.

I saw somebody tweeted out two quotes, a set of quotes from Tyreek Hill and a set of quotes from Stefan Diggs in Buffalo. And Tyreek was all the kind of stuff we're getting at about how, you know, one game he didn't get enough balls and he was already, he was pissed off and complaining. And whereas Stefan Diggs was like, I don't care if they throw it to Gabe Davis or Beasley or McKenzie or any, whatever, as long as we're winning, I'm good.

I'll get mine when it's my time. I mean, it's not always fair to compare two guys who have different personalities, but why aren't there more guys with Diggs' mindset when they're winning? I mean, he's getting paid plenty. Well, I mean, but Diggs has already been paid, though, as well, too, right? It's like that's part of it. He's been paid. And there are guys that are more team players.

I'm not saying Tyreek Hill's not a team player, but Stephon Diggs is getting a lot of success in Buffalo. He's happy where he's at. Tyreek Hill has moved on, and people questioned, why did he leave? Stephon Diggs doesn't have to explain anything. He's happy in Buffalo. Tyreek Hill is the one who has to explain to people why he left a good situation. Last question then. Was it known in locker rooms that there were guys who maybe could demand more personal success and were respected for the fact that... I know it's just easy to say he's a team guy, but that I think gets applied inappropriately at times. Were there guys who were like, I bet you he could put up bigger numbers somewhere else or in a different scheme, but he doesn't care? No, we never really talked about that you didn't really observe

that though like didn't what you play i mean you you're so effusive in your praise of jamal charles you you always tell us about how great he is yeah but but he was good but he was good in kansas city i'm not sure he would have been better anywhere else well i don't know you would have been but but i mean okay i mean they're they're not really guys that in the moment you're saying like man if we played somewhere else he'd be so much better because in the season maybe're saying like, man, if we played somewhere else, he'd be so much better. Cause in the season, maybe when you step back after the season, you think to yourself, Hey man,

like, okay. Steve Smith, for example, if Steve Smith did not play in our anemic Panthers offense in 2010, is he better? Of course he is. But like in the season,

you're not talking about that in the moment. Right. But, but also maybe Steve isn't talking about that, which is why guys, I think for the most part, like playing with Steve. Oh no. I think Steve was talking about that, which is why guys, I think for the most part, like playing with Steve. Oh, no, I think Steve was talking about that in the locker room.

Okay, fair enough. He was not very happy that season. I mean, we were bad. I get it. Fair enough. All right, well, let's switch gears. We'll move the line when we come back from a quick break. Got a few over-unders for you in a second. All right, Jeff, we're back uh over unders here we sort of hit on baker but now i want to ask

specifically about the chances of being traded to carolina over under baker is with the panthers by the end of this week 50 chance which side you on it doesn't seem to happen this week but it seems there's a lot more smoking all right gabe and when these reports when these reports start coming out they tend to be pretty accurate uh kind of the way they're leaking out it just seems like the money's the problem right the Panthers don't want to pay 18 million dollars if they can come to somewhere in the middle I think Baker's a Carolina Panther pretty soon yeah okay and I know I've asked you many times but you know you like that fit? Okay.

I mean, look, they'll win eight or nine games with a healthy – I mean, say seven to nine with a healthy Baker. But if I were the Panthers, I would be bad at drafting one of these guys next year. I wouldn't be good for – being good for average for a year doesn't help you in the long term. No, that's fair. All right. Chances that the whole

Tom Brady, Sean Payton going to Miami to be a super QB coach combo, making tons and tons of money all under the nose of their current teams. Chances that that is 100% accurate and just got killed by the Brian Flores accusations over under 99.9% chance. That's all true. It's all true. Yes. Yeah. 99.9% chance. That's all true. It's all true. Yes. Yeah. Okay. There we go.

But you had inside information, which I had no inside information. I had intuition, which you refuse to, to, to, I had nothing. The relevant parties.

Oh yeah. I told you it was, it was happening. Yeah. Cause they asked Tom Brady about it recently and he gave a giant, just word salad that meant nothing. Yeah, because there were reports over the weekend that Sean Payton would have been paid. I think it was like $20 million.

$100 million in five years. Yeah, five years. Yeah. I mean, like this thing, wheels were in motion and it all fell apart. Yes, it was. Yes. 100%. Yeah.

All right. Well, we'll see if one day they can get the band back together or if he will be your new colleague. Colin Games at Fox. We'll find out. Chances you watched a little bit of live golf this weekend, over or under 20% chance. I know you saw one clip.

I watched a tiny – Oh, dude. That guy getting hit by the golf ball was the funniest thing. Dude, I could not stop laughing. Why did he react that way? He reacted like in the – And then the best part is – Kicked him.

The dude kicked him to move off the ball. He kicked him out of the way. It was like – It's like my kids have – Your kids overreact to stuff. He got hit in the back of the golf ball and it was like – Oh, my God. It was like, it's like my kids, how your kids overreact to stuff. He got hit in the back of the golf ball and it was like, oh my God, it was so funny. The question about the live tour I have is like for college sports. Like what stops, like what if a Saudi Arabian prince is a huge fan of Illinois football

and decides they just want to buy the Illinois football championship? What stops someone from doing that in college sports? I can't say that anything is currently stopping them. I don't know. I think we're going to have to test that. You kept on saying that there's a lot of gray in this with all the NIL stuff. It will get fixed, but it's going to be a rocky couple of years, so hopefully the players will get what they can.

I guess I'm not rooting for these guys on the PGA Tour like I am college football players, but get what you can get, I suppose, and then make up your own mind what your morals allow. The very interesting part about this specifically for this week is the U.S. Open is this week, right? And so a bunch of the golfers who are on the live tour

coming back to play the U.S. Open, how are they, what reception do they get from the crowd, from their fellow golfers? I'd be very curious to see. Yeah. All right, speaking of receptions they get, chances the Celtics can come back

to win the series. They're down 3-2 as of this recording. 5% chance. Are you a Knicks fan? Is that your team? Or do you adopt the Lakers? I'm just a bandwagon fan. I grew up a Knicks fan.

So I believe Scott Foster is calling game six. So it's for sure going to seven. Okay. But man, the Warriors last night, Curry had zero threes. They shot 22% from three-point line in general and won the game going away. Like they look like a championship team.

The Celtics, and this is important. So if you look at the history of the NBA, two things tend to be true for champions. One is you have two Hall of Fame players on your roster. That tends to happen, not all the time, but, you know, it didn't happen last year, right? I mean, Giannis, I'm not sure Chris Middleton's in the Hall of Fame. Maybe one day he is.

I don't know. But not yet. And two is that your main superstar, or one of the two superstars is 27 years or older. Like the one example is Dwayne Wade who was 24, but Shaq was in his 30s in Miami, right? But for the most part, like Giannis was 27 last year. For the most part, your star has got to be in their mid to late 20s.

Tatum's 24. Like Boston's kind of young for this to happen for them. And the Warriors, I think, are just showing a little bit more resolve. And I think Boston, too, is just better. Like, if you were to rank the players 1 through 10 in this series, you'd be like Curry, and then Wiggins would be like 6th, 5th or 6th, right? Clay looks old, can't shoot as well. He had a couple big shots.

He had a couple big shots. He had a couple big shots. You know, Draymond gets dragged, but then he had a pretty good game last night for his standards. Whether we're in game six or not, but the Celtics are not coming into San Francisco winning game seven. I promise you that. Okay. I think you gave me some things to think about if I'm betting on the game.

My takeaway was actually different because I remember the the beginning of this Warriors dynasty and how important Andre Iguodala was to that and oh yeah he won the finals MVP the first year yeah and I was thinking about Iguodala and Wiggins kind of in the same way like Iguodala they he tried to be the guy. He tried to be the star player for a team that just wasn't very good for 10 years or so in Philadelphia. And he made some all-star teams, and people talked about him as one of the best players in the league,

but he just wasn't the guy. And then, you know, he was about 30. But when he got to that point where he's like, you know, I'm better off being the second, third, fourth, fifth best player on a team, and then I'll crush. And Andrew Wiggins seems to have resigned himself to that in his mid to late 20s. And now he looked incredible in that game

because he was just like, I'm not the guy. Steph's the guy, but I could be the next guy up and I'll win. And he might get multiple rings in his career because of this. He might get multiple rings for that. It's very smart for him. And it goes to how Steve Kerr kind of cultivates, you know, the,

the, the team and his team atmosphere. Can, can, can I give you one gambling tidbit? That's very interesting. Yeah. Yeah.

A reminder that in the NBA finals, when the spread is six or less, which has been now all five games, the last 75 times, any NBA finals game with a spread of six or less, the team that wins is 73, oh, and two against the spread. Say it again? Yes. Yes.

No team has lost and covered. Okay. So, like, if you're plus four, plus five, plus six, you win the game outright. Right. If you're favored by one to six, you win the game by more than six points. That's right. Right? 75 games in a row.

These are not close games to the underdog is what you're telling me. They're not close games where the underdog loses in cover. So the underdog can win by a couple points like the Warriors did the other night. But they won that game outright. What will the number be in game six? I haven't seen anything. I would imagine it's going to be Boston minus three. I mean, it's basically been like the home team has been favored by three points, essentially.

Finals game will be like eight days away from now. Boston, they're favored by four. So I'm taking Golden State plus four. Golden State plus four. Yeah, because you're playing on that trend. Okay. All right. Well, let's see if we're still talking about that series by State plus four. Yeah, because you're playing on that trend. Okay. All right. Well, let's see if we're still talking about that series by our next episode.

Let me ask you this. Chances you've seen Hustle yet? One percent. Oh, I've seen it. I watched it on the flight to Los Angeles. You saw it? Very good. Good for you.

I very much enjoyed it. All right. Well, then no spoilers. This is an upset. I figured there was no chance you had seen it. Did you like it? I haven't seen it yet. That's what's crazy.

Fantastic. I'm the Sandler guy, and I haven't seen it yet. Dude, fantastic. I know. I can't wait. I figured there was no chance you had seen it. Did you like it? I haven't seen it yet. That's what's crazy. I'm the Sandler guy and I haven't seen it yet. Dude, it's fantastic. I can't wait. I need a night. Partying in Austin, man. I was seeing Jimmy Buffett in Austin, Texas. I don't have time to watch this. Oh, no, dude. It's fantastic. It's really good.

Okay, well, it's on the to-do list. I think Adam Sandler has to be up there in like the sports genre movies, right? Like Hall of Fame. Like he's done. They're not always serious, obviously, but he's good sports movies. I mean, he's in the conversation for best.

He's obviously in the conversation for best golf movie of all time. I mean, people could take Caddyshack, I suppose, but I'll put Happy Gilmore up there. I don't believe that Waterboy is at the same level as some other football movies but you know it's top five for the classic uh now he's got some basketball movies this is a really good movie dude it's great and they use real nba players and like it's the basketball's played a high level the nba was obviously a part of this because they showed a bunch of in philadelphia it was good i actually got to talk to Wancho Hernan Gomez a few days ago.

It was great. Look at that. Are you doing a special? Is there some news to break? Are you doing a podcast with him? I recorded something with Michelle Beadle where he was on. And she talked to him, did a real interview with him, and talked to him about basketball and all the things people care about.

And then I was brought in as a Sandler expert and I asked him a number of stupid questions, including something to the effect of what was more exciting for you, seeing Real Madrid win, he's Spanish, seeing Rafa win or getting a little bit of Adam Sandler sweat on you. And he chose Rafa winning. I would have taken the sweat. Of course you would have. We're going to get you and Adam Sandler in the same room. Someday, man.

Someday it's going to happen. I have no pull for that. So you're more likely to make that happen. Well, you know, you might bump into him. You're in that part of town. You're up near the Palisades. I live in Charlotte. Maybe you you'll see him around i am going this weekend up to the palisades village so um okay keep an eye out that's uh that's where the sandman likes to traffic oh i played golf at tory pines you'd be happy to hear that have you played tory pines oh yeah i just played i i did but not that not the course the open is on i play or the pga i played the other one yeah i played

the north course same thing the south course is the is the open one um a couple of thoughts on tory pines one i did not know what to expect it is very municipal which i knew it was public course but like and then they had that really fancy lodge which is like it just was like a there were a ton of people there um the course was pretty easy i shot a 99 i mean i'm good. But, like, the rough was cut very short on the north course. And it just was, like, an easy course. I don't know. Like, the slope rating was 120 from the tees we played at. So it was a lot of fun, though.

We teed off at 330. So we ended, like, near sunset. It was a scenic course. It was a lot of fun. It was cool to play that course. It was a scenic course. It was a lot of fun. It was cool to play that course.

The only gripe I have is it got very cold in the back nine. It just wasn't good for my back. I'm used to playing more in Charlotte summers when it's super hot. But it was fun. Anything I break 100, I'll take it. More back pain, less back sweat. Yes. Good news, though, Gabe. I know we want to golf together.

My brother keeps an extra set of clubs in our parents' house. More back pain, less back sweat. Yes. Good news, though, Gabe. I know we want to golf together. My brother keeps an extra set of clubs in our parents' house. So now I know that when I have time in Los Angeles, we can get some golf going. We're ready. Yeah. Okay, great. Well, that's a good tease. Let's do that before the football season starts. We've got shows most weeks until then.

Yes. We'll probably take a couple more off here and there. But we'll keep talking about the season as we get closer. And then you and Matt will start picking futures and making bets. We've been texting back and forth about gambling picks. We're ready to go. We are ready to go. All right, guys.

Have a great week. We're powered by the Varsity Podcast Network. Please rate, review, subscribe. We'll be back next week i'm not traveling so we can actually get a show in before i take off again talk to everyone then have a great week everyone