Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - Zeke Carries COVID & Gundy Promises Change

Episode Date: June 16, 2020

Ezekiel Elliott was one of several Cowboys players who have tested positive for COVID-19. We'll explain what this means for Dallas, and the league at large. Plus, Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy stated Monday that he's "looking forward to making some changes" after running back Chuba Hubbard threatened to boycott the team. Gundy was photographed in a One America News Network t-shirt. OAN is a conservative cable network known for spreading conspiracies. Cold Open: Mike Gundy Ezekiel Elliott: (0:56) Kneeling, Baker Mayfield: (12:59) Mike Gundy: (27:21) 'Move the Line' betting segment: (37:05) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Where are we at in society today? Come after me! I'm a man! I'm 40! I'm not a kid! Write something about me! It's Tuesday, June 16th. Ezekiel Elliott has COVID-19. Baker Mayfield says he would kneel during the National Anthem this season.

And Mike Gundy is apparently a fan of One America News. I'm Jeff Schwartz alongside Gabe Goodwin. This is Jeff Schwartz, the Smarter Than You. Gabe, we talk a lot about a lot of subjects on this show. I never thought One America News would ever make it into a rundown of ours on our show. But here we are. Here we are. We don't have no sports right now.

We're inching back. Baseball today said, no, we're not playing, I guess. Owners don't seem to care about we're inching back baseball today said no we're not playing i guess owners don't seem to care about baseball basketball should be back maybe at some point but football is on the way back and there was some news uh yesterday about some nfl players yeah this whole setup to this show required me to take one big deep breath there's just there's a lot happening right now and uh some of it's pretty serious and some of it is just mind-blowingly stupid. So let's get into it on a semi-serious one. I mean, I do want to express a little bit of concern for Ezekiel Elliott. He tested positive for COVID-19 along

with quote unquote, several Cowboys players, as well as several Texans players. So take a second here to absorb that. That's not good. That's a scary thing for them, I'm sure. We can now set aside the hypothetical question of what will happen if a player tests positive. Here we are, and we're only in June. So listen, teams claim none of these players got it in the facility that they haven't been there, that they've been following NFL protocols for containing COVID. Zeke apparently feels good, but this is a massive problem right now, Jeff. This went from all theoretical to very real with several weeks till the season starts.

What's your first reaction to this? Well, my first reaction is that this is no surprise, right? I mean, we talked about the possibility of a player, not even the possibility, that it was 100% certainty a player was going to test positive for COVID-19 at some point. Now, we only discussed it really if they were test positive during the season, right? We talked about the protocols put in place for that being the case during the season,

but not obviously happening in the offseason. Now, this is, if you were to decide when it's better for someone to test positive, obviously now would be because you're not playing right now. And as they open up facilities, which they're not even doing, I don't think facilities are really even open yet, maybe a little bit, you know, for rehab and whatnot. So it's good to know that at least now we know that players test positive. And I do wonder if this was floated out there.

Because it was not floated by Zeke's people. They obviously, his agent said, yes, he confirmed the story, but it was not given to him by Zeke's people. You can tell by who reported it. That was definitely from a league source and quite possibly the Cowboys. I do wonder if the NFL floated out Zeke's name specifically, not the NFL, but the Cowboys, just to see the reaction from how the media would respond because a lot of what I've talked about has been when the season happens and when COVID is presumably still ramping up in the states as it is right now and

there's no end in sight is that how will the NFL handle the public relations of players testing positive and playing through it also playing through maybe states closing and playing through it, also playing through maybe states closing and playing through all sort of issues that happen if this continues to go at the rate that it's going. And so now we're seeing a little bit of the reaction from social media and from fans of teams, how they would respond if a player tests positive. And overwhelmingly, it's been like, all right, well, we know this is going to happen. What do we do from here? And I'm not sure there's a great answer for what do we do from here other than we just keep going

and they're going to play. The players want to play. The owners want to play. And this is just going to keep going. Yeah, but OK, so let's back up a step here. I mean, I said it. It's been all theoretical until now. People like Richard Sherman and others

have raised a number of, I think, smart questions about, well, how's this really going to work? Who are we going to be around? How do you keep us safe? How do we keep each other safe? Well, I mean, here we have a problem already. Remember, Zeke Elliott, it was just a couple of months ago, was getting reprimanded by the team for hanging out with Dak Prescott at a party with 30 people. You know, like I have a feeling you're right. The reason this is out there is because somebody's upset with the way he's been conducting himself during quarantine but if i mean if he can't if dac can't while he's waiting on a new contract who's to say any player is going to keep themselves safe right now it's it's a real problem there's there's so many things to tackle

with this story and let's start with kind of the keeping safe thing right now look we know the data shows and the data is ever evolving right that's something about covid it's fairly new guys it's three months old really really in this it's been maybe in the states longer but since we really got a firm grasp it was early march right of what's happening sports shut down states shut down most of them did at that time period it's only been a couple months guys a few months right so we're learning more data. But as the data shows, Gabe, is that for the actual age range of the athletes, it's not harmful, right?

You're not going to die. Now, obviously, you can pass it to someone else, your parents, people in the community that are more susceptible to COVID-19 and the symptoms. Now, the question becomes, obviously, we don't know this answer yet, but what happens if you've already had it to your body? We don't know that yet. No one knows that yet. No one knows if you've had COVID

or there are long-term issues with having COVID. Now, I'll tell you, a lot of players probably don't care. I'm playing anyways, right? I'm gonna play anyways, okay? And the thing that I always run into, the problem I have, I'm going to ask you this question. People say, well, we'll wait till a vaccine. Yeah.

I wish it was as simple as we're waiting to a vaccine to play sports again. But vaccines are not 100% for something like this. They can be for other things. It's not going to be 100%. It might not be for a couple of years. And not everyone's going to get a vaccine. You know, people don't like taking vaccines. So how can you wait till like, like when is the right time game to start playing sports again? I think it's just, hopefully it's now getting back life back to

normal in September. Okay. Fair enough. And I agree with you that it might be unrealistic for every phase of society to wait for a vaccine that everyone can take or wants to take. But the reason I think that this is being made into a big story now is because we don't have that option, which means the only choice is for people to take care of themselves, thereby taking care of their colleagues. So Zeke may not care. Zeke may not be worried. so Zeke may not care Zeke may not be worried but if he gets it and if he gets it recklessly and we don't know that happened but if he got it some way he could have prevented and then exposes his teammates you know he's been smart about not posting much lately but we know he was hanging out with friends there's no reason to believe in me right now you tell me NFL players are meeting each other they're working out together some of them do post about it I would be very

worried that if they were signing this sort of contract with each other that we're not going to put each other at risk. And they can't trust that one of the best players in the league is going to follow the rules. Vaccine's not the point. Zeke's 24, 25, right? About that age to be 25. He's a young man. When I was 25, man, I don't think I would have cared. I just would have worked out my teammates.

If I got sick, I got sick. I think that when you're not in it now, I'm older now. I got family, have kids. I'm more attuned to the news and what's happening around me. I think at his age, I think his teammates don't care. Now, if they have family members with autoimmune issues and they themselves have a pre-existing disease, maybe they care more. But I just think, I know it's tough for this to be the answer, but I really don't think a lot of NFL players would care if a teammate tested positive,

unless obviously there was a really deep personal reason why they could not get sick. But if you're going back to work, and Richard Sherman talked about this. He talked to Josie Anderson. He said, you know, in general, I think we should go out there the best we can and live life. But he also talked about the protocols. Are we testing bus drivers, families, flight attendants, pilots, hotel staff, stadium staff, referees, refs, families? At some point, Gabe, you can't test everybody. Gabe, you can't test everybody. I know it sounds like not very thought out and crude and like not the way you want to be right now, but I don't have a better solution. Right. But that's why I think

that some people in the league, maybe not Zeke's teammates, but some people around the league and in the Cowboys organization are going to say, dude, you're going to blow this for all of us. We don't have very good answers to all those questions. Our governor is saying we can bring people into the stadium. You know, the owner would love to have some people in the seats. Well, how are you going to bring people into the seats if the star players can't even keep themselves healthy? It just doesn't make sense. So it's just bad optics, even if it's not unhealthy, which is debatable.

Like, how are you going to get away with that? And I'm not trying to shame or blame Zeke. I just don't get it. No, I know you're not. No, I know you're not. I mean, the bigger issue becomes how much are we willing to accept athletes playing you know just to watch a sport that we love right i mean for me personally i love watching football it's also my job i hope they play because then i have a job and you have a job we all have jobs so selfishly i do hope that that they understand that the risks involved with doing so.

It's just tough. I don't really, I don't know like what the right way to approach this other than I just think the NFL is going to put all the precautions in place if they can. I talked to someone today who's in charge of a lot of those precautions in an NFL facility. He's like, dude, it's a mess. I go, I agree. You know, last week we did this show and the NFL protocols had just leaked out or just been sent out before we did a show.

So we gave a quick run through and we moved on. And then I covered it more on the bonus episode on Friday. And I'm with Sherman. I'm with the guy I talked to today about it. Like, it's going to be really hard to implement these protocols. And I understand the NFL is trying their best to make it work and find a way for everyone to be social distancing and not be apart.

But Sherman's points is accurate. How are you going to be able to fly? Are you going to test the pilots? How far out do you have to do this to make this something that really is able to follow the protocols? And it's really tough, and I don't think it's going to happen. I think guys are going to just get a test positive and go and injured reserve for two weeks.

And we'll make up an injured reserve for, for that specifically and just bring another guy up. I mean, that's incredible that the takeaway will be, we can't seem to do anything about this and, and manage our facilities. You know, coach Harbaugh said the same thing.

It's basically impossible to follow these protocols. So instead of trying, we're just going to give up and then have i mean i mean they're going to try but imagine look we have to build basically entire tent cities rent tent tent call rent tent tent to get it done like i don't understand physically how they can make this work unless guys do a good job of socially distancing themselves and keeping themselves healthy. So if people aren't willing to do that in June, then I don't think he can play in September. That's the problem. That is a problem. And I don't know how NFL players are going to be able to not go out and not live their

life, especially when they're young. And again, when they're young, I think they're invincible, which is something that obviously a lot of young people, especially those in sports, feel they're invincible. And I, you know, it's like if we don't think about, I've said this for a while, that if we don't have football in the fall, then we have a major, it's even worse than, it's basically just, it's worse than we think, right? Obviously, like if we could not find a way from march to september to get football back when other countries are already getting sports back we have a failure of leadership obviously right i mean look it new zealand gave us a big double

bird this weekend when they had fans in the stands to watch sports now different country 5 million versus 330 million i get it but one country did what they had to do and everyone bought in and one did not and they're back with fans and they had a positive test in three weeks and we're not so um i just i almost deep down hope that we can play football because it means that we're getting back to some form of normal but you raise valid points is that there really is not going to be a perfect way for this to go down and players are going to test positive. And how much are players willing to be in the facility? Dan Damoshek,

our friend tweeted out, like, I think there'll be some players who don't want to play. Be a small percent, but that small percent might be enough, especially if it's superstars. We know in the NBA that if it's basically LeBron plays or not, if LeBron wants to play,

they're going to play. If LeBron doesn't want to play, they're not. I mean, what if Pat Mahomes, Deshaun Watson, Russell Wilson got together and were like, hey guys, we're not playing this year.

Whole thing would be shut down. Baker Mayfield says he's going to kneel this season and that if he loses fans over that, okay, so be it. Texans coach Bill O'Brien said he would kneel this season and that if he loses fans over that okay so be it Texans coach Bill O'Brien said he would kneel too with his players if that felt like the right thing to do and then JJ Watt said if you still think kneeling is about the flag or military you just haven't been listening and obviously I agree with JJ so we're past the tipping point right I mean

we had Drew we had the commissioner now we have Baker and JJ and Bill O'Brien. And I mean, the flood will keep coming. This is not an issue where it's like, hey, guys, which side are you on any longer, right? It's just about whether guys want to speak up or not at this point. Yes. And I'm actually very surprised to see JJ Watt and Baker Mayfield this early come out in June and say, look, we're going to take a knee because there's a lot to Bill O'Brien. There's a lot of time between now and the first game. Can I clarify, though? I didn't get the impression that J.J.

said he would kneel. I got the impression J.J. said that he understands why other people are kneeling, which is essentially what what sounded like Drew was saying. I didn't, I didn't know. It's a, it's a distinction though. I sounded like Baker would kneel. It is my impression. JJ didn't seem to clarify. Fair enough.

That's a good, a good clarification. Well, look, NFL players understand what the kneeling, if they didn't, if they didn't, they do now,

right? Obviously with the backlash that, that Drew Brees faced, there's no denying um what this is about but i i just i've been curious to see if this is going to carry over to the season and whether guys would have the same passion now excuse me in september they have now and baker mayfield he can't backtrack from that statement now it's out on the internet so if he doesn't do it people ask why that is and so i do wonder um how much dealing there will be for how many weeks it might

be just something in week one. I'm taking a knee. I'm showing solidarity with my teammates. And then from then forward, I'm going to stand. How do the networks cover this? For those who don't realize, players were kneeling last season. You might have watched a game with a player taking a knee. The network stopped showing it.

They stopped talking about it. And it seemed like a direct mandate from their bosses and from the NFL. We're not going to show this anymore for 2017. They stopped showing it. And it seemed like a direct mandate from their bosses and from the NFL. We're not going to show this anymore for 2017. They stopped showing it. And so I do wonder how much of the media this is covered in. How much are they really going to spend time? I think week one will be spent a lot. But after that, how will it be different? How will it be covered? So there's a lot of questions I have about the actual follow through about this in September, but I think it's going to happen big in week one. Well, OK, I can just say, having worked at two of the major networks that cover the NFL, that the fear always was of the commissioner. And I don't mind putting this out in the street like the thing you didn't want to do if you worked at places that broadcast the NFL was have your

boss's boss get a call from Goodell. That was it. And I'm not proud to say that that was a fear we had, but it was. I ran social at ESPN. I knew that if we put the shield or the commissioner's face on a post, we were running the risk that someone from his office was going to call someone at the top of ESPN. And you had to make a calculation whether that was worth it. Now, at the time that I was doing stuff, these were not the issues people were talking about. Okay, let's be clear. It would have been a different sort of set of quandaries to think about. But that was always the fear. If the commissioner himself has said, hey, I understand where the players are coming from and we were wrong. I don't think that fear is going to exist at CBS and ESPN and Fox and NBC.

I think they're going to cover it as a big part of the game because so many of the players are outwardly saying it's how they feel. I think you're going to see a lot of it. And I also think we've seen, as polls have shown, a shift in national thought on what the game means. I think that if there was still going to be a high negative or high disapproval for this, that I think that maybe people would have thought differently about airing this because I think that would have been a big deal with TV ratings. And I think this year TV ratings might not take a hit because people are going to want to watch sports, right? And football will be back. And

I'm not sure how much of a hit we'll take because of Neyland. I just, one thing that's always interesting to me, Gabe, is like, I, two things. One is that, do people realize the NFL used to never come out for the anthem? So people have always assumed, I think, that the anthem and the players out there

was a big part of it. When I first got in the NFL in 2008, we didn't come out for the anthem. And people have this misrepresentation of what actually occurs. I had someone tell me a couple years ago, you know what,

I don't like this Colin Kaepernick guy because he takes a knee during the anthem and a bunch of players follow through with him and it ruined the anthem for me when I was watching it on TV. I said to him, I said, the anthem's not shown on television. When the game starts at 1 p.m. Eastern, they go typically right to the booth and the fireworks have just gone off, the smoke's behind them, right?

And they're about to kick off and play the game. They don't show the anthem on television. So what are you whining to kick off and play the game. They don't show that to them on television. So what are you whining about? What are you complaining about? They don't actually show that. And I also just don't understand, like, I love sports, man. Like, I don't agree with what every athlete says. I don't agree with what every coach says.

I just want to watch sports. Like, why are people so consumed with what an athlete says or does off the field? Just turn the game on and watch the game. I know when I say there's no politics in the actual game between 1 o'clock and 4 o'clock, there is. There's a little bit of stuff here and there. But for the most part, if you're just watching football, there's not politics. Why are people so obsessed, Gabe, with the idea that players have a voice? By the way, it's just a voice that you don't agree with. You're not idea that players have a voice it's just a by the way it's just a

voice that you don't agree with you're not upset the players have a voice it's a voice that you don't agree with because if someone because a bunch of people were fine with drew breeze having a voice they just you know they didn't like the other people telling drew breeze that he couldn't say what he said so i think it's so just it's just like it doesn't change it just it never has changed my love for it. Like a baseball might not play, man. I will still be there first pitch of 2021. Like I'm a baseball fan and I just,

I just don't get the mindset of someone just disliking the sport so much or won't watch it anymore because a player took a knee and you saw the picture on Twitter. Well, I think I don't really take people seriously who claim that. And the person you're talking about is Laura Ingram, who had a problem with LeBron James and told him to shut up and dribble and then applauded Drew Brees. Well, there's plenty of people.

There was another person, though, who was sniffling and whining about sports being taken away from him as a safe space and then also praised Drew Brees as well. So there's a lot of a lot of people who quickly become hypocrites by accident. Well, let me ask you this, because I think some of the owners in the league probably watch those same shows. At least their politics seem to suggest they do. So I want to know if you think that these players and let's commend them and then eventually the commissioner um are moving the owners right we still i as far as i know and maybe this has

changed in the last day or so i've not heard from jerry jones the most powerful owner out there uh i haven't seen much from robert craft there's a few others who maybe haven't really taken a big leap here yet do we think that ownership is moving in the same direction, slower, but in the same direction as players? Well, they don't have a choice. And that's what's changed. They don't have a choice.

They're not going to tell their players to take a knee this year. Players aren't going to take it. We're seeing a revolution this year. And we're going to get to it in college football, by the way, which is unprecedented. The revolution is happening

in college football right now. But I think NFL players are like, look, they've had enough. Owners love you you pay our checks we're grateful that you you know that you do that we're proud to be a cowboy a stealer 49er a chief we'll represent your team the best of our ability but we're not going to be silenced on social issues that are something that we love and we hold dear to our hearts it's something that we feel we can make best of our ability, but we're not going to be silenced on social issues that are something that we love and we hold dear to our hearts. It's something that we feel we can make a change.

And screw you. We're not going to listen to you. And yeah, you might cut us, fine. But a lot of you guys, a lot of guys speaking up, by the way, like the video that was made, they're uncuttable. They're not going to cut Pat Mahomes. They're not going to cut Teron Matthew, Michael Thomas, right? The guys, they're uncuttable.

And so I think players have realized that the leverage that they have in some of these situations. So Jerry Jones might not like it, but guess what? You might have 17 Cowboys take a knee in week one. The really interesting part, Gabe, is the reverse that could happen where people question why people are still standing for them. That's right. Which is going to be interesting because there are players

that feel like Drew Brees. And again, we talked about this last week. We are fine, I think me and you are fine, with an individual player feeling I need to stand up, put my hand over my heart,

and sing the anthem with pride. Right? I think we are totally fine with that. 100%. That's what you feel. And there are players, 70% NFL players maybe feel that way. And there are others

obviously want to take a knee. And all we asked was Drew Brees understand why he'd take a knee. But I do think there's going to be a lot of questions to players that are standing for the anthem. And I hope they have their answers ready because you can nail it. You can nail it. You say, like I told you guys last week, I'm Jeff Schwartz. Again, this is hypothetical, but I'm Jeff Schwartz. I stand up. Someone asks me, I say, hey, look, I support my teammates. I'm with them. I'm Jeff Schwartz. I stand up. Someone asked me, I say, Hey, look, I support my teammates.

I'm with them. I'm with their cause. I get it. But personally, I'm a Stanford Yankee. Cause that's the way I feel that I can honor my grandfathers, whatever you want to say. And that's it.

You put your side in support your teammates and you're done. I hope they have their answers because they will be asked that question. No, you're absolutely right. And, and I hope that people have come up with a thoughtful way to answer it and yeah of course i mean listen if you're gonna sit here and argue that colin kaepernick has the right to take a knee then you gotta believe that the guy who chooses to stand still absolutely has that right

too and maybe there's something to read into it and maybe there isn't maybe that's just what the guy's used to doing and he's cool with his teammates and nobody cares like i'm not like i'm it's interesting i thought about this a lot when i played i was i was obviously supportive of my teammates and we talked actually probably me and some other guys talked more about race politics religion more anyone's more because i was jewish i got a lot of questions about judaism um i don't have to try to convert me one time i've told you the story yeah um so yeah so um i've had no problem talking about these topics before. But I'm not sure it would take a knee. Like, I'm not sure when I played if I had enough conviction to do that.

Even though I support my teammates, I'm not sure it would have taken a knee. Like, you know, if it was just, like, kind of open. Like, take a knee or not take a knee. I'm not sure it would have done it. And I would have had to answer the questions about it. But I just, I'm not sure it would have done it. And the anthem doesn't mean the same as it does for me to drew a breeze. It's the anthem.

I, I, I, I'm not sure what to take it to me. Yeah. But I mean, I think it's interesting just the very fact that you would have to consider that you'd want a reason for why you,

you suddenly did something different that you'd want to have a rationale and you'd want to explain it with conviction. That's an important just mindset i think to have so if guys choose to stand then they choose to stand they should just know why they're doing that let me mention we've teased the college topic a few times and i feel like we could go along here so let me try to set this up um so football players at texas one of the best programs in the country say that they will not help in the recruiting process or attend donor events until the university promises to rename buildings on campus named for racist historical figures. Stop using the Eyes of Texas fight song, which many believe has racist origins, and until the university donates to Black Lives Matter movements.

of the university donates to Black Lives Matter movements. This feels like an organized and powerful set of demands that could very likely force some change in Austin. There's another major story that broke today involving Chubba Hubbard, a running back at Oklahoma State, and we're going to get to him in a second. But on the Texas front, do you feel like the players getting together, coming up with a collective point of view and listing a specific set of goals to the to the university will get them what they're looking for i am supremely impressed with texas players coming together and having distinct things they want changed on their campus they want the fight song changed they want statues taken down they want i think it was a a half of a percent of proceeds donated to Black Lives Matter. Very specific amount.

And I am, dude, these are 18 and 22 year olds that are in the middle of college that came up with specific things they want done. Bravo. Changing the fight song? University of Texas? Are you kidding me? They have some stones. I like it. Look, I don't know what's going to change. I'm not sure.

I think the renaming of buildings is the easiest to do. I think we're seeing it right now in Clemson happen. But I really like the dynamic that's changing right now where players understand they have a voice and they have power now. And these coaches are no longer going to do and say and act however they want to act without repercussions. And we're seeing that now, whether it's Iowa had to let go

of their longtime strength coach, whether it's, and we'll talk about Oklahoma State in just a second. But I love that players are finding their voice and their power. Not all of them have a lot of voice, all have power, but they're realizing that they do have some of it. And they're not just going to take what society gives them. They're going to do their sport. They're going to go to school.

They're going to be good student-athletes. But they also are going to be able to have a social conscience and make some change within their university or within their city or within their life that they want. And I commend them for doing that, for stepping up and making that happen. I'll tell you what, man. Coaches better get up to speed here because not only this is going to happen,

but name, image, and likeness is coming to college sports next summer, not 2020, 2021. It's coming, guys. Name, image, and likeness will now allow college athletes to market themselves, essentially. And coaches, if you think that you had power, wait till you see how much little power you have when students can be like, I'm going to go to this other school because they're going

to give me $250,000 to go to a car dealership and do five ads for them, right? Like coaches, and they better get used to this because this is the new normal. I'll tell you what, I'm an Oregon alum, obviously. Our coach, Mark Cristobal, went to a Black Lives Matter march. Like he is into it he understands the changes happen we saw the march dupes on kentucky go to a rally we they understand things are changing and you better support your players because there's a movement happening right now where players understand that they have a voice and they're allowed to speak up yes well

most of those coaches understand that one who definitely does not uh or is purposely thumb in the eye of everyone right now is coach mike gundy you may remember him remember he's hilarious he's the i'm a man i'm 40 and then he grew a mullet and everyone was in love with that okay so coach gundy um who said a few things this offseason that kind of made people go huh coach Gundy was photographed with some some kids wearing an OAN network t-shirt now OAN believe whatever you want to believe but they are they have a very clear political agenda it is very far to the right and wearing an OAN t-shirt I would equate to essentially wearing a make America great again

hat you're certainly allowed to do that but you're giving a very clear message about what you believe, specifically to your players. His star player, his running back, Chubba Hubbard, got on Twitter pretty quickly after seeing the picture and said, quote, I will not stand for this. This is completely insensitive to everything going on in society, and it's unacceptable. I will not be doing anything with Oklahoma State until this changes. So look, coach can do and say whatever he wants and wear whatever he wants, but now his best player is calling him out

and seems to be saying he's not going to play for him. So that's power. Talk about young men with power. That's a man with power right there. Look, first of all, who wears a network t-shirt i have no idea like did he go their website and order one like i don't see people running around with cnn t-shirts or fox news or msnbc it's just like an odd thing here's a couple things here game is college coaches for years have pretended to not understand the moment right i don't i don't text i don't

tweet i don't i don't don't tweet. I don't watch what's happening. I don't watch, you know, Nick Saban's famous for just being like, I don't pay attention to anything. I just, I'm in my shell. Guess what? The time is over. You cannot be in your shell anymore. You cannot wear a Football Matters t-shirt, which Davo has worn before, mind you, right now. You can't do that. You cannot wear an OAN t-shirt right now, Mike Gundy. You can't do it. Okay. OAN said Black Lives Matter is a farce on their network. That's why this is a problem. That's why Chuba Hubbard is saying, hey, screw you, Mike Gundy, because you're endorsing a network that thinks I'm a farce, thinks my movement's a farce and i want to make this clear this is it's very um it's very

easy to understand this if you've seen other players talk about now he's had he's had other players by the way former and current players say like hey look other things are happening as well um the oan shirt was the last straw it wasn't like the it wasn't it didn't go from like zero to 100 because he saw a shirt it was probably at at 99.9, and the shirt pushed him over the edge to say, hey, look, enough is enough here. And we're seeing other players on Oklahoma State come out and say that, look, he's called me a thug and hood

and all this stuff because I wore a do-rag. And we're seeing this happen in other programs as well. Who just better be better with wear, man? Players don't care anymore. If you're gonna treat them like shit they're going to call you out on social media about it because they know that's their only recourse and they will get a change made if that happens i know as we're talking right now i saw the oklahoma state's president said hey look this is obviously a

concern oklahoma state ad i should say mike holder said this afternoon has been very disturbing the tweets from current and former players are of great concern. I mean, just blah, blah, blah, blah. But nonetheless, he might have said it. So there's a lot to unpack here, man. But number one, I think that players are understanding they have power now and you can't treat them like shit anymore. Hey, actually, you know what, Jeff?

While we're talking about this, it looks like the young man involved here posted a video on Twitter with Coach. So why don't we watch this video, which I assume is going to clarify something about it, and then we'll react on the back end. In light of today's tweet with the T-shirt I was wearing, I met with some players and realized it's a very sensitive issue with what's going on in today's society. And so we had a great meeting and made aware of some things that players feel like that can make our organization or our culture even better than it is here at Oklahoma State. I'll start off by first saying that I went about it the wrong way by tweeting.

I'm not someone that has to tweet something to make a change. I should have went to him as a man, and I'm more about action. So that was bad on my part. Okay, so that was a video that Chubba posted with Coach. I hate to say this, Jeff, that looked like a hostage video to me and uh i really really hope that that kid um wanted to do that and that wasn't somebody whispering in his ear that he needed to do that because that did not look natural to me and and frankly didn't seem fair you mean the arms crossed over not looking at your coach while he talks didn't seem natural to you.

Yeah, I mean, this feels very much like a video put out just to kind of stop the momentum of the story. Hey, guys, we met with the team, which is the first step, right? Mike Gundy talking to the team. I'm sure they voiced their opinions about the shirt and what he was doing. I just got to say this game, you know, as we've seen, I've been watching Twitter kind of today is rolling through. And then especially as a video posted and the reaction to this, this is something that I feel like we lose a lot. Especially with the Drew Brees,

we talked about this. It's not really the shirt, guys. It's not really the shirt. It's what the other players, the former players, the current players have talked about. It's a cultural change that needs to happen. The shirt was like the last straw.

The shirt was the way the conversation was going to begin. And they used that shirt to get Mike Gundy to talk to the team, to put out this awkward video. Or again, I'm not sure he has to quote-unquote apologize for wearing the shirt, which he didn't do. But maybe apologize for the culture not being exactly what the players wanted to be and again it doesn't always have to be the players want the coaches there's the quote-unquote adult right he's the coach he sets the culture of the program but i just would have liked to see some acknowledgement

maybe from gundy on that on that matter but this was definitely put out game 100 to just say okay guys we met it's no longer a story let me continue recruiting and coaching and continuing to do what my job is. Yeah. I mean, look, coach can believe whatever he wants to believe. But if he's the leader of the team and he's putting out messages that are going to make it hard for him to lead, then he's not doing his job properly. Simple as that. And look, we all know that college kids who want to have a professional career are under some real pressure to do what coach wants um i'll just remind people

that this particular coach is famous because he supposedly like you know stood up for one of his players a bunch of years ago when he was 40 remember i'm a man i'm 40 come at me that was to defend a player who's being criticized like if you if you're such a man, dude, just own this one. What do you have to make a video and make your player apologize? The kid apologized for sharing his opinion publicly. I mean, that's crazy. If you're a man and you're 52 now,

how about do that privately? We don't need a video. Well, I do understand and definitely felt like he was pressured into making this video right i mean it felt very clear watching the video especially with him apologizing but i can understand if mike gundy said hey man just call me next time like if you have a problem just call me next time. Sure. But again, look, Mike Gundy's had years of making these quote-unquote videos, right? He's had years of being able to get in front of a camera and say what he wants to say and spin it any way possible. Hubbard hasn't, right?

Like Hubbard hasn't. So he might have thought in his mind, you know what, coach talked to me. He made a good point. I should have called him first instead of put Twitter. I'm going to apologize for that. Not really knowing that to us, it feels like he shouldn't have to apologize for that. But in his own mind, 21 years old, 22, maybe he's 20, I don't know. He felt, you know what? I need to apologize for doing this on Twitter.

Does that make sense? I think that- Your logic makes sense. Yeah, yeah, sure. Yeah. Like, I think that's why he did that. He didn't seem very happy to make the apology. By the way, can we just say that the dap at the end was the Drew Brees stock photo.

God. It's just, look, man, these coaches have all the power, okay? This guy, Gundy, has been there for over a decade. He's making a few million bucks a year. This kid is trying to get out of college and make it to the NFL. And the fact that he thinks that speaking his mind about an issue a lot of people agree with him on right now, he needs to apologize for that to look out for his own playing career.

Man, I hope he had a different rationale. I hope there's more to the story. I, this guy seems like a bright player. I hope that there's more than just, he got pressured. I really do. I,

I, I don't want to come to any, any, any false conclusions here, but this just felt icky, man. I don't feel any better about it. Seeing that video.

I don't either. I'm with you there. All right, Jeff. Look, I think we're starting to get a little down here. There's some tougher topics, some harder things to discuss. Why don't we shift gears a little and try to leave on a fun note? I've got some really stupid, really weird over-unders for you. Can we get into those real quick? Please, let's do it. I can't even get through this one without cracking up so a couple weeks ago we talked about how lebron james could make the nfl um and i was adamant that he would have been a pretty good tight end if he got the chance or could still be one um well i guess bryce harper felt like he should chime in so he was doing a podcast with Lane Johnson, the Eagles, and jokingly, we think, said,

if baseball doesn't come back, I'll go play for the Eagles. So I want to know number of receptions Bryce Harper would have if he played for the Eagles this season over under 1.5 receptions for Bryce. He'd have zero,

but a couple of things are great here. OK, first of all, Lane Johnson. I love Lane. I know Lane well. I've trained with Lane. We do O-line masterminds together, which is going to be in a couple of weeks. Like Lane has his own interview show on Instagram. It's just amazing. Like it's incredible. It's, I love, it's just incredible. Lane, Lane had a flip phone up until last year, by the way, he had a flip phone. I love Lane. So his show is called Outside the Lane, by the way. He had a flip phone. I love Lane. This show is called Outside the Lane, by the way. I know.

It's incredible. I know his marketing guy. I've talked to him on the phone. I know him very well. It's fantastic. I love Lane. It's incredible that he's doing this. He had Mike Trout on, I think, and he's had Deshaun Jackson.

I mean, it's just incredible. How many catches does Trout think he'd have if he went and played for the Rams this year? I think Trout could have more catches than Bryce Harper. Trout could probably play linebacker. Harper, I'm not buying him as a football player. And he tweeted out a picture today when Major League Baseball sent out their announcement. I should say, recorded this on Monday night.

He sent out a picture of himself in Eagles uniform. Well, let him goof around with this one. But just by by the way just so i don't seem like hypocrite lebron and bryce harper are not the same thing okay bryce harper would be like a small slow free safety okay lebron would be an enormous fast tight end so also bryce harper just in case you need to double check, Bryce Harper graduated high school like two years early. Like 16. Yeah. He's been in like a baseball machine since he's 17 years old. He's only ever played baseball and he's very good at it, but he's not like some five star athlete.

Yeah. He's just a baseball player. He was on the cover of Sports Illustrated like 16. He went to like, he pulled out of high school and he went to some prep league and then got drafted yeah it was a phenomenal story and he means one of the best baseball players of a generation but no football not uh bryce not happening all right um pats wins if cam signs they're over under 11 and a half please god make it under uh i would i'd bet over oh do we really think this is happening? Our buddies at the Action Network posted their odds. They're the favorite.

The Pats are the favorite to sign him. Well, they have to, because it's the only place he'd go and start probably. So they have to be the favorite. I don't think it's going to happen though. I mean, look, it could get into training camp and realize Jared Stidham is not very good. And then they sign Cam, which is-

They need to get the training camp to know that? Yeah. They're going to give Stidham training camp. It feels like. Okay. Pro Football Focus has written extensively that Stidham is the training camp to know that? Yeah. They're going to give Stidham training camp. It was like – Okay, Pro Football Focus has written extensively this whole thing that Stidham is the perfect guy to tank with. I mean – So how pissed would you be, Gabe, as a Jets fan,

if the Patriots tank this year only to get Trevor Lawrence next year? Well, I'm not positive Trevor Lawrence is going to be a great NFL player, but – Or Justin Fields or Trey – No. It would be exactly what should happen is the patriots the kid from is the kid from north dakota state is named trey lance or lance trey the kid he's like uh it's a perfect football name of all time yeah you made up this kid's name on our show a few weeks ago and i still don't think he's a real person it was like trey lance tre Yeah, it's a real person.

All right, but seriously, you think Cam won't sign with New England, but if he did, they'd win 12 games or more? Yes, yes. 11, yeah. 11 and a half over. I'm scared, honestly, that everyone is just waiting each other out and Cam will sign there and they'll win the Super Bowl. I'm terrified of that. And then it'll enrage Brady and he'll play till he's

70 and win three more down in Tampa Bay. You're also, you're also terrified that the Jets might be good this year. So you have a weird dynamic going on. No, I'm not, I'm not scared of that at all. All right. I want to know, Jeff, this is a little bit hard because it requires a picture really, but not, not actually. So you posted a picture of a cake that you apparently were surprised that your wife made. You did not know she was making a cake. She you posted a picture of a cake that you apparently were surprised that your wife made. You did not know she was making a cake. She just made a cake and left it on your dining room table in your not mansion. And I wanted to know after seeing the cake and posting about it over under 14.5 minutes before you started eating it. Yeah. So my wife actually

got 12,000 likes on Twitter. I didn't know that that was what I needed to do to get some likes on Twitter. Okay, so my wife was going to make, she's making this explosion cake where basically it's like a couple, it's like five layers. And inside is a bunch of sprinkles and stuff in there. And you cut it open, they like pour out, right? And so this was like a test run at that. So we didn't have the six-inch pans or the nine-inch pans. So whatever, it's a test run at the explosion So we didn't have the six-inch pants or the nine-inch pants. So whatever. It's a test run at the explosion cake.

But she just left it on the table. She made it, just like left it and walked out to the pool. And so I'm not a sweet tooth, so I let it be. I let it slide. We opened it with the kids. I'd rather have a bag of potato chips than eat that cake. So I made it work. I didn't eat it. And we ate it with the kids later.

So you're saying over. You lasted more than 15 minutes. Oh yeah. I lasted like three and a half hours. Really? It looked like a very delicious cake. Okay. Well, we've established your wife doesn't listen to this show, so you can just be honest. It wasn't good? It was a little dry.

It needed to be like a six inch pan and smaller layers and like cooked fluffier. It was a little dry. It was made to be, it needed to be like a six inch pan and smaller layers and like cooked fluffier. It was a little overcooked. Hmm. Okay. Well. Yeah, she doesn't listen to anything I do.

So this is not, this is not like I can, I'm free to speak my mind. She doesn't even follow me on Twitter. Oh, wow. So you could, so she doesn't know that you've been sharing all the videos of her dancing at her private EDM shows and all this stuff. No. So what happens is, is that she has Twitter spies, so her friends follow me, and they screenshot stuff and send it to her.

Okay. Well, so she probably knows about the cake. Well, Mazel Tov, for having a wife who makes you cake, I don't have that going on in my house. Your kids are too young. Yeah, that's true. We wouldn't feed them that cake. But also just in general to have free time to cook.

Yeah, no no none of that all right so last one speaking of things that could not be possible in my house um this one really fascinated me because you are not a drinker but you are pondering as i understand it a kegerator or a winerator i didn't even know the second existed for your poolside um cabana at your house with your new pool uh so i want to know number of times you personally drink from your kegerator or wine orator this summer over under 1.5 zero times zero none you will even if you have your own kegerator you're not going to drink first of all so i put out a tweet hasn't been kegerator and um most people said it was a waste of money and i kind of reviewed them so my point is that we're going to build a little small island okay okay we're just gonna

put two two fridges in there like two little mini fridges why do you need to have a kegerator like you have to service that thing it's only one or two beers winerator one beat one wine or two wines i mean like who services it by the mini i don't drink beer why would i need that well i mean it's not that complex to handle a keg first of all i don't think are why would i need that well i mean it's not that complex to handle a keg first of all i don't think are you a beer drinker yeah yeah okay so would you rather have like go into the mini fridge and there's four different types of beer you pick the beer you like you seem like an ipa guy you find yourself an ipa what are you a dark beer guy a bud light guy above like okay i got a bud light for you in

there you got yourself a nice cold can knock it down or do you want to be under to the tap and find that there's some ipa you don't like and you're screwed no i want bud light on tap i'm lobbying for bud light on tap if you come i'll get you bud light on tap we're actually gonna have a big um opening day party eventually when phase three hits and hopefully a couple weeks and we're gonna have a food truck come in I think we're gonna have a dj it's gonna be like crazy okay okay well there's no you're invited thank you for the fake invite because I can't come and you know that uh I mean if you you could come if you would like to leave your family and probably never be allowed back yeah yeah if I go hey how about this guys I know we're under quarantine still and i know we have three kids uh two and under um but listen jeff's having

a party and then he's got a kegerator so i'm thinking ahead into north carolina chug from his keg for a weekend i'll see you monday it it's a it's a right off it's a work trip okay my issue with this plan is not the irs it's it's the wife yeah um oh man i i'm taking a trip to in july just like leaving the house feels weird but i got to leave the house something i gotta do business trip oh yeah i'm headed to texas it's probably the worst place to be right and i'm going i'm going to the city that has like that's like in that's like in dire straits right now so well that's a business trip good luck with that um i jeff we once again covered a wide range of topics and i feel like we've probably helped

people understand how an nfl player would look at a few of these. Any closing thoughts? Baseball, you screwed up. Come on, baseball. Oh, it's just a cheap shot at baseball. The end of the show is just a few baseball. I'm a baseball fan, and I was hoping that baseball would come back so I could watch baseball, my kids could watch baseball.

But I will say the money that I'll save betting on baseball, I could buy the kegerator. There you go. Yeah, invest that right into a Bud Light keg. I will say this jeff on football you say some very provocative interesting things i know the nfl uh community pays attention to you folks you don't even know are following you and think you have some smart

stuff i want to knock you down a little peg on your baseball take i don't really see why it was a provocative take to say that barry bonds is and was always a hall of famer like why are people high-fiving you over that obviously what well of course barry bonds was my most provocative take in baseball is that um why do we assume ken griffey didn't use steroids people do not like that take um why do we assume i don't know if i here's a good thing so 1998 they had the long gone summer thing on sunday night I've watched most of it I've watched the whole thing so what's in the 1998

home run leaders it's like steroid user steroid user Griffey steroid user steroid user steroid user

steroid user it's like well wait Ken Griffey wait 15 oh it's he didn't use steroids everyone else uses steroids

but Ken Griffey didn't use steroids oh okay cool cool yeah he played on on Seattle with Alex Rodriguez who's been He didn't use steroids? Everyone else uses steroids, but Ken Griffey didn't use steroids? Okay, cool. Cool, yeah. He played on Seattle with Alex Rodriguez, who was using his whole career, right? Was Jay Buhner not using? He just was just a big hulking guy by himself.

So he was the only guy on the whole team in that era who just did a bunch of homeruns who wasn't using steroids. Like, get out of here. Get out of here, people. I don't care. I'm a Barry Bonds guy. I don't care. But the idea that Griffey just gets this kind of pass because we like his swing and he wore a backwards hat and he's super cool um which is always it always fascinated to me i'm sure this

is the one thing by the way that people who run with podcasts i don't really care and by the way last thing since we're here barry bonds was significantly better than ken Griffey Jr. I said it. It's true. You can look up their stats. It's not actually remotely close. End podcast. Well, the only reason I'm giving you shit is because it's so obvious. I agree with you. I don't know why anyone would dispute anything you just said. Because people like Ken Griffey and they don't like Bonds.

Look. I love Ken Griffey, but everything we've just talked about is true. From 86 to 98, B Bond started using after 98. He submitted that in court documents because he was pissed that Maguire Sosa got all the pub and Griffey. And he had a good season, but didn't get a pub. And then 99, he was hurt. Comes back 2000, takes off.

He had three MVPs already. He had eight Golden Gloves. He had 400 hits, 400 home runs. Had an on-base potential higher than Griffey. He's a better player. There's no question he's a better player. There's no question he's a better player. He's the best baseball player of all time. And then he had an era where he was even better.

But he's the best baseball player. Have you seen that? There's a video floating around on Twitter. I think SB Nation made it, where, like, in 2004, if he never swung the bat, he would have won the MVP. Because of how many times he walked. Is this some crazy obscene number like that? Yeah, and look,

it's for another show to talk about steroids. I think we've hit now every possible third rail that you can in a show. I just love our producer in the thing said, whoa, okay, end the podcast. Holy shit. You did not expect that ending like that. I don't know.

I like other sports. I'm not a football guy. I like other sports. Yeah, and a football guy. I like other sports. Yeah. And he's a Dodgers fan, so we can dismiss what he is. Oh, yeah. They haven't won in like 11,000 days now. This season's not going to happen, so it's okay.

All right, Jeff. I appreciate you spending some time explaining a few things to us and having some fun. And I'll see you next week. Yep. All right. Take care, everyone. Have a great week. I'll be back on Thursday, Friday. Well, probably Friday, I think. Friday morning, we'll have a bonus episode. We'll do you next week. Yep. All right. Take care, everyone. Have a great week. I'll be back on Thursday, Friday.

Well, probably Friday. I think Friday morning we'll have a bonus episode. We'll do a mailbag. Send me your questions at Jeff Schwartz on Twitter, on Instagram. Please leave a comment, rate, review, subscribe. Have a great week, everyone. Talk to you guys later.