Green Light with Chris Long - Howie Long! Fantasy Football with James Koh, Festivus Grievances & Howie Long Mailbag.

Episode Date: December 24, 2021

(5:18) - Hello, Layup Line, Gift Exchange, Pro Bowl Snubs and Best Sports Movie Speeches. (20:35) - Howie Long on John Madden’s Documentary, Madden's Impact on Football and Influence on the Oakland Raiders. (42:35) - Father-Son Game: How Well Does Chris Know Howie? (1:00:24) - Howie Long Mailbag: Howie’s Worst Flight, NFL Player Comp and CGI on Broken Arrow Death Fall? (1:21:09) - Festivus Grievances: Green Light Podcast Edition. (1:43:25) - James Koh on NFL WK16 Fantasy Football: Chris’ Championship Hopes, Tyler Lockett or Ja'Marr Chase and Defense/Kicker Two Headed Monster Draft. Green Light Spotify Music: https://open.spotify.com/user/951jyryv2nu6l4iqz9p81him9?si=17c560d10ff04a9b Spotify Layup Line: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1olmCMKGMEyWwOKaT1Aah3?si=675d445ddb824c42 Green Light with Chris Long: Subscribe and enjoy weekly content including podcasts, documentaries, live chats, celebrity interviews and more including hot news items, trending discussions from the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, NCAA are just a small part of what we will be sharing with you. http://bit.ly/chalknetwork Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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1-8009-9-8789. Happy holidays. Oh, boy. Hey, thank you all very much for tuning in today, for tuning in 12 months ago, every day in between. We've had a really good year, and we cannot thank you all enough for clicking on the Greenlight podcast and joining this ride with us. Y'all have made it the best year so far. We're excited to keep rocking with you.

Thank you all. Today, Howie Long and a little bit of holiday chatter. Chris Howie Macon talked John Madden and the Madden documentary coming out on Christmas Day. We also test Chris to see how well he knows Howie and Howie tackles the mailbag. Chris and Macon also have a gift exchange, hit Pro Bowl snubs and best sports movie speeches,

and the Greenlight podcast crew does festivist grievances. On the backside, James Coe, with your NFL Week 16 fantasy football outlook. Enjoy. Happy holidays. Love is love. Thursday night time machine. Final countdown. You get the score.

Should you predict the score exactly right? I'm going to the Waffle House. Whatever, dude. As you've done once before, we go into overtime, which we talked about earlier. Maybe we both just hang out there. I would love to tie you. I would love to be in the Waffle House with you. Then you give your score second. Build up a little suspense. You go ahead. You go first. Okay. Niners.

24 Titans 16 Nice okay I think the game's gonna be higher scoring than that I think the over actually hits Oh dear 44 I think is the total 50 for some of us If you know what I'm saying Tease it yeah yeah I actually

I would tease the hell out of the over Did plus three and 50 So I'm at 27 24-9ers Okay yeah that's not a cover so my heart starts beating a little faster. Listen, for me, I just, the Niners have been hot. I think all of a sudden we saw a bunch of verified accounts, national podcasts, people coming out and saying, hey, the Niners are good. But what if they are?

So that's what they are good, but that means this week they're going to underperform. And the Titans coming off that dog shit second half last week are going to hang tough because that's what they do. They're hard to kill. three Titan offensive linemen not playing. AJ Brown reportedly back. That's a big deal. And the Niners secondary, I mean,

I like AJ Brown to put up some numbers if he's healthy. So give me the Niners 27, 24, and I will see you at the Waffle House sometime in 22. And I'll be taking advantage of win bets, build your own bet feature tonight. I'm going to play Debo Samuel as San Francisco 49ers' last touchdown score

and San Francisco minus 12 and a half and that'll boost me up to plus 1,300. That's win-bets in-game parlay. I'm sorry Matt, but I'm going to be rooting against you for the second leg of that thing. Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Hello! Home of Middle Tennessee State University. You blocked. It was either a field goal or an extra point to win a ball game. A little tip on it. But the funniest part of that trip was, I think I've mentioned this trip on

worst plane ride. It took us four hours. We sat on tarmac in Murphy'sboro and there's nothing to do at that airport. It's not really an airport airport. So it wasn't like you'd go into the Chick-fil-A. There was a problem with the plane. And I just remember sitting there for four hours

thinking if we hadn't gotten a fingertip on that field goal, we would have lost to Middle Tennessee State and then had to wait till 3 a.m. to take off. It might have been that game. I got a text from you. I was living on Rugby Road. You said, hey. We were texting like T9 word.

Yeah. You said, hey, can you grab a couple 40s? We're not going to be back until late. Did I say that that week? You came to my apartment and picked them up from the some late hour from my refrigerator. That's incredible. Yeah. I was how I remember.

Teach your children well. Their father's help did slowly go by. You out on the road. Must have a code that she can live by. And now I pull up the lyrics. I was like, where are we going? On the internet, the one they bring them here. So just look at them and sigh.

And know they love you. bro i dropped a teacher children well bomb on like the entire studio i came in there in here today humming that shit you know ever since i learned and this was uh confirmed today that on uh crosbie stills and nash song it is right yeah they were giving credit to young on young young as well it was a the whole good the whole gang the whole uh for some mm-hmm fearsome for some folk forsome it was actually crosbie young nash see See? No, Stills.

They left somebody at home. Stills was... How awkward was that for him? My app gives Stills credit, but it's for another day. It was mostly Crosby Stills and Nash. Oh, Jesus. So I was right the first time. My app gives Neil Young credit.

Hey, learn your fucking folk music, man. Hey, I'm giving it to the Glee cast or Jeff Healy. So anyways, I come in here. Oh, dude, that was terrible. Don't play that again. There was a Glee cast rendition. I'm sure they're great at what they do, but don't do that. I came in here humming that thing, and now the whole, it's like a, it's transmissible.

Anyways, that's layoff line today. Was there anything else we had to say about that? Howie Long, James Coe, and we'll see you on the other side. Yeah, about that. Merry Christmas to you. Merry Christmas to you. As per custom, I've gotten you a gift. Yeah.

And I did think about it. but my thought was only there's got to be something in my car right and so what I've found is one of a kind in that I only had one of them right and I know you like your keepsakes

this is a parking pass to the West Gate at John Paul Jones Arena for the Virginia Fairley Dickinson game that happened on December the 18th and I didn't wrap it but that is yours thank you I'm going to give this to Whalen

and tell him it's a ticket to the national championship or something like that. Merry Christmas. Thank you. I don't, did you? Tadda. So, Reed and Taylor got a thoughtful gifts. Yeah, Merry Christmas.

This is a bag of organic popcorn with coconut oil. No cheese. Cheesiness. Lesser evil. Uh-huh. Thank you. You can eat that.

I can't eat this fucking parking pass, dude. Is this good? Why have you not eating it? It is good. I was saving it for Christmas for you. Dr. Fax and I ordered it one night at 1 a.m. on a Sunday when we were in here working. And I just had it sitting aside. A lot of people might have been wondering, why wouldn't Chris eat that delicious bag of popcorn?

That's definitely healthier than other popcorns. I was saving it for Christmas. Thank you for this. Yeah, no problem. This means a lot to me. And can I say hello this late in the show? Hello. Las Vegas.

Hello. See? I keep fucking up the order. The order, yeah. Whatever. But I want to say happy birthday to my little brother Howie. He is a ripe old age of 32. Wow.

His Magic Johnson year. Yeah, yeah, yeah. His Magic Johnson year. He is out in Vegas. So win bet next trip. See Howie again. Next time you want to go with us? Yeah, I do.

If only to see Howie, Howie's a man. He's the best. Love him. Stud quarterback. Stud QB. Stud Lackser. We'll talk about how you used to cover how he is a quarterback in the daily progress. Okay.

Slandering his team. Slandering his team. All facts. We even read it last year. Well, we'll talk to my dad about that. It's all objective. Let's see what my dad thinks about that. Like records, enrollments.

More records? Oh, speak of the devil. Dad's calling me. Let me call you when I get in the car. Love you. Thanks. Oh, Jesus. I mean, let's say you... What's the problem with me?

Let's say you capture a mouse in your house. Yeah. And you take it out to let it go. Do you say love you? No, because my dad's on a fucking mouse in my house. He's my dad. Okay. Let's say you go...

You go get a haircut. We did Oklahoma drills. The barber. You say every day in the backyard. Love you on your way out? The barber? Yeah. No.

He's my barber. He's not my dad. Now if my dad was a barber, yeah. My dad was the barber. Love you, dad. Thanks for the flat top. Okay.

I just, you know, I think you're saying it too much. If my dad had a barbershop, that would be a great business plan. Howie Long's Barbershop, just flat tops. Military discounts.

Not allowed because we go out of business. But same thing with the police. Howie Long Barbershop, yeah. He wouldn't even have to walk in a shoe or drive a truck for that. Just lend your name. Yeah, that'd be a gangbusters. Show up once every couple weeks, get your haircut there. Lock the whole store down.

Everybody be camped outside there. His cut out inside the front door like John Gruden out of Hooters. I mean, he's really doing very little work on this. No, I think it's a good business plan. Hey, real quick, Pro Bowl snubs, people were asking me to comment on who I think got snubbed. I want to say this, it's really hard to take somebody off. You know, that's the hardest part about it. Like, we throw around snub all the time.

But if I added Jeffrey Simmons, who I think classifies as a snub, to me it was almost shocking. But I guess it didn't do the math. Like, there are a lot of good interior alignment this year, including Jonathan Allen, who makes that conversation tougher. I don't want to take away from guys, but AJ Terrell should probably be there, Atlanta. You're not going to make a Pro Bowl there this year, but he was awesome by all accounts,

by dudes who know defensive backplay. A.J. Terrell was dominant this year. Really, really grew as a player. Cordero Patterson didn't make the Pro Bowl, bro. Swiss Army knife. Yeah, dude. You know, we said mid-season, I was like, maybe this could be the year.

he's been there as a special teams guy but not as an offensive player and I think him not being a pro bowler he should definitely hold his head high because nobody's forgetting this year if there's one thing you remember about Atlanta this year I mean in order what do you remember about him the Atlanta Falcons this year

I remember Arthur Smith's Beard Yep Cordarle Patterson That's it to yeah that's it dude And then I got to mention this I know Lane missed some weeks this year dealing with mental health sort of stuff.

I get it. There's some really good tackles, but y'all should know he played at a pro bowl level this year. I know he's not going and I know that probably bums him out, but the guy was fucking awesome this year and continues to be. I don't think he gave up a sack all year. He's allowed zero sacks and only one quarterback hit and 10 total quarterback pressures all season. That's incredible, dude. while anchoring the Eagles top ranked rushing attack. Yeah, and that's the thing. Like you look at that rushing attack.

They have some really good backs there. Top ranked? But yeah. I miss that. Yeah, dude, they've been running for about 200 a damn game the last five weeks or whatever it is. So it was fun. I felt like I was in control even down to nothing having the Eagles.

Yeah. See? Yeah. They're a fun team because they can run the ball. Running the ball is fun. Run the damn ball. Yeah. We should do hats.

Anybody snub for you? I mean, I know, oh, man. our guy, Landry in Tennessee, it was going to be a tough year to make it. It's like, that's what it comes down to is like Landry played awesome this year. I think like Tennessee's been waiting for an edge rusher to emerge with everybody they've tried for, it feels like forever. Since Arakpo, really. And if I'm forgetting somebody one year, I'm sorry. But damn, they found it in Landry.

And what do you have this year, Reed 12 or something? He currently is 11 sacks. Yeah. At the time, the ballot opened, I think he had 11. So, yeah, a few snubs for me. Jake Fromm potentially. We don't know yet. He could like the league on fire.

Jake Fromm could have a tremendous week. People are up in arms about Creed Humphrey. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. My brother's teammate, supposedly the real deal. Supposedly, like, linemen, no, your favorite, you know, interior young center. That's my list. Yeah, Creed Humphrey. Yeah, I make some noise about that.

Hey, Reed, I want to get your take on this. Matt, I want to get your take on this. Best sports movie speech. Okay, off top of your head, because, you know, any given Sunday turns 19 or something today. And the one thing you think about there is Pacino's speech. And Lawrence Taylor slicing a car in half with a chainsaw because that's like what we do after games.

Pacino speech is the best one for me, like dying for that inch. Yeah. Yeah. Gives me goosebumps. Yeah, it's a light. That's what she said. It's a, yep. Okay, that's figuratively?

Not literally. Okay. Well, figuratively. Talking Dick? What are you talking? Notting, yes. I'm talking about Al Pacino's speech here. That speech is a life speech.

I mean, like, goosebumps every time. And no, we would never sit through a speech that long before a game. Like, that's the one thing about that speech. You know, everybody's like, I'd just been warming up. You got 32-year-old men in there. Tort all is wearing off. Listen to that speech finish. But a great speech.

Nick Nolte and Blue Chips. That's a good one. And you just said speech. So I'll go with the presser. He says, sometimes the world doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, except on a basketball court. And that's good enough for me.

At the end, he says two words. I didn't think I'd ever be able to say. I quit. Boom. Everybody erupts. cameras and reporters and oh he talks about hey question

as coach you give a kid a car he's like I didn't give a kid a car I gave him a fully loaded Lexus this wasn't no car oh it's great love that one Jack Penny Reid what you got Miracle the speech before the Russian

hockey game you were reading my Twitter I actually haven't seen your Twitter Oh right oh And here's the thing I know you don't like it. Yeah, no. But it's just because it's actually a real speech. Isn't it?

Exactly. It's his actual speech. So I'm saying, like, for the sake of a movie, that should clue you in on the fact that regular speeches in real life are seldom remarkable. Like the, you know, if they dramatized it, they could do a fucking any given Sunday thing. But it's a matter of taste. I just think like that, that speech doesn't do anything for me,

Boy. A speech that I really like, you know, making you were mentioning blue chips. I don't even think that's the best basketball speech in Hoosiers when Coach Norman Dale measures the baskets at the stadium to show that they're 10 feet. That's my favorite That's right. Hey, I just thought of something. Honor Roll mention

Alec Baldwin and Glenn Gary Glenn Ross. Now, not I don't know that one. Not a sports movie per se. More so a real estate movie, but always be closing. Coffee is for closers. I don't get it. No need, no need. Is it like a real estate thing?

I don't think you'd like that movie though. There's a lot of talking. Yeah, you're not, you're not good with all the words. No, it's not the words. It's just like I don't want the actors to seem like they're performing for an imaginary character. Talk like you would in real life. I'll stick with my, uh, my white lotus and whatever the other recommendation was. You've been on point on TV. Thanks. I met Howie Long when I was 10 years old. Okay. Okay. And now I'm 35.

And it's weird being caught between like a Mr. Long and a Howie. Right. You know? I think you can call him Howie. I do go Howie, but I don't feel great about it. It's not a full sand Howie. Like I know another Howie Long. Oh yeah, there's two.

I would call him Howie. I do. I just wanted to put it out there in the air. Well, you want to introduce him as Howie? Sure. Without further ado. from Fox Sports in the NFL Hall of Fame. Here's Howie Long.

Howard, Matthew, Moses, Long. Tick Pick should be your first choice to buy football tickets because they save fans money by never charging any service fees ever. Visit Tickpick.com. That's T-I-C-K, P-C-C, got rid of all the service fees that the other side's charge. Tick-Pick guarantees the best prices on all of their NFL games. If you can find better prices for the same seats, another ticket site, Tick Pick will give you

110% of the difference in the purchase price. If you're like me and you can't wait to get back into an NFL stadium, visit tick pick.com. Hey dad, we're airing grievances here, which is a festivist thing and I was wondering if there are any grievances that you

wanted to air with anybody on the set about anything like maybe an ancient feud or something that somebody did that was I can't think of anything. Like newspaper related. Was it, was someone somebody was somebody on the set a reporter at some point you and Macon had a disagreement over a local newspaper with a reputable group well yeah it was a reputable local

newspaper that was covering your kids I I as old as I am and my recall being as challenged as it might be I do remember something like that and I think it was it was maybe a passive aggressive kind of article questioning the kind of strength and validity of St. Anne's program. We won a state championship and make and wrote an article. We've talked about it on this pot a lot, but just not with the two of y'all here, so I think it's a great time to just... Here's my side of

the story. Okay. The newspaper did a silly power ranking and I believe it had St. Anne's at number one, which is fine. And I went to cover... That, that, which is fine right away. That sarcasm and which is fine.

I went to cover an Albemarle High School football game, a local public school. And the question was asked, hey, you guys are four in this power pole. What do you think about St. An's at one? Oh, that's baloney. They couldn't stay on the same field as us.

Well, that's an interesting quote. Throwed into an article. Talk about strength of schedules, et cetera. It's unfair because it wouldn't make any sense for the two schools to play. And then the headline writer, the editor, gets me in a bit of trouble.

I'm hearing a boss being backed over the guy that wrote the headline. Well, and the editor, the editor always fucks the hardworking journalist. And the starting quarterback happened to be the birthday boy, Howie Long. Yep. And so his father, Howie Long, took some offense. And I believe the quote, the next time I saw you on the sideline was, there's us and there's them,

and now you're one of them. Much. See, here's the same. And I believe that, make and I truly believe that to this day. That he's one of them? No, no. You're either, there's them.

No, the quote was, the quote was given to me by Earl Legget, who is my defensive line coach. And it was said with a heavy, heavy Mississippi accent. And the quote was, there's demons and there's usins. You're either demons or you're usins. Make a choice. And I agree with, you know, the premise of what you're talking about. terms of the article. Yeah, we're a team that has 22 players on it. You know, our key guys are playing 130 snaps a game. But I will say this, and I agree with, you know, their assessment of

where they were ranked. And it's two, it's apples and oranges. It's a lower division. It's less players. But we had two or three or four guys that could play with anybody there and handle themselves extremely well. And I'm glad we got this whole thing out of the way because this is something a lot of people have quite out of the way because then I did a profile on Kyle Long and

unbeknownst to me I was being recorded in Kyle's pocket. Smart. And then pretty smart. And then later I get a follow up call. Hey, uh, why are you asking when Kyle's birthday is? Why do you need to know Kyle's birthday?

What do you think he's fucking Danny Almonte, dude? What do you think this is? What is it, is investigative journalism piece or a local newspaper? I don't even remember that. Was Geraldo trying to find out what I was born? And then I got screwed up by that headline writer, too. That turned into which long is better, Chris or Kyle? You know what?

But that's typical sports spotter. You know, it's Nick Bosa, it's Joey Bosa. I get all that, you know. And then there's the fourth long. child Jake, you know, that nobody wants to really... When's Jake coming in town for Christmas? We're good.

We're good, we're good, we're good, we're good. And so are all the album are all fans from 2007. Yeah. They're also fine now for having heard this. I think it's good to carry that matches. You're a dad now, right? That's right. Is your perspective a little bit different?

Yeah, you know, the way I look at it is, there's us ins and there's themans, you know? That's the bottom line. And to hear you say that without a twang is really get to say it. The grievances have been aired. We're talking Christmas here. And Merry Christmas again and happy holidays to all the listeners out there. My dad and I, we, you know, doing what we did for a living.

Christmas was not always like traditional, right? Tell people about what it was like planning around Christmas and that sort of thing in the NFL, especially back in the day. the schedule and it was far more challenging at that point because a Wednesday practice was a real Wednesday practice and a Thursday practice is a real Thursday practice and what I mean by that you're in full gear you're doing live goal line you're doing live pass rush you're doing live inside run it's it's it's not a let's put the shells on and let's like play play nice and pretend like we're practicing which is kind of where teams are now and that's kind of the NFL and I'm And I agree with it to a certain extent.

One is, you know, the salaries are so high and all that. And your rosters are limited. And you don't want to lose your key people. But when you're talking about Christmas could fall on, you know, any particular day. And, you know, I think the biggest challenge was not with us and not with mom. It was more with you three guys and just trying to kind of, you know, keep. the lie going that, you know, well, it's really not Christmas Day today. It's it's two days from now or it's tomorrow, you know, something convenient that was built around the schedule, you know, because the

schedule was so challenging. And then I went to school and was like, hey, Merry Christmas. And people like, you're fucking weirdo. Four days ago. It was four days ago. But yeah, I just tell people like when you're in the NFL, whether it's Thanksgiving, whether it's Christmas. New Year. Yeah. I mean, it's just not this, like, things are just moved around. I mean, like, and we loved every minute of it. It was fine. Here's one off the top.

When did you concede that Santa wasn't real? To you guys? Yeah. I think we had inquisitive minds in the house, and we had some conspiracy theorists, and I think Howie was probably the conspiracy theorists. And, you know, keep, I don't think you could stay awake long enough to kind of debunk the whole. kind of myth of Santa Claus. And we went to lengths of,

we would wrap every gift from Santa with the same paper, the same wrapping paper just for kind of, you know, continuity. And we say, see, that's all Santa. Santa used all that paper and stuff from the families, totally different. You know, laying out the cookies and the milk and all that stuff. Hey, listen, that stuff's great until, you know, You know, you just can't pull it off anymore.

Until I'm like 16. Oh, we were at 16. I remember that, well, no, I'd tell you how old I was. I used to spy on you guys. We had a little railing in our house in California and like you sneak out and look down into the family room. Look at me down there trying to assemble a tricycle for like five freaking hours. I'm like, man, Santa doesn't send this shit like assembled? All right, the All Madden thing, documentary coming out.

Christmas Day, 2 p.m. It's pretty exciting to me because I grew up, you know, John Madden was football for me as like a kid, like a teenager. My first video game I ever played was, I like everybody else. It's in their 30s. Boom. Yeah, you got all the one-liners. You grew up watching him handing out the turduckin on Thanksgiving.

He was so good at his second. career that people forgot he was a coach. You know, like I think, you know, as a compliment to you, I think a lot of people, very young people that see you as a pitch man and on TV, like very young people might not know much about your career. And I think that's a tremendous testament. Strayhan's doing the same thing with all the things he's doing. But John Madden was football to me growing up.

I wonder before we talk about John, was there somebody that was your John Madden growing up? Not growing up. I mean, you know, it wasn't the same. And my road to college and to pro football wasn't the same as yours. And we also didn't have the same access, you know, the video games, the satellite TV, access to all the games. For me as a young player, though, particularly when I was in college, it was all the Steelers, you know, being in Philadelphia and, you know, going school of Villanova. And they were kind of in their heyday. So you just skip the Eagles.

We never talked about this. No, I like the Eagles, but you have to remember. I mean, Joe Green was the guy that I kind of, you know, was real high on. And Jack Lambert, who I ended up, you know, and you had this kind of vision of what Jack Lambert was and is. And then I got to play in the Pro Bowl with Jack Lambert and he's smoking a cigarette and he's got that Pittsburgh Pirates hat on that, you know, you probably should have thrown up. eight, nine years earlier, and he's taping his own hands at the Pro Bowl.

And he was exactly the way you thought he would be. He was grumpy, short, you know, had no time for any kind of, you know, chit-chat conversation. He was just all about ball and getting a beer and going back to the hotel. But John, when I got to pro football, obviously when you play for the Raiders, John Madden has cast a big shadow on the organization. They hired him at that time, I think it was 34 years old. I think it was the age.

And at that time, that was unheard of. Now it's commonplace. So how does that happen? Well, I think because, and it's an interesting trajectory, because I think when John was hired, Yeah. Let's say Al Davis ends up here. Okay.

When John was hired, Al was here and John was here and those elevators kind of rose together and they started to build that franchise. Remember that franchise was founded in 1960. Right. And he hires John Madden after they were, I think they had some time coaching together in San Diego. And Al came up and he was the head coach of the Raiders, which, people don't realize for one or two years and it was the single biggest turnaround of any team in the NFL for a long time. And John had, when you think about the colorful characters they had on those teams and the games, the historical games, the Heidi game, the Holy Roller, the Immaculate Reception, those great matchups with the Steelers and, you know, getting over that hump and winning a,

a Super Bowl and getting to 100 wins. I think at that time, you know, it was either the first or second fastest to get to 100 wins in 10 years. And then just saying, I'm going to walk away from it. And the conventional kind of view on what a broadcaster looked like

and sounded like was more traditional and straightforward. There wasn't a lot of personality and there wasn't a lot of humor. It was, it was very, land and it was straightforward calling the game. I think John came in, you know, he might have had a stain on his shirt from a hot dog, and, you know, he's like, hey, I'm going to do a broadcasting thing.

And, you know, I'm going to talk about the big fat offense line. And look at the rear end on that guy and boom, you know, all that stuff. He didn't start at the top and he worked his way up. And very quickly, John became and redefined the way game broadcasts were done. and you knew that when John came to town, if you were a player, when John came to town, it was the game. It was the most watch game. And when John Madden had a conversation with you,

and whatever he said was so significant to you because brilliant guy, a great coach, obviously an incredible personality and a visionary in terms of how to, you know, one, broadcast a game. And when you think about it, when CBS lost the package and Fox got football, and I retired that year, it was basically a blank sheet of paper and it's Fox sport. You know, at that point, what was Fox famous for? It was kind of like, you know, the Simpsons and, you know, cartoons.

And John, what John brought was instant credibility from a football season. standpoint to Fox Sport, which at that time was just football. And then Jimmy Johnson, Terry Bradshaw, they hired me and on and on and on. They hired a young Joe Buck not shortly after that. And John, and I think Fox Sports redefined the way number one games are done. I think pregame shows are done. And John was a big, to me, a very big impact on my broadcasting career. Because one of the things that John said to me early on was, you know, don't what you're, you, people get caught up in this broadcasting thing. You just remember this. At the end of the day, you're a football player. And you're not a broadcaster. You're a football player. You're a football player who's broadcasting.

and at your core, that's who you are and don't forget that. And that was impactful. And I think John was, you know, the millions and millions and the generation after generation of young fans he brought into the game, not only with the video game, but also educating them on how to, you know, build a team, how to, you know, I know that game evolved over the course of time. And I think John is still the conscience of Fox Sports. and I think in many ways he's the conscience of the one of the guys that drives the NFL one

when Roger Goodell needs to make a call and needs advice I think John Madden's a good person to pick up the phone call you said backing up that um you know he left early like compare that to a coach now like like what coach leaving early would that be akin to in today's NFL jeez um I'm I'm trying to think of a young coach. You would have to be a young coach who had immense success. So if Matt LaFleur coached another seven years and was dominant. Let's say Matt LaFleur wins the championship and he gets to 100 wins in nine years, 10 years, nine years, let's say. And he says, listen, John walked away from Kenny Stabler, he walked away from Archell, he walked away from Gene Upshaw, Cliff Branch.

It wasn't like the cupboard was bare. Right. For him to do that. And I think, you know, I think it was from what I gather, claustrophobia and being in a plane and claustrophobic and having a bad experience on a flight. And he just couldn't do it anymore. That was what it was. It was an airplane. The bus thing is a real deal.

It's a real deal. It's a real deal. I think, and I think part of it maybe could be in the Madden documentary. entry on that bad flight he you know he said a prayer and said you know if you get me out of here I'm going to take a bus everywhere I'll never get on another airplane in my life that's crazy and he never did what were the veteran accounts that you heard because you missed him by what three years like what were the veteran accounts on the team of his style of coaching tough fair fun like was he a players coach because of his youth when it was time to play

you play when it's time to show up you show up uh it was to say it was you know i just mentioned some of the guys you're talking about you know uh jack tatum you're talking about uh otis cistrunk you're talking about archel jean upshaw freddie blitnikov cliff branch dave casper you know Kenny Stabler, John Matusack, you know, there were some late nights involved with that team. And, you know, the one thing that I think John, you know, and this is from the stories that I've heard, you know, the old adage of don't worry about the horse being blind, just load the wagon. And our guys will show up. And his guys did show up.

And I think they loved and respected. and, you know, I think there's a healthy amount of fear with any coach. And I think John was brilliant in how he handled all those personalities. And also dealing with an owner who knew as much football as any coach in football. So that's an added kind of dimension to the whole story. But I think when I got there and Tom Flores took over and Tom did an amazing, you know, an amazing start to his career with being the first team to go from the wild card to, you know, they beat Philadelphia in the Super Bowl. And then that team struggled the next year, my rookie year, and then we won again in 83.

So, but John's, John's aura and presence was always a part of that organization, you know, that whole commitment to excellence. and we might be guys who might get in a little too late or not show up necessarily in the best shape. But when it comes time and the light goes on, our group's going to play. You just said something that I had written on my little notepad. I want to talk about it's Ken Stabler's birthday, Christmas Day. Ken Stabler's a Christmas day.

Wow, how ironic. And, you know, this Madden documentary is obviously coming out on his birthday. And he's going to be probably heavily discussed. in the documentary. Ken Stabler does not strike me or did not strike me as a pillar of health as a pro football player

as like a professional athlete. How many were though at that time? That's what I mean though. I was going to ask you. Yeah, I was going to ask you like how different it is. You've told me this before, but tell people like... Well, I walked into the locker room,

guys were smoking Salem lights and playing cards. Sounds like Macon's real estate. If we ate, we ate off of a construction food truck that pulled up and, you know, beep the horn. And if anyone wanted to run out and get a sandwich, you got the sandwich. There was no off-season training program. The wait room was Spartan at best. The strength training was kind of optional.

The only thing the Raiders were really into was every Thursday you weighed in. And the only guy I don't think they ever weighed was art. I think John said something like, you know, I judge arts wait by if I can see light through his legs. And, you know, art was just all business and art was not a trash talker. And Gene, God rest of soul, was he just, you couldn't stop Gene from talking. Really? Oh, God. Gene will.

Oh, God, yeah. Those two broke me in as a rookie. And that was who I saw every day in practice. Bang, bang, bang. Those were the guys. And it was an organization that always kind of prided itself on the older guys bringing along the young guys. And when Ted Hendricks pulled up in a car at your hotel and said, we're driving across the bridge, you know, I don't know what that meant, but, you know, I didn't know where we were going or if we were coming back. I mean, Ted was one of the great characters and the smartest football player ever played with.

Get in, rookie. Right. Get in rookie. And like, what do you do? Yeah. I mean, and I'm making a thousand bucks a week at that time. My check was $1,07 after taxes. That's incredible.

Yeah. How far it's come. Hey, so we did a game. We actually did make, do you want to explain the game? Sure. It's the newly wed game, except if. You were father and son. Right.

Yeah, it's like to see how well you know your dad type of shit. And so what we did is before Pops came on here, these guys asked me a series of questions about him. And I think this is the way we can kick off our Q&A portion of this particular interview here. So Maken's going to pose the question. We're going to give what? My answer first are dads? We are going to ask the question of your dad and then reveal your answer.

Okay, good. how do you like your steak medium rare oh I had medium well dude well I always do it medium rare because if you do medium well there's no coming back if it's not prepared properly oh that's really good you can always throw in the microwave

or on the grill we could have done that a few weeks back we could have I won't say where if you remember okay what was your first job my first job was a dish dishwasher. Hmm. For whom?

For Conley's Diner. Is it still there? Main Street in Charlestown. I doubt it. Yeah, it's all uppity now. So you would say it was not helping Uncle Billy do something? Oh, God, that was a, from the minute I got there, it was Uncle Billy said, why do I need a snowplow?

I've got you. So technically. Okay, partial credit. Partial credit. Okay, I get half a point for that. Okay. down for a half. Okay. Number three, who is your favorite musical artist? All time. All time. Led Zeppelin maybe? That's a band. We did art. How about solo artist?

Okay. Van Morrison. There you go. Okay. On the board. Chris said Van Morrison or Bruce Springsteen. One and a half. Yeah, bring things up there, but Van Morrison is, our kids have heard more Van Morrison and throughout the course of their life and any kids. So two things here. Number one, we went and saw Bruce Springsteen on Broadway. Yeah. Me and dad and mom. That was awesome.

We had a great time. Bruce Springsteen was like right there. And then also like you kind of met Bruce Springsteen when he came and played at JPJ here in Charlottesville. He walked by. He said, what's up, Howie? I was like, oh man, that's pretty cool. No, I, they usually, I don't know if he stayed at the hotel,

but you know, Clarence, the sax player, played at the Regent Berkeley Wilshire. and I'd see him down the gym periodically. So, you know, in passing, we, you know, kind of roughly knew each other. But they were in town and I set it up so I could go back and say hello to Clarence. And then on my way back to say a little to Clarence, Bruce walked out of his dressing room with no shirt on. And it was kind of like awkward hallway encounter with the boss. I said, hi, Howie.

And I said, hey, Bruce. And I just kept walking. I didn't know what to do or what to say. Yeah, you didn't want you. That was not the time to like, be like, hey, big fan. I want to get a hug up on him with no shirt on. Yeah, was Bruce jacked? Yeah, he was in good shape.

Yeah, Bruce is in great shape. You see Bruce in concert. The guy's nonstop. I mean, it looks great. Now, the Van Morrison thing, you've seen Van Morrison live. I've seen him live in various, you know, states. You know, your mom and I, you know, back when I was making, very little money, you know, kind of hawk the ranch to get right up front and up with the

Universal Amphitheater in California. I think this might have been before you were born. He stylized all the songs to a point where they were unrecognized, but he was angry. I'm not sure what was going on there. I think maybe there was some. I think so too. Some drinking going on. But you know what? I saw him again with, I saw him with Kyle at the Wiltern. And he, He was amazing. And again, it was one of those kind of fleeting, you know, moments where you were walking backstage to go, go to our truck. And we walked right by him.

And, you know, it wasn't even a low. It was kind of a, I'm just a nod. He probably had no idea who I was. But he was much smaller than I thought. Yeah. I wouldn't peg him to be very tall. Yeah, how tall would you say? Five foot seven.

Yeah, probably five, seven. And let me ask you this while we're on music before we get the question three here. Do you remember the song, Teach your children well? Yeah, okay. It's stuck in everybody's head in the studio. You? Now, don't, you out on the road. Hey, do you, you got a Stephen Still's story.

Maybe in 1982 or might have been 83. we used to go up to Lyle lived in Manhattan Beach in the tree section. And, you know, we were 20, mom and I were 22, 23 years old. And Lyle's in this, you know, 33, 34. And we would go up there and it'd be about maybe 10, 12 people, half of who we didn't know. And it was a really nice house and there was some, you know, it was kind of an open kind of set up. And there was a living room with a piano in there. and I walk over there and there's this guy kind of chirping away on the piano and it's 49 bye-bys.

And I said, and this is at a point when, you know, there's no internet, there's no, you don't know what people look like. And I said, boy, that's a great song. And he said, thanks. And it was Stephen Stills. So fast forward to the stadium. Lyle, I believe, used to the way he got him in was with a media credential. And again, I don't think anyone knew what necessarily would Stephen Stills look like. So I'd be in my locker and there's, you know, a gaggle, I guess you would call it, of reporters.

And in the background there's Stephen Stills with reporters kind of thing around his neck and hanging out in the room and we've seen him, we've seen them a couple of times. We saw him in Charlottesville. As a matter of fact, we took Tompock kept back with us to see him out to the show and say hello. What is the best show you've been to? Oh, I tell you what. It was my morning jacket in Colorado.

Let's go. Red Rocks. On so many levels. Number one, it's an, it's an unbelievable venue. and, you know, there you are at night and the seating and the way to, you know, in front of the seat, you've got about five feet in front of you. So you're not cramped. It's comfortable.

The light show, they were so great live. Tell me about that light show a little bit. To get the opportunity to, you know, hang out with them afterwards or at least a couple of guys. Yeah, shout out to Patrick and all those guys, man. Yeah, I know. that was a great show and what a cool parent what cool parents to be like yeah i'll go to red rocks with you and see uh you know my morning jacket yeah um the lights or something else at their show that whole venue is amazing what was the next question what is your greatest fear rats and snakes

bang bang bang bang bang got it you got that one we had rats in charlestown those in those uh you go down that uh that manhole cover at the bottom of the street. If that ball went down there, you know, and you had to get it, it was who draws the short straw to get that. Yeah, see you later, Ball. But, I mean, if you're a real estate...

Yeah, that's what I mean. I figure, yeah. But if... You walk both ways of school uphill in the snow. It was one ball. If you're a real estate agent, a home has rats, do you disclose that? If I'm listing a home... Yeah. And it has rats. No. This is the state of Virginia.

Caviott M-Tor. Byer beware. Okay. You and your wife, what was your first date? First time we met was in passing. It's kind of a, it's a hybrid here. First time we met was I was walking on campus. Where on campus? It was up by the library and kind of in the center of the campus. In the quad? In the quad.

Yes. And mom was playing catch with the football. She dropped the football. I picked it up and handed it to her. And I know I fell in love right away. I think it took mom a little while to kind of come around to me. And then there was we were at a party together at a party of Villanova. It makes it sound bigger than it really was.

It was somebody's house and there were maybe 20, 30 people there. we were sitting on the soap together and she said she started saying you know i've heard about you you know something like that and you know in other words not good i said what do you mean you've heard about me i barely go out uh and she said well you know don't talk to me so i i didn't talk to her so then she i believe did did you spill a drink on me i think you did you did you She did spill a drink on me. I said, what's that? On purpose. Yes, totally, accidentally on purpose. And said to me, you know, you stopped talking to me. I said, you told me to stop talking to you. I'm confused. Very literal. Yeah. And that was it. We were, we were, golly, I was 18 and mom was also 18 at the time. That's good. As a matter of fact, we're going to be 40 minutes married in June.

The quad, though, it was just like a movie. Like, there's a whole, like, ball on the ground. Leading the witness there a little bit. I'll give credit. I'll give credit. I'll give credit. They were at the fucking quacks. Near the library. No, it was. But it was quite literally on the quad.

By the cafeteria, the library, the, it was really the quad. By the gymnasium. Okay. Yeah. Okay. If you're making food, what is your favorite dish

to make dish used lightly. It depends. What's your specialty? As a specialty, I would say scrambled eggs. You don't even remember your own specialty. Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

Hold on. When you guys were kids, a bloody anaconda. On the nose! It's just a peanut butter sandwich which rebranded to something totally fucking... It's a peanut butter jelly. Yeah. And there was that horrible movie with, I think,

Jennifer Lopez in it where, you know, there was an anaconda, and they were in the, you know, Central America somewhere. It's called anaconda. And I renamed it. Trying to get them to eat was, you know,

I put peanut butter with jelly and the jelly was the blood. It's a bloody anaconda. Howie loved that. Howie Jr. loved that sandwich. Had no idea was just a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. That should be uncrustables right now. He's not asking for a cut of that deal, but it needs to get done. Yeah.

You're doing pretty well. I'm doing pretty good. How many points is that for me? That's like six and a half out of seven. Is it get three or six percent on that? Five and a half. What's your favorite flavor of ice cream? You know, I'm a vanilla guy.

Yeah, I'm knocking it out of the park. Do I know this guy? Nailed it. Okay. Let's keep rolling. your favorite car that you've ever owned? Probably the one that I gave away. I said this.

Okay, so the story is, Mom got me a Cadillac before I believe my 30th birthday. And it was a gold 66 Coup deville convertible. And at the time, you know, not knowing, I didn't know any mechanics or anything else. and it's all about getting to work and doing the job. And, you know, you're under a lot of pressure. The car, you know, it was one thing after another.

And then the car, the engine caught on a minor fire. But, you know, smoke was coming out of the hood. And I sold the car to, who did I sell the car to first? I sold it to, who was the basketball player's name? I sold it one Larry Kostoviax friends. nice guy and I'm forgetting his name now and then it got sold to Larry Christoviac and then Larry Christoviac sold to Brad Clyber so the car that we bought in LA that I sold to the friend of Larry Christoviac ended up John Bates ended up nine docks down from us

and haunts me to this day that the gift that your mom gave me I sold to one person sold to another person, sold to another person, and then went to... And ended up in his favorite vacation spot on the planet in Montana. So like the odds of this car showing up and Brad will just roll up in that fucking... And every time he rolls up in it, mom gives me that... What a disappointment you are for selling that... I mean, Dad, I mean, the thing's beautiful. I know that there was an engine fire and everything.

What color did he say? It was gold. Over now it's red. Okay, and you said red. Yeah, this is one that I know well. And by the way, Jay Cutler has my Bronco. I had a 69 Bronco.

Jay Cutler owns that. Were there Carfax on that minor engine fire? Did you disclose that in the sale? What was that? Buyer beware. There you go. That's good. You're on it.

Real estate agent. Okay. How do you like your eggs? I like my eggs Depends if I'm making a sandwich I like them poached if I If I'm just eating regular eggs I like them scrambled

I put mama's Mama's pasta sauce in it You overthought this one Yeah egg whites he used to be a big egg whites guy That scrambled egg that's Doesn't everybody do egg whites scrambled? Oh So you don't do yellow egg scrambled

Do you just do egg whites? always I can't even I don't even I don't even understand it either but he doesn't like whites okay that's true

because they're healthier you're not all the fats you're not really competing you're going to win so we don't we're not really I'm just competing against myself here what's your favorite dessert mom's apple pie

mom's apple pie mom's apple pie this guy is that my dad favorite actor all time Denzel Washington I could say

Charlton Heston You know Your son said Charlton Heston Yeah So when I was a kid You know Dad's hero was Charlton Heston He loved him in Ben Hur

Yeah Ben Hur So he loved him in Ben Hur Which is evidently a movie Where a guy gets impaled And they have to put him back On the horse And act like he's alive

And it scared people The whole thing Charlton Heston He meets him a movie premiere in the early 90s and my dad brought me in L.A. And I told Charlton Heston that he was awesome in Spartacus right in front of my dad. Kirk Douglas. Yeah, that was Kirk Douglas.

I mean, I think my dad's stomach turn. I'm Spartacus. I'm Spartacus. So, all right. I'm not taking that one. Denzel Washington. I shouldn't know. He loves Denzel Washington. Okay.

And last one I have on my list is favorite movie of all time. it's a wonderful life that's a Christmas movie too what did I say Ben-hur before mentioned Ben-her right now all I'm thinking about

is it's a wonderful life it's a wonderful life which we watched every year we could that was our one tradition that was like it's traditional I started watching the Matrix

last night with Howie and it was pretty good I'm only halfway through I might have to make that a Christmas tradition watch the Matrix it's a little complicated it's kind of like tenant

it's a good one Yeah. And Drome. Speaking of Dendell Washington, John David, former St. Louis Ram. Yeah. What is your favorite non-alcoholic drink? Oh, yeah. If I get this one.

90% water, 10% apple juice. He literally said watered down apple juice. All right. Let's hit the mailbag. We got a couple of mailbags and we'll get them out of here. This is good. I scored like 12 out of 14, I feel like. Yeah, maybe 11 and a half.

Really well done by you. Thank you. No dad. Mailback. What did we enjoy watching together growing up? I want to say it was like all Arnold Schwarzenegger movies and it was way early. How about what was that duck movie? Oh, Howard the Duck.

Howard the Duck, which you should have called child services. I mean, it was that bad. It was way early to watch Howard the Duck. There was a hot woman hooking up with a duck. Not that there's ever a good time to see. that. No, it was a poor choice on our part. All right. Change one rule in the NFL. I would, and this, this hit me, it was interesting because Tom Brady just talked about this

coming off of Godwin injury. I've been horrified by, you know, the unintended consequence of taking this part of the body out of the tackling. They are. people are carving receivers up at the knees. And it's after the catch, turn, take one step. Your feet are locked in the ground like Godwin. Yeah. As an ex-player, that's horrifying to watch.

They've got to do something about that. They've got to move it up to the thigh. It's got to be like strike zone. It's got to be thigh to chest. That's not unreasonable because you're seeing guys go down at a big clip. and when we watch that New Orleans Tampa Bay game, they did a lot of it.

Yeah, Gronk, they went low on Gronka. Everybody goes on Gronk and Grunk, God bless him, he's had enough injuries. Yeah, no question. To watch him try to avoid that taking that one devastating hit to the legs. You think Gronk's got some arthritis

in his future? I mean, he's going to feel like a 1980s player. Back at North Dallas 40, which is a classic. And watch Nick Nolte get out of bed and capture the player on the back end or the player who's just retired or down the road walking to the bathroom in the morning.

It's one of the classic scenes. And Nick Nolte was amazing. North Dallas 40. Vanden 613 asked. Now that Michael Strayhan has been to space, in your opinion, who's been higher, Strayhan or Chris? What did Strayhan say about that space trip, huh, Dad? He loved it. He said, being that high was amazing.

He said being that high was amazing. It gave you a different perspective on everything. I certainly feel the same way. Okay. All right. Look, you can do an edited down version of this podcast, which I listen to a lot. Yeah, good. That's more than making can say.

Like the bad version of the podcast, like just blank out certain sections. Okay. Good, good. What do you think is the segment that's giving you the most pause on this, on this podcast? Probably altitude questions. Okay. All right. Dad, did you almost play any other sports?

Were you good at anything else? We've talked about boxing. I don't think we've talked about your hockey thing growing up. It was, you know, you grew up in Boston, you play hockey. And, you know, I didn't play organized sports until halfway through football season, ninth grade. We had the, we had desegregation in Boston. And I was living with my uncle Mike and my grandmother and my aunt Eadie in Charles. down and missed like 90 days of school.

And my Uncle Billy was the first family member to, you know, move out of Charlestown out to the suburbs. And my grandmother asked him to take me in. I grew up playing hockey and we played in the street. We played everything in the street. I grew up right under the L train, you know, it was one of those deals when the lights turn on, you go home and, you know, that's it. And we played hockey, basketball, football, baseball.

no coaches, no parents, and it's amazing how everything worked out really well, and you learned how to compete and learned how to play on the streets of Charlestown. But playing football for me was my first endeavor was high school, and Dick Corvin saw me walking down the hallway and asked me if I wanted to play, and my life changed forever. How'd you get your hockey year? That was tough, because the problem with the problem. I did, I will admit, I see.

stole some hockey gear. They used to get on a train and go into town. The train ran right down to whatever department store it was. And you'd have a guy at the door and you have a guy inside. The guy at the door would signal the trains coming and it was

it was some heist kind of stuff. Well, the whole... Here was the problem. If you're a hockey player and at that time I think CCM tax or Black Panther skates were you know, 90 bucks.

And 90 bucks was 270 bucks. 300, 400 bucks. Yeah. Yeah. So and if you grew quickly, which I did, you go from a size 7 to an 8 to a 9 to a 10, you need a new set of skates every two, three months.

Yeah, he was pretty good at hockey, I would imagine. Dumbest thing Chris did as a child. Take your pick. This is from Kai. Shout out to Kai. well we were celebrating your mom's birthday down in i think the cayman islands yeah and all of a sudden the phone rings and it's john brisham well i mean he can't just be like john grisham called me and there was some irony in that because you know they shot some of that movie with the firm and down there and then the cayman islands and here's john calling me you know down

and the Cayman Islands. And we've got Kyle and Howie with us. And Chris is on a baseball trip with St. Anne, which turned out to be kind of an annual phone call at a certain extent. And he said, Howie, everything's good. We're down here. You know, Chris did X, Y, and Z. And we're going to have to send him home.

and you know I said I appreciate it John you know and sorry about that and I think it was something to do with buying Swisher Suites. Yeah. In a seven, no, it's not, listen, I've done much worse. Well, I've done much worse too. It's just that. Like I didn't even the dumbest thing I've done on a baseball trip. I think it's a lot.

But the Swisher sweets and you had somebody else. ID that you had borrowed. Borrowed. Set the record straight on that finally. All right. Player who most plays like you now. This is also from Kai. I would say from a build standpoint and a leverage standpoint,

I would say Nick Bosa. You know what? I could see that. You're a lot more twitchy and you can play inside. Like you played inside. But definitely from the way you're, you know, he's built, you're built. I would say that like the comp is

is pretty good. I had said this before because my dad very unique like, you know, inside rusher, outside rusher, but like all up and down the line, play nose, play three tech, leverage,

and a little bit undersized, like if you were in today's game to play inside. Yeah. Definitely undersized. I actually comp them to, you know, Aaron Donald's going to end up being, you know, it's rare. Here's the thing with with different moves. Different moves.

Aaron's all chop, chop, hand slap, you know, and I was ripped to hump and ripped to spin and, you know, a forearm bull and, you know, my things were, you know, hard step in, rip outside, hard step in, rip outside to the hump. You know, my game was different than his, but in terms of, you know, and I took pride in this and it was something Earl Leggett really hammered home with me and he hammered home with Michael too because he was Michael's coach also was, I don't care if it's Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, you get off on the ball.

Yeah. And we looked at that tape back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And even when I was 34, you know, it was I wanted to be the guy. And you understand how significant that is. Yeah. That extra split second can be every second. Because I don't think looking at it, I'm speaking for me personally. Like I was never good at like the top of the rush, like especially after some injuries.

I know your top of the rush wasn't as good as your first five yards. Like that was where you made your bread and butter was, hey, five yards, I'm going to beat everybody off the ball. There might be guys that might be able to touch slower and can, you know, bend and touch their knee to the ground, like a Robert Quinn. And not that he's slower, but I'm saying, like, somebody who's really good at bending and dipping. Derek Barnett's very good at that in Philly. He was a young guy who played with his inside knee would touch the ground. Bon Miller. Bond Miller, when Bob Miller was really good.

My thing is, if I were a fighter, I'd want a smaller ring. Phone booth. If I'd get you in a phone booth, I'm whipping you. Yep. No question. Which, the age question, our fighting. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Somebody asked me if, yeah.

Hey, How old would you have to be before you could no longer kick Macon's ass? Because obviously you could beat them up right now. Well. You know, I don't even think like that. I'm not a violent person. Wow. Yeah, likewise. You would make and have that in common.

Yeah, I can't make a fist because of a slow pitch softball. injury. I got, hey, just so you know, making it, I'll pick you off. This is all I got. The right. That's it. This has all been replaced. The right.

The back's been done. The neck's been done. The knee's been done. The cap's been done. Broken ankle, broken foot. It's all gone. This is all I got. So if you see that coming, overplay that.

Macon has a labrum. I have a torn labrum in my right shoulder. The problem is, the answer to me. A baking injury. Okay. It's funny. That's good stuff. No, actually, I was on a field with a tennis ball throwing it as far as I could and then something just ripped. So the answer might be never because what, 60 years old? Yeah. And I'm 35. Like I'm getting old. Like getting old. Yeah. Yeah. So it's not happening. 35. 35. I still thought I changed on the way to work in a phone booth when I was 35. 35 hits harder when you're not playing anymore. Hey,

last one here. This is a good question because I think it happened around Christmas. Somebody asked, and this is from Kevin, the worst flight you ever were involved in as a pro athlete or as a... We had just got beaten by Buffalo, like 52 to 8 or something, whatever the score was. It was 25 below zero. It was a playoff game.

I had shattered my hand the week before versus Cincinnati. It was the same game that Bo Jackson's hip popped. And in those days, you know, and I'm sure in some cases today, you know, it starts off as one fracture and then it, you know, it kind of multiplies as you're playing because I didn't come out of the Cincinnati. You just shot it up and you know, you went back in and played. And then, you know, that night I remember I had a cast. They put a hard cast on me and I swelled up really bad. Mom and I were in the garage trying to cut that cast off at 4 in the morning with like a hack saw. And went into work, got that cut off, missed that day.

That was like the first day I had missed other than when you got injured as a baby. I got, oh, my injury. I really got dropped on my head. That explains a few things. So. Wasn't my parents. So I go up to Buffalo. It's 25 below.

I'm playing with one arm and we lose the game badly, get on the plane. And they're not sure if the landing gear is frozen up or frozen down. And I think we went to, I think it was Cleveland. and we circled and, you know, off some fuel and landed. And, you know, they had the, I think they had, you know, you could see the lights around the runway. And I'm not sure whether they did a visual on the approach or whatever,

but I wasn't sure whether we had the landing gear down or not. So I'm saying, wow, the worst game of my life. And I'm going to die in Cleveland. of all the places. Right, I want to die in Montana or Virginia. I can't believe that. Dumping fuel, though, that's generally a bad sign on an airplane. Yeah.

Did I ever tell you we flew into a flock of geese in St. Louis? We had an engine. We blew an engine going out of St. Louis. Yeah, it's crazy. We actually blew an engine and, you know, to the pilot's credit, you always wonder, how do they do that? You got two engines and you know

how do they do that? And they did a great job and we ended up rerouting back to Louis. If you don't have if you don't have two engines you got none

and by the way I remember the day I woke up from a nap it was after a game and I got like random like I love you so much take care of your brother's text from my parents

I was like what the fuck happened dude take care of your brothers One of the things where you just don't know you know the engine blows and you know it's one of those things where you know you don't I don't make deals on planes I just prayed for people yeah you're not a John Madden you wait wait you woke up to a text message I love you so much take care of your brothers and then had to like follow up hell yeah

I had to be like uh you wear Kyle's clothes and like this is my new life now yeah my like dad now what the fuck 24 um And I'm worried about trying to win our first game of the season. He would have rose up to that challenge. I appreciate the morbid compliment. Reed, you had one or two, and then we'll get him out of here. Yeah, Howie, walk us through the process of filming the train scene in Broken Arrow. Was that CGI where you hooked up to a rig where there's some ropes and cables involved?

When Christian Slater kicked you out of the train, which... Here's the way it works is they're restricted on what you can do in terms of, you know, they'll only let you do so much yourself. Danny Winans, who is my stunt double, they do a kind of a cable where they simulate me getting kicked out of the train. And it's green screen and you get yanked back into a, of kind of a huge pad. A ball pad. And then you go to the other shot of Danny in the same outfit.

He's essentially the same height, built a little bit differently, same haircut. And he's on, I forget exactly what they call it. It's kind of like one of those cables that you see in the movies like in, you know, the Tom Cruise movies where he's scaling a building and he has to cable down. and it cables down to it an exact spot just short of the ground. That was on a huge bridge

in the middle of Montana and that was a great stump by Danny Wine. So you also had that famous noise. How long were you in the audio booth perfecting that noise? It was a pretty short recording session. No, that's like a stock scream, right? you know I think

that wasn't you you didn't scream right yeah no I don't even remember it's allegedly from the 1980 film the ninth configuration of course what's that song guy were allegedly roller coaster roller coaster of love

if you listen to it I think it's teach your children well is what you're looking for by Crosby Stills and Nash which you did howie gracious. What a what a great son you have here. A couple others. Happy birthday, Howie. Yeah, happy birthday again to Howie. And that's Howie Jr. By the way, Dad, thank you for your time and enjoy the Madden documentary.

That's got to be pretty cool to see even for you having been involved in it. I'm looking forward to it. I think to see John in his totality, you know, not just the video game, not just, you know, the broadcast. and the coaching, which as you mentioned, a lot of young folks don't understand the kind of breadth and scope of John's career. Howie Long, the great Howie Long. There's only one, there's two Howie Longs. Shout out my brother. There's Howard Francesco.

There's Howard Francesco. Howard Francesco Long. We're going to let him go. Yeah. Love you. Oh, that's a thing. He doesn't understand why we say love you every time on the phone. This guy doesn't say love you on the phone. Not to his wife, not to his, you know, nuclear family.

What's your, what, are you German? There's some German, mostly English. Well, both are kind of, you know, not real affection. Yeah, that's true. Well, in my family growing up, colonial, really. I love you was said when something really bad had happened. I finish every I finish every phone call

every text every We're Irish You're Irish man We're a lot of hugs We're Irish and Italian Irish and Italian That's a combination of like very Strong emotion

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You got any grievances to air? Oh grievances, yeah Let's do them, dude Okay People listening to this podcast You know who you are You live in Syracuse,

New York If you hear something And you want to report it back To my parents I need it to be accurate Because I was honest That I didn't let the mice out So then

My parents here That I'm taking credit Oh, this can be to anybody, huh? You know who you are. I know who it is. This can be to anybody? This is to anybody. I said I didn't take the mice out.

Yeah. My wife and my stepmother took the mice out. Yeah. And then I get blowback at home. You told people you took the mice out? No, I didn't tell anybody I took the mice out. So it's a game of telephone that's just not working. I don't think any game of telephone's a good idea.

My parents can't figure out the app to listen to the podcast. So let's just not talk to them about the podcast at all because then I get three straight calls from dad that there's something on my neck and why haven't you gone to a doctor? The guy in the Caribbean who drove us in the boat the other day, we asked where the life jackets are in case we need him and he gave us a dirty look and didn't even tell us. Wow. Yeah. So get it together, dude. Even for the kids? Yeah, no, the kids, we brought life jackets for them. Okay.

What so is that kind of what it is? I don't know Seinfeld, dude. Yeah, it's like I got a lot of problems with you people. Okay, keep going. Now's the time to say. Yeah, typically you'd talk about the people you're with on your festivist tradition. So I'll take it that way. Makin, no recognition of my new haircut.

I walked in. Chris was like, dude, you look so good. Okay, so yeah, that's true. Okay, I wanted to talk about this today. I asked him, I said, did you get a haircut? And he said, I said I went to a, black barbershop by accident and I said holy shit dude you just walked in and like the whole thing happened and he's like yeah I walked in like everybody stopped talking and after the like two

second silence somebody was like yeah somebody was like hey come on in man we got a spot for you best haircut I've ever gotten bro you need to go to that same barbershop the rest of your life it's called barbershop yeah I'm sorry uh counterpoint I've never I don't know that I've ever heard you say like, hey, nice haircut. In fact, if anything, in high school, you're the one who gave me this complex about losing my hair. So guy takes a hat off. Sounds like the grievances are really flowing here.

In SAT prep calls. I'm sorry. The grievances floweth. Kingston was and is one of my dearest friends. Reed, you never eat here. I take my hat off. So are you going bald? You never fucking eat here, Reed.

I've offered you food 740 times in this building. And he always says no. every time you have offered me food the grievance i have written down for reed is he's too nice to me makes me uncomfortable yesterday i locked myself out of the building like a fucking idiot and reed had to come let me in he's like hey how you doing nice to see you i would have been like you dumb motherfucker he was in his head dude you don't know that he's he's saying in his head dude he's just i told you could have to scale the building next door like chris i had to go park court to get in the building one day I had to steal an oil can from the place next door.

Sorry, jump up and, yeah, run sideways. Stop walking through my yard. Just stop cutting through my yard randomly. Sometimes I look at the window. I think there's a killer on the loose in my yard. Oh, thank you. No, like a creepy one. Not like a tough one, like one that like.

I'll take creepy killer. Oh, still. You're always wearing like a just, yeah. You always look a little pale, like things aren't good. And so like at first sight, I'm like, who's this guy? Who's that fawn, skin, colored, creepy killer? Yeah, pretty much.

Yeah. Reed, you got any grievances? I know he's got a fucking list. No, this place is perfect and amazing, and I love you all. Oh, see, he's the killer. Yeah, dude. You don't think so? If the pod doesn't come out one day, the cowboy did it.

Yeah. We all... What's that game? You figure out who the killer was? I wasn't a big clue. It was the cowboy in the studio. with a microphone. Honestly, sometimes, like with his mustache,

he can look like a composite sketch. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Like a handsome composite sketch. Just a handsome dude for people out there. Yeah, he's like a way handsomer Derek Carr who's growing some flow. No, don't put him in Derek Carr's weight class. This guy's in a whole different weight class. I didn't mean to do that.

I just saw that Derek Carr was growing his hair longer and I just... But look at him. Derek Carr, you can't hold a candle to this guy. No question about it. but can look like a composite sketch from far away sometimes. Yeah. The parking ticket guy outside.

I think what you're doing is wrong. I know it's your job, but I think what you're doing is wrong. He or she knows it too. I mean, who wants that gig? The parking guy, it feels like this parking guy wants that gig. He's actually a nice guy.

I made him take my ticket back because I came out of here one day and there was a ticket on my car and I walked over to him because he was still ticketing cars. I was like, hey, I was only inside for, like a minute. He did that for you?

Yeah, he was like, just give it to me. Give it to me. Oh, I was denied. Really? You tried to give it back? Yeah, I tried to get. I was like, hey, I'm literally just walking out. I had to grab some. Just like you. And you're the famous person. Might not be that, well, okay, I'm not famous

to that guy. And I respect him. Maybe he was going out of his way to be like, fuck Chris Long. Yeah. I swear an oath. Yeah. I respect that. But what you're doing is wrong. My last two, Taylor, take your girl out for a date. It's been too long.

Holy shit, Taylor. Holy shit, Taylor. And then I've been holding on to the other one for about 18 years. Chris, make a fucking free throw. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. That's a bad free throw shooter, dude. I probably could go four at ten.

What do you think? I'll take the under. Respectfully. You take the under? Respectfully, that's the pot calling the kettle black. He was bad. my man was a great basketball player could not shoot really yes

it's true but I was thinking of a specific time when Christmas two free throws once I hear like I've been waiting 18 years I was like man fuck this could be bad and I was like it's just that I can't shoot free throws what was it like yeah into the game yeah it's Blue Ridge home game we've never beaten them

it's 71 70 with like 15 seconds left oh my god I had two free throws first one backboard I don't remember first one what backboard backboard backboard No. Off the backboard? Backboard off, and then rim.

Oh. And what about the second one? Just didn't go in. But like, clang. Probably the better than the first one. I don't know. If you start with backboard? What is it? JV. Basketball? No. Varsity?

God damn. You were good at like dunking. Yeah, defense. And like just roughing people. I wasn't really good. You can rebound. I was like on a good basketball team. I'm a sixth or a seventh man.

Yeah. A good high school basketball team. Like a really bad Zach Randolph. Zeevo was, yeah, I'll take that. Okay. I always said I was Gerald Wallace. Oh my God. I'm more of Gerald Wallace than you are.

Imagine if Gerald Wallace couldn't shoot free throws. Backboard. Hit the backboard? We'll have to pull the tape, but that's my memory. Like was he trying to bank it in? Somebody got to me. I was like headache Smith. You didn't know that?

The fix was in. Lincoln's response time when I text him about real estate, instantaneous. When I text him about the pod, like, hey, can you come in at 10 tomorrow? I get an hour and a half of dead silence followed by why. You know what? You know what, though, Matt? You're on to something because lately he's been really on the ball texting about this and what am I doing right now? A real estate thing.

Well, he's buttering me up. buttering you up no as you can see I'm consistent one thing at this juncture my life and for the rest of it has priority you know flipping houses fiduciary responsibility now if you want to institute some sort of podcast code of ethics where I have a fiduciary responsibility to Matt to you

to the listener sure let's let's get some continuing education up in this the elephant in the room here is that I fucking suck and nobody's levying like serious grievances against me. My grievance against you guys, you're not mean enough. I'll bring the heat. I'll bring the heat. Okay.

All right. So, Chris, you're, the way that you articulate time is poor. I don't like it. Give me a specific example. Be there in five. Oh, no. It's five out. It's five out.

But that's the only reliable one is five out. That's afterward 90 minutes late. Five out you can actually depend on. Yeah. It's just an hour and a half after we were pulling up now. Honestly, I'm rarely late for a stupid reason. I'm usually late because of my children, as you guys know. And I have heard you guys, I can read between the lines that you guys have said before.

I know your family's important. And I'm like, yeah, that's generally the fucking snare. Oh, okay. If you think that there's a good idea on the text thread, you can keep it to yourself. I don't need the thumbs up and. I don't need the heart impression. I got it. It's a good idea. It's a fucking, it's a cornucopia of good ideas up in that thing. I don't need to be notified that four other people like it. Oh, and also you guys aren't liking my ideas enough. If you're going to heart everybody else's, throw me a heart every now and again. I mean, I know they're not bad ideas. John? Like, John, I thought you and I were, hmm. We are! Oh, Johnny!

All right, just like a heart impression. Like a thumbs up every now. Come on now. But no, seriously, stop with the thumbs ups in the hearts. It's hard to grieve against Reed. I mean, you know, to say I've never been frustrated with Reed. That's another thing, but entirely. But it's hard to really fundamentally grieve against Reed because Reed is a tremendous worker.

I mean, he's a fucking workhorse. That's my grieving against Reed is, Reed, you've, fucking make us all feel guilty the way you work. So take a day off every once in a while. Eat at work. You know? That whole thing. Take a weekend.

Yeah, this was fucked up getting us gifts. Yeah, you got us fucking nice gifts. Reed got me a fucking... I got no notice on this. I got a gift certificate to Sultan Kabob. Reimix the rest of us look terrible because we didn't get anybody anything. Yeah. Well, hold on now, guys. Did everybody get the bonus?

I actually only just learned of it in the other room and I'm grateful for it. You know, typically that comes like a couple weeks before Christmas. I'll take it back if you don't. I think Reed's getting mad. Taylor, I think they want to keep their bone. I'll take it.

They want to keep their bone eye. I'll keep it. Okay. Matt, sometimes it sounds like you're patronizing us. That's because I am. We know you don't think it's that good. You guys egged my house in high school

Well to be fair You were a turncoat Yeah you turned coat You went with the other guys dude It was just eggs man We're sorry Yeah you didn't get the full treatment It was just a message

We didn't light you up with paintballs or something We fucking lit Ian's car up Oh my God He was driving home he couldn't see shit in his car He was going 27 and a 55 Somebody slash Twan's tires. That was when it got a little serious. Yeah, it got a little serious when you pinned that fella on the ground on school property.

Well, I was attacked. Was I not attacked? You were attacked. You were. I was attacked. And I don't like physical altercation because for me, when I fight somebody or if I turn, it's not fun. Everybody looks at me like I'm the bad guy, so I don't want to be that guy. It wasn't so hot when Matt's parents called mine and said, hey, our kids,

or like bad kids, I think, was the message. Like, they're lying to us a lot. I got a grievance against Mike Chalfin's dad, childhood friend. You go. I pooed in the pool, yeah. But you made me kind of feel bad about it. Okay? You kind of made me feel bad about it.

The next time I came over, so what happened the first time was I tried to blame the dog. I was like, I don't know, but the dog was around. I think it was just floating around like maybe four or five, you know. So we're sitting in the hot tub next time. Waylon's age. I'm Waylon's age. My son pooed in the pool.

I don't know they meant to make me feel bad about it, but the dog came up in conversation in the hot tub next time and I was like, oh, yeah, I think I saw that dog. Your dog? I think I saw that dog poo in the pool. Like just trying to give myself a little more. And he was like, no, no, no. The dog has not pooed in the pool. pool, but I know somebody who has pooed in the pool. And that made me feel really bad about

pooing in the pool. Was that all he said? Yeah, dude. All he had to say was, hey man, I know you pooped in the pool. It's not a big deal. You're five. I think it is a, it's a fairly big deal. You got to like, it didn't do it on purpose, dude. No, no, I know, but you got to drain the pool. I was on vacation once. Actually, the last time I was in Virgin Gorda and me and Meg were sitting on the balcony and enjoying a cocktail and the pool guy didn't think we could hear it and his walkie talkie was going off and he was like, we got a cold brown man.

Wow. That's poop in the pool, code brown. Wow. Literally at resorts, poop in the pool is code brown. Couldn't even think of a better code word than that. That's a pretty good code word. No, it's not because I knew that that meant poo in the pool.

Shut the whole thing down. Hot brown coming down. That's what you like to. to say. That's pretty good. Oh, Bruce Maxa, annually. Annually,

Bruce. First home run of the league. Umpire called me out for not touching home play. Yeah, it's because my friends were mobbing me because I was playing with a dead bat and I was 11 years old,

six feet tall. I hadn't hit a home run yet. Had to go home and people were like, how'd you play? I was like, uh, it's complicated. I was,

out after a home run. Here's one. The umpire is a fucking stickler. Or not. Maybe he was just, maybe he had it out from me, maybe the fix was in. Can you please?

And I've done this for you in a different way. Can you please capitalize my last name in your phone? Sure, no problem. And maybe take the picture out where I'm, I'm riding a toy horsey. Yeah, dude. Because I didn't know you were taking pictures of.

me now that sounds creepy doesn't it maybe we were sitting on the back porch and there was this alligator actually it was an alligator it was like an alligator kid rocking chair and we were looking at a house and they had one he was sitting there you know kind of going through the whole division rights spiel and the whole thing but sitting on a fucking in retrospect alligator wouldn't have been sitting on that toy alligator yeah reed you got grievances anybody outside this uh establishment there was a person three years ago john myself and kelly we're in Lowe's. We were buying items for the studio. Kelly

walked up to ask the Lowe's personnel a question. This woman was in line and said, excuse me, I am in line. You can wait behind me. We were not buying anything. We just wanted to know where to go. This woman made a big fuss about us asking a question

for 30 seconds. This is every day for normal people. No, that's bad. I don't like line stuff. John and Kelly were not happy. This person would not make it far in California. Hey, in general, the internet, I got a grievance for you. Stop doing the, I don't know what's straw man I hate more.

The Aaron Rogers wearing a cancel culture thing. Aaron Rogers, I have a grievance for you for Festivus. It's a complicated thing. You're one of my favorite football players of all time. And every time I met you, you're cool as fuck. I'm sure you're cool guy still. I mean, you got, you stepped in it. But then you're wearing this cancel culture shirt with a line through it.

Dude, like your odds, you're like number one in the MVP race, bro. I want to get canceled. I mean, I'd have to be as good at football as you, which is not going to happen ever. But the cancel culture thing, I can get down with that. If this is what it is to get canceled, I'll get canceled. Second straw man I hate. People with the, when Tom Brady slams his iPad, it's passion.

When Odell Beckham slams his iPad, It's send him to jail. How about, how about? I'm like, yo, nobody's been writing that tweet for quite a while. Okay. Or you're given the, you're given too much attention to the teenagers on Madden demo. Like nobody seriously is, is talking about Odell getting mad on the sidelines right now. But more importantly, nobody is calling it Passion with Tom Brady anymore.

We know how the internet works. I'm Googling, I'm searching Tom Brady and Passion. There's 300 tweets like that. They're all the iteration of your stupid straw man. Stop. Tyreek puts out the peace sign and gets a fine. Tom Brady yells, go flog yourself to a opposing coach.

Nothing happens. I mean, that part's true. That part's true. But the iPad one's stupid. The sideline tantrum thing's stupid. Maybe we should just do this every show. Yeah, it's good. We can come up with a,

and maybe compliments or something. The opposite of a grieving. For sure. still being able to sit in this chair is the highlight of my life. Oh, thank you for saying that because I know it has nothing to do with me, but that makes me feel better.

Yeah, and my daughter. Okay. To the guy that pulled up to my house recently and had his bags and he got out and he walked up to my front door and went to hand me his bags and said checking in, hey, fuck you.

fuck you especially because the first thing I did was I was like no sir this is this is a residence and instead of being like oh I'm so sorry six foot four guy with tattoos 70 year old white guy was like where's the club with like a fucking perturbed face I'm sorry that you can't operate a garment or the like fucking probably using a

a dial-up phone that you I'm sorry that you pulled up to my house, dude, and I continued to be nice about it, but in retrospect, I should have been like, hey, fuck you, man. Respect your elders, not in this situation. I'm a homeowner, dude. I know I look like one of these millennials,

but I live here. I'm not the doorman. Did he apologize? No, not at all, Reed. He just asked where the club was, shook his hand, and, like, turned around, walking back, to his car. Yeah, you misspoke. You said shook his hand.

He wasn't shaking any hand. He shook his head or whatever it was. So yeah, I'm grieving against that guy. Parking for Ford didn't tip you off there, buddy? Incredible, dude. Country club looking for. What kind of butler or fucking guy is wearing sweatshorts and a hoodie? And no shoes, dude.

The best damn butler in town. I know, dude. But who's doing that? You know how I look at home. Is that a TV show? How I look at work? Any more grievances. Yeah.

I'm taking criticism pretty well, I'd say. I'm applying it. That's not a grievance. I guess I'm out. I'm out of grievances. Read anymore. Going once. We straight.

Matt, any more. No, compliments. Love this job. Love you guys. I love you guys too. And Merry Christmas to Reed, to Taylor, to Matt, and to the cleaning late. ladies here who we don't talk enough but you guys are keeping this place pretty

cleaning you got your work cut out for you I mean they're kicking ass taking names yeah they got to deal with Dr. Fax's fucking I mean this is a garden of backwoods here which begs the question why are we emptying the ashtrays ladies I still love you you're awesome Merry Christmas the people at the business down downstairs. And Merry Christmas to your lovely wife as well and to redacted. And Merry Christmas to your wife, Megan, your children, Whalen and Luke, your dog, Willie, your brothers, Kyle and Howie. And the houses. Merry Christmas to the houses. Let's talk to James Coe and get out of here. All right.

James Coe is back in the building, dude. Hey, back, baby. You know it's funny because I got a fantasy notification early. here James and I was like oh my god this something happened in fantasy and then I was like oh sorry making that's funny that's really funny but what you don't understand is that I'm still playing for something here in week 16 how do you feel about these these uh runner-up games like I know they mean something the consolation bracket yeah but like no my friend not consolation bracket while this is going to be a celebration of Chris and the Liberty Cucks yes both of the hosts on this show made the playoffs. So I'm playing for third place.

You made it. There's an asterisk there. You made the playoffs because I didn't set my line up. Yeah, that's fair. But I didn't like ask you not to. Okay. So he's playing for a hundred chickens this weekend. 100 plus my initial investment. Yeah. Yeah. So talk to me about consolation games. How do you feel about those James Co? Look at me. It's not. It's not a winners bracket in which we are participating in a consolation bracket, which I've never seen in this league. We're in your three. I've never seen it. I'm rooting for meg, man. He's all, he's all twisted up, man. James feels great about it. James, let's get into this matchup because I'm rooting for my friend. Thank you. I appreciate

that. He's going up against the big vagina snakes. Is that how you say it? I still don't get that name. I don't either. Hold up. Hold up. Hold up. We got the cucks going against the vagina snakes. Bigina snakes. That's with a B. That's a lot of adults. It's a lot of adults. The quarterback matchup, James. We got Chris rolling Justin Herbert out there. He's got the Texans. Love it. Going against Aaron Rogers, who has the Cleveland Browns.

I actually like my Justin Herbert there. I do too. Yeah, I do too. I like it a lot. Man, I'd tell you, Herbert's been, Herbert has been pretty good. I know he's had some up and down weeks, but mostly up. And the bottom line is, Austin Eccler, we're not sure about his status right now.

If he can't go, that run game is non-existent, which only means good things for Herbert, because then they've got to throw more, and it's a great matchup as well. So if Echler comes back, I still feel pretty good about it. But yeah, no, I actually like Herbert more than Rogers this week. All right, so here's a question. I've got the Jaguars D in special teams.

The Jets. Oh, my God. Why? Just, you know. Yeah, they're playing the Jets. They're a holdover from a week ago. And you've got him beating the Jets. I've got him beating the Jets.

You're looking down my list. There are anything questionable as it stands right now? Jamar Chase came up super empty last week for me. I'd like to point out he's average 16.1 point, and it was just a short four months ago where you were worried about that draft pick. We were. Tyler Lockett, you think he's back?

You think I start him this week against Chicago Bears? Yeah, I think so. Hey, by the way, going back to the Jamar Chase thing, remember, he had a huge game against Baltimore in their previous matchup. Baltimore is a team that has literally given up the most big play, splash plays over the top, has given up the most yards, and I believe the most fantasy points on passes of 20 plus air yards downfield. Jamar Chase, obviously a deep ball specialist.

It's a prime time matchup for him. He doesn't necessarily get there in terms of fantasy football. Jamar Chase doesn't get there on total volume because, you know, he averages about seven targets a game. But he gets there on air yards. it gets their own splash plays and against a secondary in Baltimore that has given up the most splash plays in the NFL. It's a great matchup. I think Jamar Chase is a very, very strong start. Good. Bounce back. All right. So I'm looking at, I'm looking at these available Ds here. There's got to be a lot of them. Not a lot of people playing anymore.

Actually, I'm holding three on my roster. You're holding three D's? Wow. Why are you doing that? Because I'm playing for dough, James, and my opponent doesn't have a great defense. Can you maybe release one of those D's? We can maybe work out in an arrangement. Okay, you've tried that. So the available defenses to me, well, this is who I'm going to pick up right now, Niners, D, and special teams against Tennessee. The people will be hearing this. Pretty good. Reacting to what happens our tonight, y'all's last night. I was going to save this for Thursday Nighttime Machine. A.J. Brown is expected to play this evening. Okay. I don't know if that affects anything for you. What do you think? Saints D. in special teams or

Niners D and special teams. I kind of like the- We're sticking with the Jags. The Bears D and special teams too. Or the Jags. Make the call for me. I kind of sort of like the Jags, even though I kind of had like a revulsion against it on initial look.

But you're talking about going against Zach Wilson, turnover machine and the Jets. Yeah, I think that's pretty good. And by the way, I should say this about the Jags. their front the defensive front is not bad right um their secondary is obviously one of the worst in the NFL but up front it's not too terrible um i don't know about their defensive game plan i mean chris you could talk about that way more than i can but it seems like they're they're doing what everyone else is doing in the nfl running that too deep shell um and basically just letting guys

catch balls in front of them but it's it's even it's even worse for jacksonville because you know they allowed the highest completion rate in the NFL. All right. So I feel good about this roster. This is where you won the league, rounds five and six, right ahead of me. You were right ahead of me because Howie Long tried to screw me. Yeah, with the, yeah. Didn't work.

You picked Mark Andrews round five. Oh, huge. And you went Justin Herbert round six. Yeah, Herbert was a huge steal. You took Herbert right after I took OBJ, which didn't really work out. And to further give you your roses, round nine, D-O-Cube-C. quite the day, Debo Samuel, that's working out.

Samuel in the ninth. That's my Tom Brady pick. We just knew he was going to be there in the ninth. Your tight end matchup, Coe, weigh in on this. It's Andrews for Chris against Kittle, who will have already played. Hey, listen, it's hard to go away from Andrews.

Andrews is seeing like double-digit targets each and every week. He's making splash plays all over the place. He's just, he's an unstoppable force right now. I know Kittle is on that same trajectory as well. But Tennessee, again, I will say this, Tennessee's front is pretty good. I think they will be able to limit Kittle somewhat.

Also, too, I actually just wondered because their front is so good, I just wonder if Kittle will stay in and block a little bit more this week. And again, I know we're going to be, you know, everyone's going to be hearing this after the fact, but that's just my thoughts kind of going to that game. We've been airing grievances today, James. Do you have any to air? Like Festivus, like the Seinfeld thing. I rage against teams that don't have six point touchdowns for for quarterbacks passing touchdowns.

Agreed. It just doesn't make any sense to me. Like what are we doing out here? You know? And then also too, it's like also those minus one for interceptions or fumbles. It's like, no, man. Like those plays are huge. Like make those at least minus two.

Like leagues that I'm a commissioner in, they're minus four. Turnovers are minus four. They are prohibitively bad, which is great. And by the way, that's how you get tears in terms of quarterbacks. Like everyone's like, oh, take a quarterback late. Take quarterback late. Who cares about quarterback? And it's like, wow, what a weird way to play fantasy football in the exact reverse opposite

of how real life football is where you don't even care about the quarterback in fantasy, but in real life it's everything. James, you're well aware that at a Judy situation, the Gus Bus, Mostert, Marquez Calloway, Devante Parker. I mean, my draft was ugly and I'm playing for third. Do you want to say anything nice about the houses on this day of? We'll give him that. Yeah.

Well, I'll let you. You're listening off all these guys. I'm like, okay, where are we going with this? We'll finish the James Co. tenure in 2021 with a compliment to your team. I'll give you that. Okay. I'll give you that. Okay.

Should we wait for him to wind up or? I mean, I mean, I'm just trying. I'm searching. I'm searching here. It's getting real bad. Here you go. Let's see. This will be fun for you too, Chris. Full standings will give us number of transactions. I made 67 on the year. You made eight. You made eight transactions. Make why what first of all, kudos going back to Chris. You lost Derek Henry too mid-season, didn't you? Thank you. That was amazing. Yeah, we're doing this thing. I haven't even had the work, the workhorse of the Liberty Cuckles on the team. Wow, that's amazing. Guys, who's leading two-headed monster?

Me. Chris is up, making you're in last. What? Wow. What? So we probably should do a week. Let's do one. Let's do one.

Let's do a kicker one. Two kickers. Two kickers. That's going to be electric. Wait, hold on. We're doing double kicker. Double kicker. That's right.

this is for all the fucking marbles here i feel like we should at least do like a kicker dst you know let's just go all special teams we're doing all defense and special teams well we're not going to do the packers dst because their ST sucks we all found that out yeah what is the deal four o'clock game last week co's our fantasy uncle so what he says goes kicker and defense sure let's do it you're you're in first you can go first overall yeah i'll concede that to somebody else so that I can pull up the defenses and special teams. Where do the standings read while we all look? Chris has 17.

James, you have 16, making 15. We do a scoring three points to the winner each week, two for second, one for three. I've really won a few of these, huh? Yeah, man. There you go. You got to stay on brand. You got to win that defense, you know? No question.

No question. 100%. People forget. I'll go first. Go ahead. I'll take the dolphins. They're playing. Ian Book.

is starting for the Saints. Not that that's a good or a bad thing depending on how you look at it, but I feel like the dolphins are going to heat them up. I think we get some turnovers. I'll take the dolphins, number one. Okay. James, you're up. Kicker or defense? I will take

Dallas DST. Taylor Heineke tends to turn the ball over a little bit. We're talking about the team that I believe leads the NFL and interception. So give it to me Dallas DST. Okay. I'll go Philly against Jake from State Front. most likely and kicker I'm heading out into the elements Nick Folk Foxboro in an

18 to 15 victory interesting okay I got Greg Joseph am I up no no okay that's okay you can go ahead and take Greg Joseph I was gonna take Greg Joseph I'm it cares I'll take Justin Tucker man best in the game let's go the guy who Chris took in round 12 out of like 16 and we all laughed and here he is Well, I'll take Greg Joseph because we just heard about Dalvin Cook. I know Madison's straight, but maybe they kick some field goals this week, and that would be great. Yeah. James, how do you do? Are you playing for first? There is one league where I am playing in the semifinal game, and then in every other league, I'm pretty much out of it, man.

It's been, it has been a rough season for your boy. Yeah, I tell you, I've said this before, but it's like, listen, when I'm when I'm going, going in leagues like people already know who I like. You know what I'm saying? It's tough for you. Yeah, people watch your stuff and then and then they draft accordingly. They cut you. And then, well, hey, there you go.

And then the other thing too, it's like, hey, I've got so many leagues this year. I up my league count, which is not the right way to go. I need to be lowering my league count. But I up my league counts and now I feel like I'm behind the eight ball in terms of like pickups and stuff in a bunch of different. Like I bought, but you know what? It's a long excuse of me saying I suck this year. I noticed there's a lot of self-loathing from you on social media, which is what I see it is accountability. And that's why the people love you, James Coe.

So we will enjoy watching you on the tube this weekend, right? You guys are going to be doing your thing and probably cheering on a lot of the players that are going to be putting up big numbers for me in the championship against the vagina snakes. James Co. Direct TV, DirecTV, Channel 704, Fantasy Zone. Check us out. Dude, I feel like of all the people I know on TV, it's funny. Like I'll watch Aaron Donald play and I'll be like, oh, I know him. But when I see James Cole on TV, I feel like I know somebody really cool. The DiCaprio.

Yes. I appreciate that. Yes, exactly. The DeCaprio meme. That's me once upon a time in Hollywood. Hey, James Coe, appreciate you, man. It's been a lot of fun this year and we'll get you back. And go Cucks, right?

There you go. Go Cucks. All right, brother. Thanks. Hey, and don't, you guys have blue balls at home waiting for a Merry Christmas. All you people listening at home. We love you.

We love you so much. We couldn't forget to wish you a Merry Christmas. So you waited two hours, but here it is. Have a, and you know what? Happy holidays. I was wondering about that. You know? Yeah.

I know we're doing, it's a Christmas time pod, but yeah, happy holidays, man. Whatever you're doing, whatever floats your boat, have a good one. We'll catch you before the new year. Yeah, we will. Multiple times. No days off. That's the motto, right, fellas, right? Might have another grievance.

I love it here. It's great. Nah, it's just that some shows, you know, they'll take a break. You know, they'll record a double pot or just take a day off or here's the best of. This show. Did we kind of take a day off last week? No. No.

Football season. Candidly. You've given me days off. I've given you many days off. Yeah. Yeah. We get some sometimes. He just decides he's like, I got to work some days.

Yeah. Take care. Merry Christmas. Y'all take care.