Green Light with Chris Long - Joe Buck! All-Star Game Stories! Larry Walker Stories! Jack Buck Stories! Favorite Stadiums! Chris & Macon Reunite.

Episode Date: July 9, 2021

(01:55) - Hello. (07:39) - Layup Line. (11:39) - Good, Bad & Ugly. (28:23) - Super Bowl Hold Response. (37:20) - Harry Pats Trade Demand. (42:43) - Joe Buck Interview! (43:34) - Athletes as Golfers. (55:08) - Best Baseball Stadiums. (01:03:47) - Pandemic Announcing. (01:11:12) - 2021 All-Star Game. (01:13:05) - Earthquake! (01:21:34) - Favorite All-Star Games. 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

Download bet win. I got to tell you, I really like the sound of that. And with win bet, it's just that easy. From boosted parlays to live in-game odds on every major sport, win bet has what you need to win. So if you're in Colorado or in Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, Tennessee, or right here in Sweet Virginia, sign up today to receive a special offer,

risk-free, $500 sports bet. Download the win-bet app, now or visit w y n n bet.com download bet win and let's get after it terms and conditions apply must be 21 or older and present in state where win bet is available gambling problem call 1-800-2707117 and so here he is at the end of his life son john henry is driving him out in a golf cart and the Fenway just lights up. I mean, it is a noise I've never heard. And he's driving.

And Williams takes his cap off, like in the most demonstrative way and just fires it into the air. Like, thank you to all the fans in Boston. Is it weird for you, Macon, to be sitting in the boss man chair? Chris, welcome inside Studio J at Greenlight Pot headquarters. in Charlottesville, Virginia, some 2,251 miles from Poulson, Montana. The internet is something, dude. We can do this podcast wherever we need to be.

It's brighter here, so there are a couple more lights hitting my eyes. There's an air register right above my head. This chair, of course, is cheeks. It doesn't move. But otherwise, it's a fairly friendly setup. Probably a look into the future for you. when I take over this here Greenlight Pod with Chris Long.

And by the way, you look like threateningly natural sitting in that chair. Thank you. Well, I should mention the third floor bathroom is clean. Were you aware of this? Yeah. Like it's spotless. Yeah, we have a cleaning crew that comes in now.

For the first time in three years that I've seen it, it is spotless. Yeah, it's just a good vibe here at Studio J. Good, good. I mean, it sounds like we're better off with me not physically in Studio JAs. That's the, that seems like the consensus here. Yeah, well, we'll see how this goes.

I've, I've been listening to some Zoom pods over the last couple weeks. I guess this is Tis the season for vacation for podcasters. And there have been some bad podcasts, not going to lie. So we'll see how we do. Well, this one's going to be good. You get the All-Star game coming up this weekend. So I'm calling my friend Joe Buck. He'll be joining us from Tahoe.

Uh, and apparently know her. Yeah, apparently know her. And, uh, Joe Buck is on the link. So he'll be getting off the golf course shortly. Uh, and I will be having him phone into, uh, I don't know what's what I'm going to call this studio here at my, uh, humble abode here in Poulson, Montana. Call it the mini split because you might not know it, but you have a mini split behind you. Right over my right shoulder. Mini splits are actually a great way to, uh, deliver cool air into your, into your household. Sometimes, even. in warm air. They're V efficient. And you also have the gold bodied ceiling fan from maybe late 90s. But I'd call it the mini split. I think that's a terrific name. Yeah, welcome to the mini split. Joe Buck will be joining us at the mini split. Will he be joining me at the mini split? Because making us to go home and get some work done and be the father of a daughter that he is. Joe will be joining us to talk about all the All-Star games that he's done. I think he's done like almost

like 20 in a row. And obviously Jack Buck, his dad, did a number of All-Star games. There's so many great ones from when we were kids. I think it's just changed so much. You think about the NBA, the All-Star game for me is also second fiddle to the slam dunk contest, even with the scrubbyest, scrupiest, most obscure names that they field every year lately, it seems like, I'd rather watch the dunk contest than the All-Star game. There was one exception, though. This was a couple years ago was right before the pandemic when they had that new rule in effect where guys were playing for money or something of that effect. And dudes were really busting ass to win that game. The All-Star Games different. We got that new Cheeks uniform we referenced a week or two ago.

You don't get to see all the different cool hats next to each other and jerseys. And it looks like the cereal box with all the baseball helmets from the 90s just spread out over your kitchen table. It's really cool. It's the only time you see all those colors. work together. And I feel like it's an opportunity for the MLB that they've squandered because they probably occupy the only seat in sports. And I know the NBA has, like they used to do the All-Star game where you'd have one guy in a Rockets uniform and another guy in a Sun's uniform and maybe side by side. Baseball is the sport that you literally could be wearing anything and you know who's on defense and who's on offense. So I think they squandered this thing. I'll ask Joe Buck,

what he thinks about the uniform deal. But the All-Star game, needless to say, way different than when we were kids. No doubt. The patina of colors is why you would tune in. I'm with you. I don't. Home run derby is greater than the game.

But I can't imagine that that shareholder meeting is anything different than, well, fellas, we sold 72 of these bad boys, like total. I imagine it's a money grab because they, They lost revenue during the pandemic, but these unies are awful. Their cheeks. We've already spent an entire segment just burying them.

They're so hideous. I might not watch the All-Star game. If in the event that I do, I have a suggestion. I actually think the Major League should toy with a high-altitude All-Star game. And I'm not talking about Colorado. I think they should put just a fucking field of dream set up at like Everest Base Camp and see how far these fucking guys can hit the ball. You know, do the home run derby there, do the game there,

I see guys huffing it getting around the, getting around the bases, that sort of thing. Hell, you just go to Laramie. We've talked about that on this podcast here, but I'm all in on a high altitude, All-Star game. Throw a little twist in there. So that's coming up this weekend. We're going to talk Joe Buck about that. We'll talk to him about, obviously, the current events in the MLB, which obviously we keep up with.

You can see it right there next to Macon's name on his Twitter handle. One more time, what is your Twitter handle for the people that don't follow you? Well, I'd say my name, but it's really hard to spell. It's M-A-C-O-N-G-U-N-T-E-R at M-A-N-G-N-T-E-R. At M-E-N-G-G-N-T-E-R at the time of this taping. Yeah, I don't have the MLB package here to watch the Phillies. I'm not even going to lie. I'm on the lake. I'm relaxing. Hey, layup line today. Breaking the hip-hop mold, going ship of fools, man, because that's the way I feel when I'm sitting on my dock.

I feel like anybody who's not here where I am is a fucking fool. And I am just as happy as can be. There is zero humidity here not to rub it in. It is 85 degrees every day, sunny, looking at cool water, flat water, pine trees. I'm pretty much in heaven this time of year when I'm up here. Hey, dog. Now, acuether.com is my source here, okay? Charlottesville, Virginia, current weather, 79 degrees, air quality, excellent. Olson, Montana. Current weather, 83 degrees, air quality, fair.

Why don't you scroll on down to the humidity there? Okay, humidity. And you're probably having a good day, but the other day when I looked, it was 70% in Charlottesville and 20% in Poulson. Dude, it's been awful. no lie it's been 100 degrees every day you can't go outside without breaking a sweat you worry about the the rabbit at night you come inside to freezing cold buildings homes rooms i'm wearing a jacket inside and it's 100 degrees outside i don't i don't see where the humidity is but you're going to want it sounds like you've got a mini split i got i got uh i got central h fact that works very poorly not a lot of room to room temperature control. Is Cowboy Reed back from his vacation?

If he is, he's not in Studio J. So Taylor's going to be the conductor to this train today. All aboard. Spokane, Washington. Hello. Spokane, dude. For a place with an incredibly detailed and lengthy, I mean, people in Spokane love to upload facts onto the fucking wiki for this city

because I think this is the first thing. I've encountered. No offense. Anybody lives there. I think this, this area of the country is lovely. Obviously, I'm in, I don't know if there's a specific Northwest proper, but I've been coming here for 30 years. Spokane is a place I haven't been. They really, really take up a lot of real estate on Wikipedia for the significance of the city. No offense. It looks like it's got some gorgeous topography and a fuck ton of famous people I haven't actually heard of. Cudos to Spokane, Washington for taking pride in your city. It is due west of you in Poulson.

It's a three and a half hour drive. Just head left. Do you think of it like that? I think I might head there. I think I might head there. Head left. East is right. Is that a weird thing or is that normal?

I think that's right. That's pretty normal unless you're upside down. Hey, my favorite Grateful Dead song is Uncle John's band. I actually don't know that song. And again, like here's the thing. I mean, like, when it comes to the Grateful Dead, I'm a late lifer. Like, I'm not, you know, I wasn't a deadhead in my 20s, and I wouldn't even consider myself a deadhead currently, but I'm heading there.

I am tracking. I'm thinking by maybe 41, I'll be able to call myself a deadhead. I'm all over it. My favorite song by the Grateful Dead at this point in my life is probably cosmic Charlie. I had a heavenly experience on the river a couple weeks ago, coincidentally. You'd love to hear that right as we were rolling into that first set of rapids. Oh, you were rolling all right. That's right.

We had, don't do that because people think up on ecstasy. That's a drug thing that you might not understand. He's holding my ashtray. Oh, you can see that? Yeah, a bunch of smoked dubies in here. But Cosmic Charlie is probably my current number one. And I love me some dark star. We'll talk about the dead another day.

Good bad. Also, I like loser at Cornell. So you know, I'm not a fucking poser. 47, Cornell. Good, bad, ugly. You want to start? Hey, you're in the boss man chair. You're in the, I don't know what they call the conductor seat on a, on a, on a, on a, on a choo, but that's where you are.

Good for me is green light pod. So I had been panicking a bit following the drugs show of potentially last week. And maybe there was just so much drugs in the air that I was paranoid with you. You might have been paranoid. Hot boxing studio J. but I was like, damn, I don't know if that was our best show, didn't listen to it. And then you head off to Montana and I was like, well, this is going to be difficult via Zoom and go off and I see some fireworks and people are coming up to me saying they listen to the show,

which thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you to all of you. But I was worried that the show would suffer and we now have an obligation to do good content. And so I was worried. And then I click it on this morning. your most recent show with Ricky Williams. And I heard your NPR ass voice, back porch sitting voice intro. And you were totally at home. You were sounded good.

You were on a voice note. It sounded like you were whispering probably because the children's were nearby. And the Ricky interview was great. And I was like, hell yeah, this is a good vibe. This is a good show. We're not letting anybody down. We're doing our own thing.

And everything's going to be a-okay. We need to live our lives. You go to Montana every year. This is the deal. It's going to be a different show for a few weeks, and it's going to be, it's going to be beautiful. And if it's ever a mess, it's a beautiful mess. So that's why they got the internet. That's why they hit it out the California way.

So, you know, like, listen, the internet's amazing. We're going to keep this train rolling. And when you said that the other night that you went to watch fireworks and people were walking up to you like you were celebrity, I asked if your lovely wife was in range. So she knows that she's dating the quarterback of the high school football team. And she was in range, and I could tell. I didn't let on that I was taking in her reaction, but I was taking in her reaction. And she was like 80% impressed and 20% like, oh, fuck.

Our livelihood is wrapped up. The future of our child is wrapped up into this weird fellow who's decided to sit in on a podcast here for the foreseeable future. It was funny. I feel like we go through this cycle of shitting on ourselves and then building each other back up. I mean, like, we're going to be okay. I told you. I met a guy in Safeway out here. Big Hank, shout out to Hank in Missoula.

Ran into a guy at Ronan Power Sports the other day. Montana Power Sports. Shout out to that guy. He listens to the pod. When people walk up to me and say they listen to the pod, I feel absolutely naked wherever I am. I feel like I don't have any clothes on, if you know what I mean. It's just like, oh, fuck. And then I hold my breath for half.

half second, they say it's really good. And I say thank you. So that's good news. People are kind. And hey, more people read the newspaper than I thought, at least in this neck of the woods, because ever since that article hit the Daily Progress, I've been getting shouts out. Hey, print is still live. Long live print media. Another good for me. I'm going to call him Castellanos. I really want to call him Castellanos, because that feels more right. But we're dumb American. So I'll go Castellanos. The guy is famous, really, for hitting a dinger. You might say dong for hitting a dinger during the Tom Brennaman apology.

Ah, see, I hadn't heard this. When you said, had you seen the Castellanos thing? I was like, no, I haven't. Did he die? You said the obituary home run. I was like, did he die hitting a home run? So, right. For those unaware, including you, Tom Brennamen is saying,

hey, I'm really sorry for being homophobic. I really should not have been homophobic. I could not be more sorry, and that's a deep fly into left field, home run by Nick Castle. It's out of here. I should never use the language. It's out of here. Right. And so then the other day, the broadcast, I think it was the Royals.

A cat died. I don't know his affiliation with the club, but he was a World War II vet, and they're eulogizing him on air. and Nick Castellanos hits another dinger in the left field. I'm not laughing about the guy passing away. It happens, especially when you fought in World War II. It was amazing. Very sorry for the deceased.

The silver lining is that this guy's going to be known by so many more people because Nick Castellanos hit another home run during the eulogy. But it's going to be, I mean, what next for this guy? It's going to be like, oh, hey, as it turns out, we didn't have space figured out. The sun is currently dropping out of the sky, and there's a deep fly ball into left field by Nick Castellanos. I mean, it's just going to keep the ante has to keep uping.

We have an apology, now a eulogy, and while I'm sorry for the World War II vet rest in peace, that was some amazing piece of television that I caught. If Ohio, if Cincinnati fans are serious, if Nick's serious, what he needs to do is just feed the Reds local broadcasting outfit like bad news. And every game about the time he comes up, you go through a roll-dex of like disappeared people from the 70s and you just detail their cases or, you know, you talk about global warming or you talk about the state of the country. The list goes on. I think, you know, if Nick was savvy enough, he would plant bad news in the booth and he would just hit dogs. Bad news dongs.

Bad news dongs. That might be a T-shirt right there. We need to get more merch. Merch right away. Nick Castellanos, bad news, dongs. That's brilliant. It is brilliant. What's good with you?

Oh, what's good. There's so much good. I want to start by asking you, when did Tampa Bay become Boston? title town oh my gosh dude i mean and i'm not even mad at them because you know people in tampa they're like oh cool we won a stanley cup i'm gonna get drunk in the fucking marina so i think that's what's really chill it couldn't happen to a better city because it's just not going to feel as abrasive as when boston went on like a 30 year title run and then tom left so tom coincidentally down in tampa adding to the title town lore in North Florida there.

But the good news for me with the lightning winning the whole thing is that Patty Maroon, second year in a row with the lightning, third year in a row if you include the blues, he's become the new, like he's Ligera Blunt, Chris Long on PEDs when it comes to championships, bro. Like to do a three-peat, bro, like I got to tell you, coming from New England to Philly, you felt like you had a horseshoe up your ass.

And when I thought about sticking around, I was like, the only reason I'm sticking around is just in case we went a third. Like I could not deal with sitting there on the sideline and watching people celebrate. And I'm like, I could be at that time, I didn't know who it would be, but I could have been Pat Maroon. It doesn't happen. Defending championships and pro sports is incredibly hard. And Pat Maroon, I know we joke a lot about luck and like follow him here or there.

The guy is a glue guy. The guy is a tough dude, man. Big rig intimidates people and big rig calls people out. I remember in one of the blues series late, you know, that close up of him talking shit to the other team. And just you could see it in his eyes that he's that guy that sets the tone. And he's very valuable. And now he's a three-time champion. And to think, like it all started for him, I guess he almost signed with the devils in 2018.

I think he took less money to go home and play for the blues in his hometown. So what a storybook career he's having, the long wait for him, the ups and downs. And he's shitting gold right now. Three Pete for Patty Maroon. Hey, Cowboy Reed, Taylor, can you drop a little five seconds of three Pete in off the Carter three? Yep. That's for Patty Maroon. Look at Taylor.

Taylor's on the ball. The question is now, Taylor, is Patty Maroon a free agent? No, he is not. he still has one more year on his contract. Okay, well, rip it up. If you're one of the 11 teams who haven't won a cup, not including the Maple Leaves, which, by the way, I'm not doing that thing.

All right, like, you're not going to get me to say Leifes, the Maple Leaves. The Maple Leaves haven't won since 1967, and they're basically like the Yankees, right, in hockey. So maybe they could make a run at Patty Maroon and guarantee themselves a championship. But there are 11 teams that haven't won a cup in the NHL. That's a lot. That's more than the NFL, I believe. That's more than the NBA,

I believe, even maybe you guys can fact check me on that. But there's a team that was founded in 1970, who happens to have a logo that we are obsessed with. And they are the Buffalo Sabres, not the Nashville Predators, they're the Buffalo Sabres. Pat Maroon, Mr. Big Rig, is a perfect fucking fit in that city. I'm just telling you, this is going to work like a charm. Hey, Savers, I look it up, you've got two of the top 50 grossing players in the league, okay? Cut them. Signed Pat Maroon. Okay, you've got $34 million of cap space. Sounds good, right? A ton of cap space in hockey. I got bad news for you. It's not enough. Cut the two highest paid players in the league. I don't even know who they are. Give people a reason to watch Buffalo hockey and bring home a

fucking championship. Go sign Pat Maroon. Go trade for Pat Maroon. I don't care what you have to do to do it. you do it listen these guys these two top paid guys are uh they got a plus minus in hockey which i have no idea what that is it's kind of a bit i do but i don't feel like explaining it their plus minus is minus 20 that's not good okay so we got to get patty maroon up to buffalo do you have access to twitter dot com yeah i do do me a favor and look up stamcoast just type in Stamco's while I read to you the Buffalo Sabres going 15 and 34

this season Yeah, Stamcoast Stamcoast is an ice hockey century A league worst minus 61 goal differential So it would be a tough tough climb for Patty with the Sabres But are you seeing this picture of Stamcoast

who says he stayed up all night with the cup Yeah, he's still awake Is that him on the side of the inlet there? That's him. Now, the cup is there. He's kissing it. He's holding above his head. Looks like a well-built fella until you enlarge the picture, Chris.

And what are we doing there like knee-to-ankle? You're a calf connoisseur. This guy is supposed to be one of the greatest athletes in the world, and he's got chicken legs, the likes of, I don't know, me. I don't know about chicken legs. What I think he has is he's got a bit of a canckel thing going on. If you had thinner ankles, those would be powerful calves. But the thing about cancels is good to have cancels as a hockey player because I feel like, you know, you get hit with a puck and the ankle bone.

Like, it's like a thousand razor scooters flipping around and hitting you in the ankle. You know how the dudes out west in their vans. They're like low, low sneakers. And they flip their fucking scooters around because they're like, I'm parking it on the curb to go into the dispensary. And then they hit themselves in the ankle. and it's like you're on IR. Yeah, you don't want to get hit with a puck in the ankle. It helps if you have big, thick ankles.

Yeah, dude, it's not important. It's funny, though, to see these dudes kind of exposed in party mode. Yeah, I wouldn't call those chicken legs, man, but tremendous. It doesn't have the weird, like, gross growth of a calf that you have. No offense. But you're- Fucking a man, I mean, if it's gross, then I'm not doing anything. right because I was just looking to myself today like I've lost a lot of weight,

you know, you lose some of your muscles when you stop playing with the calves, they just the same. Well, right, but you, if, if you see that anything is, is so out of scale, it, it, to me at least, looks gross. Again, no offense. If calves were the, if calves were the, you know, the male version of, you know, guys are into breasts or whatever, I would be Pamela Anderson. Yes, yes. I don't know about the face.

but I would be Pamela Anderson at least, you know, double Ds, you know, in my in my joggers. Your legs are like a wine glass. You feel me? There's the stem and then there's just a big old chunk of a calf. Well, that's good. It's good to remind people that I can still at least jump a little bit. But hockey players don't have to. So I'm going to finish body shaming Stephen Stamcoast, but that was making.

I got more good news. Johnny Zhu Zhang. Ju-zang straightaway, three is good. I mean, this is good, man. Johnny Zhu Zhang declared for the draft, and then he pulled out. Zhu Zang pulls out. Okay, I know you're not a big fan of Johnny Juzang. Jusang nearly went to Virginia, instead of went to Kentucky.

Then he transferred from Kentucky, nearly committed to Virginia, committed to UCLA. He's a pull-out type of guy, dude. He pulled out of two near national. championship situations in Charlottesville. And now he's pulling out of the draft. And I think, you know, the pullout method is oftentimes frowned upon. But I think in this case, it's good to be a pullout guy because I'm shooting Johnny Zhu Zhang up to the top five of my mock draft for 2022 because he has common sense, dude. This is worth more than all the skills that created the delta between the top five and the bottom five of the first round, presumably. This draft just

pregnant with top prospects. Zhu Zhang pulls out. How many top prospects? I don't know. I was making a... Are we going Octomomom? Are we like Octomom deep with top prospects? Yeah, I think that's about right.

And that's a great year. Whatever happened to her? Whatever happened to... Are all those kids grown up now? I haven't kept tabs on Octomomomom so much. I'm going to put a Google Alert right now on Octomomomom. Google Alert. I'm into like meteorology.

and ships. I really like ships. And then, of course, real estate and my family. And I've lost track of Octomom. They are now seriously so grown up. You'll be amazed. That's on distractify. So I'm going to go ahead and Google Alert,

Octomomom. Let's go. Oh, I got one more good for you, buddy. Okay. Peach vitamin water. Don't drink another flavor of vitamin water again. If you're not drinking peach vitamin water. This is not an ad. Not many beverages, and you know I'm not the mayor of hydrated summer here. I do not, I don't know what hit me. I took a sip of that peach, I think it's peach watermelon.

You couldn't pick two better fruits to infuse together, to fuse together. When it hit my lips, dude, my life had changed forever. It had literally changed forever. And no, I'm not trying to get a vitamin water endorsement. I know I'm not an A-lister that could get an endorsement like that. But I'm just, I'm giving you game for free. Throw your orange fucking vitamin water out. That purple one. Disgusting. And I only drink the zeros.

I believe they're going to be paying you out the wazoo for saying that all I just fucked up my whole, my whole deal I had going here. Sorry guys. But I'm just saying, dude, you know, I like the white one pretty good. But this one's a 10 out of 10. This is a transcendent flavor.

You know, this is like watching Bo Jackson. and run, you know, off tackle for 80 yards. It's like you've never seen anything like it. All right, that's a whole hell of a lot of good. I got plenty of bad. I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to take some of the, some of this mantle for you. This ain't so bad for me. I actually enjoyed it.

Kyle Shanahan. Great fucking news. Went on to some show, forgive me for not knowing host of show. And, uh, Shanney said that, um, you know, he went for the win and the super. Bowl against the Pats. And there was a holding call that was kind of weak AF is what he was getting at, saying that it wasn't as holding a holding call as some others that you've seen in more recent years. Of course, you were the one who drew said holding call.

Your thoughts. Well, color me surprised that the OC of a team that blew a 28 to 3 lead, you know, in the Super Bowl thinks that that was a ticky-tack call. And I'm saying this lightheartedly. Like I've got no problem with Kyle Shanahan. And it's a call. Like we're all dudes on Twitter sitting in our living rooms dissecting a call. It was a whole dude.

And if it wasn't, you know, he gave an example. I heard this soundbite that, you know, there were worse holds on third down and this, that, and this, that, and the third. And I'm saying to myself, so you're admitting that you guys have gotten away with calls to justify the fact that this call shouldn't have affected the outcome of the game. It was a hold. I mean, my man had me, had me, you know, when you can feel the fold between his bicep and his forearm on the front, on your Adams apple, and you're running as fast as you can, and he's sideways, that's a hold. Now, Jeff Schwartz, I'm sure, is going to say this has become

one of his favorite bits, that it wasn't a hold. Well, you're an offensive lineman, and Kyle Shanahan is an OC. I will say this, though, I did read something, and I had never heard this. Evidently, the Patriots put out like a documentary after our team won, and in the documentary, they broke down the hold. And Matt Patricia and those guys were up there, and they were like, yeah, well, you know, we told Chris to go as fast as he can because in film study, we noticed that Jake Matthews was holding a lot.

So we told him to run and sink that rip. Dude, I decided I was going to run and sink that rip five seconds before the fucking snap. So can we chill out with all that we had to plan everything. We're brilliant. Like, I get it. You guys are brilliant. But it was a basic, hey, sink this rip and try to win a speed rush because we're going to be fucked if we go down 11th. That's how it went down. And it was a whole, Kyle. I'm very sorry. I think the world of you. And I don't even think it's your fault. I think Sean McVeigh was right on when he was talking about at the end of that interview. I was so nervous that Sean McVeigh was going to say,

you know what? The thing you said about third down is true, that was a tic-y-tack call, not that it would matter, but what he said was it was the right call. You know, you can question some of the earlier calls, but to me and I busted balls before, a five-yard out in the NFL,

I mean, that's supposed to be an easy play, you know, like especially for an offense of that caliber. And I don't have a problem with that call, honestly, staying aggressive. Sure, you want to kick the field goal and that sort of thing. There's credence to maybe keep the ball on the ground to avoid just what happened. But I don't have a problem with the call.

Ernie Adams was up in the booth with binoculars saying, get 95 to sink this rip and go as fast as he can. Matthews is a little slow. Yeah, they will. Here's the thing. That never happened. I mean, unless I'm completely misremembering, which is possible but not probable,

that never happened. And I just knew I was on the speed side because in our defenses, there were speed and power sides. And I remember being excited that, hey, fuck it. Like, let's try to just jet off the ball and see what happens. Well, you guys are down a million points at halftime. You've played like three snaps. I finally find our friends.

And it's like, who. And the first half? No, first half was nothing. The first half was awful, dude. I remember sitting like, I've opened up about this before. But like, we were getting just. just carved up. So our third down team was never going out there. And I was maybe in the doghouse a little bit on first or second down because I wasn't real good at playing three technique.

And I was sitting on the sideline getting fucking cold and thinking to myself, like, am I going to sit through a Super Bowl where we get our asses kicked and I never play? Like I don't, I think, I don't know what I would do if we lost that game. And I don't know what I do if we lost that game in that pace of play for me. kept up in the second half. Well, I was at the bargaining stage in the beginning of the third quarter. And it's like, hey, this is great. We came to a Super Bowl.

Chris made a Super Bowl. No, he's not playing a lot. Yes, they're getting blown out. But what a tremendous experience. He'll be able to use this adversity to buy him a ticket to a place he couldn't have gotten to any other way. This will be great. And then thankfully,

you come back win the game and are a part of a gigantic play regardless of what our guy college. Well, hey, listen, I hate hanging on. this too long because all it was was a hole. But, you know, I think it was a hold. And, you know, I'm not surprised at all that Kyle Shanahan doesn't think it was a whole. Offensive guys have never thought anything was a hole before. Usually they'll say something effective, what, what he said. But I really like Kyle Shanahan. And I don't blame him for making that call. But had that not happened, had that turn of events not occurred, and I'm not talking about the hole and I'm talking

about not winning that game, lifetime of addiction problems probably for me. Yikes. Two more bad. Fireworks, we've just had the 4th of July. I don't see the appeal. They're not fun. They're not funny. I can't think of a good firework, and now I'm at the stage. Maybe this goes away, but you got a baby there watching the fireworks. I'm just worried that the earmuffs are on correctly.

I'm not even watching the things. I'm trying to take a picture of the baby. I don't know if I looked at a firework. That's one. Two, I saw air hockey on a TV show within the last week. Do you remember air hockey? That game was awful. Yeah, yeah.

That game was awful, Chris. The puck thing would hit your hand on the thing you hold, and it would hurt. So all you wanted to say was that you hate air hockey. Don't like fireworks. Don't like air hockey. All right. I got a bad for you. Okay.

Derek Carr, who I like. So I'm, this is a, I'm joking here, okay? I'm fucking around. So if somebody prints this on their, you know, on their website as if I'm serious, I'm going to spend the rest of my time as a podcast or just tearing your, your platform down. But Derek Carr, you got to be careful what you say. He's talking about he's going to beat the Packers in the Super Bowl and that he wants Devante Adams and free agency after he beats the Packers in the Super Bowl.

I know that he's saying that in jest, but there's only one way this ends. and that's with Aaron Rogers becoming a a Las Vegas Raider and winning the Super Bowl. That's it. That's the only way this ends. Now that you've said it, it's just one of those things. Like, if I were a player, I just wouldn't even talk about anything related to Aaron Rogers even loosely. Aaron Rogers doesn't want to be in Green Bay.

Where he reads some shit like that? Now he not only wants to be in Green Bay, but he might want to be in Las Vegas. I mean, he just, I just wouldn't. But Derek Carr's a fun, dude. He has fun. He talks. Another thing is, it's interesting.

And he points this out, you can't tamper player to player. And I think now with social media and with the way things are being more acceptable to like, hey, trade jerseys, talk over to the game. Like, you know, the curtains peel back. Back in the day, we would have said the last generation, oh, we don't do that. Well, Danny Aange, Michael Jordan, golf in the middle of the Eastern Conference finals. And I think it was 1983. We learned that in the last dance.

So I don't want to hear that shit anymore. But people now are friends, especially college teammates. And so it's interesting to see people recruiting one another to respective teams. I never did that in St. Louis. I was, you know, I'm a good friend. Derek Carr also said this week that he does not think he is the MFer Tom Brady was referring to, which of course we've covered on this year program. And I think Derek Carr gets too much shit.

I do as a quarterback. I really do. I mean, I, yeah, I don't know what you want to the guy. He's, he's thrown for a million yards, and I know that's not the end of the story, but the problem in Vegas is not Derek Carr. Stay on the gridiron and give us your ugly. Ooh, I got an ugly one. Nikiel Harry asking for a trade in New England. It is a new era, a new era in New England. And I still think they're going to be very competitive. I'm as excited to watch this team play. this year as I am any team. And you know the respect I have for Bill. But at times they haven't, you know,

they haven't acquired the wide receiver talent necessary to be successful, not at least through the draft. And that's okay. But when you reach for somebody in a year like, I believe, 2019, Brady's last year trying to, trying to cash in on, you know, Tom's last year, possibly in New England, trying to win one more with Tom or trying to convince Tom

that you're committed to throwing the football and giving him weapons and the guy you draft, I believe in the first round, gets 86 targets over two years, including only playing in seven games because of injuries rookie year. And now he's requesting a trade. It doesn't look good.

You know, it's just, I mean, like when you reach, you got to hit it. And not only did they reach for him and, you know, he hasn't been able to separate. He's a bigger target. A lot of contested catches in college. right. You know, it just hasn't translated. When you ship a two down to Atlanta for Muhammad Sanu, like, you know, in the same year that you push your poker chips to the middle of the table on

Nikiel Harry, and then a year later, two years later, two years into your career, you're asking for a trade. It's not a good sign for Nikil Harry. It's not a good sign for the Pats. It's not a good sign for you know, Patriots fans who are watching Tom Brady, of all people, down in Tampa, enjoy, you know, a recently retired Patriots legend in Grant, catching multiple touchdowns in the Super Bowl. And A, B, a guy who they had up there in Foxborough less than two years ago, down there is just like pieces of the puzzle. And up there, your two heavy hitters outside were,

Muhammad Sanoo who cost you a two and Nikhil Harry who cost you a one that's just wild shit and to rub salt in the wound you have what's going on down in Tampa my ugly is this dystopian NBA finals are you familiar with the film idiocrycy I'm actually not I'm not that familiar but I know enough that it is uh Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph, Dax Shepherd, there's a hibernation experiment gone wrong, I guess. Fela gets transported

500 years into the future and everything's gone to hell. Yes. Kind of the way this country might have well, at any rate, I feel like this NBA Finals is so damn ugly. Literally ugly. We've got ads

everywhere on the court and it might be superimposed but YouTube TV and Oculus from Facebook. Love YouTube, by the way. We've got ads on the Unis. I mean, there's Motorola, whatever the hell is on the Suns. The Suns, I wouldn't know it was the Suns. It says the Valley.

The Valley, that's an NBA team? I don't even, what are we talking about? I don't even know there's a Valley there. Is it Death Valley? I mean, I've been there. I've been there. I think they call it like Paradise Valley or something. Like, I've been there.

I've been in Scottsdale. It was just there recently for Kyle's wedding. I know there's mountains and when there's a fuck ton of mountains, you know there's a valley, but I just don't think of it that way. It might even be Valley of the Sun, but the fact that we don't know for sure tells you all you need to know. And they're wearing black unis at home. It just, it doesn't feel right.

Players in masks on the sidelines, oh, I'm pro mask, as you know, everywhere I go. But I'm just saying it looks, it looks odd. It looks weird. It looks bad. and sure, some of that is the two small market teams, which I dig. I like that at something different, but I'm not going to

lie to you, it's a bit fugly without the premier franchises and the big names and for a variety of other reasons, including ads everywhere. It feels like we've been dumped into some dystopian future with this Suns-Bucks battle.

Hey, one last thing. One last bad. Me trying to goo- court a lane last night can you spell that without looking at your computer cordelaine yeah idaho oh cordillane idaho c o e u r d epistroff a l e n e n e you know how good google is so good google knows people can't spell cordelaine because i tried some crazy shit last night to spell the name of this city and they were like uh you mean the city in idaho core you should know that from crev core Creve Cor, Missouri. Shout out.

Maybe we'll say hello to Creve Corr, Missouri. And a terrific segue into Joe Buck. We're off the Milwaukee Bucks. We're on to the Joe Bucks, who is a St. Louis native. So a little, hello, Cordillane. Hello, Creve Cor. Hello, Joe Buck. All right, so joining me now from Tahoe, my friend Joe Buck.

What were you doing, hitting golf balls all day? I'm playing the big room in Tahoe. I'm opening up for Wayne Newton. We were doing a little two-man thing, a little two-man act. And there's a lot of magic involved. There's a lot of jokes being told. I'm actually playing in this Tahoe Golf event, Chris. And it's my time to be athletic and remember the glory days when they really weren't that glory.

And I just try my best to finish my best out here with. the Aaron Rogers and Tony Romos and John Smoltz is the world. Who's like the surprising scratch golfer? Because I mean, you know about Tony Romo. Like now you know about Aaron Rogers. I don't watch the match stuff. I'm sure it's fun. But like, who's the guy that you're like,

holy shit, that guy's really good. I had no idea. That's a good question. You know, I think that here's the thing. You show up at an event. and at least from where I sit, you know there is zero chance that you're going to win. So there's a handful of guys that can win. We just mentioned most of them.

Marty Fish is another guy who played professional tennis. Steph Curry is obviously a fantastic golfer. I saw him boxed Canelo Alvarez yesterday. Was that where you are? I was nowhere near that, but I'm at that event. But it's funny, you know, it's not so much who are the scratch golfers. It's the guys that you think would be fantastic for hand-eye coordination. I mean, the hockey guys are all good like Joe Pavelski is a really good player. Mike Madonna is a really good player. Any hockey guy that I've ever played with my life is usually really good because the ball like the puck, the ball's not moving. And they have that kind of side on power that they, that's how they train all year. But it's the game. But it's the game. guys that I've seen Patrick Mahomes. I talked to him after his round last year. He's like, oh, my God, that was the most stressful, scary thing I've ever done. Or Travis Kelsey, he plays

with Travis Kelsey all the time. And they're, they're not great golfers, but they get humbled because this game can make you look foolish. And so it's these guys that are literally the best at what they do. And I bow down to their athletic ability. And then they come out on a golf course, and it's just an entirely different deal. So that's the side of it. of it that kind of intrigues me more than who's really great. It's the guys that you think are going to be great that really aren't very good. Like Tom Brady, for instance, I think he did a, he did a public service by going on TV and not being great at golf over the pandemic.

Well, it's a real thing. Yeah, a lot of dudes at home are like, oh, I'm as good at something as Tom Brady. Yeah, and it's why, you know, we're both really good friends with Troy Aikman. And he wouldn't mind me saying this. Troy doesn't play golf anymore because he doesn't like not being great at something. It's hard for him to digest struggling to make par or and I've played with him. I used to play with him back in the day. And he's a really good player.

It's kind of sad to me that he's chucked it. I think he wants to get back into it. But it's like I'd show up at the golf club and I'm playing in a match and I'm playing a guy who shows up with a walker and he's beating me. And for the rest of his life, he's telling everybody he beat Troy Aikman. I'm like, well, if he's got a walker, that's not a long time. And he's telling everybody. And secondly, just have fun, relax.

So it's, that's why I say, you know, for a guy like Tom Brady, good for him. If he, you know, he can obviously, he's obviously a good player. But to go on TV and have the world watching and have that pressure, it changes everything about the swing. And for him to want to do it, I think he earns points in my book instead of loses him. Oh, I agree. And I think like it's a very, it's a very refreshing thing that we've seen like late in Tom Brady's career that he's tried to prove to people that he's human, like part of his new brand. And I think this is more who Tom is that like I'm a regular guy.

Hey, I suck at golf. I get drunk on a boat. Like these are good things for people at home to see Tom Brady doing. And I think it's great. But baseball, my question to you was it makes sense to me that hockey players are pretty damn good at it because, yeah, I'm seeing motion. Baseball totally different, right? So are baseball players? Do they struggle when they try to golf?

Yeah, I think it's not it's not the same thing for whatever reason. And it tends to be the pitchers that are the better players. You've got to also think about their seasons. So not only are hockey players trained with that whole side-on game of being to the side of whatever they're hitting, in their case of puck and golf, a ball. But their summer is off. So they then they go somewhere and they play golf for three months and then they show back up at camp. And for baseball, you know, for most guys that are playing in the major leagues, their high time for doing their craft is when everybody else is playing golf. And so consequently, it's the pitchers that end up, the guys that are starting once every five days, like John Smoltz is an unbelievable player.

Tom Blavin is out here. He's a great player, Greg Maddox. They used to all play with the Atlanta Braves. They just didn't play on the day they were pitching, but they had four other days in a row where they could play. So it's more of a pitcher thing in baseball. And it's just it's more across the board in hockey in my. And I think sometimes the football guys are just a little too bound up muscularly to really kind of to really be good at something that requires a lot of touch. Now, there are exceptions.

I mean, Andrew Whitworth, who's damn near 40 years old and is still the starting tackle for the Rams, is a hell of a golfer. Yeah. And a monstrous human being, one of the world's great guys, but is a tremendous golfer. You wouldn't think that. So that's my answer to your original question. Andrew Whitworth, who is walking eclipse, is a good golfer. I got another one for you that looks like a muscle bound, you know, extra in Indiana Jones movie. Kyle Long, who can hit the piss out of a golf ball and do it with great accuracy.

He's probably got a few more years if he wants to play maybe a couple more. more years. Maybe it's the last year. Who knows? But I think we might be seeing him on like a some sort of pro-am circuit. He's pretty damn good. And he was a hell of a baseball player too. I mean, what, what are you like the, you're the, you're the genetic. I'm the bottom of the bottom of the bottom of the bottom of the long barrel. I really am though. That's the thing is like, you know, from hearing about our family, like it's funny, you know, but I'm the third biggest guy. I'm the third most talented guy. And I don't pick up other sports outside of football particularly well. So shout out to Kyle. Big Witt, he was on the pot a couple weeks ago. We talked about his golf game,

and he was not shy about telling me that he was pretty fucking good. So, um, I picked him. They, they have a charity thing where they put everybody in, in five groups. You pick somebody out of every group. I picked him in his group. So I'm putting my money where my mouth is on that one. There you go. All right. Well, let's switch to baseball. So we got the All-Star game coming up. I think it's pretty exciting for anybody that grew up in my area. It should be exciting for anybody, because it's a great tradition. But in my era, I felt like, and I'm sure the era before me, feels the same way. Like much of my childhood in the dead of summer was spent watching All-Star Games

and like the pageantry that comes with it, seeing all the players in the same field. It's like seeing the Dream Team or it's like watching a movie. It's just it's a very unique thing. You're about to do your 20th in a row. How do you think like the All-Star game is right now from a stock standpoint? You had a year off last to COVID. Yeah, I think it's by far. the best of the four All-Star games of the four major sports. I think that's, it's hard to

debate that one. I personally was a fan of when they said this time it counts. You know, they had that tie in 2002. The All-Star game had become, in my judgment, you know, you vote in these starters. You want to see back then Barry Bond. You want to see the great players. You want to see, you know, Albert Pooleholst. You want to see them have. Personally, I'd like to see them play the whole game. And if you're a young guy and you make the All-Star team and you're on the bench, then work your way to the starting lineup. But I want to see these guys playing the game. That was the fun of it. And by the time 2002 rolled around, each manager we talked to was like, I want to get everybody in the game. I feel like it's my duty to get everybody in the game.

And I think there's value in that, certainly. But then you run out of players. And so that's what happened in 2002. And you can see it coming. You know, one team is out of pitchers. Now the other team's about out of pitchers. And managers, everybody's getting a little scared of what, you know, what are they going to do? And they end up, it's a tie. And nobody like that. So they said, all right, we're going to do a reset. And we're going to say whoever, whichever side wins, that's the side that gets home field advantage in the upcoming World Series. I liked it because it made the game feel a little bit more competitive. Now we're back to where we were prior to that, but they've had this reset. And I think they're kind of into the game more than they were.

So I think it's the best game. I love doing it. It's a blast. And it's really good for the game to see everybody come together like that. I think more than anything, baseball can occupy that space because it's hard to, it's hard to justify missing out on this great opportunity for players and players can bust their ass just like they do in a regular game because the injury rate isn't as high. And I know it's probably, you know, I'm sure there's there's nuances for players that are coming off this long first half of the season and probably pitchers that are like, well, not so fast football guy, but, you know, at the same time, it feels like, hey, you're going to go out there, you're going to have fun. Nobody's going to get hurt. We're going to bust our asses.

I would agree with you. It's the, the cream of the crop to me. And the only thing that I have a complaint about is the new uniform thing. I, I love. seeing all the different uniforms. That's what I was brought up with. Sell me on this new kind of, is this a one-year experiment or is this like something they're going to do from now on? I don't know. That's a great question. And I'm with you. I can't sell you on it because what I like back in the day and I'm way older than you, I'm 52. So when I when I was a kid, not every game was on TV. It was the Saturday game of the week. And if your team was on that week, I grew up in St. Louis, a cardinal fan. You were.

planted in front of the TV to see what the national announcers we're going to say about your team. You know, to me, having grown up when I grew up and not every game's on TV, the cool thing for me as a young kid was seeing the cardinal players in their cardinal uniforms playing alongside the Cub players in their Cub uniforms, playing alongside the Mets players of the Mets uniforms. These are these rivalries that were just so intense. Now of a sudden we're all pulling together on one team and you see your uniform that you grew up rooting for playing with the other ones in the same lineup. I thought that was really cool.

So I don't know if this is more than a one-year thing. I don't know what the reaction has been. I've talked to a few people. I haven't talked to anybody yet who is in love with it. But if it's a way, I'm sure they have marketing departments to go, oh, this is the way. The kids are going to love it. You know, love the white uniforms. You're going to love it.

Okay, maybe. I don't know. And if that's the case, then I'll, I'll. I'm all for it. Then then bring it on. But I can only tell you that as a baseball fan and from where I come, I like seeing the different uniforms all on the field at the same time. You know what I love is the fact that we're doing this thing in Denver. And I just think like that's for me, a baseball fan outsider, kind of a fringy baseball fan is like obsessed with that with that field. without having visited it.

It's like if I had a, if you had a top five, okay, you can write me your top five. What are my five that like, hey, my summer reading list, so to speak, my summer road trip list for a fringy baseball fan that just retired from the NFL? I mean, you got to put Fenway on there. You got to put Wrigley on there. Those would be the top two in either order. It doesn't matter. Yankee Stadium is still great. But man, the old one was that.

The old one was my all-time favorite. Going in there and doing games and knowing the history that was just dripping off the walls in that place. It kills me that it's gone. The new place is beautiful. It's almost too beautiful. I kind of like the old rundown, but it's still standing kind of place. Same for Shea Stadium, for that matter.

And now it's City Field. Gorgeous ballpark. But I'm just nostalgic for the old places. I do love Coors Field in Denver. And the way the. ball flies. And I guess for the home run derby, they're not putting the balls in the humidore. So the ball is just going to be flying like crazy for the home run derby. And now you put, you know, the participants, including show Hey, Otani, uh, into this field.

This guy's incredible. He's like the modern day, Babe Ruth. And his power is just sick. And his swing is just made for for that upper cut launch angle that everybody wants. He's just incredible. So I will put that in their Dodger Stadium is fantastic. And then the one in San Francisco where the Giants play, the worse your seat, the more beautiful of you because you're looking out into the bay. So down below, you're immersed in this baseball situation and it's gorgeous. And then the higher you get, which is where we sit up there, I can watch the game. I can look at big ships coming in and out. I mean, it's phenomenal. So that would be my short list. list of the places you got to go. That's funny because if I were like, that sounds to me like the way I would describe it from a musical venue standpoint,

seeing a show at either Red Rocks or at in Queens, which I've seen, you know, at flushing the tennis stadium, the higher you get in those two venues, the better your seat. It's counterintuitive. You know, it's like you can then enjoy

the backdrop as well. And I think some of these, like I love like, the backdrop of the Seattle stadiums. I love that stuff. So I think like the way that city kind of drop these things and their landscapes are really cool. But I'm with you. I like the older ones. To a to a degree, I would imagine that the ballpark that the A's are playing at is a bit of a hazard at this point. Yeah. Well, I mean, yeah, you've been there. And it seems like every time I do a baseball game, it's like, yeah, the locker, the clubhouse flooded again. They're going to change out in the parking lot and then come in and play the game. It's just an old stadium.

But for me, you know, look, I'm biased. That booth is sick. It's right. It's down low. It's easily the best vantage point of any booth in Major League Baseball. I just never go there. A handful of times have been there. I'm like, oh, my God, you can see everything.

You can check the color of somebody's eyes at second base. You're that close. It's like being in Chicago where the Bears play. That's what I was going to say. When we used to watch end zone tape of the baseball, there's, Soldier Field, which I think they did a remarkable job of time capsuling that history by not just like starting over. I love the stadium even now. But like our end zone film, you know, for people listening, when we watch tape during the week, it's usually up high.

Like Chicago's is down low and it's probably the same thing for the booth. It's the best. And now it can be too low. And sometimes it's low and flat. So you have no perspective on the far sideline. And I can't really, I have to go to the monitor a lot. of times when if a play's on the far corner for me, because it's just, it's a little too low for that for me to totally see it. But for play in the middle of the field, I mean, I used to, I felt like I was looking into Erlacker's face as much as Aaron Rogers was looking into Erlacher's face. You can see facial expressions. And that is just, you know, then you go, you do a Super Bowl in Jacksonville and all you're looking at are the tops of helmets running around because

you're so high up. And it's like, oh, my God, how am I going to do a Super Bowl? Super Bowl here. I can't even see the numbers on these guys because you're basically on top looking down. So a lot of these things are just personal, you know, like Fenway, the booth is awesome. Rigley, the booth is awesome. But you get around those neighborhoods and you get around those stadiums and it's like, this is just different. They try to recapture it with these new ballparks and it's kind of that retro look. But when you have a stadium that's built in 1912, and you have a stadium that's built in 1914. That's pretty hard to beat.

And they've made those places as cool and unique as they can and as profitable as they can and still maintain the integrity of the original structure. I also think Pittsburgh's done a tremendous job with all those downtown. I mean, that baseball field looks awesome. It is. And that's the only thing.

That's the only negative of that stadium for us in the media world is that the booth is high. and so it's a little tougher with perspective, watch calling pitches and seeing that. But when you sit up there and you're watching people walk in, like I've done an All-Star game there, and I'm dying to do a postseason game there because that city is just so ready to go crazy for the pirates.

You're seeing just people walking from the city across those bridges. I mean, they did a great job with that stadium. So you're right. I'm glad you mentioned that because it's just one that doesn't come to mind. But it should because it's that cool. I think they did a hell of a job. And at the risk of staying here too long, I do, I do want to mention Camden Yards because that will be Whalen's first baseball game

because of geography and the fact that I just think it's a super cool stadium. And I kind of pick the Orioles for him as a favorite team because I think that they're a by-low operation right now. We had Hunter Pence on it. Hunter Pence said, stick around with the Orioles. They got some good young players. And one of their prospects, I believe when he gets in the league is going to be one of the best.

Oh, well, hey. Yeah. And what we just talked about, all these stadiums that tried to do that. Yeah. We're going to, you know, that was the first non-cookie cutter multi-purpose stadium. Whereas like H.O.K. did it. And it was like, oh, my God. You know,

they've got the warehouse and they've got, you know, the only thing I think they messed up, and I could be wrong about this, but a lot of the seats down, the baselines weren't actually angled back in toward home plate. I don't know if they fixed that or not. They were kind of angled out. But other than that, it had a feel like, you know, this is a ballpark where they could have been playing it at 1920 and it wouldn't have looked out of place. That's the crazy thing. When you, when you realize when it was built, it's not as far back as you think the warehouse gives the

old old world charm. And I think it's really cool. I don't know how you mess up seating pointing anywhere but the field. But let me ask you this. Favorite place to see a dinger just, hit a wall or an item, you know, like whether it's the train that runs around the Houston. Yeah. Yeah, like what's your favorite? Is it the ball in the water in San Francisco? Yeah, that, I mean, that just takes so much. It takes so much to get the ball out there.

It's, and then to see the kayaks going after it and fans battling in the water for a home run ball. And then when Bonds was just going off and it was just nightly. And he got like one pitch, two pitches a night to hit and he didn't miss it. I mean, they just walked him whenever they got the chance. That's how incredible he was. And then Fenway, you know, you see balls. I'm just trained for being in the booth to see launch angle and you're like, oh, well, that's gone.

I mean, that thing was smashed. Or, oh, that ball wasn't hit all that well. He got under it. But the wall is so close at Fenway, but it's so tall. I think it's 37 feet high somewhere in there that the little flares end up kind of of glancing off the top of the wall. You think it's an easy out and the guy standing at second base with a double. And then a guy can rocket one off the green monster and it's a long single.

So it keeps you on your toes, trust me. Yeah, if we were all at home calling baseball games, there'd be a lot of premature home run calls. Definitely there. I don't know if you saw the dude for the Yankees last night. I think he was probably, you know, he'd been calling games a lot. But Aaron Judge, I think, hit a homer earlier in the game. ran the replay and he started to call the replay. I know.

Poor guy. And we're all. It can happen to anybody, I'm sure. Because you're like, you're up there for hours. So he's, so they're doing the game at Yankee Stadium, but the team's on the road. Right.

So the team's on the road. He probably looked away for a second. You know, didn't he's, he is only as good as what the cameras are showing him. He is no different than anybody at home. So that's like walking into the room. and you're watching a replay of any game, but you think it's live.

You're like, oh, my God. Oh, no, that's a replay. And so he did that and called the home run for the second time doing his, you know, he played it. He played it off. He played it off so beautifully. Yeah. I mean, it's embarrassing, but I trust me, I've done games remotely now.

And while there are benefits of getting in your car and going home from a studio and not dealing with traffic after a game. It's just you don't want to be that myopic with your view. I want to see everything. Like all of a sudden, I've done games remotely where it's like, oh, there's a ball on the field. Well, where'd that come from? Did a fan throw it?

Did it come out of the bullpen? You know, did the umpire throw it? If the camera's not showing it, you're just guessing. And so for him, you know, he got caught probably looking down or fumbling around for something, look back up and balls leaving. in the yard. No, I got to go. I got to call a home run. And it was a replay. Poor guy. Was it pretty obvious to you with your kind of skill set and your, you know, your inside knowledge last year. Was it obvious as a viewer when somebody was calling a game remotely?

Yeah. Yeah. I think the one thing that there's an audio thing that I hear that maybe not the average person would hear. But so we have audio mics all over the stuff. stadium, whether it's football, baseball, baseball, we have mics in the bags, we have mics on the wall, football, you have a mic on the umpire, you have a mic on, uh, you know, they're all on the sidelines. But there's also a lot of natural crowd noise that comes out of the mic that's in front of my face. So a lot of times you can hear when an analyst or play-by-play guy hits the kill switch on the mic, part of the audio goes out. And it just, I could almost hear somebody sound like they were removed from actually being immersed in,

in the stadium and amongst, you know, whatever it is, 35 or 50,000 fans. And, yeah, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't really, I couldn't really tell with the level of play by play or analysis, if they were there or not. But it just was a sound thing for me more than, and, you know, like I said, I did games remotely, and I may do them again remotely. I don't know. And you just have to be really careful and you have to take your time and you can't jump the gun because you're not seeing the ball go out in the case of baseball. You're seeing the ball come in from center field toward the hitter. But now you've got to wait for the director to hit the other camera shot to see where the ball's headed.

And if you start guessing and you can't see it, you're just dead. So you just got to take a beat and wait and you'll catch up, you know. That's so interesting to me. I mean, like, it probably, like, when we cut some bullshit on this pod, you at home might not be able to hear that the audio changes, but I can hear it. You know, it's just like, I'm sure that you're sitting there at home and that microphone thing. 2020 was really tough. You know, we, I had you on last year and we talked about fans in the stands and, like,

how that changes the way you call a game. You know, you're looking forward to the fall. I heard, you know, the other day, Indies full capacity. You're hearing a lot of these, you know, sports are back again. Like, you know, live sports are back. How does that change, you know, for anybody that didn't hear you last year, how does that change the way you call games? I ride the crowd noise as much as I can. I mean, I don't feel like there's anything more important that needs to come out of my mouth right now than listening to a great crowd.

Or sometimes it doesn't have to have to be a crazy nuts crowd. It could be a dead kind of stunned crowd. And that's good, too, to let that come across on the TV. So a lot of times people say, oh, well, you know, he's too nonchalant. He doesn't care. It's actually the opposite. I would rather you hear the crowd and make you on your couch feel like you're there than just me dominate and just talk wall to wall.

I just don't know. I don't feel the need to say anything other than put a stamp on what just happened and then shut up and let the crowd go crazy. So when that crowd's not there, it makes you a little feel a little bit naked. It makes you feel like, ah, I got to do more to make it interesting. Right. But I think all these networks did a really good job of putting in natural but realistic crowd noise. It couldn't be at one level throughout the whole thing.

That would have been stupid. You needed somebody there that had a touch of, you know, it got so, so crazy good. that when I was doing a game, a Nationals game, and a Yankees pitcher threw over to first base to check on the runner. And in my headset, I heard mild booing like they would do in a home stadium. Like, oh, stop throwing over and throw to the plate. And I was like, man, whoever's back there hitting those buttons is a genius because that's what would happen in a real game.

It wasn't like, but most people would think, oh, you know, you threw over to first. no noise. No, if you throw over to first and it's the home team guy on first base, there's going to be a little bit of a crowd reaction. It's not going to be crazy, but it's going to be a little bit of booing like, oh, boo, come on, let's throw the plate or quit checking on them. And you let them steal the base, whatever it is. That's how good it got. So I think they did a hell of a job, people around all these networks and the audio departments. But I'm glad they don't have to do that anymore and the crowds will be back and doing what they always do. I don't remember if you did this game, the Rams Eagles game from earlier last year.

It was in Philly and Carson was abhorrent and that was kind of became a, this was right as it was becoming a pattern, but they hit the boo button on their home on the home team quarterback. I mean, a bunch of cardboard cutouts fucking booing. Right. Yeah. And here's, I didn't do that game, but here's how dumb I am. I was sitting in an empty stadium. And I almost, because of the audio, I could trick myself that I was in a full stadium.

And I remember one time something happened and the referee made the call and they booed. I said, in the crowd here in the Superdome doesn't like it. And then I look around, there's nobody in the stadium. Like, you're fucking idiot. That was just somebody in Fox hitting a button that booed. The Wizard of Oz doesn't like it. Exactly. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Oh, that's funny.

Yeah, that was not a high point for me. So back to the All-Star game, back to normalcy here. Like, you know, it's going to be fun this weekend. You're going to have you and John Smoltz in the booth, which is awesome. And then the pregame is Arod, David, and Frank Thomas. So, you know, Ortiz. So, like, a lot of great personalities. Is it fun to see the dichotomy between, like, the buttoned up booth and, like,

and like, you know, the pre-game, it was a lot like Fox. You know, you're looking at Terry and Howie and those guys. It feels like the same dynamic. It does. And I'm really proud of our pregame. You know, the host, Kevin Burkhardt does a great job. He's there to kind of tee them up. And then they have fun.

I've been in the production truck or in the control room where they're just trying to feed guys' lines to rip on each other. And all they want to see is people having fun. That I think if there's an and that's what it is with your dad and Terry and Jimmy and Michael and everybody there. And Kurt, I think they genuinely really love each other. And so they can give each other crap on air. And they know it's not coming from a mean place. They know that it's coming to make the show more interesting and more entertaining and more fun.

And when your dad laughs or when Terry laughs, I'll text Terry all the time. when stuff goes wrong and he makes a mistake, that's when he makes his money. That's when he's at his best because he comes off it and he's so good at laughing in himself because it makes you laugh at the whole thing. And you're like, I enjoyed that moment. And that's how the baseball pregame guys are now because they really like each other. And I think there's a lot of respect from three guys that play the game for a long time. And they can give each other crap.

And it's not like, ooh, should he have said that? you know, because not everybody gets along. Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean, it's... Wow, we're having an earthquake right now. There's an earthquake? Live on Greenlight Pod.

Look at this. He's not... Is it over? Do you need to go in your doorway? Is that what I should do? I think we just... I think we just... It's either that or Charles...

Charles Barkley just teed off. I don't... One of the two things is that... Hey, I think it stopped. But I mean, like, if some shit starts flying around the room, at least we get it on the pod live. But it looks like, that's good. Speaking of earthquake, wasn't there, wasn't there an earthquake in the Oakland A's back in the day, like during a World Series or something? Yeah, my dad was doing that. I was in college.

That was 89, and that was A's giants. And they were in San Francisco. Are you getting it up there right now? No, I'm like, will I feel it here? Because Tahoe, and Montana not that far apart. That was odd. It's a weird, weird feeling. It's weird when you get a real earthquake and you're not like a west coaster. You're like, this is what they feel like, man,

this is unsettling. And there's rollers and shakers. The whole thing, the whole room is moving. So my dad was doing that World Series on radio with Johnny Bench. And so I'm watching them in college and the picture cuts out. And then you pick up just audio of Al Michaels

saying, we're having an earthquake here in San Francisco. and he's really big into maps. I don't know if you know that about Al, but that's his like, he's a car topographer. He's a, yeah, look at you, UVA, making them proud every day. So, yeah, so he loves that stuff.

And so then he starts going off into, well, that's the, you know, whatever highway, and that's crossing the Bay Bridge. And this is coming in here. So, I mean, he was unbelievable. But I was sitting there instead of being enthralled, like going, my mom was there, my dad was there. And my mom was just walking to the stadium.

The game was just beginning. And my dad and Johnny Bench were doing the radio. And everything started to shake. And my dad, you know, eventually I got a hold of them. But my dad was joking with Bench because the minute it happened, Johnny Bench gets up and starts booking it for the back of the booth. And my dad's like, where the hell are you going to go? I mean, if it's coming down, it's coming down.

You're in the back of the booth or the front of the boot. At least I can fall out of this thing. maybe lived. So everything was okay. But, but, you know, there was plenty that happened around the stadium. And, uh, and, and it was, it was scary and a deadly time for, for some in the Bay area back in 89. That also sounds exactly like the way you've described your dad. Yeah. Oh, my God. Well, when you're, when you're a guy that grew up in the Depression, you had nothing, you go to World War II, you get shot in Germany. You're, you know, you're a purple. heart recipient. You're in the hospital in Paris with World War II ads. I mean, once you've done all

that, I mean, I feel like they're they're called the greatest generation for a reason. I mean, those guys were like men and women, because women were, you know, they were running the show and they were, it called on everybody. And so my dad was just like, whatever happens happens. Don't hollered till you're hurt. That was one of his big phrases. Like, I'm like, dad, well, what happens if don't hollered until you're hurt? All right. Well, I guess I won't worry about that, but that's how he was. You didn't worry

about stuff. So when the boots started shaking, he was like, I'm just sit right here. If it comes down on my head, it comes down on my head. And look at you doing podcasts right through an earthquake. That's great. We were talking before that earthquake, which I'm sure we'll find out about on Twitter in a moment or two. I'm sure it's already trending on Twitter.

But, like, you talked about how fun these guys are. I feel like baseball has the best, like, for players with personalities coming out of it and entering the booth. I really do think that. I mean, as far as like baseball players are always eccentric, they're fun, they're different, they're quirky. Who's a guy?

And I'm not saying you've got to put somebody in the booth right now because I know you're not the head of talent. But, you know, like you're looking at these players and thinking who's going to kick ass when they transition? Well, you start thinking about, I think you're right. And I think one of the reasons why is it's just a different life than the NFL, than what you experienced. It's a lot like the hockey guys are known to be really great guys.

But these guys come up in the minor leagues. It's still bus trips. It's still day after day of games. It's still, you know, life in a clubhouse. It's still, they're all frigging day.

Every day is game day. And so they just be, they do develop kind of their own culture in these clubhouses. And at least the ones that I've been around, nothing is off limits. You know, at a time, in society where it seems like more and more becomes hot button and you can't say that and don't

think this you go into a baseball clubhouse and there aren't a lot of lines that people don't cross and at the end of the day they all love each other and pull in the same direction now there are exceptions to all that and there are exceptions with guys that you know that can't take it or shouldn't have to take it or whatever and you you find those boundaries out fast you find out you know this guy's great to have a good time. This guy's a little sensitive. I'm not going to get on him or whatever. And, you know, I play golf today with Kevin Malar. And that was his greatest gift was a sense of humor. He was a good player, but a sense of humor. And everybody rallied around. Everybody loved Kevin Malar. So you start looking at those guys. Those, those are the guys that make the most

interesting TV people. Clayton Kershaw, I think, has a lot of personality. If you would ever want to do it, He's a guy that jumps out in my mind. I hear he's friends with Stafford. I hear that. Oh, have you heard that? Yeah. Did you know he was his center in high school? I didn't know that.

I didn't actually did that. I tuned out the whole thing in favor of what's going on with Aaron Rogers. That's what I tuned it out for. Oh, yes. That's the content. There's not enough there. 6.2, Smith Valley, Nevada, just just came across my desk. I don't know where Smith Valley is, but it's fucking 6.2 is a serious earthquake.

Is it? You don't have to be a seismologist to know that, Joe. Look at you. UVA comes through again. I mean, study of maps, cartography, seismology, you got it all. Well, I'll take, uh, except the degree. Except the degree. You and me both.

And look at this. We're on a podcast. Paul Rudd.gift. Look at us. Yeah. I well there you go I just survived a 6.2 earthquake look at me that that would be proud that is proud that's good that's good look at that buck you just hit on the mic all right well so so so milar kevin or clay and that kind of guy like here's the problem for you asking me that question in 2021

it's been forever since i've been in a clubhouse it feels like so a lot of these young guys because we're still removed from being down on the field. We're still removed from, you know, actually doing, having an interaction with a lot of these guys. And that's where you get to know him. And you get to, you know, look him in the eyes. And you get to, so a lot of these young guys have a lot of personality. And I feel like that's where the game is in great hands,

like the Titish Jr. and the Acuna Jr. and Vlad Guerrero Jr. And, man, Bo Bichette, Dante Bichette's kid and Kevin Bigio, who's Craig Bigio's kid, it's like this next generation and they're savvy and they're media savvy and they have Twitter accounts and they know how to promote. So it's, I don't know these guys. I just, I admire them from afar, but I haven't met any of them. So I don't know. I just say that's the kind, it's kind of that clubhouse lawyer that has everybody laughing.

that can just hit all the buttons with these guys. I think those are the guys that are just made for the next, you know, gig and TV. I want to throw a couple All-Star games out there. I'll see if you have any memories of them. 1970, Riverfront Stadium, the Pete Rose, Ray Fawsey. Yeah, Ray Fossy game. I've only seen the highlight maybe 110,000 times.

I was one, so I can't act like I was watching it. Maybe I was. Maybe I wasn't. I'm going to say for purposes of this podcast, I was watching live. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I mean, for me, it's this, this is the one that, that it's indicative of the way things have changed with competitiveness in all-star. No doubt.

No doubt. And for those who don't know, it's at Riverfront, Pete Rose, Charlie Hustle, Cincinnati, beloved, and he comes racing around third, and Ray Fossi's the catcher. And this is an all-star game. and there was no this time it counts, and he just blows him up. And, you know, I think it changed Fossi's career. That's kind of the postscript to that. He was hurt after that.

But it was just a different game. And there was, I talked to that, that's my dad's generation. And all those guys that I talked to were like, we would have a fired up speech. Like the American League wanted to kick the National League's ass. The National League wanted to kick the American League's ass. Now there's Interleague play. there's none of that. It was a different game. Yeah. How about a 1990? This is one that's fun for me looking back because your dad was doing it. And by the way, the 1970 game, Mickey Mantle was doing

color commentary or play by play. I didn't even know he ended up in the booth. It was one of those like one-offs like you're recently retired. Yeah. But 1990, that's the last time. The reason I want to ask you about this one was because it's the last time we had an All-Star game at Wrigley. Like, what gives there. It feels like a misprint. I don't know if it's a neighborhood thing. I know they just had a Friday night game and it took special dispensation from the Wrigleyville mayor and the council there to allow them to have a Friday night game. I think lights went in prior in 89.

I think that's right, 88 or 89. And they had the All-Star game in 90. It rained, unfortunately. So I don't know if it's something with. with, you know, Wrigleyville itself. But as I said, I mean, if you're going to celebrate baseball, go to Wrigley Field and just immerse yourself in it and having an All-Star game there, God, I would love to be there and do it.

It's just such a special place. That's why in 2016, when they get to the postseason, they get to the World Series. I'm sitting in Wrigley Field watching a World Series game and it's happening there for the first time since 1945. Yeah. And then they win. And it's the first time since before World War I. So when you have that kind of history involved, that that brings a lot of people under the tent.

That's just good for the game. So I have no idea why maybe the Cubs haven't wanted it. I don't know. But it shouldn't be there. It's got to be back in the rotation here soon, I would think. Yeah, fingers crossed. 1989, Anaheim. This is Vin Scully and Tom Seaver on the call.

This is the Bo Jackson coming out party. Yeah. And he just, even you just saw the power. He hits a home run to center field. He's, you know, doing what he did in the outfield. The highlight of him, and it wasn't from this game. And I think Ronald Reagan came into the booth. He did.

He did. I was going to ask you if that was the, if you've had anybody that, like, ridiculous. We've had Obama, I've had two presidents, Obama and George W. Bush. But it's funny because society. society's changed. You know, I feel like in those moments, you almost have to set politics aside. But when, you know, when I think of how polarizing politics are now, it's like, why do you even want to get involved in, you know, I would be happy to do it, but it's almost like a no win as you go into these things. It's either you're too soft or you're too hard. What did the handshake look like that sort of thing? Yeah. Right. Yeah. Was there any tension? do you think he voted for him? It's just it's silliness.

And it's sad. Understood. Understood. Yeah. You don't want to get me started, as you know. But, but yeah, I mean,

we're looking at Ronald Reagan in the booth, Bo Jackson hitting a big home run. mammoth blasted into center field. Yeah. Yeah. And showing his speed. But that highlight of him with the royals running up the wall, which is Googledable in one second,

realizing that the wall is completely vertical. And he runs up the top of the wall at a full dead sprint, circles around the top of the wall, it comes back down. It's almost like makes you think the wall is slanted out toward the outfield. Deep in the outfield, the thing is vertical. He was amazing. I mean, just an incredible athlete. Was it also like when Dion tried it?

Like, I feel like Bo was the first guy that they were like, yeah, you can do both. Like when Dion tried it, there was like, hey, focus on one thing. And there was another guy, Brian Jordan, who people forget, played both as well. He was a great friend of mine. He was a Falcon and a safety and a really good football player. And then became, I feel like for some reason, and this probably isn't fair. But when you bring those three examples, to me, I think football first and then the baseball comes along. don't know why maybe because it takes longer to dial in.

It's why these guys are in the minor leagues typically longer. So they're ready for big league pitching. And I think big league pitching can take advantage of an inexperienced hitter. So the, the football comes first and then they become baseball players. Be right, I feel like Dion got a lot of crap for trying to do both. And he tried to do both in one day. So it was a football game for the Falcons and then getting. to a Braves playoff game and it was like, okay, how much can a body really take during the

course of a day as opposed to trying to flip-flop seasons? This was one day of doing both sports, which is amazing. It's otherworldly to imagine. Yeah. From an endurance standpoint, I mean, we do two a days in football. That's harder than a baseball and a football game. Like, but it's performing at a high level feeling like dog shit. Maybe the tort all hadn't worn off. And, you know, If you do it the next morning, that's going to suck. And then I'm really impressed. But I want to ask you about two of your all-star games because I think you got the first one, 97, I think it was. Yeah.

Is that Cleveland with Sandy Alamar hit a whole bunch? I think it was the Larry Walker helmet game. Yeah, that's the same game. Yeah, that was in Cleveland. And Larry Walker's facing Randy Johnson. And it's lefty on lefty. And Larry Walker, it was a cardinal of the end of his career, was one of the all. all time great, funny, Canadian born, just awesome, great guy. And instead of having to stand

in on Randy Johnson, left-handed, he turned his helmet around and went on the other side of the plate and bathe right-hand, which was great. And, you know, I'm doing the game with Tim McCarver. And he's like, I think Kruk did it too. I think John Kruk might have done that too at some point. And it was just, it almost became, and it was a great moment because it's It showed so much personality and it was almost like softball. Like it was like a softball like, hey, we're all just having fun. And I have no chance of getting hit up Randy Johnson who's out there for one, maybe two innings.

So instead of, you know, getting drilled in the right arm, I'm just going to turn around bat right hand and go sit down. I did hear Larry Walker as absolute beauty, as they would say in the NHL. Awesome. My favorite story of Larry Walker, they're doing their cardinals are playing in the World Series in, 0, 4 or 05, one of those two years. And I had been doing the American League series, and I came back, and I'm in St. Louis, and I'm sitting in seats that we had with my family and my daughters.

There was a huge line for the bathroom. And I was like, oh, I'm going to be Mr. Big League. And I'm going to go down into the Cardinal Clubhouse to go to the bathroom because it was right there instead of waiting in a long line. So I go into the Cardinal Clubhouse to go to the bathroom. And Larry, they're facing Roy Oswald of the Astros. and Larry Walker is sitting in the, I run through the clubhouse.

I look over, I'm like, oh, it's Larry Walker. He's like, hey. And I, I stop. He's got his pants down around his knees. He's like, I think he'd just been to the bathroom. And he's sitting there smoking a cigarette. And he goes, let me tell you right now. We got no fucking chance.

I'm like, all right. And that's just him. And I think they lost to Royoswald. And it was just one of those moments. where it was, it's kind of like that Randy Johnson thing with, with Larry Walker, with John Cruck. Like, I have no chance. I know this guy is so good right now and so locked in.

Royals Walt was so nasty with Houston and so good. He's like, yeah, we, you know, maybe we'll get lucky. But he's like, and so as well, we got no chance. 2001 Seattle, Cal Ripkin game. You had like inside info, something effective A-Rod and Cal switching positions. how did that whole thing go down? Yeah, that was Tori told us. And, you know, Ripkin by that point was no longer a shortstop.

He was third base. And it was his last one. And, you know, baseball's Iron Man and everything else, the Cal had meant to the game. Alex and Tori worked it out that Alex and Ripkin, unbeknownst to Ripkin, were going to switch positions. And he was going to make Ripkin go back to short. which was, you know, the ultimate sign of respect.

And, and I think a really cool moment, it was like, all right, you deserve it for all that you've done for the game and what you meant to, you know, and his dad and the Ripkin Way and all that, your last All-Star game, you should be a shortstop, which is what we all remember you as instead of a third basement. So and Cal fought it because he was like, no, I'm supposed to be at third base. That's the end. And A. Rod was like, nope, we're switching. Tori's like, yeah, it's okay, switch. And that was cool. And that was also the game where Tommy Lassorta was coaching in the third base coach's box.

And somebody hit a ground ball over there. And he went down and feet went up and halfway and flyin. And it was, thank God he was okay. The late great, Tommy was. Yeah, man. That's hard to get used to because I feel like he just lived forever. He was just such a person and life figure and just. And so smart.

It was a really good pitcher. I think not a lot of people know that or remember that, but just one of those ambassadors of the game that remembered everybody that was all Dodger. I mean, he was the greatest promoter for not just baseball, but for the Dodgers in particular. And it was truly funny and just a really, really sweet man. I remember going to a game with my dad as a kid and I got to meet him. And like you talk about the lasting impression that a baseball player or a manager can make

on a young kid. Like he was so nice to me and I'll never forget it. And I'll also remember how old I thought he was, but he just kept on trucking for another. Keep going, man. I know. And I do, I saw some of that Chris with my dad who,

you know, he died as a 78 year old in 2002. But prior to that, he worked up until the minute he went into the hospital. And he had Parkinson's and he had diabetes and he had a pacemaker. and he had a pacemaker and he had vertigo that he would deal with from time to time. And he had all this stuff going on.

But nothing kept him young like being around baseball. Nothing kept him young like being around the players, being in the clubhouse. And they loved having them. And he would sit back with the players in the media or in the players lounge. And he just got energy from being around young, you know, athletes that had an interest in him. And he had more interest in.

And it just kept him young. He couldn't wait to go to the stadium every day as an older, at times really sick man. But man, when he went down to the ballpark, he kicked it into gear. And I guarantee you doing what he did and going down to Bush Stadium, being around those players, added years to his life. You got to see another aging star, Ted Williams in that tribute, I think, in the late 90s. Yeah, I think it was 99. Where was that All-Star Game? Fenway. So that's a

Fenway. And that's a great story. And I don't want to go on and on. But of all the All-Star games I've ever done, that is easily the most unforgettable bone-chilling moment because he had always had a

contentious relationship, Ted Williams, with the fans in Boston and with the media. And he was one thing that he didn't do was really doff as cap like they used to back of the day. I'm sure he did it, but it was kind of a thing. Like there was always something, there was tension there. And so here he is at the end of his life. The son John Henry is driving

him out in a golf cart. And the Fenway just lights up. I mean, it is a noise I've never heard. And he could, and he's driving. And Williams takes his cap off, like in the most demonstrative way and just fires it into the air, like, thank you to all the fans in Boston. And I was just, I was choked up in the booth. And our producer, Mike Weissman, one of the best to ever do it, is saying, you know, okay, we're on, you know, like say something. And I couldn't. I couldn't.

And I'm so glad I didn't because then just that natural sound. And now you started to be able to hear him saying stuff to his son, saying stuff to some fans. Then he pulled up behind home plate, and the players just naturally just went around him like a net. And he started talking to Tony Gwynn, and he started talking to Mark McGuire. He said to McGuire, like, do you ever smell burnt wood when you foul a ball back? Like, I used to smell burnt wood when I hit a ball and I could I could smell my bat just smoking after I swing it. And we're capturing all that.

And that was also at a time when we were supposed to be in a commercial break. And Mike Weissman, to his credit, you talk about being like an in the moment producer, you know, those ads for the Allster game are not cheap. And so we're supposed to. So did he have this moment? He tips his cap. Now we're supposed to go to commercial. And Mike Weissman says, forget the commercial.

We're staying here. And so we blew off an entire commercial block to capture all that live. And I didn't say anything. And I'm so glad I didn't say anything because you never would have heard him talking to these you know, current day players and how much respect there was for this great, you know, first of all, he was, he was, you know, a great American. And then he was one of the best, if not the best natural hitters that game has ever seen. I know you're ready for the All-Star game.

It's going to be hard to recapture some of these moments, but you never know what happens. And my last question to you, Joe, would be, are you ready for Jeopardy? It's coming out August 9th. I did a week. let's just say thank God it wasn't live. Some of those clues are a wee bit convoluted. I think, you know, intentionally for the contestants, but for the host, you know, I couldn't have more respect for Trebek in the job that he did because it just was so effortless.

Now, he did grow up in Canada and he was bilingual, and so he had a lot of that French already, but I don't. So I'm just stumbling my way through these clues. It went really well. They liked it. I was happy with it. I'm glad I did it. But, you know, we'll see when it comes out August 9th.

But nothing replaces Chris, like doing a Super Bowl or a World Series. There's just nothing like that. But you might sweat through your suit a little bit more if you're up there at that podium. Oh, trust me. I made note of taking my jacket off after walking back into the dressing. I was just like, oh, my God, what the hell's wrong? with me? Why am I sweating like that? But I just saw Aaron Rogers here at this thing in Tahoe, uh, pre-earthquake. And I said, uh, you know, it was fun. Wasn't it doing Jeopardy? He's like,

oh, my God, it was such a blast. So he had fun. I had fun. And, uh, you know, who knows? Who are the two of the goats in my book, uh, Aaron Rogers and Joe Buck? And I would love to see Joe Buck on Jeopardy again. So I'll be looking in August of all those names. No bullshit. I was like, Joe, you'd be pretty good, man. I had fun. I did. to Rodney Dangerfield impersonation. One of the answers was Aaron Paul is like, oh, my wife's crush.

I mean, I tried to have a little bit is Aaron Paul. That's unfortunate. She loves him from breaking bad. But it was like, oh, my God. And they gave her a link to be able to watch because COVID so she couldn't come there and be in the studio. But she dips into watching me tape these shows.

And that's the one second. she saw is me saying, oh, yeah, Aaron Paul and my wife's crush, check again. I actually had a momentary brain fart thought Aaron Paul was Aaron Eckhart. I think it's way better for you that your wife has a crush on Aaron Paul. I wouldn't be threatened. Okay. Yeah, no, no, no, no. Yeah.

Well, good. Aaron Eckhart, it would be a bigger deal, but. But I'm good with Aaron Paul. You're good. Yeah. Oh, man. Joe Buck, man, I appreciate you. We survived an earthquake.

We told some old All-Star game stories. I really enjoyed having you. having you on as usual, man. So I hope you, I hope you come back soon. We can hang out and get a beer in St. Louis maybe soon. That would be nice. I mean, the last time you and I had a beer was in Tanzania, so we need to do something closer to home. You got it, brother. All right, Joe. All right. Thank you, man. Best of the family. All right, Chris.