Green Light with Chris Long - Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder & Jeff Ament on DK Metcalf, Seattle Athletes, & Voting. MNF Recap. Cam Newton. Burrow vs Herbert.

Episode Date: October 28, 2020

(0:34) - Welcome and Pearl Jam intro. (7:00) - Pearl Jam on Getting our to Vote. (30:26) - Pearl Jam on Seattle Athletes. (49:30) - Pearl Jam on Pearl Jam. (1:08:16) - Chris on MNF, Cam Newton, and Burrow vs Herbert. Join Eddie and Jeff by taking the PJ Votes pledge, and committing to: Vote By Mail, Recruit Three Friends, and Don't Wait! https://pearljam.com/vote 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

If I could be a certain athlete at a certain time, I would be Randy Johnson so I could go to the first ever live Temple of the Dog Show. Happy hump day, everybody. Happy Wednesday. We got a midweek pod coming at you. It's going to be like this the rest of the season. I like this a lot better. I hope you all liked the Monday morning thing. To be honest, take you behind the curtain. You guys are not getting to that pod by four or five in the afternoon. There's not much you haven't heard about Sunday Slate of Games, but it's not quite enough time for me to responsibly break down all the film I want to break down to give you a meaty kind of football pod that's got like the details in there. Anybody who's giving you all the details on Monday morning, like as if they've watched every team play both sides of the ball in detail

where they can tell you what happened, either they're on crack cocaine or much. better at this than I am. And maybe both in some cases. I have no idea how anybody can absorb, break down, and retain like everything that happens Sunday by Monday morning. But what we are doing is taking a stab at it Sunday night and kind of just react into stuff.

So I think as the season goes on, I'll do some Wednesday pods that are like just deep dive football, hey, you guys suggested that you wanted to see like something on a long look. There was a, you know, a lineman matchup or what happened to the cowboy's defense, which I'll only do once, okay? I did that one time, maybe once more, but definitely not twice. There'll be pods like that. But this week is different because we happen to stumble into an amazing guest, two amazing guests, okay? part of the legendary band Pearl Jam, of which I'm a big fan, like many of, I suppose,

the other 35-year-old white males that are listening to this podcast, and I'm sure there are a few. Man, I love that fucking band. I'm also lucky to call Jeff Amant a friend, somebody that I got to know through one of my dad's buddies, one of my dad's best friends played for the Lakers a long time, a relatively long time. His name was Frank Borkowski. He also played for like the bucks, the spurs, stuff like that. I have one of those pictures I'm staring at right now in my home office. It's one of those cutouts that, you know, back in the 90s you would make,

you would take a picture that they took on one of those heavy ass. You got to go develop the film cameras. And then they would turn it into like, you know, like a diorama or some shit. I'm staring at one right now, and I'm at a San Antonio Spurs game, like up to my dad's knees. He's in a fucking Canadian tuxedo,

probably with a spitter in his hand. It's not alcohol. He doesn't drink. And flat top looks glorious. He's standing with Frank Boccowski of the Spurs. It's a power forward. And about three, four inches taller in Frank is David Robinson. the admiral and uh to the lefts of my dad and this is the disturbing part a head shorter than my

pops is a guy in a Cleveland Indians hat and a leather jacket and his name is Charlie Sheen what the fuck was going on in that situation and why was I hanging around Charlie Sheen? I mean I've had this thing since I was a kid I'm displaying it proudly as an adult I have never asked out loud why I was hanging out with Charlie Sheen. I got to call my dad and ask him that. But Frank Bracowski and him were cool because they met in L.A. You know, dad was playing for the Raiders.

Frank was playing for the Lakers. But Frank also played in Seattle with the Sonics and got tight with a lot of the dudes in that scene. Jeff A-Ment was one of them. Jeff, Frank, my dad, actually, Phil Jackson even has a spot right off Flathead Lake in Montana. But I've been going to Flathead since I was a kid

long story short, got to know, you know, Montana's own guitarist, legend, pearl jam glue guy, Jeff through Montana. And just such a chill dude, never really thought about having him on or Eddie on for that matter, because I thought, you know, waste of their fucking time, you know, we're just a little pod. But they're doing this cool voting initiative. And they've been people that, you know, right now we're talking about vote, vote, vote. vote. They've been doing this stuff since the early 90s, concerts, benefits, mobilizing, you know, voters in Montana, that sort of thing. And they've just been crushing this stuff.

And they've been really civically minded since the inception of their awesome band. And I've seen them more than a few times. Last time I got to see them live, it was like my flu game. I got the flu at Bonneroo. And I had to push through it. So many people get sick of Bonner. It's called Bono flu. like they make it's really just you showed up with an upper respiratory thing or some sort of a summer bug and then you just tried to drink through it that's what the boniflu is and so night too it caught up to me and i stood out there and and watched these guys and they sound just as good as they did when i was 13 years old and i saw them for the first time in northern virginia i drove up in somebody's station wagon with my buddy philip atkins and we look backwards out out of the

station wagon all the way up to the concert you know back in those station wagons we you carpooled and those rear facing seats was like unbelievably unsafe. Yeah, we, um, we rode in one of those things. You know, women also used to drink pregnant. So like nothing surprises me about outdated shit like that. We had a great show. I saw him in St. Louis as well. That was a really fun night, really fun night. And I went with Sam Bradford and Jimmy Lake, a legendary equipment manager from the St. Louis Rams. So, I mean, I've got a lot of great memories from being 13 to being a pro football player to Bonnarot, seeing these guys. And, you know, when Eddie and Jeff, Eddie fucking Vetter and Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam were like, yo, we'll come on and pump the voting thing

and talk about whatever else. I was like, man, I don't care when we do it. We just got to get these guys on. So we've got Eddie and Jeff here, and I'm just really lucky to have them on. I know they're very busy between making killer music still. They're always up to something better in communities and trying to will this country to a better place. And it starts right now. It starts with voting. If you guys have been at this for nearly 30 years now, but it feels like this election's a little bit different. What have you guys done with PJ votes?

to take it to the next level. This is Jeff. You know, because we've been doing it for a while, and because technology has changed so much over the last few years, it sort of feels like we had to approach it a little bit differently this time. And we're not on tour. Typically, we'd be out on tour. And, you know, maybe we would have a couple points during the show.

Ed would say a few words. And mostly historically, it was just, like trying to activate people to get out there and vote and be a part of the process. And so this time we had to utilize, you know, this technology that we, that we've came, you know, we've come upon over the last 10 years. And we got a little bit of a trial run two years ago when we helped out John Tester, went a Senate seat in Montana. And it was using a lot of local organizations and just getting, you know, basically knocking door to door and making sure people were registered to vote and sort of making it fun and giving them, you know, good reasons

to vote and making sure that they knew what was going on in their community, in the state, in the country. And so here we are. We're, you know, vote by mail. It's safe. Recruit three friends because I think people typically get more excited about things when they're in a group. And don't wait. Do it sooner than later because there's a lot of misinformation and weirdness out there right now. So I think getting it done sooner gives your vote a better chance of actually being counted. So, you know, that's the long story. Ed, what do you think?

Because you guys, I mean, I'm reading, I had no idea because I was seven years old when you guys were doing this stuff. And now everybody's like, hey, we got to vote. But in 1992, you did a drop in the park concert in Seattle, registered thousands of voters. You mentioned Montana, 2008. You get a 95% follow through on 3,000 Montanaans coming out and getting riled up to vote. What do you think drives the apathy when it comes to casting your vote? Is it that feeling of like it doesn't matter what I have to say? It doesn't matter what my ballot says or is it I don't trust politicians.

And how do we overcome that? Well, I think, you know, the electoral college is an antiquated system that desperately needs to be retooled. So we, you know, we can figure that out once we get some positive changes happening. That could be, you know, next on the docket of certain things to address for our future, because we're seeing how messy and political and, you know, we, I think everybody would appreciate a system where everybody's vote did count. And I think, but besides that, I really think that people wait for the perfect candidate, or in the past, they've kind of been left undecided around the fence because they're saying, well, I like this, but I'm not so sure about that. And I like this, but maybe not that. or, you know, and that's where misinformation comes in and the distribution of information in this,

in our modern times is quite different than it used to be even 10 years ago. So, but, you know, you're never going to have the perfect candidate. And what I think is important is that people, I think that they should be a little selfish in some, ways, you know, what would this person do for my beliefs? And not that that's why you would vote for them. Let me clarify. I think you need to let whoever is running, let them know. People need to let them know what's important to you.

So they know what people are thinking, what people are needing, you know, what's important is climate change, most important thing to you is, you know, funding our military. Is that what's important to you? You know, it can be a wide range of issues, but see where, you know, not only just see where the candidates stand, but make them stand where you want them to. And that's just being part of the political process all the way through and not just on election day. Yeah, because you're failing to leverage yourself at all if you just sit at home. you know and you don't go do anything and I think you know that you make a great

point there's never going to be a perfect candidate I wonder if we can get to a place once we stop the bleeding here as you alluded to with the electoral college and that sort of thing where eventually the path to being the leader of the free world is a little bit more arduous and you know you can't buy it and you don't have to stab people in the back or compromise on your beliefs and your values when you get into the political arena. Do you ever think we'll see a day, guys, where we arrive at that place in our lifetimes? I mean, I certainly feel hopeful about the young Democrats, you know, some, you know, the, you know, AOC and, you know, I know people are afraid to

mention her by name because they think she's some radical or whatever, but, you know, her policies are largely like that she just cares for people. I want to take care of people. I want to take care of people in the country. So that's the, you know, when those, when those people get sort of cast as being the radical left, it's in socialism and all these things that are like supposedly bad words, it's, it just seems crazy to me. That seems rat, you know, I guess it is radical because all we've known up to this point is like ties to corporations.

You know, it just seems crazy that there's this amount of money being spent right now when There's people worried about, you know, paying their rent or if they're going to have a home or if they're going to have a job in six months. And I don't know. I guess it's redefining what radical is. The thing that drives me crazy is, like, I get it. This is an emergency. But acting like what happened to our country, our country's never been what it could be. So we got to stop, I think, talking like, you know, we need to restore some glory.

we've never quite exhausted our potential as an equitable place to live for everybody. And so there's going to be, hey, like, let's kick ass in a couple weeks here. Let's do what you're talking about doing. Let's get out there and vote. But then there's the follow through and not going back to sleep. Because I think if, you know when you walk into a really dirty hotel room, you can't see the stains. Bear with me on the metaphor. I think that the orange guy is the black light.

I keep using that analogy. He's the black light. if he's done anything totally inadvertently positive, it's to expose people for who I believe they are. And, you know, if you want to take it like I'm calling you a stain in a hotel room and a Best Western, take it that way. In Best Western or a hotel in Russian? Maybe Lakeinta, or Hotel in Russia.

Lequinta, Moscow. That's good. Like, how to, because there is like a sense of, hey, we, He could win and relax. He didn't drain the swamp. He illuminated it. Yes. He put neon lights at the bottom like Jeff probably has it as dock on Flathead Lake.

So you can see the swim platform and that sort of thing. Yeah, it's tough because that's what I grapple with. Okay, like let's go kick ass. But six months from now, hopefully, when we restore some relative order, we've got a whole another battle to continue fighting. We can't go back to sleep is my only. thing. Well, and it would help immensely to have an administration that would be more than willing to expend the energy to bring people together, to attempt to solve some of these issues,

as opposed to kind of riling up both sides and create even more divisiveness. And I'm just, you know, this is just reporting what we've seen. Yeah. You know, there's been plenty of opportunities on so many issues. You know, this administration had three and a half years to, you know, and, you know, when it first happened, I think there was a lot of people that said, well, okay, we respect the office of the presidency. And let's see, let's see where this goes. You know, actually lend some support to the office that governs our country and, you know, of which we are, you know, proud citizens. And it's our republic.

And, you know, none of that really, even, you know, some of that faith that lasted for some time, you know, there's this kind of narrative out there that all that's happened. It's just a tax on him and attacks on this, that, and the other. It's, you know, there's, he's had a lot of opportunities to do better, to do great things, to do some of the things he said he would, to do, you know, just really, you know, culminating in this, this pandemic where you've seen just the lack of leadership and lack of, you know, assistance, a lack of information, lack of, you know, direction to save lives, you know, in the hundreds of thousands.

You know, that's not, you know, people who don't like him are not excited that he's failing at that. No. You know, if anything, that would have, you know, that was another time we're rooting for him because that's that we're talking American lives. And we're talking the way that our leadership could be viewed, you know, across the planet if we were, if our approach had been shown to be successful. So, you know, I think it's a real exciting time, as dark as it is.

It's exciting. And to vote, you get a jolt of energy from it. You know, this is your form of protest. It's the most powerful form of peaceful protests, as John Lewis said. You know, and the last few years has really been a civics lesson up close. You know, when he got elected, it was like, well, I guess now we're going to find out where our checks and balances are. And then what we've seen is the importance of paying attention and being active in government because you see what happens when you have an imbalance Senate.

you see what happens with the Supreme Court when you have an imbalance Senate. So, you know, for kids from my daughter's age 16 to, you know, some of my neighbors that are a little bit older, parents that are a little older, you know, I think it's been an intense civic lesson. And I think we take less for granted now. And I think the key is to, as you said, after this is over, or the transitional period, everyone remains active. You got fans who maybe followed you for 20 years and maybe didn't read press clippings or interviews or didn't read the room or pay attention to the stuff you've done

off stage. How do you balance that? I'm sure I know the answer, but when a fan's like, I don't like what you're doing. Like when you guys worked in the early 90s on the deal with the Memphis 3, which I had no idea about, just reading about all the stuff you guys have done off stage. What's the reaction like when you weighed in those waters? And how do you mitigate that? Or do you just say, fuck it, I'm going to do what I'm going to do? Well, you know, one difference, sorry, one difference from 25, 30 years ago is that we didn't have social media. So, God bless you. You know, there might be a show where

you, you know, Ed would speak out against something and maybe you'd have a smattering of booze. And that's kind of, that's awesome. That's like a real back and forth. But now you have, you don't even know who it is. You know, we're sort of being told by our IT people that, you know, when you get that big five, 10 minute, you know, rush of negative stuff on social media, it's bots, you know, they can, they can immediately, you know, find out that it's all coming from Russia or wherever it's coming from the Ukraine. I need some fucking IT people.

Reeve, we need IT people. I argue with people. I'm sure all the bad, all the bad comments towards you are all bots. I don't think they're all bots, Jeff. But I wish I had an IT team. That's what we need here. Because they would tell me you're wasting all your time. Yeah, no, it's a different dynamic.

I mean, like in the 90s, you guys speaking out on causes and doing stuff that you did off the stage. It's like a totally different dynamic now. Like, every day, if you see. so choose, I can open my feed and be influenced a bunch of different ways. I can also be criticized intensely. And if you can't handle it, it can break

you and compromise your values. When I think about the old days, well, even up to current, you know, the amount of stuff we probably end up talking about or having be somehow public is

maybe one tenth of so much of the stuff we're able to participate in and, you know, help out either financially or, you know, just all kind of different way. There's a lot of stuff that just under the radar that, you know, there's no reason to, in fact, I shouldn't even been talking about it here, but I'm just saying that really, when it's something that comes out public, then that's, it's, you know, if you didn't And every once in a while you've got to, you know, address an issue. And even just to not engage the crowd, but just to gauge the crowd.

You know, really to have a, you know, we've been just so fortunate to have a bit of a relationship based on the songs and the shows and the, you know, that's a group of people out there that, They're friends, you know, a lot of them are friends and they've had friendships and marriages, you know, based on meeting at the shows. You know, there's a whole, there's a, there's a connection there. And kind of one of the great things is sometimes we're, you know, just we are the, that's not a byproduct of us. We're a byproduct of them. Yeah. And, and so I think we've been pretty.

responsible over the years of and respectful of how much they're willing to put up with from us. But I and I think that you know, look, if that didn't exist, I think it would be more of a, you know, their band wouldn't have as much, you know, they're, I think they're an intellectual crowd for the most part. So I think it's fuel. I think that's part of, they understand, that's, that's part of what can make an evening or a, you know, powerful, or a, you know, a lifetime's dedication, you know, powerful on both sides of the equation. Yeah, you talked about people getting engaged at your shows or meeting at your shows.

When I was 13, my buddy Phillips scored right next to me at the show, made out with a chick. and that was a special moment for me, except for I didn't have a girl. I was the third wheel at a Pearl Jam show, circa 1998. I think it was in D.C. I think I got tickets from Frank, actually, our guy, Frank Prakowski.

So I had some major milestones as well. Also, was in St. Louis, when you guys played maybe in 13. I don't know, they probably all run together. You guys covered Bob O'Reilly that night. The lights went off. I thought the show. was over had a blast and then the lights came on i know you love the who growing up eddie

what's it like covering a song like that or what goes into you guys deciding to cover a song or to just leave it alone well we've done that one at least twice i think maybe at least twice rocking the free world we like that one you know there's only so many there's a few out there that will really raise the roof and if you've run out of your own at that point then you need to borrow. But really at that point I think songs like that it's you've kind of done the work for the night you know and then and then that one you can that's just like a big perfect wave you know you can't fall on you can't wipe out on that one. And you guys didn't it was amazing. It was definitely amazing. I want to get to the covers in a second because I'm always really intrigued, but I know you guys

you guys have gotten a chance to work with some other great musical acts that I'm sure you had no idea you'd ever, I saw you on stage before Eddie with Mick Jagger doing wild horses and like stuff like that's got to be special. I want to get to that. D.K. Metcalf, let's start with Seattle Sports as we take a hard right turn out of the serious. Did you guys see him run last night? that was one of the greatest things I've ever seen one of the greatest athletic feats I've ever witnessed in my life I mean and you know what it reminded me of like he runs like Dennis Rodman he's really super upright and then he takes his helmet off and his hair is pink and he's got like stuff in his nose and his ears and but that was I mean to watch in slow motion was one of the greatest things I've ever witnessed like

he made up 15 yards or 20 yards or something on a really fast little bit of a really fast little little cat. I mean, I put it on the pod last night that it looked like an adult chasing a child. Like, I was afraid for Buda Baker. I was terrified. He was afraid too. He was looking back. Like, what the hell is that? Like there's a herd of elephants behind him or something. Yeah. I mean, I think when I was a kid, you know, you're running through a dark hallway and you're afraid of the imaginary man behind you. I likened it to. I think all along it was D.K. Metcalf. I was running from D.K. Matt Cap my whole childhood. You've watched a bunch of times. I saw it a few times because I just couldn't, I couldn't

believe what I was seeing. How did he know, like his first step was so quick and he had to run through a few guys. I mean, he ran straight, but like through him. If you guys watched it a few times, the immediate momentum, I thought, was just shocking athleticism. Like how, you know, just from, you know, being on one. You know, I just couldn't believe he shot like a rocket. When you run that time at the combine and you run 433 and then you have like a basketball player gate, like it's just one angle on this thing and I have to ask a ball carrier. You rarely see a ball carrier. Like he's one of the best receivers in football right now.

You start on the TV on Sunday. You're going to see D.K. Metcalfe in a highlight or whatever. But you never see him running without the football at full speed. And at that distance. I mean, we got lucky to see that. It's one of those moments that, and I played in a league for 11 years, that I'm just like, this guy's different.

You know, like, he's just not human. He's a man amongst men from an athletic standpoint. And those humbling moments, me as like Joe washed up in a podcast chair, I'm like, holy shit, I was really on the field with people like that for 11 years? I mean, it doesn't make sense. You guys are Seattle fans, right? I mean, I know, Eddie, you've got some,

some well-known love affairs with Chicago sports teams. But you guys spent so much time in Seattle. Teams, not individuals. Yeah, teams. You're right. Yeah, the way I pose that. Who's a Seattle athlete? Because I think it's been pretty evenly distributed.

I guess you could say Ken Griffey Jr., but baseball's different, that if you guys could get in some, a time machine and go back and be a Seattle athlete during a specific period, who would it be? You get to just jump in the Marshawn Lynch suit or the it's easy suit it's Sean Camp it's not even close if you could be if I could be Sean Camp

94 to 96 I mean just go watch the highlights online and you forget it's a little bit like going it's like it's a little bit like watching last dance where you sort of forgot how amazing Jordan was but if you go watch those highlights from 94 to 96 I don't know if there's other than Dr. Jay, I don't know if there's anybody that athletic ever to playing the league.

That'd be cool. You got good hops, though, in real life. You're just not six, eight, six, nine, six ten. Not anymore. Not six nine anymore. Eddie, would it be a Seattle athlete for you? Would it be a Chicago athlete for you? Well, no, if I got to be a certain athlete, Eddie,

certain time I would be Randy Johnson so I could go to the first ever live Temple of the Dog Show. Oh, wow. He was there? Because I wasn't there. After we did some recording,

I went back to work my job at the security petroleum company. So I need to put in a couple more weeks of work before I came back up. So I missed that one, but there was Randy. Not only would you be Randy Johnson at the, was it Rock Candy, Jeff? Was that where you did the first?

That was at the off ramp, I think. That was at the off ramp too. Yeah. That's what I heard. So not only would you be there, but also if you were Randy Johnson, your view would be unobstructed. Yeah, but everybody sees you. And there's nothing I hate more than like knowing that everybody's looking at the back of my head.

I just don't like that feeling. So that would be quite the, there's the pros and cons to be in Randy Johnson, right? I think that's why you had the long hair in the back so you didn't have to see people. They called that a mullet. Oh. He had the mule. I thought it was a safety plank. You kind of buried the lead there, Eddie, and I'm glad you brought it up.

Hotel or was it hotel security? Was it a petroleum company? What was it? I went from hotel at the La Valencia in Ohio, which is a nice place. I lived in a place called the Mesa, but then I worked on the coast. And then part of late that midnight shift experience into the midnight shift at the petroleum company, which then I got to be, I supervised the whole security team. Oh, boy.

Yeah, I worked my way. So what kind of security guard were you? Were you like a, I'm imagining it's not the Hardo security guard that got into it to run people down in the parking lot? but are you the chill security guard? You catch a kid smoking a Jay. You'll probably share one with him or what kind of security guard was Eddie better? Well, it was by the time I got to the, you know, the real thing about that job is that you could work a couple hours when you got there and then a couple hours before you left.

And then so four hours in between you could kind of do stuff that you would like to do, whether it was, you know, read a book. You could, you know, bring your four track. You might even do a little recording. You might program a drum machine. You know, you've had four hours where you were getting paid

to do something that you like to do. I mean, you had to be aware of something that's going on. Of course. Petroleum company was a pretty lonely place, and that's just how I like it. Yeah, that makes sense, actually. Yeah.

I just, I was, I learned that today as I was doing a little side reading. And, and I didn't picture you as like the mall cop type. I pictured you as the nice, chill security guard. Well, I didn't have the, you know, even at the La Valencia when we'd get into some issues with, you know, either drunk people or especially like drunk, wealthy people. They have a brand, don't they? That's a different kind of deal. So, you know, it was more, you know, I knew a few kind of judo holds and some kind of take down moves, but really it was more, you know, using your intellect. And, you know, it's not hard to outdo your...

To think circles around a rich drunk guy? Yeah. It's not hard. I mean, it can be tough because there's no using logic. But, you know, at the end, you'd kind of get them do what you want to. to do as different ways of. Jeff, I keep saying this. I said it when I had Flea on.

I pitted you guys against each other when it comes to athleticism because I mean, we know your basketball background, which is tremendous. There's a lot of good hoops up in the Northwestern. I'm not even bullshit. And that hoop fest I used to play in was unbelievable in Pulse in Montana. Some of the guys I saw a fucking guy jump over a Mustang.

Like, I'm like, where did these guys come from up here? But Flea talked at length about your athletic. Are you the best athlete from the grunge era out of all those bands? I don't even know if I'm the best athlete in the band. Who's the best athlete in the band? You got to tell me now. If you can play that drunk like that for three hours, then.

Yeah, I think in terms of organized athletics, I think I've, you know, I played high school football and basketball and all that. but yeah i don't know i mean i'm a humble guy so all right well what was your vert at the best uh because i know you know this number and there's nothing subjective about this just give us the numbers yeah yeah high school i had 38 inch vertical i got i could dunk the ball both hands five five five 10 511 kid on on a tile floor so i've seen it i've seen it i've seen it in my fucking yard. My dad used to have a basketball hoop and Scott Skiles would come over and Jeff come over.

Man, that was the best. Garden Scott Skiles. Did Scott give you that work or did you shut him down? No, he crushed me. And John Crotty too. Do you remember John Crotty? Do you remember that guy? He was a 10-year NBA.

Those guys served me up, man. Because I was a little bit older than those guys. I have a great Scotty Schael story. He came to a show in Indianapolis right after I met him that summer. And I remember looking over mid-show because I usually didn't look out into the crowd until mid-show. And I saw him like third row, just giving it up, just like fist, heads going up and down. And every time that I looked out there for the next hour and a half, the fist and the head was going the entire time. and then after the show, I went back to our little family room and he had polished off two cases of beer.

So he was oiled up for that show. But it's such a great memory. As soon as somebody mentions Scott Skiles, all I can see is him in the crowd. We tend to get pretty fucked up at your shows. I think he was just trying to keep hydrated because if you do that consistently. Right, right. right what's the

what's the limit speaking of hydration on what are you slugging up there is it Merleau or is it when at the show in St. Louis at least you look like you had some nice expensive wine that you were powering through what's your wine of choice on stage

all right I'm going to be honest there's usually two bottles and one is the good stuff that you know you don't want to hurt your throat with you know yeah and then the other is more of the stuff that I share, which is still good.

It's not like low rack. It's still upper medium, but it's not the, you know. So give me, what's the upper medium? What's middle management look like? But here's what happens. I will run out of the cheaper stuff. And then I will go to the top shelf to keep bartending for the front row. So depending on, you know, your luck that night.

In fact, some people I'm curious, did they like the first one better than the second? You know, some people get, but, yeah, there's a little bit of a choice. And I have X's on the top of the cork, so I know what I'm, you know, I don't want to take a big slug right before a big song, like Nothing Man or something, and have it be the wrong stuff. And then I'm going to have hard times getting through the bridge. You can't be slugging box wine before nothing, man. Can't be drinking franzia before a lie for something.

I mean, if I was on a beach and it was three in the morning, I would make do. Yeah, definitely. I mean, we got to be resource. A big show with other people. You got to kind of. Yeah. But can I, can I go back, Jeff, do you think that Scotty Sciles remember, do you remember, see, back in the day, Seattle, it. Oh, I know this story.

It didn't snow much, maybe once every three years. And they had the biggest snow in four or five years, the first winter I was there, I believe. I remember me and Cornell going down a big, whatever that huge was. Yeah, Queen Anne. Good God. I don't even remember. Were we on piece of cardboard or something? Y'all were sledding?

Just whatever we found outside of the street, trash cans? Yeah, and I think we might have had a couple of those, like, roll out slick, slick things, you know, like, I don't know what those things were called, but I'm too old to be on one at this point. Yes. Jeff's got some good seats. And we go and he's one block. He lives one block away.

I mean, this is what an amazing, you know, when I first met Jeff, I was like, this guy, he's got it all figured out. He lives a block and a half from Seattle Center. and Sonics are playing you just walk over. Now, no one else could get there. In fact, a couple of players barely made it. Benoit Benjamin made it, but he only had one shoe. Right.

But the place was empty. It was probably less than 150 people. And they were playing, was it Miami or Orlando? Orlando, yeah. And everybody started getting on Scotty Skiles. And you could hear every word. I mean, there was some... Fuck you, Scottie.

Intense. Do you think he knew, Jeff, Scott? Do you think he knew that when you played him? I think we talked about it. I think, and he acted like he didn't remember. And I think he had like 15 or 18 assists that game, too. He was, I think they beat us. And he had a little bit of a thing going on with the crowd.

Like, if somebody said something, you kind of look at him and then drop a crazy dime to Horace Grant or whoever was the I can't remember who the big guy was. That's amazing. He had a good game. Scottie was a good player. You guys party with a lot of players from different sports. I mean, you know, you guys have been all over the place in the sports world after the big game, which is cool because like, I don't know.

I always feel weird when I'm backstage with y'all because not that I'm backstage with y'all a lot, but if I go back to CMMJ and some of my buddies that I might know a little bit, I just don't want to like take up people's time. but when I've talked to my friends I realize that everybody's just hanging out and if you're chill, you're chill, you guys are always in athlete circles too. Who parties the best?

I have my hierarchy of athlete partiers that I've talked about in this pod. Where do you rank a hang when it comes to the big four in the United States? The best for me was when the Cubs got to the World Series in 2016. The night thing, they clinched.

And I was fortunate enough to be invited to this guy, John Lester's house. He's got this great family, his wife, Farah, and these great kids. And it was mainly wives and family, Lester's parents, which are great. They're from Northwest. And then we were all playing music on the back porch. It was just this great thing. It went on and on. And then Theo and I, Theo Epstein, who can hang.

with the best or the best can hang with him. We went back to the ballpark. We went to the batting cage. We said that, you know, three in the morning and a lot of whiskey later. And John had the best whiskey. And then we're just taking swings and laughing those three of us. And then we went out to the field. and we just were laughing.

We were just laughing at the reality that the Cubs were going to the World Series with a good team. And then we ended up laying in middle of center field just the two of us like kids, right? Just laughing. We weren't even talking. We were just laughing.

And then we get quiet and we start laughing. And we could hear people in the neighborhood still, 3.30, 4 o'clock in the morning, still going at it. celebrating it's like a nice roped off section in a nightclub it's like the best roped off section in a fucking nightclub of all time oh man then the sun started it started to light up a little bit and we were just and then we heard people singing um like all the way which was a song that ernie banks asked me to write and i'd written and and we just we just looked at each other just wow wow

this is amazing this is incredible I think good things are going to happen and they did baseball has baseball they have a lot of practice they're able to imbibe with regularity

you can play that game with a hangover I can remember in high school it was an automatic dinger day for me if I snuck out and had a field party or something

the night before Jeff I'll tell you for me it's hockey hands down for me it's hockey because those guys their helmet guys like you know

like if you hang out with basketball guys, they're different. They're, you know, they're great dudes. They just, their faces everywhere. They're, they're famous. So I, I might feel uneasy hanging out with somebody who's so famous. Hockey guys, they, they kind of, they revel in the anonymity, the relative anonymity, and they, they just, they go about their lives like they're just fucking regular dudes. That's why I really like hockey hangs and being a blues fan, hanging out with those guys after the Cup in L.A. for the Aspies was the best cross-sport hang I've ever had. So shout out to those guys. How about you, Jeff?

Well, you know, in terms of a hang where I feel comfortable, I think I've felt most comfortable around skateboarders. Oh, there we go, yeah. There was a show Madison Square Garden maybe 10, 12 years ago, and I think band horses opened up for us that show. But there's this guy, Steve Olson, who's like one of the all-time characters, old pro skateboarder, who sort of turned skateboarders, you know, onto punk rock back in the day. He's an artist. But it was him and McEnroe and, like, my friend's buddy and Rick, who are both East Coast guys. My wife, Pandora was there.

She was the only girl. This guy Tony Farmer. But I think it's the only time that I closed the backstage down. I think typically I'm one of the first guys out. I'm going to tell you the musician that I got drunk as with besides my good friend Patrick Hallahan. We shut down Bonaroo. It might have been the year that you guys played Bonarue.

And it was my flu game. I got the flu. The day you guys played, my flu game was going to the, y'all's show and then getting drunk and getting sicker uh alto reed of bob seger fame saxophonist somehow i ended up with him after a show and when i tell you this guy can still fucking hang at however old he is i want to shout out alto reed guy's a legend for those of you younger folks who don't know who alto read is when you hear that the most famous saxophone chord is that how i would say it cord is it a

chord. A rish, yeah. When you hear that shit, and you know exactly what I'm talking about, that is the legend, Altarid, and I got drunk with him in a Ritz-Carlton somehow. What's his real name? I don't know. I didn't ask his real name. You're not supposed to ask musicians their real names, dude.

Right? That's like, you know, come on, this is my fucking stage name. You know, it is. If you get him drunk enough. I guess he wouldn't have remembered. Would you guys do a Super Bowl ever since we're on sports? like, have you ever thought about the prospect of doing a halftime show at a big, big game like that? I respect people who do it because I think there's a bit of movie magic that they are forced to

navigate with part of it being a little bit lip sync, a little bit playing to track just because the timing, the short time they have to set up a bunch of gear in the, you know, in the middle of the field. It's not, it's not necessarily live. And you're really kind of putting your neck on the line as far as what, you know, all the bad things that could happen. But knowing, you know, having watched Springsteen do it and some of the greats, you know, the Stones did it and it was kind of loose.

I'm not sure what they demanded to really kind of play it live, but it was kind of loose and scrappy, and I really liked that part of it. One, I remember I was sitting with my uncle watching Prince play, and it was raining, and it was kind of these ramps, and he was just killing it. And here it was this kind of downpour, and I said,

I can't believe. I told my own, I had some dangerous shit he's doing right there. And he said, because of the rain and the electricity and the microphones, I said, no, the fucking heels.

He's doing that in the heels. Yeah, that was my first thought. Like six inch platform. Right? Was that the rain game with Indy? I think it was, I think the bears were playing.

Yeah, then it would have been, if it was a Super Bowl, it would have been back when I was in school, When we, I watched that game, you guys almost had it, but, uh, Peyton Manning's first ring there. You guys have done some crazy shit on stage. I mean, like, I always wonder. You haven't worn heels.

No, you haven't worn heels. And you couldn't do some of the things I'm about to mention here in heels. I've seen you, Eddie, in the 90s, like a lot of these folks back in festivals were different. Were they not? They were, they were just, the energy felt a little different. I go to Bonner every year, but it's like, it's a young, kids game and it's like it's just not as loose it feels like for good reason in some in some ways

you climbed up on the thing that it's like 40 feet over the the crowd and jumped down i don't know maybe it looked like 40 feet to me what's the highest stage dive you've ever done ed i think i thought it was going to be the last one and it was it was birthday we were kind of ending the tour and we were in We were at a club called iguanas in Tijuana, south of San Diego. And I thought it was going to be the last one. So I went to this third level, and then I thought maybe I can even go higher. And then I went on the railing of the third level. And that was a little silly.

I think that was like the highest of the evil-conyvel dial. diving ones, but the highest, the crazy one was the San Diego one. That one, I actually, I thought I was going to throw up there because it was, it was bad. It shouldn't have, I don't know what I was thinking. And yeah, I kind of committed to make this move to climb on this eye beam, but it wasn't really an eye beam. There was no, there was nothing to hold on to. And I was, it would be like crawling upside down.

I was just hanging off this thing. and I had to go upside down and get about 20 feet to where the chain was that was holding the light thing hanging above the stage. And then I was going to slide down that. And then I had someone throws me the mic and then I slipped down that. I saw this one. That was not good. And I remember my brothers were, and I think even my mom was in the audience because it was San Diego. And I thought, you cannot die in front of your mom.

not die in front of your mom. So she saved my life on that one. I had that same thought a couple months ago, Jeff, doing the cliff dive up there on the lake. My mom, my mate made her come to take a video. And I was like, if you die in front of your mom, you are the biggest asshole of all time. What does it feel like when you hit like a sea of bodies from 25 feet up? Like, does it hurt? Do they hurt? What happens? Is there a technique? kidney damage yeah I remember in the old days like I would feel like well I that was cool like I didn't really I didn't feel hurt or anything and then I

and then I'd go to take a shower at two in the morning and a little best western whatever Jeff and I shared a room wherever looking to Moscow oh wait no it was super eight the Econo holiday Howard Johnson's kind of thing but then taking a shower and going oh fuck it was like you got shoved over the reef surfing

just so many scratches on your back and you know you'd lose some patches of hair and you know you wouldn't feel you know the adrenaline kept you from feeling anything but then you know later on in the night you'd be like

oh But then the next night, the music would start, and then you'd find yourself in a similar position. And then it might have even felt like the Who when they smashed their instruments is like, oh, I think they kind of want to see that. Yeah. I could imagine. You guys both do the extreme sports in my eyes. I mean, Jeff's out there doing Ollie's and shit, you know, in all types of crazy stuff. Concrete looks terrifying to fall on, too, with a skateboard under you.

but Jeff do you ever have you ever surfers to me are psychotic I mean it's in I know Eddie likes to surf do you think what you do is scarier at the skate park or what Jeff or what Eddie does

oh man I think you know I do surf a little bit I uh and I think because that's not where I you know I mean I grew up inland and I'm a little bit more comfortable with the skateboard underneath my feet. So when you go under a head high plus wave and get held under the water for 20 to 30 seconds,

that's fucking scary. That's like, you know, and you don't know which way is up and which ways down and you're kind of bumping the bottom a little bit. And that feeling is, that's worse than splatting on the concrete, I think. Eddie, have you ever been close to dying, surfing? I think the closest I came to dying was in the water was we got in a canoe accident and some big waves. It was a sailing canoe. There was six of us on there. And we got into a hectic situation.

And I was kind of lost at sea for a couple hours. And that was not looking good. But as far as waves, you know, that hold down thing, you really just got to relax and enjoy the ride, you know. And singers, they're pretty good at holding their breath. And as long as you get that last breath, you're pretty good. And then when you resurface, you just got to get ready because there's probably another one about to land on your head. And sharks. Ah, well, I shouldn't.

We just don't. You guys just don't talk about it, do you? Kind of thing, no. It's what keeps me out of the water. I'll just leave it there. I don't know how you guys pick where the God put the best fucking waves where the biggest great white sharks are. They're all just hanging out there.

That works out. It cuts down on the crowd a little bit. And, um, you know. We talked about the stage stuff. I saw you lick the shoe one time. When's the next time you're going to be able to confidently lick a shoe at a concert? With everything going on right now, you're probably not licking any shoes. but let's say

live music maybe I'll serve this one up to Jeff Jeff we've talked about this offline yeah when is it coming back and what's it going to look like is it going to be wait I know the we have to acknowledge that no matter what we say we have no idea

the virus sets the timeline but are there conversations in the music industry about when it might come back well I think most of people in the music industry are really hopeful. I think, I think, uh, those people are hoping that next year at some point, there is some music being played. And then you hear scientists talk. Right. And, uh,

it feels less hopeful when you hear those folks talk. Um, I, I, I read an article a couple of days ago. And it was, I mean, it was, you know, a bit of reality that seemed like, I mean, he was talking like two to five years before there was going to be a bunch of people in a big room together. So, you know, if we get new leadership and we're doing things the right way and people start wearing masks and we knock this thing down, you know, I think our chances of doing it again will be sooner. But what do scientists know, Jeff? Like, what I mean, like, You shouldn't be going to scientists for this type of information or doctors, for that matter. I'm hopeful, man.

I was when this whole thing started like every other idiot that was just like, hey, we'll just get through this fast. It's going to be really bad, but we'll get through it fast. I just don't believe the new normal is the new normal. I was excited about Ohana. That was coming up. I mean, that was like my light at the end of the tunnel. Ohana's, it's not going to be for a while, it looks like.

Guys, Neil Young is the godfather grunge, right? We got to talk about Neil for a second before I let you go. But everybody knows that. Who are the uncles? Who are like, who are the guys behind the scenes that you look at as not getting enough credit from eras before you? Oh, man. Big list. I think Jeff and I would agree.

It's mostly, you know, the people that we were so inspired by that will, are not and maybe will not be in things like, you know, institutions like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame or something, but it's everyone from Sonic U to Fugazi to Jellad Biafra and the Dead Kennedys, you know, that kind of, you know, those were the, they were exploratory bands, they were inventive, they were political, they were, everything. everything that you wanted to be in a band as a band. And as far as recognition, those are the heroes that won't have the same kind of mainstream. And not that they would want it.

But those for me are some of the purest musicians who have ever taken the stage. You mentioned you know, Neil and he's had an incredible long run of making great music which is not a given in y'all's profession it seems really hard for people to hang on to that

creativity and he's just got this gift Bruce came out with an album this week I guess or made some new music which is awesome to see the boss making music and you guys feels like you've never left I mean you've done different things and you've experimented but you're still kicking ass and taking names, what's the key to longevity?

And did you ever imagine as 20-somethings that you'd be still rock stars at this age? And I'm not trying to make you sound old. But it's been a long time you guys have been at this thing. Man, you know, the secret's probably a lot of luck. Yeah. You know, we're all alive, which is like a big one. And then somehow we just navigated through some of the tougher times.

And I think maybe we all just had just enough tolerance, you know, of each other and enough respect for each other that we sort of got through those moments, you know? Like, it's hard to understand, you know, like, because we certainly have, you know, friends that had bands for 10 or 15 years that didn't make it out the other side of it for different reasons. And sometimes you thought that those bands were the ones that were going to be doing it forever. And hanging out with Neil Young was huge. You know, Neil definitely said things to us. You know, I remember us all being in the room one time and him saying, don't worry about what people think. Like, you know, the love they have for you is going to ebb and flow and just keep making your music.

Your music's the most important thing. And that was like, you know, and then we got to watch him do it for another 25 years after he told us that. And he's still doing it. He's still doing it. He's still marching. to his own beat and, you know, every record that he puts out is like so committed and so 100% him and yet all over the place, you know? And so it's hard not to be inspired by those kind of guys or Bruce or, you know, any of the guys that have been doing it forever. I mean, I got about

halfway through the Bruce movie the other night and just, you know, him talking about 45 years of playing with these guys and, you know, how much, how much love is in the room. And I feel this, you know, I feel the same way with about us, you know, um, you know, there's really, there's, at this point, there's really nothing better than that. There's nothing better than, uh, being in the room with the, with the fellas and, you know, hearing, what's up with everybody and Mike and Stone are riffing back and forth with jokes. You know, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, It's our home. It's like, you know, there's something that exists when the five of us get in a room that doesn't exist anywhere else. And it's, it's, there's a lot of love. And there's some magic in that too that is hard to explain.

And I was going to add and just say again, like Jeff said, I think the key was relationships and everything we had been through and having those things end up, end up making us. stronger. But, you know, all through that, probably what really was the fuel to kind of, you know, keep, you know, keep fuel in the tank was our relationship with the audience. And the fact that they were there for us, or they were there for us when we tried a little something different, or they were there for us when we went against Ticketmaster and we were going to have a whole bunch of hoops to go through to get a crowd together. that, you know, that might happen in the future. There might be some hoops to go through to try something new

while we're waiting for, you know, science to resolve some of this. These issues we're dealing with now. But, you know, the relationship with the band was the biggest one. But again, we don't get through that without the support of, you know, so many people, like across the friggin' planet, you know. That's just been huge, just huge. And to, you know, because we're kind of, you know, especially we're not the most touring band ever out there.

And to kind of, when we kind of get back together and do our thing and get a plan and then show up and go to South America or something and then have the kind of response and acceptance and excitement and energy that you get from from Christ. crowds. It's really, it's like, it's almost like, you know, we have to stay together. The only difference is the stage dives feel a little bit different in the morning. Hey, guys, I really appreciate the time. You've been very gracious. I want to give you one more chance to direct people to your voting initiative. Jeff, do you want to do the honors?

Yeah, text PJ votes to 5286 or you can visit Pearl Jam.com. and yeah, you can get all the information there. When you do vote, get on your states. There's ballot follow programs out there. I think in Pennsylvania it's like vote.PA. And just, you know, stick with it. And we'll get out the other side of this thing and play a show for you. We need you.

There's voter suppression. Oh, my God. There's voter intent. intimidation, a lot of, a lot of, you know, these are things that have not been as big of an issue. Again, there's more divisiveness being created these days than ever. So really, be there for each other, be there for your country. We, you know, there's so much, there's so many good things up ahead, even though there's been so much to deal with late. but this is a big, big first step.

So be energized and excited that you can take some control here. Hopefully there will be a lot to celebrate soon. And Chris, can I say a hello from Bradley Cooper? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, he sounds like he's a great person, man, from everything I hear. So I never met him. I know the Philly connection, and long before I was in, Eagle, I thought Silver Linings playbook was like, I mean, he was out of this world and captured the

whole Eagles thing. They say Eagles in Philly and that whole thing. But man, I can't wait to have him on someday or hopefully we'll get him. But sounds like a great dude. So Tom, I said hello as well. We'll do. Yeah, he's a good hand. And let's go do it guys, man. A couple weeks left. Yeah. Again, get out and vote. We can turn this thing. Let's be optimistic. I like what Eddie had to say because a lot of days it's like, how do we do this? You throw your hands up, and I think that's natural.

Let's redirect each other towards being positive and getting it done. Appreciate you guys. All right. Seeing the flathead. Yeah, buddy. I got you, Chris.

Thanks a lot, guys. Thanks, Jeff. Thanks, Chris. Cheers. The season is in full swing and the action is still unfolding. So head over to Draft King Sportsbook, America's top-rated sportsbook app

with so many storylines across both professional and collegiate sports. This is the time to check out all that Draft King's sports book has to offer. If you haven't tried the app yet, head to the app store now because you don't want to miss this. To celebrate the showdown in Happy Valley, Draft King Sportsbook is giving all new users the chance to turn $1 into $100 when placing a bet on either Ohio State or Penn State. Download the top rated draft king sportsbook app now and use promo code Greenlight when you sign up to get this can't miss offer.

Pick either Penn State or Ohio State, bet $1 on them and cash $100. if they win. That's right, $1 to win $100 when you use promo code green light during sign-up for a limited time only at Draft King's Sportsbook. Must be 21 or older in New Jersey, Indiana or Pennsylvania only bonus comprise the first deposit bonus and first bet match each up to $500 deposit bonus required 25 times play-through. Restrictions apply see draftkings.com slash sportsbook for details. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or in Indiana, 1-8009 with it. Well, that was awesome. It was a dream comes true. Those guys are amazing.

And at certain points during a Zoom, looking up and seeing, really it's hearing Eddie Vetter's voice. You're like, man, this is cool. Nice little podcast here. And I get to see my bro, Jeff, amen. So I appreciate those dudes and they have certainly walked a walk offstage. So top five Pearl Jam songs maybe, listen, they change week to week. You know, I hate settling on a decision on a list like this. I jotted five, six songs down. Indifference, tremor Christ, immortality, release. I mean, Jeremy's so chalky, but I love the song. Do the evolution.

Yeah, there's a few there. And honestly, you could put almost any song on 10 there. And I know, or Vitology is like, you know, a 1B, but 10's just powerful, no skips. You just, I feel like it would be unfair to put more than one song on this list. Immortality is a song that I used to listen to a quick reminder before the Super Bowl. And I would listen to it on the bus to the Super Bowl in Houston. I can remember flashes of driving to the game with that on. And then also leading up to the Minnesota game, I've told this story before.

We're doing our last dress rehearsal before going to Minnesota in Philly at the stadium. It's bitter cold that day. And me and Legerrat Blen are old. So we're like the last people at the locker room putting like 50 layers on. It's not like I don't, I'm okay in the cold. I'm not a sleeve guy, but it was fucking cold that day. And I just didn't need his practice. And we're rushing through the bowels of Lincoln Financial Field, like the hallways.

And he's ahead of me. And, you know, the cleats are cracking on the concrete. So I'm not, I can't hear what's on the radio, but I stop walking. and there's like construction workers or something listening to one of those DeWalt radios. And sure as fuck, the song is Emortality, Pearl Jam. And it's Eddie's voice. And it hits me like a ton of bricks. I'm walking through the hall.

And I don't believe in superstition all the time or like jinxes and shit. But when I heard that song, we're winning the Super Bowl. Because it's me. It's the song. And there's Legerick Blunt 20 feet in front of me. And we're the last guys out. And we're the two guys from New England. And we're playing New England.

I was like, yeah, we're going to win this game. Thanks to Pearl Jam. So, yeah, those are probably my favorite songs. Anyways, this is a football podcast. Don't panic. Not that if you're panicking over Pearl Jam coming on the pod and you're like, oh, Pearl Jam's taken away my Hollow Man award. This week's Hollow Man.

And I really need to get to the... tell me about air yards and shit and you're not worried about the Pearl Jam. I think you might be listened to the wrong podcast, friend. Let me just give you 20 minutes of football, okay? Monday night football, Cam Newton, Justin Herbert. That's all I'm going to hit today. We'll save the rest for Friday. And Friday's going to be fun.

A lot has gone down in the NFL world. I feel like as the stakes get higher, there's more shit to talk about. And this week is no. exception Monday night was one of those situations where I feel like it's a little bit of well it's a lot of Nick needs to play better but it's also a lot of truly he has to get the ball out if he wants to succeed there and they have to design route concepts to reflect that because they do have holes on the offensive line that's there's no there's no doubt about it and the thing that came out of that game besides the fact that Johnny Hecker is a fucking robot that kicks the dog shit out of a football

like a human being should not be able to pump the ball with the accuracy and power that he does. Also a great dude and a friend of Water Boys. He is a water boy, a representative of our Clean Water Initiative. So that's my dog. It's great to see a punter get some air time. But you also know when you come out of a game and one of the biggest headlines is the punter, the game kind of sucked. The only reason I was watching it, Chicago Plus 16 teaser.

It is really great to win a big teaser on. on a Monday from last week. But it's even bigger when the guy that makes it happen for you is a former friend, Robert Quinn, looking out for his boy, right? Forced to fumble in the wee hours of Monday night when Chicago was down 21. Eddie Jackson picked it up, ran it in for a score because I was not covering that bet if I was relying on that Chicago offense. They were bad.

But what did make me happy watching that game was probably the biggest smile I've had on my face watching sports this year. And it was the interaction between those two gigantic fucking kids after the game, Aaron Donald and Robert Quinn. Seeing those guys hang out after the game was like seeing two toddlers post-pandemic that have not seen each other yet for like six months. And they're just so happy, man. That was some pure joy. That's friendship right there. That's brotherhood, man. I know that because, you know, we were part of a really fun group in St. Louis.

And, you know, like any really good group, it doesn't matter how good you are, it gets broken up. And, you know, Robert Quinn, myself, William Hayes, Kendall Langford, Eugene Sims, Nick Fairley for a bit. Brockers is obviously still out there with Aaron. We just had like a fun fucking group. and Mike Waffle was our coach, and we worked hard. We really pushed each other. It was miserable at times. The standard was so high in that room.

But when I look back, it's the most fun I ever had playing football. You know, we really did everything together. And we loved each other, man. And it's great to see, you know, dudes. I mean, we have a little group text, but, you know, kids are the enemy of a group text. And group texts, it's just, it's good to see people get to see each other in real life. especially right now where you don't get to hang out with a lot of friends outside of your own team

when you're on the Rams or the Bears. Those guys catching up after the game really made me happy. And it was like they just couldn't stop giving bro hugs. And I was like, I wanted to hug the TV. I was just sitting there staring at Twitter and hanging out with the only friends I have my followers on social media. So yeah, I mean, it was cool seeing those guys. guys, and the two things that came up quarterback-wise this week that really interested me. And I do NFL Next with Kay Adams, James Coe, Andrew Hawkins.

Those guys are awesome. But we recorded our show earlier. We taped it. And two quarterback topics that popped up that I thought were really interesting. On the surface, I would think they were fucking boring. But when I started going through it, I was like, this is, there's a lot of, there's a lot of quarterback stuff going on right now. you know, we talk about Nick Foles.

One of the conversations is kind of at this point, it's fair to ask. And I know no one thought we'd get here, although I thought this was maybe more of a realistic, a realistic situation than maybe some. Nick Foles or Cam Newton, you know, all the shit that Nick Foles is catching on the internet right now for being so streaky, for having his low moments. people are legitimately asking, and this is one of the questions that came up today on the show, is like, would you take Nick Foles or Cam Newton the rest of the year? My answer is Nick Foles. On any given year, it's going to be Cam Newton, but Cam Newton's not right right now.

And the question that was being asked on the show is what's going on with the Patriots and what's going on with Cam? I don't know. I'm not a quarterback. But if I had to take a guess, I don't think he's right physically. but I knew that was a possibility going to the year. And everybody wanted to make it seem like it was just so, it was so out of left field to speculate about a guy's, guy's health who's played quarterback like a running back. And I don't mean that like he hasn't thrown the ball while he is a great passer, but he has had the workload on the ground of an NFL running back for 10 years.

And you can be a passer first all you want. He was a killer out of the pocket. He was great. but the QB run game that you had to use. I mean, it's just tantalizing to have a guy who's basically a fucking tight end with the agility of a running back back there in his younger years. You have to use it. It just opens up a whole other element to your offense.

That's a heavy load to carry for a long time. And so I thought it was reasonable to ask, you know, is he going to make it through the year healthy? I'm not saying it's over in any form or fashion, but, you know, it is trending there. Like, it just, it's people are asking. I hate saying people are asking. It sounds like a fucking joke.

You know, is it Stidham time? You know, how many more bad games? I don't know, man. Like, I'm not one to just demolish a quarterback for a bad month. I think that patience, it really depends on the situation and the player involved. This is now a pattern. And he hasn't been right. health-wise in a couple years. So, you know, look at this. The roster in New England is really

remarkably average when you look at it. Look at the opt-outs they had this year. They weren't that great a football team coming into the season. I mean, they were going to be scrappy and well-coached, and I thought by for, you know, a playoff spot. And possibly if you got good quarterback play out of Cam, the AFC East, you're not getting good quarterback play out of Cam. And the problem is they're not a good roster around him. And they had the opt-outs to compound it on defense, which was their strength last year, but also overvalued because of who they played early in the season. So while you were looking at stats of the 85 Bears versus the 2019 Patriots and you were buying it,

they were getting ready to play like Miami and then Jacksonville. And then, you know, like, I don't know if they played those teams. I can't remember. I know they played Miami, but I don't remember them playing Jacksonville. They were not playing talented offenses. And they also had a run of really poor quarterbacks they were playing. And they were getting after them because they're well coached. They play hard.

And they had a dude who can take your number one receiver away. And you just don't have to worry about them. And Stefan Gilmore. And the secondary was very good. But the pass rush was kind of like, eh, they had to produce a lot of sacks. And if they had to win one-on-ones, it wasn't really. So what I mean to say is even their strength. last year being a little overvalued.

It regressed because of COVID. They haven't drafted well the last 10 years. And offensively, there's not a lot of weapons. It's ironic for Cam to be used to the weapons. The one thing that's different for him in New England that he even having Carolina was a functioning offensive line, ironically. But he's not, he can't take advantage of it because he's not right physically. I can just, dude, it's one thing.

thing to get to game one healthy as a football player? How you can feel four, five, six weeks in not just a quarterback here, but a guy who's running the football with regularity, designed runs, and he's a big man, and he's been at a long time, and he's been a great player, but he's not great right now. And that happens. And I really think what's happened is we bought the Seattle game, which I didn't know they really had in them. I didn't know they could play catch-up, but I also don't think we realize how bad Seattle's defense was week two. And we forgot about week one, him going like, you know, 15 for 19 or something for like 150 and no touchdowns. It was a very average day at the office, subdued. Then, you know, you have the Vegas game

and you're thinking, uh, not so great, but he just had the Seattle game. Then he gets COVID. Then he comes back and they look terrible against the Broncos. And you're thinking, and I was thinking, I'm writing this office COVID and prep because these guys are so good up there prepping. You know, it has to be that. Nope. It's cams not well because we saw it the next week this past Sunday against the Niners and they look terrible. I mean, they really look bad. And when you look at them throw, everything looks to be a strain.

Watch him throw those snapshots. And again, I'm no quarterback, but I've talked to guys who know. And his head is like sideways. He's just got to muscle the ball out. right now. And, you know, I know the Liz Frank's been an issue. I don't know if it's a push off thing, but he's not throwing the ball to the right side of the field. Look that up. Google that shit. This is a thing. Look at the fucking chart, like a, you know, a heat chart on a basketball court, like where all the shots were taken, they got that thing for Cam. And the whole right side is

open the last couple weeks. So whatever it is, I don't think he's right physically. And if he's not right now, for them to sustain the pace and keep up in the AFC East. They can't just abandon the physicality of their run game. They're not good enough to be a run football team without that quarterback run game gimmick that Cam allows you to execute. Now he's got to stand back there and make throws. I hope he's okay, man. I really am rooting for him, but it just doesn't look right.

And we'll know after Buffalo, I think, where he's going to go from here. And then the Patriots have to decide, do we kind of throw the talent on this year without doing it and see what we have in the future with Jared Stenham? I'm not advocating for it. I got to be careful when I even mentioned the word bench or quarterback change because fucking WIP used a clip on social this week of me saying, I'm worried about the decision making that could go on after that last Eagles loss if the

Eagles had lost to the Giants last Thursday night. and they made it sound like I'm calling for a quarterback change. I'm not calling for quarterback change, but I am analyzing the hypothetical. And in the hypothetical that he looks like he looks Sunday against the bills, we could be talking about it. More than likely, we would be talking about it because we did C-Stid him for a bit on Sunday.

I do want to say this, though, you know, like, I have long admired Cam Newton's game. That is a football player to the core. and he has fun that pisses people off. He's brash. He's a playmaker. And for some people, he's a black quarterback. And, you know, he's been unapologetic about being who the fuck he is.

And there's also some fair critiques of Cam Newton. I have at times thought, hey, guy's a little bit of a frontrunner. Guy sometimes doesn't, you know, stand tall after a loss, you know, and kind of moped a little bit in Carolina. I thought those were fair. I thought there were also really unfair criticisms of him that people were just waiting for Cam to fuck up and being unreasonable about his football career,

which has been stellar. Really just fucking great. And that's why Bill probably took a shot at him because he respected him so much from watching the last decade. There were a lot of people that saw Cam having fun in stretch line and warmups in Foxborough during training camp.

and I saw the tweets who were like, wait till, you know, he has his bad game, you know, he's happy now. Yeah, everything's perfect, but wait. Well, he's had, by my count, at least three bad games in a row and got COVID. And he has stood tall, taken a beating, taking unfair criticism from people like Jeff Garcia, who, listen, Jeff's my guy, I'm not going to lie, but that was some just crazy shit he was talking about the other night. Some crazy shit. I'm like that's the type of stuff I'm talking about with people with just unreasonable criticisms and critiques of cam cam became like the poster child for old man yelling at clouds that was an old man yelling at the clouds moment for jeff carcia i think it's i was like what are we talking about right now but cam has stood tall after these losses he's been accountable he's answered questions he's been a team guy which he always was a team guy but he's He's been that way in front of the microphone, and he has been all class and accountable.

And I think that's something that's rare in football today. So let me be the old man yelling at clouds and use Cam Newton as an example of how you should be when things don't go right. Because I've been in his situation, not as a quarterback, not as somebody of his level of a player or notoriety, but any football player, if you played long enough, only a few football players don't go through that moment where they're staring their fucking existence in the sport down the barrel. And when you're doing that, like, it can be a desperate time and you can feel really fucking angry and frustrated and your self-esteem is crushed. And you just, everything, everybody becomes an enemy.

And you do. It's hard for you to be accountable. But you try to do it and you try to be classy and you try to not throw people under the bus, try not to make excuses. I've fucking been there. He's going through that. And dude, he is passing that test with flying colors. I really have a whole new level of respect for Cam Newton.

So I don't know if he's going to be right on the field. I don't know if this story has a happy ending. But if it doesn't, he should be very fucking proud of himself, not just for a great career to this point. I mean, I'm not trying to write his obituary, but I'm just saying it looks like the past few weeks, you know, physically he might be sliding a little bit and maybe he wasn't week one.

I hope he picks it up. I also don't want to do the, hey, one month snapshot thing. You know, every quarterback gets bad months, goes through, you know, lows and highs, but just knowing the injury history the last couple of years just makes me worry. So we were also asked today, Justin Herbert or Joe Burrow is a totally unfair answer. I think they're both awesome.

And I think it's so early to make a choice on anybody. But since I'm doing TV, as I tease K Adams, I'm a total podcast guy. Sure, I will make a prediction for the rest of these two young men's lives as to who's going to be the best quarterback. I'll take Justin Herbert, you know, like I really will. And I think they're both awesome. I think they both have a chance of being Super Bowl winning franchise quarterbacks. This is a fun little conversation.

The last one kind of ended tragically. The Andrew Luck, RG3 race, if you will, that everybody was like, who's the better quarterback? You know, like I'm putting in my pick for RG3 or Andrew Luck and then you root for that guy and try to justify it online for like three to five years. and you pick each other's arguments apart. Why do we have to choose?

I guess I'll choose Herbert, though. Joe Burrow could be like a Hall of Fame level middle infielder, if that's the analogy we're going with. Justin Herbert is a power hitter. And both are going to be awesome and productive and win games. But I want to see the ball go 500 feet, you know, like baseball was healthy when people were jamming, syringes and needles into their ass and parking moon shots.

It's the same thing with quarterbacks. I never give a fuck about watching quarterbacks, okay? Justin Herbert, if you like analytics, he averages like three COCs is the way I put it today on the show. Three COCs of Sunday. You know what COC stands for? Chris off the couch. Chris off the couch.

There's about five of those on any given NFL Sunday where I guess. get my lazy ass up off my couch that I am plastered to. And I say something like, holy shit or oh my God, Justin Herbert makes those throws every day, three times, three to five times. It is awesome. Big boy throws, a lot of fun. So, you know, grand total of seven games. And Herbert has two less games, I guess.

he's got more touchdowns, less interceptions, you know, higher yards attempt. Also, to be fair, Joe's got less help around him and the offensive line is terrible. So I'm just saying right now, and there's no shade to anybody else, if I had to start a franchise with a quarterback and I had AFC quarterbacks pooled together, there's only one guy I'm picking before him. And his name rhymes with Patrick Bobhams. That's my only hint. Yeah, fucking Justin Herbert is a legend in the making, man. His passer ratings actually first on third down. Number two is Patrick Mahomes.

I'll tell you who it is, Patrick Mahomes. Yeah, so the guys of the future, who would have thought that the guy who is dubbed as the biggest project in the draft is actually the biggest plug and play? Like, dude had 20 seconds to go get ready to play the defending world champions. Like, hey, Justin, take your hat off, man. Why that look off your face? Hey, Justin, wake the fuck up. Yes, Tyrod got stabbed in the lung with a fucking needle.

What? Like, get out there. Call heads. Like, I don't know. Was he a captain in that game? You don't get that situation ever in the NFL. It's unprecedented. A guy, no prece.

season, no OTAs, no game action to go out there and almost beat. I know you're going to be like, well, almost doesn't count. Okay, Brandy. Fucking dude has five seconds to go toe to toe to with the champs. And almost takes them down. Follow Justin Herbert on your little Sunday ticket. You want to have fun. If you haven't been doing it, you've been missing some shit.

It kind of reminds me of, and I don't watch much NBA as much, until like it's crunch time. The first time I watched Luca, I was like, oh my God, this is going to be fun. Like the NBA is going to be fun for a long time. And I feel the same way watching Joe Burrow, but especially Justin Herbert right now. So a lot of fun. Come back Friday morning. We'll be doing some Halloween shit.

I don't know what yet. I don't know what I'm going to be for Halloween. I just want to take a moment to tell you guys my son Waylon, who's four, has a choice, you know, like when it comes to. his Halloween costume, literally with no coaxing. He wanted to be the Mucinex Man. Cartoon rendition of a booger. The one that gets flushed down the airplane toilet. That's the commercial he loves. He loves Mucinex. Not old enough to take it. I'm just always congested. So Mucinex, my son loves your product. Pay me a million dollars and I'll do ad reads

about how much less I'm congested, having taken your product. I'll give it a whirl, haven't tried in a while. Yeah, so maybe my son will stop by and do a guest appearance, but we'll be doing some Halloween shit. Y'all take care. See you Friday.