Green Light with Chris Long - Scott Van Pelt! Montez Sweat! The Masters, Women's College Basketball, John Calipari & Caleb Williams!

Episode Date: April 9, 2024

HELLO FRIENDS! We enjoyed the eclipse viewing and now it's Masters time across the US. We talk to Scott Van Pelt who downloads us on the Masters storylines, how special of a place Augusta National really is, some Tiger Woods stories and Scott weighs in on college basketball, Bronny James and the NIL issues in college athletics. Montez Sweat then joins to tells Chris about life in Chicago after being traded to the Bears last season, his advice for Caleb Williams, how he really feels about the Washington Commander team name and the Bears' rivalry with the Green Bay Packers. Enjoy! (00:00) - Intro (7:11) - Scott Van Pelt on The Masters, Women's College Basketball, John Calipari going to Arkansas, Bronny James' future, NIL issues in college athletics and best possible hypothetical announcer booth from current broadcasters, former athletes and podcasters (1:06:03) - Montez Sweat on the Chicago Bears, Caleb Williams, being a Washington Commander and the Green Bay Packers rivalry Want your Green Light Merch so you can look exactly like Chris and the fellas? Hit the website below and get kitted! https://stores.kotisdesign.com/yotehouse/products Have some interesting takes, some codebreaks or just want to talk to the Green Light Crew? We want to hear from you. Call into the Green Light Hotline and give us your hottest takes, your biggest gripes and general thoughts. Day and night, this hotline is open. Green Light Hotline: ‪[phone]‬ Send any Talent Search submissions to: [e-mail] Include any video of your talents, takes and bits as well as a little bit about yourself. Love hearing from the Green Light fans. Also, check out our paddling partners at Appomattox River Company to get your canoes, kayaks and paddleboards so you're set to hit the river this summer. https://paddleva.com/ 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 Tube YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgxWFAA-wuB7osdiAJyLOcw 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you owe anything to Tiger Woods? And by that, I'm referring to you, Tiger, Daryl, Golf Channel. 100%. 100%. I've said this and it's, I mean it. Like, what you're talking about is after he won in 97, I drove down to Dural to ask him if he would do an interview with me. And I knew him well enough.

It's a different time. It wasn't like you text the dude. So I got in my car and drove from Orlando to Miami. and sat and waited in the locker room and asked him if we could do this thing the week of Bay Hill. He's like, I told this story. Like, literally, he's like, what are you doing here? I was like, I came here to ask you if you do this thing. He's like, right, okay, no, really, why are you here?

I said to ask you if you would do this interview. And then he did it. Hello, Greenlight friends. And welcome to the Greenlight Masters. We hope everyone had a wonderful, eclipse. today and you enjoyed it safely. We've got Scott Van Pelt on today and Montez Sweat. Scott joins us from Augusta, Georgia. He's going to talk masters and a number of sports stories, including men's and women's college basketball, the NIL, Brony James.

We do a little exercise where Chris Macon and Scott picked their favorite booth combinations of current broadcasters, podcasters, former athletes. A whole number of names are thrown out. They enjoy it a good bit. That's a great interview. You'll enjoy that and then we have montes sweat he's going to talk about chicago the hype around caleb williams how he really felt about the commander name as a washington commander and the rivalry he already has with the greenie packers really needed that eclipse day man needed it like needed it bad you know back against the wall so to speak the schedule's just crazy right now and i was like hey fuck it you know what i'm put monday on my calendar eclipse in big block letter

and we're just going to go up in the field and chill out as a podcast most of us no offense not a shot none taken invited invited invited invited invited thank you guys you you got you got work to do and so we we low lives we're up there from noon to right before we had to come down and interview scott which is going to be most of the show scott bam pelp uh terrific human being awesome guy to make time for us while he's at the Masters. And we almost didn't make it. We had to shout out to the Jefferson Madison Regional Library for hooking it up with the glasses.

Yeah, they hooked this up with the glasses. Back, he brought the glasses. Back, you brought some glasses. He almost had to do cereal boxes. It is really hard not to end up looking into the sun. I know we made a lot of fun of people like Donald Trump and Odell Beckham. But maybe that's one thing me and Trump have in common, accidentally staring into the sun during the solar eclipse. Because I did it today on two separate.

I did it numerous times. How are you feeling? I feel fine. You still got a little d- I think that's a myth. You think it's a myth? Yeah. Here's what somebody said today.

It was Blank's mom. Blank's mom is not a conspiracy theorist, but she thinks that China is supplying the eclipse glasses and that they are engineered poorly purposefully to blind us as a general population. That would be smart. Wouldn't that be crazy? Yeah. Because it was only what? Western hemisphere

sort of situation right over. We're all fucking at least partially blind. I believe it. They're making fun of us. Yeah. I saw it got a little cloudy outside. It did get a little cloudy. They say the animals act funny. Yeah, birds stop chirping.

We were up there and Reed's dad rolled up and we had a fire going and it's like kind of dark out and we're talking about the you know all this stuff that happens when there's an eclipse and Nate Nate points over and he sees these two white people walking down the street he's like white people are coming out of the world he's like that's just what happens during he was dead serious yeah he's like yeah I don't know people are acting kind of funny up here and then somebody scrambled two fighter jets yeah I don't know who did it but they did it right after the eclipse started yeah that did that did make it to me made it to you yeah NASA was doing some stuff with some

fighter jets and the eclipse so uh next eclipse 244 is going to be you would do it bad ass i hear you know y'all didn't uh y'all didn't get totality y'all got a partial solar no and we thought like literally uh as early as saturday night 11 p m i was devising a plan to go to buffalo to try to go up there and watch the eclipse with josh allen and somebody like like we were going to try to get jim kelly to come fucking sitting a feel with us like we did today but up in buffalo turns out it's cloudy in buffalo so they didn't even see it didn't even matter yeah so today was perfect it was just what we needed it was perfect beautiful beautiful it was unbelievable it was unbelievable it was me it really it was great he missed half the eclipse it was great yeah hey Kyle was supposed to maybe come up we were saying

that he probably just like speed up the hill and be like guys there's an eclipse today I don't know if you've heard about this That should be Kyle's memoir title Supposed to maybe Supposed to maybe He was supposed to maybe do this Fuck dude But we had a great day

The playlist you put together You liked it Well yeah That was wonderful When you put it together in a clip It was It was like good tunes A couple noticeable

Like recognizable songs early on And then the last like hour Hour and a half was Just bangers just Spacey Yeah. Is this the pink Floyd? What's the name of the thing?

Dark side of the moon. Dark side of the moon. Everybody thinks that's what you got to play because there's a song Eclipse, but there's a lot of other great songs to play during an eclipse. Okay. All right. So, you know, I like to think of Scott's head like the moon.

Yep. And he's partially eclipsing this podcast today. 80% Scott, 20% us. Sit back and enjoy. And Montes sweat. Oh, and Montes sweat at the end, obviously. You know? It's really like Scott's the sun and Montez's the moon.

Right. You know, just a little bit of both. Where the earth. Hey, Scott, you joined us right on time. We're placing our bets for the national championship tonight. Are we overthinking it? Am I overthinking it if I'm thinking about Purdue? If you want to take the points against this,

against this wood chipper than have at it. And I missed or take the points. But at this stage, I don't know how many games in a row Yukon has to win by double digits before you just say, I'm just going to lay them. It's been free money for two straight years. And my dumb ass is like, give me Bama. Give me that candy.

Feeling pretty smart until it's like, oh, they hit another three. Oh, they're going to win by 18. Yeah. Well, what do you know? Well, it's like today, I catch myself being like, well, isn't Vegas smart enough to know that everybody's on Yukon? Why wouldn't they hang like nine and a half or ten? You know, you catch yourself overthinking a little bit. That is the conversation here at Augusta today.

It was a lot of, what are we doing with this number? Like, shouldn't it be? And I, yeah, I mean, at some point you'd think they'd get sick of having their teeth kicked in by Bay, by Yukon. But I don't know, man. I mean, look, produce, they're a one. They're good. They got a big guy. Hey, give this out at the Chow line tonight. Donovan

Klingin, first basket layup. First basket of the game, Donovan Klingin, layup. They're going to go right at Eadie. What if it's a dunk? Then I'm shit out of luck. It has to be a layup? Yeah, it's got to be a layup. It's got to be like a post move or a layup. Yeah. How do you define a

layup? That's what I'm wondering. I guess I'll find out around 835 p.m. Tonight. A floater's not a lot. lay up. Hey, Scott, let's get this started for real. Are you tired of hearing about the eclipse already? No, they gave us these

cool glasses down here at Augusta, and I was checking it out. My bride sent me pictures of the kiddos. They were checking it out. I mean, I just was thinking about this. No joke. Like, remember that, what was that movie? Apocalypse. Apocalyptic.

That was a dark movie. It's a great movie. Yeah, yeah. It's pretty dark. Hey, the guy's cardio, the main bad guy in that movie, had the most elite cardio in any movie all the time. He ran for three days. Days, plural. But I struck for some reason. I'm not kidding.

And I wasn't on edibles. Maybe you were. I'm looking at it. I'm looking at it. And I'm thinking, I'm just glad we don't live in a time where I looked up and one, like, thought that the gods were angry and like we freak out and just go running into traffic. There wouldn't have been traffic at that time. But you know what I'm saying? Like at least we can make sense of it now.

No, none of this troubles me. I was not perpetually online today. I was here at the Masters. I was decidedly not really consuming a lot of that. So I didn't have enough exposure to get sick of it, probably. What do you think Ryan Rissillo's take is on the eclipse? Whatever is anti the general populace. Look, I know the eclipse is doing record numbers.

It's hard to argue with that. So is SGA. Hey, hey, tell that. I love that. I love this. Tell this story, as you remember it in Vegas, when it comes to my blackjack prowess. Okay. Speaking of Ryan and the gang. So it goes like, goes a little something like this. We're in a room. Apparently the room was inhabited not long prior, before, I should say, by Jay-Z. Yeah. Apparently it was, apparently was a Jay-Z private room. them. They decidedly down, they downgraded as it was the three of us. And Stanford, Steve was there for moral support. And we're playing cards. And they're dealing blackjack. Everyone understands the rules.

And Chris is on what they would call first base. He's the first man to act. and Chris was dealt an ace and a five is that right that's 15 that's it's a six yeah whatever it's math's hard sometimes ace five we we have oh ace is a one okay yeah we have a soft we have a soft six is what that would be described as and a lot of those around here hey now Chris says, I'm good. And we're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. And again, we're not, it's not like a crowded room. There's not somebody next to.

I'm trying my best, too. I'm not being funny. I'm trying. And it was a very, you guys know that Uber earnest Chris face? Like, I'm good. And I'm a fix. And I'm a third base for Sillas in the middle. And I'm like, no, no, no.

Like, what do you have? afraid you're going to get the 16 card? You got to hit. You want to hit. And then he says the greatest line of all time, I'm safe. We've all got probably maybe some more than others, but I got a million Vegas stories of people that were in various states of sobriety and otherwise playing cards that made decisions that were good and bad.

But no one has ever had a soft six. against dealer whatever and said, I'm safe. And we encouraged him to take a hit. I don't know what happened. I know that whatever my stack was, it was evaporated rather quickly. It was not a great sesh on the tables. But the highlight of the session was Chris Long standing on Ace 5 because he was safe. That's how I left the table.

We went to the PFT commenter rolled up and we went to a nightclub. And we were like, yes, Scott, this is goodbye, I guess. You know, like, but the way I got that money that I gambled away there was Baker Mayfield gave me chips six hours earlier. And I hit on 17. The whole fucking table, they were like, it was like in a Western when the wrong person walks through the door. And I was like, what did I do? And I fucking nailed it, dude. And the whole place is going crazy.

But wait, didn't the deal, typically the dealer will do you a solid in that position. and not hit. They just say, it wasn't my money. I didn't give a fuck. I was like, hey, bake,

I'm hitting, bro. You know, like he was like, hey, it's your money now. I was like, thanks,

dad. What's the mentality on that? Like, I feel like a three or four is coming? No, it's just like, I can't wait to be off this table. No offense to,

no offense to people that play cards. Like, I want to be in the sports book. Like, I just, you know, I'm down here to see my friends. I was there to hang out with Scott.

Like, I don't give a fuck what happens to this. The mentality was, I don't know the rules and I can't do that. Yeah, yeah. Just for Ace 5 safe is the code, is the catchphrase moving forward. But we did catch up, Chris, later that night after you guys went to the club. No, I understand. There's things, you know, like, the old saying is what happens in Vegas,

stays in Vegas, which is total bullshit, because if something great happens, you tell everybody you know. You got to tell everybody. But I would just say that we'll just say that we'll, We'll leave this for you, Man, we're still out. Listen, I'll just say this. Like, working backwards,

it's the hardest I laughed in 2024. And Scott, it was one of those fits of laughter where I'm looking at Scott. Scott's looking at me, we can't stop laughing. We're at a bar in the lobby at the wind. And there was a certain individual who was just, he made us gleeful walking through this place.

And that's what we'll say. Joyous. Is Scott, is the Super Bowl the one place, dude, that I feel like, because I've known you a long time, and I've gotten to see you kind of, like, you know, I'm looking up, but I'm watching you kind of ascend.

And events, I can remember back in the day, used to really be able to go out in Bourbon Street and stuff and, you know, have a good time. The Super Bowl seems like it's the one thing that's big enough, you know, and kind of wacky enough that you could actually get out and enjoy yourself, especially Vegas is built for it because nobody cares. And, you know, the Super Bowl is this funnel that just takes everybody, wherever your station is in life and kind of put you all together.

We all just happened to be in the win, encore, sort of that gap in the middle, whatever that bar is called. I don't even know. But I mean, that's, we do go way back. That's where we first met 100 years ago. I think it was like a Madden Party way back in the day before the draft. It was a Madden Party of the Super Bowl. I think it was in Tampa maybe.

Whatever. It was a long time ago. You know what night it was? I was at the bar drinking beer with Fred Robbins, Justin Tuck, and the coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, Antonio Pierce. There you go. And you were there with Ryan and Steve. Thank you for letting us borrow Steve on such a regular basis, man. He's the best. He's the best. He is the best. He was there as well.

You're right. What you said about the laughter, though, honestly. You forget how good it feels to laughs to the point that you think you may pass out. And we both did. Yeah. We both did. Were you laughing at a famous person or a civilian? Totally regular cat, dude. Regular dude. I'll tell you when we get offline. Can you be a fan? That's a shitty thing to do to the listeners because you're like, well, what happened?

If you see me at a bar, ask me about the guy. There you go. Okay, that's going to be an inside joke on the show. Scott, can you be a fan at the Masters? I feel like you work your whole life to get like this awesome access and vantage point. And now like just knowing you, I can imagine looking out, you know, at the infield or whatever you call it and saying, I wish I had a beer in my hand sometimes. You don't have to, really, because I think there's just, there's this appreciation just for being here.

The whole vibe of this week is just everyone's grateful to be here. And so, I mean, I'm a fan of the place. I'm a fan of what it feels like to be here. And so I don't need to be, you know, at a spot on 16 or, a spot anywhere on the grounds because where I'm sitting in the Butler cabin and it's on the T it's on the screen in front of me and you're right you got to remind yourself sometimes because it's this weird thing I'm more like a greeter we come on the air and you're in the Butler cabin you welcome everybody and then it's a CBS broadcast so when we do the PGA

championship we're the ones calling it but this is mostly not us so there are times I'm not even kidding, where I'm just sitting there and I'm watching Jim Nance call golf. And then all of a sudden let's go down to the Butler Cab. And you're like, oh, wait, I'm supposed to, I'm doing this. And it's surreal. I mean, we have known each other a long time. And I'm grateful for what I do. I still enjoy the hell out of it. Thank God. It's fun. It's sports. But this is the one week and the one event that no matter how long I do it, it's impossible to believe I get to do it. Does that me? make sense? Yeah, no question. And I'm sincere. Like, you can't, like, you walk into the Butler cabin and you sit there and you're, every, every year at like 258, my dad passed away when I was

in college. My dad and I used to watch a master's. Like the last minute before I come on, I just think of my dad. And there's a line of like, when you lose your dad young, you spend the rest of your life trying to make him proud. And I sit there and I think, my pop would be pretty fired up that this is what I do. And then they like count you down. And then you're the person that says hello and the Masters is on television. It's just impossible to believe that that's what you get to do. What's your favorite little thing about the Masters that you'd have to attend the Masters to know?

That's a great question. The little thing is not a little thing at all. It's a big thing. And it's the oak tree behind the clubhouse. And it's where everybody just sort of meets. Like I have a friend a hundred like many years ago. I told him I'd meet him at the oak tree totally forgot. Nobody has any cell phones, blew him off unintentionally.

And so to this day, he just calls me oak tree because he's still waiting. But that's the place on the property where, and it's a little, it's, to me, if you're inside, if you're, if you're on the property, it's, you're on the right side of the lot of the ropes, so to speak, but this is a place that not everyone can be. And luckily, we had the badge to be there. and you just see people every year. And I'm talking like, there's billionaires and actors and whatever. And then there's just regular people that happen to be there.

And everyone has the same feeling of appreciation, no matter who they are, which is actually kind of the coolest thing about it. Like everyone that's here knows this is where you want to be. And so that place standing there and they're off to the left, there are all these tables with these green and white umbrellas. And it's like you can eat the, like, today it was 80 degrees there was no humidity the sun's out and if you sat on that on one of those tables and ate a cheeseburger and drank and azalea you were on the best spot on earth and it's not has

nothing to do with the actual golf itself but it has everything to do with what it feels like to be at the masters are you nervous at all to call what are you calling the 18th this this year like is this your first time doing it or what you're doing no i no i mean it doesn't make me nervous that's the strangest thing i feel i feel the oddest sense of calm uh and And I don't know why that is. I really don't. Yeah. I mean, I was, were you nervous when you played games?

No, I was nervous leading up. Exactly. The week leading up. 258, when I'm thinking about my dad, I feel that like butterflies. But then you do what you do. And no, you don't feel nervous. I would say this, though. Like I was talking to Jeff Darlington, who's with us this week about what it, like, if you go to a black tie party,

you dress a certain way and you probably act a certain way. not the same as if it's a cookout and you're going to wear flops and have your hat on backwards. You're probably just a different version of yourself. And I don't feel like I'm, I act different, but I'm certainly not the same as me and Steve doing bad beats. You're still you, but you just are sort of the most cleaned up version of yourself. And so I'm always, I'm always conscious of wanting to do the job as well as it needs to be done. And like, I feel like our show belongs to us. So I'm not as worried if I make a mess.

That makes sense? Yeah. It's our show. Yeah, yeah. Your name's on it. It's fine. And if I do, so what? I'll clean it up.

But it feels like somebody else's house. Exactly. And it's the nice, it's the nicest room and the nicest house. And you're a very welcome guest. You just don't want to be the asshole that knocks the china on the ground. So there's that I don't feel nervous. I just want to do. I want to do.

the job correctly. Got any single stalls in that Butler cabin? What's the bathroom set up? It's an actual cabin. So the bathroom is like a proper perfect subway tile and all the whole bit. And yeah, I mean,

it's not like stalls at the bus station. It's the it's a proper. My gold toilet. Put better. It's a solo setup. You can lock the door and be by yourself. Yeah. There's a lot of pressure that goes into going into the bathroom and the Butler's cabin. It's implied you only do one thing in there.

Right. I don't know where you're going with that, but I don't want to go there. How about Tiger Woods, man? Do you think he's ever going to chill the fuck out and be able to just sit still? I mean, think about Tiger Woods at 60. Like, what do you think Tiger Woods at 60 is doing? He seems like a guy who cannot stop competing on some level. I think his body will tell him when he can't, you know?

Probably you and a lot of your colleagues can relate to what, that is like did the you know i think we might have even had conversations about about whether your brain and your and your body are at odds with one another right about whether you want to still do it and at some point with a fused back and all he went through the the accident um and his leg being compromised and all the surgeries like at some point you just can't especially this place this is a big ballpark and the hills are many uh so it's the type of place where at some point that day will arrive and it'll suck for everybody when it does because he was just the he was the guy that was the tide that lifted every boat in the sport including mine you know i mean i might

i don't have the career i have if he didn't come along when he did um but i think the i think the cool thing is that he's still stubborn stubborn enough to want to compete and to to want to you know to want to feel that feeling like i i say i'll say this like for a years he chased Jack and Nicholas won 18 majors, and that's, that's what he had to do. There was no negotiating with himself. Like, that's what he had to do. And then you reach a point where your body says, all right, that may not happen. You're going to need to be good with that.

But when he won the last one, which was 19, and then he gets to hug his kids in the same spot where he hugged his parents when he won the first one, it's pretty, it's pretty symbolic in an obvious way, right? Like you were a child, young man, now you're a grown man with kids of your own. Like, that's a wrap. You're probably not doing that again, almost certainly not doing that again. But I think he's probably cool with it. If you asked him right now, is he cool with it?

He'd say, enough, I'm going to play. I want to win. I get it. But honest with yourself, you good with it? How could you not be? It's got to be tough for a golfer because, like, when I watch football and TV, I'm like, hey, any bit of competitive juice that I have watching, my brain tells me, you ain't ready to step out there.

It's a totally different ballgame. And if you're a golfer that's been great at what you do, as time passes, you might not be competing at the highest level, but that like invisible wall between you and competition probably feels smaller to those guys. No doubt. Because you just walk out there and play. You're still playing, presumably. Of course, because I don't have to.

You know, you don't have to line up against Joe Thomas and try to beat him to the quarterback. Right? There's no physical exchange here. Like, I'm going to peg it up and shoot my score and you have nothing to do with what I shoot. It's just, am I physically able to do it? And I think that's the mind fuck for everybody is that the answer to that question. And only, truly only Tiger Woods would know just what he's, what physically he goes through just to, to compete just to be able to walk.

And I mean, this is where people I roll that don't play golf and like, whether they're an athlete, this or that. When you play golf, you ride a cart because I do. Yeah. Yeah. You walk this joint, like a day, I'm telling you you're feeling it tomorrow. And you do it for four days or four or five days, like, like, because you're doing practice rallies leading up to it.

It's, I'm not suggesting it's like an NFL game. Clearly it is. But there's still, there's still enough fitness that's required just to get from A to B that if you can't do the simple walking part, then you certainly can't do the hard part, which is the hitting the golf. Scott, when you assess your career, do you owe anything to Tiger Woods? And by that, I'm referring to you, Tiger, Doral, Golf Channel. 100%.

100%. I've said this and it's, I mean it. What you're talking about is after he won in 97, I drove down to Durow. to ask him if he would do an interview with me. And I knew him well enough. It's a different time. It wasn't like you text the dude. So I got in my car and drove from Orlando to Miami.

And sat and waited in the locker room and asked him if we could do this thing the week of Bay Hill. He's like, I told this story. Like, literally, he's like, what are you doing here? I was like, I came here to ask you if you do this thing. He's like, right, okay, no, really, why are you here? I said, to ask you if you would do this interview. And then he did it. And we were supposed to get five minutes.

And we went for 45. And he was unbelievable. And it was like I got the first crack at that. No one had sat down and talked to him about what he did. And we started on Thursday and went all the way to Sunday. And it was, he's incredible in that because he's truly taking you in the mind of this 21-year-old kid that laid waste to every record here. and ESPN didn't get what I got because I got it first and kind of he was out of gas by the time. They were like next up.

And it put me on the radar. And my relationship with Tiger clearly was what ESPN was hiring me for. It wasn't because I was, that was it. I had a relationship with Tiger that was different than other people in the media had at the time. And so every now in that I go down this wormhole and I'm not even, kidding where I think if he didn't do what he did in 97 if if if if if I didn't get that interview with him in 98 I live my entire life's different you know I met my wife because I work at ESPN I have the children I have because of these things like you can get to a place where I'm like I I picture

myself like penniless and laying on the ground outside like a high lie parlor or something you know what I mean like yeah where's broke scott van pelt living uh bro I would I need a high thread count sheet I need, I need, I needed certain things in life that, that, broke boy, broke boy Van Pau would really not be, not. He would struggle. I would, I, look, I, I figured it out. I faked it for a long time, but, uh, I'm, I'm grateful that Tiger Woods and I met at the time we met and that we had the professional, I don't know, I'm always uncomfortable calling it friendship, but I mean, it seems like a friendship. Yeah.

I mean, in the way you get to know people and then now at this stage of our lives, we know each other as, you know, older dudes that are dads and it's a very different existence, you know, and, you know, being able to express that gratitude I have to him for, but all it was, Chris, and I'd say it's the same as it was with you. Like, I think I just treated him. This is the lie my dad had. I've said it a million times. You treat normal people like superstars.

You treat superstars like normal people. I think the reason I've always got along with people in the, in the arena is because you just it's just you're not kissing their ass you just try to be a decent person show them respect and get it back and then yeah act act right it's not that complicated i want to talk about some hoops where should we start we got we got uh cow we got let's start with the women's basketball first and you know like the phenomenon that kind of shot the ratings through the roof in just a year you know basically doubling viewership that to me is not just explained away by kately clark you know so what is the you know i'm not saying it's a phenomenon where we should be like hey

why is this happening we know it should be happening but it took a while why are we here you think katelyn is clearly uh the she's the tiger woods tied here okay she's the tide i believe but there are a lot of things that come along with it there's the fact that last year they beat south carolina who was undefeated yeah there's the fact that then ls u beat them there's the john cina thing which turned into a whole other thing yeah there's the angel reese becomes a a star and then she got cast i think unfairly as a villain i agree yeah there's the whole mulky ls u storyline and there's a lot there's a lot there he loves kim gorgeous woman Okay.

And all of these things. Back in your cage. There's a Juju Wachin's thing. So you've got a West Coast team. You got an L.A. based superstar. And the sport benefits from, I haven't mentioned Yukon yet, they lost like five players. They had the player, Paige Beckers, who when she came out was the person that was going to be the best player. Right.

But it's Caitlin who brings eyeballs that are just different. Look, the nights when other games got a big number, they got double the number. So it's pretty clear what she was. And the absolute grace of Dawn Staley saying what she said about her afterwards. Dawn's so awesome. UVA in the building. Wow. Love her.

Everything about her. And her team's an incredible story. They had to replace the entire starting five. And she was going to quit, she said last. summer because they were a disaster. And then she explained to me like just organically, they all came together. But all these other storylines get the eyeballs and the attention, which is fantastic for the sport because of, because of, you know, this Caitlin Clark and what, you know, it's some, it's, it's like a Hoosiers kind of a thing, right? It's a girl in a ponytail

that shoots 30 footers that breaks records. And then it becomes, well, let's, hey, who's Lynette Woodard. Oh, she actually was awesome. And she played for Kansas. She won an Olympic gold medal. Let's learn about her. So what was cool to me about this is the way other stories became either known or remembered. And then, and see, this happened the other night on the show where, like, Diana Tarasi, like, kind of came at her. I was like, what's going to happen? And she's like, reality's coming. And you go a great plan against 18-year-olds and this, that, and the other. And I start laughing and clapping because every one of you, every one of you pro athletes in every sport, men's and women's, any lane, when there's somebody coming, you all do the same thing. You put a bullseye on them and you're like, you better come get some, young fella, young lady.

And only the great ones get the bullseye that you want to try to make an example of that you want to try to go after just to teach them a little something. And so I totally got what Diana Tarasi was doing. it turns into people saying it's jealousy like diana tarrossey's jealous of what like look at her trophy case at her accolades like she's she was a superstar long before katelyn clark burst on the scene i got what she was saying it definitely came across to a lot of people as being salty but i think that's what pro athletes do when the next superstar is coming and to me it's a compliment um i get why people looked at it totally not as that. But I feel like a lot of, it's complicated too because it's along racial lines. And then there's, you feel like people go after because she's the white girl. And it's, yeah, dude, it was crazy. The LSU thing. And for most fans, I think, that are sensible people. Right. Normal human beings. They're like, this is awesome. I hope, I believe, at the core of it all is, is respect. And that's what competitors tend to do is they go out one another. That's why

what Don Staley did. At the end of a 38-0 season, she's, thanking Caitlin Clark for doing what she did. And so to me, obviously, if you're Iowa, you wanted to win the title and you came awfully close. You just didn't have the depth of the size of South Carolina. And so at the end of it, it's not the storybook ending that you looked for. But I said this the other night in the show. These are teams that both, like, it's a season in this sport that'll forever be remembered. Now the question is, do the people that casually came to the table to consume this?

Will they stick around next year for Paige Becker's who's coming back? And Juju, who's at USC and all the, all there's these storylines don't go away. You hope they do because I think that, you know, that people that watched it and consumed it, if they were just casuals, they're like, oh, wow, these, they're really good. Like, yeah, yeah, they are. Yeah, it's really entertaining. And that's it. Face value for me. It's another great game on TV.

You know, like that, that game. the other day the pace in that first half i'm like dude i this is way better than peru or whoever they just blew out like the the peru nc state game compared to like the first half of south carolina iowa like it's not close not close yeah yeah now bama yucon was pretty entertaining but um pretty okay on the men's side with coach cowl taking the job at arkansas is this are you ever surprised that this is run its course at like a kentucky for him no why Why are you not surprised by that? Because there were these two two storylines that were simultaneous and they were incongruent in this way.

Cal has this insane roster of people that have come to Kentucky and gone to the league. La Familia and he talks about generational wealth. And undeniably, that has happened. Young men have gone to Kentucky. They've gotten to the league. Would they have gotten to the league if they went to Oakland? Probably the guys that went to Kentucky. Did he get him to the league or did they play in Kentucky before they went to the league?

A little bit of both. But my point is that they attracted great players. And Cal was a big reason why. So on the one hand, you get to have this incredible mural on the wall. Every school does this, right? At Virginia, you're like, your guys in the league, you're like, this guy's in the league. Yonra Hunter's in the league. This guy, this guy, this guy, this guy.

Awesome. Well, Kentucky's wall is like a mural, a mile long. Cool. Those guys weren't winning NCAA tournament games. And so Kentucky fans are saying, I'm psyched you keep getting good players, but I want to see you win games in the tournament and you're not. And at some point, these things need to intersect. We need these really good players to win games in March. Or like, we're Kentucky. What are we doing here? And I think it's, It felt like this kind of loveless marriage in the sense that, like, people, like, there's, I'm sure there's animosity from Cal because I'm sure he looks at them and goes, bring the next guy in, see how it goes. Yeah. And I think Kentucky fans are like, yeah, good luck, because we'll go do that. And now, if you're Arkansas, you're like, this is a coup. You've got this Tyson guy that's the chicken man, dude. The chicken man. Hey, like the chicken man with a lot of chicken.

Five million, five million for NIL, supposedly, something like that. I mean, you can flock of wings, man. Hell yeah. But here's the tricky part. Arkansas has had more success in the incidentally tournament the last five years in Kentucky. So it's like you go there and flame out in the first round. Well, now they're not happy either. So am I surprised?

No. Like when he went there, it was Cal and Kentucky was like, that's as big a deal as you can have. Big name, an absolute blue blood. But at some point, you got to win tournaments. got to win, excuse me, games in the tournament. They weren't. It seemed like they were looking for an out. And I've heard people, like, who's next?

Well, maybe Oates. Well, his buyouts, $18 million. They were ready to pay double that to get Cal to walk. So I don't know if Oates is the guy, but, you know, it doesn't, sometimes it could just, it's rare. Like, whenever somebody talks about a mutual breakup, you're like, now, somebody broke up with somebody. This feels like the kind of situation where maybe from Cal and Kentucky's perspective,

if it's the rarest of things where both sides benefit from doing something different. If Golki is the one that sets this crazy, you know, like if Arkansas is great. I mean, that dude did something. He knocked Cal. Butterfly effect. Yeah, the butterfly effect. The other thing is you talk about college basketball right now. The one thing I want to bring up was Brani.

Brani seems to me to be a great kid, great head on his shoulders. Obviously, his dad's really sharp and knows the best. Biz. If you're LeBron for a second here, what are you counseling him as far as doing? I feel for him in this way. Like Michael Jordan's kids played. Michael Jordan's son played a UCF and was a good player. Yeah. But when you're Jordan's son, like, can you just be a good player? It seemed to me, and I understand that the young man had a heart issue that he came back from.

But it seemed in watching that he's obviously a good player. He's a Division I scholarship player. But he's not an NBA player now. He's a college player. I'd go play in college someplace. And the things that happen with LeBron tweeting out, like, can we just let the kid be a kid? And you're like, well, yeah, but you're the one that tweeted out that you're watching league pass. And they're Brown, he's bettering people in the league, man.

Like you, you kind of set the trap for him. Like, and that, the fact that he's a proud Papa. That's normal. And it's awesome. It's great. Like, I applaud any dad that's, that waves the flag for their kid. Of course. But I can do it in a way that nobody cares if my kid's okay, but not awesome.

LeBron's kid and his name LeBron. And I talked to somebody about this about you. Like, I have so much. respect for somebody whose dad was a Hall of Famer is going to try to do the same thing. You know, you would know how hard that is. Yeah. Yeah. That's why I feel for the kid.

So I would ask you, I'm not trying to flip the script and be the interviewer, but as a guy that did it, like what, what's, what lane makes sense to give him, to give him a chance to become whatever it is, he's, whatever his ceiling is, like, how does he reach that? Tony Bennett. Love it. I mean, honestly, I'm with you. Like, he's living an incredible life. I mean, we were talking about earlier.

Like, imagine being in high school and being Brony James with all the trppings of it and all the pressure and everything. But also really cool. And now the run he's on, there's going to be a lot of people waiting to see what he does next. I would say, like, maximize this time in your life. Go play college ball. It would be a lot more complicated back in our day. But like today, you're going to make a ton of money wherever you go. Like, you know, running.

back another year and then figure it out. I mean, there's the whole conversation about LeBron wanting to play with him in the NBA. That's the tricky part. That's the tricky part, right? Yeah, you know, because if LeBron's like, hey, I want to get out of here, man, like, hurry up. You know, because I kind of get that idea right now. I remember like Griffey Senior and Griffey Jr. and baseball is a game where I don't, easy for me to sit here and say, oh, it's easier to play into your 40s, but I mean, I just, we've never seen anyone at this age at this level in the NBA. I mean, LeBron, we talked earlier about Tiger and like, what that dude did at his peak is he made you numb to what he was doing.

He just just accepted that that's what he did because he was Tiger. You're like, okay, cool, but you understand that's totally, this is a one-off. LeBron's the same thing. Yeah. I kid around a buddy of mine in D.C. about Jordan. Like, by the time Jordan played for the Wizards at this age, he, he, like, played in a flop hat, slides and had a beer belly. You know what I mean?

Like he wasn't a 40, he wasn't explosive at the rim. He wasn't still an absolute, you know, killer on the court. But at some point, like, there's only so much gas in the tank. So yeah, the whole thing's tricky. I would imagine that father and son, I've sat down and talked about, hey, look, this is what I'd love to do. But like, what do you want to do, right? I mean, at some point a young man has agency over his own hopes and dreams. And, you know, I have to believe it would be pretty cool to play with your pop.

You know? I also think he seems like a really, and I mean this, a willing participant. He's not being coerced into making whatever decision like LeBron, has got a big voice. That's how their relationship is. He seems like he's well adjusted to it. You know, I just hope he is because I know it's a lot of pressure. Well, and that's the thing, man, that this is the part on the young man that's so difficult is that if you come out and you get drafted, well, you only got drafted because of one thing.

It's not based on not based on the merits of, the accomplishment this year. And so that puts, that puts him in an incredibly tricky spot. Like I talked earlier about like Tarasi and a bullseye on Caitlin. Well, like, imagine the bull's eye on Ronnie James, son. Oh, hey, listen, I was just Howie Long's kid. I felt that shit. I mean, it's real. And I get it. Like, you got to prove it, man. Like, there's a perception that in part, at least you're here because of your dad. Even though, you know, you do the things you do on the field and that should be independent of that context. But people don't take it that. way and I feel for for brawny that's all yeah scott what say you of the current college sports landscape

generally no bigger turp fan than you it feels like you're not allowed to say maybe we're not crazy about player empowerment and free markets and transfer portal the elite eighth the majority of the starting fives didn't begin their careers at the current school yeah i mean it felt okay to cut a check when you're funding a scholarship but feels a feels weirder when you're asked to cut a check to keep a guy around for another few months? It's fantastic that players get money. They should. The issue is that there currently is unregulated free agency in college sports.

And that doesn't exist in professional athletics. There's a reason why everybody gets fired up in mid-March when it's NFL free agency. And in Saquan, Barclay hits the market. it's because you had to wait all these years from to get there. Currently, you, and these are professionals that have a union and people look at out for their interests and, you know, they're not 18, 19 years old. Some cases they're not much older than that, but you can't continue to have a situation where I'm, okay, I go to Virginia and I come get, they give me. me 250, awesome. I outperform. And now next year, I'm on the portal. And then I go to Arkansas, and then I play okay. And then I outperform or I don't outperform. And then I go to Florida

State. Like, that doesn't make any sense to me. And I, there was, I talked about it once in relation to the comments that Saban had. And every coach tells me the exact same thing, that all anyone wants to know is how much money. And if you say that that's not great, then people push back and go, oh, you don't like young people getting money. Where did I fucking say that? That's not what I'm saying at all. I'm just saying, I'd like, can you explain to me that you think it makes sense that the only athletes in all of sports that are allowed every single year to leave, to go to the next highest bidder are college athletes. I don't get. It went from you couldn't have anything to now you can have anything.

Yeah. Some sort of guardrail of some kind has to happen because every person you talk to says this will, this can't be sustainable because boosters are funding it. The universities are not. So you go to Chris Long and say, see, Long, we got a guy as a difference maker. But we need half a million. And you're like, all right. well say you give it to him well that's this year and then next year you come back

for another half mill hey or he no no no no because this year this year it's 700 this year it's 700 this year yeah that's the part too and and and at some point even the richest boosters say ask the next guy um and and so it's it's just it's a tricky spot because Everyone understands that something has to happen. No one seems to know who the person or people are that are going to create the boundaries to try to keep, to try to make it more sustainable. Is it they can't be employees? Can you have contracts?

Do you limit the number of times you can transfer? Because currently you can just ping pong year to year. And all the coaches leave every year. You're right. And John Caliperi just left. But there's like 1,500 people in the portal right now in basketball. And there aren't 15 coaches that leave. So that's not the same thing.

And the minute that a coach leaves, then you ought to be able to leave because he was your coach. So I'm all for the players making money. Absolutely. They should. I'm not for the only athletes in all of sports that have unlimited, unregulated free agency being college athletes because that doesn't make any sense to me. the guy who figures this out is going to be a saint

because everybody would love for two things to happen one us enjoy college sports two the players are compensated fairly for their contribution every time we turn it on the TV anytime we watch something all the money rolling in I'm like you Scott I wanted to happen for the players but there has to be some

you know some sort of way some rule of some kind that isn't just you can you can leave every single year and go get more money next year. And you know this. Like a guy like Tori Smith, he was, to me, he's the shining example of the way you athletes get used by the system, but athletes can use the system for education if they want. Tori got two degrees. He also got two Super Bowl rings. Like that's the perfect situation. He's the rare guy. You're a rare guy. People that make it and make their money and have accolades and win at the highest level, but also left college with multiple degrees so that when you stop playing,

you're situated in a way where you're not, if you do get this money and you run through it, well, he's got something else. Yeah. And I mean, this is where people like roll their eyes at you, but like the dude that goes or the girl that goes to four schools in five years, like are we, our credits transfer or we just how do we quantify what I have absolutely no idea. It seems like none of it matters. So get the dough by all means.

everyone and they should get more of it and they should participate in the TV part of it too but that's tricky because it funds everything else um but someone I don't know I don't know who's going to get in charge of it because no one's in charge there's no rules and there's no one to enforce the rules that don't exist it's the wild west and that's the way I hear it mostly get uh that's that's the analogy that's why I want to leave you with this guy I know you got stuff to do but um the uh the the exercise that I sent out to you 15 minutes before the show both you I like both you to be on your toes. I want you to form a broadcasting booth in football and basketball.

You can go college or a pro, whatever it is. And I want you to take one coach who's currently a coach. I want you to take one player who's currently a player and one podcaster. And you're going to put them in this super booth. Who is going to be in your booth? You want to start with basketball? Yeah. Okay.

I've got Bruce Pearl. Okay. Ryan Rosillo. Okay. Yep. And Draymond Green. Ooh. The reactions.

Mute button. Yeah, but didn't you see, Draymond did that commercial where he's like, you know, and sometimes you got to stop doing what you're doing. Yeah.

It's all in the past. All right. Yeah. I see your booth. Uh-huh. I raise you Greg Popovich. Al Shinggoon, who still needs a translator,

but his English is getting better. You know what? I didn't get about Shohei and his presser was that the translator was writing down as Shohei was reading his statement. Like, why don't you just give the translator the statement and he can just read it? He was like, take a note. You lost me with that. Can I pause us for just a quick second? What do we think happened there? Oh, I think Shohei's gambling because, because, and here's the biggest one to me, if you're the translator, you got the balls to steal from your good friend and employer,

but you don't have the balls to bet baseball. That tells me whoever was placing those bets had something to lose where they're like, that's a bridge too far. And for a guy to defraud his friend and to say, hey, I didn't want to bet baseball because that would be fucking my employer over. Who the fuck is your employer, buddy? It's not the MLB. It's Shohei Otani.

So I think it's Otani. I just, We had one story and then we had another, like he paid it off. No, it was theft. I mean, and this is this, I said this on SportsCenter. And I, I, there's a cultural difference, right? Well, I say there's a cultural difference. And I appreciate the, the culture of Japan is different.

But the culture here is where you play and it sort of demands that the privacy that might be afforded you someplace else. Like, it's just not going to work. Yeah. Particularly when it comes to this particular thing. And then there's the language. barrier where we're never going to hear him say anything. And so it's just an incredibly, I don't know, I don't know, like most things in life, most problems in life, it feels like

people just wait. There's like a formula. Too early to talk, too early to talk about it. Then we wait. And then after we've waited a long enough period of time, well, then that's in the past and we're moving forward. You're right. And it's this, it's a trick where you can create this vacuum where you don't ever have to discuss it because it's too soon. Then it's already in the past and then we just play baseball. We do it with dead guys all the time. You know, like, God dies. And I'm like, yeah, I don't know. He's kind of an asshole. Everybody's like, not right now.

And then a year or two later, I'm like, hey, can I go, can I circle back to that guy? And what he did in the 70s? Or just can we talk about it? It's like, oh, you fucking living in the past. Cancel culture. I don't have fucking cancel culture. It's not real. All right. And my podcaster will be Stanford Steve because we all love Stanford Steve.

Yeah. Universally loved. He stuck up. Steve, with Steve's game day picks this year, was there a certain point where you stopped talking to him about them because it became uncomfortable for us as it. We didn't bring it up. I didn't bring it up. Somebody here might have brought it up. Here's the thing about that.

All right. I remember years ago going to work one Sunday at ESPN. And there was this room where there's these massive monitors everywhere. and it was Boomer, it was T.J. It was the late great Chris Mortensen. It's all the people that are working on like prime time. And Boomer's watching a game. And Boomer's, it doesn't make any difference because I don't remember who it was.

But something happened in Boomer's like, oh, God. I'm like, Scott, what is it? He's like, yeah, I swore the bills. I knew it. And I'm like. boomer like who gives a fuck you're chris burman he's like god scotty you just you want to and i'm like i i i totally just blew it off like who you're chris burman and you pick the wrong team it doesn't make any difference but it matters and now as a guy that has a show and you pick us to have a

segment called winners i don't grip harder for anything than the games i pick because i want to be right because why? Because when you lose, some bozo on Twitter is going to heckle you and tell you you suck. All of this is a backstory to say, our guy Stanford Steve, who was great, his game picks last year were awesome. And then he goes on the single biggest college football show there is, and he's slapping his picks on the side of a fridge, and his picks are absolute rubbish. And so uncomfortable, no, just it's the agony of it I can relate to. And he'll do better next year because you can't do worse. It's the biggest stepping out on the ledge thing.

It's more personal than like doing a monologue in the open. It's like giving your football take. And for the reason you mention it, they do not fucking let you live it down. You would think they were all 65% gamblers. And everyone on Twitter claims to be. That's the, that, and, and when we, when, when we had Walters on, the gambler, um, about his book. Yeah. And I, I, and I was interested in the stories, but I just, I wanted him to come on to say on the record.

I'm like, what's, Billy, what's a great year gambling? Well, give me a percentage. I, you know, 57, 58%. I'm like, thank you. Yeah. Because like, I got like two years in a row about 60% picking games on, on, on, high 50s. I'm not going to lie and say 60. Yeah.

And Riscilla loves to laugh at me because when we used to pick this, I would always say, you go 60% in Vegas. They'll build a statue of you because it's hard, but that doesn't matter because people on Twitter are going to say you suck. Steve did not hit that threshold. It was not in the 50s. Didn't start with a five. My booth, did someone already take Rissillo? Yeah, I took Rissillo. Sorry about that.

Well, I mean, when we broke up, you pretty much went with him anyway. Yeah, I stole him. I said, yeah, I'll think step down. That's fine. I'm going to go, the coach is going to be Kerr. He's done it. He's good at it. Yeah, he would be good.

The player is C.J. McCollum. He is a super smart dude who's good at, he's professional at everything he does. Now, if this is so cheating, like, Reddick's a podcast, you, Ridney? Yeah, you can take him. Kerr McCollum Redick. Okay, cool. Very professional. Football, I got Jason Kelsey.

Yeah. We'd like that too. We'd love to have that too, Jason, if you're listening. I got Mahomes, Kelsey, and Bill Belichick. Raspi Romo. Could you imagine Mahomes in there? A regular dude with a voice sounds like you just smoked a pack of Winston. I'm going to just stick with Berman.

Yeah, you're crushing the Berman thing. But do you understand the Kelsey thing, the phenomenon? Obviously, we've talked about this. Like, it's, does anybody else remind you of that the way he's taking the country by storm? No, but think about it. It's like it's a, it's a combination of all the things. Number one, you were there that day, maybe blurry. You were wearing a mint coat, I think.

I was like, I was like, please don't. When he was in the members outfit, the parade, like people knew him and they liked him. But then he and his brother start this pod and it's really good. And then he starts dating a singer who's fairly well known. And the whole thing takes on this different deal. But then I think what people, they can. they learn about his family and the daughters and that he's this guy. And I asked you, and you talked about it on inside the NFL.

Like I reached out just to say, like, is this a guy, is he who I think he is? And you're like, yeah. It's crazy. You waited for him to reveal himself and you realize he was. He's just this authentic, great guy. Yeah. So I think that I think whoever gets him is going to be able to tap into that, this authentic, likable guy, who, by the way, is a Hall of Famer and played in,

incredibly important position. So he's going to help you understand it as well. But he's just so likable. Like very few people I feel that likable to me. Charles Barkley's one. Yeah. You know, that has that gravitas where Stanford Steve is another.

But I think, I think Kelsey's got that same thing. All right. So who's round out y'all's booths? Just stick the landing. You guys got to go to the Butler's cabin. Play it. Butler Cabin.

It's Butler Cabin. Singular. There's no possessive. You should take a look at it, too. Oh, really? Yeah. Very nondescript little single family home. You're asking me about the commode in there, for God's sake.

He's just got to round out his booth. Dion Sanders, DeAndre Swift, and podcaster, Kyle Long. Okay, good, good. Scott's going to begrudgingly throw three names out. We're going to let him go. Say the thing. Because here's, okay, McVeigh is awesome. Yes.

Because he's got the good looking thing. He's got the kind of, he's got that thing. going, but then he's got photographic recall of everything that's ever happened in every moment, which is preposterous. Polichick, by the way, would be incredible. I think so, too. That's what people don't get, is that there's a different version of him. And when he was on the, like, the top 100 on NFL network with Eisen doing, breaking down stuff,

like when he's engaged and into it, as opposed to talking to us, which he'd rather be stuck in the eye with a fork, Like, he's unreal. But McVeigh, be great. The player, I want a defensive guy. I want a defensive guy. Like,

what about like a... Like a Parsons. I want to. He's got a lot to say. He does. Yeah. But what about somebody? What about like an OG,

like a, like a, like a Wagner? Like, is Bobby Wagner talk enough? He's super put together. He's like type A to a T. He's just got his life on lock. You know?

Well, dress smells good fucking makes every tackle smell great i don't even remember what it what he smelled like but i know he smelled good and he he would be great on tv bobby wagner would be good but and you don't care you're just trying to get rid of me at this point but i no no i there's you know there's you know buddies at the masters yeah but i'm putting sitting in a room with a fucking picture of the master of the master's you should be it you should be enjoying that picture I should, but wait, I don't know if it's Wagner or, you know what? No, it's not.

Bobby just got cut. It's Fred Warner. Fred Warner. I love him. He's awesome. Great guest. I don't know how he smells. No, he doesn't smell as good as Bobby Wagner.

Oh, well, we may have to podcast or C-Wall. Greenlight, what's up? There we go. Did you just go to ESPN.com and sort defensive players by tackles? I did. That's incredible. I went to defensive players, and I'm like, I want a defensive player. I want a defensive player who doesn't want a defense player who doesn't want a

someone who I've talked to that I'm like, this guy would be in, I'm putting work into the homework. Oh, well, you're leaving Alex Singleton out or Zire, for God's sakes, he has a fucking podcast. Well, but. Aziz Al-Shahir, he made a lot of tackles. I got a guy, I got a guy who smells good and dresses well. He dresses really well. My booth is strong. Quincy Williams is a wildly.

entertaining cap, by the way. Okay. That's all I'll say. Okay. Mike can ask about what happened in we were in Vegas. I can't wait. Yeah, it's going to be a great time. It won't be as funny in translation, but I promise you at 3.30 in the morning, Vegas time.

I promise you that you've never seen two adult people laugh to the point that they wept. Shout out to Billy Lucci. He was there. And, you know, he told some good Dan Campbell stories. And that's worth its weight in gold, like having him out. He said that Dan Campbell used to stay at the Excalibur when he was in the league. He used to come into Vegas and stay at the Excalibur. Something I've been trying to break.

That's news I'm trying to break. Yeah? You talk about dip cups in the sink? No, yeah, dip cups in the sink, that too. Made Dan sound very relatable. What are you saying to me? He did a nerd roper? No, he likes the nerds.

Oh, you like the nerds? The one of the cluster things. I'm team sweethearts till I die. but these nerds, it's like a combination of the sweet. God damn, that's good, Scott. Did you have one? Yeah. You've made a horrible mistake.

Go get you some nerd clusters and watch some golf, man. We appreciate you, big dog. It's a pleasure. Hopefully you can chop this up and make something decent out of it. No, it'll be great. You know from being in the biz. Tight 10. Yep.

Hell yeah. Hey, y'all. Green Light has official merch. like this hat right here or like the one on my head is dad hat love this hat I'm not even a dad hat guy but this thing fits great

this this hat right here fits great we've got hoodies we've got by the way this hoodie is like super comfy I mean it's like soft plush

it's not the type of hoodie that's going to get stiff with one wash and the shirts too because I'm a big comfort guy okay you got like this white shirt here you got the shirt with the logo the Abbey Road looking logo with Dr. Fax smoking presumably a blunt, Kyle carrying Cowboy Reed, making driveling a basketball, which I've never seen him actually do, and me carrying

a football. And then you've got the black shirt here too with the logo. So stickers, hit the link in the description in the video, below the video actually, and make sure to tag us on social media showing off your green light merch. It's quality, quality three. here. Okay, wouldn't do it any other way. Here's a guy that I thought didn't get enough credit in D.C. And people used to ask me,

who's the best rusher there? And I used to say Montez Sweat. And now I'm right. And he's rich. And he's famous. And he's the most important piece on the Chicago Bears defense. Montes Sweat. Welcome to the show.

How you doing, bro? I'm doing good, man. Thanks for having me, man. Thanks for having me. Watch your game for a long time, man, Philly. You was actually a slept-arm guy yourself. Well, that's why I look out for you, dude. Yeah, I appreciate it.

Yeah, well, it's great to meet you and great to have you on the show. How different is your life today than it was a year ago? Man, it's completely different. I mean, obviously, my bank account is a little bit better. But I mean, what do they say, more money and more problems. I guess I got more weight on my shoulders. I feel like a few more responsibilities. But most importantly, I think I'm approaching this offseason

and more different than I did last year. I guess last year I was kind of like just kind of playing my role and stuff like that. And this year I'm looking forward to leading the defense. So it's a little different. What goes into being that guy, you know, being the guy? I mean, you just, the mindset is the first thing, actually, that you got to change. And just to be a leader of men and also be humble around them also. And just had that swag and that confidence.

that you can achieve those things. Does it, does it take time to, I mean, you're a vocal guy in the locker room? Did it take time to adjust to that and be kind of that guy? I'm not really a very vocal guy. I like to lead by example. I like to, I'm a very hard worker. I like to show guys how to do it,

how it's supposed to be done, and eventually they follow suit. But now I don't, I don't do a lot of rah-rah, because I don't really, I don't really respect that. I'll lead by example. A lot of Mississippi State guys, Well, were you at Michigan State for a second? I was. D.L.U. Mississippi State. As Fletcher Cox would call it.

Yeah. My guy Fletch would say, it is DLU. And honestly, he's got quite the argument. Can you make that argument for me? And I feel like you guys are all blue collar. And you get your head down and you work. And that's kind of what reminded me of that as you were answering that question. Hard workers, man. I play with guys like Chase Young or Durand Payne. So we always get into this argument about who, who's, who, who, Who puts out the best D lineman and all that type of stuff like that, man. But from top to bottom, from the Chris Jones to the Preston Smith to the Nico Autries that you may not know about. I love Autry. You know what I'm saying? So it goes a very long way.

Jeffrey Simmons is like, so we got an argument, top three for sure. You definitely have an argument, man. And my second question would be, what's it like? And I'm asking as a guy with T-Rex arms. what's it like being able to just reach out and touch the tackle? You don't know any other way, but what's it like? I mean, bro, it's really a joy. I mean, I think being strong and all those type of things quick and all those type of things are good,

but the amount of leverage that I'm able to use, like, on my long arm and stuff and things like that, the way I can just torque and stuff like that, it makes things a lot more easier. And really, when I came into the league, I didn't necessarily really know how to use it. And over time, I start, and I feel like I'm still developing in that aspect, but you learn how to use it more over the years. Did you learn how to use the long arms specifically more? Because that was, you know, for shorter arm guys, that's a way to, that's a way to get longer arms, you know. But for you, like, you know, it can make it almost unfair. I was, I was actually blessed to get to get drafted to Washington, even though it was crazy organization.

But, I mean, I was blessed to be around some great people. And one of those guys was Ryan Kerrigan. Ryan Kerrigan really emphasized, and that was his move, the long arm. So I was able to see his progress of it through the games, through practice, how he practiced on it. And eventually he became my coach and even tightened it up even more. So I give a lot of that credit to RK, man. He really helped me out a lot.

Kerrigan, Kerrigan had a great long arm. Yeah. And he had a whole complex off it. His arm wasn't the longest. No. But he was strong as hell. And, bro, if he hit the right spot at the right time, the tackle would just go flying, bro. Like, it was like, it was almost like a magic trick.

Because it's like, bro, how am I 250 put in a 325-15-pound lineman dead on his butt? And it's all an amount of leverage striking and timing. It is timing. It's all timing. It's all like, you know, it's all timing and body position and feeling, you know, where somebody's hips are and where somebody's shoulders are. And I just, I think another part of it is like the long arm, you can play off of other guys.

Once you start the long arm, you can run natural T.E's. Yeah. You know, the whole thing. And when you've got a coach a point that a lot of, a lot of coaches use when you get to the top of your rush and you stick that long arm out and you make it think like you're about to throw it in and the tackle throws his arms out and boom, he picked. And you rap. So yeah, that's good.

And then it's also, you know, You can also do different things off the long arm. I can long arm finish inside, arm over. I can long arm swipe. You know what I'm saying? I ain't going to get too much on here. No, it's, but, hey, listen, it's up to them to stop it. I think it's pretty clear.

Like, the long arm complex, you know, you can go stab swipe. You can go stab spin. You can go, you can go stab jerk. You know, like there's a ton of, yeah, I think it's maybe the. Von Miller, he's used the point where he stabs and he kind of ghostes. He kind of like, you know what I'm saying? So it's like just off that one motion, you got four or five things that you can do that the alarm may not be ready for it.

Yeah, and the stab goes, that's a do not try this at home for me personally. I mean, I'm not a perfector at it, but I've seen guys do it and it's successful. Yeah, no question. Do you think it's more important to have a great end across from you or a really, really dominant interior guy next to you? Man, that's a great question. Wow. I never thought about that.

I do this shit, bro. This is what I do now. That's a great question. I mean, bro, I don't, I really couldn't tell you, honestly, man, because I played with, I played with guys like Dron Payne and John Allen, man. And I love the exit game. I love the exit game, bro. Me too.

And being able to take the guard completely out his shoes. And you got, you need a talented D.T. Sometimes to run that, to run that game. And also with the edge on the opposite side, It takes some of those chips, you know what I'm saying? Because the runnerback, the running back going to either chip that end or this end, he can only line up on one side besides or whether maybe a receiver or a tighten and gave you a small chip.

But it's so many, I don't, it's hard to weigh. But if I really had to choose, I'll probably say another edge. It's just fun playing with another edge, man. It is fun because I had Robert Quinn opposite me, and he went for like 19, one year he was a beast. But like when I got to Philly as an older guy and I didn't have that. the juice I used to have, I was like, man, I couldn't do this without Fletcher. Right. You know, to have a guy inside that, you know, that can affect your half of the line.

So, yeah, there's no wrong answer. Mm-hmm. And Washington, I got the best of the both of us in that aspect. And I was playing, sometimes I was playing across from Ryan. Sometimes I was playing across from Chase. And with John and pain beside you, bro, those top five deep tackles in the league. You know what I'm saying? So I got to experience that for sure.

When you guys had that group humming, and I thought, you know, one of the best in the league, if not the best in the league, you know, we had a group like that in St. Louis, and we often were pissed because we didn't have a lot of leads. You know, our team was struggling. And I wonder how much you guys were, like, aware of how great you were, but how great you could be if everything was right around you. Yeah, we was, we was always playing from behind. Teams would always jump out, jump out on us. But it was always kind of be like a, you know what I'm sorry? said we're still in the game and then later on it'll

be taken away but I mean yeah like I mean when teams are playing in front they I mean when you're when you're playing in front they got to catch up so what's the way to catch up they got to throw the ball and that's more passing opportunities and I don't think guys understand

how many little how many opportunities that we may really get to rush a passenger and go get a sack or a pressure or hit you know what I'm saying rather as far if we're behind that they can control the game. You know what I'm saying? Also, when you're on a good D-line,

you're not going to get as many one-on-ones. And, like, honestly, I just got done interviewing Aaron Donald. People were like, oh, when Aaron Donald came to league, how great was that? Well, it took us from a really great group to, like, a group that they were going to get the ball out. It was going to be quick game. It was going to be double-chip.

It was going to be, you know, Max Pro. And so when you're a certain level of good, then the game becomes even harder. Yeah. I mean, and that's, I think. I think that challenge just to really up our IQ. So we're going into the game expecting, okay, we might get a draw on third down,

maybe on third and four or something like that. Or we may get a quick screen on the first play. You know what I'm saying? Just because the game plan would usually be to take us forward or the front four out of the game. Yeah. We'll figure out, we'll try to figure out what they would try to do to do that.

And sometimes success or something not, but yeah, man, I enjoy it. Let me talk, let's talk about the team you're with now, the Chicago Bears, because I thought, you know, know, down the stretch last year, y'all were a playoff team. Whether you got in or not, it felt like a playoff team. And there's one game that stuck out for me where I thought y'all's defense really jelled. And that was that Minnesota game. I thought you guys played lights out in that game. Were there moments along the way where you like, you know, you get in the

locker room and guys are like, we're good. Yeah. We can, we can play. I mean, initially, when I got traded, I really didn't, I really didn't understand the type of defense that I really walked into. They was only missing maybe like one or two pieces. And it was like that first, it was like the first game I think we played the Saints and the defense played played really good. We was without Justin Fields that game and we lost by maybe like a touchdown. And I think that's when we went on to play in Minnesota maybe the week after. And it was like turnovers, interceptions, sacks. And it was like, damn, like I really got a good group of guys around me. And Fluss was teaching nothing but turnovers.

turn over, turn over, turn over, turn over, turn over. And it was like, we was getting the ball turned over. So it was crazy. I was really in shock because I didn't know what I was really walking into. Just based off the record. In that game, I felt like T.J. Edwards played his ass off. He's an L. Philly.

I don't know how Philly let him go. I don't know how, bro. He's a selfless guy, bro. One of the, really one of the best teammates that I have been around, bro. But, yeah, TJ's great. Tremaine right beside him, bro. I really think we got one of the best L.B. Cores in the leagues. sneaky. Yeah. No, I agree with you. I agree with you. And then having, having a guy like Jalen

Johnson, who's a Russia's best friend, right? You know, like having a guy like that outside, what's he bringing to that defense? Yeah. And it's like, before, like, you know how like you call to play and maybe you just look at that guy like, it's coming and you know, he might tell me, like, go get him. You know what I'm saying? Like, having that type of camaraderie on the field and that, and that chemistry and just having that guy's back knowing like, look, I'm going to do my job, you do yours. You know what I'm saying? So it's fine. How about, you know, the Fields thing at the end of the year, like I felt like he, even after he was just traded, I think he's probably well thought of in that locker room was the vibe I got, like that like people respected the run he had

and knew that everything wasn't perfect for him. Yeah, but he held his head high and seemed to be all class. Like, do you think he left with his dignity in the way that I'm described? I mean, I was only there for a couple months. So I was only able to see, you know what I was able to see. He's a blue-collar guy. Like, he's coming to locker room, head up, first guy on the field, last guy to leave type stuff. Like, he's always working on the locker room. It seemed like he was doing everything right, you know what I'm saying? And he had the respect of the guys. It's just sometimes the league does league things. So I can't. I already know. It's out of my pay grade, man. Okay. So the next guy, whoever the next guy is.

Um, whoever the next guy is. Come on now. Yeah, all right. All right. Well, let's talk about it. Let's talk about it. You never know. You never know, though. You never know. You never know. You never know. But, but let's say it's Caleb. You know, you get to talk to Caleb for the first time. He walks in the building. You're a leader. What's one piece of advice that you would give a young quarterback trying to be a leader in this league in a room full of alphas and veterans?

Be yourself. Don't try to do it all over the night and just stay humble. Don't try to do it all by yourself. You've got a great group of guys around you. I know you've seen the pieces, Keenan Island, Swift from Philly. We got some guys that around him, so I could just be humble and be yourself.

So, I mean, he's obviously a talented guy. I was just say, just don't try to do it all in one night. What about Gervyn Dexter? Yeah, he, boy, you're going to see. He got a shot. Yeah, man, he's going to see, man. He's pretty good. I feel like he was still like just kind of unlocking itself, being itself.

And I think that's gonna really flourish, flourish this year, bro. He's a really talented kid. He's one of those quick, real quick, D-tackles, but strong as hell. And it's really, it's really a sight to see. But yeah, he's gonna jump out on the scene for sure. He just gotta get his pads down. He's so big. He is.

I mean, he's tall, but he's strong though. So it's like, and I mean, another thing, like, you using that leverage. You know what I'm saying? You gotta learn how to, because he's a longer guy too. So he's one of those guys that can like any jack of trade, like he could do it all kind of. So he even bro, sometimes when he came out on the edge and was making some inside moves, yeah,

man, he's pretty good. I love that. How about Darnell Wright, man? Don't know right, the tackle? Yeah, he, he seems like a Chicago type of guy. Like he's good. He's good. I mean, of course you go through struggles as a rookie.

I played them actually in Washington. when we played Chicago. Yeah. And, I mean, he was better than I thought he was going to be going into it. I mean, obviously, I got a sack on him. It was like a push-pull move, but it was kind of like one of those rookie mistakes where he kind of like felt like the ball was gone a little bit, you know what I'm saying? So it's just overtime, bro, he's got it all.

So the footwork, the strength and all the type of stuff. So overtime, he's going to be a stud. Okay, I'm going to ask you a couple quick hitters and get you out of here so you can enjoy your offseason. I appreciate that. Um, how about that old spice performance a couple years ago. You, you, you remember that. Well, somebody somebody just, uh, I almost missed it. Yeah, you, so for people at home, Montez was in an old spice commercial.

Yeah. How did that come about? Are we going to see any more commercials with you in? And now that you're in a big, big market city and you're, I mean, I hope so. We got some things cooking right now. There's probably going to come out in the fall sort of type. But yeah, that old spice commercial, granted, that was before I played a, a down the football right oh spice was coming out with a deodorant called sweat defense obviously my

nas name was sweat so it was a cool little match man it was fun i actually did the uh i did the commercial with vaughn miller so that was a good uh that was a great meeting him and all that type of stuff so yeah that's fun how many how much better are the chicago bears uniforms than the commander's uniforms uh a lot better a lot better i mean i like the change up the the the all orange joint yeah this bro we guys played carolina i think was it did you play when did you wear the orange this year i think he played carolina we played californ it was beautiful watch i mean they just it's just white burgundy like yeah yeah what should the commanders have changed their name to did guys talk about that in the locker room like what did guys think when you guys change your

name and you were the football team and your commanders were dudes like in the building like what the the fuck are we doing man it was literally like so i was i got drafted as a red scam yeah and then i was a i was a football team then i was a commander i don't know i think i'm missing i think i'm missing one so i went through all all three phases uh-huh every every time i'm like bro why wouldn't just be the rascans it's part of the culture like why don't what's what's the problem so yeah it was up to me we would have just been the red scans to call it at that but anything but the commanders in my opinion I thought the football team was kind of cool. I was so embarrassed.

I was so embarrassed. When people asked me for who I played for, I didn't, I was Washington. Washington. Washington. Commandes. Yeah. Okay. So now you're in Chicago, and the question I have to ask is, what do you put on a hot dog?

But I don't know yet. I haven't got that. All I know about is the deep dish pizza. But I mean, for, for me, it's just ketchup, mustard, and relish. Okay, good to know. Yeah. That's not going to ruffle any feathers. Uh-huh.

Is the hot dog the Chicago thing or something? Yeah. And they do not like ketchup on their hot dogs. Yeah, so you might have just... Well, excuse me. I didn't know. Yeah, well, okay. I didn't know.

All right. And then here's another Chicago question. You guys are going to, at some point, build a new stadium or whatever is what I'm hearing. Are you a fan of outdoor football? Do you like playing in the cold out on grass? Are you a guy who likes to be on that fast track indoors? I'm gonna be honest, man. I like, I like playing this side.

Dallas is actually my, my least favorite place to play. I mean, I hate it playing Dallas. I mean, I hated playing them. But turf and the, in the stadium, it was, I feel like it was top of the line. Oh, you like the stadium. I didn't like driving in on the bus and like being underneath the stadium. Everything that lead it up to it was just horrible. But on that turf, I felt like a track start.

I'm not going on. Yeah. Well, yeah, it's nice to be fast. I don't know what that's like. I don't oppose against playing outside, bro. I've been playing football since a young, since a young dude. So that's where it started. But I mean, should I feel like the league should just build a bunch of domes

and put grass in them? Yes. But okay, as long as it's grass. I mean, you know what I'm saying? As long as there's grass because I'm, yeah, I'm a grass guy. Me too. So, so is there anybody that you like watching on tape? Your body type is so different?

So I know sometimes it's like, well, I can't watch this guy and do what he does because he's different than me. But is there somebody whose game you really enjoy that might not get enough credit? Man, I watch a lot of guys. I mean, I like Daniel Hunter. I like Genevian County. I like, I mean, I watched feeling on Jason, Jason Taylor back in the day, DeMarcus Lawrence. Just, I love the art of the hands and the swipes and the clubs and all the type of stuff. I mean, pass rush is past rush.

But yeah, I feel like you got to find that, you got to find what works for you. And you know what I'm saying? Everybody has that go-to move and you got that change up. You know what I'm saying? So I don't think people should make it really any more complicated than that, honestly. All right, last one for you. What is the mindset of the Chicago Bears going into next season? I know you could say, hey, we got to win the division, whatever it is.

But what's the ceiling for you guys? You know, like, what are you guys thinking, man? Man, I mean, of course, every year is the goal is to go get a Super Bowl. But I think, honestly, I mean, we want to win a division, of course. I really, yeah, we want to win division. That's the goal. That's where it starts, and that's going to be a good division, man. I mean, Jordan Love changed the whole landscape.

I mean, you know right now, man. I'm not losing the Green Bay this year. I can't do it. I can't do it, man. I'm not losing the Green Bay this year, man. man, we've created a real rivalry over there. I got some guys, Kishan, Preston over there.

Rashon Gary is a friend of mine, so we're going to get out there. Gary's a great player. He is good, bro. He's a guy that just, he just hasn't been on the field as much as I would want him to. But when he's on the field, hot. He's hot. And his motor runs hot. Yeah.

Well, so does yours, man. We love watching you play, dude. Just keep it up. I appreciate you bringing me all that. I remember earlier, I think it was like, was it, I think it maybe was last year. I think I had ran the tight end until like the QB or something like that, man. You gave me a shout out on on Twitter, bro. I really appreciate it.

Dude, I'll keep shouting it out. I like to give credit where credits do even when people don't see it. And you make a lot of those plays, but you also make the plays that everybody sees. So congrats on the success and you deserve it. Have a great year and hope we get you on again after a big win. Yes, sir. Thanks, thanks, Chris. Thanks having me on, man.