Green Light with Chris Long - Tate Frazier! Randy Scott! NCAA Hoops Crazy Weekend, Tournament Favorites, SportsCenter & All-Randy Draft

Episode Date: February 28, 2023

(3:26) - Macon's Weekend (24:38) - Tate Frazier talks college hoops + no more Titus & Tate (50:50) - Randy Scott talks about getting to ESPN, Fatherhood, and the first All-Randy draft. Green Light Spotify Music: https://open.spotify.com/user/951jyryv2nu6l4iqz9p81him9?si=17c560d10ff04a9b   Spotify Layup Line: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1olmCMKGMEyWwOKaT1Aah3?si=675d445ddb824c42   Green Light Tube YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/GreenLightTube1   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

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Go to Vroom.com and check out thousands of cars. Welcome to the Greenlight pod. Maken has two special interviews for you all today. Friend of the program, Tate Frazier, came on to chat about the crazy games in college basketball this weekend. and look ahead at some of the contenders come March. Then Sports Center anchor Randy Scott joined for a wide-ranging conversation about work, fatherhood, and sports casting. Enjoy.

Vienna, Virginia. Hello! Vienna, hometown, it's not the hometown, because he says he was born in San Diego. But one of our guests today, Randy Scott, ESPN, Sports Center Anchor, grew up in Vienna. I thought you were going to choose Henderson. North Carolina today. Henderson, North Carolina, hello, is another good option because it's the

hometown of Tate Frazier, who you'll hear from shortly. Tate's here to tell all. Tate's here to tell us what the hell Mark Titus did to him and the nation waits with bated breath. But now, two fun interviews. It was a wild weekend in college hoops. The interview with Randy, we have done. It's something a little different. I've gotten positive reviews from. from the fellows in the room, y'all are gassing me up. I appreciate that. No gassing required. That was spectacular.

I was like, I was really engaged with that interview. It was a cool way to get to know Randy who seems like an awesome dude. Randy does seem like an awesome dude. And it's been good to get to know him a very little bit. And we talk about a lot of different things. And Randy said last night that he was really excited to be on the show. And it's genuine because he's a fan of the show. It's always cool to hear that.

and I told him, well, I was genuinely very nervous because, as you can tell, C. Long, still not in the building. Now, if C. Long is returning by airplane Wednesday night, he's probably down the mountain, yeah? I assume listening to this very pod on the way down. We hope he's down the mountain. Yeah. Should Ceylon not return from this voyage?

Well, for one, this open will be a little bit awkward. And two, the show moving forward is going to be different. But we hope for his safe return, and he'll be back in studio Thursday for you for a Friday release, Thursday or Friday release. Thursday release, Tuesday, Thursday this offseason. Nice. Awesome. Tate and Randy coming up, a lot of news in the last several days, and we'll get into more of these stories in-depth with Chris. Aaron Rogers has emerged from his four-day darkness retreat in a record two days. Incredible. He owns every single off-season.

Layout line. The sound of silence, which you all might know as hello darkness, my old friend, Paul Simon. You and I used to listen to a lot of Paul Simon. Yeah. Me and Julio down by the school yard. No doubt about it. Would you want to do a darkness retreat? Well, yes.

And boy do I love my family, Matt. But if it's just me in a bunch of darkness and there's a cot, bed doesn't need to be nice. If there's a cot, I would love to catch up on a couple years worth of, not like, it's not low sleep. It's just lower sleep than I'm used to for the previous 34 years in my life. So you're basically thinking about the average. absence of light being conducive to just catching up on.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they said Aaron had a, like a meditation mat. I can get down with that. Great. For sure. Although if, and he was allowed out to like walk around and stuff. It's not, it wasn't like jail. He wasn't in the hole.

So it does sound like a very pleasant weekend. I don't know why he didn't run out the clock on those four days. We'll also talk about Russell Wilson this week. There's an article in The Athletic. It said a lot of things. including that Russ had an office next to the coaches on the second floor of the Broncos facility. That's bold.

He told his teammates that his door was always open. I'm shocked this didn't work out. Had his physical therapist in the building, quarterback's coach, his own quarterbacks coach, not the Broncos quarterback's coach, but sounds like Sean Payton's not going to be hip to those accommodations moving forward. The bears are shopping the number one pick,

as they should. Noted Bears fan, Dan Katz, is on record as saying trade Justin Fields too. Crazy. And that might be a little too strong. But there is a path to a process here with the Bears. And if they just middle it and move the number one pick, that would seem to make the most sense. But soon, they'll have to pay Justin Fields is the issue. If you want to totally tank, get as many ass as possible. Hey, I mentioned this. We talked about is Justin Fields for sure the guy. And he might be, but is he going to be the guy for a currently, what, one or two or three-win team? I mean, it's going to be hard to pull a squad up like that,

no matter the haul you get by moving the number one. In the NBA, they might try to trade the semi-established young star because it's just a tank-a-thon league where you're always looking at the next great player, like we all are with Victor right now. But in the NFL, you've got to at least be, like, a little bit competitive for your fans. Hey, six segue.

I think people to let them do that. Six segue, Kingston. Joel had a 75 footer. Oh my God. Mere seconds after the, I don't think we say the horn went off. It's got to be the light on the backboard. After the light came on,

the ball was still in his hands. But Jason Tatum had a three-in-a-tie game to beat the Sixers. Embed it looked like potentially could have tied it from inside the opposite three-point arc. But even after it went through, Embed said, nah, it was late. And indeed it was.

I love this time of year right before. college basketball tournaments get going. Everybody starts paying a little bit of attention to the NBA. I don't know if you saw last night, we can maybe talk about this as a topic too. Damian Lillard scored 71 points.

Yeah, and he held up the piece of paper with the 71. That's always cool. I think they should take more time on that because Wiltz so iconic. It kind of looked like just a thin pen marker. You need to go with like a Sharpie. I think that's part of the schick

because like Wiltz was so just quickly done and not really like perfectly laid out just a hundred on a white piece of paper 71 should get like a post-it note it wouldn't shock me by the way if we see somebody score 80 here pretty soon it's going to happen i mean donovan mitchell had 71 earlier this season the cobe yeah uh and the bucks are uh is that a done deal at 3.5 billy yeah the bucks are being sold to the owners of the cleveland browns the haslam family for three and a half billion they bought it for $550 million in 2014. So pretty good investment.

Nice return. Janice probably didn't hurt. If you couldn't tell already, this is the headline section of the podcast before we get to the interviews. Baseball news, huh? It might be fixed, dude. Change all of your rules,

and you'll get talked about. Pitch clock, but also a batter clock. You got to be in the box, you got to stay in the box. We'll get into all of this later in the week, but there are some games that are being two hours. hours, 20 minutes. Yeah.

Last year's games were like almost three hours long on average. Now it'll probably be like 2.30, 240. It's so much better. So much better, but just wait for people to complain no matter what. Oh, I used to love going to the ballpark and sitting there for three and a half hours and having seven suds and eating the hot dog and having the soft pretzel. What have they done to my pastime? Bases are bigger.

That's electric. We got the ghost runner and extra innings. which you... Ghost Runner. Who's not really a ghost runner. Yep. I like the new rules. Anything to speed up that game, man.

Yeah, it just needs a little infusion of something different if they want to... I think they're going to maintain the current fan base. If they want to grow it, they want to bring people back. Yeah. Yeah. Let's make a few changes. I doubt you were watching baseball this weekend, so did you watch any of this crazy college hoops weekend? Yeah, not so weekend in college hoops.

We'll get into it with Tate. But it felt like March Madness, buzzer beaters all over the place, upsets, stair downs, unfortunate pat-downs. It had it all. And I do want to mention the great Terry Holland, who sadly is now the late great Terry Holland, coach at Virginia. He was the coach when Ralph Samson manned the grounds here at UVA and Terry Holland passed. I actually, I don't know if it was yesterday or overnight,

but the announcement was made this morning that he has died, he had been sick for a little while, and every single obituary tribute, et cetera, is going to call the guy gentlemen, and that's the truth. He was awesome. This would not be what Terry Holland would do, but I'll make it about me for five seconds.

When we played in the Final Four in 2019 in Minneapolis, there was a UVA charter, and I go to sit down, and next to me is, Terry Holland and his wife, Anne. And if you've met Anne, there's no sweeter person in the world. But I let them be. I didn't want to bother the coach. But for a guy who was a big UVA hoops fan growing up and continues to be,

sitting next to Terry Holland was just about the coolest thing in the world. And he will be missed. Coach Bennett just passed Terry on the all-time UVA wins. list and you know coach bennick credits terry holland with proving what virginia basketball could be yeah and so uh we'll miss the coach and our thoughts are with uh and in the holland family and um one thing before we get to tate just because this connects back in the 80s uh i believe terry holland's dog was named dean so i you know driving in i thought about once i heard the news about coach holland i thought about seeing if this was urban legend or not.

He says it wasn't named after Dean Smith. It was named after a neighbor. Kind of a strange name for a dog. Yeah. Dean. Dean. Unless the story went, you know, he wanted to be able to tell Dean Smith to sit down. He wanted Dean Smith to listen to him, so he named his dog, Dean.

Whether or not that story is true. It's true to me. Part of the legend of a great man who will be missed. All righty. fun show, Tate Frazier, Randy Scott, Chris back on Thursday. Here we go. Cash app. The easy way to send, spend, save, and invest with friends.

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We talked to Randy Scott of SportsCenter fame for about an hour this morning. And I was I was overprepped. I was nervous. I was nervous. Yeah, I've been there. Not that I'm not nervous talking to the pride of Henderson, North Carolina. Yeah, no, I appreciate that. I feel the same way. I did like a Harry Giles interview years ago, like solo without Titus for like the first time.

And I was like, I don't know what to do with my hands. Yeah. I was at JPJ had just opened and Dave Lato was the Virginia coach and they were recruiting Ed Davis. Oh, I love that. You might be familiar with from Richmond, went to Carolina. And Ed was at some camp at JPJ. and I had the little recorder and I'm going to take it back to the radio station later

and I'm like so Ed this big 15,000 seat arena state of the art will this have any influence on your decision and he said nah and I said no and he goes nah and that was the end of the interview

that was the end of the interview and I was like all right well we got it We got the good. We got the bite. Shortly thereafter, Ed Davis selected North Carolina over Virginia, which we will get to here momentarily. But let's jump right into the weekend that was. I was going to ask for a vibe check on this college hoop season. But I think the answer we got at least Saturday and Sunday is it's March vibes.

That was a tournament feel to this past weekend. Yeah, this weekend was one word. was insane. Maybe like, you know, a more professional term would be Bedlam. Some people would say madness, but I don't want to get sued. So I, uh, I saw a lot of good basketball. And, uh, I was watching the Arizona State Arizona game live. Um, and I saw that happen in real time. I think that was the one that really broke my brain. Miami, uh, Florida State watching Jordan Miller hit that three, him celebrate and then have Matthew Cleveland hit the game winning three in his face was one of those great moments in basketball where it's like you're on top of the mountain and then you get kicked

off the mountain and a split second that was that was fun to see and uh i don't know just the hits kept kept coming and i kept saying to myself man is it is it march already it feels like it should be yeah and then we have iowa michigan state and fran mcalfrey steals the show it's hard to steal the show when you win a game where you were down 13 with 90 seconds to go and down 11 with 60 seconds to go but the stare down will live on, I think, forever, at least as long as we're alive. I mean, it's not just Fran's going to Fran. Fran is Fran. But it's staring at the official, it's then taking the steps closer to the official.

And I think the official thinks, okay, does he want to say something? Like not in a confrontational way, but I will meet him halfway in case he wants to have a conversation. because I just feel really awkward at the moment. So then the ref takes a step closer to Fray McCaffrey, and they still just nothing, no words are exchanged. It's really awkward. A player is trying to grab Coach McCaffrey. There's not a question in there, Tate.

I just, it's unlike anything I've ever seen before. Yeah, I feel like Fray McCaffrey at the start of the year, he said to his staff, I'm going to get as many technicals this year without saying any curse words. I'm not going to curse. I am not going to MF these guys, but I'm going to get the technical fouls that I usually get. One of my favorites was from January earlier this year, where he got a technical by saying to the official over and over and over again, I'm okay. I'm okay. He just kept saying, I'm okay, but with the most threatening, insane red face that you've ever seen in your entire life.

And when I saw that, I said, man, Fray McCaffrey, he's working at a different level than everybody else who's getting teed up. You know, the Dan Hurley's of the world who might call you an effing clown and things like, that he needs the derogatory remarks. Fran doesn't even need that anymore. And the fact that he could stare down an official and not only just stare down the official, but have this entire moment on social media where you have both sides of the equation where some people were saying, this is disrespectful to the game, why act like a child? You're supposed to be setting the example. We love those types. And then on the other side, there's people like me that are like, this is what we came for. This is the comedy that we want in college basketball. These are the characters that we want in

college basketball. And let's be honest, making, what happened? It won them the game. It changed everything. I'm not sure how that really works. But, you know, one of my favorite sayings is if I'm going to get blown out, I'm going to get thrown out. And I think in that moment in time, Fran McCaffrey was like, there's one of two ways this goes. One way, I stare this man down and he throws me out of the game and we lose. And my fan say, well, at least Fran stuck his neck out for us. Or two, it goes the way that it did. They start making shots. Everything goes in. And we go to overtime in Iowa, the win. So if anything, I left that game and I said, Fran McCaffrey, tip of the cap. Yeah, I traveled with Virginia

basketball for about 13 years as stack guy for the radio broadcast, lowest man on the totem pole and I could not have had any more fun. But at JPJ, the staff, especially in the early days, would tape a piece of paper on the side of the scores table with the three officials' names and faces, which makes sense. You want to know who you're talking. to, especially when you're new to a conference. But for whatever reason, it also had phone numbers, which was a problem for your boy, because

I think for the only time in his career, maybe there's been another one, but Jamie Lucky tease up Tony Bennett, the nicest man in the history of the world. And Tony asked for it because this is way back in the days of coats and ties. Tony took his jacket off and threw it, like over our bench, not Bobby Knight's style onto the court, but over our bench. And Jamie Lucky teed him up. So I'm early 20s, and I grabbed Jamie Lucky's phone number from this piece of paper. I go and have a few suds out on the town.

It was a Saturday night. And between the hours of 1 and 4 a.m., I gave Jamie Lucky a phone call. I shouldn't be saying any of this. I gave Jamie Lucky a phone call and got his voicemail. I don't think I was particularly kind, nor was I an asshole, but I just let him know that I didn't agree with his treatment of my coach. Once again, Tate, not a question, but a story. And, but I love these stories. I will say this, Megan, coming on the show with you, I was so excited because this is what I want.

I want to hear the inside baseball making stories that are going to get me fired up. And if you told me beforehand that Jamie Lucky was going to be on the bingo card, I would have said this is exactly what I'm here for. Yeah, if Chris were here, it'd be like Ted Valentine. Everybody's got a Ted Valentine story. Everybody's got a TV Teddy story, yeah. Yeah, when it's just me, it's Jamie Lucky. Okay, Michigan, Wisconsin, another crazy finish.

Does Tate Fraser have a hard and fast foul-up three rule, whether it be time on the clock or universal yes, universal no. It seemed like Wisconsin was trying to, but they couldn't. Hunter Dickinson hits the three. You're the coach. Do you have that rule? Does it need to be under five seconds? Who was I watching?

I've been watching a lot of hoops tape. I think it was East Carolina that started fouling the other night with like 13 seconds just to do the whole free throw game. It was too early but worked out for him. Do you have the hard and fast rule? Second question. Hunter Dickinson, your thoughts. All right, I'll start with the first part.

You said hard and fast rule, universal rule. I think my universal rule is whatever works. I am the king of Captain Hindsight because I've learned with the foul of three rule. It's all about hindsight. And I saw after the Wisconsin game, Greg Gard did one of my favorite things, which is he said he told his guys to foul.

He's like, I did my part. I told my guys that they need to foul. they didn't get the job done. He even went as far as to say maybe the official didn't see the foul that they put on Hunter Dickinson, which is these are the things that you have to do as a coach. You have to you have to leave room for doubt, room for uncertainty. Say this is my philosophy, but sometimes, you know, in the game, the philosophy doesn't always work out.

At the end of the day, if you are Wisconsin, you say to yourself, we'll give Hunter Dickinson that heave, right? I mean, maybe you foul him, you try to, but if that's the shot that Michigan is going to get with 2.7 seconds left. I think you go and you say, okay, we're all right with that. We're okay with that happening. It does go in.

It does lead to an overtime win. As a guy who, you know, watch my North Carolina Tar Heels beat Michigan and I have to care about the quads and the net and things like this making, as you know, I was fired up about this game. I mean, I'm pounding my chest. I'm acting like I'm yelling hell to the victors.

I'm yelling go blue. This is what the net has done to us as fans. We have to pull for these other teams and act like we give a shit. So in that moment, I have never really liked Hunter Dickinson. Who could? You know, why would you? But when he hit that shot, there was something deep in my soul that said,

maybe I was wrong about this guy, you know? I don't really hate anybody. I'm an ELE guy. Everybody love everybody. So when Hunter Dickinson hit that shot, I said there was a little bit of spark there. Maybe I don't hate him as much as I thought I did. And again, this is all net-based. This is the reason why I felt that way about it.

but uh, John Howard after the game crying. Did you see this? He cried after the game, or at least he tried to conjure up some tears. I'm not going to say he cried. He got a little choked up talking about how rude and mean and how much, you know,

the brunt of the hate that Hunter takes on his shoulders. Um, he was trying to, you know, endear himself to, to the people. So look, in that moment in time,

I said, look, Hunter Dickinson, on this night, on this day, as a fan of the net, not really a fan of the net, but as someone that has to deal with the net, I will give you your flower.

I will give you your moment. It was a good moment. It was a great shot, obviously. And for them to go in overtime and get the win, I'm all good with it. But again, in college basketball, if it works, it was a great call. If it didn't, you're an idiot. And that is the dichotomy that we all agree to and we all live in. So no matter what your universal rule is, eventually it's going to be wrong. And Roy Williams is the perfect example of that because he had a few of those against Clemson. Clemson obviously had the defeated streak in Chapel Hill. Roy was really, really kicking himself for not fouling when they were up three. And we all know what happened. Clemson ends up getting their first win in Chapel Hill. So there's some seminal moments where you got the foul up three, you know, conversation. But at the end of the day, if it works, you're a genius. If it doesn't, you're an idiot. And that's the world we live in. That's well said by you. And we'll get to Carolina's lone quad one win of the season here in a little bit. Hopefully too. That's why I need Michigan. Michigan, keep winning. Indiana.

Hand up. I didn't think the Mike Woodson experiment was going to work, and it works. Even if it's a perennially ranked team that is going to have the potential to make noise in the dance, that works. And now they've swept Purdue. Can Purdue be trusted? We have the two young guards. We have Zach Eadie. What if he picks?

up two fouls early in a tournament game. Does Indiana suddenly have the same sort of ceiling as Purdue based on what they showed this weekend? They have they have dudes up and down the roster. Yeah, they have this guy Jalen Hood-Shafino who is, you know, maybe not the best freshman in the country. Obviously, we can talk about the other freshman that is getting his own headlines and is the best freshman in the country.

But I think Jalen Hood-Shafino and obviously Xavier Johnson, is a great player and the injury is nothing you ever want to see. But the fact that he goes out and it opened up this lane for Houd Chafino to take and really to show what kind of player he is. I mean, he's a three-level scorer. He is not afraid of the moment. He is probably one of the best pure players we've seen at Indiana in quite some times when we talk about guards, maybe since, you know, a decade ago when we talk about

Oladipo. So Hutz Chafino is a legit potential fringe lottery guide that you have on your team. And my knock on Indiana always has been with this group is that I really like Trace Jackson Davis. But is Trace Jackson Davis really going to be your number one guy that goes and takes you to the final four and takes you to the title? I'm not really sold on that. I never have been. I think he's a really, really good player, obviously. But in that game against Purdue, when Trace kind of pulled himself back and said, I'm going to facilitate this game and I'm going to let Huffino be our primary scoring option,

I think that's the best case scenario for Indiana. I think that's when they're going to be the best version of themselves, when you can kind of rotate race and trace and let those guys kind of build up the fouls. But regardless, you're going to depend on Hood Chafino to get you buckets when you need them. I find Indiana fascinating. I also love that Mike Woodson and Indiana fans may complain about this,

but I do like he's playing the long game all season. It felt like he let the growing pains happen. It felt very NBA at times where, you know, they play at Rutgers and you're saying yourself, why aren't you trying to win this game? but, you know, he's just letting it all play out because he's trying to get, you know, this team prepared for March. I think they are much more prepared for March than they were even a year ago.

Obviously, we remember the St. Mary's game. St. Mary is a very tough program, very tough team, very well coach. Randy Bennett, one of the best coaches in the country. I'm a fan. I'm a fan of this Indiana team. I had some, you know, some doubts at times throughout the season, but they've been tested, right? You go to Arizona, you play a great front court, you kind of get bullied around. They had to deal with some of the, I remember.

of the fans were writing in letters, right? That was a big moment where Trace Jackson Davis was getting all this hate mail and they kind of had this little downturn and then they bounced back. There's a resiliency with this team. There's a belief with this team. And I think that they love Mike Woodson. And I think Mike Woodson has really convinced these guys that they should beat Purdue every time they play them.

They should be a Final Four, you know, contender. And they should be talking about national titles because they're Indiana. And we got so far removed from that in the zeitgeist and the conversation. about the Hoosiers that now that it's right in front of our face, you know, everyone wants to poke holes and figure out why that's not the case. But I think it is. I think that they really could be a second weekend, potentially Final Four type team if a guy like Hoosierfino gets hot.

So I'm in on the Hoosiers. I like them. I like it. And Purdue will just have to see. For me, I have a soft spot in my heart for Purdue because we all witnessed. I was there for the tap back, the Kihei Tamamedi to get to the Final Four. That game was played in Louisville.

Best game I've ever seen in person. Carson Edwards went nuts. But if it's not going to be the Wahoos, I wouldn't mind seeing Matt Painter and Purdue get one. Which of those two teams do you think is better? That 2019 team, this team, does this team have the goods? The new AP poll is out. Purdue holding steady at five at 24 and 5.

So you think they're on the one or the two line. Is there anything preventing them from making a deep run? And is it the youth of those guards? I think it's the youth of the guards. And I think it's also, you know, you mentioned the 2019 team. If Carson, if Diakite doesn't make that shot, Kihei doesn't make that amazing pass, I think there's a world in which Purdue

maybe wins a national championship. I really do. I think Carson Edwards was arguably the, best player in the tournament. And we all saw it. Like you said, it was one of the best games you ever saw live. So that is a kudos to Matt Painter and Purdue, the program, but also kind of the damning part of college basketball, because you can be a tier 1, A1, best coach in the country type program. But if you don't get to the final four, if you don't get over the hump, then everyone says you're a scrub, you're a bus, you're this, you're that, I hope Purdue can make a run. I hope they at least get to the Sweet

16. I really do. I hope that they, they, you know, get to the second weekend and give themselves a chance. They need to make a final four. I'm not saying they need to win the national championship this year, but I would love first final four since 1980. That would be a nice feather in the cap. It would be nice for Matt Painter to kind of get that monkey off his back,

so to speak. So in general, I, just like you making, would be very happy for Purdue to kind of get their moment in the sun, especially after St. Peter's last year. When you have a guy like Ivy and all that talent, I don't know. This team, is more of a team than maybe last year's team, but obviously last year's team was more talented.

I think the 2019 team was more talented. But you got these X factors. A guy like Mason Gillis who hit, I think, nine threes in one game this year. I mean, who knows? Maybe in a sweet 16 game, he gets hot and, you know, he makes seven threes. And that's enough for Purdue to sneak away with a win in a game that they maybe should not have won. So the more that I watch Purdue and the more that I kind of see this team play out, I do think that they had the ultimate mismatch,

and I do think that they have one of the best coach, if not the best coach in the country. And those are two good things to have on your side when you get to the NCAA tournament. No doubt. Alabama got by South Carolina and Arkansas close this week, tied her 25 and 4, and led by Brandon Miller.

And, you know, we don't need to make light of what is a serious situation, ongoing criminal investigation. But for heaven's sakes, fellas, we can't do the pat down in the starting lineups. And Natoats has come out and said, yeah, we're going to stop that. After first saying, he almost did it again. He said, I don't pay attention to what the guys are doing at the end of the starting lineup introduction. And then he stopped himself and said, you know what, we'll put an end of that,

which is the right answer. I almost, this is the part where we say they're 18 years old, but I almost blame, and I don't know who it is, but the walk-on who is like, you know what, Brandon, let's keep going with the pat-down celebration. That seems like a good idea in light of everything else that's going on. And I think the walk-on was the fall guy, right? Like he got in trouble.

They actually ended up- Oh, right? Oh, I haven't seen that. I think that they ended up disciplining the walk-on, which is, you know, classic college basketball, Like it can't be our best player. We got to make sure that we get the walk on in trouble. I think this. I think that Nate Oates is doing a great job trying to convince people that he's not Mark

Godfrey 2.0. And I think Mark Godfrey 2.0 is right in front of our face. He just has a better PR team. And he might be a better basketball coach when we talk about X's and O's and putting guys in the right position. Alabama leads the country in pace. They have the most possessions per game in the country. They have the highest ceiling of any team in the country.

they have the most talented player potentially in the country. Freshman, senior, whoever it is, Brandon Miller, is probably the most talented player in college basketball. But the problem with this team is that I think there's too much side show. I think there's too much going on. And I think that they're, you know, they don't want to play the PR game as we've seen with the way they've handled this thing. But they have to, and they have to address this stuff.

And when you have bad juju around you and you have everyone saying that you're the bad guys and we should be pulling against you. I think Brandon Miller, from all accounts from everyone I've talked to, he seems like he's a really well-to-do kid. And when you're a good kid and they're trying to make you be now the villain, I mean, I just think that is a recipe for disaster, especially when it comes to a single elimination tournament. And, you know, you're a young team and you're in these kind of, you know,

in the fire type situations. That's what I worry more about with this Alabama team. But again, their ceiling is higher than anybody. They can beat anybody. And they can also, similar to Kansas, they could be down 15, 20 points in a game, and they can come back and win. And I won't be blown away by it.

I won't be shocked because they have that many possessions in a game. They can speed up a game. And when you have a guy like Miller who can go for 35, 40 points, 41 points like you did against South Carolina, that's a nice weapon to have in your arsenal. So I don't know. It's in general with this Alabama team. It's unfortunate because I,

wish that we could just talk about the basketball, but it is so insane and making you know this, you've been around college basketball a long time. It feels like every time we get like a new rule, like NIL or something, we're like, okay, we're getting rid of the seediness in college bat. Oh, oh, it's going to be, now we can, our conscience is clear. We can talk about this, sport that we love without any of the hangups. And then you look at this season. We got New Mexico State. We got Alabama. I mean, it just continues to continue to disappoint. And I, I, I, I, would like to be an optimist and say that there's a day where we won't have to talk about these types of stories in college basketball, but I swear to God, I don't think it's ever going to end,

unfortunately. And I hate that it has to be about one of the best teams in the country. Well, let's stay right there. And all the disclaimers go without saying alleged and charges not being pursued. And I'm going with a different story, Tate. And that's the Texas Longhorns without their very good basketball coach, Chris Beard. Let's talk about the Big 12 generally. You mentioned Kansas. They seem to be the cream of the crop. And this is without Agbaji, McCormick, Christian Brown, Remy Martin.

All those names from last year are gone, and they're still really good. And news to me, Grady Dick is a lottery pick. I had no idea. But that's where we are. So Kansas is really good. Number two in the Big 12, I really like Baylor in terms of March just because of the guards. And hopefully Keonti George isn't too hurt, but Cryer and Flagler. And then I look at TCU and Texas sort of in that same group.

How do you break down the Big 12? We've been told all year that it's, it is the best conference, but there are some interesting storylines, including Texas with an interim coach. Yeah, I like Rodney Terry. I think Rodney Terry is a good coach. I think he's a good fit with this group of Texas players. I think my favorite player in the Big 12 is six-man, Sergei-Rice, that comes off the bench for Texas.

I love that three-guard lineup. When Baylor won the title in 2021 with those three guards, you know, that to me kind of was a nice blueprint of how the Big 12 can continue to roll and win titles. Baylor, weirdly, in a strange way, kind of reminds me of late aughts. or late teens Villanova where they lost in the second round last year very similar to what Villanova did in 2017

when they lost to Wisconsin and Nigel Hayes. We remember the little Jordan, the little up and under to win that game and then Villanova came back the next year and absolutely dominated in the tournament. I'm not saying that Baylor is going to do that, but I think Baylor losing last year to North Carolina, they get down 27.

Brady Manick gets thrown out of the game or toss with about 10 minutes left. We have an insane season. We go to overtime. I left that game and I said, Baylor's going to be back and they're going to be back with the vengeance. I would not be shocked at all if Baylor is in the final war. I would not be shocked at all if I close my eyes and the Baylor Bears are your national

champions. And Kentucky fans are looking up John Caliperi's buyout and they're saying, how do we get Scott Drew to Lexington? That would not surprise me at all. I think there are three teams in the Big 12 that legit can win the national championship and I'm not going to bat an eye at all. I think Kansas, I wouldn't be shocked if they repeat first time since Florida. Baylor, I wouldn't be shocked just because of the talent that they have.

Chachua coming back. I think that he's a nice defensive force for that group. And he's also just a nice guy that galvanizes that locker room. They're going to do whatever it takes to get a win. They're going to get dirty. So Baylor is one of those teams. And then I think Texas, just because of that back court, just because of the talent. And I think Rodney Terry is a good coach.

I think Rodney Terry should get consideration to be the head coach at Texas. We'll see what happens with that. but the fact that you have a conference with 10 teams and three of them could win the national championship and it's not going to shock or surprise anybody, I think that is, that says something about the Big 12 and they're obviously the class of college basketball. And you know this, you know, with Virginia. I mean, playing Texas Tech, right? I mean, what a tough game that was in 2019.

And they, you know, if things go their way, they could have won another national championship there for their conference. So I don't doubt the Big 12. I don't say anything bad about the Big 12. I just am praying that Kansas doesn't. repeat because they have every single thing you need to repeat and they can switch anything. KJ. Adams is the X factor at the five. He's about six, seven, but he doesn't play like it. So the more that I keep closing my eyes making, I keep seeing the Jayhawks winning the title.

Okay. I'm going to talk to you about something that's near and dear to your heart and that's the eight, nine line, something you're very familiar with, something you might be even more familiar with this year. We'll see. Oh, man. If we're lucky. Hey, you got Florida State Monday night. You guys listening already know the result. It's a Carolina win. I assume you get Duke to end it.

I think you're fine, but I'm going to give you your flowers here in a second. Of these potential eight, nine teams, who do the ones not want to see? This is my group. Iowa, NC State, Rutgers, Kentucky, Arkansas, Illinois, Maryland, Pittsburgh, Providence. It's selection Sunday. You see those teams come up. Who do you want to be as far away from as possible? I think the one I'll start with is NC State. I think NC State, if they win the eight, nine game, that that's really the test with NC State. I can see NC State losing the eight, nine game and missing the opportunity to spoil and be the one seed there. Or it's for the

one seed there. So that is a team that I look at. Arkansas, um, with Ricky Council, with Anthony Black, you know, with Nick Richards back, I just, or Nick Smith, sorry, Nick Richards has played in Kentucky, and now plays on my Hornets. But with those three guys back, I think they have a lot of talent. I wish Trouin Brazil did not get hurt.

I mean, we saw this Arkansas team in Maui, they have some of the most talented guys you'll find. I would not want to see them if I'm a Purdue, right? I would not want to see Arkansas. That would be a nightmare kind of match up. So I think Arkansas, all NC State. I mean, and then you could talk yourself into maybe in Illinois or something like that.

Just if they're hot, but, you know, after I watched Illinois against Ohio State the other day, I don't think that would be a team that's on the tip of my tongue. But NC State, this is this kind of stuff that they're built for. I still go back and beck and back to Julius Hodge when they beat Yukon back in 2005. And Julius Hodge said to the crowd, I told y'all, I told you all. That is the DNA of NC State. and they had the guard play with Joyner and Terquavion Smith. And I love DJ Burns.

I think DJ Burns is a guy that if they need a bucket, they can go inside to him. And he's got a nice little swag to him and carries himself in a way with a little bit of cachet. So I don't know. I keep going back to the Wolfpack. And we're 40 years from 1983, the cardiac pack. So why not? Why not make some noise and get people talking about that again?

You did mention Casey Morsell, great glue guy. Yeah, I love Morsel. Yeah. skinniest bucket I've ever seen. And he's like the longest fingers too I've ever seen. I got to see him up close. Really the last time Virginia played well about a month ago. But he was a delight to watch.

Okay. Just generally, do you prefer this college basketball season to one where there is a 30 and O team where we're tuning in to see if they go down? because, you know, Houston's 27 and 2. They're not running the gauntlet that is some of these other conferences. But there are no Goliaths. I kind of like it.

I kind of like the turnover at the top. I kind of like weekends like we just have, where there is Bedlam, a great Tate word. But I can also see the argument where we have the one team with the target on its back. the hunted, the undefeated club. Which do you prefer? I prefer it like this, I think.

I mean, we joked, Titus and I when we were doing our show, we joked about everyone sucks. I don't think everyone sucks. I think that's a little bit of a bridge too far. I think there's four teams that kind of sit in a different tier for me, and that is Kansas that's going to sit at that tier. That's Houston that's going to sit at that tier. That's UCLA that's going to sit at that tier, and that's Alabama.

I think those four teams, they're on the national title. those four, I think they're all on their path to win a national championship. So that's kind of where I like it to be, where we have about 10 to 12 teams that are really in the mix. And then there's four or five that could really win the title if you close your eyes and really think about who could actually be the national champion. So it's a good spot to be in. I think it's fun for everybody in the tournament. The worst case scenario would be, you know, kind of, I mean, not the worst case, I guess, but like, you know, a Yukon, 2011, 2014 type scenario where, you know, you know, I mean, even this year, a team like Marquette, you know, if you told me Marquette

won the championship, I'm like, okay, I can see it. Number six in the country, Marquette as of about an hour ago. Yeah, the highest AP ranking, you know, since the 80 or the late 70s, I think, with Al McGuire, 1978 is what I saw. So there you go. So maybe that's a team that's fun. But in general, I think there's four teams that are in their own, you know, stratosphere as far as what they expect and what they can do in the tournament. And it's those four that I mentioned. But every single one of these teams has kind of an Achilles heel. You know, when you look at the front court of Kansas, you're saying maybe a team that has

some depth in the front court could give them some issues. Or Alabama, you know, we've already talked about all they're off the court stuff. There's an Achilles heel there. Houston. I mean, you know, there's always going to be that question. Is this team been tested in the American conference? So, and then UCLA is UCLA, right? People were saying, show it, prove it to me. You haven't won a title since 1995, you know, show me something, West Coast basketball. So, With even the top teams, like I said, there's always something you can poke a hole in, which is fun this year. And that's why I've had a lot of people reach out to me and say, I think this, I think this, I think this, I think that. And even Yukon fans have been reaching out to me and they're saying, don't forget about us.

You saw us in the PKK invitational. I'm like, yeah, wasn't that in November? But it doesn't matter. Everyone can buy into their own sample size and believe in their team this year. And that's been fun. I think that's the best case scenario. All right. We were DMing.

I almost offered to like seeing Tar Heelborn for you or something like that. But then I realized, no, this is a foregone conclusion that Carolina is going to beat Virginia on Saturday because Caroline's back is against the wall. They need to keep winning to make the tournament. Virginia is limping to put it nicely. We don't quite know what to do in terms of lineups, which is a tough look in the tournament. late February. And your guards, who chuck it up there, it has to go in at some point. I think Caleb Love, Caleb Love was one of eight from deep, and it was that first one

that was banked in. UNC gets Virginia 71.63 on Saturday at the Dean Dome. Congratulations. You're like, Tyrese, congratulations. Is this, is this Carolina team? team at all like last year's Carolina team? Can they sneak in and then do damage? I think they could. I mean, at this point, though, what would lead you to believe that other than just the belief in the magic that could be? And I, I think there was a higher, there was a higher calling last year.

And I think that's why North Carolina went on the run. They went on. I'm excited that North Carolina did that. I'm excited that if North Carolina doesn't make the tournament, I'm just going to re-watch their run from last year. That's going to be how I spend my March Madness is going to be great. So it's good to have that in the back pocket. It's hard for me to really buy into this team just because of the variance and the fact that

they refuse to not take this many threes, despite all of the numbers that say otherwise. They are undefeated making when they shoot over 35% from three. They are 9-0. And that's 35%. That's not anything. you know, that's blowing your socks off. But that's how bad of a team that they are when they shoot from deep.

And they continue to do it. And I mean, I don't know if it's insanity. I don't know if it's stubbornness. I don't know if it's because our coach is one of the best three-point shooters of all time. And maybe that's, they think that they can shoot because he can shoot. I'm not really sure. But it is very concerning. And I don't have much belief that this team is going to be in Houston like I did at the start of the year.

But, I mean, last year when I gave up, that's when things changed. So I have officially thrown in the white towel on this season, and maybe that's what this team needs. Well, hurt people, hurt people, Tate. And I have written down here, Hubert Davis is Matt Doherty. And that's mean. And I want to apologize for that.

And Hubert Davis is now three and one against Tony Bennett. So who am I to say anything? With all due respect, I hope none of this works out for you. I know you don't think of. Virginia like you think of Duke or NC State. And that's fine. I think for us it's probably now tech and then Carolina with some Duke mixed in. But it hurts my heart when we lose to UNC. But I do have respect for the school. It's great fans. The basketball program, now that we've cleaned up the whole going to class situation. And I wish you well this week. I say

this gently. Do we miss Coach K at all with Duke on the horizon? Okay. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, there was never going to be a world in which we didn't miss Coach K. That's, I think that was the big misconception about my feelings towards Coach K. It's better to have an enemy. It's better to have someone that is the perfect, you know, encapsulation of what I say Duke basketball is. And I'm looking at him and he's, you know, giving me a sneer. You know, anyone that sneers when they're trying to smile, that is exactly who you want to be looking at and want to be facing in the field of battle. And I wish, I'm happy that Kay went back to Cameron.

I wish that he was around more. I think that unfortunately we got a whole lot more documentaries and a whole lot more specials with Coach Kay because he can't help himself. But yeah, I miss him. How could you not miss him? I mean, he's too much fun. And John Shire's too nice.

Let's be honest. John Shire, he's got to get either someone on his bench like Shane Badiere or something to help liven up the Duke of it or he's just got to let it go, you know what I mean? And just say that, look, Duke's not what it once was. We're nice guys now. And if that's the case, look, I'll be like, okay, Duke's nice, whatever, and I'll move on.

So, yeah, we miss Coach Kay. Yeah. Speaking of enemies, Mark Titus. So, Tate, I got a text message. And kudos to Apple and ICloud and whatever the hell for keeping text messages around for 15 years. I graduated in college from college in the year, And I got a text message from a guy I haven't heard from since the year 2008. And it was, what's going to happen to Tate?

As if, one, we're close friends, which I hope we've seen to come. We are. We are. Two, as if you've been given some horrible diagnosis. Like, is he going to make it? So the floor is yours. Please spill the tea. Tell us what has happened. Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, I think a lot of people will run with their, you know, stories about this or that, you know.

But at the end of the day, I love Mark Titus. I love doing the show with Mark Titus. I mean, that is someone that I met early on at the Grantland Days and we just hit it off and talked about college basketball and we did it for six years. And, you know, there's, you know, there's still times where, you know, something will happen. And I'm like, I want to talk to Titus about this. And, you know, and I frankly told him either on the air or off the. I want to talk college basketball. I want to stay in touch.

I want to be friends. And, you know, that's kind of where it was. But look, you know, this is two people that had their two different career paths. And I think that Titus, you know, always had an affinity for, you know, not only the part of my take, but just the opportunities that could be there at Barstool. He got a great opportunity. I understood that he got a great opportunity. I was excited for him. I was happy for him.

And he's going to go and be great. So it's one of those things where I kind of compartmentalize the two things. Yes, I'm sad about the end of Titus and Tate. You know, it was three years. You know, I own Titus and Tate. I launched the show through my production company. We licensed the show to Fox Sports and to Westwood One. So it was a lot of work building, you know, that whole brand after the OSP days.

And we did it for three years. We did OSP for three years. I think there's a pattern here. I think once we get to three years, we start feeling like, you know, you know, Gary Neal and Ricky Bobby, you know, it's a little too nice in here, you know. We got to get out of Outback, get tossed out of Outback. So Titus got tossed out of Outback. I was running down the street and I was saying, what, what's happening?

What are you doing, you know? And, you know, he goes and he'll be great. I know it'll be great. And the good news is that, like you said, I don't have any terminal illness, knock on wood, that I know of right now. And I'm alive and I'm a well. And I have a lot of people that have reached out that have been so and said, hey, we don't talk about college basketball.

What about this? What about that? And I'm just figuring out what's next for myself. I'm happy again for Titus and his opportunity there. I will support him. I am never going to be a thorn in his side. And, you know, I love college basketball. And I love talking about not just college basketball, but NBA as well, and all other

sports. You know, I did a show with Wondery where I did, you know, from rugby to, I mean, horse racing. I mean, I did everything. So that's more of kind of in the lane that I am. I want to be more play-by-play stuff. So it was just kind of like it was a fork in the road. He went his way. I'm going to go my way. And I will never say a bad thing about him. And if he says bad things about me, then I'm going to have to hire someone to say bad things about him. I don't know. I mean, we'll figure it out on the other side. But it was a great run. It was a great show. I love doing it. And, you know, if he ever wants to talk college basketball with me and whatever I do in the future, he's

always welcome. So that's the full circle story of it all. I have a text message here from Titus. It says Tate's a piece of shit. Woody Durham, God rest his soul, had a below average voice. So I don't know if you want to take back. Whatever, but take all that delete all of that I said.

Hey, Tate, we don't talk college basketball here. What about this? What about that? You own Titus and Tate. We can find somebody named Titus. You can license the show to the Greenlight Empire. Right. And Hey, I'll be your tightus, Tate. I'm in. I'm in.

I got to figure out who I'm going to talk to. So, I mean, yeah, I would love to talk to you. You're welcome on whatever show that I end up doing. I don't even know what I'm going to do with the feed. It might just sit there idle. I have no idea. So I'm still figuring it all out. But yeah, I want to talk basketball with you make it anytime you want to.

Well, that sounds binding that I'm your new co-host. And I'll inform Chris upon his return. Thanks for your time, man. Always a pleasure. We went surface level on the weekend that was in the marches that's to come, but we can do ACC tourney stories. We can do this forever, and I look forward to more opportunities to do so. Good news.

The Thursday show we do with Amp will continue 430 every Thursday, the Greenlight team, Cowboy Reed, Facts, Kingston. I'll pop through there sometimes. On AMP, you can interact with us really easily. There's a call-in button. We invite call-ins all the time. You can talk directly to us, ask us questions, ask us our favorite music.

We might even play some. There's also a live chat during the show. If you have a question about a topic we're talking about, fired off in the chat, we'll answer. We're going to be doing what we've been doing all fall. Every Thursday at 4.30 on amp, check us out. If you're in Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, or right here in Virginia, and you haven't tried the WinBed app yet, I have great news for you. Sign up today to receive special offers and take advantage of great promos for the big game and the upcoming college basketball tournament.

Don't miss out on the fun. Download the WinBet app today. Terms and conditions apply. Must be 21 or older and present in a state where WinBet is available. gambling problem in Arizona call 1-800 next step in Colorado, Indiana, New Jersey, and Virginia, call 1-800-Gambler, and at Michigan, 1-800-2707-1-17. Tennessee, y'all too, 1-800-9-9-9. With room, you can shop thousands of cars right from your phone and have your next ride delivered straight to you. I like to look at the listing on my couch. You know, it's peaceful. I can think. nobody's trying to try to get one over on me you know it's a lot of Tahoe's out there

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It was a long list of stuff. Yeah. Had there not been so many buzzer beaters or stare-downs this past week, and maybe Brony makes a list. But Brony's also going to Ohio State, so I think the hay is in the barn on that one. Mark Titus will be happy at least. You were really well prepared today. Thanks, man.

much more prepared for Randy Scott, which you're about to hear, just because it's a different sort of deal. Tate Scott Elaine and it's college hoops and he's great at it and can't wait to see what's next for that guy. But I wrote down a lot of words, maybe too many. I was fearful it was too many. We've talked about this. I'd like for it to be more conversational.

And then I realize there's no question at the end. And then I make light of there not being. question. Not really a question there. And then it just gets a little awkward. But I'm working on it, you know? That's why the big guy's name's on the show and not mine. I'm the counterpuncher. But no, had a lot of fun with Tate, talking hoops. Could really do that every day of the week. Kingston, you were my ACC tournament buddy for a few years there. I don't know why our parents let us go to Greensboro when we were 16 years old. I mean, we walked into the Drury Inn in in Greensboro, in North Carolina and

like hotel doors were just wide open and there were bathtubs full of ice and beer. Everywhere. Again, we were 16 years old and we were there alone and to be fair, we were there to watch the hoops and not to party. Might have done a bit

of both and in our own special ways. And it's the ACC tournament in Greensboro is awesome. And you just wait for the team to lose and then grab the tickets from those fans who are walking out of the arena. A big cavernous space.

There's not much doing right around the arena. There's one barbecue spot. One barbecue spot. Yeah. There's a guy named Leon who was a state fan one night after a packet loss. Gave us peach snobs. Yeah, sure, which we may or may not have in took. But what Leon did later that night was urinate into the vending machine in the hotel.

So it's a wild scene. If you have the chance to go to an ACC tournament, I would say anywhere, but really Greensboro. Greensboro is where it's special. I highly recommend it. It's where it's supposed to be. Yeah. And, you know, full disclosure, we already recorded this interview with Randy Scott. Yeah. I thought it was awesome. You and he had great chemistry. I really enjoyed hearing you all talk about fatherhood and marriage a little bit. Yeah, thanks. Scott said it yesterday that were very similar, which I think. can work or not work. I hope it worked here in this interview.

But yeah, we touch on a lot of different things and something a little different. And I very much hope you enjoy it. Here's Randy Scott. Sports Center Anchor at ESPN, if you're familiar with that particular television channel. How are you doing? I'm okay. I'm okay.

I've walked through, I got these carry-ons, so look at that. Dang. I had to carry. You have thin, we've established this. You have thinner under eye skin than most. Yeah. It comes up often. I feel like you have to defend yourself a fair amount.

If I, here's the thing. If I slip into any, what are going to feel like imitations, it is like a personality defect and talent that I have where if I'm in a certain, if I went school in Chicago, there were times you get a couple drinks in you and you start talking like one of the guys in the Saturday Night Live skills. it, you know, oh, yeah, bears. Oh, the bears look good this year, you know. So if I, with you, having heard you so many times on the way to and from work,

if I do a couple, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, if I do some of that, it is not, I'm not poking fun. It is just out of sort of osmosis. That warms my heart. All I'm really looking from this interview is a friendship. I want, like, nine months from now, I want your kids to walk by the fridge and be, Like, who are those people on that Christmas card? I do.

Okay. I'm an admitted late taker-downer of Christmas stuff. You know, I blame my kids, but, you know, I got this right next to the old, you know, this little throw blanket still sitting right there. And I love collecting Christmas cards. So don't threaten me with a good time. I'll do that in a heartbeat. But then maybe like the occasional text message, too. I think you just called producer Matt.

So I think we might have digits at this point. I was a little worried, and we can, I don't know where if we want to get into the battle of Northern and Southern Virginia, but I was worried that a 434, which I haven't called in a long time, would see a 703 and be like, oh, this is a, you know, social security scam or whatever else. Like I feel like there are some decent scams that come out of that area code, but he picked right up. And I appreciate it because the only, I don't want to start the friendship off on the wrong foot. I would have loved to have known that Greenlight decides not to do what most of the industrialized world does, which is communicate well with Apple products, even though I see a laptop right in front of me, because I'm just dialed in on Safari and you guys are like, no, we need this. I'm an Oreo eater and you guys are hydrox, and that's fine.

We just need to know how to communicate with it. I'm cheese it. You guys are cheese nips. And that's fine. We just need to know how to communicate. Yeah. Yeah. The way we record audio is not compatible with your Internet Explorer from the year 1992.

And for that, we apologize. If you give me a heads up that I had to ask Jeeves to set this whole thing up, I would have done it. But not so much. All right, I want to set out some reasons for this friendship, why it might work. Now, opposites attract. I'm hoping this is not the case because we're similar in the following ways. Vienna, Virginia, covered. I'm not a northern Virginia cat, but yes, Virginia.

Virginia. Yeah. Tell me how tall a guy you are, Randy. Six-four. Okay. Me too. I want to circle back to that, but diddo. Like a legit, like a legit, you know, you can be barefoot walking into a 7-Eleven,

you're 6-4. I'll circle back right now. When I go to the doctor and I am measured, it's 6 foot 4. And it's not even without shoes on. Yes. And they're not, they're unequivocal about it. Like, and then I, and then, you know, it's the thing that comes down on top of your head. And then you can, you can get out and take a look yourself.

But the problem I have found with 6-4 is that, well, first somebody sees you and they're like, oh, you're tall. How tall are you? And then you say 6-4. And then they're like, nah, no way. And so it's an uncomfortable height to say. So I will sometimes say 6-3 because it just feels much more approachable for people. But in reality, 6'4. people see a tall person you say 6-4 they want to say no you're not that tall see what i run into i thought

you're going to go this way especially all the time you spent around you know the college basketball programs and and athletes and whatever else is people expect you to be oh six-four and they do the whole man if i were six-four i'd be in the fill in the blank NBA NFL whatever and for me in my high school in vienna i was the four on the basketball team like we we were not we know we'd roll into these dc tournaments to play against, I remember De Matha. I knew you were going to say DeMatha. I mean, well, you know, we didn't make it far enough to play against Bishop Carroll or whatever, a good counsel or whatever.

But we played Dematha and Keith Bogan's and Joe Forteer run around. And their four and fives are, you know, six, nine, six, ten going to Kentucky. And we're getting baptized every time down the floor. You know, I got out of the way of a dunk once. I didn't know what was happening. I was that, it was like, I really don't have an analogy. I need more than's coffee. But like, and maybe, you know what?

We can actually talk about coffee now that your overlords halfway around the world. But we, I got dunked on, and I was just trying to get out of the way. Like, I realized the lob too late, and I was just trying to get out of the way. And this guy thought I was trying to undercut him. And I almost got my head taken off. Like, it was bad. So I say all that to say like, six, four, sometimes people expect a higher level of athletic ability. And you're like, no, man, I wear makeup four days a week.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, now in the, there it is. Now in the pickup games, I have to guard the five. And great instincts guarding like a big cat who's pushing 275. Like I know where you're headed. I can hold my own. But it's still uncomfortable. Just because we're the tallest guys doesn't mean we've got the girth, the bulk.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I applaud you out there playing. I mean, I know I'm a couple of years older than you. I'm probably, what, four, were you 36? I'm 36. Yeah. Okay. So I'm 30.

Round 40. I turned 40 this last year. Okay. We're both really in touch with our emotions. We are sensitive guys, okay? For sure. We can check that box. Our faces are not dissimilar. And I don't mean that as an insult to you, I don't have the greatest face. No, no.

You can take it. The under eye thing we've covered. Our eyebrows. We kind of got similar eyebrows. Are you Scottish? You got any Scottish blood in you? Couldn't tell you. Okay.

Couldn't tell you. I'm really like a in the present moment sort of guy. I'm never really backward looking, but maybe. I, well, so I'm wondering, yeah, and don't do the whole DNA farm, you know, 23 and me thing. Like, I don't know where that stuff goes, but I know some people in jail because of it. But I know my mom did something a couple years before she passed, and it was pretty much like mainly Scottish on her side, mainly Irish on my dad's side. This is apparently Scottish, these Sandy Cohen from the OC eyebrows that I've got. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And then we're both funny, dry, witty, brilliant, and humble. Modest, yeah. There we go. I love sprinkling that in, yeah. Oh, and I left out the biggest thing. We both really, I hope this is true for you. We both really want to be sports center anchors, or at least we really wanted to be at some point, sports center anchors. Yeah.

I would listen to this. I would stay home from school sick and I'd start whenever the first sports center aired, I probably wasn't awake at that point. But whenever I watched in the first sports center, and they just replayed them over and over, we weren't really live at this point in the middle 90s. And I would write down pencil and paper every single highlight box score at six. that was played on the show. Oh, wow.

And the next logical thing you might think is that I muted it and then hosted SportsCenter in my bed. Not true. I just followed along with each subsequent sports center. So it would be like the magic got the Hornets by eight. And I'd be like, yeah, that all checks out right here. Shaq had 28 and 13. I can verify that. So maybe I wanted to be a PA.

I don't know. No, no. If you were putting up your own script, I think you probably, I mean, I don't want to tap into group dynamics with Chris not here. But I think asking to have your name on the show, however jokingly in the backseat of a car with Stanford Steve, that's not a PA's mentality. You know, that's an on-air mentality. I swear to you, that was, okay, that was a real fight. And then to make it better as people. like us do, I try to make a joke.

So at the end, I was like, and I want the name on my name on the show. Clearly a joke. And Steve knew it was a joke. And now Steve's trying to play Switzerland. Like, I don't know. I don't even really remember. I don't want my name on the show. I have a, I have a thing. The Switzerland thing has come up a lot for me in the last,

we'll say three years. And the whole like, hey, I'm Switzerland. We're Switzerland. This, you know, whatever, this, the Switzerland concept. And I don't want to get geopolitical. I feel like enough times past. since World War II. But the idea of remaining neutral

when one side is Nazis and the other side is not Nazis. Like, I don't know that that carries the discipline that people give it credit for, you know, the neutrality. Like, good people, we have friends, whatever. Like, I don't know. I don't know.

But we don't need to talk politics. Okay. But I understand. No, as a chat, listen, the whole using humor to diffuse, are you, I've lost track of, And, you know, obviously the long family comes up a fair amount on the show. But siblings in the Macon House or no?

Are you one of one? It's a really good question, Randy, with a complicated answer. Mom had two kids from a previous marriage. Dad had two kids from a previous marriage. And those four kids are all 20 years older than me. And then I am one of one from mom and dad. So I kind of got both things working. So I'm just wondering about the peacemaker element because I had I,

that's where the humor comes from. I think from me is I, you know, I don't know if you're familiar with the great Santini, the book and then the later of the movie, but Pat Conroy wrote this book. It was this overbearing military father figure, right? Robert Duval played him in the movie. And my dad wasn't that, that disciplined with us,

but he tried to be. And my mom was always the buffer to try to like, No, they're not going to call you, sir. No, we're not going to this. And no, he's not going to go to Rotsie and, you know, that sort of thing. And for me, when he would come down on, when any of my parents, but mainly my dad, would come down on my sister or my brother or some, you know, my mom. And if there was a fight, it was like, I was like, oh, hey, look over it.

Look at the clown. You know, like, that's where the humor came from to try to like, we can stop this. This isn't that serious. And we can just, you know, move on. So that's where some of that comes from. Yeah. Let me bring it down another notch. My mom died when I was eight.

Okay. So unfortunately, we share not having mom around. And so it was sort of just a coping mechanism. Hey, not everything is sad and terrible because I've got jokes. You do have jokes. And it's led us here. You know, we sell real estate and then we pop into the studio a couple times a week. You keep bringing up C-long.

This is really the audition for perhaps the own show. Maybe the Macon and Randy show. Oh, M&R? I'll take backseat there. We'll call it alphabetical, but we'll know why it's the way it is. Okay. Yeah. I'm sorry about your mom.

I think eight years old is really, really tough. I have a 10-year-old. That's what those, I don't know if you can see them here. That's what those balloons are. Now for the 10-year-old who just turned 10, you got to do, you added two numbers now and um you know there's never a good time for bad things to happen kind of a broad statement but um my mom passed i was 30 i was 34 and i felt like i was getting screwed over so you know the eight having it at eight man i'm i'm really sorry to hear it i do

think though that like you said it does form you in a way and you have i don't know you that well the friendship is just just blossoming, but I feel like you have given plenty of people, plenty to be proud of in that, God, 36 minus 8, 28 years since. Yeah. Yeah. That's very kind of you to say. Can we stick in the muck and sadness here? Yeah, of course.

Can I take you through your last three years? As emotional, as emotional gentlemen as we've just established, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Can I read you some things you said. in the Katie Nolan pod? Yeah, yeah.

Do you want to tell, so that was March of 21. I'll never, that was first week of March, 21. And we're coming up on two years. That's not lost on me, like to the day. Yeah, yeah. So you got divorced, March of 21 or thereabouts. That's when it was official. Yeah.

During that process, you say you lose 30 pounds in a month when you're really going through it. About four weeks, yeah. You're quarantined with your eventual ex-wife. Uh-huh. You quote Ted Lassau to her, unironically, trying to get through this. Yeah, to Katie. Yeah. Yeah.

You have a real deal, Holyfield panic attack. You're parenting three kids. You're living in an echo chamber of your own destabilizing thoughts. and you're unable to visualize the future, and you say you're mourning the life you had. And that was, you said all these things to Katie a couple years ago on her pot. And, you know, we can hit as much of that

or as little as that as you'd like, but you were down bad, and you were really courageous to share that you were down bad. And coming up on the two-year anniversary of it and the Randy Scott social feeds telling me that that Randy's living his best life right now, I couldn't be any happier for you, sincerely. And everybody's going through shit at some point in their life and, um, yeah, some, you know, maybe I wasn't at that point, but to hear you be so, uh, forthright and

vulnerable, it was awesome. And, um, to see you come out the other side smiling, um, it's awesome it's life affirming man i i i appreciate that and i uh so i can answer another topic kind of well talk about this like my the way my life is constructed like i i live outside of boston which where i live is about 110 miles away from the studios in bristol connecticut different entirely different states and this time of year um you know we're getting more snow in a couple in a couple nights like it gets a little dicey um but i did this because i always like you you know we didn't have cable growing up can't hide money making but uh i i i was a sports center nerd man i mean same deal killborn

dan patrick keith olberman uh brett haber robin roberts charlie steiner bob lee the general you know i mean it was these guys were all men and women all let linda cone um so i knew i wanted to do that so i was working at nesting up here that was my my my trubert Truly my big break was working at Nesson, which has the Red Sox and the Bruins games. And I was doing some studio programming there for a couple of years. But I was month to month. So I, you know, I knew I'm newly married at the time. I knew we want to start a family.

And it's like, how do you start a family? We don't know if dad's going to have a job next month. And that's how Nesson did things was like you get your schedule for March, probably today, you know, the last couple days of February. And if you were on it, you had a paycheck. If not, not, you know. So I hit up a friend of mine who worked for Fenway Sports Group and had helped Steve Levy get not married, rehearsal dinner at Fenway Park. Pretty cool, right?

And it had been assigned to him as sort of the consigliary concierge. Like, anything they need to make this day go well, you do it. And Steve said it did when it went so well. And hey, Nick, my buddy, Nick Gregorian, like, if you need anything ever, here's your, here's your ticket. from Steve Levy. And so that time period, I was looking at a local affiliate in Boston, actually where my ex-wife worked, the Fox affiliate up here. And they had an opening in their sports department.

And I was like, all right, that's a paycheck, it's benefits, paternity leave, all these things that could make your life better if you're going to start family. And then, or do you want to stay at Nesson? If Nesson is viewed, if people at ESPN watch Nesson. And I didn't know that at the time. So Nick goes, call Steve Levy. I'm like, oh, yeah, Nick, I'm just going to call Steve. He's like, no, he put us on an email.

I made Levy laugh with something in the email. And Levy said, he's like, well, you got me laughing already. I'm in the office for the next hour. And I just happened to catch that. Like, how many you catch an email with like a timestamp on it? And so I caught it. Called him. He's like, send me your stuff.

I put together YouTube reel, send it to him. He's like, it's way too long. Cut this, cut that, cut that, cut that. I did what he told me to do. And he's like, all right, he goes, well, stay at Nesson. And I'll walk this down the hall with your permission. Walk this down the hall. So he gave it to someone, and I was like, yes, Steve, leave you can do that.

Gave it to somebody in the talent office. And I got an audition and a job out of all that. And I say all that to say, like, we were building a life up here. I wasn't going to make my ex suddenly drive, you know, instead of driving 20 minutes to work, drive an hour to work. Equidistant is not a whole lot there. It's kind of, you guys, I know you make fun of tech. Do you make fun of William and Mary? No.

Old Bill and Mary, no? No. Don't they have a statue on campus whose butt is pointed toward Charlottesville by design? I haven't heard that story. Mr. Jefferson did attend William and Mary, so there's a little bit of mutual respect going on. Okay, okay. So it's kind of like the midway point between Bristol and up here is like colonial Williamsburg. You know, you don't want to live there. You might want to visit, get some peanuts, that sort of thing. So I say, so I drive an hour 45 to work. And I'm stuck doing that now that the, marriage is no longer the marriage because this is the only way I get to have my kids overnight. And number one with an absolute, you know, thumbtack was SportsCenter, if I could ever get there. But in a completely different list with the same level of severity was being a dad.

I always wanted to. I think sometimes you're motivated by the things that you didn't get from your own parents. Sometimes the greatest lessons you can be, you can learn. And if it's in a marriage, if it's in a parenting relationship, anything, working relationship, sometimes you learn what you don't want and what you do deserve that you didn't get or some of those things. And so I was like, all right, I'm going to be the dad in this way, in this way, and this way. And I've gotten to do it. I got to do it with three kids, you know, like I said, for about seven years before everything happened. And so I felt so stuck.

Like when I figured out what I figured out and I figured out some things, I was like, well, I'm stuck. And I had all these buddies who were like, well, hey, now you can stop driving as far and you can go down to Connecticut and you can live in West Hartford where all the cool kids live. That's real, by the way. When we're Sillo, I know you guys have them on and joke around. Like the West Hartford Enclave is a real sort of cool kids clubhouse there in Hartford County. And they're like, you can live down there. And I was like, no, I can't. So I wake up at 1.30 in the morning, and I hit the road at 2.15.

And I have to be in Bristol at 4. And we write the show for a couple hours. And then go to makeup and get dressed and all that. And then we're on the air. Red light comes on at 7. Green light. And then, you know, do the show till 10. And then have a post-show meeting and come back.

And it worked for my life because my ex was a nighttime news anchor. So we always had the kids covered. And we had a great, wonderful woman as a nanny who allowed me to sleep a little bit when I got home in the afternoons. And we just had a well-oiled machine. But, you know, sometimes the machine has issues that, you know, you don't realize in the moment because you're sleep deprived and whatnot. And so to sell, listen, I don't know how the housing market was in Charlottesville. And I apologize, I'm all overplace in this answer. But it was real tough to buy and sell a house.

in the teeth of the pandemic. You know, we're talking like July of 20, June, July 20, you know. Need a better agent, Randy? Well, I had a good age. I could sell the house, no problem, but there were all cash offers coming in, you know. Well, yes. You know, hey, buy, you get 15 minutes in this house and then your offers do 90 minutes later, that sort of thing, and remove your contingencies and all that stuff.

And I wasn't willing to do that because, again, I don't know down there, but up here, you know, an old house is considered on some historic register. I mean, the fact that this house is built in 37 is kind of a spring chicken comparatively. And this is my second house since the divorce because I was in a different town. And I had to be within 15 minutes of the school in order to have the kids overnight. And that was my drive. I was kind of jokingly calling myself solo dad O'Brien. but I loved it.

And I had a little school set up while the kids were quarantined. Like I got desks and teacher supplies from Amazon and then we had this little room that was all set up so they could zoom in and all that stuff. And I was like, all right, I can do this. I can do this. But you ever feel imposter syndrome? Yeah, all the time. So I one night was like, I think I kind of realized I was lying to myself a little bit. like you you don't have this as under control as you think you do um and they were all sleeping

upstairs and i was downstairs in this little four bedroom house where i don't you know i love your incident legally there was no door on this bedroom i don't know if it was a bedroom but it was sold to me as a four bedroom house and i was in the basement had a closet in a window though and uh two points of egress no yeah vgrass and and i just felt like i was having a heart attack and i was 38 and i was like, I don't have anyone to call. I don't have anyone to call. I was in the teeth of this legal fight, and I can't call my ex

because it'll be used against me as a mode of like he can't handle this. I, it was in middle of, you know, I couldn't, I had nobody to call. And, you know, I was 110 miles from my friends at work and all this stuff. And I had no family in the area. You know, everybody's down in Virginia at the time.

and I was like I had this thought of like would my oldest know what to do if he found me and that was scary so because the piggybacking thought on that was would it be so bad

like you and that was as close and I know Chris has touched on on some of this you know post-retire you know NFL retirement stuff and and I was like in that scared me too. So in addition to being someone my entire life where I was like watching these

sports centers in the 90s and being like I can see myself doing that. Like and then okay, what's the step below that? Well, it's probably another TV job. And I kind of mapped out these things I needed to do. Go to a school that has a journalism program. You know Marty Hudlow? Yeah. At NBC 29 there. WV. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Hudloff if we're being technical about it. Oh, okay. That would be why I didn't get the job. But he. Oh, you were going to be here? Oh, four. Oh, four.

I came down. He made me take a drug test at UVA. Like, I thought I had this job. I was like, you know, two hours from home. I was this, you're right up 29. I can zip home to Vienna whenever I needed. Like, I was so excited. And he just, and he's so laid back and affable and like his timetables, his timetable.

I have nothing bad to say other than he led me on a little bit, but that could have been the news director. But I had to take like a local. Virginia government test and all that. Like I was, I thought I was in. I really did. And instead I ended up in Lawton, Lawton, Oklahoma at the time. But, well, because you got pop for a positive cocaine test?

No. What's the end of that story? That's a whole, no, the story is they were like, okay, I'm such, I'm a terrible podcast guest. Do you remember the show, did you remember the show Dream Job on ESPN? Do I remember the show Dream Job? I got a bolded right here in my notes. Oh, okay.

So I did it twice. Oh, for the year you graduated, uh, Northwestern. Yeah. I did it. Ever heard of it? I went, I made it so far that year. I made it into the room with Stuart Scott where they, I was in the final 30 and they cut it to

10 for the show. And they took a woman, Whitney Scott from Oakton, Virginia, neighboring town. And as soon as she was called third, I was like, that's my time. I'm out. Same last name. Brutal. I was driving across the GW Bridge, driving back to Virginia. And I had an offer from KSWO in Oklahoma.

And I called Marty. I called a 434, and I was like, hey, I had this offer. I didn't get a dream job. What are you guys doing? He goes, I still don't know the timetable. So do what you got to do, just sort of laid it out. And I was like, I got to go. He's like, I understand.

And they ended up hiring like three months later. So I'm glad I went. And I think they hired a guy named Grant Lotus, who I ended up working with in Fort Myers, of all places, a couple years later. But I went out to Lawton. And Matt Berry was there. He was the number two there. So I was number three in the sports department. And I learned a lot from Matt Bay.

and here we are working together in ESPN all these years later. But I don't know how to- So the question was, how happy are you after going through a hard time in your life? Very, I'm happy. I'm still like, I'm still, there's always going to be a level of like, what the hell happened and how did I not see, you know, the state of play? But I'm better now go to therapy. I, you know, don't get as, you know, everything has to be perfect.

You know, it's like, okay, you know, if you, we slide bedtime by 15 minutes, we're good. You know, slide dinner by this time, good. If you had a bath two nights ago, let me smell your hair, you know, that, like, we're doing that sort of stuff a little bit and getting by. But it is a start, I can't believe it's been two years. I can see things. That's what I was going to say is I can see things a little better. You know, I always, at that point a couple years ago, I had lost my ability to see anything for myself in the future. And that terrified me because it was like, well, if you can't see what you want to do, do you even want to be around here to just tread water and do that.

And so when you start having those thoughts, you're like, well, I got to talk somebody about it. And that helped. It was a huge help. And I'm not trying, this is not, these aren't false flowers. I'm laying at you guys' feet. but the Katie Nolan pod, again, hour 45 each way to work. So I'm listening to a ton of podcasts. I'm listening to Rassillo.

Because of Chris's hits on Rissillo, hey, he gets his own thing. I'm listening to him. And, you know, a very light, you know, Dr. Fax and Cowboy and present company included. Like the conversations are generally light, but there are references, especially with former players where Chris says, like, I wasn't doing well. And for somebody like that, you know, strong like bull, you know, rich, rich as hell, obviously. But somebody who's achieved all this success to open that door a little bit. Like I found myself gravitating toward these podcasts.

It just makes you feel better. It's not a misery loves company thing. It's like you're not as isolated. Like you have a way of walling off your own experience and being like, I'm the only one in the world who is dealing with this. I'm the only one in the world who's doing this. And it's such a lonely thing. And when you see far more successful, far more accomplished people going through some of the same things or feeling some of the same way, you're like, oh, great, I'm not, I'm not weak for, you know, thinking this and feeling this way. Yeah. Well, thank you for sharing that. I didn't have a plan. Thank you for sharing that part of it. I do have a plan. Have a, have a delightful plan. But that part of it, I'm grateful for you talking about it a little bit.

You know, Ryan has some life advice. Simmons does a little parent corner. Let's talk dad stuff because when my daughter was born January 2021, I had never gotten up at quarter to seven with any regularity in my entire life. One 30 in the morning is a different animal. but it gave me Randy Scott in my life until she got old enough to say cocoa melon and then we were on to something else unfortunately and I can't wait to get you back at some point but there was a lot of Randy Scott which is great and and now she's really good at saying things

like basketball and football and go whose and things of that sort. But let me share something with you. I was on watch and I'm a vigilant dad because I don't know how to be a dad. So just throw all of your energy into it, I guess has been my MO. And I was on watch for a big fall. from my daughter, blood, tears, everything, and I was messed up. And you mentioned therapy, boom, right, right, hey, hey, guy, you can't be any more vigilant and things are happening on your watch. Are you cut out for this sort of stuff? Oh, man. And kids are resilient, man, and they heal quickly. And I had the proper perspective. that a fall, even if it's a bad fall, there are worse things going on with kids in this world.

But it sincerely screwed me up to the point where I needed to reframe how I was going to approach this whole deal. And again, she's fine. We'll never, ever remember it. Heck, I don't remember things before like age 10. Sure, sure. And it's been, but it's been the greatest thing in the world. And now we have a six-month-old as well. And people say, I'm curious about this,

people say the day the kid was born was like the best day of their life. I mean, that day was terrifying. That day was low-key awful. I mean, labor is a riot, you know? It was probably pretty tough for your wife, too. Yeah, and then my, yeah, and then they hand you the kid, and you don't know what to do.

And then they give you the kid to take home, still not knowing what to do whatsoever. But like every subsequent day is the best day because it's this morning, it's bye-bye, dada. And then she jumps off the couch where she used to, you know, we limit screen time. Don't worry about that. We used to watch SportsCenter a.m.,

now we're watching whatever the hell. Yeah, that's got to get corrected, but yeah. And then she jumps off the couch and with a big hug before I walk out the door to go talk. to Randy Scott. And it's just the best. This is not a well-formed question. But isn't it a question? I feel like it's just

we're just just driving here. We're just drafting up each other. How many do you have two kids? You have two kids? I have two kids. Well, there's a question. Is three the magic number? No, I think two is the magic number. I love my third, though. And it's

His name's Ryan and he has so much personality. Quiet number three. He's so funny and he's so like an amalgamation of everybody. You know, he's just this perfect like he's got a little bit of ex-wife's sense of humor, a little bit of my sense humor, his brother and sister too. Like that's what's cool to see is the fingerprints because they're going to look, you know, your kids are going to look like either you or your wife. And to see the personality fingerprints of the siblings, like your oldest is your

your daughter. Do you have a son as well or two daughters? Correct. Okay, so your oldest is a daughter. And so she'll have greater fingerprints if you decide to go for three on the third. And you'll notice fingerprints on your son as well. So, but I think too, like, oh, man, it was Jerry Madeline, who was a ESPN for a really long time, a great producer and then CP and then boss there. And he was like, congratulations. He goes, you're going to learn, though. This is when my daughter was born. She's my second. he was like one is like none two is like 20 and he wasn't wrong but you at least have two parents ideally in the house to deal with the two right you can you know go man to man defense and then when you add the third you're just like someone is not going to get the level of attention that

they're used to that's the problem and because you've been an attentive dad you've been a you know like you said as vigilant as possible but you just have to split your time here moving forward they're going to be times where you're two on one, three on one. And the oldest, who's used to, I can get dad back and call 100% of dad laser focus all the time. Now you're going to have one eye on her, one eye on the other kid who's climbing off the couch to jump off. And that's the hard part. Yeah, friend who just had three said it's not zone defense. It remains man-to-man defense and you just let one go. You just hope for the best. It's still man-to-man defense. Yeah, you hope it's Russell Westbrook out beyond the three-point line. Just let him lose. You said on IG recently, you only get 18 summers with these kiddos. That hit me. That hit me because I told a friend who's a newer parent, hey, these parents who say it goes by too quickly, fuck that. This takes forever, man.

I mean, these days are long and give yourself some credit for getting through. And granted, we're two under two. We're in the weeds. Oh, my God. But I would like to keep the two-year-old right where she is forever, and that's not going to happen. That's a good sweet spot. What are you called? Was there, are you dad now?

Are they old enough of your dad? I'm dad. I'm dad across the board, and that's what stinks is the youngest drafts off of what the oldest does. So as soon as the oldest started calling me, Dad, I went from Dad-Dab. We skipped Daddy with the youngest and went straight to Dad. And now my 10-year-old, you know, I'm learning, I'm learning suss. and mid and some of these things that he learns at school. So I'm,

he called me brough once. Like I, we have FIFA, we have FIFA 23. We have FIFA 20. You got it for his birthday. FIFA 23 on PlayStation and he dropped, he beat me.

So he's, he likes to construct ways where he's going to win. And so he goes dead. He goes, you pick a, why don't you be Scotland? Because he's like, he knows Scotch Irish.

He's like, you be Scotland. I'm like, great. And I'll just be, I don't know, Argentina. And then we'll play. And it's 6-0-0 and Messi has five goals before half.

And he's like, bruh, you are awful at this. And I'm like, what is happening? Like, you won't tell me what any of the buttons do and I'm looking at him. I'm like, because we've been playing on Nintendo Switch this whole time. And the controller's about, you know, yay big. And you're just, and I can dominate pretty well on that. And now we're on a full-size thing.

I haven't played since probably college. But yeah, you get, you get called brun. And you're like, oh, my God, this kid who puts stuff in his hair now. you know yeah before school we got to build in a little time for that when he says rando get off the sticks maybe it's time to sit the kid down that's gonna be tough that's that's where i can start because i'm a verbal assassin but not for my own my own kids that's for sure let me list you my uh my sports center anchors i don't know if i can quite get to a rush more as i've only written down four i think eisen was my one i think i think i zan was my one i think

Eisen was my one, which you don't hear all the time. And then it was Kenny Main. And then it was Dan Patrick. I feel comfortable with those three. Pretty white Mount Rushmore, but go on. Oh, I'm sorry, Sports Center in the 80s and 90s. We're calling Bob Lee the General for crying out loud. I wonder where that came from.

Okay. Duke said that. Go on. Yeah. Yeah. Kilborn. You know, that vibe. That vibe.

It was a good vibe. That's a dry vibe for sure. And that's why I'm so excited to be your friend, because I haven't had a sports center anchor friend since Steiner and I lost touch, you know? We used to be super close. Steiner, you're a good guy. That's a joke. That's a joke.

So you're asking for my Mount Rushmore or is this just? Well, yeah, you sort of already listed it. Why are you questioning my interview style, Randy? I've never done this before, all right? Yeah, no. Now, I heard the first one, well, after Chris had left, and you explored the space really well. And Cowboy and Matt,

they applauded your leadership skills. Like you had a plan. You were a man with a plan. Well, thanks. Yeah. You said you were, we communicate via Twitter DMs. You asked me seven times whether or not this was on video.

I replied in the affirmative every time. You said you were irrationally excited for this. And I was irrationally nervous, both because it's, you're making people nervous. That's got to be a trip. Here's another trip. Do you ever think about sports center being on in airports and everybody's hotel room

and LeBron throwing it on the morning after the game, Brady, Rogers, all these guys are tuning in to Randy. Do you ever stop and think about that? So no, because you really are in a bubble in Bristol. And then I'm dad when I'm here. My kids could not care less what. I do for work. And that's kind of wild. Like my dad was a naval aviator. My dad was at Top Gun. Like he was Billy, we're allowed to cuss. Yeah. Fuck. You know, yeah, Billy badass, but you don't

have to celebrate it. But yeah, he's out there. And, and I didn't, I grew up being like, yeah, dad flies planes, you know, ho-hum. So I'm getting a taste of my own medicine here. But then you go, like you said, airports. Like you go through TSA screening or you're checking at a hotel somewhere. or you just you get outside of that bubble and you for me i haven't been there long enough where it's like you know bang for most people but sometimes like where do i know you from or uh you're that espn guy or you're that sport and that's like you know anybody who says like it's annoying you know van pelt probably gets people interrupting him while he's eating i i don't get that um so i still geek out about it draymond green watches i know that because he used to when i when sage steel was on the

morning show. He messaged Sage and be like, you tell your boy to, you know, blah, blah, blah. Like, if I said something about Draymond that wasn't complimentary, he would get back to him pretty quickly, which was wild. And then we know that President Obama watched and like, you hear about that sort of thing. And it's never any like, he watched and he said this. It was more just like, he knows who we are. He watches all the time, that sort of thing. And you're just like, that makes, that makes no sense at all. Take us through how strange a gig this really is, mechanically. I mean, it's going to be strange to someone who has never been around it before, but you've been around microphones and a traveling circus of play-by-play at basketball games

and football games and all that good stuff. So I'm trying to think here. Like get there at four. The rundown is in and they've worked on it overnight. There's like an overnight crew that takes the highlights and the postgame sound, hands it off, and puts a skeleton rundown in for the morning show producer. He or she gets in and says, okay, I want this, this, this, this, and this, and you kind of move it around. So by the time, my co-anchor Gary Streisky or my co-anchor David Lloyd or my co-anchor Christina Alexander or, you know, Kelsey Riggs or whomever gets in, we know the things have been assigned and we can jump in and we can start writing.

And what we're responsible for writing is anything on camera, most VOs that are just VOs, not highlights. And then we'll have to get in and look at interview questions. there's usually 99% of the time a segment producer who's been in touch with, you know, Coley Harvey at Cincinnati Medical Center or someone far lighter that Lafonso Ellis had a college game day, you know, in Gonzaga or at Spokane or something. And you can look at those questions. And just there are people that I've worked with who are comfortable getting in a little later and just doing it cold, you know, not really looking at some of the scripts. that are written by other people and just being like, yeah, I can either translate it on the fly

or I know what the point is. Like, Carl Ravich, when he did SportsCenter, didn't use a teleprompter. And I don't know how. I don't know how he did that. But he was so comfortable with it, still doesn't really use one. And I've gotten to do like one show with him and he saw that I'd written things in the prompter. He goes, you've been here how long?

I was like, four years. He goes, you should be off prompter by now. I was like, oh my God. And then as we're getting counted in, like five, four, three, two. And then he'd go. And so I'm like, you know, ashen as I'm talking to them. But the stats and info group, like all the jokes that come at SportsCenter where it's like, how do you guys find these stats where it's, you know, that was LeBron's first triple

double on a Tuesday under a waning moon. And you're like, well, we have stats and info group that comes up with this stuff. And but they write in a, sometimes they write in a decidedly. left brain way and you've got to massage it a little bit for how it's going to read on the air. Sometimes. Most times it's in perfect shape and you're off and running. But what we don't write out is a shot sheet for a highlight. And that's one of the reasons I love the morning show is it's a ton of highlights.

It's all reacting to the night before. It's part of the reason the show went away during the pandemic though. When games stopped, what were we going to react to? Van Peltin, those guys came up with senior night, which was a, amazing and Last Dance provided some content, but for us, we didn't have anything to react to, so our show went away for several months. But the shot sheet is in like landscape form, right? It comes like this, and there'll be three columns. So the left column sets up the play. The middle column is what is going out on the air. It's what the viewer sees. And the right column is the result.

So, you know, for example, it'd be, you know, UVA at North Carolina. Okay. You know. Or, no, no, that's fine. It's fine. It's fine. 21 and six, you pick one of the six losses. That's fine.

We can go back a couple of your, UVA against UMBC, and then the middle would be. No, but it'd be, you know, it'd be second quarter, you know, Keyheed Clark. you know, second quarter UBA up six, middle column, Kaye Clark from the left wing for three, it's good. And then the right column would say that was his six three of the game. I mean, that's, we know that's not a month's worth of three. But whatever it is, you know, it's something like that. And that's what sets up.

So you take these stats packets that you get from stats and info when you get into work that have little paragraphs, like one paragraph each of every game that's in the show. and then you take that nugget where it's like, hey, Clark has hit 60% of his threes over his last week. So what they tell us first week of working there is don't play by play the highlight. Give some context, give a quote, give a stat, give something that the viewer is not, can't literally see for themselves if they're watching. And what they've told us in the morning show over the last several years is give them some reason,

if they're getting ready for work, getting the kids ready, and the show's on in the background, give them a reason to crane their neck back in the room and watch. So whether that's a dated reference, I'm pretty good at those. A movie quote. You know, a song lyric of some sort.

Something like that to just not literally play by play by play where you're seeing. And then it takes me a couple hours to do that, and then get over and get some coffee and get dressed and get makeup and go. Let me give you something to throw in there. Like, Kehei Clark hits his six three. Oh, shit.

I think that would really get the people's attention. I got my phone out. I was ready to put some stuff in here from my friend. Sorry, Eric was a friend. No, that's when we start texting. That's when I'll start throwing your references. Okay, you're the man. We'll have to catch up like Vienna Inn, you know, some loaded dogs.

What do you know about Vienna in? I'm Virginia through and through. I got people in Northern Virginia. It does feel like a different state. from actual Virginia. But mad respect, you know, we're still in the same Commonwealth. That's a hell of a dismount here, make. Well, listen, we're not quite done because I need to draft Randis with you,

famous Randis. I don't know. Oh, famous Randis? Okay, okay. That was in the DM that you didn't read very carefully when I said yes, it's on. There's a lot in the DM that I feel like I've taken off the field stuff and kept it off the field. and, you know, and I'm trying to pretend, feign surprise to make my list in my draft all that more impressive.

Like, wow, he didn't prepare, but. You're professional. Randy, adjective, meaning sexually aroused or excited, as in as nervous as a Randy adolescent on a hot date. So I guess. That's great. That's great, buddy. That's great friend. You don't see a ton of Randi's, but at the same time.

So I had making bacon my entire youth. Most people don't probably know the definition of Randy, the youths. They're not giving you a hard time for Randy. Far enough removed from Austin Powers to where that's not a thing. But that was in there. It was, do I make you horny? Do I make you Randy? Yeah.

But no, but we can do some, so making verb to produce something or create, as in making your guest. feel attacked, like something like that. Like, bop, bop, b, something like that. You got it. That's good. All right. Hey, well, this is, um, it's not my show.

It's Chris's show. Because it's Chris's show, I'm going to take the first pick. Uh, we'll go A, B. We're going six Randy's deep, three apiece. The first overall pick and famous Randi's, um, is the macho man. It's Randy Savage. And, uh, present company excluded. Present company excluded.

I go Randy Scott 1-1. But, uh, the macho man is, is hard to beat. You're on the clock, sir. Is it just you and I? Yeah. Drafting? Okay. It's not. So, okay, and then are we snake drafting? We're not snaking. This is A-B. You can't, I can't give you two Randis in a row. Your name's Randy. You would go in the draft.

Well, there's a Randy that's off the board that would have been on the board maybe 10 years ago. But let's go, I'll go Randy Travis. I'll go Randy Travis. That's a great pick. Randy Travis. On my board gonna forever and ever amen and all that. Three wooden crosses, the whole thing. Yep. You got it.

Okay. You might take issue with this because I'm going fictional, but I'm, again, it's Chris's show. Randy Marsh with my second pick of South Park fame is a terrific Randy. I thought this was America. Yeah, okay. A wheelbarrow, everything. The wheelbarrow. I feel like that gets a reference a fair amount on your show as it pertains to everything from like a third down call or a fourth down call or a bet.

You know, right? Like you guys are like, yeah, I was betting on some Austrian tennis and I just put him in the wheelbarrow. And I just went out after it. It's on the whiteboard here. Just try to fit in Randy Marsh wheelbarrow wherever possible. Once a show. Well, that allows me to then, see, I was worried that Randy Johnson was going to be taken. But he's the big unit.

Speaking of big units, yeah. That's a really good pick. I probably would have gone there. I'll round it out with Randy Moss. Throw me the damn ball. Yeah, that's a good one. That's a really good one. One of your colleagues.

We're not allowed. They've softened on it at work over the last about 10 years, which coincides with my time there, where you're allowed to be a fan. You're allowed to like, I'm a Washington Capitals fan. I'm a Raiders fan. So you're allowed to show a little bit of that on the air without be smirching other teams necessarily, right? Excuse me. Sorry, would you say right for caps? Did you say Raiders?

Las Vegas Raiders, yeah. Okay. All right. Okay. Oh, yeah. Buddy, I, my dad was a, is a Chargers fan still. And so watching games. And I was born in San Diego. And as we move around military-wise, you could always see the Raiders because they're one of these national brands, even though we didn't have, you know, making Gunter cable money. And so I said to dad, I was like, who are these guys, the silver and black? And he's like, oh, they're the bad guys. That's what he's. just waved it off. He's like, they're the bad guys. We don't like them. And then I'm five years old when

Bo is Bo. And I'm like, that's it. I'm hooked. Like, Nintendo, I can play them. You could be, you can be 75 long on defense. You could be 34 Jackson on offense. Like, forget it. That was it. So in the Jackson vein segue, like a mall cop, Randy Jackson, Randy Jackson with my last pick. Yeah. It's going to be a big lineup for you. Big yes for me, dog. Travis Johnson Jackson for you I went Savage Marsh Moss so I win the draft but not by a lot I mean that is pretty embarrassing you lose a Randy draft but I have the first pick you were behind the eight ball I was quick quick story I was uh uh under employed in 2010

living in Tampa Florida recession hit that area of Florida pretty pretty hard three person's sorry you're going to talk about your tight 10 at coconuts we don't nope uh nope we could save that for my second trip. Like, listen, in the summer, you guys are going to be thin on some content, some guests and all that stuff. So yes, I will come back. Yes, I will talk about Northern versus Southern Virginia. And when Chris goes to Tanzania again in two years, we'll be delighted to get you back.

Two years. I've done that. I've done that well. Okay. I had a whole story about drugs and how I didn't try, didn't try any marijuana products until I was in my fourth decade of life. but that's a story for somebody who will appreciate it. So this story that I've already lost the train of thought.

Tampa, sorry, Tampa. Lid being under-employed. Got married in April of 10. And I was, I mean, literally, I had collected some unemployment. I was cobbling together like temp jobs and things and the stand-of-comedy career hadn't taken off like I'd hope. So I talked to our wedding photographer because I'd hired him and he had to talk to me and we were just kind of like, you know, BS and about things.

And he goes, you know, I have a wedding in Sarasota next week. He goes, when are you going on your honeybook? Because I can use a grip, so to speak. You know, I'll pay you a couple hundred bucks. You can haul the gear. I was like, well, no, we are. My dumb ass. I was like, oh, I got to go to Antigua.

Like, got to go to this resort. Got my honeymoon. And he was like, all right, he goes, that's a real shame. He goes, because this is going to be a hell of a wedding. And I was like, what are you a wrestling fan? And I was like, what, like pro wrestling? He's like, yeah, yeah. And he goes, I will do you, would you grow up?

And I was like, yeah, wrestling fan. He goes, it's Randy Savage's wedding. And I was like, wow. What? And he goes with Bafo, but yeah, he's getting married his second marriage, third marriage, whatever it was. And you get married in Sarasota, it's on the beach, and you should see this guest list. And I was like, oh, what? So he would have paid me a couple hundred bucks to, to, you know, set up lights and all that stuff for that.

And unfortunately, tragically, I think Randy, Randy was gone within the year probably in that car accident. But, yeah, that's my brush with your first draft. man. Damn. Well, hey, many more stories where those came from. And the words of Randy Scott, I love a story with a good middle.

There were several of those told by both of us here this morning, and I can't thank you enough, man. You're going to get a text from a 434 number within the next 12 hours. You better follow up on it.

Oh, I should. sure will. It'll be, it'll be pleasant, some witticisms, humility, et cetera. We're going to, we're going to get this thing off the ground. Randy Scott of ESPN fame. God damn it. I mean, we make it an hour. And then I stumble over the word fame. Three, two. Keep it in. Hey. I'm, I'm teaching C. Long a lesson who will cut now and again. Hey, we're human. It's been really good, though. The editing didn't do it.

You can hardly see them anymore. I will. Can I make it even more awkward? Just one last thing. Every time the show starts and it's Cowboy, like he has like a gutterole sort of pervy. Yes. And you guys keep that in every show.

Yes, we do. Every show. Cowboy. Like that. There's that like lean back from longer. Where you're just like, this is a friendship that might be more. Yeah. You're right about that, Randy.

Yeah. It's there. Thank you, sir. We'll talk to you again very soon. soon.