New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce - Ballpark Food Debate, Masters Recap & Troy Aikman on NFL QB Play, Drafting Mendoza & More | Ep 187

Episode Date: April 15, 2026

92%ers, welcome to another episode of New Heights brought to you by AT&T!  Today, we’ve got a look at some of the absurd foods hitting America’s Ballparks, a LIVE (pre-taped) Outta the House recap from Jason and Travis’s time at The Masters, and an incredible conversation with NFL Hall of Famer, Troy Aikman. Troy and the guys discuss everything from his first impressions of Jason as a co-worker, his path to the broadcast booth, what Troy thinks of the current crop of young QBs, whether Mendoza can be a franchise QB, the biggest athletic freak he ever played with, and how the Eagles welcomed him to the NFL Watch and listen to new episodes of New Heights every Wednesday during the NFL season and follow us on Social Media for all the best moments from the show: https://lnk.to/newheightshowYou can also listen to new episodes on Wondery, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. ...Download the full podcast here:Wondery: https://wondery.app.link/s9hHTgtXpMbApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/new-heights/id1643745036Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/1y3SUbFMUSESC1N43tBleK?si=LsuQ4a5MRN6wGMcfVcuynwSend something to the New Heights Mailbox. Don’t be weird though. C/O New Heights Productions135 E OLIVE AVE, BURBANK, CA 91502Support the show: AT&T: When the Connection Matters, it has to be AT&T. Visit http://att.com/connecttochange to learn more. AMERICAN EXPRESS: With premium benefits and award-winning service, there’s nothing like Platinum. Dedicated Card Member entrances are available at select stadiums and arenas. Terms apply. Learn more at https://go.amex/withplatinumAMAZON: Shop Amazon-and save on essentials, save the everyday!MICHAEL: Experience the story of a legend. Only in theaters & IMAX April 24. Get Tickets Now.LIQUID IV: Tear. Pour. Live More. Go to https://www.liquid-iv.com/ and get 20% off your first order with code NEWHEIGHTS at checkout. ALLSTATE: Check Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds: https://allstate.com/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey y'all, it's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair, where delivery and setup are as easy as a few taps on your phone. With Wayfair's room of choice delivery and fast experts set up on qualifying orders, life gets a little easier. Visit Wayfair.com or the Wayfair app. Wayfair, every style, every home. We love the fucking wedge back in the day, man. Get the big boys out there, full-on collisions. Like, why change that? That's the start of the game right there.

I get to see some action. The wedge. I haven't heard the wedge. I was a wedge buster in college before I started. I was running down in knee braces and they said Jason just take out this win. No joke. UCF had a really good kickoffer.

Hey guys, just go down there and take the wedge out. We go down there. We blow this four-man wedge up. It goes 106 yards to the house. Not in the sky. I would love to see them not only run down the field but run down the field and knee brakes. That's right.

Welcome back to New Heights, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, a Wondry show brought to you by AT&T, the best service provider there is. You better believe it. We're your host. I'm Travis Kelsey. My big brother, Jason Kelsey out of Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Shout out to the Heights and shout out to the University of Cincinnati,

as we are alum from there. I did get a degree. I know a lot of you won't believe that, even Jason, but I do. And make sure you subscribe on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast and follow the show on all social media at New Heights Show with one ass for funclists throughout the week. Jason, tell the people what we have coming up for this week's episode. We got another great episode for you, 92 percent.

as we're going to get out of the house with Trab at the Guardian's home opener. We're also going to get to the first ever on-site edition of Out of the House. Yes, sir. At the Masters. Ha-ha-ha. And Hall of Famer Troy Eggman is here. That's right. The one and only.

The best. Troy is incredible. And he's great in this conversation. You guys are really want to stick around for that. And before we do get into that, we are going to get into some of that new news. New news coming in. Hot. New news is brought to you by American Express. Travis made his way back home to Cleveland for the Guard's home opener last week.

You saw Slider! Hey! Is he still called Slider? Or it? Slider? It's a boy, right? Don't even go down this road, Jason. Yeah, I saw Slider.

I saw Slider, man. I got to see everybody over there, progressive field, man, over there at what we call Jacobs Field. Got to be a part of the guards home opener as we took. the game 4-1 man. Here we go. You know, it's just something about getting my feet on the ground in Cleveland just energizes me, man. You got those nice loafers out. You like those things, man.

Yeah, yeah. Did you get a look at any of the absurd food? The MOB has been coming out with a bunch of absurdly crazy items all across the country. I was just catching up with friends in the suite and just watching the game. I really didn't get outside, but we had some good, we had some good food in the suite for sure. You got some wings. I was about to say, what is your ballpark food of choice since you're not a hot dog person?

I'll eat a dog at a, I'll eat a ballpark dog. Time out. You have said on this show and to me for many years that you do not eat hot dogs or tubular meats of any kind. So now you're telling me. One exception. You know what? I'm not going to lie. This makes sense.

Ballpark dog, man. It's a special. It's the nostalgia. I'll sacrifice my ick for the fact of how it's made and I'm not. how it smells. And I'll just, I'll enjoy a ballpark dog, man. I don't know what it is about being at the ballpark.

I need a dog with some ketchup on it and bang, bang, boom. I'm not going to eat more than one. No, no mustard. You're not putting mustard on a hod. That's the one condiment you have to have on it.

That's a lie. Whoever told you that is a fucking idiot. I disagree. I think you must have. Well, yeah, listen, you can eat it however you want, but that's the one condiment.

I have to have. You don't like mustard? on a hot dog? You can do like mustard in like a sauce or like in like a dry rub that the meat and like the other parts of the food like hide the taste of in the like the melted crayon texture that is mustard. Melting crad texture. What about a sourcrop? No chance.

Again, again, if it's hidden in like a Ruben, like a like a Rubin sandwich. Yeah. Or like a corned beef sandwich. maybe the sourness could get a little too pungent. We should just like review all these crazy foods that have gone on. Do you see this one over?

I think I'm going to go to a Diamondbacks game this year solely to try this ice cream peanut butter sandwich whipped cream, cracker jack, Kit Kat, concoction. That thing is fucking insane. Does that not look delicious?

By the way, that's a nutter butter, right? That's not a nutter butter. Peanut butter sandwich, whatever. Yeah, it's a nutter butter. gosh, did the Kelsey household go through our fair share and nutter butters, dude.

Holy shit. Do you want to see some of the weird shit they've got out there real quick? Get the Kelsey Rose read on it. Now I'm getting some head shakes. You don't want to see the mini-diserie chicken bucket at the Yankees game? I think it's pretty good.

They're pretty cool. I'm not going to be a downer here. Let's see you, Brandon. Who else we got? You want to see a mini-desert chicken bucket? There we go. Dessert? What is this called?

It's a dronzig-shaped ice cream with a chocolate-covered cookie bones. center a coating of white chocolate and candied cord flakes serve in a souvenir mini chicken bucket what is the point of making it look like chicken it looks like chicken i think we just got there i'm not a big fan of foods impersonating other foods you're out on the chick i'm out on the chicken sandwich sandwich thing i just give me a fucking i crease canvas i don't need to look like a chicken drumstick who are we fooling here what are we fool doing it for i would make sense if it was the new york chickens then i'd be like oh okay they're doing something that's like a theme of

But like, New York chickens have a chicken bucket. Yes, but I don't, I don't understand this at all. Is it, is it the drumstick flavoring? Like the, the classic like drumstick that we all know that we get from like the grocery store? It's just covered with candied corn flakes to make it look like it's fried chicken. But I'm assuming it's probably like vanilla ice cream with a chocolate covered cookie bone center, which I don't. I'm out on this one. I've seen a lot of them.

This doesn't make any sense. at all. There has to be something that's making sense to this. There's no way somebody who's just like, all right, here, check this out, guys,

a drumstick. I think that's how they do it. I think we're over things. There's no way. I don't know where the chicken comes in to, like, it's not chicken. Why didn't they do?

Chicken isn't even known as being like a ballpark food? Exactly. Why didn't they just make it like a baseball bag? You're what I mean? Just make it like a baseball. There we go. Why the fuck is that? You guys didn't want to do this segment.

And now here we go. Is this like KFC? Like was like, hey, we can't get the fried chicken in the stadium. But why don't you make ice cream look like fried chicken? And I'm like, oh yeah, sure.

We'll do that for no fucking reason. All right. Let's skip to the next. Next. This one's made us mad. Next. I'll take the bucket. I'll take the bucket.

No chicken. Red Sox is doing a lobster putteen at Fenway Park. This year, the ballpark food features crispy fries, lobster meat, clam chowder. and crispy bacon all served in a custom lobster boat. Why are we doing chowder? Baseball is a fucking summer sport.

Chowder is not a summer fucking food cuisine, whatever. I don't like the idea of how, where that chowder's been stored. I don't like the idea of where is it at the bottom? Is that a lobster just. I like this. No, that's what I'm saying. I like the receptacle. I like the lobster.

I like everything except the bacon. I have no idea why bacon is included. in this and what the purpose is. It's not going to add much. Give it a little salty. It's a little salty crunch. It's got chowder in it. It's salty as crap.

I do think if it's hot, I would question the integrity of that chowder, but I'd still give it. The integrity of the chowder. Seafood and heat usually doesn't pair well, especially shellfish. Fucking 95 degree day at the ballpark. I'm out.

I'm going to try any of these. if you'll have me. But I will not try the chicken jumpsick. I'm boycotting the chicken jump stick. Cool. A Yankees fan or somebody in the Yankees organization, please tell us how this came to be. I will say this.

They did give us a great moment. I'm going to share this. There was a man who constructed a chicken bucket hat tower. No, see, that's the thing. I like the bucket. I'm big into this. I'm big into the bucket. I fucking with the bucket.

KFC, brought you by Travis Kelsey. I mean, if that's not next year. Brother, I'd assign you a giant. deal. I'm fucking with the bucket. Travis Kelsey. I'm fucking with it. Colonel Sanders, hit me up. Buckets might be the most underrated piece of equipment than any man can own

or utilize. I think it's a, it's a, you can stack them, you can carry anything you want in them pretty much. I mean, it's a very useful receptacle. But the fact that we're making chickens is it just doesn't make any sense. I can't get past. They had the buckets already ordered and they didn't know what to put at them. I'm, I'm drawing the conclusions.

They're like, What goes in a bucket? Chicken. They had a new fried chicken chain that was going into the stadium. And then they had to back out on their contract. But they had already bought all the chicken buckets. Cost of cooking oil went way up. And they said, I don't know, before I get a big ice cream.

That's the only thing that makes sense. We've solved the mystery. All right. Let me show you a couple more. The Rangers have revealed a wearable nacho rally sombrero. The food vessel contains chip, cheese, lettuce, alpineio, who got a bar and mold. This is hilarious. Is this real?

Is this real? Yes, this dead is real. The photo's incredible. All right. What do we think of the not the rally sombrero? I'm kind of into it. Outside the beans, I'm kind of into it. I think it's ridiculous.

Oh, no, it's beyond ridiculous. Yes, but I mean, it's kind of, I fucking love nachos at a game. I love naches at a game. Can you imagine trying to wear that and utilize it? You're dumping that on your neighbors. You're dumping that on the seat next year. Yeah, this is getting everywhere. I think it's.

It's hilarious. You have to go to the bathroom with that on your head. Can't look down. Don't look down. Don't look down. Don't look down. Don't look down. I like the idea of sombreros.

I just don't know that nachos was the best choice. What's the messiest food item that we can combine with a place that you can't access? You can't stand up and get excited. They should have just made like pretzel sombros. They should have made little babies. And dip it in cheese or something like that. But like, sombreros should be large scale enough to where you can put it on your head. It should just be like the like the old ice cream cut batters helmets.

You know those little small ones? They should have just made a little tiny sombrero like that in the size of where you would always get the nachos. You know what you mean? Like typically the size that you get is just like a four by four or five by five. You can hold it with one hand, have a beer on the other hand. Like they should have made a sombrero that size. This is absolutely ridiculous. What's interesting about this item is that it probably is the only food item ever in a ballpark

where the person buying it is the one not utilizing it. And in fact, probably putting themselves at the most risk of things going badly, right? Like, the person wearing these nachos is going to end up eating the least amount of these nachos. The people behind them and to the right and left of them, like, there's a very selfless maneuver if you're buying the sombrero nacho hat.

You're getting this for the table. You're bringing the party for everybody else. Yeah. This is hilarious, man. While also putting yourself most at risk. Just hot cheese sit on your head. All right, all right, right. I went to a guards game right after college,

and we're sitting on top of like that baby monster on the left field underneath the screen. And there's probably 10, 15 of the homies that we're all up there getting hammered and having a fucking blast. And we go to get hot dogs and we're like, I mean, how many hot dogs can we get? And they're like, well, we can make as many as you want. we're like, all right, everybody gets like three, four hot dogs. We end up with a fucking crate full of hot dogs to carry them back to the seats. And my guys, I think it was Steve Bigak. My guy, Steve Bigak, has it over his head as he's walking up and all the guys see

him and start fucking going nuts. Like he was like the hero of the day. And I think that's what this fucking big ass and brink. Remains me. I was like, you bring this back to the homie. You're just like, let's fucking go.

You're down to run and this rally sombrero hits. I think this is going to be. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Absolutely hilarious. Last one, Phillies.

The Schwar bomb Sunday. It is a mini helmet and filled a soft serve ice cream topped with a funnel cake, fried, strawberry uncrustable, fresh strawberry sauce and fruity cereal pieces. I am so in on everything

outside. Oh. of the fruity pebbles cereal to be honestly i'm not a big fruity pebbles it's just sprinkling i know i know but i'm going to try it don't you wrong i'll i'll get the full report i'm a big fan of uh helmet ice cream i love strawberries i don't know what it is about strawberry sauce like strawberry no strawberry sauce it says fresh strawberry sauce like the drizzle over, I don't know what it is about that. It makes me like, it gives me like the ick, like the fucking.

I'm in on that. Strawberry sounds like too sweet? No, I think it's the texture of it. It's like, it's like. texture. Too syrupy. Yeah, it's like the red syrupy. It doesn't look like there's a lot.

Yeah. I don't know what it is. I don't love it. But I love everything else about this. And I'm taking that souvenir home. And Ohio ball player. I was in when I read funnel cake fried strawberry and crust. I mean, that's the only thing I need to hear.

I'm going to try this now. Dude, fried on Crosswell is going to be incredible. Yeah. All right. That's ballpark food. It's called a Schwar bomb, so I'm going to give it to go. Great name. Great player.

Great name. All right. Nah, that does of a new news brought to you by American Express. Thanks to our presenting sponsor, AT&T. Here's the thing about golf. It's where deals get done. Relationships get built. And connections matter.

most. That's right. Just like you need reliability on the course, you need it in your network. That's why you should choose AT&T, a champion partner of the Masters. All right, Jason, I got a question. If you could play Augusta National with any three people dead alive, who's your dream for some? Tiger Woods, Fred Couples.

Okay. And I got to say Jim Nance now, because I heard he does commentating from people that are playing. Yeah, need that. Whether you're closing a deal between swings or catching a tournament while traveling to work, AT&T delivers the seamless connectivity that keeps you in the game on and off the course. Because when the connection matters, it has to be AT&T. Connecting changes everything. Visit AT&T.com slash connect a change to learn more.

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The last thing before we get to Troy, we got to get to this out of the house from this past week at the Masters. currently filming this while we're in the house, so we're going to toss to our own selves out of the house. This master's edition of Out of the House is brought to you by AT&T. Oh, thanks, guys. Appreciate you sending it to us down here in Augusta. I've been down here since Tuesday. Yeah, I just got down here yesterday. Yep. Saw Jason up at the, up at the course, had a few crows nests, had a few azaleas. Yeah. Saw a few azaleas. Saw a few good shots. We're out here in the, uh, the front of the the house that we, uh, that we're renting down here.

It's gorgeous. Saying hello to all the patrons outside of the course and going to head up there for another fun day. Absolutely. How was the part three? Part three was great. I don't know that I helped Akshay out at all. I actually do think I gave him a good read.

He told me it was a good read. So I will take it. A lot of fun, a lot of families. Patrons are all just looking to have a good time. It's a way more relaxed day than the actual tournament. Yeah. And it's very unique in the way that like no other major especially, but really no other PJ event has something like that the day before you do it. You have pro-ams in the other events,

but this thing was so unique and special in the way that their families are incorporated into it. That was my first time being a part of it. And it's just another example of, I think, Augusta National, just setting the example and the tone of what golf is, right? Yeah. No other sport. Do you partake in as much with your families, whether you belong to a club, whether you play with your kids? It's just, I think it's something that really matches up well. Yeah. And to do that right before the biggest tournament in golf is pretty remarkable. It's also not mandatory.

So those guys sign up to do that. Yeah. They could be hitting balls. They could be getting more reps. Yeah, but it's a part of the show. Is it part of the fun? It's part of the excitement of the week. And I think it's an acknowledgement that this thing is bigger themselves.

Yeah. Right? It's an acknowledgement that the history to this are fans. families are going to be included in it, all of it, they really embrace it. So I think it was, it was awesome to be there and to have a lot of fun with those guys. Yeah. The one thing about this tournament is that it's, it's more than just a golf event. It's like you don't necessarily have to be in the golf.

You're going to see some amazing shots of the best players in the world. But it's an event that anybody can enjoy because of how beautiful the landscape is, because of everything that goes into what that course is. I mean, you have different houses. and places you can go while you're there. And you just get a full experience like none other. And it's why it's one of the best events in sports. The cool part about being there is that you're on these grounds that have been there

and this tournament has been being played since 1934. The course was carved out and just feels like it was made to be a golf course. You don't have your phones. There's no digital scoreboard. Everything's manually being done. That's the hardest part, yeah. There's no phones in understanding where the, the matches, you know, because you don't know what a guy's got going on, three holes over,

and whether they're making a push or they're... There's a level of mystery to it. You're there and you're trying to figure out, where's the scoreboard? Oh, he just... Freddie just got a quadruple, a double, what was a quadruper bogey or four? Like, what that happened? And so it's, there's this excitement in the fact that you don't really know what's happening when you're there. The way the grounds are handled, the way the faculty...

the workers, everything's done there, is just done at an insane level. I gotta give a, from the course management. To the workers and everybody that's really putting this thing on and making this thing go. They make it one of the cleanest places I've ever been, especially on a golf course, man. They do such a great job. Everybody says it's kind of like the Disney World of Golf. Everything, I can see that. All the dirty work kind of happens in a way that you don't ever see.

So everything looks pristine. The way they treat everybody, the way everybody treats you, whether it's the patrons, the workers, everybody's just there to have fun. It's an awesome time. They've somehow kept these prices down. I mean, the pimento cheese sandwich was a buck 50. I think a bottle of water is $2. You're not giving that thing out for free?

If you have Birkman's passes, it's for free after you pay us for however many thousands of dollars for the ticket. I don't know how that works. But no, they could jack those prices up. Yeah. You go into an NFL stadium. You're paying, what, like $8 for a beer? Yeah, but those are premium beer. Sears.

Your asshole. What was your favorite shot? I don't know. We saw, I'm trying to think of, my favorite hole. Yeah. It's 13. I love 13. The par five bend around the corner.

Then you got to play over. Raes Creek. Yep. Okay, Ray's Creek. You know the creeks. I think it's Raised Creek. Um, and you got to make a decision on whether you want to go. a decision on whether you want to go for it and you got a long second shot approach shot are you

going to lay up and pitch in but if you ever got to play it what would you do what would I do I'm going for you're going for it I'm not trying to set a score I'm trying to have a story I'm trying to turn the corner and everything there we go yeah it's that hole's awesome I also I just like the par fives honestly par fives and par three are the most fun ones to tee up because you're going to see somebody throw a dart at one of the par three is like 16 or two coming down the hill and That's a fun one, yeah. Well, you see scoring. You're going to see somebody go for an eagle.

You're going to see birdies. There's a lot of action, I feel like, on the par fives and threes. So those are the ones I like to post up at. You think Roy's running away with this thing or what? I mean, he's winning by six strokes right now. Yeah, sounds about right. For those of you that know, no, it is Saturday morning. The cut has just been made, and Rory is winning by six strokes.

He is going to be potentially the first person to repeat as Masters champion since Tiger Woods did it in 2001 or two. It was either 2000, 2001, or it's 2001, 2002. Either way, he would be the fourth person ever to be back-to-back Masters Champions. I think that would be awesome. Another guy that's up there right now, Justin Rose. I got to see him when the U.S. Open in Philly in 2014. Awesome dude.

I watched him in Spieth and Kepka on a part three and then T-off. And man, it's just crazy when you see these pros tee off with the driver, man. Yeah. I mean, the sound, not only the sound of the ball, the club hitting the ball, but the swing. Yeah. The placement. And how tight it is. The velocity it comes off. It's crazy.

How tight these, some of these shots they have to hit, even on one. One is just a par four up the hill. But that bunker on the right, you got like a 15-yard landing strip, really, that you're trying to hit. If you don't get it in there, you can be in the trees on the straw on the left side, then you can't reach the green. It's watching these guys navigate how precise they are with all the shots. It's just a blast to see in person when you can see the ball. That thing skyrackets off that face. So you got to have some UV protection to try and see it. But yeah, what was your favorite thing you ate? Favorite thing I ate? I know you're a big egg salad guy.

Yeah, because who doesn't love mayonnaise Mixed with eggs Throwing on some white bread I actually used to love egg salad Mom used to make it I don't know what it was Once I found out that she was just like Yeah

Don't do the sound of the kitchen at the wrong time Please don't do the sound of it But mom, you made the best egg salad Sandwich I'm going to be boozy and stay There's a fried chicken in the Berkman's place That is to die for I didn't get the fried chicken

I got the pizza in Berkman's How was that? So for those of you that know, Berkman's Place is another tier. Are we allowed to talk about Berkman's Place? I don't know. Are we even allowed to be sitting here doing this? Probably not.

We're going to get banned for life, I'm sure. I hope not because it's an incredible experience. Well, you can actually watch the tournament better. I mean, listen, I like watching on Sunday, personally. All right, pimento cheese and egg salad combination was my favorite. Combo? Dude, it's called the pomego. I found that out this week.

That is... I don't think texture-wise you would... I am so out on this. It's pretty darn good. There was also another combo people were saying the pomeo and the barbecue. To me, that was too many flavors happening. It was overkill.

Pomezzo and the chicken, classic chicken, grilled chicken sandwich. That was good. But the pomego is my favorite combo of it. The ice cream peach sandwich sandwich. You didn't get one of them? I'm glad you tried all this because I didn't. I was here longer.

I was trying to watch some golf. They were also having me do it as a part of the broadcast, so I didn't know they had a choice. It was all delicious. That's it. I got around too. Yeah, it was. You see Nancy? You see Daly?

I didn't see either of them. Me neither. I'm hoping I can maybe find Nance today. We called into Top Dog. Who knows if old John Daly is still over there at Top Dog? He is. He's there right now, actually. We called Top Dog yesterday when we left.

the course, the CV was still there, and he had just left. But he is there this morning, and he'll be there this morning Sunday as well, I believe. So, yeah, for those of you that have never been, it's awesome, it's everything you've heard about. There's some of the best golfers in the world. The hospitality, the way it's run is second to none. The tradition to it, the history that's happened there, all of these gnomes, there's noans all over the place. everybody's getting their own. Can I get my hands on these. Yeah, there's the merch bag,

and that's where they get you. It's a $1.50 sandwich, but you're going to go into that merch store and spend some cash for sure. But you love it. I don't know the way it was for you, but like the moment people find out you're coming, you know, I got my barber hitting me up.

Oh, can I get a hat? Can you get me this? So it's an experience like none other, a tradition like no other. I don't know if we want to keep still. Jim's lines. But I mean, Jim, we're stealing your lines. We love you.

That's how good your lines are. That's right. But we'll give you the nod. We'll cite our sources. Imitation is the greatest form of flattery. All right. That's it from us down here at Augusta, Georgia. A little out of the house.

We'll see how the rest of it tees up this weekend. Yeah. How it shapes up? That's all I got. Yeah. And that's out of the house. See you guys. How about that?

That's our segment. We don't know what that looks like yet, but hopefully looks like we're having a great fucking time. Once again, that Master's edition of Out of the House is brought to you by AT&T. Let's get to our conversation with the legendary Hall of Famer, Troy Aikman. This conversation is brought to you by Amazon,

one of our favorites. Our guest today is 6'4 quarterback from UCLA. He was the number one pick in the 1989 draft. He's a six-time Pro Bowl, three-time Super Bowl champion, in 1993 Super Bowl MVP and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He's also the 1983 Oklahoma High School State Typing Champion. I did not know that. He's been in the broadcast booth for 25 years.

He's also my co-worker on Monday Night Football. Please, 92 percenters. Welcome to the show, Mr. Troy Aikman. Let's go. There we go. That's best intro ever. I'm trying. I'm trying.

That's easy. It's easy when you got that many accolades, Troy. Troy, I can't thank you enough for taking the time and hanging with us, man. You've been an icon in the Kelsey household for such a long time. I remember I had the Dallas Cowboys action figures. It was all the stars. It was you, Irvin, Emmett, Dion. I remember having them as a kid, man.

I've been such a big fan. You grew up a quarterback wishing I could one day be in Akeman, but, you know, made my way into the quarterback's best friend world anyways. But I appreciate this. time dog. And I got to hit you with the first question, man. What was your first impression of Jason on air? Oh, well, it was fantastic. I mean, I, I remember we did a production, we did a production call with Jason back when he was, when he was still playing with the Eagles. And someone asked, I don't think it was me, maybe it was Joe, maybe it was Aaron, asked him if,

if Jason had an interest in getting into television when he was done. And he indicated that he might, you know, that he had given it some thought, was going to be doing some stuff. He talked about his grandfather. You know, he got emotional talking about his grandfather. And it was one of those calls where we hung up and we said, wow, we just, you know, we just saw a side of Jason that we had never seen before. You know, we just saw this great competitor playing center and dominating, you know, being an all pro player and all that.

But then we saw this human side to him. Then we thought, wow, you know, if that can translate, the guy has a real future, you know, if he wants to go that route. And he did. And by that time, I was, I was at ESPN and just thrilled. I mean, it was the Kelsey sweepstakes. It's a little bit like what you're going to be going through here, Travis. And so to get Jason, you know, to be a teammate at ESPN has been awesome.

I mean, I'm not just saying this. I said this to others. I think Jason's an absolute superstar in this profession, you know, I mean, he can take this and go as far with it as he did his playing career. We do that Monday night countdown hit that I come down and go on the set with them. The highest compliment that I can pay any former player or current player is by saying, you know, I would have loved to have been a teammate of yours. And Jason's one of those guys. And Travis, I can say the same thing about you.

I've covered enough of your games. But now I am a teammate of Jason's and he makes us better. So it's awesome. And now if we get his brother, we get his young brother over to the worldwide leader. We got something. I don't know, man. ESPN's a very polished organization. I don't know if I, yeah, I'm just kidding, man.

I'd have a fucking glass, dude. It's not that polished. Considering Jason's first time on air, he's screaming tits. Yeah, that's right. And he still has a job. No. So do you think Jason could fit in on the 90s cowboys? Oh, heck yeah.

Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, he'd probably be hanging with me. You know, I mean, hell yeah. Some of those guys, they, you know, they've had more extracurricular activities than what I had. I don't claim to know what Jason was doing in his personal time,

but I have a feeling he and I probably would have been hanging out together. Hell yeah. That would have been a blast. That's some good shit right there, man. I had to ask you what your opinion was or at least the first thought of Jason being a teammate. So that's awesome, man. going to mention this too while we're still on like first impressions going up in the booth with you and joe for the first time i didn't know what i was doing and just watching you guys play off of it and like

the way you let me in there and uh just the great teammate you were there to try and guide me me through that i really appreciate that and then you come down to the regular table while we're talking me you swag and the pre show and you kill it there man i mean you've been doing this is there anything you can't do in brocad's how long you've been doing this 25 years yeah 25 years That is amazing, man. Yeah, it's crazy. You know, it was, well, first of all, when I got into this in 01, I was in a three-man booth. So I first worked with Daryl Johnson, my former teammate.

He had retired a year before me. And then Dick Stockton. So the three of us, and then after one year, Madden left. And when he went to Monday Night Football. And so then they were looking for a new number one booth. and that's when I got paired with Joe Buck and Chris Collinsworth, and I was in another three-man booth with those guys for three more years. So my first four years, I was in a three-man booth.

And I knew pretty early on that I didn't like the three-man booth, but I learned a lot by going that route. And the other thing is, too, there was no social media. So, you know, I said a lot of dumb things. I still do. But when you say something dumb, you're like, man, I hope, And you didn't have to hear about all the people who heard you say it. And now there's not much grace period.

There's not much grace period in life period, but especially in broadcasting. So you don't really get a chance to kind of learn your way. You know, everyone has a quick opinion on guys as soon as they come into it. But like working with Collinsworth was good for me because he had been in television for a number of years prior to that. And Chris is one of those guys. There's a handful of these type of guys. There's not a lot of them. He could host a radio show.

You know, he could host a studio show. He can be the analyst. He could do, you know, he can do games. He can do all of it. He could do play by play, I think. There was one time when they talked to him about maybe doing play-by-play with Madden. And I could not. I wouldn't even attempt it.

You know, I think what Joe Buck does and what play-by-play guys do is such a unique skill. You know, I've gotten more comfortable in front of the camera over the years, which is only natural, but I'm not as talented as a lot of other people that could really kind of do any type of medium they wanted to. I don't know, man. I think you kill it every time we talk me swag, Ryan, SVP, every time you're on the desk. It is amazing to us how quickly you snap into it, what you say just like pierces through all the nonsense.

That's one thing that I think you do such a good job, not just on the desk, but also calling games where you talk about the quarterback position in particular, but really just football in general. There's a realness that doesn't come off like you're attacking anybody. It's just like a face value what you're seeing that you articulate so well in every medium I hear you in. Jason, that's high praise. It means a lot to me. I'll be honest. I mean, what I'm most grateful for you saying is that it doesn't feel like I'm attacking anybody because there's times when somebody writes something that I said. Yeah. And then it comes off as though I was being critical of the player and I get offended by that because the one thing that I've always tried to do, I've tried to be

honest. I mean, everyone tries to do that. I think I think you owe it to the audience. I think you owe it to your employer to be to be honest. But at the same time, I have so much respect for the players and the coaches that participate in this game. I mean, the three of us, we know how hard the game is to play. And I especially know how hard the quarterback position is to play. Doesn't mean every He throws perfect. Doesn't mean every time the quarterback plays, he plays well. And I will point that out. But I hope I do it in a respectful way and not in a way that tries to embarrass or be disrespectful to the people that are out there on the field doing it. For sure. And it doesn't come across that way to me, especially when you're watching it live. Anybody can write an article with like a sound bite and frame it in whatever way they want. I was going to say, I think the players understand that the most. You know, the guys that are seeing exactly what you're seeing and how you're describing it,

really appreciate your ability to put it into words and to give that to the viewers. And I think, you know, we all are our biggest worst critics if we're the best. You know, if you just have to have that mentality. So if somebody's saying that I'm not doing something that I need to be doing, like I'm the first one to point that out. So I think the players definitely, see that first. And it's typically the viewers that have this love and desire that, you know,

their quarterback or their players are the best and can never do anything wrong that have those kind of views on that. Especially Dallas because they, you know, I'm sure, Jason, if, you know, you do games or if you were to say anything on a pregame show about the Eagles, it immediately gets, like if I say, when I'm calling a Cowboys game and I don't call as many now on Monday Night Football because we only get two games a year, whereas at Fox, you know, I had many more. But if a call, if I didn't agree with a penalty that benefited the Cowboys,

I mean, the Cowboys fans would lose their life. The one thing I do remember from when I was playing, I would be watching a Sunday night game or a Monday night game, and a quarterback would make a throw. And the analyst would say, no one in, he's the only guy in football that can make that throw. Or he's the best guy there is at that position. And then the next week, another quarterback would do something.

They'd say, he's the best that, and I'm like, there's 31 other quarterbacks that can make that exact same throw. You know, I mean, and so I never have been, and maybe at times this is not good, but I've never been prone to hyperbole. Like, I just, if I do say something that's really strong, I mean, it's because I honestly believe that that's the only player that could have done whatever that was, you know? I mean, I just think it's disrespectful to all of the other great players in the league. If you're only trying to sell that moment for television and not really being totally honest about the league overall. Absolutely. And it comes across for sure. Because we're not going to name other announcers, but other guys get labeled almost as like super fans of like specific players because they're always saying certain things.

And I just feel like everything you say about a guy is very at face value. And I've always loved hearing that perspective. Yeah, thank you. What do you think about the current state of quarterback play in the NFL? Like, where are you at just holistically with where we're at? Well, I like it. I know going back towards the end of my career, and I, you know, I played. When we played, I mean, I'm sure you guys still the same.

You feel like you played in the golden era of your position, you know. I mean, I had Elway, Marino, Warren Moon, Jim Kelly, Steve Young, you know, boomers. The list goes on and on. There were a lot of really great quarterbacks during the era that I was playing. And towards the end of my career, I was asked, hey, where are all the great young quarterbacks? Like, who's going to fill those shoes once everyone retires? But what you find is somebody always fills those shoes. You know, there's always more superstars that are coming along.

And I think the league is in great hands. I mean, I really do. You know, we can look no further than Drake May of New England. a second-year player and what he's been able to accomplish and a number of other quarterbacks as well. I mean, obviously Travis's quarterback and Patrick Mahomes, what he's been able to accomplish. But there's Josh Allen. There's a number of great quarterbacks. Joe Burroughs always been one of my favorites. But I think the game itself, what I've, what I've liked to see here in the last couple of years, and Jason, you probably would agree,

we got so into the spread sets and throwing the football, the rules favored, the receivers. you know, it was tougher on the defensive backs. And that really goes back to Peyton Manning and Tom Brady in some of those games because New England just went after the Colts physically. And so they changed the rules. It became more favorable for the receivers. So we saw this influx in teams wanting to throw the football. And now it seems to kind of be coming back to the middle where teams are running the ball more.

And I love that. You know, I mean, my career, I would have loved to have thrown the ball more than I did. but if I was a coach today, I would do it the same way we did the 90s Cowboys. I mean, a power running game, the play action game. And we see that, we see that from a lot of, we see that in San Francisco. We see it with the Rams.

We've seen it with a lot of other teams, Chicago. And they're kind of coming back to that, which I really like, which is only going to benefit the quarterback. So I like where the league is right now. I love these young quarterbacks and all the greatness that we've been able to see from that position. I love to hear you talk about the 90s Cowboys, man.

It's so fucking fun. I was just telling you how I was watching the documentary and how excited it felt like that organization, everybody in that building got when you guys got Norv Turner. And I think I'm really just, I'm curious, what was it about Norv's style and it really being suited for you? Because you kind of had that different world,

a lot of rough games and a lot of learning experiences through those first couple years. There's so many quarterbacks that have come into this game that came in as high draft picks, high expectations, and then it just never quite happens for them. And my first two years in Dallas, I was on that path. I was on the path of being a bust. We were the worst offense in football, really both years, my first and second year in the league. Norv Turner then came in my third year with the same players, really pretty much the same offensive linemen, same skill players, Emmett, Michael, Novichick. And in our first year, we were a top 10 offense and we went to the playoffs for the first time,

11 games. And then the next two years with Norb, we were top five offensively and we won two Super Bowls. And so even in today's game, there's not a lot of great offensive minds. And if you're one of these quarterbacks who's fortunate enough to play for one, you got a chance to be really successful. Everyone points to Sam Darnold and what he's gone through and where he's been the last two years,

and that's a great example of it. He's been around really great coaching. He's excelled, and we've seen his talents come out, and that's what happened to me. I credit there's a reason why Norv Turner was my presenter when I went into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Michael and Emmett, they both credit Norv Turner for turning their careers around.

And Jimmy Johnson, he deserves a ton of credit too because he was a tremendous motivator, but he was a great evaluator of talent. And so with those picks that we got from Herschel, the trade of Herschel, we made the most of them or he made the most of them. I had nothing to do with it. Give me somebody, please.

It's fun to say we. It's fun to say we. It's kind of fun to say we. We picked some great points. players after we made a rehearsal trade. But yeah, it was a fun time. And just as fun as it was, then Jimmy left. And it just goes to show you that, man, there's a lot that goes in to having success, you know.

And when you have it, don't screw it up. And I think that the egos of Jimmy and Jerry, it happened too early for them in the NFL. they didn't realize really what they had. I think if it had been down the road years later after a longer period of struggling, I think maybe everyone would have kind of taken a back scene and said, well, wait a minute, this is too good. Let's just enjoy it and let's not mess this up. But so be it.

Yeah, the perspective makes all the difference. I remember 2017 when we went on to win the Super Bowl that year. Brent, we had a really good team. We could all sense in training camp. You just know when, like, you got the roster. Everything's clicking. And Brent Selleck stood up in front of the guys. I went to the NFC championship game, my rookie year.

And we lost. And I was like, oh, we'll be back there next year. It's been 10 years since I've been back to that game. He's like, you don't know how hard it is to get there. And when you got it to take advantage of it, and that was like, it's launched the season. It really had us like take it off. But, I mean, the perspective you don't really know until you have been through it. And you've seen the doubt.

you realize how special it is to have all those pieces in place. Let me ask you this, because you brought up organizations failing quarterbacks, more than quarterbacks fan organizations. If you're built an organization right now, I know you're helping out with Miami, you're trying to get a young quarterback. What is Troy Aikman's like pinnacle of putting this guy in a successful situation? First of all, I'll say this about quarterbacks. I'm sure you guys do it as well.

I worked the draft in 2018, I think. It was whenever Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield and those guys came out, Josh Allen. It's a great quarterback class. Oh, yeah. It's the only year. It's like fine wine. It's only getting better. It's only getting better.

And I worked that draft. So I went to some of these pro days and watched these guys throw. Yeah. Now I don't go physically to the pro days, but I'll watch a number of them on NFL network. And quite honestly, I watch. watch them. And I think to my, what do you evaluate? What do you get watch? This isn't even football. It's just, you know, hey, let me just show you how strong my arm is. And, you know, you get to see the ball come out. You get to see a little bit of accuracy. But there's not,

to me, there's nothing that happens at a pro day for a quarterback that translates into whether or not this guy is going to be successful in the NFL. And, and, you know, it's all the intangibles. Because if you're looking at being drafted, you've got enough arm strength. You know, you've got enough athleticism. And then so, okay, well, then what's going to determine it? Well, you know, what kind of leader are you? You know, do you want to be the best there is? Are you the first one in the building?

What are your work habits? Are you intelligent? You know, I mean, there's just a number of things. And I feel it's easy, it's easy when you walk into a production meeting and you're meeting Patrick Holmes, who's already won three Super Bowls. You know, you know he's got it. Whatever that is, you know, the trick is then finding that person who has it when they're still in college and they're getting ready to go to the NFL. That's right.

That really becomes how you evaluate it. But I think as far as what would it look like to give a young quarterback success, it goes back to kind of what we talked about earlier. I would want him under center for the most part. I think that I think the college game has gotten to where these quarterbacks sit back they're holding the ball, they're waiting for guys to get open, and then when they get open, they throw them the football. They don't read coverages. They don't understand coverages. There's no sense of timing. It's one of the reasons why I love watching Joe Burrow play so much, because the

ball comes out on time. He's an old school quarterback. I mean, he could have played Meyer in the 90s. You can feel that, yeah. So I think getting under center, it forces a quarterback to kind of play in rhythm and get the ball out. So I'd want that. I'd want a running game, all those things. things that are really beneficial and helpful for a quarterback. But you're right. There's a number of teams, dolphins included, that are looking for the next young quarterback that can be their guy for the next 10,

15 years. You brought up college. Where does Troy Aitman stand on NIL? When you talked about diving in on NIL one time and then the fucking kid didn't even write you a note and just bailed on UCLA and, dude, I hadn't been, I was already out on it.

I was like, dude, these kids just get the opportunity to jump, they're jumping. And it's like, why even waste your time on it? Yeah, it's an unfairness to the young player, you know, it's a collectibles thing. He's just collecting the checks. He doesn't know the wall. Yeah, he doesn't even know. So it's no, no reflection of him.

But with that said, I know a number of people, my daughters being two of them, that would have loved to have me to have given them that kind of money, you know? No doubt. No doubt. They would have written me a thank you note. But, you know, I never even met him. I never even met the guy. And then he didn't play.

So it just, and I speak for probably most people out there. I know that most alums have heartburn over this whole NIL program. And I don't know how it gets cleaned up, but I do feel that at least in the NFL, you've got a contract that if you take money, you know, you're obligated. That's what it feels like it needs to get to. You have to honor that, man. You can't collect a check and then the very next year go back in the portal and then go collect another check. It just defies, you know, what this country is supposed to be about.

I always thought players should be paid because you couldn't work in the offseason or you could work in the summers. You couldn't work during the school year back when I was playing. And I didn't come from a wealthy family at all. But there were a lot of teammates of mine who came from less money than even I did. And they were really struggling. And I thought, man, these guys should be getting paid something. And the NCAA, I think, just really dropped the ball. I mean, if they'd gotten out ahead of this and said, okay, here's what we're going to do.

And they didn't do it. And now it's the Wild West out there, you know. It is insane, man. And what also, what you don't hear about anymore is the quality of the education. Yeah, that's awesome. I haven't heard that. I haven't heard education come by about college football since NIH. came about it. All of a sudden. It's not even

discussed. Graduation rates, none of it. I've never heard a kid ask, hey, how are my credits going to transfer if I switch schools here? I haven't heard that one yet. Let's play a hypothetical because this is all funny games.

If you were a college quarterback and you had one more year of eligibility, but you knew you were a top five lottery pick. At a great university. But you know the NFL is way on you and everybody, everybody knows you're going to be a top pick. Would you stay an extra year or play for the worst, or get drafted by the worst team in the league?

Well, it says Jets, Travers. I'm not going to do the Jets thing. We got an employee that works with us at New Heights. That's a huge Jets fan. And the question was, would you get drafted by the Jets? But I'm just going to say, by just, would you, would you question whether or not to stay the extra year or get drafted by arguably like a rough situation? That's a hard one because typically, you know, for instance, when I came out in 89, I was first overall pick and the Cowboys, of course, were the worst team. And they were the worst team in football. And we were the worst team in football even after my rookie year. We regressed. We went from three wins before I came to Dallas to one win when I joined. And so that didn't look like a great situation. But yet it became an amazing place to play. And so I.

I think you've got to be really guarded about saying, well, historically, this franchise hasn't done it. And so do I really want to go to that place or should I stay in college another year and maybe, you know, reshuffle the deck and I get a chance to go play somewhere else? Yeah. You know, there's a lot of, you take Peyton Manning going to Indianapolis, what he was able to do. You know, they all look good. Joe Burrow going to Cincinnati. I mean, all these programs start looking better, you know, when you start getting the right of people in place. So that's a hard one.

I think it's so important for these quarterbacks to play. Just play in college, play as many games. I mean, the chances of them then going on and having success in the NFL go up dramatically. I mean, you look at a guy like Bo Nix and what he was able to do. And it's so rare. A lot of these quarterbacks have only had 13, 14 starts in college. And that's a big jump than going to the NFL and expect them to play well. Is there anybody out there that's short?

struggling in the league right now that you would say might be the next Sam Darnold? Not offhand. Not offhand. You know, when I going back to that draft, Sam was my number one guy. I mean, when I evaluated him, I thought the one question mark was Sam in college was the turnovers. He turned the ball over a lot in college, fumbles and interceptions. And he still has had some of that in the NFL. But early on, it looked like, well, maybe it's just not going to work out for him.

But like we said, he goes to San Francisco, backs up. then he goes to Minnesota. And then what he's done this year in Seattle has been awesome. We've seen that from Baker Mayfield. Josh Allen was a bit of a project coming out of college. People thought it would take him longer than it did. And he's the one who had the most success right away. So I've talked to so many people who evaluate quarterbacks for a living.

And I've said, hey, when you walked in and met with Aaron Rogers coming out of college or Joe Burrow or whoever, did you know they had it? And it's about 50-50, you know. I mean, it's a coin flip as to whether or not what you think is what they're going to become. And that's why there's so many people that have been wrong. It's not an exact science in getting these guys right. Well, quarterback is even the hardest one to judge, I feel like, because like you've been saying, there's so many intangibles that determine whether that guy pans out. That's right.

We got a great one coming out this year. He took college football by storm this year. with both his play and his personality, man. He's a bit of a unique individual in Fernando Mendoza over there at Indiana, obviously national champion. Everyone's saying he's going to be the number one pick. What's your read on him if you've been able to catch him playing football? I haven't studied him.

I've seen him play a little bit. You know, my college football viewing is really more or less the game's on, and I'm studying, preparing for our broadcast or whatever. and so it's more background noise, so I don't really study them too hard. A big fan of what he's been able to do, a big fan of that university, for that matter, and what Kurt Signetti accomplished. I mean, it's just remarkable. I mean, it just blows me away.

Speaking of him, not to avoid your question, but they played UCLA a year ago, week three. I'm home on a Saturday. UCLA, Indiana at the Rose Bowl. And they start talking about Kurt Signetti, and I'd never heard him before. and they say he came from James Madison. They go through his whole thing. They played the sound bite of, you know, all I do is win, Google me. And so I got so, I got so, I got, I got, I got, I got, I got so locked in.

Like, that's when television worked, you know, like, it hooked me. And I was locked out of it. And it wasn't because of UCLA. It was because, man, I want to know more about this Kurt Sinetti. This old ball coach, man. And I'm watching his team play. And you could tell they were just so well coached. You know, they'd catch the football.

they're three yards short of the first down, but the guy immediately catches it, nice up the field, picks up the first down. I'm like, man, these guys, they've been well coached. So I've been following them ever since. And so I'm a huge fan of what he's done. Now, Mendoza, I will say, I was just having this conversation with someone else, that every year there is a best quarterback in the draft, right? There's always a best quarterback, but it doesn't mean that every year there's a franchise

quarterback in the draft. And I think that that's what, and I'm not suggesting. and then Mendoza is not a franchise quarterback at all. I'm just saying that, you know, that's what has to be evaluated. Is he the first overall pick? Should he maybe not be the first overall pick? It's just that, as we've talked about, the league is so starved for quarterbacks.

And if you're one of those teams that needs one, man, they all look like franchise quarterback. You talk yourself into it real quick. That's right. So I like him. I like his accuracy. I like, man, tough. He's played in big games.

She's shown it on big stage. I think there's a lot to be said for that. And now it's a matter of, can he get to the right place? Is Vegas that place where he can really excel? It's easy to say, yeah, because Tom Brady's an owner and he's got a vested interest and he's going to be right there, but he's not going to be right there, you know. And there's a lot that is happening within that organization. But I like the young man, and I'll be pulling for him.

I pull for all these guys to play well. I'll be pulling for him when he gets his chance. That's awesome. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you to our partner, Liquid Ivy. When it comes to travel, I love a good road trip or discovering the best food spot in the city. Yep, that's right. You're driving through some random town.

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You're in good hands with Allstate. Potential savings vary. Subjects to terms, conditions, and availability, Allstate North American Insurance Company and affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois. Let's get to this segment right here. We call it, Get Off My Turf. Get off my turf! We need to narrow these field goals.

It's too easy to kick field goals now. I'm also out on these touch screens on the walls. I'm out on that too. I am out on that too. Oh, I want a smart house. What the fuck is wrong with morocles? Get off my turf. Get off my turf.

It's a new segment for us. Sick of this new wave, man. We've been bitching about all types of shit on how the NFL's changed, man. We're huge. We love the fucking wedge back in the day, man. Get the big boys out there locking arms. Fucking full-on collisions. Like, why change that?

That's the most exciting. Fuck, that's the start of the game right there. I get to see some action. The wedge. I haven't heard the wedge. You're talking to two wedge guys right here. We fucking love that shit. Crackback blocks being legal.

Defenseless receiver rules, man. I just watched the doc. And Michael Irvin is just out here just enjoying every single lick he's taken over the middle, man. Just becoming bigger of more and more of a beast every time he catches one, man. And that's just a different game. So, Jason, go ahead. I was a wedge buster. was a wedge buster in college before I started.

I was running down in knee braces. And they said, Jason, just take out this win. No joke. No joke. Me and Ricardo Matthews, a D-Lyman that played in the league for a long time. They said, we could get down there faster than anybody anyways. I'm like, hey, UCF had a really good kickoff. They'd say, hey, guys, just go down there and take the wedge out.

They do all middle returns. It'll be great. We go down there. We blow this four-man wedge up. It goes 106 yards to the college. Not in the sideline. Let's reevaluate this. Maybe have some savvy.

Maybe get to the ball. Yeah, yeah. Troy, you would have fucking loved to see this dude running down because it was in his transition. You heard him say knee braces. Yeah, well, that's what I was going to say. I would have loved to have seen him not only run down the field, but run down the field and knee braces.

That's right. He had just made the transition open to the offensive line. It was the rule that all the line needed to wear knee braces. So he had this big old, it was like he had a yoga ball on his waist, man. He had this big old gut because he was trying to gain weight to play all line, had the knee braces on, but still had like that linebacker athleticism a little bit. Not quite, not quite.

Nothing in that belly more than beer and subway, man. It was hilarious, man. He was a baller. We're going to give you 40 seconds, Troy, air out any complaint you have with the modern game of football. Do you have anything that right off the top of your head you can think of? I guess what I don't like is, and I'm a former quarterback, of course, I don't like the extent of some of the protection on the quarterback is probably,

probably my biggest complaint just because, man, it just, the whole objective for a defense is obviously to get to the quarterback. I mean, if you do that, you get your chances of win and go up. And these guys, man, I've never played defensive line or any of that, but I can only imagine that you're fighting through 300-pound offensive linemen. You're getting twisted and torched in all kinds of directions. And yet you're trying to get to the quarterback. And if you get there and you don't do it exactly the right way, then there's a penit. And I just, I don't like that. I don't like that at all.

Now, there's so much that's been done to try to protect players. And I'm all for it. But you talk about a wide receiver back in the, you know, going back prior to the 2000s. I mean, if you went over the middle, it was up to the quarterback to protect the receiver. And now they just, quarterbacks will just throw it anywhere because they know the quarterback or the receiver is not going to get hit. And what I see a number of times is defenders, they don't know how to. to play it. Like they're caught in no man's land. They don't know whether to try to make a play on the ball. Just just try to tackle the receiver. I feel bad for the players, the gladiators that

are in the arena. They don't really want the protection. You know, the players are the ones always saying, hey, we're good. Let us play. I signed the contract. I'm good. I'm ready. I agree to this. That's right. So that's what's kind of different and odd about the whole thing. Couldn't agree more. Yeah, I don't want to be the get off, whatever the segment's called, to get off my lawn guy. You don't want to be that? All right, all right. We'll be those guys. Thank you for, thank you for playing along. We'll get you out here after this last segment, man. We always end it with a little bit of we got to ask, but you can clearly not answer. You can just tell us the fuck off, Troy. But we got to ask these questions. I got to ask the first one.

I got to. Because this is the most impressive highlight I've ever seen in the NFL. Larry Allen chasing down that interception, the most impressive thing athletically you've ever seen in the NFL? Probably. I mean, this guy is insane. I've seen the clip you're talking about. And I remember the play like it was yesterday. And yet he was so athletic that I didn't think anything of it at the time that it happened. You know, like Larry's got to him before I did. You know, okay. I was pissed that it was an interception. But then I see the. clip and you're like whoa i mean he he was he was a freak and he was the he was the quietest shyest guy in the locker room oh my gosh i mean he he he wouldn't say two words you know i mean he was so shy styling assassin man and he'd get on the field and he would just destroy people i mean it was he was he was amazing i think of that clip i think of that what did he put up on the bench press at

the Pro Bowl to one year. It was like some absurd number. Yeah, I might have been 800 pounds or something. It was after I had retired that that he did that and just a gentle giant. I mean, God rest his soul, you know, he passed a few years ago. But I'd reached out to him. I'd heard he was struggling a little bit. And he was just a gentle giant. I mean, just an incredible. His son went to Harvard, Harvard or Yale, played football. I mean, he was a family man, raised great. great kids, everything he did. He invested back into his family. You know, the words, goat gets thrown around a lot, you know, greatest of all time and all that. I mean, there's a lot of great Lyman, and, and I'd put a lot of others on par with him, but I wouldn't

say anyone that's ever played has been better than him. I know that. And love, love having him as a teammate as well. Yeah, baby. Close friend of mine, Andy Reid, says that he may be called you in 2002. Yeah. While you were on the Fox broadcast to see if you maybe be interested in playing for the Philadelphia Eagles. That's right. Yeah, we were in that,

went down. We were at old Jack Murphy Stadium. I was in the three-man booth with Collinsworth and Joe Buck. And we had just done a game break that Donovan McNabb had just broke his leg. And the Eagles were playing really well. They were number one in the NFC at the time as mid-season. We're getting ready to go to halftime. And my producer, Richie Zion says, hey, I've got a number that I need.

you to call at halftime, which he had never done. And I was in my, like, third year, third year in the middle of a broadcast. And I was trying to call from the booth at halftime, and there's no cell service. So I walk out onto the concourse, because this was an old stadium, it was old Jack Murphy. So I'm out on the concourse. Fans are walking by. Of course, they're like, hey, F you, Akeman, Cowboys, Blower. I got, I got Andy, I said, hey, he says, hey, it's Andy. And I said, Andy Reed. And I said, yeah. And he says, you know, you heard what happened, didn't you? And I said, yeah, we just did a game break on it. He goes, well, I want to talk to you. I said, Andy, I'm in the middle of a broadcast. He said, I know you are. He said, I need you to call me after the game. And I said, all right.

So I called him after the game. And he was selling me on why I should come out of retirement and go sign with the Eagles and play for him. They were playing Monday night. The following game was on Monday night against the 49ers. And Ty Deidmer was the, he, I decided, obviously, I didn't, I didn't do it. I said, I didn't go. You didn't pull the old man rivers? I was on my way up to Montecito, Santa Barbara, after that game. And I'm driving up.

And I said, I can either keep on going north and enjoy a week in Montecito or I'm going to be on a plane in a blizzard in Philadelphia, you know. and Edmer goes down the very next week. He gets hurt against 49ers. AJ Feeley takes over. He wins five straight games. McNabb comes back from his injury, finishes out the season,

and the Eagles went to the NFC championship game that year. So it wound up being still an amazing year for him. There you go. That's wild. But what a fun story, man. That's crazy. I can only imagine trying to be on the main concourse. Well, I'm flying at you.

It's like, This is Andy? Oh, man, that's too funny. Speaking of Philly, do you have any favorite stories from playing in Philly? I know they're good on defense now. But back when I played, it didn't matter if it was Buddy Ryan, Bud Carson, Ray Rhodes. I mean, it didn't matter who their defensive coordinator was. They beat the dog shit out of quarterbacks.

I mean, it was 91. They were number one against the run, number one against the pass, number one overall. They were knocking quarterbacks out every week. And my first game against them, I didn't know a lot about them. my rookie year. Our first game was on Thanksgiving in Dallas. And at the end of that game, and that was the year, obviously, we weren't very good. And I, at the end of that game, they x-rayed both shoulders, both knees, my elbow. I thought I, I thought I had broken bones through my whole body. We had to play the Eagles two weeks later. And after they x-rayed me after

the game, they said, yeah, no, everything's good. And I said, everything's good. What you? I had to go back two weeks later and play against these animals. I mean, they were brutal. And that was a game. They were throwing, you know, they had the snowballs with batteries and, you know, they were, I'd check my helmet off. The Santa Claus throwing snowballs at him on his little tricycle. I mean, that stuff, that stuff was real, you know. That's amazing. Yeah. Yeah. I remember we were sitting around at a round table one off season as me, Farve, Elway. And I think one, Warren Moon. They asked us where our least favorite place to play was,

our toughest place to play. And they get to me, and I said Philadelphia. I mean, it was hands down. Philadelphia is the worst place to play. And Fav, and they go to Farr, and Farrf says Philadelphia, and I said, what do you know about Philadelphia? He only played there one time in his

career, and it was like four years earlier. I said, I got to go there every year. These guys are, I mean, that defense was so, They were so good. I mean, Reggie and Clyde Simmons and, you know, the list goes on on. Seth Joyner.

Yeah. Eric Allen. I mean, they were just dominant. We got a running joke on here that an average fan couldn't get a single yard in the NFL. But with the guy as much football knowledge accumulated as Joe Buck, could Joe Buck get a, get a yard in the NFL? Get a yard doing what? Running?

Running the ball? run of the board. Or how long? However, however. There is no chance. None. None. In fact, in fact, you know, Joe played football.

I broke his neck playing, you know, when he was in high school. What broke his neck? I didn't know this. Broke his neck playing football. Get with a giggle is hilarious. Joe would not only not get a yard. He would not, he might not. get up. I mean, maybe like, come on. Are you serious?

My bad, Joe, I said Joe for failure right there. Who's a better actor? You and Jerry McGuire or Jerry Jones and Landman? Jerry Jones and Landman. Did he not crush that? It's so fitting. Dude, that scene in the hospital is unreal. I've had a lot of meetings with Jerry over the years. I've had a lot of great conversations with him about his past. And, you know, when he gets into talking about, about some of the things that he's lived through and that he's done. It's pretty fascinating. And so I've heard variations of basically that story that he told in Landman.

And so Joe and I were talking about it, Joe Buck, and he was saying, hey, did you see it? And I said, yeah, I saw it. It was phenomenal. I said, but I've heard him basically tell that story. I said, he wasn't acting. That's Jerry. I mean, that's Jerry telling the story. and Joe made a great point.

He says, no, I hear you. I hear you that it's his story and all that. But he told it in a sound studio in front of 40 people with cameras and lights and an audience. And he sold it. He sold it for sure. That is acting. So when he said that, I said, you know what? You're right.

Because we've all been on commercial shoots. And, you know, it's not as comfortable as what Jerry made it feel. he was delivering that, I thought he was phenomenal. Couldn't agree more. Yeah, the cadence and like the way he, the pauses and everything, it just came off so real. And I've gotten to know Taylor Sheridan, and we were talking about that, that piece that that Jerry did.

And I agree. Taylor said if, if he wanted, you know, he could make a living as an actor, you know, and he could. I mean, I got a joke I could tell, but I don't want to tell it. So I'm not going to. It would go viral and then I got my hands full in the media for the next. So I'll leave it at that. When we stop recording, we're going to hear this.

All right. Yeah. Using a former teammate to fill in the blank, people forget that blank was a problem. Using a former teammate to fill in the blank, that blank was a problem. People forget that this man was a problem. I mean, obviously, we had some, we had some colorful figures and well-docted. I might add. But the thing that, you know, there's a lot of people who, who point to Michael. And it was in the documentary of all the things that he went through and dealt with in his

personal life and away from the field. And, and I would say that Michael, like, he and I have a relationship that's so unique. And it's been that way forever. You know, my mom who's passed, Michael and I were on a on a cruise after my first year and I brought my mom and and like my mom Michael and the trouble and the things that he he got into like my mom would not have condoned those things you know a lot a lot of people's moms wouldn't a lot of people wouldn't right but my mom loved Michael Irvin because every time he saw her he made her feel like a million you know and i i've met y'all's mom and when people make your mom feel special i mean you can't put that into words you can't put a price on that and so and and my mom loved michael right up until the

day she passed and michael and i have that relationship to where he's for the longest time as as i've gotten older you're more willing to tell people what they mean to you and that you love them but when you're in your 20s michael was the guy who would come over see me in public he'd come over give me a kiss and tell me he loves me and, you know, these bare colleagues. Yeah, it was just, and regardless of whatever it was happening in his life, when we went out to practice, because people would say, how do you and Michael, how are you and Michael so close? And I said, you know what? When we go out to practice, it doesn't, like, we live totally different lives.

But he gets out there and he runs every route like he's preparing for the Super Bowl. It's never affected the way he prepares during the week. And that's all I cared about. I mean, if a guy came and showed up to work and was ready to get better that day and help us win, man, it was go do whatever the hell you want. And that was Michael. I don't know how he did it because he ran hard away from the facility, but he ran hard at the facility as well. And it's why we were as close as we were. Man, I love Earth, man.

He's the best dog. He's a one of one for sure. Do you have a welcome to the NFL moment? You might have already named it with the Eagles game from your rookie year, it sounds like. It was the Eagles and it was my rookie year and it was Thanksgiving that I talked about that, you know, in college, a big guy breaks through the line. You know, I wasn't the fastest guy in the world, but I could run. I ran the whispone at OU when I was playing at Oklahoma. But, you know, you just run away from them.

You know, you run away from them. You throw the ball and, you know, you go on to the next play. And we're playing the Eagles and Reggie White got through the line. so I take off running and then somebody tackled me from behind and I was just like who was that?

I didn't know they brought a linebacker or something when I got up it was it was Reggie and that's when I that's where I remember thinking man this league is this league's different when you've got 300 pounds like Reggie White who are running you down from behind and yeah so that was

my that was my welcome to the NFL moment. That's a mean guy chasing you for sure. Troy we can't Thank you enough, man. One of the best to do it on the field in the booth, the stand-up guy, man. Thank you for all the nuggets of gold, the wisdom, the stories, brother, and of course, the time, man.

This is fun, man. You got it. You got it. Man, I appreciate you guys having me. You guys are awesome. Thank you so much. Thank you to Troy Aikman for stopping by, man. I still remember having those action figures when I was a kid, man.

Even when I watched Little Giants, I was like, I kind of like the Cowboys, man. Aikman had those Cowboys jerseys looking fucking sweet in the 90s, man. Shout out to Aigman for all the stories, man. Obviously, one of the best broadcasters out here, but for all you young bucks, man, go watch some Aikman highlights from the 90s, man. You won't regret it. Once again, that conversation is brought to you by Amazon. And that wraps up another episode of New Heights.

Thank you to Troy Aikman. Make sure you're subscribed to a nice channel on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast. Once again, New Heights of Wondry Show brought to you by 8. T&T this week. Ha ha ha! Still got it. Follow the show on all social media. I had New Heights show with WhatEster Fun Cliffs throughout the week to our new Heights production team.

Thank you guys for always making us look good. And you guys are really the engine that keeps this thing going, man. We appreciate you guys. And thank you to the 92% of us for tuning in each and every week. Hopefully you enjoyed it as much as we did. And we'll see it next week. Peace. Does Intuit Interpretext want to sponsor my trip to the zoo?

The L.A. Zoo? No, I went to the living desert in Palm Springs It's a better zoo Oh, you're full of shit, I'll take you You're as close to San Diego as you are The fucking desert I was in the desert looking at wedding venues This was not a zoo trip

Oh, Brandon Jay Travis So nice It was very nice And here's what I've learned It's expensive Oh fuck Oh yeah

I said Lauren how serious are we Honey there's a There's an applebee's right there She'll say yes, Honey, you know I love you. It's $3 margaritas. How much are we really looking to spend on people? Half off apps after 10.

After 9, actually, they moved that up an hour. They have something called a triple dipper? I think our guests will love that. Yeah, let me know when you guys want to come out. I'll book it around your schedules. Are we invited? You guys are both invited. You skip Jakes.

So you got to come to mind. You're getting married at the zoo? Honestly, I would get fucking married at the zoo. I love a little wallaby running around. Dude, do not. Don't tempt me. Just come out on an elephant. Dude, they had rhinos, man.

if you fucking rhinos are sick. Bro, rhinos are fucking. They're sick. Very intense. Did you go in the cage with them? No, they don't give me the Travis Kelsey to her. Don't do it. I'm with gin pop.

They keep me behind the fence. It's terrifying. No, they're, but they're like, you're looking at an alien when you see a- fucking trot around. Like, holy shit. I have a ridiculous AI algorithm right now of ionis. I, uh, hyonis.

Hyonis. Hyenas. Yeah, that one. Yeah, that one is hilarious. The one where he's just laughing in the front seat. Oh, I saw one. That's one that I had to look up. I'm like, I know this is fake, but I just like, let's just see if it says AI.

You're ridiculous, Jason. You had to look that. You had to double check. The hyena had a mascot. Rock, is this real? hilarious. Just comment section. Just a quick glance, making sure.

You can't ask AI about another AI thing being real because then they're on the same team. They're going to say, yeah, it's real. The robots get together. Yeah, they're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's real. That's real, that's real, that's, that's, that's fine. Love it.