NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Bunkercast XVI: Real Heroes

Episode Date: April 2, 2020

A bunkercast filled with friends - Dan Hanzus, Chris Wesseling, Gregg Rosenthal and Marc Sessler bring you the latest news around the NFL including Tom Brady's new mansion, the latest QB move, and contract talks. Wess heads up a hero segment where everyone talks about who they admire most.Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the NFL podcast. Need some toilet paper. Badly. Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis. I'm coming to you from a city filled with heroes in bunkers. Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosenthal.

What is up, boys? Hey, Dan. Hey gang Days have no meaning anymore I took out my garbage cans Put them on the street last night A full 24 hours early That was a mistake

I can't really track the days anymore They're all essentially the same And that is just one of the many burden Faced Right here Good good garbage material You know it's like It's like that's man of the people stuff

It's just like a little slice a regular life. Do you put, do you put your garbage out on the corner, Greg? Yes, sometimes. I always take it in. We share the same garbage canisters with the two apartments behind us. So it's a group effort. I'm always taking a minute. Ever any heat with that? No. Sharing trash could lead to, you know, neighborly squabbles. I often just take it out into the streets, you know, where it's there all the time in the alley. Don't even mess with the. Doesn't feel like a great time to be sharing refuse with other people, Greg. But, you know, you have your own plan and direction. Um, Wes, how are you, buddy? I'm doing well. We had another, uh, neighbor happy hour

last night. We made a trip to CVS with our masks and gloves on. Um, anytime you get to a store and you don't have to stand in a like a hundred yard line. It's a good situation. So CVS was walk right in. Strange because my local drug store is the same way. You would think they would have some of the traffic issues, not at the same level as the grocery store, but for instance, the shopping center right near me, it's a 50-foot line to get into Vons, and then you have right-aid right next door, walk right on it. Yeah, Trader Joe's is almost right next door, and that was a long line. I've been in Trader Joe several times since this all started, and there has never been food on the shelf, so I would advise people to maybe try somewhere else.

And Greg, there's Greg's beautiful children. Look at the, look at that. Hi, Ellis. Hand them. Hey, Ellis. Troublemakers. I mean, it plays better on video than an audio podcast. Hi, Ellis.

Mode of communication. They're saying hi to you guys if you want to say hello. Ellis and Walker Rosenthal. Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello. Okay. Bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, go, ga, ga, ga, go, go, pooh, pooh. Oh, wow. A little potty talk in a big spot.

A young Howard Stern in the making. Wow. A lot of poop talk over here. Poop talk's huge with the kids, man. Oh, yeah. They love a lot of people. They're learning about their bodies. Why would it not be a topic of, you know?

Speaking to Howard Stern, Tom Brady going to be on Stern next week, which is suddenly free for all listeners. I'm curious to listen to that. Brady is going on Stern? Wow. He is April 8th, I saw them. And apparently, whatever Stern is on, they've made it free to all listeners. Yes, they have. I am really curious because he's.

he's going to get some stuff out of time. Well, Howard is certain. I'm a Howard fan going back 20 years. He's really softened up, even in the last five years or so, I'd say, with age and moved away from reputation and how he built his career. And he's really put a lot of focus on the celebrity interview angle. I think he's trying to massage his legacy a little bit here in the back end of his career. So I don't know if we're going to get the, if Howard Stern interviewed Tom Brady 15,

years ago, first of all, Tom Brady's not going on the show. Second of all, it's going to be a very different line of questioning. So I, I, anybody that's expecting some type of raunchy no holds bar to interview with Brady, uh, you might be disappointed. But it could still be a very good interview because Stern does his prep and, and he, he's very good at that. I'm not that interested in any, you know, him diving deep into the Giselle relationship or not. I mean, that'd be fine. But I bet he'll, I bet he'll get some stuff. I'll, he'll, he'll bug him about his actual relationship with Belichick in a way that maybe he'll actually get some answers. Yeah, and he'll need help.

Stern doesn't know anything about sports, but he has guys on his team like Bobaboo. That should be able to help out. That's an important interview. We've been waiting all along for Baba Booie to get to the bottom of this, and it feels like it's a perfect pairing. There you go. All right. Today's show, we're going to get caught up on some news,

and including the return of a player that had seemingly been forgotten. and now he is back in the mix in the NFL after years in the desert. And also we're going to talk a little bit. This week we've mixed it up a little bit and thrown around some opportunities for each of us to come up with a theme of the day, something to talk about for a segment or a show. Wes, you had a good idea for today, which is. Well, we open every show as the room full of heroes, but it's with a wink. we are not heroes. We know that. But now we have, you know, friends and listeners in the hospital

battling COVID. We have health care workers dedicated to fighting the virus. And some of them are listening to our podcast during downtimes between those shifts. We're finding out what heroes really are. So we're going to talk a little bit about heroes today. Sounds good. But before that, yes, let's get caught up on the news. There are plenty of things we cannot do right now. But let's focus on what we can do. We can adapt. We can adjust. And we can make better decisions right now for the betterment of the future. As I tell our team, let's keep stringing good days together. And we will get through this. Yeah, Bill. Who's not fired up right now? Who's not ready to run through a wall? What a, what a gifted in terms of charisma. I've always found, um,

Well, he is the proof, though. I mean, one of the great motivators and unquestionably one of the greatest coaches in the history of professional football, not a guy that you would think you would be running through a wall for strictly based on the cadence of his voice. Nicknamed Doom.

Is that true? Well, yeah, Bill Parcells called him Doom. Just walking around the corner. Here comes Doom. Oh, that's so good. Go to pro football reference, and he'll have eight other nicknames that none of us have heard of. That site seems to be off on their own project when it comes to nicknames

that simply are not grounded in reality for players and coaches. All right. Let's get into it. Some news. Derek Henry. Science is $10.2 million franchise tender. I had to get that shot in. That site's been operating without jurisdiction for too long.

The completeest. I guess I'll just. just I'll lay it out there again because you did bring this up about two months ago. I wrote an article about this on our website. I reached out to the people there and they said that they basically put up almost anything that's sent to them and it's a bit of like an inside joke between the readers and the website. Well, not all, not everyone is laughing. Do I seem like I'm laughing about this?

No, you are not laughing at all. Derek Henry, the Titans running back, the rushing champion. He signs that franchise tender. ESPN's Adam Schaefter added that the two sides are still committed to working for a long-term extension before June 15th. But we don't have to worry about, it seems, any type of holdout because he is now under contract. He's signed. He's not going to use it as leverage. And, Wes, it is a tough situation on some level for Henry because when you look at what other skill players, other playmakers in the league are making compared to what he's going to make this year potentially.

if he doesn't get that long-term deal, it stinks, but it's just the way of the beast. Yeah, every once in a blue moon, you'll see a player under the franchise tag maybe draw a hint of interest around the league, but this is not the offseason for that, first of all. And he doesn't play the position for that. Secondly, I do think, you know, I've talked about how nobody feels sorry for fullbacks and they're practically extinct, but there's this outcry for running backs. And I do think it's unfair the way running backs are trying. treated. I would have liked to have seen that addressed in some way in the CBA that their greatest earning years are in college in their first year or two in the NFL when they're underpaid

severely. So there is no mechanism for running backs to get paid what they're worth. And I don't see a way out of that. Yeah, the rookie wage scale keeps obviously their number down. And then as as much as it stinks, like something like what happened with Todd Gurley, Greg, you are an absolute superstar out of college. You're one of the best players in the league. So the Rams say, all right, we're going to rip up that contract and pay him like a superstar and make him a cornerstone. And then that blows up in their face.

So that just is yet another caution sign that it doesn't seem like getting paid as a running back is something that's coming anytime soon. Yeah, it's unfortunate. I think it's just market dynamics. Same thing with inside linebackers and safeties, depending on the position you play. But him signing it got me thinking all these plays. are signing their tag early.

And I do wonder if because there's so much uncertainty out there, they want to theoretically lock up the money. And I've thought about free agents that are out there right now, like Jadevi and Clowny, whether they're starting to get a little nervous because what if the season is delayed? What if it affects your salary moving forward? What if the NFL doesn't pay all their players this year?

Do you want to lock in your contract? Like, it's complicated, but there's reports with the NBA that some of their, you know, weekly salaries might stop sooner than later. And that has to start playing into the minds of how all these, like, deals are getting done. And you love this stuff, Greg, with agents leaking stories to further contract negotiations. First thing I came to mind when I saw the headline that Clowny's dropped his price a couple million dollars. That seemed like a situation where despite the report that we heard that Clownie might wait till training camp, Clownie probably would rather figure out a way to get paid sooner rather than later in this

climate and just in general, everybody wants to get paid rather than be left hanging. Right. You get a signing bonus. And who knows, what if in two months they start, you know, talking about delaying the season or something? And he's just like unsigned. That's money you're not getting back. I think what's different about Clowny is we know he has an injury history. He's got a micro fracture knee surgery. And that is the type of thing that your own medical doctors are going to want to check out before you part with $20 million a year. And last note on this, Henry, again, $10.2 million if he doesn't get the deal done. That's what he'll make this year.

Just for some perspective, Robbie Anderson, a perfectly fine wide receiver, but by no means a star, just signed a deal with the Panthers that is essentially a one-year $12 million deal. And if you can tell me that Robbie Anderson is half the playmaker and is important to his team as Derek Henry is, that his, something's a little bit off, but it doesn't seem like. like we're getting a change anytime soon, considering the CBA just passed. I would wonder if you're plugged in and you're 15, 16 years old and you're seeing this, I don't think the mindset at that age is just thrive at whatever you can do well. But why become a running back when you probably have the athleticism to play a different type of position?

Or why stick around until you're a senior unless you're clogged up by a bunch of people starting over you? Get out of college as a freshman or sophomore. I mean, how else do you maximize your earnings? and hit the NFL to a different age. Like, it's going to create some sort of reaction from human beings choosing that career. When a career dries up, you know, money-wise, people make, they make changes. So are running back just going to accept this for the next 20 years, please? Let's move on.

I don't know, there's something about your asides today, Mark, that are humorous. I'm just trying to throw a comment in when I can. I don't know. It's like I don't deal with the, you guys got the financial stuff down perfectly. I enjoyed it. What? It's like day 28 of just me sitting at this. I just wanted to talk. I wanted to get back in.

No, I do believe that. It's like if I were like a star running back in high school, but I can play multiple positions. We got to go play cornerback. Go play cornerback. Those guys are getting ridiculous contracts, you know, two or three deals down the road. I'm not sure that option's available to Derek Henry. Well, this is what you want to be.

You want to be a backup quarterback in the NFL. If you could just navigate your way there, you don't get any of the, beating and you get a pretty nice payday. Blaine Gabbard has re-signed with a bucks on a one-year contract. What a transition right there. And yes, thank you. Gabbert, who missed most of 2019 with a bad shoulder, he'll now be, historically, with the exception of one season, the easiest job in pro football is to be Tom Brady's backup quarterback because Brady plays. That's all he does. He just plays relentlessly. He never misses a week, even though he's turning 43. in August.

But Gabbard, he'll be the guy behind Brady, and God forbid something happens to Tom Terrific because Gabbard can't play. I mean, Mark, we know that. You know, one person who I think does believe that Blaine Gabbard can play is Bruce Ariens, who began the, I thought, the PR campaign, not PR campaign, but like the working with Blaine Gabbard

where you shifted away from ultra-draft bus slash disappointment to floating some comments out there when they were with the Cardinals for a little bit saying, believe in this guy. I think he can he can fling it and like Ariens kind of dug him. And so that's where I drew the connection was that this was a known quantity. I couldn't agree more that Blaine Gabbert, like if you base it on history, will be paid an incredible amount of money to go to this, like the workplace cafeteria and probably get a lot of free garb and, you know, shoes and sweatshirts to do essentially nothing when it matters. But that said, he also, the flip side is if Tom Brady

ever went down, you become one of the most annoying on-field presences of all time because not a single person in Tampa who's, you know, going to drop a ton of extra money to go get these season tickets ever thought they'd see Blaine Gabbard doing a single thing. So if he hits the field, we've got major issues. In other Tampa Bay Buccaneers news, Tom Brady needs a place to live down there in Florida now that he's a buck. And he will live in style. He's renting Derek Jeter's waterfront mansion in Tampa. I remember this was something, when this place was being built, it was tabloid fodder in New York because Jeter wanted a wall.

It's basically on the waterfront. It's massive, as you imagine, you would imagine, 30,000 square feet. Jeter wanted to put up an extra like two feet high on the wall for privacy reasons. And it was known as St. Jeter'sburg. And I guess no one's living there. So here comes Tom, who moves into. to the nicest house.

I mean, listen, Tom Brady, you got a, you got to, well, it's not easy to be happy for Tom Brady. He's had so much greatness in his life. But this could not have been a better setup for Brady. Not only is he gets to start over. He gets to head south, better weather, play with a coach who's actually nice to him, get that new challenge in his life, have great playmakers around him. And, oh, it just so happens that one of the most famous American athletes, he builds one

of the nicest houses in the country, and it's available for you to. live in 15 minutes from the buck's facility this is a perfect setup for the guy oh and he got number 12 godwin moved off 12 i i just wonder does it come with like free the free gift baskets that Derek Dieter used to give out to the women that would come to his apartment probably if you left over there's just like a button that you press and that pops out of a vending machine or something i i in my in my single days in new york i heard that story before it was You had a gift baskets, too. Yes.

I never got a gift basket, unfortunately. But I was dating a girl whose close friend got a gift basket from Jeter. And I remember being blown away by it. And then when it showed up on page six a couple of years later, I felt like I was on the ground floor of something special. He had been doing it for probably a decade in years. Those were your early days of, you know, operating as a media insider before you were being paid to do so.

Should have reported it. And that actually goes back to my one thought on Brady is, you know, you were hungry, you were living probably with other people in an apartment, crafting, gaining your skills. Now you've got a mid-40s quarterback who everyone just assumes is going to go 13 and 3, who's 20 years older than most of the people on the roster, living in a mansion where, at best, he takes up 12 feet of space with all his objects. You're in a gigantic, like, largesse compound away from human beings. Well, he has a family, right?

Well, I mean, maybe, but I thought the. family also lives in Manhattan and has all these like school obligations and also has like an entourage I mean this is a super wealthy famous celebrity there's there's there's probably a chef on site maids all all sorts of people that need to keep the grounds uh grounds keeping gabert it's a whole thing gabert's there yeah gabert's in the guest house he's in the kato kaelin hut well I mean when you throw in the fact that gabbert needs a living space all my issues have gone away so you're right i is anyone else feeling like this is just being the red carpet's being rolled out for everything to go right and it's like that's almost how it never works in the

NFL and i want to shut everyone's mics off and just have mark do the next 30 minutes of the show because you have so many great takes right now i just i just there's a little bit a little bit of an issue buzzing inside my mind about how everything is just so perfect like i just don't we'll see i hope it goes well for i just want to make cool i mean the setup I don't know what's going to happen when the season starts. It's a very believable. I hope it goes well for them thrown in. I actually don't have an ax to grind with Tom Brady,

but I do think that like, you know, you've arrived like a king. You know, you've arrived like a king and that is not, not every athlete on that roster is going to respond the same way to us. What is he, what do you want him to do? What is he done personally? How about, how about, like, how about I don't need to read stories about you moving into, like the biggest mansion.

It's not on him. Sure. I'm feeling Mark's. on this one. I mean, you move in, you might as well throw down a drawbridge and the higher guards when you're moving into that place. How often does something like that just work out perfectly? Well, Tom and, uh, I mean, we're not going to hit 30 minutes today. I'm going further. Tom and Giselle did build that big, uh, place out here. They spent like, you know, tens of millions of dollars for two or three years and then they just never even lived in it.

They're like, oh, I guess we're not going to live out here. It's an investment. Tough break for them. That's what they say. That's what they say. That's what they say. I think Dr. Dr. Drey moved in. I just love that like literally a week ago, Mark went on and on and on about Martha Ford's like massive estate and how he'd do anything to live there. And now he's like Tom Brady in this castle. Well, that just the distinct, the point of departure there is that benefits me. Right.

And I'm not, like I don't need to worry about Tom Brady is fine. If I were suddenly living in a mansion with someone that would be probably thinking about who are the people that mattered most with me when, you know, when a lot of people forgot about me, Who mattered most? This Mark Sessler character is in here helping, doing chores. Plus, it's like, you know, what did Tom Brady do to earn, earn that sort of money? Just like, you know, the greatest player in the sports history. Martha Ford was born into the Ford family.

I'm not, like, I'm not saying that Martha Ford should have as much money as she has. That's not the, Tom Brady, I've said what I need to say. I think you would understand my point. I think he was born in Indonesia before. We're pushing heroes into tomorrow. We're just talking Brady's. abode the rest of the show. The Cowboys have brought Alden Smith back from the dead.

He signs the former Niners pass rusher to a one-year, $2 million contract. Smith's still waiting to be reinstated from the NFL. He had various off-the-field issues, including a domestic abuse plea deal, some DUIs, just a total mess. And they ruined a career that had started as, you know, one of the more productive pass-rushers we've seen in recent times, and he basically just put a stick of dynamite under his own career. Well, now he's back. He's got a payday, as modest as it is. And you would imagine, Greg, that the Cowboys expect this suspension to be lifted if they're going to pay this guy $2 million.

Yeah, they probably got an indication. He has more sacks in his first two seasons than any player in NFL history. So if his head's on straight and he doesn't have the substance abuse problems, which is really what derailed first. Then if he had like 19 sacks as a 22-year-old, it was something absurd, I remember. I think he had 30-something in his first two years, 33, I think, which is outrageous. Okay, but let's, okay, this has never happened before, right? He'll be 31 in September. The last time he was the Alden Smith, we remember, where he was impacting games,

he was 24 years old. Right. So there's going to be six to seven years between when he was a star and when he's going to be playing for the Cowboys. The only guy I thought of was Roger Stalbock who had a four-year Navy mission and could not play in those four years. I can't remember anybody taking six years off or six years between major impacts in the NFL.

There's no guaranteed money in the deal. So for the Cowboys, they probably look at it as like there's zero risk from their perspective. Who was that troubled Jaguars receiver that came out about seven years ago? Justin Blackman? Yeah, I remember when he was having his issues, one of the reports that eventually came out was that one of the reasons why he wasn't getting a second shot beyond his off-the-field issues was that he had been away from the game for so long that that scene is something that guys just can't come back from. If you disappear, it doesn't matter if you're still physically in your prime. It's hard to get back that burst and explosion you once had. Alden Smith, that's going to be a challenge for him. Yeah, no doubt Alden Smith has been, you know, working out nonstop in the space of time.

that we've not seen him on the field. Based on what we know, I feel like it's got to be a 24-7 get the body right operation. Mission. Speaking of Doom, I mean... Well, I mean, it's like it's a... If he makes the team, I'd be surprised.

Debbie Downer. I mean, I'm not rooting for Alden Smith, to be honest with you. So I don't... If you're premonition that he might be 370 pounds is true, that's fine. I don't think that. I just like when we... It's like suddenly we're going to lose him for three... three months to a soft tissue injury, I won't be stunned.

What? Soft tissue injury. I mean, we've been, it's, we're three weeks into the bunker cast, so I think we're, it's having an impact. Mark, you're killing me today. Tyrod Taylor, he's the front runner to be the Chargers starting QB in week one. And that's coming straight from the horse's mouth, Anthony Lynn. the head coach of the L.A. Chargers, here's what Anthony had to say on Wednesday.

I brought him in last year, and I knew that if we needed him to start, if something happened to Phil Rivers since departed, not dead, he's on the Colts now, then he could go in and start. I'm very familiar with Tyrod. I would say right now it looks like he's in the driver's seat, but no position is final until we get to training camp right now. Coach speak, Wes? Yeah, I think any time a coach leaves himself and out,

there are plans to use it at some point. So to me, he's leaving himself and out. That door is open. How is Cam Newton, Greg, not a better option here? It makes no sense to me. But it really sounds like they're not interested in Cam Newton. The out, I think, is that they're going to draft someone, whether it's with the number six pick or whether they move up to draft someone.

I think they're drafting someone with that pick. I'm with you and I like I Anthony Lynn's fascination with Tyrod Taylor tracks back to the Rex Ryan Bills and I think it's to me it kind of vibes Jacoby Brissette like we like this guy we like this player but without the full year of Tyrod Taylor it may never happen I if they don't pick a quarterback or move up to get the quarterback they want in the draft I would be would be would be shocked shocked shocked shocked that's what they're doing so this is just that you know this is Whistling Dixie until, in case everything goes wrong. Well, if they don't have much time to practice, though, I could see Tyrod, like when he was with Baker Mayfield, starting early in the year. You miss the whole offseason. It's tough.

He's been in that system, and then they bench him in week four. And finally, some college football player news. Mike Garifolo, the NFL Network reports that Alabama quarterback Tua, with the hip injury, underwent another medical check and received, quote, overwhelmingly positive, close quote, news. He has fulfilled all medical obligations, rap sheet, ads. And it just seems like this guy's going to be a full go. Maybe, I guess we've heard that he might be, it might be a situation where he could be a potential redshirt guy as they want to ease a gifted first round prospect into the NFL.

mix. We'll see how that plays out. But in terms of teams having a reason to be concerned heading into draft day, Mark, it seems like Tua is in the clear. Yeah, I mean, the reports are pretty glowing. And I think we can trust how the process went. And it opens the door. And at this point, anyone like knocking down a what will be a franchise, exciting team altering quarterback because of an injury that's fading away. I don't know what that team would be. It just seems like all bets are on for the dolphins or someone else to come grab this guy that's what's happening in the news actually one more a little developing news so let's let's head toward to the studio for some developing news we have a new fan he's on the radar

Ledbetter checking in on Twitter. Here's the tweet. Hey guys at Around the NFL. Thanks for shout out on the top 30 QB podcast. Got my steps in this morning listening to you all. Great job. At Dan Hansis, at Greg Rosenthal and at Chris Wesleying, D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

A lot to unpack here, guys. Where do we want to start? Greg. Wow. Well, I think, you know, the first thing, it's a, it's a great feeling to have that sort of respect and know we're connecting with someone as great as D-led, but you just had to notice whose name was missing there. The man, Mark Sessler, who's reached out to D-led and mentioned what a hero he is to him. It's hard to notice. In terms of context on a show earlier this week, I talked about how I kind of looked up to Matt Money Smith and Dave Damashek, certainly when I first started this company and was getting.

to know them. And then, Mark, you had chimed in with D-LAD as somebody that you looked up to. Where are you at right now when you see this tweet and the thoughts on your name not being in there? Do you think there's something more to this? Do you think it was just an honest mistake? Take us through your thought process right here. Reeling. I mean, I'm reeling mentally because I thought of anyone attached to our product. I made it clear that, you know, dating back to early combines I went to that this was someone I'd see across the room operating as a PFWA, lieutenant. doing a great job wrangling pool reports from people.

It's clear in the past that I wanted to join that organization. They said no to me. So I don't know if it's attached to like an organizational PFWA wide ban on my work or if it's more personal or if it's an oversight because we do get tweets occasionally where and I don't see them because my name is left out of the group where the others are thanked for their service. So I'm baffled. Like I said, I mentally am catching up to the whole thing, certainly emotionally.

But I'm not going to draw any final conclusions until I have more information because I am at the, I am a reporter myself. So I want to deal in facts and what I have to work with. What was this? There's probably a second part to this. The omission of Mark's name on purpose or accidental? Oh, it's on purpose. I don't understand what the motivation would be. I mean, he heard the words come out of Mark.

Mark's mouth. And then the one person not mentioned in the tweet is the person who was talking about him. I'd say that to draw your own conclusion situation, my conclusion is it was done on purpose. Now, what that purpose was, I'm not sure. Well, I'm leaning, yeah, I'm leaning towards West said. It's a little bit of a wink and a nod. Hey, y'all, I'm listening. And I see you smart Alec. I think that's kind of the angle. Smart Alec. I mean, is that, that's, it's basically like, hey, Stinky Davis. I'm right here. Well, and this isn't the first time, you know, D-led, a legend, his name's been mentioned lately. There was a ranking that Mark put out a few weeks ago that upset.

We know Peter Schrager, a trusted man in the industry for his omission. And D-led did make that list, but maybe he wasn't thrilled about his placement on that list either. Well, so we wanted to be higher. I mean, I guess that's a fair place to start from the argument. But I feel like my B-line through this has been, you know, like pointing to his work is something that's, you know, a great part of our industry. And what's the action step here, Mark? I mean, my move is to, like, again, I'm in the gathering information portion of this, so

not a lot of proactive. I'm not engaging. I'm just going to see where we are a week from now. It's just like with many things in our country, Dan. Well, the one short thing about this situation is it is your move. Well, that's true. He gave you the onus. Yeah, I don't know.

I mean, I don't know if I have to do anything at all, but all things are on the table as possibilities at this point. We know he's aware because, I mean, I think since we even started taping this, he liked a tweet where, you know, I just said, thanks, D-led. I just wanted to recognize his tweet. So the interaction's happening. He's listening to the show. He's interacting on Twitter.

It's a conversation. Yeah, that part of it I don't like at all that he, that you're all raising up, you know, esteem-wise in his eyes. and I have been left in a perilous place, a bad place, frankly, and I'm confused as to why. Have we ever done like three minutes of the show that is more just for us?

I'm going to reply to it right now too. Thanks, D-led. You demand. I'm going to reply too. As the producer of the show, I really appreciate you listening. Well, see, that's, you know, you want to see Stinky Davis references.

They're all over the place. You're just pouring salt into the, theoretical wound It's gasoline on the fire really All right Well we'll continue to track This developing story As we get more information

We will bring it to you The listener Deledgate Deleted Fully leaded All right Wes Let's cut the funny business

Let's get real Go ahead Wes Take it over Well, this is a sports show, and I think I would start out by saying, picture the closing seconds of a tightly fought championship game, basketball, football, baseball. The camera inevitably finds some 10-year-old bawling his eyes out. Because at that age, you worship your sports heroes. You want to emulate them.

You go out in the backyard. If you're my age, you know, you literally pretend you were Michael Jordan or Pete Rose or Johnny Bench. if you're younger, maybe LeBron James or Lamar Jackson and Freud would say we're fixating on ideals of masculinity as we try to develop our own identities and eventually we grow out of that phase

and with the exception of some generational icons like a Jackie Robinson or a Muhammad Ali we tend to shift our focus to heroes who take a personal risk for the common good often while others remain passive. That's what a hero is. And it's a concept that's deeply valued across cultures. The earliest campfire tales gave us stories of heroes, you know,

sort of like modern lighthouses, helping us find our way in the dark, you know, as long as we look out for them. And the key to heroism is a concern for other people. It doesn't happen in the absence of compassion or self-sacrifice. I know you guys all remember the Stanford prison experiments, psychologist named Philip Zimbardo. he noted that there is a banality of evil

under certain conditions and pressures ordinary people can commit acts that would otherwise be unthinkable and after three years, three decades of studying evil he became entranced with the flip side of that coin sort of banality of heroism where anybody can be a hero 99% of us come out of the womb with the potential for both good and evil depending on circumstances and character think about your greatest your favorite films TV shows

theater literature you place a human being in a crucible and see how he or she reacts circumstances shape our lives and you don't need to be a superhuman to be a hero many heroes feel sort of a moral tickle in their brains where you can't ignore it anymore it keeps grinding away at you until you act out on that

and I think a lot of us are reluctant heroes The bell curve has villains on one side, heroes at the other, and a bunch of us as bystanders in the middle. And to me, this is where the experts come in. We live in a country with a steep history of anti-intellectualism, and it's getting worse with the prevailing sentiment across cable news that my ignorance is as valid as your knowledge. So I want to take this time to thank our scientists, doctors, nurses, some of our greatest experts. I'm here today because of their expertise. If I have been diagnosed with esophageal cancer in an earlier generation, this podcast would feature Dan, Mark, Greg,

and an attractive female in the fourth chair. And I think right now, while I'm crying out for more attention for our experts, we have a leadership vacuum. We have top-down chaos right now during the coronavirus pandemic. We have a governor of Georgia who said, just in the last 24 hours, we didn't know until these last 24 hours that individuals could infect people

before they ever felt bad. We knew. We knew. Some of our experts, some of our politicians did not know, but our experts did. And I think one good thing that we're seeing coming out of this is that ordinary Americans

are filling in the holes of that leadership vacuum. And I think about a guy who's been on this podcast. Zach Goldman and he's a hero to me he has been apoplectic about Americans congregating in public for the past five weeks

stressing the importance of flattening the curve thinking beyond yourself showing compassion that even if you are not showing symptoms you can carry this disease and it can affect other people you know Zimbardo the psychologist I talked about

with the prison experiment he noted the heroes generally possess an expanded worldview and greater positivity than the rest of us and I think that describes Zach Goldman he does have an expanded worldview he is setting an example he engenders wisdom and respect for expertise truth-telling and compassion and I think that that's what we need from heroes because heroism is a chain when we see other people doing it we do it ourselves so I would I want to put Zach up as a hero and see if any of you guys

have heroes well Zach is yeah definitely an enlightened dude and I think the more people that take this as seriously as Zach is the better unfortunately that hasn't necessarily been the case going back to a lot of things that you're saying I think it's yeah I think it's it's maybe on the nose but it has to be said that the all the medical professionals that are out on the front lines here and don't have enough supplies don't have the necessary protection are completely overwhelmed and it's only getting more and more overwhelming with each day as we approach the apex of this. It's frightening because if we lose, if we lose these people, what happens after that? That's part of what makes us really scary. And my mom

is retired now, but she was a registered nurse. And she used to tell me stories when she was working in the ER. That is not an easy job in the best of times. That is a, that is a, that is a, unforgiving, the hours are difficult, the people that you deal with sometimes it's not the best situation. So now you take all that and you crank it up from a 10 to a 100 at a 10 and you understand what these people have. And like us, we struggle with the challenges of working from home. You know, a lot of these people have families at home. So that to me is really where I think people need to keep these medical professionals in mind because they don't have the choice to stay home and they are putting their lives at risk. Yeah, it's well said. Like in Italy,

which has been hit, you know, per capita, probably worse than anywhere. I think 15 to 20 percent of their cases of coronavirus are health care workers. And you're starting to see that here too. You're starting to see that in a lot of these public jobs. There's more, you know, police and firemen with COVID-19 in New York than entire states have in New York City alone than entire states have. And so they're on the front lines, but it really stands out to me like what's essential and not essential in these times and how many of the essential jobs are some of like the lowest paid. And you think, I think about like the lady Beatrice at Vance across the street that I see every single morning who I spoke with. And she's worked. I think she said like 26 straight days when I talked to her.

And she's just showing up every shift. I mean, not everyone is. she's healthy and she just keeps doing it like we were thankful to have like you know delivery or or pickup for restaurants if you're doing that like that that cooks in a kitchen you know and they are not getting paid like the people keeping the restaurants open they are losing money on those restaurants like they're like this delivery is made they're getting absolutely killed but they're keeping it open and they're cooking for you and they're and they're putting themselves at risk yeah I would I would add

to that just that, you know, I, you guys mentioned CVS, and I feel like I've used CVS as a gag in the past, but I've been there like every day because I don't want to do the long line grocery store thing. We're lucky enough to live in L.A. where you can, with a nice tip, have groceries delivered to your house on a five or six day lag. And so we've used that just based out of not wanting to spend hours doing that. But going into CVS, I've seen two or three of the same people that are logging insane long hours there, not getting paid well, but they are providing essential services. We're talking about like people's medicine. We're talking about what there is still water, there, that kind of stuff. But another thing that hit me a little bit more personally,

because I think that we're talking about these people that have been put in this top position, I think a lot of like a lot of school children and children in general who don't have the worldview that we're talking about that many heroes would have where you kind of get the larger struggle. Their world's very small. They have a lot of fears that they don't really enunciate or are able to even kind of unpack. And like when we found out the kids were going to be home for at first weeks and then probably months, in our house, we were very concerned. We have been told, and I'll just be real about this like biore pediatrician, that our two children are in quotes, active, which is a code word for a lot of, a lot to handle. And they are a delightful

but the other side is when we've got into trouble, it's when we've had too much cabin fever. And so our success in the past has been to get everyone out of the house and go do lots of stuff and split them up and then bring them back together. And there's none of that. And so we were very concerned. And as were many other parents, just with the overall combustible nature of having kids home or parents trying to work, my little boys, and I think this is true with a lot of kids I'm seeing have adjusted really well and they've been adaptable and super positive. And they've kind of surprised me. I think sometimes like a heroic quality is you didn't really know if you had it in you or someone else close to you has it in them. And I'm kind of thrilled

with how it's helped our family because they've been kind of at seven and nine really stepping up to be teammates versus just serve me, this and that all day long. But logging on like with their homework and seeing 15 or 16 other kids in a Zoom chat room who are also doing the best they can and trying not to just give into fear and not knowing what's happening to America, credit to them because I can't imagine being a child of a certain age where you realize that how much the country has changed. Maybe they don't understand, but if they do, they're handling better than a lot of people I see on Twitter and adults in general. Ellis found out yesterday my daughter that schools canceled for the rest of the

I mean, you could have sent her to the moon. She was damn, you know, this is the best thing that's ever happened here. Some of the aspects are quite delightful from inside the house. The innocence of youth is on wild display during this entire catastrophe because the less they understand of the real world, the better. And all they're really getting to hang out with their family and their mom and dad, who are the coolest people in the world when you're in the age of my kids and the age of your children. So that's a cool thing. Anything else you wanted to add West before we say goodbye? Is there anything Ricky wants to add?

Oh, Ricky, sorry. I just want to echo the sentiments that you guys have been saying. I mean, I'm just blown away whenever I go to the grocery store and like you said, Greg, people are still there. And it's like the people that get paid pretty much the lowest on the totem pole besides, you know, healthcare workers are the ones that are literally keeping us all alive. I mean, the grocery stores are open. They're there.

They're happy. They're trying to make people safe. I think the airline workers who are showing up with masks and whatever to get people to where they need to be for safety, like essential travel, I think is so brave. A lot of these people can afford to take time off. And I just feel so fortunate that we're able to work from home. We're not worried about our jobs. Like there's so many people and so many families that are scared right now.

And it just like gives me a totally new perspective and appreciation when I wake up every morning. like I just I want to do whatever I can to help and I it's it's just there's only so much that someone like me could do and I'd like to say that like a lot of people I'm seeing on Twitter like I don't think it's all necessarily about money but I think a lot of people that are like hey if you're a waitress like let me send you a $20 tip so go get your coffee or whatever I just feel like to see all these people like coming together to help other people and like Wes you said with with the whole top-down thing in our government. Like, I do feel really discouraged sometimes about humanity

and how people think and how people feel. But there is a positive that comes out of this. I think the reason why I was attracted to this topic is because I have a serious craving for some semblance of leadership right now. And you can find all kinds of definitions for heroes. There is not one definition, but what they do have is they improve lives

and they inspire positive change. And heroism is really the high watermark of human behavior. So for me, that really nourished something that I needed to be nourished to read about heroes and think about heroes. And where you're reading it, it sticks out to me is often in these newspapers. And I've thought a lot about journalists the last couple of months, like how invaluable and heroic some of the work that journalists are doing. Like I think back to a couple months ago,

the reporting from the New York Times inside of Wuhan during what, at the time seemed like an incredibly dystopic future that no one could possibly imagine. And I was like, I can't believe this is actually existing in the world. And now, you know, it's come to us. It's not, you know, quite as draconian, I guess, is what happened there. But you see the reporting from whether it's the LA Times or New York Times or wherever, like the people that are out there doing that reporting. It really is a public service.

And it's not easy. And they're putting themselves online too. Okay. And just one final thought I had. It's we are at, as of this morning, 5,000 people have died in this country alone, including 1,000 in one day yesterday. I saw a New York City City Councilman said he has five people he knows and are friends with who have died already. More people in the tri-state area have now, have now, you know, lots. their lives than in 9-11? I mean, that is outrageous. My family is all based in New York, where I come from in Rockland County.

As of yesterday, there were 1,400 confirmed cases, which is more than 33 states. My sister lives there, her husband, two kids, my brother. So it's very scary. And I just wanted to shine a light on one of the victims. And people that know me know that I love music and I love alternative rock. And one person who died yesterday, in fact, was Adam Schlesinger of Fountain of Wayne. He was the songwriter. He's 52 years old.

And he died from complications of the coronavirus. And this guy was a gifted, like, power pop songwriter type of guy that I would imagine other songwriters envied for his ability to write a hook. And he wrote for movies. He wrote for television. he wrote for Broadway and he had one kind of big radio hit, which was Stacey's mom in 2003 that a lot of people know, but if you actually want to listen to some great alternative like post-grunge, alternative power pop, pull up like a greatest hits of Fountains of Wayne

and remember this guy that way because he is just an example of how people are getting struck down and it doesn't really matter how old you are. Um, uh, and, uh, it's just so sad. And it's going to continue to mount the numbers and the amount of people that are going to die. And I think that is the one thing that me and I think a lot of people are not really able to fully process yet of how many people are dying right now. Um, so I just wanted to mention him and, um, and, uh, end the show by playing out, uh, one of his most well-known songs, uh, which is actually from, uh, the movie, that thing you do. Uh, he wrote the song, um, um, um, the title song from that movie and it's one of his more beloved compositions ever. So I thought that was great stuff from everybody there and everybody listening that has reached out to us and said, thank you for doing it every day. Well, I guess this is just doing our part to kind of help during all this. But obviously, like West said, yeah, there are actual heroes involved here now.

We don't get that corner anymore. How do we get the corner back? It's going to take a lot. It's not happening any time soon. Should we be fake heroes until this is over? I mean, we've kind of been that way the whole time. Some would argue that was our role. But we had our serious discussion.

Now we can go back to frivolity. Right. I mean, it's like, yeah, they're doing a lot. I mean, who's breaking down QB rankings like us? Nobody. Nobody. All right. We'll be back tomorrow with more fun talk.

So take it away. Fountains of Wayne. Dan Hansa signing off for The Quiet Storm the mailman, the old boss, and Rick Hollywood from her apartment until Friday. You doing that thing you do, breaking my heart into a million pieces like you always do. You never even knew about the party I've been going through. Well, I try and try to forget you, girl, but just so hard to do. Every time you do that thing you do.