NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Calls of the Year and Super Bowl LVIII with Baldy

Episode Date: February 5, 2024

In a room full heroes - Dan Haznus, Gregg Rosenthal, Marc Sessler, and Colleen Wolfe get you caught up on news from around the NFL. Before the news, the heroes take some time to remember Chris Wesseling (03:20), followed by ATN's Calls of The Year (20:00). After the break, the guys discuss Kliff Kingsbury being named the Commanders OC (01:03:12) and then look ahead to Super Bowl LVIII with Brian Baldinger (01:16:02). Note: time codes approximate. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the NFL podcast. Otherwise known as Connie Fox and the Bozo Brigade. From the Chris Wessling podcast studio, it is around the NFL. I'm Dan Hansis. I got Heroes Greg Rosenthal, Mark Sessler, and yes, the aforementioned Colleen Wolf, leader of the Bozo Brigade.

I'm a bozo too So like that's fine I like that That's camaraderie And uh We're all bozos together It is Super Bowl week It's official

Yeah And we could say that again After Greg went pretty deep in the hole financially Ooh Got many mentions in Twitter That we didn't catch everything Eric You might have to funnel those misses

onto your account I think that's only fair We'll work that out financially from our Don't Say Super Bowl episode on Thursday. And it's been a very super rainy Sunday into now Monday. So I'm glad that everybody got here today from various points. It was dicey. I'm glad I'm not living in the hallway or control room right next to our studio, which is...

They just built this place. It's flooding right now. Well, hold on. So they literally opened up the floor outside the studio. and they're fishing around with like a broom to mop up water and stuff. This is a low-level hollowed-out Death Star about to be shot into Southern Rain. Like this building has always felt slightly fraudulent

and it's being completely exposed. Like we're three levels below the roof and it's leaking. That is happening there. Also the fact that water was coming through lights and there were like dumpster-sized containers catching the water and tarps everywhere. Concerning. Reminded me a little bit of the Titanic.

when the Titanic started to spring leaks but another monument to humanity that turned out to be a little The most concerning element is that The very hardworking people that You know deal with maintenance and things here And they're working to have zero Like they seem to be in awe of what is happening to the building

But this is everywhere around that Like when you hit the iceberg Everybody's like yeah we're fine Wait a minute what we went we never thought this would occur Unsinkable Molly Brown was like Are we cool? Let's go dancing So check you later There's mudslides by me.

There's a lot going on in L.A. Like everyone, everyone's calmed down with, oh, it's just raining. What a little rain and like the whole city shuts down. Yeah, because this area can't handle all of the water, gang. Thank you. Yeah. Well, I was accused of that. Well, that is, and my wife did the same thing on Sunday.

I said I looked at my window and it didn't seem to be that. It does depend where you are. In some areas, it's totally fine. Think about this. Think about this. This is sobering. My pool. is getting very close to overflowing.

The common man. Yeah, like you're going down in the rankings. Just think about that. What happens if that happens, though, by the way? Don't know. And that's what we're dealing with here. You should be draining your pool before a big storm, but... I don't know to do that.

Aquaman? I don't know. Tachoo. All right. This is also hard to believe, It has been three years since Chris Wessling left us. This is the Chris Wessling podcast studio. Chris was one of the founding members of this podcast and our good friend and passed away from cancer three years ago on this very day.

It's still hard to believe, Greg, that he's gone at all and that three years have passed. And yet here we are. It's a tough time a year. I think with the Super Bowl coming up every year when this date happens. But unlike a lot of people, we have these video recordings of our time with Wes

and not that the podcast was our only great times with West, but it is crazy to go back and to listen to those at times like this. I have an idea. Well, it was kind of Greg's idea. We'll take it as your own. I would think Wes would appreciate this. This is fun.

because, yes, it sucks that he's not with us. But it is great that we have these memories that we can listen to. And it is Super Bowl week. And it is Wes, you know, from I guess it would have been about the 2014 Super Bowl. And the next five or six years after, it was the four of us doing all those shows together.

And we are coming up on an anniversary. Is it the 10-year anniversary of this? well this this occurred after the 2014 season so this would be nine years right now yeah so Chris famously had this he was a avid softball

player both in at Tybee Island where he lived before relocating to Los Angeles to take the NFL job and then of course here in L.A. where the shield of the company softball team went to three straight title games winning two chips

trophies are in my attic every year when I go up there to get the Christmas decorations. There they are. Just staring right back at me. It's very nice. Makes me think of Chris also. And so Chris, we had a, there was a two-part situation.

One year on the podcast, he said it was something about the Raiders and how many wins they would get to or something. He was very down on the Raiders, as I recall. The Dennis Allen Raiders that he did not believe could get to eight wins. And now that you mentioned it, that would have been our very first season as the round the NFL package. Makes sense. That would have been the 2013 season. this Super Bowl is capping our second full season. That was

CX Patriots. There you go. So West said if the Raiders reached that benchmark he'll eat his own softball pants and it came down to the wire but he actually ended up winning that wager. He looked it right in the face and ended up not having any. Then he

doubled down Chris and the following year after your boy Johnny Mansell Mark enters the league as a first round pick and all the hype around him. West said I again will eat my softball pants if Johnny Mansell is not the week one starter for the Cleveland Browns, which at the time, what West didn't know and what we didn't have clear idea about was like how much madness was going on beyond the scenes with Mansell, which, and they end up going with Brian Hoyer to start

that season. Anyway, so, West loses the wager. Cut to the Super Bowl media center in where would this have been? New Orleans. No, Arizona. Arizona. And guess what? It was time to pay the Piper.

at that media center, I'll never forget it, they had a random we didn't know it was going to be there, but a random hot dog stand in the middle of the media center and it was a $20 hot dog. It was like a gourmet hot dog. I thought I thought our producer had to go

find it out on the town. It was a true hunt for this. Literally in the media center. It was a $20. What we needed to do was get the NFL to clear paying for the hot dog. Which was a chore back then. They didn't want us doing the podcast. It was like now all of a sudden, here we go.

They get the clearance. Here comes, I think it was like a three-foot hot dog. It was in that realm. It was outrageous. With all the fix-y hot dog. So we decided the move would be to cut up the softball pants and sprinkle it over the dog. And Wes, because he was always a man that was good, you know, for his word, ate up.

Let's listen to a clip from that show. We will find out. Will Chris Wessling eat his softball pants? First time I've ever had heartburn before I ate something. Wesley was seriously nervous earlier. We were doing some preparations behind the scene with the softball pants. Wes is getting a little nervous. I'm a little nervous.

I mean, he's eating polyester, zipper, and other composite parts. So just get ready, Wes. It could be dangerous. I'm concerned for my friend. I'm just openly concerned. Wes, softball pants, it's literally minutes away now. Where's your mind at? I think of everything I've consumed this week.

Softball pants are not high on the list of most. And he did, uh, chew to his word, he took a couple of bites. He took down the polyester. He took down the composite part, some zipper. And then I remember about still about 87% of the hot dog left behind when we just, we were like, do we throw it out to somebody else that? We just walked away. And there's a photo if you're watching on the fast channel of Wes at the moment of truth.

A great one of a million great memories with Wes. And that's in terms of the Super Bowl, that one's at the top. We had Connor with us. And that was the, when they would do the radio row where, We were sitting up on a bigger set than they tend to have these days for our show. But there were like 60 to 70 people standing there watching with no context clues of what was happening

other than Wes eating a three-foot-long hot dog with composite parts and softball pants cloth on it. Including Keith and Keith Ansis. And my brother, yeah. Yep, they were right. If you look at that photo, if you bring it up again, that was, they're right there. They're there.

They're there. It's incredible. And the other fun part, and this was also, part of the West experience. Obviously, if anyone listens to this show, you know something like this. I would be hyper invested in and be excited about the bit. And I asked West like

10 times, I said, Wes, you've got to make sure you bring the softball pants. Can't forget to bring them. We need the softball pants. And then what happens once we get to Arizona? I forgot them. Oh, no. That was a different version of West back then on some level. I think that's a good

segue, and we did eventually get them. But Greg, you pulled another clip, too, that I connect a little bit to what you were saying, Mark. The whole show is fun to listen to it. It's much different. We're much more concise. Maybe we had to get out of there, but that show was under 35 minutes.

We did like four segments. I brought up to him because he suddenly was big on Dan Quinn, I believe, or maybe it was Patriots. And I was getting on him for falling in love, basically, with whatever team that he covered for the week, then he suddenly thought, like, the people that that team was were the greatest things ever. That's a fair point.

I credit Pete Carroll because I think he made a lot of mistakes early in his coaching career. And I don't know how good of a person he was, but he seems like a more self-actualized individual who learned from his mistake. You see a little of yourself in Pete Carroll. I have never learned anything and I'm not good at evolving. I'm like getting dizzy right now because Wes conceded a point.

Now what you said Mark connects for me is that Wes before he died absolutely evolved. A lot of that went back to Lakeisha in my mind and what a transformational effect she had, but also it's not just a person entering his life. Wes kind of made a concerted effort to evolve

change. Not that that West was bad, but it was different than the one that we knew before he got There were multiple Weses and I also think like that, so Greg, like what that clip you displayed was because that was the version of our show where I got tagged tracking the page

it's all week and Wes had the Seahawks and so but there was a day we both went to Seattle like media a media session and sat and talked to Dan Quinn for like 25 minutes and like both just fell in love with Dan Quinn so I think that's where that was coming from it's like Dan Quinn I know today it's like oh it's a bit of a boring hire by the commander it's like Dan Quinn dazzled in this like one-on-one like hanging out with a couple reporters and west fell West is not a hardcore journalist in terms of like a reporter person and like he just fell for Dan Quinn's messing in a big way. I learned listening to this, which I never would remember. Dan Quinn had read something Wes wrote

and told him, oh, it's nice to meet you and mentioned how he had read something. And so now I'm rooting for Dan Quinn now. All right. Yeah. We're all back in. What a hire. We love it. When we were talking yesterday about things that we could potentially do for West today, the softball pants for me was like such a pivotal moment in like my friend's with you guys how much I wanted to be friends with you guys that was my first season at NFL and I'll never forget when he ate his softball pants and I remember specifically the zippers will just like stay

with you talking about the zippers and the polyester and I it never left my mind it still lives in the recesses of my mind somehow but it was like when west's toaster the softball pants episode when Wes was in Tybee and he called in from the bar we called the bar and he was there. We always called him because part of the fun

was tracking him down. You'd hope to find him. You would obviously get him at the bar, Huckapoo's, more often than not. But if you didn't get him at the bar, he was at the garage with Wayne and Rose.

Like really one of those two spots specifically. And he was in such his element. And in those early days, we were taping all. all of those random segments for NFL now and I didn't get a chance to like truly see what Wes was until we would

go and hang out offsite and things like that but on that on those episodes the typey episodes he really was able to show all of the listeners like who he was his true spirit and it was so beautiful to see and it was just so fun to be around him and I just miss him

so much. Yeah we all do like today I was thinking about like the best way we can honor him like he always when there was a good time to be had anywhere he was he was going to make sure he had it so i think that that's the best way to try to honor him today yes do that yes i was on this um pro football ireland did a live show last week and i and they were at a bar and uh as often as the case i was in on zooms and i was talking to a bunch of irish people holding guineasas and uh always get asked about west love getting asked about west

and he said what is it that you remember about west and it was that's what i thought of it's Like, I am personally someone who likes to keep a smaller, tighter circle. I have people that I'm comfortable with. I have people that I like, which all you guys are included in that group, as was Wes and Lakeisha. And, yeah, I just got in. Wes, Wes was the opposite. Wes was like the more the merrier.

Always. He was always comfortable, no matter the gathering. So obviously to lose somebody like that is unbelievable. You never kind of get over it because he was like one of those one and a million type people. And then when you have that person at your life and then go, the immense nature of the loss never really dissipates. But getting to talk about him this way is it helps. I'll never forget when I first started listening to the ATN podcast. I was on the flight to take the job to move out here to L.A.

and I started just like downloading as many NFL podcasts as possible. And I just like blew through all of your episodes. And I remember thinking to myself, okay, Dan is going to be probably the easiest one to become friends with. And then I wasn't sure where Mark and Greg fell yet. But I thought that Wes was going to be the most difficult one to win over. And it could not have been more of the opposite when I met you guys. we had like a truly if you write a book about the whole thing

a fortuitous encounter at the whaler where it was just a random off-season Sunday and I was out with Wes which you know the minute football went in I know he was the hardcore football head and we miss his analysis but like when the football season would end West would declare it like make a declarative statement of like football check you later for a little bit of time and he loved to go looking around LA for something that felt like Tybee Island

and the whaler which was an upstairs bar overlooking the sea felt close to it and we were out there having beers and you were there with Kristen your friend and your dad and your mom and we didn't really know you at all we had never hung out and we I think that started this idea of like wait a minute we should all be friends and like a week or two later Dan was there Greg was there like everyone was there and it just like grew from that moment and Wes I think showed you how easy it was oh my god like there's the West the football person that everyone listened to and then there's the West the hangout person it's like wait a minute this is a whole different universe

Wes and my mom were like thick as thieves immediately. My mom was just like crushing Pete Carroll for some reason, hated him. And Wes absolutely loved that. I guess I kind of forgot about the Carol Wessling beef. But now this is all been brought back up. And speaking of West, program note, we had been taping these over the course of the season. And now they're starting to roll out on NFL Plus where we watch each of the last five Super Bowls leading up to, of course, this upcoming Sunday's Super Bowl 58.

Too many Roman numerals. Well, it's enough already. We're done with Roman numerals. I've talked to a bunch of people. So many people agree with your Roman numerals. Thank you. Thank you. We're done with it.

We're not going to. Yeah, we don't. The NFL's not done. We'll lead it, though. So if the NFL's not done with it, we're not done with it. We're in. We're back in. We're back in.

But we go through, yeah, each of the last five Super Bowls, you know, like we said, three years ago today, we lost West. That also happened to be two days before. the Chiefs Bucks Super Bowl that year. So when we go through that game, you'll see that on NFL Plus if you want to check it out. We actually talk about West. We play some a clip that Lakeisha produced

about the loss and the life that they shared together. So check that out on NFL Plus. All right. What do we got going on today? Yes, the Super Bowl is this week. And it's a two week ramp up. We don't need two weeks. Like in terms of breaking down the game.

game. The game is the game. There are teams that we've been watching all season long. We got the deep dive all through the playoffs. The two weeks is really about the NFL is the machine getting the death star in place in Las Vegas. So I don't feel bad if this show, for instance, doesn't hit it too hard because we're going to Vegas on Wednesday. And just so everyone knows, we're going to have a big lineup of three shows at Radio Row with a bunch of great guests. So that's and we're going to continue to dig into the game. A little later today we're going to get Brian Waldinger, the great baldy on the show. Yes, and we're going to start digging into the game. But before that, we only have a finite amount of time with Colleen because Connie Fox. Listen, she's one of the faces of the network. And the fact that we got her booked her today, the clock's already ticking as a matter of fact. So why don't we move some things around and get into our first big subject, which is something we've teased for a while. The top 10 radio call of the 2023-hyphen-24 season.

Now, this is a big one for... I'm getting rid of hyphins, too. This is 23. I don't care. But it's not. It's like, we're deep into 24. We know. We have to just make a choice.

Eric, the producer, who does great work. How are you, Eric? I'm doing good, guys. Eric. Are you packed yet? Are you packed for Vegas yet? Well, I'm worried about... my pool swallowing up the rest of my house

right now. So that's kind of set me back a little bit. I'm driving, so I just throw it in the back of a car and I'm leaving tonight. Park it underneath the hotel in the basement. That's a long drive for the s-dog. And it's got me a little nervous. I got to say. I was partially surprised, but Mark is Mark's an outlier. So when I heard about this, I was like, I could see it happening. I think there's some fair concern

on the part of the league, but I don't think they should be. I don't understand where they're coming from. There's meetings. Eric, so, you know, the, don't say Super Bowl show, notwithstanding. I guess I messed up. I didn't see some comments, too, but yeah, I guess I totally blew it. If you could tally up, because I still have to share what we're going to do with that slush fund. But I want to wait for some Randy Chavez to be here, not here today. We need you.

We ask you all season to collect the calls that we hear in real time on Sundays that really resonate with us and connect. And we did some, took some time and made our own list. And then it was up to Eric, the producer, to put it together. And a top 10 calls of the 2023 season. Season. So let's get into it, Colleen. What do you think? I'm ready for it.

I feel like there's a lot of pressure, though, for Eric. Always. Never. It's a lot of heat in that chair. It's a hot seat. It is. I mean, it's like the drummers. spinal tap.

They tend to disappear after a while, one way or the other. We hope Eric will be the one that sticks around. We'll see how Vegas goes, guys. I might just stay in the desert. Yeah, well, you know, you know what they say. All right, here we go. Any other, anybody have comments before we move into this conversation? I can relate to the staying in the desert comment by him, so.

That's why we're concerned. That's why the league is concerned about this Vegas trip for you. That's a long drive for the Suston. You're going to put a tracker on your car. I know you've been driving more. I haven't driving more. I haven't driving more. But how much is he actually driving?

He's a really good driver, right? Very... Wait, are you a front seat driver? Are you like the passenger in a two-car journey with the significant other? No, I drive in the same car. I'll drive as much as like that. Are you behind the wheel? Sure, a bunch of the time.

Yeah, split it up. That's how you do it, I think. No, I don't split it up. Wow. I mean, I live with... Dan likes to be in control. The entire way. Absolutely.

I know, but I'm also preparing for a show. and taking, you know, thorough notes and researching. I mean, my lovely Emeka wife doesn't, literally doesn't drive. I have to just drive to the grocery store. I live in my car. Greg's wife is still mad that they moved to California, so her way of getting back, I'm never getting a driver's license in Los Angeles

to make your life 29% once. That's a pretty, like, fantastic piece of revenge. What a plan by her. Yeah, she definitely would rather be in New York. Or Tokyo. all right here we go New York or Tokyo not Los Angeles

problematic the number 10 call of this season belongs to should I just should I set these up I have the top 10 here yeah you have the top 10

so she just want to toss to it and then you give them credit after the end okay the number 10 call goes back to the playoffs and it was the dagger throw by Jordan Love first in 10 football at the 38 of Dallas play action of bootleg left half bootleg right now throw back the other way he's got him right open down the right side musgrave end up touchdown touchdown luke musgrave and a dagger a dagger right through the heart of the cowboys great call by wayne laravie of course of w r n w and credit to fox too because we're seeing if you're watching this on fast you're seeing you're seeing

a woman in Arlington at Jero World just throwing her arms up like I can't believe this is happening the dagger just cutting through everyone in the town. Through the heart. Stunner. That woman makes this call so much better. The cutaway shot of her, it all kind of

like plays together and makes it perfect. Do we ding Larravee because he's not seeing that necessarily? By overthinking this? Dagger through the heart is great and it was the last dagger of the season. I felt like the last two months every Sunday was some version of a different dagger, and this was the logical

conclusion. Great season for Larravee. I like it. I need a little bit more in general from these calls, so let's see what comes up next. That's why I came in at number 10. And remember, if some of these feel underwhelming, it's not because it's not Eric's fault. It's because in the moment

we said to Eric, no, we want to make it clear. Add, ad. We say to Eric, oh, put that in the folder. So if, Mark, you're underwhelmed, maybe you should have said something in the moment. Like, don't put that in the folder. I, yeah, I'd point the finger of myself. Number nine.

Let's go to Tennessee, where the new kid quarterback finishes off a masterpiece of a week eight performance. On second and 11. Play fake. Levis rolling to the right, looking, looking, firing deep down field, going for Westbrook Aquita in the end zone. Touchdown! Tight!

Will Levis on his back! gets to watch as he has just thrown his fourth touchdown pass of his NFL debut. Hey, that dude has got an arm. Whoa. What a big time throw. There it is. Four TDs for Levis. Mike Keith with the call Dave McGinnis.

I think part of the reason maybe on that one, Greg, that we were like put it in the folder. It's exciting. You were expecting, oh, this Levis is the start of an every week occurrence. He never did that again, but it was pretty awesome in the moment. I think just having, Mike, if we went back and listened to this year after year, like had a all-time power ring, because I feel like Mike, you just get a Mike Keith calling every year. Got to get Keith in there.

Mike Keith is awesome. All right. Number eight. Okay, so Cowboys had a big year. Duran Bland had a big year, setting an NFL record for pick sixes. This was the point of the season where you began expecting it and just saying, when will it happen? I believe this might have been the last one, but it was a memorable one.

Second and 10, Jones is back. Plenty of time. bottled up, throws back to that, intercepted. Duran Bland, call the house. Hello, house. House, it's me, Duran. Hello, house.

Touchdown for Duran Blan. I love that one. That's one of my favorites. And bonus points, because Mark, we were at Cowboys Camp this summer. We met with Brad Sham the Sham God, who has a close relationship with Oliver Stone, or at least was in a film of his.

That's right. And we had a long conversation with the sham god, so to hear him and that call, I like that one. Well, and that happened so often for him to cover, and he found a new way to do it. Right, I don't think that was pre-planned. That's why I love it. He's an innovator.

Hello, house. All right, number seven, okay, this one's a little bit controversial because you would say, oh, it should always be some type of exciting call. But this was a call that took place in the second half of one of the most grisly blowouts in NFL history, and it happens to involve. in the booth, Matt Money Smith, and

Bucky Brooks' podcast partner that they just launched a show together. What is his name? God, I wish I could remember it. Let's have them look that up. Here we go. At 42-0. And with the Raiders at the goal line,

here's the call from Money. You decided whether you want to stand up or sit down yet? I think I want to lay down under the desk. I was looking for a blindfold, but apparently you can't do this job with a blindful. No, we have to watch. Oh, God. and do our best to bring you

some entertaining play-by-play and analysis of what has been wildly disappointing here's a double pass to the end zone and hey why not just humiliate them I didn't know this was eligible for some reason I thought it was in some separate category

this might be my number one but wow that's an alt-timer I am the nerd I want to save that for future use I am the nerd that drives around listening to AM sports radio in Los Angeles and Matt Money Smith and Petros like they have a show that ranges from like one hour to four hours depending on when the Dodgers player or someone else but like Matt Money Smith is ready for anything and like I think he's got a underrated sense of humor in a rye sort of sarcasm and it played out right there and it's

like I love that kind of thing I like when our play by play like when play by play people are not just robots there are a lot of robots he's not a robot that's funny because I'm listening to that call and did you know power rings for a couple years with Matt and got to know him and he just sounds mad he sounds like like it's embarrassing for everyone like it's so it's

so he's using it yeah that type of tone there but that is a team yes that is a level they're a they're a part of the team they get a they get a Super Bowl ring if they win the Super Bowl and let's not they're mad you get points to critique then it's not it's not James Winston you know and the running play with Jamal Williams but Antonio

appears calling a double pass to get to Vante Adams a touchdown up 42-0. Kind of flew under the radar a little bit in terms of dick moves. But listen, it got him a head coach job in some part. Funny just being like, yeah, why not? Just so defeated. He said, just humiliate them.

I think he's talking about the booth as well. Just a tough one. Tough one. All right. All right, let's do something more positive for the Raiders. The Patriots should pop up a couple times here, Greg, in negative ways. But that's, yeah, this is Mac Jones' second total blunder to set up.

an opponent. All right, here we go. How about we finish us off with the safety, shall we? Anything but a deep bowl. Four down territory, obviously. Jones, standing in his own end zone to our right. Snap, back to pass. Pressure again off the edge.

And he's done for the safety. Crosby and Nichols. They met in the end zone. They squished into the turf. and the Raiders defense has that same team. Jason, since you predicted it, how about you give me the lottery numbers for next week? Jason Harowitz and Lincoln Kennedy with the call,

the KRLV. You'd think based on the first half of this top 10 that the Raiders are playing on Sunday, but that's not exactly what happened. But they had some exciting moments. Connie, any thoughts there? I just like how clairvoyant he was in the moment. Bonus points for that.

I just like throughout the course of the season, you could feel a catastrophic Mac Jones play coming. And then it always came. It's truly one of the worst quarterback seasons from a quarterback. I feel like that we've seen be okay ever. I mean, it was an all-time bad quarterback. Where is he going to be next year?

Like, what kind of market will he come out if he's not with, is he going to be with Patriots? I mean, he has a contract. Under contract. Someone, will someone give up a seventh round conditional pick and just to have a new start? I would think so. Um, like that on draft day.

All right, this next one, I had slightly higher, but in the, uh, the averaged weight it ended at number five, the Texans and, uh, the Titans. And this one was on my radar and a lot of people out there, I like this one, uh, because Mark just perked up. The, uh, Titans, um, had the, um, had the gall. Yes. The gall. Yes.

Uh, after ownership abandoned the city of Houston. abandoned them and went to Nashville, okay, to then have the absolute audacity to then wear a Houston Oilers throwback jersey for their throwback week. When they're playing against the Texans, the team that replaced the Oilers after, to borrow a Cesslerism,

they ripped the Oilers out of the belly of Houston. Terrible manners, and they pay for it. Disgraceful. To the highlight. 16, 16, two seconds to go overtime. 54-yard attempt, left hash mark. Here's the snap. Here's the spot.

Here's the kick by Fairbair. Yes. And good. The Texans win. Yes. Legendary. Fair Bear Bair knocks it through from 54 as the Texans defeat the former Oilers. Put those uniforms back.

in the trunk. In the trunk, they go. They go. I think you want the voices of your team. 1916 final. To feel the same anger and fire and joy that you feel. And like they speak for the fans right there. And that one,

I think I had it ranked higher because of the. Mark Vandemier and Andre Ware with the call for K IELT. That's what you get. That's what you get. Yeah. So many of these are on the list because of the tag from the color analyst to cap it is the winner. You're always going to get bonus points when the color analyst goes full fan and just starts screaming.

celebration. Number four. Oh, it was a special second half for Cleveland Browns fans as Joe Flacco stepped in and took the team to the playoffs. Here was one of his many big plays that season. Flacco on fourth down

and three. Play clock is in five. I don't know if they're going to snap it. Play clock is in two. They do. He rolls right. He throws the middle. It's right open. Down at the 25. At the 2015, 10, five touchdown it's david bell oh my goodness they forgot to cover david bell it was the parting of the red sea jim david bell who has been searching yearning desiring to get into the end

zone in the national football league will desire no more my friend jim donovan and nathan sancaro the call great jim donovan uh was that the game where we went with the onside kick play call on Sunday. Oh, no. I'm not sure about that one. Well, you wanted David Najoku that day. Yeah, it was on site. I almost, there was a slight part

of me where I thought about sneaking that into this list just sort of a surprise for you, but I know we're on a time here, but yeah, that was the play. And then we also played an Injoku highlight later in the week, too. Wow. You were sticking into it. Like Jim Donovan, we all know he struggled a lot. He's been through a lot of health

battles to come back. And just I think of all these guys he's got to be in a top three of enthusiasm that when something good happens to the Browns like he cannot control themselves

and they're incredible him and Zagura Zagir also is like a ball of energy but they have like video shots of these guys up in the booth and you think like they're sitting down with like notes like

they're standing up going crazy and like Jim Donovan is right at the top of the list so I like that and a special shoutout even though not on the list but easily could have been on the list Andrew Siciliano

who stepped in for Jim when he was dealing with health issues and had some really great calls. Chris too. During that those some of those unlikely Brown's wins throughout the season. All right. Number three. All right. We're on to the metal stand, Connie. Okay. Here we go.

The bronze. Oh, you knew Wolfley was going to be on the list. Oh, he is. Heroic. Cardinal Steelers week 13. They're down on a yard on the nine. Three tight ends. Murray under center. Connor behind him. One receiver to the right. They hand it off. Connor to the left. First down. Connor dies for the end zone. Touchdown. James Connor with two scores in the welcome back party in Pittsburgh. Oh, the Cardinals just broke out the black and blue brigade, baby. Light up and suck the beating

hearts. metaphorically speaking of your opponent. metaphorically speaking of course as opposed to literally murdering your opponent by sticking your hand into the chest Temple of Doom style I love that. It was top five the second he just goes Oh!

Started. That just comes from such a deep place within himself. I love it. Is he talk like that when he's at the deli counter? I think so. I think that's who he is. He's just sort of like a strange He's won this before. He won it. He's top five every year. We're going to go with a half pound of

The turkey! All right. Number two. The silver? Yeah, the silver. Would you rather be two or three ultimately? Two, what? Because you're so close to one at that point.

Yeah, but three, you're so much farther from one. You recently celebrated your birthday, Connie. I did. And you sent a clip of doing an incredible, was it, a triple axle? No, double ax? Just a little scratch spin. Pretty damn impressive. Thank you.

I have to say. But you're saying a silver medal beats. Ron. Yeah. Michelle Kwan always getting that silver. How about Karegan getting edged? The Olympians always say silver hurt. Points.

Because then you just wish you won, whereas Browns, you're kind of happy to be there. Kerrigan went through a lot. Kerrigan gets whacked in the knee. Yeah. You know. And then I think it was Kwan maybe? Or, no, Katerina Vitt?

Maybe. I refused to watch the event after Kerrigan was whacked. I thought that it lost all integrity. Eric, the producer, please look up who defeated Nancy Kerrigan in the Olympics by fractions of a point. It wasn't Lepinski yet, I don't think. No, no, she wasn't in the mix.

She was definitely after, yeah. I think it was maybe Katerinovich. She was definitely in the mix. I don't think so either. But number two, silver medal goes to our buddy at the barbershop. Second down and goal from the five. Has a snap helmet high looking left now, middle pressure. He steps up.

He throws right side end zone. Caughts. Caught back right pylon to Marcus Robinson with the go-ahead score. Matthew Stafford playing like an ellipsis. Dot after dot after dot. Touchdown, L.A. The great J.B. Long with the call, KSP. Just I love J.B.'s style because he's economical, but also vivid in his descriptions.

And that's truly an original call, an ellipsis. Half the people might need to look up. What is that? And then you see it. Oh, dot, dot. And that was Stafford all season. Right. In a time when Grammer has, you know, been thrown out of the side of the car.

It's gone. Like, he is a technical assassin. And it was one of, like, literally the best drives by any quarterback all season. Because he's right. Like, Stafford on that drive made, like, three or four ridiculous throws. I don't know if this is going to make it awkward when we see J.B. next. That he was so close to the mountain top. And he's like, what, you couldn't just, uh, you couldn't just give it to me guys?

Fair. Or if it is motivation, something to strive for for our friend for next year. So he doesn't rest on his life. That's good, too. A little bit of both. A little bit of both. And I think it a little bit of them will be like, as disappointed as he may be. Oh, wow, those guys have crazy amounts of integrity.

I'm sure that's what he's going to think. Do we know, by the way, who beat. Oksana Bayoule. Who beat Carragon? Bayoule on a big spot. Yon. Just a massive yawn to her. All right.

Number one, here we go. Timisbury, Connecticut. Give me a little timpony drum because there can only be one. There can only be one. The greatest call, and maybe the Super Bowl will bring a great call itself, but the one that, from all these games, that was better than any other, to the wild card playoff round, we go, Ford Field. Here we go, golf works out of the gun, second down in nine.

Two minutes to go. There's golf, back, looking, looking, throws, it is caught. I'm in Ross St. Brown. First down. That's going to do it. That's going to do it. That's going to do it. Jurid golf delivers against his former team. Now what they have to do is take a knee three times and this game will be over. For the second time since 1957, for the first time since January 5th, 1992, these Detroit Lions are going to win a playoff game.

Whoa, of course. That is the voice of Dan Miller. WXYT, a man who's been calling Lions games for a long time now and doing an incredible job at it. And so happy now to see Dan calling a big time team. And with that said, oh, what fortuity that now joining us in the Chris Wesleying podcast studio, the integrity is off the charts. There he is Dan Miller. Welcome to a rally.

Hey. What's up guys? How you doing? Better now. Dan. Well, that was very nice. I appreciate that. That was very kind.

You earned it. You're the Oxana Bayoul of this particular competition. Dan, about, what would have been? It would have been about eight years ago now when I was writing the pain rankings. I wanted to talk to someone who truly understood what the lines have been through over these years. And it was you who I thought of and you were so nice to talk with me on the phone. And here is the first question. And this is a tough way to open an interview.

but listen, what did I know? Not a real journalist, Dan? Here we go. In your first six years on the job as the play-by-play guy, the Lions went 23 and 74. And I asked how that made your job more difficult and you spoke expressively and it's very interesting. Now we're on the other side of it.

What a fun season that you just went through with the Lions and really two years with Dan Campbell. Yeah, I like this is much better. I will tell you that. And that call and that emotion was just really, just everything that I think we've all been through. And believe me, I've done this for 19 years. There's a lot of people out there that felt the release of that victory and that moment

that have been around it a lot longer than I have, decades longer than I have. And I've known really nothing but heartache and disappointment. And just that woman was just so important for so many people, so many reasons for the franchise, for the city, for the moment. And it was just, I think, you know, it was just. It was relief. It was being thrilled beyond belief. And it was just a million emotions that went into one.

And just an electric night downtown in Detroit. It was just amazing. Some of my earliest football memories are like driving around with my dad to go do like various chores on a Sunday and like listening to football on the radio. And it's it's such a different visceral experience than television for obvious reasons. Like you've got to paint this picture. And it's weird that my memories of listening to radio are still visual in some way just by looking out the window at the same time. But like, how do you, like, attack a radio broadcast verse?

Like, when you're so connected to these Lions fans and you're painting the picture of this historic, incredible game and moment, like, how do you even just go into it and just bring that energy? I think it's, like, instruct to people because it's not a job that very many people could do. Well, I think there is something magic about radio. I mean, I grew up in Washington, D.C. and Maryland and Virginia, and I was a Washington fan growing up, and I still can in my mind's eyes see John Riggins going around the left side to win the Super Bowl. And although I watched that game on TV, in my mind, it's Frank Herzog, the radio voice of Washington at the time, that I always hear his call, even though I didn't hear that until later. But I've heard it so many times since that that is kind of the soundtrack of my mind. You know, I think I don't operate with a restrictor plate. I just kind of go and I just let my emotions go and I am emotionally involved.

I make no bones about the fact. And I think every person that's doing play-by-play for a team is rooting for that team to win. It's a little different than when you're covering it as beat writer or something like that. You're fair. You say when it's bad. You say when it's good. But at the end of the day, you want to see that team do well. And I tell people all the time, there's nothing better in my job than seeing the fans happy.

And in that moment, they have not been that happy in a long, long time, more than 30 years. And I knew what that was going to mean to them. And I knew what that was going to mean to this team. And I'll tell you, flat out, in my 43 years in this business, I've never wanted to see an athlete win a game more than I wanted to see Jared Gough win that game. And there was just, I think, just so many things that went into that. But just generality, look, you're trying to bring the game to them. And I think if anything probably resonates with fans, at least what I hope it is, it's that I'm as excited about what I'm seeing as they are.

I mean, I love it. I love the fact that I get to bring it to them. But it's real because it comes from a real place. And it's just, you know, that's the expression you get. And I think, you know, that's what I hear from them most is you feel our pain and you feel when things go well just the same way we do. Yeah, I love that you mentioned golf because you got that angle in there on that call right away. within all the emotion.

That's, that's what I'm going to break down why I think it had to be the call of the year, you know, other than us showing our integrity that we chose you over our, bottomless. Our friend, J.B. Long, because it had everything. I'm just glad J.B. explained what an ellipsis is. I appreciated that.

So, because I was like, ellipsis, that he went dot, dot, dot. Like, got it. You had the, you had the emotion, obviously, which that, that's like the most important thing. You knew the moment. But you also understood before getting that first down exactly the scenario of everything.

thing that you needed to get that first down, but you immediately followed it up with the nuts and bolts of that they're going to have to kneel here, but that they've won the game. And sometimes that's all difficult to keep track in the moment. You got the golf angle in there right away, and then after that, you got in the historical context of it all, all in like very quick succession, all sort of different things that you have to serve. Are you thinking, as that's all happening, I know the emotion is just coming out, that's the emotional part. But those key sort of points that you're getting in that quick call,

are you thinking about that ahead of time? Are you just thinking about I want to get all of this in in the moment? So I'll kind of take you inside our booth. When they went to time out with two minutes to go and my guys, T.J. Lange and Lomas Brown are both saying throw it, throw it, throw it. So we were kind of expecting they were going to throw it. We know Dan Campbell and he's a throw it guy. And then when we went,

to that two minute timeout, I'm looking at my spotter. I'm looking at my stack out. I'm going, if we get a first down, they have one time out, the game's over. It's over. And I'm doing math. And it's actually very simple. I just want to make sure that we got it right. I mean, even if they call a time out, you get the first down, you run first down 40, you run second down 40, you run third down 40. That's two minutes right there. So it's going to be over. So once I got the mechanics of the clock in my head and knew that I could sell out if they got the first down, then you knew you could just kind of let it go. I did throw in the have to take three knees thing because I didn't want to say it's over and then they mess it up and then I have to come back and say, okay, guys, sorry about

that. So I wanted to spell out the fact that yes, they do have to execute that. And I did ask Frank Ragnow about that later. I said, is that an easy play? And he goes, not always. He goes, the first one you want to make sure of and then you relax a little bit. But no, look, the golf angle was so embedded it in my head all week long, knowing what in my mind this meant to him and what this meant to this team, that I think that just came out. That was just natural. And I do honestly believe that was a, that was a closure moment for Jared. That was a, you know what, this thing is finally behind me now because I've been in the front row to watch and everything that Jared has been through since he's come here and everything he's endured and everything that he has

handled like an absolute pro. And I just think, if you lose that game and you lose to that coach, that team, that quarterback again, and nothing personal against any of them, but it's just the way that this business works, I think, man, you got to live with that. And then when you win, even though, yeah, they got their Super Bowl, but you know what, you knock them out, there's peace in that, you move forward in the playoffs, you did your job. And in my mind, that just meant so much.

And I think that's why that came out in that moment. kind of a follow on this one and then we'll let you go dan 24 7 at half time you know like at the at the at the grammy's for instance which just occurred taylor swift's going there she's no she's probably going to pick up some hardware so she could act like she doesn't have anything pre prepared pre prepared but she does and i'm just thinking as the play by play guy once you get to that point in that game and the nfc title game which of course ended up not working out um for detroit but knowing that once you're get to the end of that game, that becomes potentially one of the most famous play calls in the history of Detroit, Detroit sports. Did you have something kind of in mind to weave in

if it got to that point and they did close that game out? Yes. And I've had it and I've done it many, many times driving down the road. Yeah, no, I absolutely had it and I've still got it to my back pocket. I hope to use it. I hope to use it next year. But yeah, that was, that's, that's a, as high as, you know, you get winning two playoff games. There's the gut punch of being that close to a Super Bowl and not getting there. And, you know, Brad Holmes at his press conference today and talked about expecting to be there again next year. So, um, the answer is yes. And, and those moments are hard sometimes to prepare for because you never know how it's going to happen. Is it going to be a 31 to 7 game and it's kind of anticlimactic or is it going to be

an interception that ices it or a touchdown that happens? But I think I did have something of a historical perspective of what it would mean to Detroit because I think we know what that would mean. It would be incredible because it's something that everybody there is dreamed about for a long time. It has never happened. So I think that's ultimately what you want to capture. Well, this makes up for it though, right? Like you finishing number one on a radio call. It's like, you know, good and bad. I appreciate that. I know, I appreciate that.

That's, uh, listen, we're, we're just checking boxes in Detroit this year. So one of the division, won a home playoff game, one another playoff game. I won this. So just, just one by one, we're just checking boxes here. And Dan, it doesn't feel like it's, uh, SOL anymore. Like it feels like things have really changed and turned around. I was lucky enough to be in Detroit for the game against the bucks. I learned all about Better Made and Fago and SO, like, I didn't know what same old lions was until I got there.

And I feel like I got there after the fact, which is a good thing. Yeah, I think you have to retire that. I mean, that's, that's been around for a long time. And you know what? They did figure out ways to lose things and do things that just kind of defied logic. And you just never thought could happen. And you would just kind of throw up and say same old lions. But look, if they truly were, there's so many times this season where they would have found a way to lose a game,

be it late against Minnesota when you're trying to clinch the division, or even that Rams game with Matthew Stafford driving down the field. You know, you don't get the play that makes it fourth and 14 and, you know, Aiden Hutchinson doesn't draw the holding penalty. You know, so many things have happened where the old lions would have figured out a way to lose the game. So I think, you know, in fairness to these guys who have changed the conversation and done so many things that haven't happened before that I think you have to say, you know, let's put those three letters away. Let's let these guys say that they changed it. What's your dog's name? Even my dog agrees. Dogs like, I want to hear the speech that you have.

Dan, thank you so much, buddy. You're the best. And we can't wait to hear you again in September. Thanks, Dan. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you very much, guys. That's fun.

All right. There he goes. I still want to know what his dog. dog's name is. We're going to have to take that offline. Shoot. Take it offline. That's a follow-up.

There you go. Classic Connie follow-up. I like interviewing announcers. I think we should do it more often. I think there's, anybody that listens to the show knows we have a level of fascination with the craft. And I don't know too many other podcasts in general that I've ever really focused in on that side of the game, which really connects with the fans in such a more direct level than the national calls. Not that there aren't great calls by all these guys.

that do the national games, but it's those local. Wolfley, you'd have to get Wolfley on. He's next. You know, I think we did. No, I don't think. Do it again. It sounds a little bit familiar. Way back.

I don't know. Did it not go well? No, I think it would go well. Is he on the hit it and quit it list? No, no, no, no, no. It would have gone well. I think it was the season when he did the, like, on the dusty on the flower.

The sunlit moonlit night. I think we thought we did, but you know what? I think it's funny because we don't remember who's been on the show, but then someone will remind us and then stop, 48. That is absolutely huge right there. His dog's name is Murphy.

For anyone that's wondering. Did you just connect with that? I just like, yeah, my energy kind of locked in. If that's right. Shout out to Madison. Oh, there you go. All right. Connie, you've said it all.

And here's the good news for everyone. Connie's got to get to a meeting. She's part of the opening night festivities. Yep. For NFL Network. Tomorrow is my F-16 flight. Whoa. You're flying to Vegas tonight, right?

Yeah. Oh, so you're doing opening night from Vegas? No, I'm doing opening night here from L.A. And then flying to Vegas for some reason. Just be careful with the flight. I will. No, we worry about you. But have fun.

Okay. Okay. All right. I'm not going to pass out. And here's the good news for all of us. The day after that flight. Although we learned that women are better than... Or better than men?

Better than men. generally, yes. And we keep learning, we're continually learning that. But certainly when it comes to... Physiologically... The G's. Yes, they are better built to handle the Gs for some reason. Except for Greg.

We were using the slang term, Greg. We got it. 60%. We go Gs on this side. You don't need to explain Gs to me. I'm surprised. I'm surprised. You said G4's... Yeah, you should have just said, yeah, geez.

G4s should be your nickname. I got too many nicknames. Yeah, what do you think, Mark? I got too many names. What? Colleen, after... He should like his own nickname. After opening night, after

G's Wednesday at Radio Row, you'll be with us so we could talk about everything that happened. I can't believe we're all going to be in Vegas together. It's going to be great. I'm so excited. All right, Connie. We're going to say by to Connie. We're going to take a break.

And then we're going to do some news and then talk about or talk with Ryan Baldinger about, you know, this. Super Bowl game. Love it. We'll be right back. All right. Welcome back. What a show so far. Our last show here in Los Angeles

before we jump on the bird. We don't get G's up there. But we move pretty quick on that plane. A quick little jump over to Vegas. About a 45-minute flight. No one's complaining. And then we are touching down. And then we are going straight from McCarran Airport to Radio Row,

where we will meet with Colleen and do the first of four shows from Las Vegas, culminating, of course, with the Super Bowl 58 recap flagship show. That's the show we have a special big-time guest. Mark will be very excited for Wednesday. I mean, Mark knows who the guest is, but you're right. Well, the listeners don't, and maybe this person will cancel and we don't want to, you know, put them in a bed. Or maybe they won't, so just snow. It's a good showman.

Right. Back to great. Don't over promise. It could be anyone. Well done, Greg. I'm just happy we're not there now. I'm showing my age, but I am loving that we get there Wednesday versus I saw everyone there yesterday afternoon at radio. I was like, that's too.

It feels like a lot. Really. I remember being on a boat in New York Harbor or something for the Peyton Manning press conference on a second. on a Saturday the week before the Super Bowl. You were sent there because Wes was a day late because of some sort of flight issues and showed up in New York with no coat.

And he and I were down in like Hackensack, New Jersey while the two of you were up in. It's about me. I believe you were in Hoboken. Hoboken. Well, no, it was actually Jersey City. And it started a six-month process of him trying to get a winter coat expense.

That was like the subject of way too many conversations. He, because he, yeah, was the luggage lost? Is that what happened? His entire fleet of luggage was completely lost. And he showed up to Jersey City. And it was, that Super Bowl was lucky because the temperature,

and you know, it started snowing after the game, but it was fine. But the days leading up where he and I went to a, like a Chili's three nights in a row down in this, like, Russian landscape, was freeze, absolute dead winter. And he had no coat.

And you guys were up in Manhattan, you know, having like, you know, bubbly with unbelievable I don't know how that came to be caviar every night for Greg and I

on top of the the Chrysler building not quite but yes because what happened was I get a little more shading on that one the year before

weirdly was the Niners Raven Super Bowl and we were in the top rafters of the Superdome and it was so cold up there

the air condition this is before the power outage. Maybe this caused the power outage was so freezingly cold, like shooting down and everyone that worked in NFL media that they actually greenlit people going to the concession stands to get jackets and hoodies to wear for the game. I didn't do one myself, but a lot of people did.

So I think Wes in the back of his mind said, oh, we were able to do that last year. He did the same thing and bought like a $175 Super Bowl winner jacket. and then the expense report came back with a big old, he go! They reacted sharply to that.

And Greg, as his boss at the time, did you get him the money? I don't remember. I remember, actually, I believe a promise was made to him that it would be okay from my boss at the time. I'm not going to throw him under the bus, a friend of ours,

but, and then I think it got, he was kind of talking out of his butt, like he often did. Oh, that could be so many people. All right, let's, we have Baldi coming up. to break down some interesting plot lines heading into Niners' Chiefs on Sunday. But first, let's get caught up on some news. Kick-tack-to-tick-tack-to.

Oh, nice. Right and has a chance to win here. The crowd goes wild. Kicker Club. He won. What a win for the AMC. Congratulations. Tucker. That was awesome, man.

Way to play like a raven. Listen, you know I love kickers and I love me. Brandon Aubrey, I mean, what a season he had. Justin Tucker's maybe my favorite player who's ever lived in our league. I just, some notes

for that. If we're going to have a kicker tick-tac-toe, let's get some bodies in there. Let's get some crowd in there. Let's get some audience. You know, it's weird because the rest of the stuff they did indoors and then certainly on Sunday with the games and then the extra stuff where they had amazingly 60,000 people there like had an audience. I don't know why the kicker thing. Let's funnel some of that 60K into the field house for the kicker game or go judge judy it and pay some people to be there.

And then let's put some music underneath it. If we're looking to change how the kicking game is viewed. I mean, that was a little we could do better. That's all. Yeah, I think it's I'm free. Reach out to me and I'm happy to help. Yeah, it's continued. Um, you know, enthusiastic disrespect for a position that I think could have had a lot of people cheering or that also they don't even they literally don't allow kicking in the flag football game which is why not disrespect the kickers have no role um by the way the when i was doing the speaking we were talking about the uh the west thing uh the uh the brian hoyer wager with johnny mansell Just to refresh my memory of that moment in time,

because obviously, and we talked about the Johnny Mansell documentary recently that was really obviously illuminating and how messed up he was behind the scenes. It came down to a exhibition game against Washington. Mike Petten was trying to figure out who am I going to go with. And he wanted somebody to win the battle. And obviously Mansell was a wreck.

But Hoyer was playing terribly. He'd missed most of the previous season. And they both played really poorly in that game. But what gave Hoyer the edge was, in addition to Mansell struggling, he gave the finger to the Redskins sideline during the game, which is outrageous. Like that is the first round pick. He did.

And it was a moment in Brown's history where their preseason games were like watched by way more people than you'd ever imagine. But I will say one thing about West, that around week seven or eight, because I think they started that season around six and three or seven and three before they lost all the rest of their games. but Hoyer under Kyle Shanahan, who was the one-year offensive coordinator

was because of play action and the way that Shanahan does what he does with quarterbacks was having this pretty great season and this was back when we could kind of write whatever we wanted as articles. It was just like, if you're fascinated by this, go write an article like Wes wrote this Brian Hoyer

Kyle Shanahan article that I think predates a lot of other people's Shanahan analysis in general and despite the fact that he was losing he lost that sandwich bet he turned around and made this incredible written piece about it and that was kind of west in a nutshell. Yeah, well said and Mansell then also said in that documentary

like the one place I couldn't go was Cleveland you had a young Kyle Shanahan there if you just would add your head on straight but he did not. All right I think Shanahan left because of Manzano. Yeah, there were a lot of issues with ownership he asked to leave his contract. All right here's the news. Because ownership

made them play Mansell. Yes and the GM got suspended for using you know the cell phone down to the you know, when Mike Patton called him to tell him about that, he thought Mike Petten was joking as like a veteran leader, like, hey, how do you think everyone will handle this? And he literally laughed and thought he was being sarcastic. Let's start with the Washington commanders. We are all absolutely thrilled about the Dan Quinn hiring now. And they have also filled their offensive coordinator position hiring

Cardinals coach Cliff, former, excuse me, Cardinals coach Cliff Kingsbury. The team announced that on Monday. Kingsbury, some palettes. intrigue here had been very close to joining the Raiders as their OC until contract talks broke down on Saturday. Washington talked to Kingsbury that day. The deal completed the day after that. I don't know, Greg. I don't know how this works. And I saw some percolations on Twitter around something you sent out that Cliff Kingsbury could be so hot in demand after, you know, quite frankly disastrous tenure, certainly the end of it with Arizona. And yet here we are two teams fighting over Kingsbury only one gets them and it's the commanders it's crazy to me because like

what about their run offensively did anyone like like they underachieved in terms of what he had and it just sounds like he was going to sign with the raiders and then the Washington became interested and since he hadn't signed on the dotted line yet they said contract negotiations broke broke down and he just decided this was a better spot for him and uh i'm rooting for dan quid i don't i don't know if i'm excited for cliff kingsbury to have the number two overall draft and he's you know obviously with u sc ties a year ago he's tied to calip williams and you wonder if chicago goes in a different direction like that could be his quarterback um they could trade trade their assets up just to go one to two sure they could trade up i i guess i'm i'm with you in the sense that like i never

I came out of that Cliff Kingsbury experience because I went into it like this could be one of these sort of fascinating turning points in the NFL and it was kind of marked by chaos and like increasing disorganization and upset players by the end of it. The very static offense. Like an uncreative

just the same thing over and over. And yeah, the thing you were referring to that I mentioned was like I still think some coaches really play the media game hard and the agents obviously do too. So it's like a combination. And I do actually, one of the things covering the league for 20 years, I wouldn't have thought that it mattered so much.

And now you realize, like, it only matters so much. You have to have some goods, but it can matter. And some coaches, I think, really have a way of befriending a ton of media. And it's usually not just one or two guys and women. It's everyone. It's like they're friends with everyone. And the agent is too. And they get a lot of good press because of it.

I thought Jeff Fisher was like the old king of it. Like Cliff Kingsbury is one of the new kings of it. And I think that helped him get a job and helped him be like a hot commandant. The opposite is whatever is happening with Ben Johnson who turned down this Washington job, apparently. And now Washington and some of the same people are pumping up cliff are given this smear campaign

against Ben Johnson because he turned them down. So this is an ESPN report that Johnson had issues with commander's ownership after interviewing to be their new head coach in the wake of Ron Rivera's firing. Johnson, according to this report, consider the ownership group led by owner Josh Harris,

76ers owner also, as well as Hall of Famer Magic Johnson, one of the great basketball players of all time. He saw them as, quote, basketball guys. And that's not going to work. You know why it's not going to work? Football is completely different than basketball.

And he believed that they were, according to this report, overly confident about their football knowledge. The report then also throughout there that Johnson fared poorly in his interview. So back and forth they go. Well, it's, but here's the thing. Washington started it.

And then I don't love that Ben Johnson's agent very likely is the one that comes back with this basketball guy stuff. But they started it immediately saying like he didn't interview well. Now there's this report in the athletic that he seems not really like a leader, that he's more just a guy in a lab, you know, cooking up schemes and doesn't deal with players. You were going to hire him. And no one was denying that. They were literally on the plane to hire him.

First of all, that's completely disrespectful to Aaron Glenn, who they were also going to interview. It makes it obvious that that was a sham interview that they were just doing to check a Rooney Rule box. So you're saying, like, oh, how is this going to make Ben Johnson look around? Like, how does it make, how does it make you look? I don't know. This stuff drives me crazy.

It sure does. I think it's if you're a commanders fan, like you just exited a completely darkest night era. It's not great. With Dan Snyder. And now this is happening with the new leaders. I remember what I was trying to think of was part of that athletic report was they were going to hire Mike McDonald too. They wanted to hire Mike McDonald and McDonnell.

Does that make Quinn the fourth or the third? The third choice and McDonald chose the Seahawks over him because according to Washington and I don't necessarily believe this, but that Seattle outspent him. My guess is the money was good in both places and McDonald picked the place that just seemed like the better option. I guess if you're Ben Johnson, like I, why burn bridges? Like I know that Washington organization started a lot of this But it's like Ben Johnson's camp has responded a couple different times Like you're back in the coaching search mix a year from now And it's like all we now think

Different things about you than we did too Well I think they heard about Chip Kelly when he kept turning people down to And he still got high if you said that Yeah but Chip Kelly also became Well Chip Kelly was a pretty difficult person to work with by the end too And it was the commanders who leaked at first That he interviewed poorly It really started that way, yes.

So you can kind of understand that if Johnson's camp wants to say, wait a second, that's not necessarily the story here. It's all soiled now. We're like literally a fortnight ago, Ben Johnson was like the bell of the ball. I just think, though, the idea, though, that, oh, he turned us down while we were in the plane. That's not how you do things. I think it's just like these billionaires not liking, getting, looking bad and getting turned down and having like a commoner, like say no. actually you're not good enough. What if, what if, what if, that's how they look at the coaches?

Mark, what if Stugatz came out and said, I don't think Sessler had a good show today? Would you come out publicly and return fire or would you let that sit untouched? I think my history, unmolested. My history suggests what I've, what I've done with, you know, Stugatz's initial slash at my identity, which was kind of play ball with it in a playful way. Not, I didn't reach out to him personally. It's like, he doesn't really know anything about me. But if he dug in, if he tug in, like, you know, as a trenchant listener and thought I had a bad show, I'd have to think about that a little differently.

Right. But then I'll go, I'll go listen to his show and I'll, you know, I'll see what I think. I'm not trying to start a feud there. I'm sure he's a capable, nice person. Why don't make, don't ask me this question because then I just go down that road. That's not helpful. Sessie made it, Sessler. I mean, how about that guy?

Who is that guy? You set the table for personal chaos and I don't need it. The whole key is just. Just to just keep your mouth shut and let the talking continue. All right, good to know. All right. In other news, in other news, news, news, news, let's get on the coaching carousel.

That was merely illuminating, like, the idea that if somebody comes after you, I know, but you know how I am. I'll just walk right into the lion's den on the situation. That's all Ben did. Ben was like, whoa, you're making me look bad. I'm still going to get a job down the line. Like, yeah, I'm not going to stand for this. we have agents you could leak something oh you should leak something i will try that that's perfect

because then you don't have to be out front but it just leaks out i will i'll just do it on the on the slide before we get to Vegas let's get involved with some media shenan okay that would be fun like right here there's this like article i was about to click on but i didn't gregg that connects with you i would feel like in a personal way headline mike florio rips adam shepter's irresponsible reporting as he reveals broken friendship Whoa. Like, let's get, I got a bit, I'd click. I know, I'm going to, but I'll get Roseth thought it'll leak a couple of things.

Get Rosie leaking. I mean, I thought great. I'm like an old Buick. Let's start a fire. All right. In other news, yes, let's spin the carousel. Here we go. Saints hire Clint Kubiak is OC.

Raiders hire Luke Getzzi as their OC after Cliff says, A-Gone. Liam Cohen. He's the Bucks OC. the Patriots hire Alex Van Pilt as O.C. Steve Belichick one time thought to be a potential heir to the throne in New England.

He goes to Washington to be their D.C. So he's going off on his own now. The Dolphins hire Ravens assistant Anthony Weaver is there at D.C. The Seahawks, there's a guy that's bounced around. In fact, he was in our building this past season. Leslie Frazier.

I never saw him once, by the way. I did. You know what's funny? Never once. Down in the locker room. And now he's gone. Down in the locker room. I saw him having a very hushed conversation with one member of our media team and I was thinking like something's going on there and then bang this happening. He is now

the assistant head coach of the Seahawks. So that's cool and there you go. Anything on those appointments fellas? I would say one thing I know like Liam Cohen has been a kind of hot and cold guy he was with Kentucky but like

he was Baker Mayfield's offensive coordinator when Mayfield was with the Rams and executed the Raiders after that, like, two-day stay with the Rams. And so I wonder if that helps or hurts or what? Like, he knows Baker May. I think it helped, but he is one of the only guys that's kind of come into working with McVeigh, and then McVeigh kind of let's go very quickly.

Getsy felt like a little bit of a backup choice. He loved Justin Fields, so you do wonder, like, is there a connection there that the Raiders might go get Justin Fields? And then Alex Van Pelt just feels like the Patriots are just kind of getting Scraps here. Eric Bienomi doesn't have a job either right now. Like that would have been a totally different direction for, for instance,

the Patriots to go or even the Saints. Clint Kubiak, just because of the last name, he assumes going to be good, but you don't really know. Good point about Biena. I admire him his decision he made because he wanted to

try to ascend and eventually get a head coaching job. So he left the nest in Kansas City, which was a nice nest to be in. but now what can backfire is you end up on a coaching staff where it doesn't work out and now he's floating. You can always go back though. And it's crazy to think Mike McDonald gets hired as a head coach, right?

Three of his assistants are now defensive coordinators. That's outrageous for one off season. Pretty good. The Weaver is in Miami, right? Dernard Wilson is in Tennessee. And then Connor Orr's buddy, Zach, is taking over in Baltimore. Also a reminder that the NFL is painfully unoriginal. Everyone just copies each other.

And this year, it's like we want the Ravens defense. All right. Quickly developing tree. Finally in the news, it is time, Greg, to say so long to really one of your all-time favorites. Before Gino Smith, it was Teddy Bridgewater, who is your guy. And he is announced after a final year of holding a clipboard in Detroit that he is retiring from professional football. He's going into coaching at the high school level. So never again, Greg.

can you tell us that Teddy Bridgewater would be a great sign for a team looking for a quarterback? Well, I see. Never again. That's what a way to pitch it. Says you. We can take him out of a high school coaching game. I will miss what a career he's had. Sean Payton said to Peter King in Monday morning quarterback this year that he was an all-time leader and that those kids were lucky.

That he was like Ferris Bueller he compared it to. It didn't matter where he goes. Everyone follows Teddy Bridgewater, one of the best leaders he's ever been around. Well, you never heard Mark or I ever disputing his character. Not at all. I don't. That's for damn sure. What he came back from and in general, a solid career.

A good guy. Solid is as far as you can go in terms of the career, though. Like, to be fair, Greg, right? He's 33 and 32. I would say a good career. I mean, better than the average first round draft. You got to get to Baldi. Yeah, better than the first round draft.

average first round draft pick considering the injury that's pretty good all right that's a certain bar you cut you butter knife that one a little bit but yes and it's a shame what in the injury and how that impacted the trajectory of his career uh i still remember doing that show it was at the end of the summer and it was like oh my god all right here we go let's welcome in as we now it's official now we're going to turn our attention to the big game and uh and super bowl 58 uh coming up Who do you want to talk to when you want to get into the X's and O's and what makes these teams tick? Well, of course, you pick up the phone and you ask for Brian Baldinger and Baldi was there for us. Here's a conversation that we had.

Welcome back. Our next guest is, listen. He's in the Hall of Fame for guests for around the NFL. One of our very favorites. No one, tape dogs, quite like Brian Baldinger. And now we welcome back to Aetian Baldi. What's up, bud? Well, nice to join you guys.

Thanks for the invitation. You know, we're at the finish line. You know, we're counting down days here, you know, like 10 days left until this thing's going to come to a close. Everybody I know, most of the people I know, I should say. say, are like, they're sad that there's just one game left. And there's not going to be anything after Super Bowl Sunday for a while. So, you know, let's soak it all up right now.

Are there weird parallels? Because once you hit off-season baldy and you're doing your tropical vacations and you've got the women everywhere around you. And some ways, there's a parallel here. But instead of women all around you, you're doing podcasts with doughy pale whites such as ourselves. That's true. That's true.

So whoever wants to, you know, invite me in and talk about this great American game of ours. Like I try to make the time. I never really get tired of doing it because it's just so interesting on so many different levels. But yes, when it's over, like I always say like the bet, the only thing better than working is not working. So, you know, if I'm diving with reef sharks in Belize two weeks from today, like I'm not going to, I'm not going to miss any of this, you know. But while I'm here, I'm going to give it everything I got. All right.

Let's get into the game then. The game, because I know, and Baldy, you heard it, and maybe you felt the same way, too. The way Championship Sunday set up, there was this idea that Super Bowl Sunday could be really unique. And then instead, what we get is Chiefs Niners, which from one point of view is a little redundant, but from another, I mean, doesn't this feel like we're set up for, you can never guarantee classics or games that are going to go down to the wire. But you look at these teams. You see them as pretty even. Yeah, I do. I see them pretty even.

I see, I mean, you can pitch a case for both teams. It's at this stage of this dynasty that the chiefs are in the middle of, kind of hard to root against or just think that anybody has a chance against Mahomes and Andy Reid and Spags and Travis Kelsey. It just seems hard that anybody's going to beat them. But if there's one team that is set up that can do it, that has the coaching, the personnel, the talent, like it's San Francisco. And so I feel like we got a good matchup, but I think any one of the four, we could literally, without even thinking, draw up 20 storylines.

And we could just, like, feed off of those storylines that would just be there. Obviously, if Detroit was here and said, you know, we'd have a field day, just, you know, see another shot of Barry Sanders, you know, on the sideline, just doing anything. Just being Barry Sanders is fun. Or big shot. But this is what we got. So I think it's fascinating and it's repeat and, you know, can this kid at quarterback named Brock Purdy that nobody seems to really want to respect at this stage.

Can he rise up and slay, you know, can he slay Mahomes here? And like all those things are out there. It's going to be fantastic. Baldi, you have called this week, Brock Purdy, you titled, and I love this, The Silent Assassin. And there is this discourse and it's been going on all year and last year. It's like it's too good to be true because of his draft stock where he came from. It's simply he's supported by the team around him.

But it's clear that you see something else. So for the people out there that believe in Brock Purdy, what is it you see? Why is he the silent assassin? Because first of all, he plays the game with no fear. And you can put up any bad play that he's had. We've seen a few of them, especially down the stretch. it never affects him in the next series. Like, he can flush it the way you have to.

And he doesn't need a psychiatrist on a sideline to get him out of any kind of a phone. He doesn't go into a phone. Like, you know, and then he can make every single throw. You can say, like, they love to attack the middle of the field. That's what Shanahan does. That's what Mike March did with Kurt Warner. They attacked the middle of the field. The middle of the field is dangerous.

Balls get tipped, balls get intercepted. You have to layer throws in the middle of the field. you have to layer them over linebackers and dropping defensive linemen sometimes all that stuff and yet he makes those throws routine he made a throw to Debo Samuel we all saw it at the start of the third quarter

and like he just hit his fifth step and let it rip like the way you have to throw it with no fear right in the middle of a four-man zone Detroit's sitting there and he hit Debo like it was t-ball you know he just like he just took it right off the tee and just kept going and you know that sort of ability to do that I mean, I didn't think Jimmy Grappolo could do that with regularity the way this kid does. And so I just think wherever they ask him to do, he can do.

And he's got to scramble for 52 yards and three runs in the second half or whether he's got to roll out of the pocket and avoid pressure. He does that. And whether he's got to understand the situation where just get rid of the ball is better and to go to the next down, he does that. And then, you know, somebody has to feed all of these talented players that the 49ers have. And he feeds them all. They're all having good seasons.

All of them, none of them are not eating and not feeding off of this. And so it starts with him. Yeah, I do want to get to the 49ers defense, which to me is so different than the last time these teams played in the Super Bowl. While we're on Brock, just thinking of this matchup with Spagnolo and the Chief's defense, just how do you think Purdy and Shanahan will react to all the different looks that Spagnolo? throws at him because Lamar Jackson obviously didn't handle that very well. And one thing we've seen with this Chief's defense, also different than the four or five years

ago is, man, they can change a lot throughout a game, throughout a week to week, throughout a series. They just never show you the same thing twice. How do you think like Purdy and Shanahan deal with that? I remember one time, I'll just, I'll answer your question, Greg. I remember one time Spags was on Jim Johnson staff in Philly. And they went up to play Tom Brady in the Patriots. And to your point about versatility and changing fronts and all that stuff, literally Jim Johnson gave Brady a different defense each quarter. He started because they knew he would adjust at halftime. He goes, we can't wait to have time to change.

So literally Jim Johnson came up with this idea. Let's give him four different defenses. We'll play a different one each quarter. And let's see if Brady and the Patriots adjust. So, I mean, even in the playoffs now, Spaggs played a totally different defense against Buffalo in the playoffs than he did week 14. And so last week he said, well, we'll play three big linebackers. We'll play Bolton and Tranquil and La Chanel and we'll stuff the run. But we'll leave our corners exposed.

And if Lamar could beat, you know, Legerius or, you know, Trent or Jalen or Joshua, whoever out there, then they beat him. And they couldn't beat them. You know, they got one deep ball down the field and one for a touchdown on a scramble draw. Other than that, like they were 0.4 or 8 on some of those deep shots. So what's, I think Spaggs will start by saying, okay, McCaffrey is a guy you got to stop. Like I feel like, and how are they going to do that?

What front are they going to play? Their mind is naughty. They're minus Amanahoo. They're down numbers. Like what is it going to be their method to basically stop in McCaffrey from getting going and discouraging Shanahan from just feeding him the way they have all year long? So, I mean, that's just one take, Greg. The good thing is, you know, they had the six rookies a year ago.

They all got in the field. They started four rookies in a Super Bowl. Like all these kids now are very experienced players. And, you know, I saw this t-shirt down the field of Baltimore the other day. Spags hates it, but they all have a T-shirt says, and Spags, we trust. And I really feel like they're all in the classroom and they all want to be in the front row. They all were like, what's he going to do this week? How are we going to do this?

What's the plan? And I think he's just got them all buying in right now to whatever that place. plan is. I have an idea, by the way, because everybody knows one of Baldi's greatest hits is, and what he regularly, it goes off on social media and viral is the hashtag Baldi's breakdowns. We have some very talented people that listen to this show in terms of artistic merit. Can we get someone in the vein of the in Spags we trust, but in Baldi we trust and then make sure he gets the laser eyes also, like tape dogging. If we can get some type of t-shirt design, maybe we can make a t-shirt.

Let's just get the clicker. Yeah, the clicker involved. Good note. Actually, you know what? I have a great idea, Baldi. Can we get like an action shot of you with the clicker? We'll screen grab it and people could use that as the basis for the t-shirt. That would be very helpful.

Absolutely. We'll get that done. All right. Now, my question to you, back to the game. you know we're always trying to build the baldy brand because it can always be bigger the kansas city offense is a subject of fascination to me and uh confusion quite frankly based on how much they struggle i just think about where they were christmas day and and that horrific performance against i think against the raiders and then once they get to the playoffs

they turn it on and now here they are on the super bowl and they took care of business against miami and the cold in the first round it was a pretty vintage performance against the build in divisional play. The initial game script was flawless in the AFC title game, two touchdowns in the first two drives, and then things obviously dried up a little bit for them. When you look at the team that went to the Super Bowl against the Eagles last year

and the team now that's going to go to the Super Bowl against the 49ers, do you think they have another vintage performance in them against the San Francisco defense? Or is this who more or less the chiefs are this year where they do enough? grind it out, and it spags in the D that takes things home. Like, is there a huge game left in the tank for this team and this core? Oh, for sure.

I remember I had Andy Reid on my podcast, like mid-season. And I've known Andy since he came to Philadelphia in 1999. So I said, I told him, I said, you know, Big Red, for the first time since I've known you, I'm talking more about your defense than your offense. And he didn't disagree. He didn't disagree with it, the way they were kind of struggling. Quite frankly, I feel like they're bored. during the regular season.

They look bored sometimes. It's just because they know what it's all about. They know all it matters is how you play in January and February. And I feel like, and some of them have just been through it for so long. Now, maybe Creed Humphrey doesn't feel that way or Trey Smith, but I feel in Rashid Rice, but to certain extent, there is a little bit of fatigue that we got to get through this thing to where it really counts. And we just, and so now the ball doesn't hit the ground when it goes to Travis Kelsey.

It hit the ground a bunch, you know, during a regular season. The ball to hit the ground. Like the game playing was brilliant. Like, if we had a stopwatch and how long the ball was in Mahomes' hands for most of his throws, it was less than a second and a half. Like, because they know Ravens are his own defense. They're just sitting there waiting. They'll took all the four-yard throws that you can get.

And then we'll turn those four-yard throws into four-yards or six or maybe eight yards. And we'll just stay on schedule. We'll march. And that's what they did. Baltimore tightened things up in a second half. after they didn't get much. But I think to answer your question, yeah, I think you have another vintage performance left in them. I thought you had an interesting tweet because you'd have a perspective that, you know, if you outside of youth sports, you don't know what's happening with

a lot of these teams where they're not on the field playing. You talked about the way that the chiefs pregame warm up, how they practice in general, that there's something about them that stands out to you. And it's like, whether they were bored or not, they're very consistent. And Like, is that different than the Niners to you? Is that different than other teams in general? I've watched Brock Purdy warm up. He's kind of an amazing guy in warm-ups because you could like literally go out there to Brock Purdy

and pre-game warm-ups. And you could ask him about that ice cream shop in Ames, Iowa and what his favorite flavor was. And he's like, he's giving you an answer, you know? But this routine of the chiefs looks different to me. It looks very Peyton Manning-like. from the moment that Mahomes takes the field it's like I've done I don't know

since Baham's been there I've probably done 20 chief games for national radio over the seven years like literally his routine it doesn't matter if it's 25 below zero like a couple weeks ago or if it was Sunday in a misty rain he comes out in his warmups three hours for kickoff he sits on a bench he talks to the trainers he talks to equipment guys

and then about an hour and a half before kickoff he starts he starts whining that arm up and literally it you could take that game versus the game against buffalo versus the game on week two against jacksville it's almost identical and he must get at least 100 throws in and i just think like to throw obviously you know to kelsey for a touchdown against Kyle hamilton we've all watched it it's an amazing throw but i felt like he threw that with just the exact same amount of ease as what you just showed right there in that throw to Travis Kelsey it feels like it isn't anything different in the mechanics or how he throws it or anything else in that pregame warm-up versus the game.

And I don't know that other guys that warm up treat it the same way. My favorite warm up I ever saw, and we don't get on the field anymore at the Super Bowls, was Colin Kaepernick just throwing fastballs as fast as he humanly could like 40 straight times? I don't know what the purpose of that was, but it was very exciting to watch before. that Super Bowl. Last one I have for you, Baldi, just watching these last three games from the 49ers that mattered for them, the Ravens game and then these two playoff games, I'm just struck with, and you know what you're seeing better on tape than any of us do.

But what I'm seeing is kind of shocking to me is a team that's like maybe not that physical, that if you only watch these three weeks, you would say for those three weeks, both playoff games, the Raven games, they got pushed. around a little, and they didn't play very well. And that's very surprising to me, I know they have some weak spots, but they also have some great players. Do you think the Chief's offense

could out tough this 49ers defense? Definitely. I mean, the only guy that looked like he played good on Sunday was Bosa. I mean, I didn't think Armstead, Hargrave, Givens, Chase, I don't think he hasn't played good. Surprising. I didn't think they had good run fits

in the run game. I mean, Fred Warner was going this way, and there's you know, Orrin Berks is going this way and, like, they're leaving the middle open for David Montgomery. I'm like, that's not good defense. You know, and I thought they got pushed around. I didn't think the effort was great. It wasn't a championship effort by a number of players.

And so while Fred Warner does cover up some of the mistakes because of how fast he plays and how aggressive he is, along with Dre Greenlaw, like I didn't see a great defense on Sunday. And so the one thing the chiefs have leaned on, though, is they've become a good power-running football team. Even with, you know, Nick Allegretti in the left guard, they still did a good job of pushing Baltimore round at times on Sunday.

And Macheco got some good runs. And I feel like they've leaned on that power run game a little bit. Donovan Smith's a better run blocker than one way more. So, I mean, I just think if they need to, they'll lean on it. And I think, based on what we just saw, why wouldn't you? All right, Brian Baldinger, who you, of course, can check. He's all over social media at Baldi NFL. He's got a couple podcasts, All-City Sports, and on Odyssey, check those out.

You have a daily podcast, Baldy? Like, how do you have time for a date? Two daily podcasts. People should check that out, please. The best football show with Brian Baldinger. Two daily podcasts for two different networks. The room that he's sitting in. Honestly, I'm just a football whore.

And whoever wants to pay me a check. Like I'm going to work for him. You know what? I like that. I've never read one of my contracts ever. I'm just like, people want me, you got me. You're normalizing football promiscuity, and I think that's healthy. By the way, just because I like to live vicariously through you, so once the season's over and you're going to Belize,

are you more sniping some Mako sharks in the crow's nest with bikini babes around you? Or are you more like swimming with the dolphins with the bikini babes around you? Like, where do you go on that? Well, I like both species. Actually, all three species. I'm a fan of all of it, to be honest with you. So, I mean, I could elaborate, but I think I'll just leave it right there. I think everybody knows where Baldi's coming.

And finally, Eric, can we go to full screen on Baldi? Baldi, it's time to get out the clicker. We're going to get the screenshot that are talented people. Let's go with that. Let's make sure it's in the shot. There we want to do some type of take us back to your playing days. You're focused and intense. well here we go let's like let's just take a look right here at Trent Williams and his backside cut off block and nobody can emulate this nobody knows how to do it it's strictly the Trent Williams block how we can just take somebody's head and just ram it right into the ground and McCaffrey cut right off and like that it's just a beautiful piece of film right there

and all the all the uh all of the proceeds of this t-shirt will go to repopulate the makeup shark population on the ocean. There's way too many sharks that aren't making it. All right, Baldi, thank you so much, buddy. Appreciate the time. You're such a busy man this time of year. And we really do appreciate you doing this with us. Until next time. Thanks, Baldy.

Thank you, guys. All right, there he goes, Baldi. We spoke with him late last week. He's very busy guy, as we alluded to, and he gave us some time really happy to talk with him and get dig into this game, which is going to be so great. I'm really excited about this, not

In Spags we trust. In Baldy, we trust. Merch. People are always asking about that merch, Mark. And I feel like this one can be a big time winner. He is the perfect candidate for a wide variety of creative input from people, listeners that see the different aspects to Baldy. You know, there was one thing about him. Like, I think we've come into this Super Bowl week a little bit like, oh, it's Niners, Chiefs again.

Like, is it the same old thing? Well, it's obviously not. But he elevates your interest in any matchup. And whether it's the merch, it's. the game itself, there's only one baldy. Cool. And just to give you an idea of like what you're up against, Big Funk, who's not in today, but here is a design

that he put together. You can check this out on the fast channel. Baldi's breakdowns. I mean, that is, I mean, that's what we're looking for. If you are a creative person and you want to design a T-shirt around Baldi and his greatness and look at that finger in the show, you got to get the pinky in the shot.

Eric, is that someone that has a thumb issue to see the pinky askew like that. Are you guys part a club that no one talks about it. I did think about it when we were recording that interview. I was like, there are a handful of people here and several people with faulty digits. I mean, his came on the battlefield of, you know, the grid iron. How did you hurt your finger? It's a battlefield of the kitchen. I don't remember. Slice of potatoes. Okay, well, it's not the same origin story. Also, Eric, calling it a faulty digit. I don't believe

you have a faulty. Well, sometimes when you're going to slow on the hit, it is a little faulty. I agree with you. It's hard picking up things sometimes. That little extra. You need that little extra. It's too real. It's weird. It's too real. Yeah. I'm sure we're going to end our 11 year strikeout build attempts at making merch now.

And it's somehow going to be about baldy. Right. And he gets all the money. All right. That was a action packed full show on Monday before we get on the plane. And so we gave you a lot to chew on. And just want to before we go one more thing. And we mentioned Chris at the top of the show.

And again, three years without him. And it's hard to believe. You know, we've been at this. company for so long now and you get to know people on a personal level beyond just professional and we were shocked to learn yesterday that Larry Campbell who known by everyone in the office here is LC who was like just like a great dude and someone that was always you know friendly and great at his job he passed away suddenly this week, this past week.

So really, a Paul and a gray and rainy time in Los Angeles, like that's hanging over this building right now because Larry was a mainstay in that newsroom and in terms of our NFL network team. So we lose Larry and we really send our thoughts and our prayers out to his family. Yeah, it's a big loss, such a kind soul. It's such a kind guy and a big part of

when we were first going on the network. working with him on all those old NFL now hits and whatever the name of it around the league when it was around the league then around the NFL and just a great guy who will be missed. Yeah, it's like he was a real supporter of what we were trying to do

but I also know that like particularly West down in Marina Del Rey would see Larry out a lot and like they had a special friendship and it's like someone that you just saw like a week ago and then you find out you know it's terrible these days you find it over text that this person is gone and it's like I can't I don't it brings up a lot of stuff for all of us and it's like he was a genuinely kind um fun person and like there's really no one like him and it's

just another loss and uh and I'll I implore you um because we I say it not in jest because I mean it but when when Steve Weish is on the show I call him the conscience of the newsroom um check out on his on his feed his Twitter feed uh Andrew and Steve talking about Larry because he can say it more eloquently than any of us. So, yeah, we'll be in Las Vegas in two days. Join us for another ride to the Super Bowl. Until then, he'd the call.