NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Letters From the Future

Episode Date: June 1, 2018

A room filled with heroes- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling, Colleen Wolfe & Marc Sessler- assemble to give you all the latest news around the NFL including Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown sitting out of Steelers OTAs (04:25), a Japanese football team banning their coaches for life (07:19), and a new kicker battle emerging in Minnesota (14:01). They close out the show with “Letters from the Future” (19:47).Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. The Around the NFL podcast is actually real-life friends with Move the Sticks. Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis, and I'm joined in a room that is just teaming with heroes. Mark Zessler, Chris Wessling, Tiny Box, and Greg Rosenthal. What's up, people?

Hey, Dan. Hey, what's up? Friends with the sticks, let's calm down with that. But Greg, maybe we should kick a feud into the ether right now. A little quiet end of May, early June, get a little push-a-tie-drake-type feud going with some of the football cognizanti. You're really connecting with the young people. Look at you.

It's out there. I like that you go to me for the cultural reference. Well, you like to talk about hip-hop. You're a big hip-hop head, as they say. Definitely have enjoyed Daytona, the new push-a-tee. I think you went over the line. I think you took it a step too far. Your thoughts, Wes.

I couldn't agree more. He did go over the line. Are there no lines anymore? There you go. I largely agree with Wes's take here. What about like? Don't don't. Don't start the fight, though, if you can't deal with it.

What if we start a feud with it? Don't start the feud. I mean, it's a bit of a psychotic reaction. How about a Michael David Smith? React in that strong of a manner. Feud. With Michael David Smith. A former coworker of Gregs.

Been there. Been there, done that. Very nice guy. But we just like start something. By the way, for new listeners, Tiny Box also goes by the name Colleen Wolfe. Yep. And Connie Fox. You know, I have many nicknames.

What are you saying? I'm saying there's a large segment of people listening who are like there's someone named Tiny Bocke. What Greg is saying is he has an issue with your hosting capabilities, apparently. I think we found the feud. Let's do a little housework here to do what Dan should have done.

A little more empathy, Greg. Speaking of empathy, coming up later on today's show, a new empathy, a thesis written by Seahawks head coach, Pete Carroll, maybe a mission statement. I think it may be a mission. What was it in Jerry McGuire? What did Jerry write?

A memo? I think it has more of a mantra-type feel to it. Anyway, he- I can't wait to hear this. He, Carol, the CX coach, released a memo, a mantra, a mission statement, a thesis, entitled A New Empathy, and we'll be reading it in multiple parts, a reading from NFL media's Mark Sessler. And that's coming up today. Also, news on the Steelers, and they're to their, Big Stars to the Killer Bees.

Is that a thing? Yeah, sure. Who cares? Also, you know, the trope machine is still firing away. It's like smoke, black smoke is puttering out of it because we are in stage what of the OTAs, Greg? Three. Stage three of the OTAs.

It's phase officially. Did anyone know there were phases to OTAs before this year? No. I feel like people are hitting it hard this year, the phase numbers. We're not in your favorite. That was with the new collective bargaining agreement. Which one again? It's like the RPA.

It's like the RPO's of 2018, phase three of offseason. Give me a break with the phases. Yeah, and this doesn't happen often. Some news from Japan football coming up. And then a segment we call Letters from the Future. And we'll explain a little bit more when we get to that. But let's start with some news. Sometimes they talk about drinking and conniving around with ladies and stuff.

It seems almost un-American. me for a bachelor, not going to go around having a drink with a lady now, man. And why all of a sudden that's becoming evil in me, just trying to get by. Joe Namath, 75 years old today. Broadway Joe, the most famous jet of all, turned 75. He made it. Petal that G. Willikers act somewhere else, Joe Nay. You thinking Joe was a little more sly at that time that he's letting him?

on wow that a good old boy yeah he was the coolest man in america for a few years um anyway happy birthday to joan nameth uh i know keith hansis one of his boyhood idols uh well aware of this big day uh for joe willie in the news let's start with the pittsburgh steeler's uh yes ben rothlessberger the star quarterback Antonio brown the future hall of fame wide receiver uh they They have joined Levi-on-Bel in their decision not to take part in voluntary, organized team activities. Rafflesberger and Brown have missed the past four and three practices, respectively. That coming from Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Multiple players also confirm their absence.

Is this something that, Greg, that we should be plugged in on? Or is this the type of stuff that everyone gets excited about for no reason? It's May football. I think it's somewhere in between because I do think it's at least notable that it's more of a trend, I believe, that bigger, better players are now just more openly skipping OTAs

for no particular reason other than just going on vacation and thing. I think it's kind of... I think it's becoming more of a trend and I'm not supportive or, you know, think it's a bad thing. It's just something that's interesting to me that when the CBA was first signed, the players basically took

this as mandatory and as the years have gone on since that CBA's signed it's not just just because they don't want to be there and they're treating it as voluntary because it is voluntary for the listeners because Greg didn't make it clear CBA's collective bargaining agree good contact I just sometimes if you're going to do it I'm going to do it I run into people that listen to the show and I always realize that like a large swath of the listeners barely know us you know apart they'd come in and and out they don't know all the stories I don't know tiny boxes

but it wouldn't be cool if like someone thinks it's not even Colleen Wolfe it's just a tiny box tiny box anyway well the tiny box has a voice Dan how about that speak tiny box I was going to say why have voluntary workouts if they're not going to be voluntary I mean everybody

look Tom Brady's not there and Ben Rathesberger is not there who cares at this point it's May and then when they are when they're not voluntary and when they're mandatory they'll be there I mean, also, these guys are mostly embedded in workout facilities every day in Miami or L.A. or wherever they live. It's not that they're just sitting home, you know, pounding beers rolling around on the grass. I mean, they're working out, they're showing up in shape.

I don't think it's a big deal at all. How about this beat New England in Week 15, Pittsburgh. Handle your business then. Well, Big Ben is on vacation, on a family vacation. Is he throwing? I mean, are we worried about Big Ben now? It's just, I just find that to be crazy. What was that?

In early June. Yeah. He's not taking it. I mean, I never really thought, even at his peak, it wasn't like, oh, look at his body. That's why he's such a great player. Fair. Yeah, I think he might be rolling in grass, eating hamburgers. All right.

In Japanese college football news, but you didn't know that that was even a thing until right now. No. Did you know, Mark, that they play college football in Japan? In Greg's Motherland? I'm not surprised. that football is played almost anywhere, but I did not know about Japanese football. Well, Nihon University and Kwanse

Gakuin University, how are we doing on that? Let's call it KGU. Japan's two of their most storied college football programs, they played earlier this month. And on the very first play of the game, a quarterback name Kusei Akuno, rolled out through an incomplete pass, plays over.

He's basically slowing down into a jogging. as he's reaching the sideline. And a defensive end named Tasuke Miwagawa. Really leaning into these names. Yeah. Oh, they're doing a great job. Their names are important. I got to try to pronounce them correctly.

Anyway, he drills the quarterback in the back of the legs. It's absurd. Check out the video. It's everywhere to see how late the hit was. Deadspin has a good video of it. Yeah, check out Deadspin. And this led to a big hubbub in Greg's name. of Japan, a huge controversy.

I mean, it's not remotely my native. I'm married to someone who's born in Japan, grew up here, my wife, and then she did move back there, yes. Okay. There he goes correcting you again. Yeah. Well, that's not right. It's not right.

But he's correct. This leads to the defensive end, a press conference in which he bowed his head with great shame and said, I failed. I'm ending my football career with great sorry. in great shame to my people and my family. And then they ban the head coach of the team for life, all because of one play in an exhibition football game in Japan. Which movie do we want to go to here?

You've often said that Belichick is the Bud Kilmer of the NFL. This was clearly like the sweep the leg move, right? This was a sensee from the Cobra Kai Dojo. I mean, I was thinking more, I was just amazed because, In my house at dinner time, sometimes the kids get to, we put on Japanese news. It's sort of just something in the background that they like, that they watch the show. And this was leading the national news in Japan. And Amika, my wife told me, actually, it's like kind of been leading the national news for the last two weeks.

It's been this crazy story. It's basically Bounty Gate. It's a more hardcore version of Bounty Gate. And I was just amazed that any story about American football would be leading the news. news there. I mean, in Japan, it just seems outrageous. He can't take out a cuno. He's the face of the league. Yeah, that's true. There is no league. You're saying they might even know who Tom Brady is there. I think they might know. That's a good point. It barely is a blip on the radar football.

It's not remotely popular at all. But I think it sort of hit on some cultural points here of like who is at fall. And basically, I mean, the story is kind of amazing to me that he had this nationally televised press conference. And the guy then announced, my coach told me to do it. And so that it's like, ordered the code red. He ordered that he. And the exact quote, quote, break the opponent's quarterback. That's Al Davis. The quarterback must go down and you must go down hard. At the, at the press conference, he said a coach then reproached them later in the, right after that play said, you are too naive. You felt bad for your opponent. Didn't you? He's pure evil.

Whoa. And the defensive end after the incident, immediately after he went to a sideline tent, cried after he left the game because he felt guilty about hurting the quarterback. This is a movie. And his coach shouted him down and told him not to be weak. You are too naive. The coach said to the defense,

this is Bud Kilman. This is Japanese Bud Kilkenling. I love that this. The team has been banned from playing for the rest of the season, although they can do some things that gets them back on the field, but the coaches are banned for life.

This, their Wikipedia page, their Wikipedia page, the Nihon Phoenix football, the only thing listed, and according to the Wikipedia page, they were established in 1940. This team didn't roll in here five months ago. The only thing listed about their entire history is controversy and a big chunky paragraph

about what we discussed. That's rough. That's rough. That's how you got on Wikipedia. It's a story team for the wrong reasons. Let's move on. Oh, no, another trope alert. Trooperat.

Troponet. Troopalert Second year Giants tight end Evan Ingram turned heads during a very productive first season

and otherwise lost season for the Giants and as he enters year two guess what he's expecting bigger things and you know why Wes I do know because I read the outline for the show

quote the game has slowed down a lot and that's according to Ingram allowing him to dig deeper into my bag of route techniques I love that he has a bag of route technique. Or getting open and being able to focus more on the rug game.

And getting stronger and just getting more comfortable out there. Last year, my head was on a swivel. I didn't know what was going on. I was basically just like an idiot out there. Swimming. Yeah, I had no idea what was going on. Now I'm a genius. That's what he's getting at.

He gets football now. It'd be a little concerning if it hadn't slowed down for him in his second year. Very popular trope. I think this is the most popular trope. is. No, the best shape of my life is. Yeah, the best shape of my life is a number one. People are on to that, though, and like writers know that's a trope.

You know, and I think this one, you could go into every local newspaper and you could find a version of this story this offseason. I can almost guarantee that there's at least one per city. Does it bother you, Greg, as the creator of Roto World, that it makes itself into Roto World

as a Roto World blurb? Should they be insane, this should not be a news item? Or Or should it be? Or is it for them a way? I don't think it's a news item. I won't. Well, it's a trope.

Is that an indictment on Dan then? It's been our news. Oh, here we go again. Nice try. I actually threw this one at him. I threw this one at Dan as a good trope alert. As someone in this room once taught me, sometimes even if it's not news, you just use it as a jumping off point to talk about something interesting. Yeah, that's true.

It's, it's, you can't blame them. They've got to pay the bills. Wow. Wes, reminding you of your own mantra. Yeah. Interesting. A little more. Plus, it's, it's, there's.

There's not a lot to write about this time of year. You've got to keep that page churning. Well, that's exactly what they did. It's a big chunky graph to summarize his rookie season. They did a nice job with it. In other news, kicker battles. Gotta love them because it's the most important thing in football are the guys that use their foot to hit the ball.

I mean, it's just, you know, common sense. And one of our favorite kickers here on the Around the NFL podcast, Kai Forbath, who, you know, Guy, Kai's Kai. and he joined the Vikings and had a pretty solid season with Minnesota and had a nice playoff game in Minnesota's first playoff win in a while and everything seemed good. But then what happens? The Vikings go and they draft a kicker, Danny Carlson, in the sixth round.

It is the most valuable pick at kicker in the history of the Vikings. And guess what? Now Kai is all of a sudden in the fight for his life after an offseason. in which he was thinking, oh, I have this job in the bag. He had this to say. I mean, it was a little shocking. Yeah. Oouchers.

And then he said, how will he compete? He said, it's same as every year. I've competed with someone every single year. It's no different than last year with Marshall. Daniel is a good young kicker. I'm not here to coach him. Oh, Echo Chamber. Putting his foot down.

Okay, Ben Rathlisberger. Yeah, a little Big Ben there. Big Ben, what do you think about that statement by Kai? So I thought, I'm here to get myself ready for the season. We'll have a good competition. Competition, you say? Forebam. Carlson.

It's Kai versus the kid. Kai's Kai. Experience or innocence. The greatest generation or millennials, stay tuned. Wow. It's a new battle. It's going to be better than Aguio. Someone's got to tell Kai he doesn't even matter in this competition.

Wow. Basically up to the kid. Either the kid falls flat on his face for some reason and they have to go back to Kai. Kai knows it. Or they do what they want, which is get rid of it. It's also pretty much confirmed we're getting some version of that soundbite from now until the end of time because there will be some kicker battle every year from now until the end of time. Rick Spielman.

You sound excited about that. I mean, it's a nice bit. You have a problem with that. No, it's a nice bit. It's just that, you know, you have to try to top last year's battle. That was an epic battle I'm not sure What's his name? Carlson

Forbath is quite the same A sequel needs to top the original Why are you guys trying so hard today to cause trouble? No, I'm not going after Dan I just think we'll have to monitor it maybe This is Greg's M-O I know Greg is always trying to do that stuff Maybe it becomes more intense

I expect more from you Connie No I just looked at your eyes right then When you heard him say that it's not as big of a battle as last year This is your wheelhouse I was thinking about something else actually So I was actually wasn't even aware

what Mark was saying But you're right That is now Now you've gotten into it Back to what I was thinking I was thinking of Rick Spielman The GM of the Vikings Who basically already signed

Kai 4 Best death warrant When he said Well On this a roster You have to be a strong-legged kickoff guy To prevent big returns In the new rules with kickoffs And Kai is not

He doesn't have the strongest like You're like You're like the kid in class who can't be trusted, we sing you down to the lab and you spend your whole time analyzing kickers. I'm telling you it's the most underappreciated position in this sport. It wins and loses games every week.

I love when you tweet out your mentions and it's just all Kai's Kai. Rich Eisen has punters, you have kickers. That's why you don't like the Chargers. That makes sense now because they never pay enough attention to the most important position in the field. He's smart. And also, Rich Eisen with the punters.

Who cares about punters though? Oh, there are people too. He's taking shots. He's firing shots. A lot of punters cannot double as your kickoff specialist sometimes too. A punter stands. He has a rough day. Get rid of him.

Very rarely does a punter lose a game. Matt Dodge comes to mind for the Giants once upon a time. Kicker in a high profile, you know, failure scenario more often. A little Matt Dodge callback, but you didn't see that coming great. So that's what's going out in the lab. Keep your head on a snowball for it. Evan Ingram. Game's really slowing down for you.

It's really slowed down in year six of the podcast. All right. And, oh, yeah, one last thing. Yes, Pete Carroll, a missive, a purpose statement, a mission statement, a memo sent to no one in particular, but really everyone. So what we're going to do is, Erica, let's get the gong. It's a long letter. It's important that the letter is out there, but we can't read it all at once. So during the show, we're just going to mark as the official.

order in this scenario is going to just read the letter as the show moves along when you hear the gong mark you just start reading and then when the gong hits again you have to stop wherever you're at i'll stop sentence even i'll be obedient okay a new empathy we are living in the midst of a cultural transformation as we find ourselves speeding across a landscape driven by digital evolution, we are drawn to distraction by our screens. So it is no wonder that in our desperation to keep pace, we just might be unaware of where we find ourselves in terms of social and interracial development.

If we take the time to stop and listen, there is a cacophony. Erica, you're the driver on this? I wasn't sure, so I just sort of hit the gong. Okay. I'm continuing? El Ron Hubberts. No, no, no. That's it.

The gong's the gong's what's happening in the news. letters from the future and this is a a sag in which we we take on the identity of or we read letters from a NFL player coach GM owner whatever at given at some point written at some point in the future it could be a week from now it could be a month from now it could be a year from now it's really it could be any time and I guess to set it up we'll go around the room just to make it clear unless it's making it's making it. clear explicitly in the letter itself just let us know when this letter is being written and then get into it Greg do you want to get us going no Wes wow sure all right Wes start us off well I was under the impression that this was postcards from the future so this is Aaron Rogers yours can be a postcard says wish you were here no really wish you were here that's the postcard guard that Aaron Rogers sends to the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC championship game

as he prepares to face the end boss Falcons once again. Oh. So short and sweet and devastating. Rogers just beat the Cowboys again in the divisional round because he beats him on the final play every time he plays him. I like that one. I could see Rogers being cutting in a postcard. Get a little troll, a little troll job.

Jerry Jones goes out. Look at it this way. The Cowboys made it to the division round this year and who knew that was going to happen. Jerry Jones goes out to the mailbox, you know, excited to see what the mailman brings. It still happens. I'm trying to picture the artwork on the front, the wish you were here. It's just a picture of a number 12 green bay jersey. And he's just like Rogers again.

Rogers! That's what he does when he reads it. Actually, it's probably the Mercedes Ben's dome on the postcard. Oh, that's true. Your thoughts on that, Mark. I liked it. Short and sweet. Mark, you want to continue with our next book?

Mine is a letter. yours is a letter yes okay letter from the future it's not the new empathy letter though no this is different a lot of reading today just be ready for the gong it probably won't hit here but the gong could come in anyone so do you have the you have it's always at the ready yes okay good okay this is um here we go dear broadcasters of old the date is november 24th 2022 consider this an alert this past august us Naval operations detected a mysterious heat source below Antarctica's Queen Fabiola Mountain Range. Worldwide alarm peaked two weeks later, when said mountain range melted away into a sea of fire,

out of the sea rose a massive silver ship high above Antarctica. This air dirigible many miles wide hovered over the earth for 11 days, invincible to military fire, before settling in Manhattan above 345 Park Avenue, aka NFL headquarters. The world stood still, all business shut down, well, except for NFL.com, which viewed this cosmic earth event as a signpost of its own ultra-importance in our society.

Anyways, with the ship nestled above NFL headquarters, humanity watched as a beautiful being surrounded by light, descended onto the rooftop of 345 Park, where it was greeted by our Earth-approved envoy, NFL network insider Ian Rappaport Greetings Rappaport said Bowing before the visitor A stunning seven foot tall

Powerfully built red-haired warrior woman Armed with a sword of fire Cut the pleasantries You non-female The warrior woman sneered at rap sheet I am Hexas the Bountiful Take us to your puny field of play Pronto

Hours later The silver vessel hovered over the 22 NFL kickoff class between the Ravens and defending champion Chicago Bears. Soldier Field watched in awe as Hexas, the Bountiful, and her fleet of 99 warrior women descended onto the 50-yard line. Are you here to serve as goddesses to us and fulfill our various whims? Asked newly appointed Ravens defensive line coach Terrell Suggs.

No, you dumb ass, said Hexa. We're here to crack you into a thousand pieces. We are now the 30-second team in your pathetic little football league. Listen, lady, said Suggs. We already got 32-2. teams, you're late to the party. NBC's cameras closed and tight as Hexa turned her ice-blue gaze towards Suggs and the Ravens shrunking sideline. This doesn't feel good, Chris Collinsworth whispered. All of America watched as Hexa in her collection of 99-7-foot-tall, Fem soldiers from

below Antarctica pointed their swords towards Sugs and the Ravens. As of this day, we are Team 32, Hexa declared, staring down the founder of Ball So Hard University. This man, and this purple bird team are never more. Transmission out, sent by NFL media's Jeremy Bergman. Burgo. At one point when you were describing the seven-foot woman, it was like a penthouse letter from the future. Right, that was.

I pretty much, I thought that was the whole idea. I thought it was going to end with, like, Mark waking up in his bed or something like that. Because it's basically your fantasy. They're Amazon Warriors. Seven-foot. tall Amazon women Redhead with icy blue The Amazon warrior tribe that vanished

No one knows where they went and they have been living under Antarctica according to this letter from the future. You would just mention a toned redhead with icy blue eyes. It's basically Kristen Sugglinger. Yeah, it's your fantasy.

Pony bot. I don't like where I don't like to you know. But to your point, I really enjoyed they're destroying your least favorite team and least favorite players. Well, I tried it with the different method. I do like knowing Terrell Suggs's history.

I thought it was ironic. in an interesting and fun way what happened. And also what he couldn't see immediately is what we all knew was that the Ravens were about to be destroyed. They're on the way up. In this great dream scenario. I'm really sad that I would have no shot to play

on this team with warrior women. I could maybe be like a ball girl for them, though. That's how we feel about football in general. Yeah. 2022, I would have put that a little more in the future. I'm surprised. It's right around the corner. I feel like things are heading towards rough territory.

Connie? A sea of fire in Antarctica. I don't know how I can follow it up, but here we go. All right, this takes place February 7th, 2028 from the borough of Brent. Greetings from London. Forgive me as I write this from my hovercraft, as it is a bit windy today, and the gusts sometimes affect my new brain translator. Ten years. If you haven't figured it out already, this is Shod Khan, owner of many fancy things, including the London Jaguars.

Yes, I'm sorry to break the future news this way, but I'm sorry. our new home is now Wembley Stadium. However, thanks to the amazing work of Elon Musk and the generous support of HSBC, we've been offering a select number of previous season ticket holders from Jacksonville free rides on the Transatlantic Tunnel with exclusive discounts at our partner hotel Premier Inn.

But between us, this is probably the final year of that bloody deal. Anyway, enough of my chin wagging, my craft is landing, and I have a Super Bowl parade to attend. So enjoy the pool for now because the future is across the pond. Wow. Now, the Jaguars fans listening. Jaguars.

Jaguars fans do not have a sense of humor about the London trip. So you're probably going to get some tweets. Probably. Probably. I don't blame them. You don't want to hear about your team leaving. But they get all sorts of discounts and they can ride on the transatlantic tunnel. What about the woman living a few blocks from the beach?

She's probably not, doesn't have the funds to get on to this into this. I thought. And I was in Miami with my new beach house. Well, it was a couple minutes from the beach. Maybe she can take part in the promotional situation. I know she's not a season ticket holder. Like that you got Elon Musk in there. If you threw Grimes in like the halftime show, I was going to be really interested.

Wait, somebody needs to send a message to Elon Musk. Stop with this Transatlantic Tunnel nonsense and get busy on the Mouser. The Mouser, yes. Didn't the Mouser wipe out the Ravens too? Well, no, it did not because the mouse or it does not exist, so we have to go through new methods. I do want to throw out there, I don't hope that the Jaguars move to London, just saying all of you Jaguars fans out there. Oh, you're scared of the Jaguars fans. They're frightening, they're frightening.

Of discontent clamoring for a sympathetic ear, in many ways our leaders have fostered a dialogue of discord and division, resulting in an elevation of this discontent. We have witnessed perspectives that have communicated. contempt, perhaps even a hatred, that has always existed but has remained somewhat dormant to our distracted senses. It is not too dramatic to say that there is a revolution of social awareness on our current horizon, and it seems we could miss it by burying our heads in the sands of complacency and delusion. These challenging times are not only testing our daily...

All right, next letter from the future. It's kind of hard to keep the letters from the future. There's a lot of letters. They're very... Of all the shows There's a lot of letters. Some common DNA. The next letter, this is the letter podcast, comes from Brown Safety Demarius Randall.

It's November 13th, 2018. Here we go. Demarius here, writing to you from Cell Block 6 at the Cleveland Correctional Center. As you know, after the Cavs took out the Warriors in the finals, the district judge ruled that my tweet about buying all the jersey, was legally binding. This put me roughly $100 million in the hole, which obviously was not ideal.

My attempt to make good of my word, Randall always pays his debts, after all, led to the bank foreclosing on my home, Janie leaving and taking the kids, and obviously the federal tax evasion charges that put me in the six-by-eight human cage are right to you from right now. As you can imagine, it's very, very lonely here,

and all the fellas make fun of me about the circumstances that led to my incarceration. true story I had to pummel a fellow inmate in my first week to ensure I get dinner every night I didn't even know the man's name I think about him a lot when I sleep if I sleep

which isn't often it's hard to close my eyes when all I can see are his that look of confusion and terror another victim trapped behind the walls of a living hellscape I now call my life Anywho write me back soon it got very dark in there my god

Or Demarius. Listen. Yeah. He, by the way, he's walked the back. And yes, I get it. We got the math wrong on the jerseys. I had it $55 a jersey times 300,000. I asked Greg to help me out with a comma.

Didn't help me out. It was supposed to be $15 million. We said $1.5 million. But really, the jerseys cost $100 now, which I did not know that. And it's up to one million retweets. Oh, wow. And Greg did help me out with this. He did ask me what's $1 million times $100,000 reaches, is he?

No, there you go. It's easy to retweet. It's hard to beat the Warriors. That's a thing. It seems like a fairly safe maneuver by him anyways. I mean, there have been a lot of bad tweets this week. That one is still in contention for the most costly. I mean, if you're a-

Roseanne thinks that was a bad tweet. Yeah. If you're a Cleveland fan, though, would you take the Cavs title? Or would you take a safety, turn cornerback, turn safety? I think you might take the calves tighter and lose the safety in mid-November and just see what, you know, what else is on the roster? Put him in the prison. You're saying, yeah, you're fine, putting him in prison. Gonzo, you know.

Your husband, a very prominent hoops writer. John Ronald Gonzalez born March 12, 1977 is an American sports writer who's married to NFL media broadcaster, Colleen Wolf, John, who's a Pisces resides in Los Angeles with his wife and two dogs. Does he think the Cavs have any chance? I'm just curious. I think he said Warriors in five. so probably not okay that's kind of where I'm at too all right all right right now we I threw it to you to start

now we're going to throw it to you about midway through the sec okay sounds good and what we're supposed to say the name I'll get to hey you sniveling little jeff fisher it's Jeff Fisher bet you thought you were rid of me didn't you

Don't think I haven't heard your little seven and nine jokes or that little shihrosthal talking about me holding a dog like a ghost at the end of all or nothing. I love that fucking dog. The date is February 4th, 20, 24. I just got back from Pat O'Brien's in New Orleans. The Super Bowl is later today, and I'm coaching in it. That's how confident I am, you clowns.

My Miami Dolphins are facing John Fox's Carolina Panthers. Foxy's back to you know what else is back defense running the football kicking field goals on fourth and inches from the three yard line when you're down four points take the point you know what else is back throwing three yard passes on third and long it's all happening ever since 2018 when they tried to change the catch rule offense and passing numbers have been sinking and going by the wayside 12 to 10 games are back in style. I'm now like a mix of Vince Lombardi and Barack Obama in this new world. I'm out.

Wow. My favorite part about this is as Greg is reading it, he's rocking back and forth in his chair. The performance artist. I can see why you didn't want to go first because it would have been a little bit of a wild intro to this thing, but I loved it. I like the gravel in his voice.

So it's a man that's seen thing in life. That rocky maneuver. That's from the Val Kilmer School of Matt. method acting that Greg has been going to be getting in character the entire time we were reading into the mind of Jeff Fisher I'll buy everyone a jersey by the way if Jeff Fisher gets another head coaching job retweet retweet retweet he's not he's not right Stephen Ross he saw the the game was changing he brought back Fisher he knew he really wanted him wow he went to the bar before the Super Bowl the night before well what time did he get home though

They are also calling us to search our souls for deeper meaning. We have been thrust into a moment in time where we can no longer ignore the real history of our nation, a history that not only ignored social injustice but fostered raging inequality, and a history so sorted that many have repressed and defended against the truth in an effort to ignore the despicable realities. Our leadership has opened the scars of our past by encouraging a reemergence of biased sentiments. Most of us, in the majority, have been raised with such a bias, often disguised, and eventually we become oblivious to the truth of our history.

Our teachings have masked the facts, thus creating insensitivity and a lack of awareness about the realities of those in the minority. Ironically, the same... All right, Wes? Again, I was under the impression this was postcarding. I like that. It's a nice tone shift.

This is usually the role that I play in the games. I have it written down in my notes from our... meeting postcards from the future we kicked around a couple of things we said is it emails from the future is it letters is a postcards and i guess maybe the rest of the group came down on letters i think a nice little postcard is a treat it's a treat yeah this uh this postcard is from nfl honors early next february people are sending postcards from nfl honors sashi brown sends a postcard a rookie of the year josh allen to the analytics community with the following message on the Deconstruction isn't cool.

You know what's cool? Reconstruction. Go forth and follow no one. Whoa, sashi. Wow. Anybody can tear down a roster. Can you build a roster? That's the important thing.

Mm-hmm. He was at honors, huh? He was. What was he doing that? He was there to appreciate Josh Allen. Rookie of the year. Rookie of the year, John. You don't believe that, though.

Yes. You think Josh Allen's going to win rookie in there? Would not surprise me at all. I think he's going to start from day one, and it would not surprise me at all. I mean, he'll play a lot. Sounds like you're reading some of these OTA stories, and you're getting excited about Josh.

Uh-oh. I'm really invested in him doing well and shoving it in the face of a close-minded adult. Good, I like that. I like, because you were not a Bills fan last season. I've never been a Bills fan. I find them to be incredibly boring. I hope that Josh Allen...

So Bills fans that are a fan of this podcast, This is a really great turn of events. This is a monumental. Wes has Josh Allen in his stable of boys. Yeah, yeah, basically. Very nice. Wow, Dan's just trying to stick that position. Had Josh Allen landed on the Jets, would you have this zeal to you?

No, absolutely not. There's enough Jets talk on this show. I'm not sure how Sashi Brown and Josh Allen are connected, but I do. Sashi. Because all of his fall, all of Shasi Brown's acolytes have determined that Josh Allen's career is already over. So he is, it's like Bill James telling his followers 20 years ago, be fair before you criticize. This is the Sashi, this is the postcard version of that letter.

Ooh. Or Bill James' letter to his followers underestimating the fog. You don't know everything. Sometimes these leaders have to tell their followers every once in a while. You don't know everything. And my goal in starting this movement was never to tell you guys that you know everything. I'm a little worried that Josh Allen doesn't have a good setup around him to succeed. Well, that's a legitimate concern, but that's killing my narrative.

All right, Mark, you got another one? All right. Bear with me. Okay, here we go. You know, it's going to be a long wind when Mark says, bear with me. Hey, guys, it's your friend and sometimes producer, Erica. I'm writing you from my corner office at NFL Network. That's right.

I'm high up now in charge of tons of people, a queen, the way it should be. oh so the date it's christmas eve 2018 and i'm kind of feeling myself right now i'm with thor my little awesome dog how did i get here why am i in charge of all of you now well actually more like none of you because none of you work here anymore sorry to break the news it's kind of my fault too but i don't feel too bad see i had to do what was right and reveal the truth the four of you aren't who you say you are gregg west dan and mark total frauds i'd say come clean but it doesn't matter you've already been fired in the future. How did you think you'd get away with this? Deadspin was all over it. Headline, four so-called journals admit to never writing an article. Subhead, totally phony football

scribes hired college co-eds and outsiders to author white-knuckle football blog for NFL media. That's right, bs. We know all about it. For the past five years, you've waltzed around the newsroom. Look at us, while four strangers did all the work in your names. Greg Rosenthal, in real life, his industrious output was crafted by a USC student named Felicia Musburger. Oh, wow. Hardworking Felicia. Any relation? Interesting that she calls it, she pronounces it Felicia.

Hardworking Felicia would tell Greg what to say about Lions Packers week six while he sat in his cube feet up watching Carolina Pisklova and Sloan Stevens. Dan Hansis, his funny man posts. Bye, Felicia. Dan Hansis, his funny man posts were done by a 20-year-old LMU student named George Hopkins the second. Dan mostly ignored him. Chris Wesleyan, he certainly benefited from 14-year-old tape watcher Eugene Wexler offering to write every one of the mailman's articles for free as an intellectual experiment in free trade. And Mark Sessler, hiring his work out to a Los Angeles

area housewife named Wendy Pockets. Wendy vaguely knew her football and it showed in Mark's work. Wendy also had a problem with pills, forcing Mark to spin incredible yarns about various health issues and a string of phantom jury assignments. I knew it. Cool work ethic, bro. You guys are Millie Vanilly Part 2, so sit back and enjoy the final few months of your fading heyday. Best part is the Around the NFL podcast was quickly replaced by the broadcast.

I sit where Dan sat. Emma VP sits where Mark sat. Cynthia Freeland took Greg's seat and Colleen Wolf grabbed Wes's empty chair. I will say, I sympathize with Dan. We can't get Colleen to hang exclusively with our show. She's constantly being pulled away to do Sheck and 2,000 other assignments nationwide as her pockets get swole off network money.

It's all good, though. The broadcast is massive, topping your fading numbers. That's for sure. Love you, Erica. Wow. Congratulations on all your success. I feel kind of bad, but I mean, I guess the truth came out. I mean, you're kind of a terrible person, but you're also successful.

But I signed it. Love you. Also on Christmas Eve. I have nothing but to do with my puppy up. in a corner office. I'm impressed by the level of spite. Isn't that better? Yeah. I can't say it's shocking any of it.

There's always been a lot of ambition. Not shocking to us. But now it all comes out. Does Eugene Wexler also share your affinity for Josh Allen, Wes? Yeah. Oh yeah, he's a big fan. He was the writer for Greg. What about Wendy Pockets?

Wendy Pockets. That's our favorite. Greg is Felicia Musburger. Ah, Felicia. same leadership has now provoked an opportunity to surge toward a calling for openness and a newfound sensitivity one grounded in a new caring a new awareness a new calling a new empathy will i ever stop reading today this new empathy could serve as the baseline of thinking that would produce a willingness to see and listen with a fret colline okay may 31st 2021 Hamilton Canada

531 in Canada it's been three years and here I still sit in my Canadian house coat. Not a ton has changed. Drake is still angry at push a tea for chirping on disc tracks. Chirpin. Brian Colangelo is still wearing large Italian collars. And I'm still in the CFL. Mentally, I'm in bad shape.

But physically, I'm definitely in the best shape of my life. I find myself saying, Johnny, be a man, Zell. Snap out of this funk and start rubbing your money fingers together again. Don't get me wrong. I love Canada. I visited the Canadian Hollywood Walk of Fame the other day and took my picture with a nickelback star. I'm just bored of toboggan, low on Loanies, and miss the NFL.

Hey. Shots fire to Canada. What's the Canadian Hollywood? What? One bad thing. One thing I got to point out. And the Canadians are listening to the show, they have a large contingent of famous people that we sleep on.

So, like, getting, like, the nickelback basis, kind of, like, undersells. John Mitchell. Jim Carrey, Jim Carrey, Justin Bieber, Jerry Logan, Avalhine, Rachel McAdams, Ryan Reynolds, Seth, Rogan. Oh, yeah. This is not a shot at Canada. This is just what Johnny Mansell is going to right now. You have Jacksonville and Canada on you now. I know.

He's still doing the money sign. Yeah. Well, I think he just, he wants to do it again. Maybe he feels like that is going to bring him back. Yeah. They didn't even hand him. the starting job up there, you know. He's the backup for the tiger cats?

Backup for the tiger cats. Wow. How long will that last? Let's go to sell some tickets. He's making a third as much money, I think, as the starter, who's played pretty well. Got to put some meat in the seats. Next letter, this comes from Nick Foles, Eagles quarterback, to a childhood buddy. This is Sunday, November 25th.

It's a week 12 in the NFL. Hey, Nick here, writing this from the sideline during another. Super impressive Eagles win with Star Flyboy Carson Wentz of the controls. Give me a break. Can I just acknowledge the 800-pound gorilla in the room and admit you were right? I really should have gotten myself traded last spring. I mean, what was I thinking? I had all the leverage you could ever ask for.

Why would I ever choose to stay here and basically go into self-imposed witness protection? I'm the reigning Super Bowl MVP for God damn sake. Does an elite skydiver set a Guinness World Record then join an old lady mall walking group as an encore? Of course not. But here I am. Bored as hell. Might as well be wearing a track suit and gleaming white orthopedic shoes. Speaking of clothing, did you know I walked down a Broad Street last set? Broad Street. Broad Street last Saturday in full uniform, pads and everything, and not a single person recognized me. I'm old news. And the worst part is I chose this fate. I'm going to go fire my agent later.

Two sad quarterbacks back to back. Wow. I totally believe that. Surprising. That surprises me. He strikes me as a man who's at peace with himself. Right now. More than most people.

But once the lights go up and there's 80,000 people in the arena, I think he's going to think to himself, I never had more leverage in my career than I did six months ago. I wish I was somewhere throwing the football in the starting line. I wish I was playing for Hugh Jackson. I don't know what's going on in Philadelphia. But that would be a major disappointment because Nick Foles is pretty high up for everybody right now.

I know he'll always have it. He basically will always have a seat at everybody's table. I guess my point is that was an amazing moment in time, but it's now in the past. In the terms of like what he provides for that team in that city, he doesn't have a future in Philadelphia unless he's just a backup quarterback. But he proved in those last two games alone

that he deserves He's forever a god Maybe he's just choosing happiness Overrated Really want to play Happiness is the most underrated thing that you can possibly have in your life He's a professional athlete

I'm more banking on What drives a lot of these guys That competitive fire That's gotten to where they are Yeah When the season comes around Is Nick gonna be want to be playing? I'm sure he does

Maybe Nick Fools knows how good Nick Fools is Nick Fools thought about thought about retiring a few years ago because he wasn't enjoying his situation. So I think he's got a situation. Yeah. How many Super Bowl winners who don't retire like Peyton Manning potentially don't play a single game the next season

yet are fully healthy? Just kick back, relax, relax, soak it in. Jeff Hostetler? Hostettler went on to start for the Raiders. Was it the next year? It was not the next year, I don't know. No, I think it was. He was like there in 92, 93.

All right, last one. Oh, do you have one there? Yeah. Okay. Why acting surprise? You know it's your turn. No. Oh, me?

Who, me? He's getting into character. No, it's from June 3rd, Monday. This coming month. 2018, and it's from me. It just says, just want to say hi, guys. Not much has changed in the meantime. OTAs are still going on.

I just want to say, like, enjoy your weekend. It's all that we really know that we have. So if you're not going to have this fun this weekend and enjoy your life, like, you might never enjoy it. let's live it up we're out carpe dm baby that's it now you i like future grab will you know if we have enjoyed it if it's june 3rd oh yeah that's true yeah i hope we get i'm saying this is all all we know we know it's gonna be a great weekend so at least we know we know something terrible didn't happen at least the warrior goddesses are coming good point it's kind of like the xa it's like the box

within the box within the box within the box yeah you're from the future telling us to enjoy the weekend that already happened. I hope we enjoyed it. That's useless. Hasn't happened for us yet. We don't know it. The future me knows it's going to be a blast.

I think we really nailed this exercise. But you already know whether or not we did enjoy it. Don't uncover the. I think he at least knows nothing terrible happened because a weekend could go by where none of us communicate with each other. Because you could future Greg could say enjoy the upcoming weekend even in future Greg's future, but then you could even just say that to us right now. So you don't need a future

guy at all. No. Oh, he just knocked down your future straw man. No, not at all. I'm just saying. Future is done. No, but it was a nice sentiment. It was a very nice sentiment. You could look at it the other way that the future guy knows maybe things could go sideways. Something's coming, so enjoy it this weekend.

It's the one behind the glass, Erica. Right, that's true. There was something not like, there was an ominous tone there. Yeah. sensitivity and awareness one that would facilitate the engagement of necessary for real learning and understanding to take place and this new understanding would open the passageways to true critical transformation it won't be easy and of course resistance is to be expected there will be many unable to agree that we are even in need of a new empathy but can't we all agree that people caring for people in need is a simple place to

start please consider living out a renewed commitment to empathy make a conscious effort to listen to understand to care to build bridges instead of building walls be a part of the change by moving toward a new caring for others help create a culture of new empathy one day at a time one person at a time there you go wow I think I got the gist of it what I didn't it was just a bunch of word salad it's a word salad for the ages I think it has a nice base to it I think I kind of get what he was going for, but he just seemed like a bunch of gobbled. It has a nice base to it.

If you didn't know that he just had Jordan Peterson, that psychology professor, in to speak to the team who has some similar-ish thoughts, but some really out there messed up thoughts. And I've been thinking about the Seahawks a lot

this off season. I think they're really interesting just because Pete Carroll and starting over this whole thing. And I've been thinking I'm going to pick the Seahawks to the playoffs. I kind of likes Pete Carroll getting it all going in. I said I was going to pick them. After hearing that letter, they're not making the plan. Really?

Now I'm thinking this is Pete Carroll's last season in Seattle, and I just, I'm not liking what's happening there. Who knew it was going to be empathy, the straw that broke the camel back to Greg? Yeah. A new empathy. I'm also thinking of a group of 53 men that he's going to be leading, reading this Instagram post and thinking.

With an eye roll. There's no such thing as new empathy. This is the same old empathy with like a perpetua filter of coach speak. A lot of coach speak. It's just a bunch of coach speak. But, I mean, hey, Jesus is just all right with me. I love empathy. Read some good fiction.

That's the most valuable aspect of good fiction. It gives you empathy. I also like that new empathy is capitalized in every reference within this letter. Oh, is it? It's a movement. It's a cult almost. I think to Greg's point, I think someone's been in his hemisphere. Yeah, that's it has it.

What are these weird, bizaro? ideas at this psychologist I don't even want to get into it because it's pretty dark bad it's since you brought it up just maybe a cliff's notes for us because I feel I'm not aware people people can read up on Jordan Peterson if they want

really a big part of it is he's part of this new like men need to take more control and be more manly and he once tweeted to women in general saying that if they usurp men they will rebel and fail and you will have to jail or enslave them that was one

Oh, wow, really? He's talked about a disappearing masculinity in America. And he just talked to the Seahawks? It was kind of a mini-drama that he spoke to the Seahawks. A lot of people were offended by this. Pete and Jordan better watch out for those hot seven-foot creatures that you spoke of. You feel somewhat of a tension between those two groups potentially. The seven-foot redheads of these guys.

Pete Carroll seems like a nice guy who's pretty balanced and happy, but he just seems like maybe he shouldn't be. I don't know. You think he's a little a little too deep? Just go, I don't know. He's a little too deep in the ocean?

Yeah. Wow. A little new agey. Maybe, you know, a little dog paddle back to the shore. He's like coaching off the Celestine prophecy.

Good stuff. Good stuff, Wes. Thank you. I didn't get that rap, but it sounded very intelligent. I bet Mark's aware of the Celestine prophecy. Oh, the book?

Yeah. I mean, we are. I mean, I'm with you. I don't know. That the readers can go check out. It was a big new agey book that came out and is filled with gobbly gook. Book club? Book club book?

Book? It's probably about 20 years old, I would think. Yeah. All right. Good show. As are most of my references. Loose canon, even though we now know what's about to happen in the future, the near future, right? Yeah.

A year, right? A year. You did a nice job this week, filling in. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it. And just, you know, keep this in mind, these kind words I'm saying to you. Yeah, you actually just keep it going a little bit more. Yeah, I really want to know where you stand.

Yeah, you did such a seamless job. Dan doesn't even remember that Lindsay did Tuesday show. I just feel like you've been back there a lot. Yeah, all last week. Great, fair to continue the meticulous over-correcting on this. I know. It's a really nice trait. All right.

Nice trade. That's it. We'll be back on Tuesday with Lindsay or you. we'll wait and see maybe future Greg can tell us yeah if we're back we'll be back Tuesday with another episode of the round of the NFL podcast thank you

to everyone that's listening leave a we haven't asked for this in a while so if you can help out on iTunes leave five star rating leave a comment whatever you want to leave in terms of comment could be nice could be not so nice just leave a comment can we read some of those again soon

yeah maybe we will soon and also if you haven't signed up for it almost 10,000 strong the army now on subreddit the around the NFL podcast subreddit so look that up greeby and company they do a great job over there let's go then hans is signing off for quiet storm the mailman colline wolf weird weird my voice cracked the old boss and loose cat in behind the glass till monday In the heat of battle, your squad relies on you. Don't let them down.

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