OverDrive - OverDrive - September 3, 2025 - Hour 1 - Brandon Beane

Episode Date: September 3, 2025

Join Bryan Hayes, Jeff O'Neill and Jamie McLennan for Hour 1 on OverDrive! The guys dive into the Clippers and Kawhi Leonard circumventing the cap and the impact on the franchise, the Blue Jays' win against the Reds and the expansion of OverDrive. Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane joins to discuss the season outlook for the Bills, Josh Allen's leadership to the team and the winning culture on the roster.

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Subaru. Uncommon come standard. Hurry into your local Subaru dealership today for lease rates from 1.99% for 24 months on select models and get great value that, you guessed it, come standard. Conditions apply. See dealer for details. looking for a job but not sure where to start the career foundation is here to help we support people from all backgrounds with job search skills training career counseling and more we also connect you with top employers ready to hire all at no cost to you whether you're starting out changing careers or returning to work we're with you every step of the way connect with us today visit careerfoundation dot com that's career foundation dot com changing lives one job at a time This hour of Overdrive is powered by Fanduil. Fan Duel, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score.

All right, here we go, Overdrive, Off and Running. TSN 1050 on the TSN app, your home smart speaker, up on TSN2, and of course up on YouTube live on TSN's YouTube channel. Brian Hasey O'Dog, Jeff O'Neill, Jamie Noodles, McClellan. What's going on? When I brought this up to you guys years back, it was a stupid question. Okay?

Do you think people meet at Christy Pitts and open trunks of cars and throw in duffel bags of money to say, nobody knows about this, but this is like an added bonus? And I think Brian and Jamie, you both said, are you a moron? No one does that. no one would meet at christie pitts and plant a shrub plant a shrub and then somebody in a black suit with gloves on would say great job here's seven million in cash and throw it in their truck i love this story man this story is so fulfilling shout out to pablo tori who broke this open today so If you're not familiar with it, Tori on his podcast went through everything about how there

was some allegedly shell company called Aspiration that allegedly was a tree planting company owned and operated, or at least funded by Steve Balmer, who of course is one of the richest men on Earth. He's the eighth wealthiest guy on the planet. Eighth wealthiest guy on the planet. Loves trees. Pretty cool. Loves trees.

Pretty damn cool. Owns the clippers. and according to Torres reporting and research that Kauai Leonard was getting $28 million total, $7 million per to be an endorser for tree planting. $7 million, and by all accounts, has never done anything. Does it like trees? I don't know if he's around trees. I don't know if he's a tree guy whatsoever.

Apparently he loves apples. Did you hear the Popovic story of the apples where he ate like a dozen apples at a team meal? one time so that's the trees maybe that's what he was into i don't know it this was outrageous this morning this was outrageous like when i read that noodles apparently he asked larry apple bar not larry tannin bomb larry tannin bomb we have a friend lorence applebaum laurence shout out to laurence apple bomb shout out to lawrence one of our favorites Larry Tannenbaum. You are big news.

And he wanted to do the same thing, and it's like, how much do you actually need, man? Right. How much do you actually need? There's a radio guy in Phoenix, so I guess very connected in the NBA. I love how now that the door is broken open on this, all this reporting that people have been sitting on for six years is blowing up. But apparently, according to this guy, I'll get his name and his credentials in a moment. but Tannenbaum was bent out of shape when Kauai left because Tannenbaum had done everything he could

to secure upwards of $15 million in endorsement deals for Kauai which again happens in sports all the time everyone's got endorsement deals everybody every superstar player has endorsement deals and endorsement deals are one thing a tree planting front where you're just getting straight cash is pretty wild

A shell company man It's a shell company and it's got bankrupt and as a result all the details are public now and Kawhi Leonard and Steve Balmer and the clippers are possibly going to have the answer for this So here's my question Here's my question

That's like five first round draft picks man Like the last time this happened We'll see what the NBA does here We'll see what they end up doing So here's my question though We'll see how deep this runs Because if the other owners are like Stick it to them

You know we don't do that then, you know, hit him with everything. If they do it, they'll be like, hey, you know, slap his wrist, nothing to see here. Because keep in mind, Steve Ballmer, one of the brilliant man, one of the wealthiest guys on the planet, this isn't in a vacuum. This isn't a one-off. I think this happens everywhere. We talked to, oh, you and I have talked about it with college, you know, with college recruiting,

where they're like, hey, come, you know, come play for Princeton or whatever, our college, and you can work at the rink. really have to show up and we can give you a scholarship like all of the circumventing is out there it'll be interesting to see in the NBA particularly if the other owners band together and go nail this guy or hey slap them on the wrist and let's make this story go away because we did something too you're absolutely right that we will know very very good point we will know if the other owners are doing this based on how the NBA reacts yeah because if it's one of one, then they should blow up.

The other owners should say this is ridiculous because the difference between college and this is there's a salary cap. And that's the whole point of this. You're circumventing the salary cap. That's supposed to be the equalizer. In college, in junior hockey, we've always known it. Money under the table. It's a recruitment tool.

This is a recruitment tool, but it's about paying a guy to get around the cap. And if that's the case, and the other owners are not doing it, then they're going to freak out. You would presume if they are doing it, then you're right. They're just going to say, hey, go deal with him, but don't come look at us. And you know who will know if other owners are doing it? Steve Ballmer. Exactly.

And he's a lunatic. This is a nightmare for the NBA because he's got so much money. You want to go to court? Let's go to court. He's going to yell and scream. He's a loose cannon. When he's talking about urinals, he's a loose cannon. Now he's talking about shell companies and caps are convicted.

Who knows what this is. guy's going to blur it out it's the worst owner you could have in this situation because he's a complete maverick and cowboy he's got more money than anybody could ever imagine and who knows how he's going to react i can tell you this kawai leonard is sleeping easy he doesn't care right what is kai care he's going to miss some money here but he's not getting penalized that's this is an ownership issue kai said to say hey why's he going to miss money hasn't he already been paid in full no i guess i guess i guess because of the bankruptcy they might own one more payment The tree company went under.

The tree company went under. So I guess that's the thing. He still owed like $7 million. Yeah. Well, there's like I, the amount of memes, this is where the internet wins. Some of the trees go bad or like that? I don't know. I love that it's a tree.

Do you know how lazy that is? Like, does Balmer have some like hippie kid who suggested that? Like, just make it a tree. Like make a shell company as a tree planting company. Like that's what people are going to believe is absolutely absurd. I think it's brilliant because if, you look at California being a really green state as far as progressive climate change, all of that.

It's like, hey, I'll put $50 million into a shell company to go plant trees, nothing to see over here. Listen, it happens, again, sports different. You see it in politics. You see all the different things where shell companies are formed, kickbacks, all of that type of stuff. This is the interesting one, because does this blow it wide open for all sports? Because I guarantee you, Gary Bettman probably had to have a conversation.

with some of his owners going, where are we at here? Because you know other leagues are going to get. If you have a salary cap, you're right. I mean, if you're a Clipper fan, you're thinking, hey, this is great. My guy's trying something. You'd also be asking, why do we still suck? Like, how have we not won anything when we're cheating and circumventing and we've got tree companies and we're spending cash?

Oh, no, there's no question, Hayes. There's some guys sweating that have been handing over bags of money for years that have been doing this, and they're just waiting. Yeah, or other players now, like you think, did Paul George? George, was he planting trees? James Hardin out there planting trees. You know, like who else with the Clippers has been planting trees? Did you see the list, though?

Like there was, he named other people. Like, Robert Downey Jr. was that? Like, why is he's getting paid? But the thing is, he's like a free citizen. He's not, you know, burdened by a salary cap or anything. It's funny, like I say, all of a sudden, hey, you're some money for this guy and for this guy. Like, it's funny. You start to uncover some of this nonsense.

You're going to see a lot of cockroaches scattering because, you know, they're trying to hide it under a rock. I just think this is fascinating because you're right, Balmner, Balmer doesn't care. Like, he's one of the richest guys on the planet. And I think he's good for the NBA. I really do. I think he's a, you know, a passionate owner, said, to hell with you, you know, no tax money from California. I'll just build my own stadium. I'll just do what I need to do.

And by all accounts, he's a good guy. but this is this could blow everything wide open that's the question though like if the NBA goes into this and they realize you've done this then you got to hammer them and he will care if it costs them three first round picks the money won't matter you know they'll find them five million dollars he'll say here tree money go take take take kawai's tree cash like he'll pay that with ease but if it gets to a point where they really start laying punitive damages on them and real penalties then that will have an effect. And here's the thing with Balmah, though. He stormed in. Remember he bought the team for $2 billion, which is peanuts now. It was a great investment now that you look at it. At the time,

that was crazy money. Crazy. But he had it and he wanted it. He said, here's $2 billion. I'll take it. You're right. He's built this stadium. This Kauai Leonard scenario. Kawhi Leonard has jammed him up so badly, directly and indirectly. Kawhi Leonard cost him Shea Gilges Alexander. Because in order for Kauai to come, he needed tree money and he needed Paul George. So it's cost him a fortune to pay for Kauai, a fortune to pay for Paul George. Shea Gilders Alexander, and a million picks went the other way, and look at Oklahoma City. Kauai has done nothing for the Clippers, nothing.

And Balmer just keeps dumping money into him, and now this story's blowing up. It's amazing what's happened with the Kauai Leonard Clippers' legacy. Dude, he's hardly played, hasn't he? He's hardly played. He's heard all the time. He's heard all the time. They haven't won anything. Yeah, and they had that big write-up about him a couple of things.

a couple years ago where wasn't there something where he was like demanding on warming up on his own he couldn't stand being around his teammates and it's just it's been a mess it's always a circus and you know there's obviously raptor fans who are looking back on this thinking you know this is why he left and steve bomber cost kawai you know the rap is a chance at a repeat kawai was going to l.A i believe that for years you know it's been six years i think we've got to move on in reality even if kawai stayed who knows if it would have worked By the accounts, he put forth this opportunity to the Rappers. If you want me to stay, you've got to get Paul George,

and you're going to have to find me a bunch of money, you know, endorsement deals and tree money and Christy Pitts and all that. And, you know, the ship sailed. It's unfortunate, but I think he always wanted to be in Southern California, and he was going home, and he was going to find a way to make a word. What would you rather have done? Would you have taken a chance to run it back with Kauai and all the nonsense and the Christie Pitts and the high maintenance,

knowing that you could end up in this position now with a mess on your hands? I guess when you look back on it, maybe it was worth a shadow, because now we know what we know. The last few years have been somewhat of a write-off for the Raptors. So if it was going to get to that point anyway. They don't have a Shea Gillis, you know, they don't have somebody like that in the forefront. I mean, again, they weren't going to get Shea Gilgis-Alexana. They were going to have to give up the equivalent to go the other way to Oklahoma City.

Right. Yeah, it is a wild story, and we will find out, you know, if this is happening elsewhere with the Clippers, elsewhere in the NBA, elsewhere in sports, is there more reporting to this? A lot of people scrambling, you would think, trying to figure out exactly how to handle whatever the next wave could be in terms of, you know, money under the table, because, again, none of us are naive. This stuff happens, you know, in negotiations, players are like, what can you find me? What can you get me? I want more money.

And if anything, it might put pressure on the biggest markets and the richest owners to say, hey, this guy's doing it. Like, why are you ever losing out on anybody? If it's simply money, why aren't you finding them money? Well, do you remember the joke? And I'm lightly saying this because it is a joke, but there was a joke around Toronto when Zach Hyman was a free agent saying, it would be interesting. He signs with the Leafs and he also gets a book deal on the side, you know, like something like that,

because he's a children's book writer. these are things that teams tried to get creative about. This was a creative one, but he got clipped on. Well, they had those conversations with Stamcoast, didn't they? Yeah, the Canadian Tire guy. He could make cash and endorsed it. Yeah, but those are endorsements, right? Yeah, see, those are like legitimate, and there are owners that endorse their own players, right?

Like, Rogers endorses their own players. They own every team here. Yeah, they have commercials with the leave players. Yeah, but it's a public company, you know, and it's on the books, and everyone knows it's like a tit for tat. like obviously you're representing your team and you're going to pump out this company and you know this is different this is a tree planting shell company allegedly you know kawai never showed up for any of it i remember us going hard at oh though like you you did say like

just go down to christie pits with a uh hockey bag full of cash and we were like this isn't the subrano stupid it was stupid talk like it was stupid talk it seemed seemed to be at the time but you know Maybe you were an idiot savant. Yeah, I don't know. Maybe you hammered that one. Maybe you nailed it. But the memes out there of like, it's the sopranos walking him, you know, down to a hill and stuff. Like, there's so many memes.

Or even all the, you know, when they go to the construction site scenes where they're just sitting, sitting in lawn chairs, that's Kauai in like a state park. You know, he's got to show up for an hour in order to get a $7 million. I just I love that it's a tree planting company I don't know why that cracks me up but it just seems so lazy and ridiculous I'll just call it a tree planting company and we have all this money to endorse tree planting

outrageous anyway more on that as you know the story develops as we move forward again you're not going to hear anything from Kauai Kauai's not doing a sit down with Jim Gray tonight and it's going to be hilarious when people get to Kauai because they will eventually and he's just going to stare at them You know, he's just going to stare awkwardly when a reporter goes up to him and asks him about this.

He's going to have no answer, no personality, and I'm sure he doesn't really care because he's got his money and the PA is going to protect him. And this is more about bomber and the NBA and what they're going to do. All right, we've got Brandon Bean coming up. The GM of the bills in about 15 minutes, Jerry's percentages. Jerry's back at 530. We're looking forward to that. The Js are back in action. What a game that was last night.

Oh, my God. They're almost let it get away. You nailed it with the tweet again. You're like, this is going to be 15, 13, and Heidman's going to be out there, whoever is going to be out there pitching. Yeah. Like, it was a circus, man. It was, yet, you know, a win is a win. Burrios, I don't know what his future is this year with the team.

Like, he's under contract, but I don't see him getting the ball in the playoffs, the way things are going. He's still going to get a few more starts. He's got time to turn things around. But as of now, it's Bieber. it's going to be Scherzer, it's going to be Gosman, and then it's Bassett. So I don't know what role Burrios plays. He's in a really dark place, really, really dark place. But credit the offense for realizing that, and, you know, they spot him eight through two

innings. This George Springer is so good right now, and Boba Shad is so good right now. It's wild. Like his numbers, Springer is second in the American League in OPS, only behind Judge. That is a staggering stat. can't i still can't digest that i can't believe we're into september and that's the truth that's how good he's been all year well especially with what he was doing last year yes yeah that's a mess last year two years ago it wasn't good i thought he was done i was i thought he was completely finished and

they had to move on from him and he's been their best player he's been their MVP he's the lifeline he's the guy with world series cat you know experience and pedigree and he's won a world series MVP and he's he's dragging this team and Bichette's been great and other guys have been very good but Springer's numbers are so good it's crazy yeah like Vladdy got going a little bit yesterday you know like it just they were

it was 8 1 and I blink so I kind of you know he turned away I have a bite to eat and I'm like what is going on like you come back to it and I'm like oh my god like they well kind of for left but jammed them up too and they just got them back that's the one where it's like you can't overlook that throw to first

base where it's like dude you can't make that throw and you could tell he was mortified because he just got back he was with the team a couple years ago and he came in and he's saying all the right things about by all accounts great guy team guy I'll play anywhere

whatever you need from me and he can get them out of a jam and it's a bad throw I mean and next thing you know the ball's out of the park and it just unraveled from there I got a little nervous

like I was like okay they made it what was the closest it was 10 8 yeah it was 10 8 it was 8 It was eight, eight six at one point. Yeah, like it was, it was close. And I'm like, okay, they're teetering, teetering. But they held on.

Held on. Like, it was, entertaining game. They go again tonight with Bieber on the mound. So Steve Phillips will join us on that and more coming up just after five. So we got a couple of things we want to get into here. Yesterday, we made the mistake. I made the mistake because we were so excited to be on the air yesterday that we got on, we were flying, we're all in studio. We hadn't seen each other in a while.

And we got to 6 p.m. And then we wrapped up. And we basically said, all right, we're out of here. You know, and that was my mistake. That was our mistake. You know, we've been doing this a long time. We've been in the afternoons for 10 years. We started, what, 13 years ago, 14 years ago is a pure radio show.

And we've evolved a lot. You know, we put a lot of effort into it. We have a lot of pride for the show. We love our show. We've had a lot of help from great people behind the scenes for a long, long time. We wouldn't be here without them. But ultimately, we wouldn't be here. we didn't cultivate an audience.

You know, that's why we are what we are, because we have the audience that we have. And we're very fortunate that we have the backing that we have because so many people tune in every day in so many different ways that we're no longer just a radio show. We're TV, web, YouTube, live, podcast, streaming. We're on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, we're everywhere. And we are moving to two hours.

We're going to be four to six. We're still on every single day, Monday through Friday, four to six. And, you know, there's a multitude of reasons for that. But first and foremost, I think what works with this show is our chemistry and our energy and being on our toes. And we believe we can do that incredibly well through two hours. We have a huge backing from TSN to get this out in every possible avenue you could possibly want to digest it. We understand in the modern world, not everyone watches live or listens live. Some people, you know, download the podcast at midnight.

Some people go on a road trip two weeks later and listen to the show or what. watch the show on YouTube or whatever it is. So this was a decision that we believe is going to be in the best interest of the evolution of the show, doing the show right. We're still here every single day. It's going to allow us the flexibility of doing different emergency shows, and we're going to have a lot of content away from four to six Monday to Friday, which we're going to develop over time.

So we're really excited about it. It's not something that, you know, this is a cost cutting or you get, no, this is a decision to make the show pop bigger. better than ever yes and there's going to be some days of something massive happens or if something happens after a leaf game or during a leaf game we'll stay on to seven o'clock i believe that's an option for us isn't absolutely it is yeah well yes and pop up after a leaf game or something big happens a massive trade so there's going to be a bunch of different options for us and i think ultimately it comes down to that the three of us think it's going to be better yes and we know it's going to be

better and growing the brand like keep in mind we're going to be on site they're going to be doing stuff with us this year. That's the biggest thing that I'm excited about is we're actually going to be expanding into different things. And that's, you know, that's what we should be focusing on. But, you know, there were some, man, there were some people, like, there were some people.

Listen, a lot of people were curious, which we appreciate because that's a sign. One guy's like, you're cowards. I know. Some guy wrote me. I had a tweet last. I was dying. I was laughing out loud. My wife goes, what's so funny? I tweet out, George, some George Springer tire pumping. Yeah, yeah.

thing like george springer's a cyborg like nothing but positively and great some guy writes immediately two-hour fraud and just that's it and i'm like what the hell does that mean like what is that it has nothing to do with what we're talking about and i get it like we're we're authentic we try to be honest we understand that the audience is along for the ride with us and that's what we've tried to create and cultivate for a long time and it's on us to to let everyone know and that's what we're doing we're not hiding anything this is this is our reality this is what's going on and we're excited, and we're going to be here, and we're going to be rocking, and we believe the show is going to be bigger and better than ever.

And that's our plan. And that's, we're all in, we're fully committed. It's not any deeper than that. So my bad yesterday, I meant to get to it. We meant to get to it. It hits six o'clock. We're like, we've got to go. We're out of here.

And we're done. The handshake. Exactly. Well, fist bump. It's not quite a handshake. He can't get the shake out. You can get a fist bump. Bad shoulder.

Yeah, shoulder it. Well, shoulder dab it. Okay, and we've got a campaign coming out, too. We're looking for a tagline for the show. We'll come back and explain it. We'll get into it. We're looking for help on this via social media, email, whatever you got. Tweets, Instagram, wherever you can find us and connect with us.

We'll tell you more about it this hour. Brandon Bean's coming up. Jay's back in action tonight. Kauai's getting tree planting money. It's a wild, wild Tuesday. Wild Wednesday, I guess. You're on overdrive, and it continues on TSN 1050 and up on TSN2. All right, overdrive continues.

Powered by Fandu, bringing you everything from the opening line of the final score. Brandon Bean coming up, GM of the Bills. They were the team on Hard Knocks this year. And we'll ask him about that experience. You know, maybe I believe they've shifted out, but maybe there's a camera in there. Maybe his office is bugged or something, I don't know. But bills get started Sunday night, the Ravens in town. Like, what a start?

What a heater gets? game, man. Oh, it's such a heater game. Like tomorrow, everyone's just excited because the NFL is back, but it's Dallas, Philly. It's a good game. Friday night down in Brazil, it's Chargers Chiefs. So you've got Mahomes and Company divisional game on a Friday night, Sunday night, Ravens, Bills, and Monday nights Bears, Bears, Vikings, which is a good game. You can't beat it.

They kickstart the party so well in the NFL, and I guess Roger Goodell was to be. doing an interview today and being coy about Taylor Swift, possibly working out details on being the halftime show. Don't you think that as soon as he brings that up, it's going down? You think he's tipping his hand and that he's actually letting people know this is going to happen? You think Roger Goodell, of all people, is going to tiptoe around something and be like, nah, maybe that happens. I think as soon as that even comes up, that's...

Really? I just don't see her playing the halftime show. I don't know why I find it so far. the case he would have shot it down and would have been like it's just that's just something that's not happening to in the near future don't you i don't know maybe allowing people to talk about it is a good thing there's no such thing as bad press it's somewhat innocent you know he said maybe i don't know i'll believe it when i see it that she actually does it but um i guess at one point she was waiting to own all of her music which she does now but how much more can she get i mean she's conquered the

world already playing the Super Bowl what's that going to do for it just i think it's another platform but like look at it she went on the um the podcast with the brothers that was like the highest rated podcast in the history of the world i believe something crazy like yeah new heights they were doing like a million live views on youtube which is absurd yeah like absurd the amount of people streaming it live your traditional you know it wasn't your traditional sports fan like it was my daughter was watching. Right. My wife's friends were watching live going like this.

Did you watch Taylor? I'm like, no, I didn't watch. I watched the highlights. I thought she was good. I thought she was funny. Like she's authentic. That's the one thing I got from it. Well, she's engaged now, right?

Yeah. Like her and Travis Kelsey and, you know, we'll see where Kelsey's got left in store. I'm not convinced he's going to turn the clock back. That could get ugly. Could get ugly. You know, if the wheels have fallen off and Mahomes is relying on them and Rishi Rice has suspended the first six games of the year,

and they've got to target on their backs, right? Like, they're the Chiefs. They've been to three straight Super Bowls. Everyone's gone in for them. You know, the bills are waiting for them. You know, the bills always have success during the regular season against Kansas City. It's just in the playoffs. Yeah.

You know, they just find a way to, like, out-clutch them. It's always close. It might be a question for being, like, do you think that he privately has a window, or do you think, you know, the window of winning, or do you think that any time that he can put Josh Allen behind center, he's got a chance to win? That's a good question, man. I would feel pretty confident with a healthy Josh Allen.

Me too. There's windows in every organization talks about a window to win. I know that's outside noise that talks about a window. I'm just curious if he kind of has one or is in one or obviously believes he's in one right now, but how much more to it is there? Well, I think the bills, this could be the, year. Hey, did you call it? Did you call it last night? I did it last night on Jay. I had quite the experience on with Jay last night. So I have seasonal allergies. My allergies actually

been great. But I guess pollen's bad right now, dust. I think the Blue Jays. I think I'm allergic to Jose Barrios pitching. And I was exploding last night. My allergy. I was sneezing. I was wheezing. I was a disaster. And I was going on to tape with Jay and I was stalling because I was not in the frame of mind to go on with him. Really? So, yeah, they're like, we're ready for you. And I'm like, yeah, two more minutes. And I'm doing nose sprays.

My wife's like, you look like a disaster and you sound like garbage. You can't go on with Jay right now. You've got to tell him to wait. So I waited as long as I could and I finally went on. I don't know what the hell I said because I was so in my own head. Why wouldn't you just pull the pin on it and just say it's not going down to me? It's because I made a commitment. I'm on with those guys all the time.

And it's not that I couldn't do it. It was an allergy thing, right? It wasn't anything serious. I was just waiting for, like, the allergy meds to kick in. And anyway, to answer your question, yes, I'm on the bills to win the Super Bowl. And that's not some bold prediction. It's not like I'm saying, I think, you know, Jacksonville is going to win the Super Bowl. The bills win the division every year.

They're going to do it again this year. And they've got Josh Allen. Yes. But they just, they have a great, they got a great foundation there with Bean, with McDermott with Allen. They've got a lot of continuity on both sides of the ball. They've got a division that I think they're going to win pretty easily. They've got

a pretty good schedule in terms of winning percentages and difficulty and who they're going against. So I think they're chasing that one seed in the AFC. I think they're going to get it. Everything's going to go through them. It would be beneficial if Kansas City could step

aside, right? Exit stage left before you get to Buffalo. Can't control that if you're the bills. but I'd like to see that happen. And if you avoid Kansas City, what's stopping Buffalo? What's stopping them from winning a Super Bowl? They're so good on both sides of the ball. I would like to ask Brandon when he comes on,

just how just, was it distracting with the hard knocks, or did he embrace it? Like, you know, you see, I mean, the Leafs went through it a couple years back. Like, I guess you'd get used to the cameras around. I don't know how they do, Jamie. Like, I dived in. I don't know.

I was so late to this. Hayes you brought I dove into it really late and it was just in the last couple weeks the Habs won okay yeah I pissed my pants laughing when the guy wheeled up to Jeff Moulson he's like it's the worst opening you guys have ever done

because I remember you're talking about that I couldn't believe that guy that guy and he was dead serious he's like Jeff he's like the worst opening since I've been around what are you doing

and he I think Moulson said are you serious And the guy was like dead serious. Yeah. And then he kept walking. But to have those cameras around every day, I just don't know how anybody can put up with it, especially a GM, because you got your work to do, you got phone calls to make, and then you've got to sit every day. I don't know what the routine is, but you're sitting every day with the camera and be like, this is what this is, you know. Right.

Yeah, you might have to put a filter on, like just going like, because you want to maybe lose your, you know what sometimes. And you're like, that guy's got a camera on it in the corner. HBO guy in the corner. Like just sitting there. The guy's got his hat on backwards, eating an apple or doing something, and you're like, you want to lose yourself or yell at somebody, and you've got to be in control. That's the thing I think would be slightly distracted.

Or state secrets, right? You're talking about something you don't want anyone else to know. Exactly. Well, let's go right to the source. Here he is, the GM of the Buffalo Bills. HBO Superstore. Here's Brandon Bean. How you doing, Brandon?

I'm doing well. How are you guys doing today? We're doing well. Are the camera still around, or have they shifted out of town? uh we can thank the good lord they've moved on we did our uh we did our jobs we got through it and uh yeah all set for the season now ready to roll no cameras and it was that was that distracting at all like for you did you have to change your mindset uh we were just talking about before you came on like

having them there it felt like 24 7 did you have to have a different mindset of how you did business? Yes and no. The short answer is yes. I will say this. I went into it expecting the worst because that's just kind of my mentality. I know I've got to be kind of, you know, arm twisted to do this. And so because you're exactly right. You don't want to, you don't want to like not be yourself in whatever you're doing, whether you're in a meeting with a player, staff, it is you want to be authentic and naturally if someone's waving a camera in your face you're going to feel a certain way so I I do think because they've done it enough over the years they've come up with tricks like in my office it was a it was two different

mounted cameras and you could you kind of got used to it and knowing that you know we did have some editing power like hey you can't have that conversation in there things like that and you know they also gave me a button hey i got terry pagula calling me and i really don't want even the audio on here i can i can flip it off so i give them a lot of credit they they worked with us got what they needed to get and you know we tried to work with them as well knowing they had a product they had to produce for hbo right and you know it's it's obviously a you know insight to the way an organization is run and a lot of fans love it i love it i love it. You know, Hard Knocks been great for a long time. And I think the plan is, you know, to learn new

things about every team that's involved in this. And I guess I'll ask you that. Like, what did you want or what would you hope the NFL community learned about the Buffalo Bills? I think that that this culture is real. It's, you know, people talk about that. That word culture is thrown around a lot. And that, you know, the players on this team are good players for sure. Like, like most all NFL players are. But these guys are genuinely good dudes, and they care about the fans. They care about each other.

They care about their roles, whether it's signing autographs for kids, whether it's helping support animal adoptions, whatever subjects were covered. These guys were real, and I thought they did a good job on the show of finding some, everyone obviously knows Josh

and people are going to, you know, really tune in on the segments with him. But coming up with some of the other guys, the K.J. Hamlers, the Zach Davidson's, the Jimmy Charlos, Frank Gore, Jr., like, those are good stories, too. And I didn't, you know, I was hopeful that they would find, you know, some of those guys and people could really find themselves relating to their lives because some of these lives it's very hard. You get released. You got a wife, you got kids, whatever your situation is. Now you've

got to go look for a new job and your wife's got to look for a new daycare, a new place to get her hair done. And I think sometimes that story doesn't get told. Yes, there's glamour in this life if you're if you're Josh Allen or some of these big people. But for a lot of these players

they're just trying to survive in the league and keep a job and keep the paychecks coming in. Brandon, we were just talking about Josh and we were also talking about the concept of Windows to win championships. Our host here, Brian has got you guys winning it all this year. It was quite nice

to hear that out of his mouth, a Green Bay Packers fan, but he picked you guys. Like with Josh, do you guys talk about Windows to win or if it's ending or if it's coming close to or are you just confident that when you throw him behind center, you're going to have a good chance to win every time? Well,

it's a quarterback league, right? And that's the most important position in all of sports, no matter what sport there is. And if you're good there, you've got a chance. That's where it starts. And going back to when we got here in 2017, you look back at the 17-year drought this club had been on.

One of the main factors was they were not able to find a franchise quarterback. And really, it had been since Jim Kelly since they had sustained success. And so that's the number one thing that, you know, my conference, conversation with the Pagula's in the interview process is if we don't do that, we're going to be, you know, in that rut. It doesn't mean we can't make the playoffs while we find it. It doesn't mean we can't start building something, but we will not be an every-year contender or, you know, you're not going to find yourself, you know, fighting for the division

every year until you find that franchise piece. You look at every year's playoffs, and most years, the final eight teams, most of them have some sort of a franchise quarterback. You can get a one-off here, and their team got hot, a one-year wonder type things. But, you know, generally speaking, the final eight teams have good quarterback play. And so we do feel as long as Josh is playing, you know, kind of the way he has played, whether he's the MVP or not, that that gives us a chance. But it takes more than that. We've got to protect them. We've got to be able to score points, and then we've got to be able to stop, you know,

the AFC is loaded with quarterbacks. We've got to be able to stop those teams that we're going to see, you know, when we do make the playoffs. With Brandon being the GM of the Buffalo Bills, and, you know, you guys go to the playoffs every year, you win the AFC East every year, and seemingly you run into one team every year, and we know who that is, and it's Kansas City. And you've had great regular season success against Kansas City. where you play them in Buffalo, Kansas City. I think you go to a neutral-site game in October, November,

you're going to win that game. It's the smallest of margins in the playoffs, though. Are you a believer in the clutch, Gene? Is that what the separator is between Mahomes, the Chiefs, and everyone else, including yourselves? Or how do you change that where you apply the regular season success in winning and make it happen against Kansas City in the playoffs? Well, I mean, I think most times we've played,

regular season or postseason, you know, big games like that, unless someone's just turning the ball over and it turns into a blowout, which has not been the case when we've played each other. It's going to come down to usually three, four plays, you know, game-changing place. And you go back to even some of the games we won in the regular season. We won there, Vaughn's first year. We were down, and late in the game, Vaughn gets a sack, we get the punt, and we go down and score.

They get the ball, and Vaughn gets another pressure. Taryn Johnson gets in their set. Like, it's your best players have to make a big play or two here or there. I think it's more than just regular season versus postseason. We obviously have to produce that, but it's not like we're dominating them in the regular season, and then we get to the postseason. And it's not like we're not playing well. It's two teams that know each other well, that are well-coached, high-level quarterback play,

good defense in general, and at the end of the day, we have to find a way to make one or two of those plays that we haven't made in some of those games. But you don't need to blow things up. You don't need to change things. Again, I would trade a couple of those plays we made that I just referred to in a regular season game to happen a postseason game but to this point we haven't done it but we're you know we're not giving into that we the past is the past nobody controls that we're focused you know our eyes are on this season and and listen nothing's guarantee you know we're just trying to truly

focus on the ravens well before we're talking about winning a division or you know potentially facing you know a team like the chiefs in the postseason later this year yeah we were buzzing about that you know Sunday night start the season week one Ravens bills and you know you guys can't control the scheduling the NFL will do that in conjunction with TV partners

but do you like that idea like hit the ground running against a powerhouse Baltimore is a great team too like how beneficial if at all can this be for your team to start week one at home against an opponent like that yeah I mean it's a it's as tough a match as you can get I mean I think we won like 27 to

25 and same thing. I mean, what we just talked about in Kansas City. Those guys, you know, we lost to them over there. They made more plays than we did. You know, they came here and ball bounces, you know, our way on a couple fumbles. You know, they're tied in, dropped a two-point play that he's going to catch 99 out of 100 times. You just sometimes you can't explain things. I'm sure they would say that on the, hey, they had every right.

and some of the same things that we've said when we've lost, you know, to the chiefs in the playoffs. And so, you know, we always expect when we go against a team like Baltimore that it's going to be a knockdown dragout. And, you know, if both teams protect the ball, it's, I'll bet you it comes down to, you know, three or four plays again, who makes those plays. But, you know, I don't get called up in who we play week one versus week 10. every game is truly its own game because of injuries happen. You know, people do all these preseason predictions. Well, tell me who's in the lineup for us and tell me who's in the lineup for them. And I can probably give you a better idea.

And again, you guys know as well as I do, you follow it. What your team looks like in September is rarely what it looks like, you know, by Thanksgiving and into December. That's you're trying to kind of, you're starting the road now of a long journey. But we got to make sure win or lose this game that we continue to build this team and make sure it's the right type of team that can, A, win a, win a division, and B, have success in the postseason. Brandon, before we get you out of here, I've got to ask you about the new stadium. Like, is there going to be any technology where fans don't possibly have to show up to shovel snow?

Like, is there going to be, like, heated steps where it just melts and goes away, or is that still going to be a factor for the fans that maybe have to come and shovel snow? Yeah, I mean, that's Buffalo tradition. Why would we want to get rid of that? That's all right. That's great for Bill's Mafia. But, you know, it is going to be better in all seriousness. You know, 60% of the seats are being covered.

And I do know there is going to be some areas that are heated. I'm not as intimately knowledge, you know, with everything of that, to your point, but it will be better. I know they've got some things in place. And, you know, the other thing is we're going to have more than one tunnel. So even the stuff you have to get off the field right now, you can only get so much equipment in and out of one tunnel. That one's going to have, you know, multiple tunnels. So you'll be able to have more equipment at the same time getting it off and removing it. But, yeah, it's not a dome, so it's not that we can completely avoid it.

But I'm excited about it and think, you know, when you turn on the TV to watch the Buffalo Bills play, I think you want to see that outside. I think every fan wants to see that. And I think that's one of the exciting things about our style of football and what we're all about here in Buffalo. Yeah. Let's get a banner up first week next year. That's what we're planning here in Toronto for you guys. And it starts on Sunday night.

It's going to be a great season. Best of luck as always. And we always appreciate you taking time for us. Thank you, Brandon. You got it. Enjoy it, guys. We'll talk to you down the road. You got it.

There's Brandon B. GM of the bills. Yeah, I wonder if it doesn't sound like he's a blueprint guy with a new stadium, and that would be above his pay grade, I guess, but it'll be different, man. It's going to be state-of-the-art. Yes, it's still outdoors. It's not a dome, but that stadium they've been in forever. The Ralph is, it's a gritty old stadium, man.

They insist on playing in freezing cold weather and snow, and that's Buffalo football, and they refuse to kind of go against it. And I got a ton of respect for it. I like it, man. I like it. I like it. I respect it, but I, I could, like, I told you, I did an outdoor game there for the world juniors. My wife, I asked her where she was after the game, and she's like, I'm out of restaurant.

I couldn't. I'm back in Toronto. Breezing stuff is like, I'm out of restaurant. The shoveling stuff is true and it's crazy, but it's uniquely Buffalo. And I think they're, like, I don't want every stadium to be turf and a dome and cookie cutter. You know, I don't want that. I want, I want, I want different. elements you know i want that's what you can't be florida but in saying that case like the

super bowl the super bowl although their advantage can get them there but the super bowl's always in some sunny stadium and it's like it's like their ultimate advantage could never come to fruition at the end of the line understandable and i think it's a sign that the super bowl's like generally the super bowl will go somewhere if you get a new stadium you might host it i think maybe buffalo was told you're not hosting so there's no point and even making it a dome because it's not going to happen. I hope they don't build a new old building, if that makes sense. Well, it's already, you know, it's opening next year.

So, yeah, it's going to be state of the art. It'll be different, but it's going to feel like Buffalo. And I think that's a good thing. All right, Steve Phillips, in about 15 minutes. Jerry's percentage is coming up. Jay's Reds tonight. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on YouTube live.

All right, Steve Phillips, in 10, 15 minutes. on Shane Bieber back on the mount tonight, off day tomorrow, then at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees won again last night. Red Sox won again last night. Those two teams are just red hot. They're not going to lose. They're not losing.

And the Js have got to keep winning, ultimately. And I feel good with Bieber on the mound tonight. And the way the bats are producing in Yankee Stadium this weekend. How much more comfortable you are with Bieber going on the mound than Burrios? Night and day. a $150 million man. And the thing that's frustrating about him is he looks so athletic, he looks so prepared. And then it just, and I know he had a long break after his start last night,

but it was like, man, you're nowhere close. No, he's not in a good place. And all you need to do is look at Pete Walker, because his face will tell you everything. Yes. Schneider was on the phone in the first inning, like calling down. We're like, get up, be ready, this is getting ugly. They knew it. They saw it was coming.

So Phillips on Burrios, on Bichette, Springer, and how good he's been. That more still to come, Jerry's percentages as well. Hour 2 up next, Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on TSN2. You've been listening to Overdrive, powered by Fanduel. Fanduel, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. Unmistakably Canadian. It's the music that raised you.

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