Pardon My Take - Andrew Luck In Studio, Brian Windhorst On The Shocking Luka Trade + Monday Reading Live From Super Bowl Week In Nola

Episode Date: February 3, 2025

Welcome to Super Bowl Week aka Max Week. We talk about the shocking Luka trade to the Lakers and what the hell happened (00:00:00-00:22:52). National Sports podcast news from the weekend (00:22:52-00:26:26). Who’s back of the week including Rory, Rugby and Kanye West at the Grammy’s (00:26:26-00:35:57). Andrew Luck joins us in studio to talk about his career, Jim Harbaugh, being the GM of Stanford Football, his snap count, retirement and tons more (00:35:57-01:52:16). Brian Windhorst joins us to break down the Luka trade and just how insane it is (01:52:16-02:09:35). We then finish with a time capsule Monday Reading from last years Super Bowl (02:09:35-02:18:15).You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/pardon-my-take

Hey, pardon my take listeners, you can find every episode on Apple podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music on today's pardon my take. It is Super Bowl week and we have an awesome interview coming for the people. Andrew Luck. We've been looking to get this interview done for about seven years. He came into HQ actually Sunday morning and before we left for New Orleans, really, really great interview. Awesome to talk to him. He autographed our AFC finalist banner. He did, so very cool guy. I think everyone's gonna really enjoy it hot. Some people are saying hot.

We also called the emergency Brian Winhorse bat phone and got him on for 15 minutes to talk about the Luca trade to the Lakers, which shocked everyone. We're here in New Orleans. We're going to talk a little Super Bowl. We have a Monday reading for the people. Time capsule. It's a Monday time. Monday time. We do this every Monday before the Super Bowl. Yeah. And it's all brought to you by our friends at Draft Kings. This ain't the little itty bitty teeny tiny bowl. This is Super Bowl 59. Get in on the

action at DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of Super Bowl 59. Scoring touchdowns is key to hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy. And you have a shot to score big by betting on them at DraftKings Sportsbook. The number one place to bet touchdowns, ready to place your first bet. Try betting on something simple like a player to score six. Go to the DraftKings Sportsbook app, make your pick. New DraftKings customers can bet $5, get $200 in bonus bets instantly. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app, use code TAKE, that's code TAKE. For new customers, get $200 in bonus bets instantly.

When you bet just five bucks only on DraftKings Sportsbook, the crown is yours. on behalf of Boothill Casino and Resorting Kansas. 21 and over, age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. New customers only. Bonus beds expire 168 hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkng.co slash audio. Okay, let's go. I love guys who like football.

And guys who like football, they like me back. And I like them back. And even guys that don't like football, they like me back. And I like them back. And even guys who don't like football, they try to avoid me because I'm always trying to get them to like football. Football. Welcome to part of my take presented by DraftKings. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app. Use code TAKE. That's code TAKE. For new customers, get $200 in bonus bets instantly. When you bet just five bucks only on DraftKings Sportsbook, The crown is yours. Today is Monday, February 3rd, and welcome to Max Week.

Yeah. Duh, duh, duh. Not Max. Max, Max, Max, Max, Max, Max, Max, Max, Max, Max, Max. Oh yeah, there's a little football game going on too. It's like, it's mega. Think about it, instead of mega, it's just Max. We're taking the show to the max this week.

Yeah, it's Max Week. I don't know, I'm dialed. I'm dialed on the birds. I don't know, I don't know what you guys are trying to do. You're not the show to the Max this week. Yeah, it's Max week. I don't know. I'm dialed. I'm dialed on the birds. I don't know. I don't know what you guys are trying to do. You're not wearing any. You're wearing a dog. You're wearing a dog in your shirt right now. He's

wearing KC. Yeah, roll back. Roll back. But the real story is Luca got traded to the Lakers. Oh, I thought you were going to lead with Dwan Bonner signed with the fever. That too. Yeah. Big time stories everywhere. But yeah, Luca Donchich. Instant championship contenders. That is big time fever actually

building a bully. Yeah. Uh, Hank doesn't know because he's a misogynist. That's true. False. Luca Donchich traded to Lakers late Saturday night shocked the NBA world traded for Anthony Davis. So the official trade not listen, I'm not saying that it's max week, but the official trade was Luca Donchich, Maxie Kleber, Markieff Morris, and then the Mavericks receive Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and 2029 LA first round pick two maxes in the trade. And now Luca can't get the super max in suit. He can't get the super max. And then obviously the jazz also got in there

because Danny angels sniffing a trade and was like, I they traded Jalen hood Chafino 2025 Clippers second 2025 Maverick second I don't even know how the jazz get into it but it's not hyper hyperbole to say this is probably the most shocking trade in NBA history just because Lucas years old. He's one of the top five players in the NBA. He just took his team to the finals and he gets traded to the Lakers with no bidding whatsoever. Oh, there was a mystery team. There's a mystery team, which I think was added just to make a Nico what's his name? Nico Hollins. Uh, the what's it? What is his name? Ave's GM. Yeah. Nico Collins, Nico, Nico, uh, make him feel a little better. But it seems like they did this deal. Nico Harrison, a guy who screwed up the Steph Curry to Nike deal. Uh, it it's crazy because it feels like Luca could have gotten the maps could have gotten way more for Luca. and instead he goes to Lakers.

And now I don't even know what to like, it was a true what the fuck trade. Well, it's the chums actually had to say I'm not I have not been hacked. Yeah, this is serious. Yeah, let's kick it over to Magic Johnson who had a great reply. Okay, summed it up nicely. Luca Donchich will definitely make the Lakers a championship contending team. He'll take the pressure off LeBron because of his scoring ability and playmaking. It will make every Laker better. LeBron James will be a positive influence on Luca, teaching him his championship mentality that includes taking his conditioning seriously. I actually do believe in that part. Like that if what that's magic calling Luca fat. Well, I mean, Luca has been called fat. I mean, there was, there was a report that he's 270

pounds. I think it's discrimination against big boys that they're basically, they're trying to drag Luca through the mud, being like, the guy's just so fat he can't, we had to trade him. When in reality, you didn't have to trade him. It made no sense to trade him. I mean, Mark Cuban even, I know he's not

the owner of the Mavs anymore, but remember a few years ago when he said like, if you made me decide between my wife and Luca, I'll see you at the divorce proceedings. Yeah. I mean, like Lucas, crazy Lucas, everything you want. If you're a fan, if you're a fan of the Dallas Mavericks, that sucks because Luca, he got you to an NBA finals last year. Who cares if he's 270 pounds, if he's scoring 40 points every game in the playoffs, you need a guy like that to get there. You need, as big cat said,

you need a top five player in the NBA, The Celtics, we looked last year, they had Brown. You gotta have a superstar. Yeah, you have to. I mean, this is, it's shocking. I don't understand what the Mavericks were thinking. If you're a Mavs fan, I feel like so, so sad for you because you get a guy like Luka and he's gonna be part of your life for 15

years and you're like, we're always going to at least be competing because we have Luca Donchich and then he gets treated at 25 years old to the Lakers. I don't know how the Lakers keep getting away with it. I also, is there any chance that Jerry Jones was involved in this because Luca was, you know, the Cowboys have been so bad, New coach Lucas, the star in Dallas, get him out of town. I don't know, but I recall a trade that didn't go through way back in the day. Chris Paul, you remember that trade? And David Stern was like, no, I'm not going

to allow this for the good of the league. Uh, it feels like this is obviously 80s, a great player. He's very good defensively. He's like been all NBA first team defense, what like seven times. He's a hall fan. He's awesome. He's a top 15. So this is not, I'm not saying that it's something where the commissioner should step in and be like,

no, this trade can't happen. But if this trade happens and there's nobody else offering anything for it, if you don't put it out for bid across the league, it seems like you're maybe you owe something. Maybe you're in debt to the ownership of the Lakers. Maybe you need a favor from the Lakers at a later date and you're playing nice with them. Maybe the league needs the Lakers to be good and they're like, Lebron's getting old and we got to put a superstar in Los Angeles. Because I mean, that is the history of the

Los Angeles Lakers is they just go from superstar to superstar. I mean, magic, I mean, that is the history of the Los Angeles Lakers is they just go from superstar to superstar. I mean, magic. I mean, well, before even magic, Kareem, Will Chamberlain, magic, Kobe, Kwame Brown, Kwame Brown, Smush Parker, like all these guys. Steve Blake. And now they go LeBron, Anthony Davis, Toluca. It's crazy. It's crazy. It is. Um so I was looking at the Lakers roster earlier today. You've got Lebron. You've got Luca. You've got Austin Reeves. You've got Dalton Connect. Why are Hank and Max making eyes together? Celtics and Sixers are playing right now. So, the Sixers just blew a 20 point lead. Oh, no. Oh, no.

OK, keep going. OK, so the roster. Yeah, they were literally making like, fuck you guys. Well, no, no, I was trying to communicate the score of what is going on. Got it. OK, Max is locked in on the birds. Philly sports.

Got it. You've got LeBron, Luca. You've got Austin Reeves, Dalton Connect. How many balls are there in the NBA? How many balls? There's one on the court at any given time. Well, actually, there's two Lonzo Lamello. Yeah, when they're out there. Yeah, yeah. But there's one. So the Lakers, I guess they're just going to you can score your way to maybe a playoff series win. But I don't know. I feel like it's a great move long term for the Lakers. I don't know if they're going to be good this year, but the, the, uh,

they'll be good. I just don't know if they'll win the title to be made. There's more moves, but this is, it doesn't matter for like LeBron might not win another title. Lucas 25 and they just have him now. Like they're going to give him the max. He's going to stay in L. A. They're going to build a whole team around him. The food is healthier in L. A. So yeah, the yeah, the other is going to go to Arowan and be like, what the fuck is this? He's going to lose 10 pounds just looking at it. The conspiracies when you see what other players, all star players, all pro players, the

you know what the teams that traded them got back in return compared to what the maps got for Luca. That's where the conspiracy really, really gets hot because it's like Kevin Durant, they got a million picks. Yeah. Paul George, the thunder got a million picks. And we're going to talk to Wendy, but he, I mean like the Spurs have nine first round picks. I think you don't think the Spurs would have given up nine first round picks for Luca. I mean, he, yeah, yeah. Uh, what was Kevin? There was four first round picks and Mikhail bridges and Luca is younger than that. And like, it just makes no sense. I don't understand. They trade McHale

bridges for like three. I don't understand any of this. I, it was shocking. I feel like everyone's still in shock. The big loser in all of this is the Mavs fans. I actually think the Mavs might, I mean, Anthony Davis, like they'll, they'll be a good team, but it's the wind. Andy Davis is a very good player. He's 31 years old. Lucas 25. How bad do you think it must feel for Anthony Davis where you're like, I'm a, I'm an NBA champion, all pro like unbelievable player and everyone is just like, what a terrible trade. This is one of those situations where it's like, if you, if you, uh, like two people that, that cheat on their significant others

and then get together. It's like that relationship eventually is going to end up with them cheating again. Anthony Davis got traded to the Lakers when LeBron was like, we need help and we need to get everyone out of here. And then I'm not saying LeBron said it this time, but that's how he got there. No, LeBron was at dinner. He had no idea. He had no idea. No idea.

He found out just like the rest of us. Yes. Now, did you see the press conference that Jason Kidd did with Nico? No. That was awkward. Well, it was also awkward. The entire Mavs team sat out tonight.

They basically protested and they lost by a billion to the cat. It was very awkward. You had Nico sitting next to Jason Kidd, who looked like he was in a hostage tape. And Jason Kidd didn't know about it until the trade happened either. And then Nico was like,

yeah, you know, this might be one that we look back on. Maybe, you know, it could be the greatest thing that happened. It could be bad. And Jason kids just like, Jesus Christ, what is it? Did he like, something happened? Something has to have happened because otherwise it makes no sense. And it's, it can't just be Lucas fat. And obviously we had the clip of Nico after they won the Western conference last year, taking the beer out of Lucas hand. Maybe that's where the the rift started you never take a beer out of another man's hand But something had to have happened. It can't just be Lucas 270 pounds, but he's not bad Luca also twisted the knife

I feel really bad for math fans, but his statement where he was like, I love Dallas I thought I was gonna be here for my whole career and win a championship I'm sad it didn't happen like that. If you're a math fan and you read that like that, they were doing that. You see the math fans with the casket. They had a casket outside of American Airlines Arena. It's like he died. I mean, I don't know how you how do you get off the mat if you're a man said you just went to the finals with Luca. Yeah, he's a little pudgy. Yeah, he's a little out of shape. He's

25. I do think he's going to get in really good shape with LeBron. That's where it's like, if you treat him because he's fat, it's not that, that's a fixable thing. But he's also not. The thing is, he's not fat. He might be a little pudgy. He doesn't play defense. Yeah. Well, he's not in the best shape that he could be in. And that obviously you need him to be in better shape. But I do think that being around LeBron. He's in better shape than Zion. Well, that was the thing is Zion's gotta be like, I would imagine Zion was like watching this trade happen.

He's like, wait, they can trade you cause you're fat? Like this is gonna be bad. That was James Harden's entire strategy. Yeah, right. It's true. Yeah. Yeah, but he was just like, oh, I better, I better try to get in better shape.

Oh no, I'll get traded to the Lakers. Yeah, right. You guys are just saying what the score is. Oh no, I'll get traded to the Lakers. Yeah, right. What, you guys are, just tell me what the score is. That I wasn't even looking, that was Hank. You guys are not locked in. Max is not locked in. I'm locked in. No, Max is not locked in.

Max also isn't wearing any bird's gear. Why aren't you wearing any eagle's gear? It's a long week. It's Super Bowl week. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. We saw a woman with bird's gear. Question, do you have enough eagle have enough to wear for eight days? Yes, no, no in life in life.

Yes. So why would you just why would you just pack eight days worth of Eagles gear? I'm going Super Bowl week. I will wear Eagles gear every other every other day like every other day meaning you wear tomorrow then not Tuesday, then you'll wear it on Wednesday. No, I'll wear every day this week. Yes. There's another Eagles fan that walks by you. They don't know to say go birds.

Incorrect. I think they look at Max. I know I got to see his eye. Someone did it in the lobby today. Right when they as they were giving me shit about not wearing Eagles gear and that no one was going to say go birds, some guy walked by right away. I said, go birds. Go birds. I would be head to toe in commander's gear if we're in this game max head to do you basically were I've been thinking is closed on come on yeah yeah it is it's sad because I got here and I just looked at outside and I was like how awesome would this

week be if the commanders were in the game I would like our chances if we were playing this game I really would even after losing by a lot no no because the commanders were in the game. I would like our chances if we were playing this game. I really would. Even after losing by a lot? No, no, because if we are in this game, what if they had just been like, you know what? You guys are going to the like if all the if every eagle got arrested, if they shut down the team, there's still chances.

No, no. But if if we had beaten the yes, I would have I would have agreed if we had won. Oh, my God, I would love her. I would like your chances. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So anything else on Luca? I just it's baffling. Yeah, the Mavs. I need to I need I need Cuban unfiltered. That's what I really I don't know that I'm sure it released some type of statement, but I would love for him to just and people are blaming Cuban, which I like obviously he had nothing to do with it, but he did have something to do with it because he sold the team and Mark Cuban never in a million years would have traded Luca because he understands the NBA. And when you have a top five guy, you don't trade him when he's 25. That's all like wind horse and all the other, you know, guys on TV, the insiders are like,

I've never gotten reached out by this many GMs and you know, people within the league being like, this makes no sense. That's what, none of it makes sense to anyone except for Nico. There's gotta be some other stuff that happens. I feel like we're going to see the athletic is going to write a post-mortem on this trade in like two months. That's when you're going to get the real one where it's like, here's exactly everything. We'll probably hear something later on this week, but I don't think we're going to know the full story for a while.

And I don't think that this is done. Credit to the NBA. It's Super Bowl week. And all it took was the most bizarre trade of all time to get us to talk about the league. They are going to trash Luca this week. There's going to be a lot of, like I even saw some like, they don't know his injury might take him longer to get back. Who cares?

Yeah. He could have been out for this entire year. You still don't trade him. Oh, they were worried about giving him the super max. Who cares? It's crazy. Fourth of July. Kevin Durant Warriors was like the last time. Yeah, we're shocked and that was you know how shocking it is when you saw the actual players like Kevin Durant being shown on the sideline and him being like what? How is this? I just don't

understand the part that I can't get over like take out the fact that it's shocking. Luca got traded. Um, like the Mavs, I they'll be good, but only for a couple more years. I who knows what's gonna happen. The Mavs, everyone wants Luca. Why didn't you just say, Hey, Luca's available? Every team would have lined up to give everything for that. That's the part that makes you rate do the wind horse fingers. Right. It's like why, why this guy?

And then why don't you give every other team an opportunity to bring their best and final offer and then you get a fucking King's ransom because Luca even said he had no idea about this, which again, you're right. Like we're going to find out more in a couple of months, but the only way that it would this trade would make sense is if Luca said to them, hey, I'm never signing the super max here. All I want to do is go to the Lakers. And then he has to do whatever you can to get him Lakers. But I don't think even then your GM just you have all you have the leverage go fucking trade him somewhere. I don't think that would happen. What would player would be like, I don't want to sign the super max

players signed with shitty teams for super maxes all the time. Yeah. So Bradley Beale ended up in Phoenix. But the thing is with the GM in his statement that he put out afterwards He said like this is us getting ahead of what could be a Tumultuous summer as we decide whether or not to give him the supermax. He basically didn't want to have to make a hard decision It's not a hard decision. So he Yeah, like I Don't know Simon supermax put him on his MPEG. That's the easy decision. So he trades hard decision. Yeah, like, I don't know. Simon Supermax put him on his M pick. That's an easy decision. I don't get it. None of this makes sense to me.

I'll be baffled forever for this trade unless something crazy comes out. It's like Luca actually is going to retire and move back to Europe. What about the International League? Come on. What about the International League? What about it? What if I don't know? I saw super maxes. I feel this super max at home. I floated this on the plane. I don't know if that's what Max is bringing up that that they're starting to load it out. By the way, this might not be a full conspiracy theorist on might not be meant for the podcast. Since

Max brought it up, I was like, oh, what if LeBron, when he starts his international league, he gets the Saudi oil money in. And Luca knows that he's going to be able to get paid $500 million. Was this before or after that Hank said that we have, like, five years Max left to live? I thought there was.

Maybe that's why Nico did it. Is nothing sacred anymore? Maybe Max, maybe Nico is under the line of thinking of Hank where it's like... We're just joking around. Luca, we only have a five-year window on life. I'm just trying to like kill time. Luca being 25 means nothing. He's like, have you noticed that we don't talk about the bridge in Baltimore anymore?

Something's up. The dolphins? By the end of it, I had Hank. Dolphins is crazy. There's an underwater volcano that's going gonna go off and no one cares about it I think Hank fully believes that we're living in simulation You brought up the same. I know I got you deep into the simulation I didn't even know about the simulation till you brought it up

But now you think you're living in no you think you're living in one and you trying to indoctrinate me. Oh, wow. You're too real Yeah, you are too real. I was just trying to like have some light combo with the boys like about we're all gonna die. Yeah. Oh, while we're on the plane, let's talk about some plane. Actually, yeah. Memes being like, oh yeah, some British TikToker predicted that there would be a plane crash of of social media company. So that was social media couple. Yeah, couple. We're a couple. I'm just gonna enjoy all my time with you guys.

So the International Basketball League, that could be a thing. Worldwide Wobb said I will say this, something I've been made privy to this morning. The timing of the International Basketball League is not a coincidence. Oh, was I right? Worldwide Wobb. Source question. Answer Score. Oh, I was looking at Twitter. Answer. It's over. Saltzera 5.

Let's go. Minute 12. Stay locked in on the birds. Yeah, who cares? I want the Sixers to tank anyway. Other sports. Well, there was one other person that weighed in on this trade, Schefter.

Oh. Adam Schefter. And I think we have to discuss this with him at the combine. But he tweeted out an NFL equivalent, the Ravens trading Lamar Jackson plus to the Bengals in exchange for Joe burrow plus no, not even close. You don't you don't agree with that. First of all, I don't know. These are different. I told him that Lamar Jackson plus Joe Burrow plus who is who in that? That sounds like a streaming service. Yeah, like he's exchanging two different.

No, but in that there's no there's no A.D.s. The one that I saw that made sense for the NFL would be like after the Bengals went to the Super Bowl because they lost in the Super Bowl, like like the Mavs lost in the finals. It'd be like training Joe Burrow for like Dak Prescott. like the Mavs lost in the finals. It'd be like trading Joe Burrow for like Dak Prescott. You'd be like, why? Why would you do that? If Dak had won anything. Yeah, I guess if Dak had won.

Be like Matt Stafford. The bubble champion. Matt Stafford. Matt Stafford, but yeah, the bubble champ. Yeah, Matt Stafford would be a good one. Matt Stafford, yeah. But yeah, like trading Joe Burrow in his prime. Right before, like to someone who's also good,

but I guess, yeah, Matt Staff staffers more because DACA 17th rank quarterback, someone who's older. It's like, why would you do that? It makes no sense. But nice try shifter. But I like him getting involved. Yeah. And then everybody else was just putting trades in NFL terms all day. Do you think woge would have known about this? I think woge is just a woj vacuum where we were surprised because woj isn't with us. Here's what I like to imagine happened. I like to imagine that woj got the scoop. Yeah. And he had it first. He knew it for a week and he looked at his phone

and there was a moment where he thought to himself, I'm about to go back to the old me. Yeah. And then he smiled and he goes, Nope, I left that life behind a long time ago and put the phone away. Yeah. And just didn't log on for about 12 hours. He's beer man in the same Bonnie student section. He's like, No, this is the life I live now. Yeah. I'm here with my people. Yeah. Yeah. I like to think he knew he should have. He should have just tweeted being like I knew about this. Yeah. Just everyone just eyeballs. It was waiting for this to come out. Crazy story. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. That's right. They told me about this two months ago. Just give us the eyeballs next time you know something. You don't have to break it.

Yeah. He could do that for every single one. All right. Other national sports podcast news. Coach Cal going back to Kentucky, dropped his nuts on Kentucky. That sucked for Kentucky fans. I also, did you guys see there was like multiple people being like, don't boo him? Yeah, that sucked for Kentucky fans. I also, did you guys see there was like multiple people

being like, don't boo him? Yeah, that was a big conversation. Yeah, fucking boo him. Yeah, boo him. Boom. He wanted to leave, boom. You could celebrate him when time has passed and he's not coaching the SEC anymore.

There'll be a night where you can have Cal come back and celebrate the 2012 team and all that shit. You boo him when he comes back right now. Yeah, agreed. He's a league rival. Yeah. Boom him. Boo the fuck out of him. Chip Kelly's back in the NFL. Yeah. Raiders. Love that. Is he just going to bounce around? I kind of like this. Yeah, I think so. I don't know if one place can tie old Chip down. Yeah. But yeah, he had a great season at a while. His stock was at a high. It was at a premium.

It was. And so Pete Carroll, Chip Kelly, I do I like what they're building Las Vegas. I think I might. Yeah. Oh, I forgot this one. Stathole Sports our guy he did mention that Luca was 300 points away from breaking the all time Mavs record for points scored which is held by Michael Finley. Michael Finley is part of the front office. Oh, interesting. So maybe Michael Finley was like can't lose this stat. What breaking moves? Lucas actually 300 pounds. Sacramento is finalizing a trade to send the Aaron Fox to the San Antonio

Spurs in a multi team trade that moves Chicago Bulls Zackelbean to the Kings. Yeah, that's all right. They did it. All right. So De'Aaron Spurs, De'Aaron Fox on the Bulls would be fun. No, we want to lose. I feel like that's a great trade. Yeah, what are the spurs give up? Terms are not out yet. Okay, so it must be somebody really good. No, that's great. That's great for the Spurs.

I want to see Wimby in some actual serious like playoff time this year. Wait, so what is it? What else is in the trade? DeHaren Fox, the Spurs. So what are the bowls get? They even get a pick? Pick hat sweet right now is finally let's lose some games. No, it's the bowls get? They even get a pick? Pick-hut sweeper now is finally, let's lose some games. No, the bowls actually get it.

Lose, get picks, lose some more and more picks. That's, I mean, they shouldn't. Tired of being the 10 seed. Yeah. And losing the playing game. Bowls need to get mellow. Yeah, you want the balls together? And drafts.

The balls in Chicago would be electric. Yeah, Chicago balls. Glunny, Glunny's their coach. Alright, so, alright, that was good breaking moves. It doesn't hit like the Luca trade though. No. Nothing's gonna hit like the Luca trade. That wasn't where, like that was, I was in bed. Everyone remembers where they were. I was also in bed.

I was in bed and then I didn't sleep for like an hour and a half. Like I was ready to go to sleep one last check and then I was like, there's no way this is happening. And then I just couldn't sleep for. I was sleeping. I was so exhausted from the Taylor Mathis versus Jeff the News spaces that I had to go to bed.

I was sleeping and Stephen Chase Tweet broke with the news to me. What was Stephen Chase tweet again? It was so fucking dumb. And that's how I found out. And I was so pissed. A baby that was conceived during the Maverick Celtics finals would not yet be born.

And Luca is no longer on the Mavericks. What a stupid fucking tweet. I read it like four times. I was like, what does this mean? And then I finally read the quote tweet underneath and I was like, holy shit. It just means less than nine months happened. Yeah. All right. Uh, should we do who's back the week?

Yeah. Back the week. And it is a new sponsor alert. Hey, one hit it, hit it. Hey, go on a new sponsor alert sound. Get it. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. It is Truly Unruly. Truly Unruly is the first high ABV hard seltzer that actually tastes good.

Truly Unruly is a hard seltzer that breaks all the rules, drinks light, parties hard, with 8% ABV it hits hard, but still tastes amazing. Comes in four fresh flavors Tropical Twist, Berry Blast, Citrus Crush, Strawberry Smash. It's the official hard seltzer of Pardon My Take. Find Truly Unruly at a store near you or visit www.trulyhardseltzer.com. Thank you to the people at Truly, they love Pardon My

Take, we love them. We got some awesome stuff coming. We're going to get Unruly. Truly Unruly. Go check it out now. Like I said, four fresh flavors, Tropical Twist, Berry Blast, Citrus Crush, Strawberry Smash, and with 8% ABV, it hits hard but still tastes amazing. Find Truly Unruly at a store near you or visit www.trulyhardseltzer.com. We've got a lot of stuff coming with truly. So thank you truly loves us. So let's love them back all AWLs. Let's get let's get unruly truly unruly time. So thank you to truly. Alright, who's back of the week? Fantastic. Fantastic drinks for the golf course. Let's go. Yes, especially the Barry

blast. My favorite way to work golf into it. And my who's back league is Roy McElroy. Oh, yeah, you're smashing. Nice. What do you he won the AT&T pro him at Pearl Beach. Okay. I saw 27th one on tour. He nuked a drive like 340 yards and then hit a seven or 220. Yeah, easy, easy,

easy eagle. If I had that distance, I'd be so good. The bulls got no picks. All right. that's a good approach. Yeah, easy, easy, easy eagle. If I had that distance, I'd be so good. Uh the bulls got no picks Alright. Alright. but so Kevin Herter though. Kevin Herter. Red hair and he's a friend of ours. Yeah. ****

yeah. Herter injured. I knew they were they just they just they just got rid of Levine. They weren't going to get picks where I think we said this was like they're not they weren't going to get picks. So, they just we said this was Brazil like they're not they weren't gonna get picks. So there's offloaded Levine. Yes, but they're gonna get picks when they keep their pick by not finishing in the playing game. They're getting worse dating my tweet. Okay, no picks now but

picks coming I think. No, you got to get worse before you know picks now get real bad bad but picks when they lose you guys have caps please keep their picks well yeah because Zach Levine was taking up a lot the picks when they lose that's the plan balls in the future maybe picks in the future parentheses maybe okay uh Rory McIlroy. Golf doesn't start to the Masters. What are we doing? But this is a tune up for the Masters.

This might be his year. This is the Masters tune up. Oh, his year to what? Blow it and finish second. No, this is the year he might turn around. You think so? Kind of after after this weekend. I like Jake Knapp. He's great swing.

A long shot. A little younger, but yeah. Yeah. 20,000 to one. Okay. I like Max Homa. Say to smash smash. We get super Max. We super actually birds we Yeah. birds week Max week. Okay, 50. Who's truly is really good. Do people call him truly in Edelman's? I think I might shut crack. Yeah, that's me. Well, there's truly that'll know. I like that. I feel like that's got legs. Yeah. But who's back the week is Six Nations rugby rugby. Oh, you guys are just so on brand. Yeah.

Listen, if you can't get up for Six Nations rugby, there's something wrong with you. Check your ticker is great. What you don't like Six Nations. It's great. Well, you don't like six nations. What was this? Well, I forget what day it was. It Thursday. We're in the cave or maybe Friday, Friday and Saturday morning. Can you turn on some six nations? You just like what?

Yeah. Well, he's going to start watching. It's incredible. England, Ireland had a great match on Saturday morning. It's a perfect thing to watch on Saturday morning when there's nothing else. If you don't want to watch soccer sevens. No, no, it's full 15.

Yeah. So it's 80 minute games, actual starting national teams for all these countries. And they just beat the fuck out of each other. It's incredible to watch. Are we in it? No, we're not one of the six nations. Oh, it's like the four Aces. I probably can't name all of them. Italy, Wales, England. That's like one. Ireland.

No, these are the six nations. France. And then who's who's the six nation? Australia. All blacks. I was watching some Jordan. I think six nations. He was he's a problem. He was a issue on the pitch. Is it what they call it the pitch? Yeah, the pitch football. That is I mean, Jordan, Scotland, Jordan, my scotland six nations so we're gonna win uh we're not gonna lose we're gonna finish second like rory no we're not in it the u.s oh okay yeah so we're not gonna lose we're not gonna lose that's a guaranteed um all right my who's back of the week is kanya west uh the grammys were tonight he had his uh wife fully naked. Hot. Not fully.

I guess she had a sheer. A sheer. She was wearing a sheer. Also wasn't invited. Wasn't invited. Hot. Oh really? No. That's all I say. I kicked out on a court of him not being invited. Not the nakedness. So I assume when you read the tweets, like, Oh, he's getting removed from the Grammys because of nakedness. I was like, no Yeah, I also think my general rule is if you're not invited somewhere don't show up naked

Yeah But I also think that should be a rule if you're as hot as his wife You should be allowed to be naked. It's not a problem. He also people should be like Hot people should be able to get naked He kind of got cocks by Luca trade too because he was doing his like once a year random like Twitter pop in where he just tweets a million things. Yes. So and that probably would have been what people were talking about this morning. Like, Oh, did you see Connie's crazy tweets and nope. So he tweeted, uh, he tweeted Kamala seems like a very nice human. I just want to say sorry to her kids. And I was like, Oh, that's weird. And then, uh, I didn't realize that he had,

it was because he had just deleted a tweet that said I used to want to fuck Kamala until she lost I don't fuck losers anymore and he spelled losers with two O's. I also like I always said anymore that it like yeah he recently was fucking loser yeah like Kim Kardashian she's a loser and then also my who's back is the world rumble. So it happened. Uh, J U so one very popular with fans, but huge surprise. He, he won Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins were both eliminated by CM Punk. I'm just reading Brandon's text to me. A speed was eliminated by Logan Paul speed took that hit stream. Yes. Uh, I show speed was speared by Bron breaker. Bron is Rick Steiner son, Cody beat Kevin Owens in a ladder match.

The John's last match ever. What? I thought I saw that. Oh, no. He's not a retirement year. His last rose. Yeah. So, yeah, that that happened. I mean, the spear was awesome. It was. I show speed like needs. That was legit. He took a big time bump. Mm hmm. Max Hoosier, who's back the week? I normally don't be balls back the week. Arsenal.

What I was excited about an arsenal. What happened when they beat Man City? Five on. Yep. I was going to say for one quite a result. I've been for one quite a result. Quite a result for the for the footy. Who's bad result for man you today. Bad result.

Yeah, they get relegated. No, but they're like getting towards the bottom of the league. It just be very funny if man, you got relegated. I'll be I'll be the funding for that. Yeah, that would be me as a fan of the footy. Yeah rooting for that. Max, you're out of your walking boot. Yeah, but it'll be back on during the Super Bowl. Oh, okay. I have it with me. If

anyone missed Max's performance in the case race, go watch it. Because he was laying the boom. I was giving out some bumps laying the boom. I was Jordan. That was not a coke reference. That was like an actual wrestling the boo. Yeah. Did you have any athletes reach out to you? Colin Gillespie. Yeah. Nice. That was awesome. Huge. No. Any others? Colin, Colin. Oh, I think Colin Gillespie. Yeah, that is weird that there's two guys. Colin Gillespie. Yeah. Nova legend. And what do you say animal? Exclamation point. Oh nice nice

Okay, let's get to our interview with Andrew Luck then we're gonna talk to Brian Winnhorst then we have a very special Monday reading and we're also gonna get a prediction from Max on the Super Bowl score which we're gonna do every single show this week we get to Andrew Luck, he's brought to you by Mountain Dew. You can add a blast for refreshing tropical lime flavor to your game day with Mountain Dew Baja blast Mountain Dew Baja blast. It's always been part of my game day ritual. You hear that sound? That's the sound of a mountain big catches opened up a mountain into the mic. Hey, crank one. Cranky do that is the best the boys are cranking

dues. Oh my gosh. I like cranking to do right at halftime gives you energy for the second half. Put your fours up on fourth quarter hits. Mountain Dew is the absolute best and the tropical lime flavor of Mountain Dew Baja blast is as refreshing as hitting a game winning kick. It's as refreshing as your team winning in the playoffs. It says refreshing as the Super Bowl. Can't wait. Big game this week. We're down in NOLA and we're drinking some Mountain Dew Baja Blast. Ride the Baja wave on game day. Grab Mountain Dew Baja Blast

for you and your crew wherever refreshing beverages are sold. And now here's Andrew Luck. Okay. We now welcome on a very, very, very, very, very special guest. This is a long time coming. It is Andrew Luck in studio. It is so long time coming, Andrew. I don't even know if you realize this, but your good friend and our good friend Sam Schwartstein is here. He's been working on it for probably six or seven years, but there was a moment where this podcast was going to read a book just to try to get you on this show. Do you know how hard that is for us to read a book? And we were willing to do it to try to get into your book club to have you come be a guest. So we've been waiting

a long time for this. That's amazing to know. I do think you can do it. I don't know. I know I know you can But that's like just to put it in perspective the our listeners we've been doing this for nine years or nodding along being like Holy shit, that's like when they're like, oh, do you pay for guests? No, we don't pay for guests, but we did almost read a book for Andrew Look, we tried to read the book. We bought boys in the boat I think that was book one of your book clubs. And we got through the first page, and we were like, this isn't for us.

Then we had Blake Bortles on the show, a good friend of ours. And so we said, you know what? Instead of doing a book club, let's just do the Blake Bortles Wikipedia Club, where every time he's on the show, he'll pick a different topic. We'll all read that Wikipedia page,

and then we'll discuss. Did it lead to a substantial discussion about new topics? Yeah, there were. There were a couple new topics. I'm trying to remember what we went over topics and yeah, there were yeah, there are a couple new topics I remember what we I mean the big one was that Blake learned that snow is wet He had not realized it being from Florida from do Oh man, we well, all right, let's you know, let's start things I have a million questions

But when you see introductory press conference from a coach knowing that you've lived it Are you like should we as stupid fans judge this or is it like this is all just the same shit. You have to. Liam Cohen doing the do not want. Oh you didn't. I don't have heavy Internet. Okay. Or access. Honestly everybody needs a friend like Sam. Yeah. For many many reasons including I know about you guys because he will send me text messages back in the day of big cat soccer takes. Yeah, they're bad. How I know. Yeah, they were always bad. No, they were great. We do think Yeah, you got to give me

contact. Yeah, we'll skip that. Well, I the phone thing. Do you still have a flip phone? No, when my daughter was born, I realized I needed pictures. Yes, deep, primal need to take pictures of my daughter and share pictures of my daughter was born, I realized I needed pictures. It was a deep, primal need to take pictures of my daughter and share pictures of my daughter. And now daughters. And receive pictures of my daughter. How long did you, I mean that flip phone thing,

that was real. You were just like, I don't wanna be attached to the internet. I don't wanna have people be able to text me all the time and call me all the time. I want a flip phone. Yeah, it was real. I'll be honest, I don't think I thought too much about it.

I had in high school and I did not feel the need to upgrade per se and I still am happy I didn't upgrade until when I upgraded and there's still a massive part of me that wants to go back. But having a real job and like look at me now, I got two phones baby, two iPhones, two computers. So you're texting like nonstop now? I'm trying not to. Yeah,, but what you got to it's like

Yeah, you are on call with your real job. You are the GM of Stanford. Yeah, is that fair to say? Is that the official title? It's absolutely fair. Yeah, so how is that? What is your day to day like the day today's is a lot We we hopped in during the transfer portal When I say we I mean the assistant GM as well, also named Sam, different Sam than that Sam. Also Stanford grad, a great guy. But we hopped in during the transfer portal. And the day to day during a transfer portal was a lot different than the day to day now

of like, okay, the roster, there's some solidity around it. We obviously prepared for another portal in April. But different focus now. Feels a little bit like a nine to five job, not like, oh my gosh, I've gotta call this parent up of a 20 year old wide receiver from university XYZ and discuss many things about why Stanford makes sense for him.

So it's been a lot, it's been like drinking from a fire hose in many ways, but I love the school, love the university, and we're on the right path. Were you watching tape of some of the transfer portal class? The system that we had, I inserted myself of watching the quarterbacks, because I felt like that's, yeah, like I had to,

like I played quarterback. Obviously that is where my expertise is, and I'd watch a little bit else, but no, I trust our folks, our guys and gals, to go through the process and make sure we're getting out there with kids that can play ball and handle the academic rigor. So let's just say me and Big Cat are five-star recruits.

Both play quarterback. What's your pitch to us? Because we're also getting offers from Miami, LSU, Ohio State, James Madison, all the big dogs, University of Texas. Wisconsin. And then you want Stanford to be in that. You want us to be Stanford football players.

All right, there's a couple things. One, John Elway, Jim Plunkett, myself, Kevin Hogan. Incredible history. Our head coach, quarterback. When I went to Stanford, head coach was a quarterback, Jim Harbaugh, you guys' best friend, I understand that. Yes. Awesome.

Two, we are competitive in the NIL world. And the Stanford decision both is NIL here and now, and then I think in many ways OG NIL, of like you're gonna be connected to the best network in the world in whatever industry you want to you want to go in This place produces leaders at a scale that no other place in the world Does and Stanford is special in that way and you're gonna have a long NFL career You're gonna crush it in college

You're gonna go to bowl games gonna do all that all that fun stuff and then at some point, you know You're gonna have to transition to be a podcast host and a, you know, running a multi-billion dollar media conglomerate and you're going to want to know Stanford people to help you get there. Okay, question. That was a really good speech and we're very interested in Stanford. If we attend Stanford, will we have to read a book? Yeah, baby. Okay, we're out. My condition is I just want, I want to have a phone call with Tiger Woods. Oh, can right, so we're out. We're out. Aw. My condition is I just want,

I wanna have a phone call with Tiger Woods. Oh. Can you make that happen? Absolutely. Oh. Okay, that's a good call. Tiger was an honorary captain for us twice while I played. I think he's been honorary captain a few times.

There's a great story. We lost both of those games though, so I got like a bone to pick with Tiger about that. But it's a great story about Tiger that David Shaw, our old head coach used to say, and he was our coordinator earlier in my career at Stanford, where David played for Stanford, so they got back at like two or three a.m. after like Corvallis or somewhere,

played a game in the weekend, and it was raining, and it doesn't off rain up in Palo Alto and on campus, although it is raining today, I think. When they get back, it's like two or three a.m., they're riding their bikes back to the dorms, and there's a guy standing in the grass in the courtyard between the dormitories with some type of club

whacking the ground. People are like, who is that? What's going on? So Coach Shaw walks over and it's like, Tiger, what are you doing? He's like, it doesn't rain enough here. I need to practice in the rain. That's perfect. I love that. Committed to it. Did you, when David Shaw was your head coach, were you ever like, Hey,

maybe we don't punt every time. No. Okay. All right. That's just a gambling thing where I he's, he has punted in like, I think probably in the the on the like plus 35 I think I've seen him punt before he likes to punt. I he's not punted on the plus. Yeah, I believe so against Northwestern I'm pretty sure I'm pretty sure I could find him punting. Okay, the internet will tell all right. I'll find I'm gonna find Worst punts. I mean I have a he liked to punt he liked to punt there was times when he liked to punt Alright, so how are you feeling physically? Are you or do you feel are you still have any nagging injuries or you feel good?

I feel great. I'm I am grateful for my body's that I can do the thing I can ski with my kids and ski with my dad and ski with my friends. I can go surf I can fly fish I can hike I can camp I can I can fly fish. I can hike. I can camp. I can, um, I can try to play old man pickup basketball, but that's hard. Like you gotta be in shape. Yeah. And I'm not in shape enough to do that. Yeah. Just find somebody that's equally in bad shape and you say, Hey, let's just not run. I'll defend you. You defend me. We're not going to say any picks. We'll hang out at three point line. Yeah. That's a good way. But you don't often get to just do that though. Yeah.

You know, sometimes you actually have to play defense and box out. Yeah. Yeah, that's true. I don't like that. Every time I play basketball, if I just get through without an injury, I'm like, that's a good day. It's a win.

That's a great day playing basketball. That's a big win. And it's fun to play pickup hoops. Like it. Yeah. Genuinely fun. Yeah. It's good to just get a sweat going. That is.

Get a sweat going, not get injured. That's a successful workout for me. Your coach at Stanford, Jim Harbaugh, great friend of ours, we all know he's a special guy. He's a very different guy. When was the first time that you realized that, hey, Jim Harbaugh is wired a little bit differently from everybody else? That's a good question.

Good question. Thank you. Great question. Great question. Thank you. Great question. Great question. Fantastic question. He certainly has a charisma and an energy that comes off of him that is authentic. And it's part of what I think drew a lot of us recruiting wise to Stanford at that moment.

He was hired after a one-on-eleven season in some down years. And so to go there around that time, I think you took a leap of faith. I certainly took a leap of faith. But I think the 17-year-old Andrew, myself, realized that he was gonna get the most out of me as a quarterback, that it was gonna be hard and challenging.

But that's, I think, what I wanted. And I think what a lot of the guys who went to Stanford wanted was gonna be hard and challenging, but that's, I think, what I wanted, and I think what a lot of the guys who went to Stanford wanted was to be pushed and to get, to become the best version of football player they could be under him. Trying to think of specific moments. I do remember sitting in his office with my father. Like, my dad took me for spring break out to the West Coast

to do like unofficial visits or whatever, and then go ski in Tahoe, which was an awesome father-son trip, and go to and then go ski in Tahoe, which was an awesome father-son trip and go to a San Jose earthquakes game, which was super fun too. I remember sitting in his office and we were sitting there during construction and Jim was like, ah, don't mind the construction,

they're building me a bathroom. We're trimming fat, we're cutting drag, really efficient. I thought, yeah, this guy's thinking about efficiency on football, so he can have his own bathroom. And his bathroom's a little bit controversial. I think there's a great Pete Carroll quote about it where he's like, well, we at USC walk down the hall like everybody else do.

The rivalry rocks. Just wasted energy. Yeah, yep, cut and drag, trimming the fat. And that was how the experience for playing him was like. I mean, you were cupped on your toes, there was like. I mean, you were kept on your toes, there was a lot of energy, you were pushed. Pushed hard, it was challenging. Football's not an easy game.

It's not easy to be a good team, it's not easy to develop players, and he certainly pushed us and challenged us. Yeah, yeah, I mean, he is a great coach, and you see it even with the Chargers this year. They're in a rebuilding year, and they went to the playoffs, and his culture. You just see it in the post game and how much everyone buys in. Was that immediate when you got to Stanford and you're like,

okay, this is like everyone's bought into what he's selling and you can feel it in the locker room and you can feel it in training camp. That's a good question. I think. Thank you. I'm gonna stop saying good question. Yeah, we're going to do that. Is this a bit,'re gonna do that every single time. If you say good question then we all compliment. But it's a very effective technique in terms of like if you get asked a question then you say good question it gives you like five seconds. Yeah. About what your answer is gonna be. And then we just compliment each other. I'm hedging for time. Yeah yeah. I forgot the question. Yeah it was such a good question. Like in terms of

culture, when you when you get when you get to Stanford, and you're watching how he deals with the team, and how he coaches the team was an immediate where you're like, okay, this is the I made the right choice. And what he's doing and what he's building here is going to be special. Yeah, I didn't doubt that for a second. And the staff was awesome. I mean, Coach Shaw, Willie Taggart, I mean, we were around an amazing staff,

our strength coach, Shannon Turley. But I also think, as an 18-year-old, part of me, I think once you get there, you're just like, I just wanna do everything right and be a good teammate and be a player. And I wasn't thinking too big picture about it. And I certainly didn't go in, I decided to go to Stanford,

so why would I go in and doubt what this was all about? So I don't think I was thinking too much sort of at the meta level about it. And then, I think the proof does have to be in the pudding on things. I think while we read short of my freshman year, we won more games than the previous year. So you can point to that as proof of progress.

And then, and then I think we, we understood that this was gonna work and it, and it sorta did. And also like, I got to play around there. There's some really incredible football players. Like last, last night we had, Sam and I had a dinner with Jim Dre, the tight ends coach for the Chicago Bears.

He was one of the older guys in the locker room. And get, when we came there, he was an incredibly for the Chicago Bears. He was one of the older guys in the locker room. When we came there, he was an incredibly tough dude. He tore everything in his knee on punt before he got there and walked himself unaided across the field to get off, right? And then comes back and he's a second, I think he ended his career at Stanford,

a second team all conference, Pac-10 at the time, RIP, with 17 catches. Like what tight end gets a second team all conference pack, pack 10 at the time, RIP with 17 catches. Right. Like what tight end gets a second team all conference. Right. But he was tough. He blocked. He did everything right. So we played with a bunch of good players, um, and had a lot of fun and bought in. Yeah. Did they call the big guns when they were recruiting you and they, did they have Stanford Steve give you a call? No, I didn't talk to Stanford Steve till I made it. Okay. Yeah. Then he gave me the time of day. Yeah, then he was

By the way Fourth and five from the Northwestern 37. Okay punt. Is that plus 35? I'm just saying punt It's plus 30 plus 37. I mean, that's a putt That's a crazy punt with Christian McCaffrey 10-3 game second half fourth and five on the Northwestern 37 It's I remember these things that is impressive. I'm winning as coach all time and Stanford football doesn't matter to Rose for me. It's like I'll just if I ever meet him I'm just like why'd you punt on on the 37 and 20 15 against Northwestern. That game was here. Yeah it was. And it was I just I'm pretty sure I bet Stanford because I was like oh there's no chance that you know Northwestern. That game was here. Yeah, it was. And it was, I just, I, I'm pretty sure I bet Stanford cause I was like, Oh, there's no chance that, you know, Northwestern

is going to beat Stanford. And then he punted on the 37 and I was mad for life. I'm so uncomfortable. You talk about betting on Stanford right now. You guys were good. No more. What about the, what about the bowl game against Oklahoma state? When you guys, did you guys, you ran the same run play? Was it 13 times in a row? row Was that the was that it? No, no game versus Oklahoma. So who was it? I need to check the archives What Sam just against SC USC Sam just said that you punted what 30? You'll only put it 34 times when you're the quarterback. Okay. Well, you were a little different than yeah I mean you you don't have to have your teams punt that much So, uh, alright, so the punt can be an incredibly effective from the 37

like I got to play with Pat and Indy and he had an all-pro year as a punter and it like When you're pinning guys in the 10 and the five. Oh, this is a touchback by the way. That's 17 yard punt So there you go. Next topic. Walked right into that one. I do love the fact that you enjoy a good punt. Jim Trestle, he loves the punt.

He's a good sweater vest too. Yeah, he's the biggest fan. It's the only play in football where it changes possession. Like designed. By design. By design. So what was the hardest thing that you had to do at Sanford You said that it was like you want to challenge yourself you get there and you're like, oh, this is this is really hard playing competitive

College football. What was the hardest thing that stood out and you're like, okay, this isn't this isn't high school anymore We had tough practices now as a quarterback practice football practice is fun. I think as a lineman football practice isn't fun Yeah, right So like we used to like freshman year, red-shirting, and maybe red-shirting's not in vogue anymore, and I'm not sure why. I think one of Coach Taylor's, our head coach's, quotes that we were talking recently,

he was like, Andrew, not all experience is good experience. You can go out early in football and be damaged in a sense, in experience. But red-shirting, we used to have these Wednesdays of just like grinder, full padded, scout team. You know, we were running the scout team. I maintain we may have had one of the better scout teams ever in the history of college football,

like David DeCastro, John Martin, Sam was center. Griff Whalen, Chris Owusu would come down and play. Like he was an all-American kick returner, fast and credible, it was awesome. But these would be like 30 play periods of full pads against the, and we called it the Death March, and we would just sort of hum the Star Wars, whatever it is, you know, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum,

the whole time. But they, you know, we survived those and I think we proved our mettle to each other and I think, you know, that sort of helped us build this mythology that we are a tough team. You know, even when we're redshirting, we're like, we're doing 30 plays in a row of run to get our guys ready.

So that was fun. And balancing school and sports is hard. I mean, it is hard. Like we do read books and go to class and turn in our work and do all the little things right. And so while it's, you've gotta go earn it. And I certainly believe that about Stanford. I also think that's why Stanford's so special for me

and why I believe in it. And that like, you know, the hard things genuinely have value to them. And stuff that's given to you for free or for nothing is cheap at the end of the day. And there's nothing sort of cheap about the Stanford experience. What was it like being, for two years straight,

everyone being like he's the number one pick, he's generational talent? Because I always find that to be interesting to have that kind of pressure on a college kid When we've seen it a couple times where like a guy stays and everyone just is like hey They're talking about him And then what ends up happening is you kind of get picked apart a little bit because it's two straight years of being the number One pick and you're like hey, this is kind of crazy just because I stayed you're gonna pick me apart now

Was that did you feel that pressure of everyone talking you about about you like that bad question? Okay? Was that did you feel that pressure of everyone talking you about about you like that bad question? Okay? Look like I think Did my friends talk about that no, you're all good my teammates talk about it no not at all Like did my girlfriend who's not my wife talk about that not at all that You have friends on campus professors. No, and I had a flip phone and I wasn't scrolling through whatever it was at the time. So I think I was aware of the pressure. I also knew I'd earned, but part of it was like I'd earned,

I was aware also of how good I was at football. So like, okay, cool, people think I'm the number one pick. Yeah, I understand why, I'm probably the best player. Right. Like it wasn't- That's gotta be a cool feeling. It wasn't like, yeah, it was okay. And I don't mean that in like, like yeah, my ego liked it for sure,

but it was also like, I don't know, when you know, you know. Right. It's like earned confidence. Yeah. Right. And I knew that we, and I was on a team that earned all of that confidence. Right. Like it was not bravado I think it was more of a level of self-awareness that like okay

Yeah, I get it cool like I wasn't surrounding myself with it in a day like it wasn't a slow drip into my brain right of Go out your number one your number Whatever that's a very healthy way to deal with it because I don't know how I don't know a lot of 2021 year olds that would be able to deal with it that way having the whole world talk about you that way for two plus Years of hey, you're the number one pick whole world though. Yeah, there's a lot of no all that don't care about Yeah, we don't care about those people they don't listen to the show Why do you get out of bed in the morning? We don't care about those people. They don't listen to the show. They don't exist. Why do you get out of bed in the morning

if you're not doing your mock drafts? The whole world that I care about is what I should have said. Thanks, big cat. So as you go through that process, you're interviewing, you know, all the teams are bringing you in, they're talking to you. Actually, our colleague, John Gruden, said that you blew him away on the whiteboard. I have some questions from Coach Gruden. Yeah, so Coach Gruden fell in love with you immediately

I'm assuming that you talked to a lot of teams that were not ever going to be in a position to draft you But how did those interviews go with teams that just kind of wanted to I'll be honest I didn't talk to teams that weren't in a position to draft me not know like I think they didn't want to waste their time Right waste mine like I should say like the 49er staff was all my old Stanford staff By and large. So of course to talk to them and hang out and chat, like when at the combine and show up, I wanted to get that experience and go to the room

where everybody's sitting there and grab them. Like, you know, that was cool. But like, I only really spoke with Indianapolis and Washington. Yeah. Yeah. So, and again, like I think I knew, you know, and Indy did make it somewhat clear eventually that like, yeah, and, and again, like I think I knew, you know, and, and Indy did make it

somewhat clear eventually that like, yeah, we'd like to pick you. Yeah. Yeah. And just having the horseshoe and luck next to it. Oh yeah. I felt like it was destiny at that point. It's just, yeah. Do you want your Gruden questions right now? Sure. Okay. Um, what the first one he's, he said you have the greatest snap count in history. So he wants you to do the snap count. You got to get them to do snap. Let's greatest snap count in history so he wants you to do the snap count. You got to get him to do snap count. Let's talk snap count for a sec because this is like such a niche part of playing quarterback that I worry so much with this whole like clap thing. And I think there's value to the clap, et cetera, et cetera. But I think Pat Mahomes is incredible at it. I bet if your stats, if your analytics team,

I saw the whole analytics quarter. Have you seen our analytics team? It's these three guys. Big analytics team. How many PhDs between the two of them? They're just going to Google it. And they'll probably Google it incorrectly. But I bet if you look at how many offsides he's drawn over his career since starting, I bet it's going to be probably the highest ever. It's because of rough cheat. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know

anything about that Rogers. But and then Rogers. Yeah. So those two I really enjoyed. Certainly Aaron because he was older. I grew up watching and I remember you know all the free plays I feel like he would just hit a touchdown eight every other game to Jordy Nelson on a free play that was busting to throw it up a Randall Cobb like it was awesome, or James Jones. And then when I got to Stanford, Jim Harbaugh would do a lesson for us. He's like, you gotta have a voice to play quarterback.

You gotta have a voice. You gotta have a sense. It's gotta be gravelly. It's gotta cut through. It's gotta cut through everybody. You gotta cut, gotta cut. And so he wanted us to have, ah, and not like ready. It had to have, ah. Like it had to cut not like ready, it had to have,

it had to cut, you know, it had to go. So I embraced it. I think part of what I loved about playing quarterback, what there's all these little things that you actually can work on. And working on a snap count was something that was fun and enjoyable. And then, and we didn't draw a bunch of people off sides

at Stanford, not at all, but we were doing like double counts and long counts because we actually had play calls that where we killed and alerted things and needed to see what the defense was doing. So I was, I feel very fortunate I was taught how to play quarterback while I was there. Right.

Jim Harbaugh, David Shaw, the way Greg Roman taught run game to me, it was a gift. Right, I think I got to one, it was awesome. That's what the identity of our team in many ways was this very physical, tough, smart run game. And also when I got to the NFL, I felt like I'd been prepared to handle a run game. And if you can't operate a run game in the NFL,

there's only so far your team's gonna go. I think I truly believe that And then yeah snap down once you got to the NFL though Bruce Arians was would dog my snap count the first mini camp Cuz I would sit there and go you know you go like so go To draw it out because I was thinking, I was like, oh, fuck, this is overwhelming. That play in NFL defense. And you're like, wait, wait, wait. BA and his voice, which I can't do a great impression of, who was amazing as well and worth probably a podcast series on him as a coach.

Yeah. Yeah. He had some very nice things to say about you too. Yeah, we've had a lot of couple times. I have very nice things to say about CA as well. So we asked Bruce Arians if you were to take all the quarterbacks you've ever coached, because he's coached so many great quarterbacks. And if you were to piece them together by body part, by brain, okay, whose legs are you putting on here? Who's right arm? Whose brain? Whose heart?

Whose hips are you taking? He goes, I'm going to stop you. It's just all one person. And the answer is Andrew Locke. Yeah. For everything. It's very kind. So so he thought that you were you were the best quarterback at everything that he'd ever coached But I'm sure that there was something like when he when he was working with you that you guys just clicked immediately and kind of got Each other. He was awesome He was he taught football and looked at football in such a different way and like he he treated he coached everybody hard and like Hard and it was and I and I appreciated that so much. And then he'd, you know, he'd cuss you out, or like, you know, whatever, very colorful.

Like an odd mixture of like East Coast and Southern accent, I don't know quite where it lands, like real pirate-filled language. And like he'd tell Bear Bryant stories, like, oh my God, he coached under Bear Bryant at some point. That's neat. But with the snap count, he was like, Andrew, what are you doing?

Speed it up, we gotta go. And this was part of his thing. Bruce, he didn't care about time of possession. He cared how many points per, he wanted a point a minute. If we couldn't get a point a minute, what's the point of holding on to the ball? What does it matter?

He was awesome. And then I realized in snap, like, so I'm gonna go back to the snap that's related to Bruce. Bruce was really fun to play with, I had him for a year, and it was an incredible year too, because Coach Pagano got sick with leukemia, and Bruce took over, and I was certainly very focused on playing quarterback, because you have to be,

it's too overwhelming of a position to think about much else requires, but like it wasn't only honestly till I retired and looked back like, oh my God, like coach Pagano was going through, like he was in a cancer ward, five blocks from the stadium. Like that's scary. That's nuts.

And so BA like guided that ship and then certainly got the opportunity head coach and have this amazing success as us we're super stoked for but with snap counts because we got to go back to snap counts it's important you have the best ever greatest snap count in history but our lot I started to really like Anthony Costanza, like left tackles, like there's, I think there's like two personalities that play left tackle, either you're completely type B and just like chill,

or you are as neurotic as neurotic can be. And just like so focused on everything to help give you an advantage. Cause it is a tough position to play. I mean, really, really, really tough. And so I realized that Anthony and I started having these conversations about how to help each other, how to help each other, and realized snap count was needed. Yeah.

To absolutely, you know, and it's obviously, there's self-preservation as part of that, but we, you know, yeah, I realized like, when you're under center, you know, on the hut, if you're doing a hard count, you need to flex your bottom hand to make it look like the ball is about to come. So if you had a three-ticker in nose

who got the jump on hand, like you use that, you had to marry snap counts and words from previous. And I wasn't, you know, this was a thing, this was an iterative process, so I was certainly better at it at the end of my career than not, but snap counts. I hope football doesn't lose snap counts because they're too good.

Yeah. You trying to get me and big cat to jump Yeah So there's a couple different ways but like the biggest way is this everybody knows, you know, hut is like the word to go Yeah, so I preferred the hot hot hot rhythm As opposed to the hot hot rhythm, right? So so when on one would be like so go Color number color number hut, you know, so go green 80 green be like, so go, color number, color number, hut.

So go, green 80, green 80 hut. And that's the ball snap. And so then a hard count, the one I preferred, the one I settled on, the one I'd consider as part of my like, it's my baby. And I'd be curious if other coaches or other quarterbacks think about this was like, so go, green 90, green 90, hot, hot, hot.

I jumped, I jumped, that was awesome. I don't think you can do that enough. Yeah, I mean it's your baby. Yeah, I'm just gonna start, I'm just gonna go walk to the airport, I'm gonna walk through Midway today. Thinking about that all day. That's great.

I'm gonna be like, got you to move. Yeah, Great question. My great. All right. So here's the other question. This one's not as nice. He said, I thought he had the ugliest beard in the history of quarterbacks and I studied this carefully. It's a weird question. I studied this carefully because I actually believe John grew to not study anything. Yeah, right. I believe that he literally had like a big board of all the beards and was like Yeah, I believe I believe in second chances. I believe I deserve a second. It looks good now Yeah, yeah, I think we're in the same. Yeah, I can't grow as well a good of a mustache

Yeah, but it does get long when it gets long. It gets a little unkempt. Oh, it definitely was on camp Yeah, what time when you play quarterback do you have to shave though? Yeah, I'm you got to cut drag You got it from the fat. You got to focus on what's important. My beard was not important So you you had you had that I read that incredible article in 2022 about you and like post football and everything in the decision And and you had that quote of like you don't have time for basically anything else If you're a quarterback in the NFL and that one quote I can't remember who said it to you like if you're a quarterback in the NFL. And that one quote, I can't remember who said it to you. Like if you're a quarterback in the NFL, you have to think of yourself as God's gift. Otherwise the crew, the doubt creeps in and that's gotta be a weird feeling

to have to hold yourself to that and be like, I have to control everything and only think about this one thing. Not exactly healthy. I would imagine. Yeah. And I think this is an idea that I would certainly love to keep flushing out and talk to others about. Yeah, I think this is an idea that I would certainly love to keep fleshing out and talk to others about. Yeah. I think it is fascinating and certainly the quote comes off as quite extreme and maybe in real life it's not as extreme perhaps but I do think there's a there are kernels of truth in there for sure.

Well, I mean you're the quarterback and they call it the most important position in sports for a reason. It is the franchise rests on the quarterback's shoulders whether they want it to or not. Yeah, I do, when I think about it and whatever, had the time to process and think, I do think when you go on the field as a quarterback, you cannot leave any room for doubt.

And I think one way of doing that is, especially if it's connected to preparing and working hard and being on it, et cetera. But you have to go out there thinking that you are God's gift to this thing. That's a level, it is an intense level of confidence. And I do think, and I grew up in football. My dad was my pop corner coach. He played quarterback.

So obviously as a kid, I had a schema and like, I want to be like my dad. I want to play, play quarterback. And then I had great high school coaches, Coach Allen, Coach Green, Coach Sanders, you know, Jim Harbaugh, David Shaw at Stanford. So I was taught that you had to work hard. You didn't just roll the ball out there and feel like,

you know, the preparation was part of it. And so that was part of what I knew I had to convince myself, you can do this dude. Yeah, you're talented, all this stuff, but you're putting the work in. And you're putting the work in with a team. And that was the only scheme I knew. And yeah, I did not, while I played,

do a great job of tending to life outside of it, including relationships. And and thankfully didn't burn too many bridges and mess too much up irrevocably, but it's an odd balance, I think, for those playing the position. And frankly, I haven't talked to many others about it that have played quarterback in the NFL, sort of at that level.

And it is something I'm curious to hear from others about of how they sort of psychologically handled it. Right, yeah. Right. I think the great quarterbacks kind of see that same burden and that same responsibility. They have to throw themselves into it because they feel, okay, it's on me in order to go out there

and do the best for my teammate, do the best for my coach. I'm going to need to be the most prepared person in the world but then there's some guys are just like no it's a job it's fun but they don't reach that that high level of success would you say that like did you get burned out on playing quarterback mmm that's a good question good question thank you damn no it's okay it was a good question I can tell you meant that. That one was a good question. Is there a burnout factor? Not about being court, maybe a little bit about being quarterback.

And I think in that article you referenced, Big Cat, that I think I addressed that to a certain degree. Injuries adding up, I think, is a common theme in any professional athlete's sort of coming to an end in a career. And that was certainly a big part of mine. And yeah, and yes, parts of it, I think, got tiring. Maybe that's too light of a way to say it.

Maybe burnout is, yeah, part of it for sure. Yeah. Was football still fun for you at the end? No, not like a game. And I found the fun in it again though, not playing, which is, I'm not gonna say full circle, but I think in the windy way that life works. I did not love football when I, and I did not love football like you need to

to play quarterback. I think I also realized that to go back to playing quarterback, you're either like all in or you're not. It's a print to me in my mind, the scheme of like how you emotionally invested, physically, psychologically, spiritually invested in quarterback is like it's binary Right either aren't or you are 100% in and I and I hit a point in my life where I was like I I Am unwilling to hop to the 100% in so I can't do it

Yeah, and and the article was like I said really great because I feel like you were able to fully explain it and it I like I said, really great because I feel like you were able to fully explain it and it I reading it was like, oh, I think I understand the complexity of this because as fans, we just see it as Andrew Luck just walked away from something that everyone like would dream their dream job, like how could he do this? But was it were you shocked yourself when you came to the conclusion, like your own conclusion, were you like, oh shit, I actually think I can, I do kinda wanna walk away, because I feel like that would be a very illuminating moment where it clicks and you're like, oh man. Absolutely. Yeah.

It was by far the hardest decision of my life. And then when it did sort of, finally, when I allowed the sort of, when I allowed myself to ask the actual question that mattered. Right. And then allowed myself to give an answer to the question that was truthful, it was like, whoa, okay, this has been hard,

but yeah, this is what I have to do. So there was a moment of clarity. It was the hardest decision of my life, but also the most clarity I've had about something. And look, I did not feel alone through that as well. And I can't imagine going through a process feeling alone right through that like My girlfriend at the time her wife like my agents my friends I mean Sam flew to Indianapolis to talk to me and this was this was kick, but like

Man, it feels amazing to have people that love you. All right. Yeah, like that's like we all deserve that and I and and then I'll say This it was my dream to play quarterback and I feel so grateful and privileged that I got to do that Right, it was awesome and it did not end fairy tale esque by any means we did You know, we haven't you have an AFC finalist banner. Yeah great for us You don't have a Super Bowl banner for for that how many guys can say they have an AFC finalist not a lot Not a lot. Not a lot When they hung that up were were you like, oh God. I didn't pay one bit of attention.

I have no idea when it was hung up or taken down. I understand that you guys have had a story about it for a while. This is back to you having a flip phone, which is smart. Yeah, which is cool, but like, I don't know. Sam explained on the drive in that like, oh, there's gonna be a banner there. I was like, I think I know, Sam explained on the drive in that like, there's gonna be a banner there. I was like, I think I know that there's some story

behind this and then it turns out the banner's huge. Yeah, it's enormous, enormous. So, all right, so when you do make the decision and you, I always felt bad that it like got leaked, obviously, with Schefter and then you have the moment on the field. That had to be like really hard to have to have it be rushed Cuz you had it probably in your head like hey, this is how I want to do it I know it's a big decision

I know it's gonna shock some people but then have it kind of taken away from you where Someone else reports it and you don't get to say it and then you have to deal with the fans on the field and everything That sucks. Yeah, I can lie. It was difficult. Yeah Also, like you survive. on. I felt a couple things. One, I had written a draft, a couple drafts of a retirement press conference. It wasn't gonna be a happy retirement press conference, obviously, not like the traditional ones you see.

But I'd written a couple drafts and shared it with Matt Conti, our PR guy at the time, and I still think so. So he at least had a copy of something for me to talk about after the game. So I was thankful about that I felt good about I was like, you know This is like writing a it's like writing a paper for school and you actually put in a couple drafts and get notes back From the professor right? Yeah. Good job Andrew Pat on the back. Yeah

Two things I told I had taken the opportunity to tell the guys on the team on Friday and Saturday morning that I'd been with for a while. That's good. I felt very much tethered to, like T.Y. Hilton, who I love, and who made playing football fun. Like, thrown to a dude like that. I don't think people understand how fun it is when you have a connection to a receiver like that when your rookies together and

like fun and yeah and and and so that that was like the bittersweet the real bittersweet stuff was telling him and Jack Doyle and Anthony and and Quinton Nelson who I didn't you know, we'd played one year together as a rookie but like Just like a lovable and loving guy. Yeah. And Ryan, so I'd had the chance to tell in Clinton gathers and, and some of the coaches. So at least at least I didn't have a chance to tell everybody. And that's, that's what hurts. Cause you know, being a teammate, but like to a certain degree I was also quitting on them. And I understand that like, that's, that's hard. That's hard. And it's not, it's, it's hard to celebrate

that. Yeah. And that's a part of me that like, yeah, I get, you know, it stinks, I live with that and I own it and that's okay, it's part of me. Yeah, the other thing is during the game, I remember there were eight minutes left and I swear I felt the cameras turn on me or something and like immediately, like I don't know if you've had this experience in life where there is just such certainty

that something has happened. Right. I was like, oh shit, it's out. Yeah. I know it's out. And I just remember going and standing next to Anthony Costanzo, I think Mark Lewinsky and Ryan Kelly,

and just standing between them, and just like, hey guys, I'm just gonna stand between you for the next eight minutes. Right. Protect me one last time. Yeah, and I'm gonna stand there, and again again. I felt I didn't feel alone. Yeah, and I think I don't mean this in a cheesy way Like I felt like they had my back Yeah, you know for those eight minutes and now and I was and I'll be forever appreciative of that

Yeah, dead it to that because they were great teammates in a moment. They didn't have to be yeah Yeah And then all then after this all comes out were you aware that OJ Simpson had just drafted you for his fantasy football team yeah you didn't think of the fantasy owners that was my one everyone was doing the drafts and then OJ got rest his soul in front of the program he drafted Andrew Luck and you just blindsided him did you ever apologize to OJ for that unaware did not yeah, I had no need to apologize Yeah, but the thing about that question back Cut list, yeah, this is a good place to be that is huge place. I don't get it

The fantasy owners though that it is always what we mock it because it's like a player will get like a grab like a gruesome injury like week two and immediately people will be tweeting like, Oh, my fantasy team screwed. It's like, yeah, but that guy just got really hurt. Like think about that. So yeah, you screwed the fantasy owners over that late in the preseason. What do you guys, what do you, what do you guys enjoy mocking most? Oh, I mean, there's a, can you give me a good question? question. Darren Revelle probably. Yeah. Max, uh, a lot of things. Basically every where our whole show is basically the fact that sports are taken too seriously and it's just a joke like that. I know about. Yeah. Yeah. Like it's all I like, can I interview

you guys? Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead. Like theesis of it. Good question. Yeah, good question. Great question. Good question. You could say talk about, reporters love doing that. Talk about the genesis. Well, the genesis of it was more of a good statement. Yeah. Yeah.

Maybe it was. There's a... Talk about that. Tell me. Enlighten me. Indulge me. So no, we got very lucky because we started this at a time when podcasts were very new. What year?

2016. So we're coming up on nine years. So like now everyone has a podcast. We were not that podcasts didn't exist before 2016, but there was definitely a wide open lane for us. And our goal from the very beginning was we have to have fun and make sure people know we're having fun because sports are supposed to be fun. And I think this the world got very serious

around that time as well. So we became a little bit of a breath of fresh air where it's like, hey, we're not gonna, we're not gonna burden you with any big picture things, with any like politics, with any serious topics. We're gonna watch sports and we're gonna make fun of sports and make fun of ourselves more than anything. So that's been the big thing.

And you did screw over the fantasy owners. Yeah. Well, specifically OJ. Yeah. Specifically OJ. Tell me more about the Genesis though. Were you guys listening to sports radio? Like I used to listen to sports radio and drive it into school and high school. And like where- I think me and Big Cat both had the same point of view when it came to like the sports media ecosystem, which is, you know, they took themselves very seriously. You would get dressed up in a suit and tie to get on TV and scream and yell about the national football league. And it was like, they weren't, they weren't treating the viewers with respect almost. It's like,

they became so self-important when they were talking about this stuff. And then I also became obsessed with the comment section. Anybody that would like comment on an article and their, their mindset that they almost took the league more seriously than people who were being paid to write and talk about the league. And it became just this giant, like big gas of our big ball of gas and bluster of everybody that was obsessed with insisting their viewpoint was correct.

And it was just very funny that they were taking it so seriously. So me and big cats started following each other online. And then we met up had a beer and said at some point we should do a podcast together. And then, you know, time ticked by for about a year, brought us to the right spot. And we're like, Okay, let's do this. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah. So the etymology of PFT commenter Yes, is that you are actually commenting. I was obsessed with the comment section. And you and you were injecting a levity and humor and not so serious takes I would in the comment sections or you just reading them. I

would read the comment section and then I created an account and a character that was like, what if you gave your your typical comment or their own blog, and then gave them like a long form place to write about everything. And they had the stupidest takes on everything possible. And so that's kind of where I was. So we, yeah, we intentionally have very dumb takes that might have a kernel of truth, but we're mocking as well. Like actually, when you retired, I went to in 2015, I went to the final four in Indianapolis. We had a, we, we got like taken out to St. Elmo's. We went and sat in the basement.

We're Peyton Manning. I used to do his dinners. I think you used to do your dinners and I asked them what you order. And I think the waiter said chicken. And then like, I, I was like, yeah, no shit. Andrew Luck retired. he's a chicken guy over steak. Like that, that's my take now. You know what I mean? Like something like that where we're mocking this entire idea that like you aren't allowed

to retire when you wanna retire. Like you owed it to us. Cool. Yeah, so, but you did owe it to the fantasy owner, saying OJ. So wait, wait, so the real question though, when you retire, because I think everyone thinks this, was there ever a second where you

Got a call or you're like, oh maybe I want to come back because that's I think that's the part that people always are drawn To whether it be barry sanders or calvin johnson or anyone who walks away a little bit early brett farve brett farve They always think in the off season or just random times like oh maybe andrew lock will come back You know what I mean? And so it's it's this, it's a dumb thing that fans do. But they have that in the back of their head for a very long time thinking, Oh, yeah, maybe he's gonna come back with there was never a second where it was even like a little bit of, Ooh, maybe maybe I

should do it. Nope. That's I mean, that's pretty awesome. Because I don't think having that clarity and having that ability to be like, that's it. Yeah. Cause I'm sure you got calls. No, I said the one from, uh, was a Frank Reich texted you being like message in a bottle. I sent it down to SOS. I have a great relationship with yeah. Yeah. And Nick Sirianni and stoked for him, uh, as well. But no,. But yeah, I would stay friendly with Frank. But let go. And again, I love football in a different way now. I've volunteer coached at Palo Alto High School

for the past couple years. It's why I'm back in this position for many reasons. You know, at Stanford. But just not as a quarterback. Yeah. I do have some tape for you that I wanna watch watch real quick. Max, if you pull it up. Do you, one of the things I loved about you quarterbacking is you, I feel like you were in the mold of like, I don't want to swear on camera. Do you, you probably don't remember

this, but this is a tape of you. You short-circuited when you swore by accident. Do you remember this? I absolutely remember. There's more context. You short-circuited when you swore by accident. Do you remember this? I absolutely remember You literally short-circuited I've never seen someone's brain short-circuited live on air. All right, go ahead Look at the film. Look at the highlights. He's the guy that uh, she makes plays. Oh, sorry. She makes makes plays and When you I apologize for that. No, it's okay. I'm gonna look at heading into a bye week. You were so mad at yourself.

It was just a swear. You were, first of all, you were like devastated. Big Cat, my beard's not that bad. No, that's a good beard. I didn't say your beard was bad. Gruden said your beard was bad. John, coach Corridan, my beard's not that bad. I'm also like, you know, late 20s, not early 20s.

I did say that was about Griff Whalen, who was my college roommate, a walk-on, Toledo, Ohio, Sylvania, Southview, earned a scholarship, had a legit NFL career, also one of Sam's roommates as well, one of my best friends in the world. That was after the Denver Broncos, 2015, 15 I want to say, 2015. What's this time stamp of the Twitter thing? Oh this was just me after you retired. I just said, now you can swear whenever you want. Oh, thanks. Yeah. And that was a Peyton coming back to Indy, which is like cool, like electric atmospheres. There'd been a lot going on that year. We were sort of going like this.

And then that year we were going like that. And I lacerated my kidney in that game with like seven minutes left when a knee got me. So I ended up in the emergency room the next day because I was not feeling so very good. And so I think that's truly authentically how I felt in the moment. Griff Whalen just made fucking plays that game. And we won.

And that was cool. It's fair. And Ahmad Bradshaw caught a touchdown to sort of ice the game. Uh, yeah. Awesome. Yeah. Also anybody that sees you retire and is like that, that fucking pussy, I could, I would, I would kill it to play quarterback. You lacerated your kidney in a game. Yeah. That's it. I think.

And you just described it as I wasn't feeling very good. Yeah. Most, most reasonable people, if they went out there and they did something at their job Where they went home one day with a lacerated kidney? They'd probably talk to their wife and be like, you know, I don't know if this is the right career for me Yeah, I think that's a completely fair conversation to have and then there is a flip side to it though So once you reach that decision where you say I'm confident I no longer my heart's not heart's not in it. It's not fair to everybody else. If I keep playing, it's not fair to myself. If I keep playing, that's gotta be a great moment of clarity where you realize confidently,

this is what I want to do. And then after you actually walk away, there's probably going to be some time where you have to establish a brand new identity for yourself because your job, if you're an NFL player and a quarterback, especially for so long, that's been a big part of your identity. And so did you feel like, I don't wanna say empty if that's the right word, but did you feel like, okay, I need to separate myself and start my own new identity at this moment?

Before I answer that, I'll go back to the job thing in the Lacerating Kidney. It was such a privilege to play quarterback and to make money doing it and do it. It was awesome. So I never once felt pity for myself for playing the position and getting paid. Amazing.

Amazing. Two, identity. Yeah, it was way more, being a quarterback was way more of my identity than I realized. Absolutely. And in discovering, I don't mean this, maybe it sounds mumbo jumbo, but like having to learn about myself

and discover a new one. And like we had our first daughter born a few months after I retired. That certainly helped provide purpose. Like obviously there's a deep biological purpose, you know, of like kids, you know, and tending to them. But my wife also, like, I was processing COVID hits,

so we're all together with a little baby, stuff, and I was processing football, and I'm in a career, and finding myself, and had some amazing people through it, and still, and friends, et cetera. And she turned to me at one day, and I'm an out loud processor, like, you know, I just talk and most of it's just like air

if I'm just, you know, and there's, she's like, she turned to me one day in the middle of COVID and I was like, is it possible for someone to talk about themselves more than you right now? And I said, probably not. I kept doing it. We made it through but yeah a big part of it was identity and I think it's like you know sort of locating myself

who I am in the world and grounding me in and I think that was part of the process yeah did you ever did your dad call you up when he started the XFL did he call you and say hey Andrew I can I can get you 25 million. Really? You wanna come back for one season? I really need you for a game. Bad question. Yeah. No, not at all.

Yeah. Yeah. That's, I mean, it's, reading that article, like I said, everyone should go read it, because it did feel like I- See, you do read, man. I do read, but it's an article.

And it took me- It's about sports. I think I, I think I stopped- But that wasn't a short article, as I remember. I think I stopped and started four different times. You made it through. Yeah, but I made four quarters. Hey, when you got to the fourth restart, like four quarter, do you give yourself? I was like, hell yes, put up the floors. Oh man. Do you ever, do you ever dream of football? Uh, I have dreamt of football. Like, do you

have memories of like games and stuff where you're dreaming you wake up? You're like, oh shit. That was no no The last time I dreamed about Dreamt about football I want to say was like showing up to a locker room without like the equipment and freaking out that like Where's my helmet? I like the embarrassed dream. I don't know. Yeah, like the yeah, what the like the freakout? You never actually playing but like I don't know. Yeah, like the yeah, what the heck like the freakout you never actually playing But like I don't have the helmet and I in my hip pads or my hip pads, right? I need my hip pads and my tailbone. Yeah, I hurt my tailbone I think it's pretty common dream. Most people have it just about like high school

Yeah, they show up for the last day and they haven't gone to that class all semester Yeah, you just think about that like football like oh, I'm not but it was once it was I don't know I don't remember was but I remember waking up thinking like ah that weird. Yeah, do you think about that like football like, oh, I'm not prepared. But it was once it was I don't know. I don't remember was but I remember waking up thinking like, ah, that weird. Yeah, do you still watch the NFL? Yeah, I do. Do you find yourself like rooting for the Colts? Do you find yourself rooting for quarterbacks? I have I absolutely have a soft spot in my heart for the Colts. It was a it was I mean, like, spent age 21 drafted there like I felt like

a kid when I was drafted there. My girlfriend and I went there. Like we grew up in a sense there. Our daughters were born there. Like highs and lows, memories. Like life was lived there. Lived. I very much feel that. So I absolutely have a soft spot there.

And guys like Quentin Nelson and Ryan Kelly, who's a free agent now, like Braden Smith, Jack Doyle played after, like Jack Doyle's one of my favorite teammates ever, so of course root for those guys when things happen. And then watching the NFL for me now is who do I know on the team, if anybody, which gets fewer and fewer guys every year,

and now it's more what coaches do I know that the team, if anybody, which gets fewer and fewer guys every year. And now it's more what coaches do I know that are coaching on the teams. And so this year it's like watching Zach Ertz play for Washington. It's like, I've known Zach since he was 17, I was 18. He's a year behind me in school. We worked out together. I accidentally whacked.

One time I was stretching, we went through a phase where we were stretching with those long wooden stasks, like, I don't know, felt like a movie or something, and I was sitting there with it behind my back, and I turned and I just whipped it around and I whacked him right in the face, and Zach didn't beat me up, which was good, we always worked out together.

But it's like I root for him, for sure, and Tavita Pritchard's the quarterback coach in Washington, and Tavita and I were teammates like so I root for him Of course, and then Nick Sirianni and Vic Fangio are on the Eagles. Yeah, you know during the thing. So I Try to root for them as well It becomes what like my fandom like my team fandom is like soccer US National Team Like that's what I'll get fandom or like watching Stanford men's hoops or women's hoops or any Stanford team Like that's where I let myself just be like a like a fan. Yeah, it's fun to be a fan, right?

They're really fun to be a fan But when watching NFL, it's more hair, you know, can my guys make it out healthy? Mm-hmm, right and can they go ball out and win? Yeah, I love that. Yeah I remember I think it might have been right before the draft You might have done like a walk- walk and talk with Peter King at some point And you you fascinated him with your love of architecture. Hmm. Are you still a big architecture guy big architecture guy? Yeah, yeah, so I have a couple I have a tough architect. Also. I grew up reading Peter King. Yeah Yeah, and like so that that was fun for me like I love like I loved reading

You know, I love getting sports illustrated love reading like Rick Riley in the back the last page We're doing that comment like I would I died for the Houston Chronicle in the mornings in Houston because Norman Chad had its syndicated Call them, you know, like the national syndicated column there I'm like that type of humor hit me as whatever a 15 year old. Yeah, it's so it's cool Like those are pinch me moments in the NFL like walking with Peter King Yeah, you guys were looking at the architect was that in Chicago I don't remember it might have been but so he great architecture boat tour here by the great architecture great Yeah, how many times he been on it two times? Yes. It's awesome. It's very fun

All right. So are you familiar with the premise FM K? fuck Mary kill So you gotta fuck when you got a merry one? And it's gonna serve the way circuit again. I'll reserve the right to answer a question. Fuck Mary kill Doric columns. Ionian columns. Corinthian columns. Good question. Good question. Not answering it. Can you rank them? Yeah, rank them. Yeah, look, I want to if I'm remembering correctly, the Corinthian column is a bit too flowery for my aesthetic taste.

Yup, yup. Doric has a level of simplicity and very much form is connected to function, which I find pleasing. And Ionix, yeah, it's cool, it's groovy. Yeah, okay. I think that's fair. I think I would say Mary Ionian I think I would kill

Doric and then I would have sex with the Corinthian column that makes they don't settle down that makes sense I wonder your thoughts on Soviet brutalism No positive thoughts. Yeah, yeah Coach Gruden. Yeah. The Soviet brutalism is also inextricably linked to the use of concrete. Yes. Uh, yeah. So that's all I, that's my thought. It's like designed to kill your soul. Yeah. Right. Coach Gruden actually said that he was shocked that you knew every part about cement. I don't know why that shocked. I went on a cement kick, read a book. I certainly did not know every part. Yeah. He was just like that guy. He knows everything about cement when I told him you were coming in. So I

don't know. Do you still know everything about snow? I never did. Okay. And certainly do not. But I do think what's fascinating about cement, this is a good stuff. I think there's just realized that they did. I just prove this. Like, Yeah, this is a good stuff. I think there's just realize they there's like just prove this like like Roman stuff has stood for Long long long time like way longer than the roads and bridges. We've been building Yeah here in the world not just you know here, but sort of here And they realized that somehow baked into the property this man I'm gonna mess this up

But when Romans meant like fixes itself when When it cracks, like something about oxygen and water getting in activates like a self-healing mechanism. I think like researchers in Australia, I could be completely wrong in the language I'm using, but just Google it. What else have you been reading about? I've been on a sci-fi kick lately. Oh, okay.

I think when I realized I'd taken a job, being a general manager, like I'm using brain power again, a lot. Yeah, it was real stuff and etc. And so at the end of the night, I, I like to read before going to bed. And I've been on the series, the Red Rising series of good sci fi. This is a book or show. It's a book. Okay, they'll make a show eventually. Yeah. And then we'll watch it. And then we'll say that we read it. Yeah. Do you watch rinse? So you got me? Do you watch I don't watch severance. I know what it is cool

That's the second person the last two days to tell me about Jack muhort my old teammate in Indianapolis I was talking to him because I'm going to Toledo and staying with them tomorrow. Yeah We were talking like he asked the same question. Yes, so this is very good but you're reminding me of We had a Game of Thrones book club in our Stanford locker room back in the day I asked the same question. Yes, San Francisco's very good. But you're reminding me of, we had a Game of Thrones book club in our Stanford locker room back in the day. We would get in a real, there were four or five of us,

myself included, that when I read, are you Game of Thrones people? I've watched the show, yeah. The red wedding scene came up in book whatever, I wanna say three, and I read it and stormed into the locker room, like very emotionally shook by this thing. And we had a big, it turned out that all of us

were in the shower yelling about Game of Thrones at the time, like, you know, the whole thing. And a few people walked in and were like, what the heck are these guys doing? And so I felt like the cool kid when the world was freaking out about the red wedding episode, I was like, nah, you don't know about everybody who already knows about this.

Who's had years to emotionally process what just happened. We're ahead of you guys. All of y'all, we are ahead. That's incredible. Did you find yourself ready for it when it came out? The show? Yeah, when the red wedding specifically happened. I didn't really watch the show.

Oh, okay. Yeah, I read the books. Yeah, you're like, I already know everything. I mean, I'd pick episodes here and there, just whatever is cool. Yeah. Well okay. Yeah, I read the books. Yeah, you're like, I already know. I mean, I picked, you know, episodes here and there, just, you know, whatever is cool. Yeah. Well, in fact, I'm going to start reading about, I'm going to read one book about cement this year. I'm right. You don't have to do that to. I'm not. I'll read a Twitter thread. Yeah. Find one. Good one. A good Twitter threads. Just really break down that. So wait, so, uh, American soccer real quick. Are we going to win the world

cup? Oh yeah. We are. Why not? Do you think we would be better Are we gonna win the World Cup? Oh, yeah, we are why not Do you think we would be better if we had like LeBron? Wemby Luca not Luca and Wemby because they Yeah shake SGA plan I have no idea. Okay, if we would be better or not. The answer is yes If we did if we just change any mess, I'd be so good our best players No, we just do that to troll and get people OBJ was an incredible soccer player. I want to say I believe it

I believe it's sweet. We're not gonna win anything though. I I'm so hopeful I'm eternally optimistic as a US soccer fan. The World Cup's gonna be here and in Mexico and Canada. And yeah, it's fun to be a fan. It's fun to be a fan of your national team. Yeah, it's fun to win though. Also, I got to go to the Olympics. My wife's a producer

for gymnastics on television. So she was working and I was just like having the time of my life rooting for Americans, you know, bringing my daughters to stuff and having more like 59 Stanford athletes there, including like friends of ours that were, we were freshmen together like Katarina, Stephanie or Eric Shoji. It's amazing. Like watching Katie Ledecky swim. It was so cool. It's fun to root for America in sports. It's really fun. I like really, really, really fun. I enjoyed that a lot.

And my wife, but she stole the tickets to the women's gold medal match, soccer. So she got to go with her friends. And I was, that's the one thing I was jealous of her about from that trip. She got to go to that gold medal match with the women and watch us win Yeah, by the way, and we love winners here

We love winners love winners America and I'll tell you what the roster that we have right now I've been telling big cat this for the last two years Going into this World Cup that is the best roster that the u.s. Will have ever had at that point just looking at the players that play competitively overseas That's as talented as we've ever been I think think. And if it's going to, if we're going to do it, it's going to be at home in this World Cup. So like get all in right now in U.S. I'm with you. Get all in. I, you know, maybe I don't have as deep a perspective as you with PFT. No, I just gave you everything. I know.

Yeah, good. Well, I like it. I'm all in. And I do think it seems like at scale, we just, we have a lot of guys competing in in really important places around the world and the MLS is stronger than it's ever been Mm-hmm. Like our domestic game is stronger than it's ever been and I'm thinking maybe our new coach He's very close with Messi. Why not just have Messi become a US citizen. Yeah, it doesn't work like that though No, it's already cap tied to Argentina. You can do whatever you can No, it's already cap tied to Argentina. You can do whatever you want. No, you can't. You can't do it. Cap tied. That's just talking- Cap tied.

Oh, he's cap tied? Oh no. We can't figure out a way around that. No. By the way, 20- People would never allow something illegal to happen. That's not a problem that money can fix. 2014 USC versus Stanford, 4th and 13 at the USC 32, punt. And then 4th and 22 at the USC 32 punt and then fourth and 22 at the USC 29 punt for a touchback. That's a nine yard punt. So I don't think we'll ever get messy on the US roster. And I'm very excited for the World Cup.

You get the show down. anytime we get the show. Anytime we talk about soccer. One of the things I was stoked about was I was still playing professionally and I was in Europe for something in the office. I was like, I gotta go see Christian Pulisic play. Yeah, still playing for Borussia Dortmund. So I hopped in the car. I was in Amsterdam and I drove over and I reached out to his agent.

So I got to watch the game unfortunately he maybe even played like 10 minutes at the end of the game it was like verse hoffenheim or someone I want to say but I got to have pizza with Christian afterwards and like you know like I'm a fan yeah yeah but I'm a fan he's cool dude so I'm stoked for what he's doing right now yeah and then I hope somehow someway we channel the attitude that Clint Dempsey brought to the soccer team Yep, and to just sports in general because that dude was so fun to watch I loved watching him from like East Texas It's an amazing story and he was tough and one of my favorite quotes export quotes all time was Bruce Serino

And he was the I think he was the men's national team coach at this point asked about like what what made Clint different or special he was like because he tries shit and like Clint did and he was so fun to watch so he's never scared no never scared like all those clips of him getting I mean watching the clips now they're on the internets and the YouTube's and such but like watching him play well like that was an attitude that I think resonated with a lot of us watching You need a guy like that to beat Mexico That's not afraid of Mexico and he yeah, he was the best maybe uh, Joe Scali's our guy

He's one of the defenders on the team. He's one of our security guys nephews. Yeah, really? Which is pretty cool Staten Island Staten Island guy we need some like Staten Island tough guy East Texas or Staten Island. Yeah, the two fourth and 11 from the cow 34 ten minutes left in the game punt. I mean you're not gonna beat the 29. It's right. It's crazy Piece of art Okay, I have a serious question for you, oh, hypothetically, the Colts make it to the Super Bowl, but Anthony Richardson and Joe Flacco both get mono. And they can't play. Yeah, they weren't kissing each other. They're kissing somebody else. And you get a call, Andrew, can you play in the Super Bowl for us? You don't even have to practice. You'd probably want to practice.

You have to practice three days and then play in the Super Bowl. What do you say? No, thank you. Appreciate it. And I'll say why that's cheap. That's not, you gotta, you gotta go all season. You gotta earn it. You gotta earn that. You gotta earn it. Yeah. What if, what if I'd be hyped for the Colts though, if they're there. What if, what if, uh, Jim Mersey calls you up? He's like, Hey, we got this new technology. we're turning injuries off for an entire Would you come back and play injuries off you literally cannot get injured I'd asked to be able to invest in the tech Did Jim mercer ever show you his guitar collection his guitar collection sweet

Yeah, it seems like I grew up watching or watching listening to classic rock because my dad's a classic rock a file You know the first concert my dad took me to was easy top in Houston, which is like Yeah, it's a great gateway concert into what you know live shows. Yeah amazing I went to Springsteen actually came to Chicago one year to see the stones that Whatever the basketball arena is see the Stones at whatever the basketball arena is. United Center. United Center. Yeah.

And so going into his office, he does have an incredible guitar collection. And then when you go to Stanford, you realize the Grateful Dead is a thing. And Jerry Garcia and friends that are dead heads and the dead used to do impromptu shows on campus back in the day. Like there's a whole culture in Palo Alto around the Grateful Dead.

So to see like a Jerry Garcia guitar actually meant a little bit of something to me. Yeah. And the Beatles drum set. Yeah, he's got it all. It's cool. He's convinced and I think he's convinced me that the technology will exist one day to extract all the sounds that have ever been played out of an instrument and just have it play. I guess the best way to say this, he believes if you buy a guitar from Eric Clapton, somewhere in that wood, it's the actual music and the actual notes that were once played and eventually we'll be able to hook a machine up to it and get that exact sound out of the

Guitar do you believe that? Cool. Yeah, I believe it. I believe it. I if he believes it. I believe it things. I don't understand. I just believe yeah Yeah, yeah, all right that sounds cool healthy way to live life Yeah, I mean would you rather that that technology existed I. Yeah. I would choose to live in that world. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, this conversation is devolved. It always does. This has been so awesome though. We really appreciate it. I have one last question for you. It's a row back question. R H O B A C K dot com promo code take 20% off your first purchase. Q zips, polos, hoodies, joggers, shorts, row back.com promo code take a go right now. Huddle hoodie is the new one that I love.

Roeback.com promo code take. Is there- You do that so well, stop. I do it every time. That was, wow. We have a Roeback question to finish every interview. Shout out Roeback, our wonderful sponsor. Again, so well done. Is there one pass that you think of, you're like, yeah, that was it that was it like remember me for this one pass This one play remember me. Yes

No, but I would assume like there's one that you could think of like man. Did I absolutely fucking crush that? It's funny you think of interceptions I've thrown more than I think of like sweet tutters, right? Right, right come I've thrown more than I think of like sweet tutters. Right, right, right. No, I'll be honest, part of what was so fun, what was so, Frank Reich asked me this, like what do you love about football? We were sitting talking once before I retired. I said like, dude, I get to throw the ball to my friends.

Yeah, like that's- You're playing catch, yeah. It's really cool. That's awesome. Yeah're playing catch, yeah. It's really cool. That's awesome. Yeah, and so, so there is not one throw. There's not one throw to rule them all. But like throwing to T.Y. Hilton and Jack Doyle

and an amazing year with, you know, Eric Ebron had this, we had an incredible year together and Kobe Fleener and Griff, like I got to play in the NFL with my college roommate, Griff Eland, and he cut touchdowns, like he ran a bang eight on the skinny post, I think, on one of the Texans corners in the big game, like this is an undrafted guy, a walk-on receiver,

he's playing, that's awesome, Kobe Fleener and I played together in college, you know? So I feel very fortunate that I got to throw the football to my friends, especially T.Y. Hilton. Like, I'll say this again, I don't think, it's fun to play with a guy who's different and he was different. And I'm not sure he gets the respect he deserves

for what he did on the football field. He brought an attitude that was just awesome. And we probably couldn't have come from two different places, but it's part of what's amazing about sports and football in particular. I know this is an unserious podcast, but I will be serious.

Like, we're friends. Right. I don't get that otherwise right that my life is like way better For that and that's just one micro. I gotta play with Frank Gore who's awesome by the way. Yeah, like no one knew No one knew Pass protection better than Frank Gore the dude got football like He would pick stuff out before I would pick it out. He'd start yelling at the lineman about what technique to use.

Like he is the teach tape on how to be a pass protecting running back. And he's also the teach tape on how to be a gap scheme running back. Like the dude was unbelievable. I got to play with a Mod Brasaw from Bluefield, West Virginia. Yeah. Right?

Like he's a dog and tough. He caught eight touchdown passes one year. Like that part of football, I think, you know, I say grateful, like, yeah, I got paid and I get to make choices in life that I know others don't. I get privilege and it's amazing, but like, it's more that like you can, I get to play football. I got to throw a ball to my friends, nerd out over snap. Like who gets to, like I, a portion of my salary went to went to to finding to finding a better snap count

Yeah, I got to sit in a room and go out and practice and think about and talk to left tackles and guys All right this all right this week guys. We're gonna use black is the color. That's the the live color We're gonna do a triple count. We're gonna say it three times We're gonna go yes, I go hot and then I'm gonna go kill kill kill cuz last week We did kill kill kill and we ran the ball and then we're gonna go red 80, ready to hot, hot, hot. And then we're gonna go black 80 by, you know, yeah, it was awesome. Yeah. What type of life is that? That is all. And now I get to be back in football in a different capacity with Stanford at an alma mater that I love and, uh, and, uh, people

are counting this out and they're wrong to count us out. So get on early, just like the U S national team. Yeah. Now's the time's the time and and this this interview has been everything we wanted for you know It's been a seven-year wait and I want to say that This has been so awesome to have here and also you're making us better podcasters because you've got a little emotional there and you mentioned Frank Gore and I didn't mention the fact that he has Enormous balls and I used to take videos of him running without a you know Any type of underwear on his balls would be flopping everywhere. I would have done that. I was this close to saying it, but I was like, you know what? Let me let Andrew finish his moment.

So thank you for making us better. That's good discipline. Yeah. I was just like, I'm really proud of you. Say Frank, or as huge balls, look at this picture. Biggest balls are that's insane. I'm really proud of you. You say Frank Gore has huge balls? They're pulling up a video. Look at this. Look at the picture. Look at how big his balls are. That's insane. I think you get the show now. If there's not one pass to remember you by, what about a half?

What about that playoff game against Kansas City? How cool was that? We've had some good halves like that. Also been part of some bad halves. Some of them in New England how fun was that yeah that was cool actually Alex and I were talking of Alex's Alex Smith's awesome by the way I mean like you want a role model in life like that dude is cool but we were talking about that recently we live not too far from

each other and get to run into each other now and then and that one I was glad to be on the other side of it. The ball bounced our way. I think they lost like four guys in the secondary throughout the game, right? So like we were rolling, but I do remember one play from that game. We were in a timeout and we had Fleener, TY and another receiver, I wasn't sure who,

ready to go. I don't know what down in distances was, but we were sitting there, Pep and I were talking, Pep Hamilton. I was see it time. We were sitting here like, let's switch. You know, originally Kobe was supposed to run a clear outpost and T Y was going to get the corner. And then I was like, I think, I think one of us are either T Y. I was like, they can't run with him right now. Like they just can't run with T Y.

Hilton. So let's put T Y on the post and Kobe on the corner. So we came out of the timeout. We did it. I remember looking in the huddle at T.Y. and saying something like, run motherfucker, like run, like run. You're gonna get it, like you're gonna get it. And B.A. used to, Bruce Arians used to just call T.Y. Little motherfucker, come on little motherfucker,

come on, come on, come on. It's all the time. And, oh, is that what cussing on podcast feels like? That's a good feeling. But so he did, he ran, and he took the top off and the ball, and we, you know, protected it up and the ball made it there and he scored. But it was fun to feel like the first half was everything could go wrong. And the second half was sort of everything was just going right. It was an awesome game. Well, Andrew, thank you so

much, man. We really appreciate it. You're recurring guests now. So you have to come on anytime we ask. I don't know if you knew that you didn't read the fine print for that. That's right. You're Stanford fans now. Yeah, listen, we want to push Stanford because you know, little old Stanford needs, you know, some NIL money. Uh, we all want to push Stanford because you know, little old Stanford needs, you know, some NIL money. Uh, we'll help you. Stanford doesn't need anything. Turn that fire hose on. All right. We're also thinking about as quarterbacks, uh, we want to start a company that, um, just need one drop of blood and then you could examine that and then you could change the world. Does, Do you have contacts that can help us?

There's old Theranos office space. I think that's available. OK. OK, good. Let's do it. We're in. Come play quarterback. No, good luck.

We'll be rooting for you. Yeah, we will. Yeah. I mean, it's fun when Stanford gets in the mix. I mean, your guys' teams with Harbaugh, it was fun. Just watching you, especially like, it's watching Pete Carroll be like, this isn't supposed to be happening. Like Stanford's not supposed to beat us. Like it would, it was just fun to watch. So I had fun watching Stanford after to watch Christian McCaffrey and Bryce Love coach Shaw's teams

and we'll get there. Yeah. Great basket. Yeah. Great basket. The tree. Yeah. Thanks so much, Andrew. Appreciate it, man. My pleasure. Andrew Luck was brought to you by Dove men's. As you prepare to host your big game celebrations, what are some possible whole body odor related issues that you might encounter that might make you feel a little less confident in your hosting duties? Maybe taking your shoes off? Maybe you're afraid that your feet stink? Maybe sitting down on the couch next to somebody that you

kind of know but don't really know that well. You sit down, you catch a whiff and for a second you think to yourself, is that me? That can't be me. Well you can tackle whole body odor with Dove Men Plus Care Whole Body Dio. If you're afraid to take your shoes off when you're going to your friend's house. If you're getting nervous that your team's down at halftime, you think you might be stinking a little bit. Well tackle whole body odor with Dove Men plus care whole body Dio. This whole body Dio defends against all your odor zones from pits, privates to feet. And it's long lasting with 72 hour odor protection. Find Dove Men whole body Dio at Walmart today. Spray up. I'm

spray right now. Spray up. It actually smells really good in the city right now. Might be because it is Sunday night and we haven't lived in here all week yet, but my money's on it coming from Dove men's and their whole body deal. And now here's our good friend, Brian Windhorse. Okay. We now welcome on our very, very good friend. It is Brian Windhorse. He is an insider. You can see him on ESPN. You can listen to the hoop collective, a great, great podcast, all things NBA windy. Uh, we called, we hit, we hit the windy bat phone basically was like, Hey, can you please come on for 10 minutes

to tell us what's going on? You have not slept. You're all the way in LA now. Uh, what the hell's going on? Uh, Kat, in my career, uh, never have I had my phone go crazy like this. I'm talking about players, head coaches, assistant coaches, executives, referees, agents, lawyers, workout guys, you know, and they all had the exact same question. We don't understand. What don't we understand? What's going on?

And I don't have a great answer. This was, this is one of the most shocking transactions. I've, and I, I mean, I can't speak to the NHL or whatever. It's one of the most shocking transactions in American sports history for the magnitude and the way it came out of the blue. Yeah. So, so let's talk about that part first. So this shocked everyone. transactions in American sports history for the magnitude and the way it came out of the blue. Yeah. So, so let's talk about that part first. So this shocked everyone. So were the Mavs just, they weren't shopping Luca. They just did a deal with the Lakers. Is that, is that

correct to say? Yeah. So as far as I understand, and like, I'm going to be honest with you, I don't have the full 360 of this yet. I'm trying, but picture this like you had a really nice house, all right. And you wanted to sell the house. What would how would you go about that? Would you put it on the market to get a lot of offers? Probably. And let's say you had somebody that you specifically want to sell it to, you wouldn't sell it to that person for a discount. Because if you're going to buy something off market, you know, if it's something of high quality, which Luca Donchich certainly is, you have to be have to overpay for like if I'm going to keep this off the market, you

got to pay me like everything I want. So think of think of Luca like like a super nice beach front house. But that's not what happened here. This was a pocket sale that went down where they got a discount. The Lakers got a discount. That's not to put down Anthony Davis, but Luca is a 25 year old in you know, not even in his prime yet megastar. I mean, Luca Donchich has made more first team all NBAs than Steph Curry has. Yeah. Okay. So the fact that this trade would happen, that they would trade a 25 year old in their own conference, where if this goes sideways, they could be beat over the head

with this for the next decade to do it, you know, clandestinely where it doesn't hit the open market. And, and to do it like in this nature is just absolutely nobody can get their mind around it. Yeah. I've seen some people say that the the the Mavs are in win now mode. They they were already winning now. I don't I don't understand what like what what addition how is this going to help them win now more than Luca would. Basically, they're like, okay, we're not going to take the 25 year old with warts, definitely has issues definitely could hold them back like no doubt about it but they're basically like okay we're gonna take the 31 year old and the 33 year old or whatever Kyrie 33 or 34 and we're gonna say that's what we're gonna do yeah and who guys who knows what they could have gotten if it was on the open market like there's some teams out there that are holding enormous amounts of draft picks. The grand, you wouldn't have Anthony Davis, but McHale bridges got five first round picks.

McHale bridges never been an all star. Luca has been first team all NBA five times. He's 25. Right. It's shocking. And then the one the one piece that nobody's talking about, the Utah Jazz were involved in this trade. Why was that? Oh, can you imagine this is what I'm thinking. Justin Zanuck and Danny H. Can you imagine they get a phone call in that last couple

of days? Hey, we need you to take on a salary as part of a deal. Okay. Who's it going to be? Jalen hood Shafino. Okay, maybe we'll do it for a second round pick. What's the trade? Oh, it's Luca Donchich for Anthony Davis.

I'm sorry. What did you just say? Like the jazz has rolled the situation like they must have been. Can you imagine them on these conference calls? Like they like the I would pay good money to see the video of them listening to the conference call going, do you believe this? Like they're putting it on mute. They're going to do it. Can you believe they're actually going to do it? They're going to give Luca to the Lakers. Yeah. Yeah. We'll take the

20, 25 second. Yeah. Okay. Back on mute. Oh my God. I can't believe this. Like this is unbelievable. I can't even imagine what it was like in the jazz offices the last couple of days. Yeah. And the Luca like personally, he had to have been shocked. He also loses out on the super max. So how much money does he end up losing because he can't now sign a super max with the Lakers. He could have with the Mavs. How much money does he end up losing because he can't now sign a super max with the Lakers He could have with the Mavs. How much money does he end up losing out on it might be a hundred million dollars Jesus. So You know, I'm not Bobby marks. I don't have the numbers right in front of me. But here's the thing when you Super max means you get five percent more of the cap per year

It's something like it's worth like something like 70 or 80 million, the difference between getting the supermax or not the supermax at Lucas spot. So part of that is an extra year that you get, which would be at like 50 60 million, he's eventually going to play that year and get money. But he also is when you build your next contract off, you're building it off a lower contract. So that's a lot of mumbo jumbo. It's 10s and 10s and 10s of millions. Plus, he plays in Texas right now for like half or so of his games, he pays no state tax. Now

he goes to California where he's going to pay 14% state tax for you know, almost all of his games, most of his home games and all those games in California, it's going to cost him millions of dollars a year in state tax. I'm not saying like that is why that makes a big difference, but you tack all that on, it's potentially a hundred million dollar,

you know, slap in the face to this guy who thought he was gonna be a Maverick for a long time. Yeah, so was there any inkling that the Mavs were thinking about? Like, was there any, like just through sourcing, like Luca is not happy or the Mavs were thinking about? Like, was there any, like, just through sourcing, like Luca is not happy or the Mavs aren't happy? So it was really as shocking as shocking could be. I mean, I think the Mavs are frustrated, have been frustrated with them. I mean, he's a

guy who frustrates you. He's also a guy who's so amazing. You live with it. And certainly at age 25, I mean, maybe in a couple of years, if the, if the things weren't working out, if he had a couple more, you know, pouting sessions where he killed them in the playoffs, but age 25. If there's a if there was a reason why this happened, like a precipitating event, maybe that is true. I don't know it. And I'll say something else. There's people that have been trying to figure out like, well, why the Lakers do it? Was there like an issue with ad and JJ Reddick? Was there an issue with AD and LeBron? The

Lakers did it because they got Luka Donchich, right? The end, right? The end. You know, I know that they were probably annoyed that AD did that interview with Shams Sharani the other day where he was like, get me a center. I'm sure that didn't make the Lakers weak, but they did this because of L Luca Donchich. That's why they did it. They have now a succession plan for LeBron. Now, how does LeBron work into this? Where it's like, does LeBron say from a basketball fit? I don't know how much it fits, but you just figured that out later because it's Luca and you just go get them like you said. But

is this LeBron like, Hey, I'm going to play for three more years now. Cause I got Luca with me. Yeah. So we're waiting to hear on that. So I'm not going to speculate on that. I do know that LeBron has an incredible affinity for Luca. He's loved him for a long time. There's some, you know, he's tried to get into business with them at different occasions. They actually I think fit together beautifully because you can take the stress off of LeBron having

to play so much point guard, but they can, they can kind of play together. I could see LeBron being to play so much point guard, but they can kind of play together. I could see LeBron being like, this could help me extend my career. Because one of the things that's happened over the last few years is LeBron has wanted Anthony Davis to take on more of a role. He's really been like pushing that and supporting that, not just because Anthony Davis is a really good player,

but because LeBron's like, I can't carry this load. So I could see LeBron saying I'm bought in here. I could also see teams calling the Lakers and saying, Hey, you just picked up a 25 year old, do you want to offload your 40 year old now LeBron is a no trade clause, but I could see that those calls coming. I will say this though, the Lakers roster is now lopsided. They have no center starting quality center their best center right now is Jackson Hayes. So they got to

find a trade between now and Thursday where they get some sort of center. Also, Austin Reeves, I'm not sure how he fits. This is actually one of the main amazing things about this trade is that the Lakers did this deal and somehow are still holding a first round pick 2031 and holding Austin Reeves. Yeah, nobody understands that. But they still have those two things. And maybe there's a world where Austin Reeves stays Reeves is having a great year. But Reeves is only

really successful when he has the ball, right? And now he's going to be down the line. So we'll see what happens. That may be not be something that happens. So later, they may try it out. But they now have too many ball handlers. They have no perimeter defense and no rim protection. So the Lakers have been on this. They've won eight out of 10. They've been playing really good.

Now their team's a little lopsided. So Lakers are going to have to make some more moves, and either by Thursday or certainly by the summer. Yeah. Very important question. Who gets the last shot? That's the most important question. Let's open first take with that. I'm going to speak to Mr. Smith about setting that up. One shot. And if it's not LeBron, will LeBron be happy that he's not getting the last shot? I think in all honesty, I think you want the Paul Lucas hands.

Yeah, I think LeBron would agree with that. Is there another domino that's about to fall? I feel like there has to be, right? No, definitely. I mean, there's going to be, I kind of wonder, you know how in college, so right now there's like all these sort of large contract players that are sort of just dangling on the market. Zach Levine, Brandon Ingram, Jimmy Butler,

De'Aaron Fox. This is I feel like this could be like, you know, how when the conferences in college, like realign, like, there's all this sort of tension, and then like one team, one conference makes a move. And then there's like, 17 other conferences. And next thing you know, Boise State is in the ACC. That is what could happen here. Not for sure, but there's been sort of pent up stuff. This could be a cascading thing that ends up leading to some major movement by Thursday. We thought this was going to be a quiet deadline. We should have known better. Yeah. What if Rob Polinka last night, he's doing this deal and the Mavs say, we're ready to do this deal, but we demand Brani. Does he still do

the deal? Big Cat, that is an amazing question. Thank you. Here's the thing. I actually believe that LeBron didn't know. I know people don't believe that, but I think the reason they didn't, I think they don't tell LeBron because they don't want it on LeBron. He's got to make a decision on AD or not. Right. I don't think they want that. So, but it would have been fascinating if they were like, we got to have Ronnie.

We need some minutes at the backup, backup, backup wing. You know, they would have to go to LeBron and I got to believe that LeBron would say sent us Luca. You know, but that is, that is remarkable. Yeah, I see. All right. One last question for you, Woody. Gun to your head. Where does Jimmy Butler end up? Guys, I'm not sure he's getting traded. Wow. I think it's either going to be Phoenix or Golden State. But Phoenix can't

seem to find a home for Bradley Beal. And they've been trying for six weeks. And I don't know if that's gonna happen the next four days. And the Warriors have other options. And you know, I think if it happens, I think Golden State is more likely than Phoenix. But, you know, but I gotta tell you something, the easiest way you can look like a fool right now is to try to predict this trade deadline. Prediction for the trade deadline, that business is over. Because nobody saw this one coming. Yeah, yeah. All right, that business is over because nobody saw this

one coming. Yeah. Yeah. All right, Wendy, I got one last question. Row back question. R-H-O-B-A-C-K.com promo code take 20% off your first purchase. Q-zips, polos, hoodies, joggers, shorts, row back.com promo code take. What do we say to Mavs fans? Because I feel very bad for Mavs fans. They woke up, they thought you got a guy like Luca, he's 25. We know what the NBA is. You need a top five player to win a championship. They had Luca in their minds for the next decade and then they wake up and Luca's not there anymore. What happened? Like I don't even know how the fan base reacts to something like this.

The only thing I can say is that when Nico Harrison, their GM, did the Kyrie Irving deal two years ago, I thought it was a terrible mistake. I thought that would not work. I did not think Nico made a smart move. I told this to him to his face. I saw him a few days after the deal and I said, good luck with this one, because Kyrie's situation in Brooklyn had gone so poorly. And Nico knew what he was doing. He knew that, knew the you know Nico was previously at Nike for 20 years His number one client was was Kobe Bryant by the way his agent was Rob Palinka I think that might have had something to do with there's a relationship that goes back 20 years with Rob Palinka

I'll do it for sure they they they first started doing business together in 2003 when Kobe Came from Adidas to Nike, which in today's day and age would be a massive story back then was like Sports Business Journal. But but Nico, when he did that deal with Kyrie Irving, he's like, this is what I think our team needs. I believe in it. I thought it was a mistake. It's turned out to be a genius move. It's totally transformed the franchise. So I will just say, while I don't understand this, and I think this is potentially a catastrophic mistake, Nico Harrison has got some capital with the Mavs fans. But my God, if Luca turns into this, if this pushes him into like, focusing on the right things and getting rid of some of his bad habits, and the Lakers have another era, and Luca has a statue outside crypto and Luca puts up more banners. Nico

Harrison will live in info. And that is that is on the table, right? It is absolutely on the table. What were those business deals that you were talking about with Luca and LeBron? So LeBron really wanted Luca to be in his shoe brand at Nike. LeBron hasn't had guys like that. It's not been like Jordan where like guys wore his shoe. And he wanted Luca to be the first guy to like be the, in the LeBron shoe. And he like recruited him and everything

and ended up going with Jordan. And I'm sure Nike made that choice as well. But like, he really, really wanted him to be in there. And then of course he drafted him in the draft, in the all-star draft. But he drafted a bunch of guys in the all-star draft. Half of them he's gotten on his team, half of them he hasn't. I'm not sure what to make of that.

All right, well, Wendy, you're the best. Thank you for picking up the Batphone. Get some sleep and we'll talk to you. Hey, enjoy the Super Bowl, guys. Yeah, thank you. Thank you, we're off right now. We got a flight right now, so thank you so much. Wendy was brought to you by Chevy. Chevy has packed more capability into the Silverado trail

boss so that you can pack more fun into your weekend. Have yourself a Friday, a Saturday, and Sunday, Sunday fun. Yay. With the truck that says no to nothing tailgates, spontaneous camping trips, DIY projects, bring it on. What about a cross country road trip. Silverado was the perfect ride for last year's grit week out west. And recently they helped us give fullbacks the recognition they deserve with the low man award going to Tyler crow Boise State. Well, the Silverado trail boss is built like a fullback we're talking 495 foot pounds of torque. Hold on to those sodas max Max. Plus, the trail boss gives you an extra two inch lift. So maybe Hank can finally dunk Silverado brings the grit,

then pairs it with the latest truck tech inside and out. The result, a truck that can do it all. Then show up on Monday with a story to tell. Check out the Silverado trail boss at Chevy dot com Chevrolet. Together, let's drive. Okay, let's wrap up. We got two things we got to do. We have to do Monday reading. And Max, you want to while PFT pulls up the Monday reading, we're going to do this every single day, every single

show this week, score prediction for the Super Bowl, and you're allowed to change it. However, you feel like if you're not feeling too super confident right now, and then by Friday, you finally put on some Eagles gear, and you feel confident, you can change it. Right now I'm gonna go 32, 24 Eagles. 32, how'd you get to 32? Couple, two point conversions.

Okay, couple of them? Maybe, maybe none of them. Is that a missed extra point there? To miss sexual maybe it's four touchdowns all with two point conversions, tush pushes all four touchdowns all two point conversions. Okay. And do you think that the cheese get there? You said 24? Right? For is that is that like backdoor 24 or smoking or leading? They're up 30 they're up 3221 with five minutes to go. But I thought your final score was 3232 24. Okay, and then they

get a field goal to make it a one possession game. Okay, and then they don't get the ball. They don't get the ball back. OK, and then they don't get the ball. They don't get the ball back. Wow. What was the half time score? 1710. Wait, I thought it was two. They can't get 1710. 1610. OK, yeah. 1610, two touchdowns, two point conversion.

I don't know how I get how I get to 21 now. What's the best commercial? No, 16. 7. No 1610 and then the chiefs are like, oh, we got to start going for two. Yeah, right. Right. Right. Right. Right. 2418. And it's field goal. I haven't all thought about it. Yeah, don't worry about it. All right. So really nice Monday reading. What is it about PFT? Monday was the time capsule. Oh,

yeah. It's the part of my take time capsule. We do a cyber Super Bowl. What? We do a cyber Super Bowl. We actually do. Yeah, so we're going to flash back a random moment in part of my take history. Okay. I hope you do a Super Bowl week moment. It actually is.

Oh, wow. So it's exactly one year ago today. Wow. On the Sunday that we were flying out to Las Vegas. Remember, we landed and Adam Schefter tweeted out that thing about the commanders have arrived at the Super Bowl. Yeah, that whole thing we're recording. We're watching the Grammys Miley Cyrus looked fantastic. And I get a text because I took a picture of

Miley Cyrus on the TV. And Max was actually in the picture that I took and I tweeted out and I got a text from our good friend from the Diana Rossini show. Diana Rossini, the host, the co host of Diana Rossini. And she said, I know, I don't like listening to this. Does Max live in New York? And I said, Max, who I sat next to a guy in a plane who is really big is Max big? Whoever you just posted a picture of.

Ha ha ha, yes, he was in New York this weekend. She says, he's disgusting. He ate his food on the plane like a monster, was basically breathing heavy and smelled terrible. Don't tell him I said it, but I was so grossed out. And then I sent her a picture, this picture right here of Max, was this the guy? It's Max wearing a Sixers shirt. Ask me if he sat aisle row.

If so, he farted during his naps. It was United Business. He sat right next to me ripping them during the nap with I think six or seven peas there he is one of the most disgusting human beings I've ever sat next to ask him if he scarfs some burrito sandwich before we took off I said yeah it's him and she says he's definitely single parentheses cute face by the way what a nice thing to say face cute face yeah. He was completely in his own world. He smelled of hungover. He's also very unhealthy.

Two sodas. Did you write this down or something? Amazing level of detail, I asked her. She says, no, I observed. I was so grossed out and bothered. God damn it. Thought I was done. The people get the point.

I said, I said, two sodas, I said, you're a great reporter. She said, thank you. He listens to his music way too loudly. I'm very concerned about Max's overall health. He's going to die by 25. He was blasting techno. He's 29 right now. He just farted and belched.

You're wrong. There you go. Yeah. I don't want to be mean spirited, but I changed poopy diapers six to eight times a day. And his smell like my kids diaper genie. I recently read about a guy who got kicked off a plane for farting so much. And I texted my husband said I want this guy kicked off swear to God. So that was a year ago

today. And now you guys are the best of friends. And now that made me want to hate her again. Oh, that's the best. Cute face, by the way. Yeah. Time capsule, Monday reading time capsule. We always do that. We always do that.

It is a yearly tradition. It's a yearly tradition. Can't wait for next year. I wonder what we're going to do for next year. Oh my God. Ripping farts. I don't think I was. I don't think I next year. I wonder what we're going to do for next year. Oh my god. Ripping farts. I don't think I was. I don't think I was ripping farts. I noticed about Max on today's plane ride,

when he falls asleep, he tucks his arms. He pulls his arms all the way inside of his sleeves and then wraps them around his stomach inside of his shirt. So he's like hugging himself with just these loose arm sleeves hanging off to the side. It's very bizarre. Well, that was on a plane. It was a little chilly. It he's like hugging himself with just these loose arm sleeves hanging off to the side. It's very bizarre. Well, that was on a plane. It was a little chilly. It's almost like a blanket. If you're like that. Yeah. He took a nice nap. Got a little cranky when he woke up. We had to play the game of like, who's going to wake Hank up?

Cause it's going to be, it just had to be me. Yeah. Hey, do you want to educate the people on some of the stuff that you're saying? No, no, no. Come on. Just a little bit. No. But all this stuff keeps happening. Listen, there's just a lot of things going on in the world. Why aren't we talking about the bridge? People moved on from the bridge. Listen, we're in New Orleans. People moved on from New Orleans. It's a serious subject. You guys are trying to make light of it.

I was just trying to, you know, have some playful banter on the plane. What should we, should we bring up the bridge in New Orleans, like every episode? No, it's just, it's not, it wasn't you guys specifically. I didn't should we should we bring up the bridge in New Orleans like every episode no it's just it's not it wasn't you guys specifically I didn't say we should be talking on the show but part of the media as as we reminded Hank of all these underwater underwater volcano and the dolphins yeah dolphins are swimming away that's not a volcano do go off underwater volcanoes yeah I think it goes off once every like 50 years. Probably

going to be an earthquake. Are you going to think that's related? Well, yeah to the to the bridge. No, no, no, no. You guys are trying to paint me and and and label me crazy and and and put this narrative out there and that's fine. No, I

just like does think that we're part of the problem. Oh yeah. You're you're a simulation boy. You're fucking when I told Hank, I was like, the reason why we don't think about these things is because life's hard enough and you just got to kind of move on and keep it moving. He just looked at me like, you're part of the problem. Yeah.

Okay. Good show. Yeah. Hank National Sports podcast. Use your voice. Yeah. Sports podcast. Speak up.

Sports. And Bridge. We got a big week in NOLA. Big week in NOLA. How many gumballs so far? I just had one just one But I'm about to have to nightcap. Okay nightcap. I'm gonna go I'm gonna end up having two today as well We should get a total gumbo for the whole crew before us how many gumbos we have you had one? You're about to know about that one. I don't think I would have you think we can make it all week, but I'm no

I want to try feels good. Yeah, I want a po boy. I want some catfish I want some shrimp and grits like I'm I'm gonna try and like poke all the things and then Like I want to po boy. I want some catfish. I want some shrimp and grits. Like I'm, I'm going to try and like poke all the things and then, and then diet starts next week. Yeah. This isn't helping the Diana diet starts next week. This is sodium week. You're I mean, aren't you going on vacation? Two weeks. You're so you're gonna start a diet a week before vacation skiing is basically a fitness vacation. Yeah.

Exactly. That's so true. Yeah. So you're going on a fitness vacation. Yeah. Oh, all right. All right, well, we did the lottery ball back in the studio. So let's kick it to ourselves.

Numbers, boys. I'm gonna go with 76. I'm gonna go three. I'm gonna go 40. 11. I'm gonna go with 76 I'm gonna go three I'm gonna go 40 11 I'm gonna go 2 2? E 11 that's one I I guessed correctly for PFT that's what I got no that's the one you got PFT that's my that's my ball 71. That looked like 11. Someone guess 11. Oh Maxi. Maxi Maxi Maxi. Love you guys. So So So So So Thanks for watching!