Pardon My Take - Kirk Herbstreit, Jimmy Graham, And Saying Goodbye To Big Ben

Episode Date: January 5, 2022

Big Ben’s last night in Pittsburgh was emotional. We recap the game and what the Browns are going to do with Baker(00:02:46-00:22:21). Hot Seat/Cool Throne including a shocking moment with our darling Jake(00:22:21-00:44:22). Kirk Herbstreit joins the show to talk College Football, opt outs, and the National Championship game Monday Night(00:44:22-01:21:11). Jimmy Graham joins the show to talk about his foundation, his career, trying to be classified as a WR, what it’s like at Halas Hall right now and more(01:23:00-01:52:39). We finish with Guys on Chicks(01:52:39-02:02:52).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/PardonMyTake

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 part in my take, we have a twofer for the people. We have Kirk Herb Street talking, college football, national title game, also opt-outs and all the controversy

that wasn't really controversy. Over the weekend, we also have Chicago Bear tight end, Jimmy Graham talking about his career, talking about being nominated for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award. Awesome interview with him. We have recap of Monday Night Football Big Ben's last game in Pittsburgh until next year.

And then Hot Sea Cool Throne and Guys on Chicks. Great Wednesday show for you. It's brought to you by our friends at Sling TV. Go to sling.com slash barstool to sign up now. Get your first month starting at $10. If you love watching live sports, but you're tired of high prices, it's time to take control of your TV experience.

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Now in the street there is violence and then a lot of stuff will have to be done. No place to hang out or wash in and then I can't stay all on the sun. We're gonna rock it down to electric high venue. And then we're taking higher. Oh we're gonna rock it down to electric high. It's part of my take.

There's another Barstool Sports. Welcome to part of my take presented by Sling TV. Go to sling.com slash barstool to sign up now and get your first month starting at just $10. Today is Wednesday, January 5th. And Big Ben has played his last game in Pittsburgh. Not necessarily true, according to Antonio Brown, who revealed on Instagram live stream yesterday

that he wouldn't put past Big Ben to come back next. And what, no, it was actually on a cameo. It was on a cameo. Yeah, as soon as it was on a cameo, he went better. He went Gremlin mode on Big Ben's career and said, he's not done. No, but it was just take a moment. Let's take a moment.

Let's just take a moment and let it all soak in big, fat, big Ben's face with the teary eyes. He kept his helmet on. They were fantastic years. That was one of the signs. I actually don't think he could take his helmet off. I think his face had swollen up during the game. Yeah, his interview, post game interview,

where he spoke into his mouthpiece. Yeah. And then when he was walking into the, into the tunnel with his family, Daddy's beautiful wife. Daddy's still a football player, guys. It's, uh, Daddy's a football player. It's sad.

Seven, 17, 18 years. 18 years. It was a long time. I mean, just think about everything that's happened in those 18 years. Black and yellow, I said black and gold. Black and yellow, black and yellow. He put on that cape, that black and yellow cape for us.

For the last time. And when we didn't fix him. He couldn't fix himself. The doctors didn't fix him. Big Ben tried. What a scene. And, uh, the best part was the game was just objectively terrible.

Well, Big Ben had one of a kind, like an all time, literally an all time passing performance in the game. A historical passing performance. He's the first starting quarterback to win a game with 40 plus pass attempts and fewer than 150 passing. Oh, beautiful. Since quarterback starts for first track beginning in 1950, starting quarterbacks were combined

on 13 with those numbers entering yesterday that's brought to you by, we'll just say part of my take, stats and info. That was, I mean, it was, um, he, he went out with a win. He went out with a win. On a shield. And I really, really hope deep down he just shows up to training camp next year and he's like, what, wait, what?

I was, I was just joking. Like I wasn't serious. I'm still a stealer. It would be so funny if he did that next year. And then we all think back like, wait, but we already did. We used our good goodbye last year. I would be fine with it. I would be, I'd be perfectly happy to do this every year

in week 17 for the net, for the foreseeable future. If it meant that big Ben kept playing. Just a Monday night game late in the season when, when, you know, he could maybe go to every team and just do a goodbye for every city. It was, it was nice seeing him like celebrate at the end. It was, it was very funny though, right after the game was over and they tried to give him a second curtain call

by calling a timeout when he took that knee. Yeah, there's still a couple of seconds left. Tomlin tried to call the timeout, but the, the reporters were already on the field. So you can't kick reporters off after that start. So they're just into the game and then big Ben was walking towards the exit and they said, no, wait, there's one last thing I've got to take care of.

He turned around and then he just walked over to the bench and just sat on the bench by himself to get that picture. Just to get that picture. That picture is worth a lot. There were cameras around him when he was doing that. No, no, listen. And then it was nice to see him celebrating with his whole family, shout out Drew Brees on the way out of the game

and seeing the media follow him afterwards. But it was very nice. It was, it was a good shot seeing big Ben like holding his family's hands, walking through the tunnel. His beautiful family. His beautiful family. It was, listen, big Ben is objectively one of the funniest quarterbacks that we've ever had in the NFL.

He's just funny, like his, his body's funny. The injuries are funny. He won two Super Bowls. He was at a time I would have picked him like up there. I know I saw Dave made that discussion of like the guys you'd pick in the fourth quarter to win a drive. Big Ben was my answer for a very long time just because of how hard he was to bring down, how good he was with his arm.

It's, I wish he could stick around because much like Phil Rivers or Eli Manning, like the comedy of the NFL goes down a little bit when big Ben retires. Yeah. Big Ben, if you're listening, just close your ears real quick. This might be a triggering word. But there's a compilation of big Ben doing the extending plays thing.

Yeah. That's probably like three, four minutes long. It is the best football game that you can watch. It's just like, you know, from, from Big Ben's prime, there were so many instances in a fourth quarter of a game when he'd have three guys hanging on him like wolves trying to take down an elephant and he would just like shake him off, stumble to his left a couple feet, make a ridiculous throw

that he had no business making and look like the most unathletic person in the world while doing it. Right. But he would do it repeatedly and he was so good at it. Eventually you had to just be like, big Ben, there's no quite, he is extremely athletic, but he just happens to look really, really goofy whenever he does some of this stuff. Yes.

And he's one of the best quarterbacks of the last 20 years. Yeah. So much fun to watch. I did think, did you think it was a little odd that they went like, like to me, big Ben, so much fun to watch. Automatic Hall of Famer, two Super Bowls. Like one of those quarterbacks that he kind of breaks the mold, you won't see another guy quite like him.

It did seem a little extra that like ESPN, everyone was like, and he's a great guy. It's like, wait, but we know, we know he's not. Like, let's not pretend. Well, I mean, we've seen all the documentaries behind. No, we know he's not a good guy. The last two years, big Ben has put out some of the best documentary film work.

He's done kids camp. Chronically, what a good father he is. It's, it's, it's the old, you know, as, as good as big Ben was as a player, he was even better as a person. No, no, not that, not this time. Let's just, let's just say big Ben was a Hall of Fame player. I did hear one announced to refer to him as an outstanding young man yesterday.

And that made me laugh so hard. Everything about that statement is wrong. He's a guy. I will miss him. I will miss him dearly. It's very similar to Phillip Rivers, Eli Manning. Like it's just, I was actually getting a little sentimental last night of like 2010-ish era of NFL when you had Peyton,

Brady Breeze, you know, Rivers Manning, man, or both mannings, big Ben, like there, I don't know, maybe with social media and everything, I feel like we won't have as unintentionally funny guys and cast of characters. Nobody benefited more from existing pre-social media than big Ben. Yes, that is absolutely true. That would have been.

Well. I mean, point well taken. Also, big Ben on and off the field had a hard time with people that said you can't do something. Yes. Yes. But it's you love proving all the all the doubters wrong. It's it's it's a hell of a send off for big Ben.

They still got one more game. He had to he had to check himself actually. He was like, oh, yeah, we got one more game. So we're going to try our hardest, even though we're not eliminated, but we are eliminated. I I am rooting so hard, not just because of my pinky, but I think that everyone in America should be rooting for the Jaguars because this idea that the Chargers and Raiders

would have a kneel off is so fucking funny. It would never happen. It would be so not rich. Basicki is Raiders. But I don't know. But yeah, if the Jaguars do win, then both the Raiders and the Chargers can both get into playoffs with a tie with a tie. I think I mean, just the Raiders, they they feel like they're in close

to tie games a lot, right? It might just naturally happen. No, they could just they could just kneel it, run it up the middle. If your team had the chance to go to the playoffs and all they had to do was kneel and they didn't kneel, you would be furious. Yes, I would be furious. Oh, no, absolutely. It has to happen.

If somehow the Jaguars win, they have to do the knee. But you have to also depend on the other team to kneel. Yeah, no, it's not. It's not just one team, but they could they both have to agree in the middle. And they're just like, hey, just go for it on fourth down. You don't have to kneel, but you could just run it up the middle and just be like, do not score. Just kneel. Both coaches should meet, agree to kneel, kneel it up.

It's such a funny broadcast. If you're a coach, like it's a win-win, literally. Yeah. Mm hmm. And then, I mean, we were close to it last year when the when the Eagles just gave up, right? Like that wasn't that different. No, that was a legitimate NFC East title for the football team last year. I reject I reject the implication that Nate Sudfeld was a white flag.

Who stands to lose, though? If it's the Raiders and the Steelers. So the Steelers would be the ones affected. Correct. The Steelers would make if the Colts lose and then the Raiders and the Chargers play an earnest football game. And let's say the Chargers win. I think the Steelers then go if they win their game against the Ravens

and we get more big. That's what we want. Yes. That's what we want. I want Big Ben to just do a million more home games. I really tie. Did anyone actually ask him directly if this was it? Yeah, somebody did. And I think his answer was, I think you pretty much say that like I'm done in my career. So it's not it's not done, done, done. Leaving it open. It's not done.

And you know that Mike Tomlin, when he's talking about Big Ben, he said all the right things, but you could see that there was like a little bit behind it where he isn't entirely sure because Big Ben is liable to show up at training camp next year, not say a word and be like, All right, let's do this. I think what Big Ben is doing now that I'm I'm hearing all this is that I think he's essentially retiring. And then on the last day of work, he's going to walk out of the facility and he's going to do the thing like what? Did you say something?

Like keep looking back like, Oh, did you want me to do another? Oh, did you want it? And hoping that someone says, Hey, Ben, we want you back. Yeah. And it's probably not going to happen. So he's going to sit in his car and be like, did they was Tomlin saying something when I left? He's going to get a text from like Friar Muth or one guy, maybe the punter this offseason, just being like, Hey, Ben,

are you like officially done or you come back? And Big Ben is going to say, it sounds like the guys want me back. I can't turn my back on all the guys. Yes. I got to come back and do it for my teammates one last year. Yeah. So just do it. Do it. It was it was kind of appropriate, though, that the Browns season kind of ended in a way at the same time as Big Ben was walking away from the game.

The way that Baker may feel after the game is saying, you know what? I've been hurt this entire year. Yeah, I'm shutting it down. I'm going to get the surgery on my nonthrowing arm. And then we'll see where it lands from there because he was. Listen, we're Baker guys. I like Baker. I was going to say objectively speaking, we're not going to sit here and defend Baker, which can say he's hurt. He's hurt.

We like we were Baker guys, but he's been hurt all year. You've got to give him a fifth year to decide if he's still hurt. He's been here all year. And then he's been bad. He's been very bad. He was bad, especially that first half. And he's been bad. He's probably he would admit that he was bad. Yes. And I actually still think that the Browns, like Baker deserves a lot of blame for not having a good year.

But the Browns deserve a lot of blame for kind of bungling this entire injury, like they never really were like, Hey, Baker, let's get you healthy and try to put it all back together. Instead, they're there. It was just every week. Let's get you out there. And he got progressively injured and was playing progressively worse. I just think they screwed that up. Like if you go on a time machine, I don't even remember.

Was it week two that he got hurt? It was early week two or week three. Like if he had just said, like, Hey, let's get you healthy. Case Keenum can can the reason why Case Keenum is a decent backup is he can go 500 for a few weeks. Yeah. So the thing, though, if he had gotten the surgery on his shoulder surgery, but he had a bunch of injuries. But if you so, yeah, but it started off with that torn labrum

and is not throwing shoulder. And if you get that surgery, then that's like six months, eight months where you can't really play before it gets back to full strength. And if you try to do it without doing the surgery, you're just going to hurt it again. Right. Yeah. Get back in. So the option was either Baker, either you can or you can't play. But it's not, it shouldn't be up to Baker to determine whether or not

he should be the starting quarterback for the rest of the year. You have a head coach. Right. And your head coach at some point should say, OK, Baker is very clearly hurt. He should be out getting his treatment done, getting surgery, getting fixed up because he is a good quarterback when he's healthy. That's not on Baker Mayfield to decide like some people are saying Baker selfish for playing this year and for costing the Browns an opportunity at the playoffs, given the roster that they have around him.

I'd probably do the same thing if you're Baker Mayfield. Like that's that's what your coach should be the one. Yeah, you're hurting. Who's like, and to be honest, I don't know if Case Keenum would have made that much of an improvement over their overall record, because like you said, Case Keenum, he's he's Mr. 500. He's a good backup. Right. But I don't I don't think that you can say without Baker, we definitely make the playoffs given the entire rest of the roster.

Maybe they maybe they try to go out and get somebody else. I don't know they were snake bitten all year to with a lot of different things. It felt like they lost an offensive line in every other week. And, you know, they were in it until week 17 until Sunday's games. I don't know. You have to I think you have to bring back Baker for his fifth year, but he he definitely falls in the camp of a guy that you can't be giving a record breaking contract to. That's not like something wild.

That's not a hot take. I think we all agree with that. He's not an upper echelon quarterback right now. Could he be? I don't know. But he isn't right now. He hasn't shown that he has has been. So I think that's where the frustration comes from. Browns fans like, what are we going to do? You can't every quarterback that has a little bit of success seems to get that

big contract. I think he's one of those guys. You have to wait and see if he can maybe if he has a great year next year, maybe. But otherwise, maybe move on. Well, you're not going to find somebody in the draft that's going to if you're the Browns. If I'm a Browns fan, it'd be a very tough cell to convince me. Go back to the draft right now, given the fact that Baker Mayfield is literally the only guy that's worked out for you. Well, no, I think it's 20 years.

I think it's a so I think it's a draft, a quarterback in the second or third round and see if he, you know what I mean? Like Baker's the quarterback next year. And if at some point maybe it's not a Kellan Mahn situation, which Mike Zimmer, I love that answer from him. Just if you missed it, Kellan Mahn or Porter asked Mike Zimmer, why don't you give Kellan Mahn a chance? Like, why don't we see what he's got?

And Mike Zimmer's like, I see what he's got every single day in practice. Next, next question. Yeah, we always, as fans, we always are like, start that guy, start that guy. Forgetting that they do see them. And if unless there's reports that he's lighting up the world, which that will happen sometimes. But yeah, with Baker, I actually think maybe the solution is you do draft a guy in the first round and you get Baker pissed off.

You get an entire offseason of Mad Baker. That's when he like put him back in his walk on mentality where it's like no one is no one believes in you, Baker, for an entire offseason. That would be awesome. Say, no. OK, Baker, no more commercials. This are you draft a guy and then you just you get him all the endorsements from the offseason and then you watch Baker as a true underdog scrap and claw to get not only his starting position back, but also the progressive ads. Yes.

Which I mean, yeah, he's got to definitely make sure that he has less ads next year, no matter what. It's funny because they shoot those in the offseason. Right. But when when they're being played every single commercial break, it does feel like I'm very dumb. So when I watch it on TV, I'm like, why is Baker doing all these ads this week? Right. He should have been preparing. Right. Right. And then there was why is he still living in the stadium?

Yeah, there was another report that said that, I think, is Albert Breer saying that the Washington football team was considering trading the ninth overall pick for Baker Mayfield. That seems steep. It seems. I'm just in fuck it mode right now. Just seems steep. He'd be fun. He'd be fun. That's all I care about right now. Yeah, maybe. Yeah.

Last night wasn't fun to last last night. He's hurt. He's hurt. He's very hurt. He's very hurt. OK, should we do hot seat, cool throne, big band? We get one more week. Well, who they play next week? Ravens. I just here's what I guess we have to hope for is maybe someone we never root for injuries, but it would be funny if someone on the Steelers, a quarterback on the Steelers got injured next year, and he came back

and saved their season. Oh, yeah. I mean, the second Dwayne Haskins. He's going to stay in shape. Oh, for sure. He's going to be the best. I hope Big Ben is like 400 pounds. I mean, what? By August. What's he good? Yeah, he's not going to know what to do with himself this offseason. Maybe. And again, like you said, we don't root for injuries.

But if Big Ben could have like a minor like tweak, tweak his knee or something like that in the very last, he needs something to work towards in the offseason. So it doesn't feel like he's just sitting around. Like, let him just let him go to rehab. Just lie to him after the game and say, hey, hey, Ben, thanks for your service. Also, your elbow is screwed up. So we're going to need to see you in here every week. Every week. Just get treatment on that.

Just keep it. Keep an eye on him. Yeah, we can say Hank. The the baby boom that's going to come from eight months or whatever at nine months after his retirements or his hall fame ceremony in Canton is going to be all time. That's going to be like the biggest Pittsburgh. Yes. Party for weekend. That's ever probably ever happened.

And I I love Pittsburgh. Like the scenes were cool because Pittsburgh's a football city through and through. And and like they all are just such diehard fans. It was cool to see. It was it was a fun, memorable night, even though the game sucked. Also, no one cares. But, you know, rest in peace to anyone that lost. Naji Harris.

Their fantasy championship because of Naji Harris or having Nick Chubb and having Kevin Stefansky fuck you in the face or having going against Pittsburgh's defense that got that interception. I saw a couple of that that last interception, like meaningless interception. It was it was the Naji Harris run was such a meaningless fuck you to so many people. And like we don't talk about fantasy much of this. But Championship Week, like those type of things will drive you insane. It was funny because I was watching the man and cast when that happened

and they were all screaming at the TV. Go down, go down tonight because that's a smart football play. Right. Would be to go down to pull up Todd Gurley. But yes, so so much money swung based on that one touchdown run. And I do love I love watching Naji Harris run with the ball because he gets through defenders and every single time it's an unconventional way. It's either a stiff arm that puts you into the earth. Punch that guy right in the face.

Yeah, it was awesome. Or he jumps over you. Yeah, that's he doesn't really do like you'll never seem pulled Barry Sanders type move around somebody. But he gets through you either violently or directly over your head. He was sick. Yeah. Oh, TJ Watt. Oh, yeah. TJ Watt, defensive player of the year. I'm so mad at myself instead of betting, you know, like I did on the Cowboys,

which is I just burned my money. I said, TJ Watt was going to be a defensive player the year two months ago and he's going to he's going to set the record for sacks. Incredible, incredible season. The impact he's had on on like he is the Steelers defense. He has to win this award. He also it is very funny too, because now we have 18 game season or set. Yeah, 18 game season. No, 17 game season. 17. 17 game season.

18 week, 18 week season. So a lot of records are going to get broken. But the one record that I don't think anyone has a problem having it be broken is Michael Strahan's because he got it cheaply with the Brett Favre lay down. Yeah. So it's very funny. And TJ Watt also was injured for a lot of the year. I saw some people tweeting out different numbers about that. So I'm not sure exactly how many games TJ Watt's played in.

It's somewhere between it will end up being somewhere between 13 and 16 games. Yeah. So it counts. He he missed one full game and he left two other games with injury. Yeah. So it will be like some like probably about 14 games. But I don't think that anybody is going to say like this record should not stand one because of what you said. And also because like he legitimately accomplished it under that amount. And he was incredible. Yeah, he was absolutely incredible.

All right, let's do hot seat. Although I did see one person say like this record shouldn't count. Maybe it was a reply to one of your tweets that you quote to a big cat. But somebody was saying like this record should have an asterisk because he got to play against Lamar Baker, Lamar and then Baker Mayfield twice. It's like I can think of many divisions out there. Right. It's two easier quarterbacks to sack than Lamar Jackson and Baker Mayfield. Yes, absolutely.

They yeah, and they hasn't even played Lamar twice. Yeah. So they have a weak 18 game. Yeah, that was it. That was very weird that people don't think TJ Watt should be defensive player of the year. I don't really even know like maybe Michael Parsons, maybe Miles Garrett like you could throw in there, but I don't know who else would be in the conversation between those two guys and TJ Watt has better numbers than both of them. I just love that we've reached a point where I can't tell the difference

between the people that just do the little fraud thing where it's like, oh, this is a Mickey Mouse title about everything as a joke. And those who are serious about it, I think that guy was serious. No, he was serious. Yeah. Yeah, he was an Ohio State guy. He was serious. The Mickey Mouse thing is also serious. Oh, the bubble thing is LaFraud. Yeah. And Hank getting the Disney feels because of a graphic last night

that made perfect sense. What Tom Brady buck for life. It was a graphic that said most wins in a single stadium. And Tom Brady was one in Gillette. It was Elway, Farve, Big Ben. And Farve has played on multiple teams. He was in his Packers jersey and Tom Brady was in the Bucks jersey. But that's because he's a current buck. He's on the Bucks.

It is. But they're talking about Gillette. Right. But he's on the Bucks. No, it's basically like when they would always say they should have had him in a 98 percent Patriots jersey and one percent Bucks jersey because that's the ratio of wins in Gillette. But I do really think that it was because he's current. We'll see. We'll see. We'll see.

How are we going to find out when he retires? OK. We're going to see what they put him up as. When it would have been right. That's true. It would have been weird, though, if he was a patriot. What if he plays the same amount of seasons with the Bucks as he did with the Patriots? Then, you know, if he wins five more Super Bowls with them, they can have that conversation.

Sixty is sixty five years old. Also, I hope Bill's fans are watching the stat when they showed a dominant quarterback versus other teams. It was like Big Ben 24 and three. And then I think it was Brady was like thirty four and two against the bills. So I think it would be very funny, though, if if Tom Brady beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl this year, I think at that point,

you have to go into the Hall of Fame as a buck, right? I'm just saying this right now. If we beat the bills in the playoffs, I don't care what happens. Whoa, OK, I'm just going to say that. We've adjusted. They've been that mean to you. No, I just I'm just going to put it out there. Which would you rather have right now beating the bills in the playoffs or what Celtics beating the seventy sixers in the playoffs?

Oh, with Ben Simmons on the Celtics. Pat's bills, Bill's fans are like my current, you know, I can only focus on that bad that quickly. There has been to Philadelphia's detriment there has been more bills fans that have said, like, you know, sorry, some bills fans are being mean to you. It's not all of us. That never happened with Billy.

He's just like, you know, we are who we are. Go hang out the bridge. I've always respected that from Billy. They are who they are and they don't care. That's the best part. All right. Hot seat, cool throw on Hank. My hot seat, speaking of Celtics, former Celtic, Tristan Thompson. Yes. What a story.

He came out yesterday with an Instagram story that said, today paternity results reveal that I fathered a child with the girl's name. And now paternity has been established. I look forward to Emily raising our son. I think that's his second, third, maybe fourth kid that he's had that's not with Khloe Kardashian. But in the next story, he said, absolute king. I have the utmost respect and love for you talking to Khloe.

Right. Respect. Yes. Kind of kind of mixed signals there, but probably not, you know, never fun to be Tristan Thompson in these situations. And wait, I mean, are people not taking me inside? Because he said with the utmost, utmost respect. Never fun to be Khloe Kardashian. Both of them. I wouldn't want to be either one of them. I would say Khloe is the one that you got to feel bad for.

Tristan, he just fucks everything. Yeah, you're right. Yeah. But I'm not saying I feel I'm not saying I feel I'm not saying I feel bad for him. I'm just saying you never want to be in a situation where the whole Internet's coming at your neck. Right. He's always there. This is. But has this not happened? I don't want to sound like a Tristan Thompson.

Apologize, but sounds like you are. No, I just I think my words are misconstrued. But yeah, shooting situation for. Do you have any kids with her? Yeah, yeah, too. Yeah. Well, that's what. So I think he had a kid with her. Then he had another kid and everyone was like, leave him Khloe. Then they had another kid.

And that's what people like, Khloe, what are you doing? He's clearly like a serial cheater. You're an idiot. She's like, no, he's changed. And then I think he's had like three more kids. Yes. And he had that video. He like had a porn video that got released. I'm like, yeah, that's a huge one.

I don't remember that. It did. It was definitely happened. I'll take your word for it. Yeah. Send me that link. What are you looking at, Billy? Nothing. There was he was trying. He just doesn't trends like every six months for this exact thing. Wasn't it the video of just her friend grinding on him or something?

I just remember Tristan Thompson was trending. Everyone's like, you seen that video? It was very like he does this. He's the horniest man alive. And then every time he's like, oh, I'm sorry, Khloe. It didn't mean that. I mean, at some point, though, it's the whole, you know, fool me once, shame on you.

I would say it's well past that point. Five children outside our marriage, then maybe full on full on. Maybe they won't get pulled again. Maybe this is just a relationship. Maybe this is what they're addicted to. This is what they get off on. Public humiliation. No judge. No judgment. Yeah.

OK, your cool. My cool throw is darts. Yes. So this clip came out today. There's been a few clips, you know, a couple like the most electric thing. I think I got in during quarantine darts, watching darts, following darts, the scoring of it. A nine dart round is one of the most electric things in sports. It's basically a perfect game of darts.

And then today, this video, this guy's name is Ted Hankey. Look him up. He's got a bunch of viral videos. He's an electric darts character, but he's basically talking to himself as he's throwing. And he looks like Tony Soprano. And he's basically says, who's in charge? Me or the devil? I think me.

And then throws like the dart he wanted to throw. Just just an unbelievable trash talking clip that he, you know, talks his shit and then does does what he wants to do. Great clip. And then obviously from that, a bunch of other viral clips of him just being a psychopath. Apparently he had a stroke mid game and finished the game. And after the game was like, yeah, no, that was like what happened.

You were like twitching and three guys again, a stroke. Yeah, he's he's like he looks like Tony Soprano. He looks like Tony Soprano in real life, playing darts. And so, yeah, I mean, that there's always videos that perfect dart rounds go out, those go viral. But just in general, it's a great sport to watch. I want to go to a that's one of my bucket list of sports events is like in a huge darting event in either England or Ireland.

Yeah, the people are fired up because those look those look so fun. You just you get hammered and then you just scream their chance. I love any sport that has like organized songs and chance going on in the background. The rest of the clip after the guy hits the double 20 or whatever it was was also a stark reminder of how much different British TV is from American TV because the guy's mic'd up and he's talking to his mic. He's like, yeah, you're bloody well, right? You can't like just drop it hard.

Seabalms and the announcers are like cracking up about it. Like, oh, yeah, he's a bit of a colorful character. This one is just imagining like on on mic'd up if if like J.J. Watt got caught dropping a sea bomb. They I mean, Christ. Yeah, Christ. Yeah. Ah, Jesus Christ. All right, your hot seat cool throne, PFT.

Well, I was going to put darts on there. Hank got to that before I did. So on your hot seat, my hot seat or my cool throne, one of the two. Well, yes, we are hot. So my hot seat was going to be it's going to be the Red Wolves. Red Wolves are on the hot seat. The Washington Wolves, Washington Red Wolves are no longer on the table for the Washington football team.

Oh, they officially took it off. They took it off. Yeah, they did. They're doing this thing called making the brand where they show the whole franchise behind the scenes, like trying to figure out what's going to be the next name, OK, football team. They have a vote. What? That sounds like.

Do those people have a say in it, though? No, it's just a video series. It's just like, all right, we're just going to we're going to X out of this Photoshop. No, it's like an image creator. And they're like, all right, nope. Well, it's mostly based around Jason Wright and Ron Rivera, like right, talking through all the options. And so this most recent one was them saying we can't do Red Wolves,

even though we wanted to, because there are other sports teams that have copyrights that would have made this impossible for us to execute on. So now there's all sorts of conspiracies about what it's going to be. They're going to announce the team name on February 2nd, which is Groundhogs Day. We got to leak it. So someone's got to leak it. I I'm thinking it's going to be the Red Hogs, which I which I love, actually, because you're given a throwback to the hogs, the old offense. Yeah, that's good.

And you can do so much cool shit with pissed off looking pigs. Yep, dicks. Yeah, razorbacks. Bonk. Yeah. Yeah. The razorbacks, the the Feral Hogs, Billy was saying, you can call them the 30 to 50 Feral Hogs. So yeah, I'm starting to like more and more the idea of the Red Hogs. But some people are saying it's going to be the Brigade now or the Armada. I don't know. I'm just certain that no matter what they pick,

everyone's going to hate it for the first 24 hours. And they'll probably continue to hate it until they win. And then if you win, you can call them whatever. And people will be like, oh, yeah, that name's kind of growing on me. Yeah, it's just still trying for three hours and then we'll all forget. Anything's better than football team. I like football team. It's grown on me. It's kind of nice. Like we don't need a mascot.

We play football. It's just for football team. It's kind of European. A little bit. A little bit. Yeah, yeah. The club. Yeah. Football club. All right. And your cool throne. My cool throne is the Lowman Trophy being an actual trophy. Yes, mine as well. OK, yeah, we dropped it last night.

We made the announcement at half time of the Monday football game. John Chenal, Chenal, again, still don't know how to pronounce his name. It's pronounced like eight different ways now. He won. And then people got mad because people were saying that other people should have won the drill. Yes. Well, guess what? I will got mad. There was there was a committee that was convened and we voted on it. And perhaps if you wanted your full back to win,

then you should have had simply a better rushing offense. Yes. What were the final results? I didn't even see. I don't know the balance. And who were the most mad? Yeah. OK, so I will fans are the most mad, which is very funny because they go around the Internet saying people are mad about Michigan State fans are mad that Conor Hayward, who is kind of a dubious full back.

He plays a lot. He's he's listed in certain program guides as being a big boy weapon, which is why I obviously I took that and I was like, yeah, I'll allow this in the full back category. But he was he finished, I think, in third place. I have never seen the ballots. That's the best part is they think that I have an inside job. I've never seen the ballots.

It just happens that Wisconsin runs the best offense with a full back that isn't a triple option. Like I was saying on the text chain, if we had a wide receiver trophy in Wisconsin one, then you would have a fair case that it's rigged. This is Wisconsin is full back you. Right. So what were the final votes? So number one was Chanel Chanel Chanel. Thank you, Jake.

Number two was Jacobi Buchanan, the Buchanan ball from from Army, who won last year and last year. And the number three was a tie. I need to look. I think it was Hayward and Monty Potterbomb from Iowa. Let me just double check, because I tweeted out last night after I looked up the results of the top three. But there was definitely a tie at number three overall.

I didn't see like I noticed in the video, I kept saying without further ado before I announced the award. Like 90 percent of what I say in life is a do. So you should be used to that. Don't give me shit about that. I'm a big ado guy. It was also they were. Iowa fans were also saying that they don't have the correct representation.

In terms of voters, he thinks that they should be out. King goes on there. Yeah. Is on the committee. He won. Yeah, I'll go. It is a winner. Right. Of the show. So that was the other argument they were making that like there's not enough Iowa players. Who is the best Iowa full back of all time? George Kittle.

Tight. I know. We should just throw him on there for to make everyone not mad anymore. I do think that that was the top three. So the third third place overall was a tie between Connor Hayward and Monty Potta. OK, perfect. Got third place. But it's good that people are mad about it because it means it's real. That's the best part. That's why I was on my cool throne, too,

because it's like if you're going to get mad about a trophy, that means you're taking it too seriously. That means it might be real and shout out to all the schools that made like high videos and stuff. Yeah, that was good stuff. That was sick. Yeah, you're right. It's a good thing that people are mad. Yes, they take it seriously.

And we are aware of allegations that one of our low man committee members was acting unprofessionally on social media, debating people angrily that we're making accusations against him. That person has been spoken to and they've been told that in the future. Please continue to do this because it's good for driving up publicity around the world. Sorry, I had to tell Iowa fans they had the 100 second rushing offense. I don't know.

That sucks. Is it true? I didn't watch the game, but if they had a better rushing offense, could they be Kentucky at the end of the game? They had fourth and one and they punted. Yeah, Yikes. So I don't know. Seems like if you had a guy that could really, you know, push him up.

I don't know. Maybe army would have gone for that. Also, I don't want this to reflect poorly on Monty Potta. No, he's still got an eligibility, year of eligibility. Right. He's an awesome fullback. Yeah, no, I love him. Bulled and bored material. Yeah, he's probably embarrassed at the conduct of.

Yes, very unfulback like for everyone to complain like this. You just take your award and you, you take it and that's it. All right. My hot seat is Jake still because Wisconsin beat Purdue at Purdue. Number three, Purdue. No one has ever been more wrong. Bracketology wise preseason than Jake Marsh. Are they ranked at everybody else? That's it.

See, this is the part where Jake, he had a moment in time. Hank and I were kind of giving him a little guff this morning. He had a moment in time where he could have broken out. If he had put in, put the badgers in the bracket before the season started, he would be the only one who looks smart. Yeah, but this is the brilliance of Jake's plan because he's he's like the pollsters who say, well, I'm only telling you what it would be if it started today. Right. But he also just Jake is not making any judgment judgments

on the actual teams themselves. He's just saying he's a thermometer. You don't look at the thermometer and be like, you know, this thermometer sucks. It's too hot outside. You walk outside, you get mad at the weather. So be mad at the weather. No, he should come up with his own opinion, Jake. He should come up with his own opinions.

They weren't supposed to be good this year. You knew that, too. No, Johnny Davis. Right. National Player of the Year. If you had a vote. Yeah. Number one, you would be in it. But no one would say that.

Wow, low man and national player. They might have to get another shirt going on one year. Yeah, no, that was an awesome game. Jake, everyone go listen to Stool Benchmob. Great podcast with Jake and Marty Mush. Hey, Billy, go ahead. Wait, Billy, go ahead. Wait, Rico Bosco.

I want to give credit to Rico Bosco. I feel like he's been a forgotten man recently and Rico would take a bullet for you. Rico to his credit did say that if Wisconsin didn't have Johnny Davis on their team, they wouldn't be as good. I just think that's some fucking lie. That is that or fiction. That is fact. I just think 100 percent behind him in that gets a bad rap.

And he's an outstanding human that more people should respect. 100 percent behind him. So my hot seat is the Washington football team. Jalen Hurts recently released a letter asking for the Washington football team to take some follow up action to what happened after the railing. He opened letter to us. He opened letter to you. Notes apt.

I don't know if it was exactly. Yeah, it's notes apt. He notes apt open letter to us after kicking the shit out of us in her own house. Yeah. And, you know, some people were saying that when those fans fell in the field, they were just told to get the F off the field. And the only one who helped them was Jalen Hurts. That's a fact.

So on the hot seat. God damn, I wish I would have been one of those fans that had fallen onto the field. Suits for everything. I would have been in a neck brace before I got off the ground. I would be in court right now and I would be well on my way to owning the entire team. Also, there's a little discourse about whether the cameraman was kicking the people on the ground. Oh, he was mad. He was so mad.

You can watch it again. He was like, what the fuck? Why do these people fall on me? Listen, it's not their fault. I like Jason Wright. That being said, I hope one of these I would rather have a Philadelphia Eagles die hard superfan, the guy that was wearing the helmet. I hope that guy sues Dan Snyder and takes the entire team away from it and ends up owning the team.

That's how bad things are right now. I would I would rather the biggest Philadelphia Eagles fan in the world, the biggest asshole in Philadelphia. I want you to own the team instead of our guy that we have right now. Please do that for me. Please sue. Thank you. Cool throne. And my cool throne is Antonio Brown, because he hasn't actually been cut yet.

Oh, really? Hasn't been released. Interesting. So no roster movement. So kind of cool throne on him. But there is like hanging out. He's he's not at practice or anything. He was at the Nets game.

Yeah. And there's also a theory out there that he just didn't realize there was 18 weeks. So he's like thought the season was over. So it's like, all right, well, it's over. This is a season. It's definitely a possibility. Yeah, cool. So he thought he wasn't going to get all those incentives and everything

because that was the last regular season game. All right, Jake, your hot seat. Cool throne. My hot seat is Kellan Mont, the quarterback from Minnesota Vikings. Yeah, his head coach, Mike Zimmer. He was asked what we see him next week. He said, not particularly why I see him every day. Got him.

Do we have a situation where you weren't listening? We did. Oh, no. This broke at midnight. No, no, but Jake, we talked about it on this show 15 minutes ago. You got me. Wow. Let's go.

It could be a bigger winner than Billy in this situation. Billy's already in his defense. The words hadn't come out of Jake Marsh's mouth before Billy was grabbing the microphone. In his defense, no. He did a high step on his dead body. Being on this green couch, there's a lot of quick thinking on your feet. You have to do men in the arena to, you know, like. We should do it for Halloween next year.

We'll flip it. You guys will sit in our seats. Well, it's just the order that we're scrambling. You guys are just AWLs listening. Like you have to do so much more. I wish I could go back to just listening. In Jake's face right now is so much you can anytime. In Jake's face, there's so much disappointment.

I love it. You eat it. I love it. That's what I want. I want that. You die on that field. He's so mad at himself. Jake, what do you think it was like do some self scouting at this point?

What do you think it was that made you miss that? I think I was double checking the tweet, maybe pulling it up because I had it in my notes. I was looking at the context to read it out loud. Damn it. Pull up your your search history. See what you were looking at online 20 minutes ago, because I think that's when we brought it up.

That's brutal, Jake. I feel for you, man. I think it was. I also have the tab open for the Wisconsin Football pronunciation guide. That's yeah, right. There you go. That might have been it.

That's what it was. It was all show related, but I apologize. What a moment. Don't apologize to us. I apologize. It's yeah, WLs. Yes, but no, it's up coming later. Thank you.

Appreciate that. That's that's a classy thing to do. I am keeping the the bonk, the bonk list. And I think I'm going to have to keep a zone out list. And right now, Jake's, you know, number one, got one up on number one. Damn. By the way, I think the bonk list should actually be it's impossible to do it this way, but I would prefer it be retroactive.

Like looking at what the bonk total was as opposed to making it as opposed to making competition so you can get bonked less in the future. I'm making a door. I'm not going to say anything. And we'll go over it in like six months. OK, and we'll go over trucks for me. Jake, man. So my hot seat's me.

Yeah, that was that was an incredible moment because I. Wow. OK. All right. Where were you? That's OK. You'll bounce back. You can't be perfect. Yeah. No, no, no. Your stakes happen. You can try that.

Everybody in this room and outside of it. Yeah. No, I believe in you. Absolute redemption, though. I have 361 days for redemption this year, but we only do a show every three days. So OK, so I have like a battle. You have also Memorial Day. We don't have one. Yeah. I have like a hundred ish.

OK, I believe in you. I believe it's not a good way to start the new year. Listen, by stocking Jake right now, Lois has ever been. OK, my cool thrones being old, the oldest person in the world came to knock a turn one hundred and nineteen yesterday. Whoa. It's a good guy or girl. I believe girl.

Yeah, it has to be right. Yeah. No guys live that old. Why would you want to as a guy? Yeah, it's it. Wow. One hundred and nineteen. That's insane. Are you sure that she she she she already turned one hundred and nineteen. Yes, it's not a Betty White.

OK, good. Nineteen or nine. So nineteen oh two. Fuck. That is crazy. That's old. She was she was living it up in the roaring 20s. Oh, yeah, it's twenty twenty two. Bonus hot. Yeah, me. Yeah, you'll be back.

I'll be back. I fucking believe. All right, let's get to our interviews. We got Kirk Herb Street and then Jimmy Graham back to back. Here's Kirk Herb Street. OK, we now welcome on our very good friend. It is Kirk Herb Street. He is calling the national title game on Monday. Alabama versus Georgia.

He's off of calling the semifinal, the Rose Bowl and also the entire Internet hates him now because he said that everyone who opts out doesn't love football. Did I did I did I recap it perfectly? I guess the internet part. I mean, I think it it kind of took on a life of its own. Seemed like after the Matt Corral injury, but I don't know how many people listen to the entire eight minute segment. I'm guessing very few, but they definitely read some headlines.

Yeah, so I wanted to have you on because I want to talk about the national championship, but I also thought when I saw, you know, you were trending and everything, I was like, I know, I know Herb Street. Like I know that this isn't exactly what he's saying. And this is a conversation that has a lot of nuance in it. So I thought, let's have the conversation. Let's talk about the opt outs and what, you know, is all the rage in college football right now. So where, where do you land on the entire thing?

Um, the conversation was with Desmond Howard and myself and Pollock and Reese. And we were just kind of talking about the new world. I mean, we're not hiding from it. It's just our new reality. It's only going to get worse. I mean, if you're a fan of watching these guys play. So we were just talking about what's going on. And I, you know, the one little line that I brought up and I, if you watch the whole segment, Reese came at me like, well, that's, that's sweeping statement

to say the players, maybe they don't love the game as much as they used to. And then I said, no, no, I said some of these players. And I think, and first of all, just to give you perspective, I covered a sport from the front row. I've been behind the curtain at all these programs for 26 years. I'm really fortunate to be there. I have four sons that are 21 years and younger, two of which play power five football. I'm not out of touch with kids of anything.

I got a pretty good feel of what they're distracted by. They love you guys. They love a lot. I mean, I get it, you know, it's, it's different. It's a different time, but I don't have my head in the sand. Like I'm not oblivious to the game of college football is changing. Khalib Williams came out yesterday. I read a quote saying, I'm going to go to the highest bidder. I mean, you have to, you have to understand the game is changing.

So it was really the whole conversation was about that. And Des and I were just talking about, you know, when we played, how guys would never think about opting out, they, of course, would play and how the team kind of overrode any kind of individual thought. This is a long time ago. And we're just talking about, is it money that's changed this or what it might be? But the whole thing was some players maybe don't love the game the way guys used to. It wasn't all players don't love the game.

I think that's what it became. And listen, when I say they don't love the game, I think that going back to my own kids, they grew up literally in their internet age and they grew up with phones. Think about how we, even your guys age, how we grew up. We just didn't, if I would have grown up in this era, guess what? I would have been right there with them probably. It's just what they know. I grew up, we didn't have a lot of stuff.

So we, we, we went outside and played or you watched football, you know, you watched basketball, you, we were entertained by watching games. So we kind of fell and we ran out in the yard playing. So we all kind of love the game and the idea of one day maybe I can be on TV playing guys today, like my kids, they're brainwashed football fans. If it's not Ohio State, yeah, they're kind of into it, but kind of not, you know, which is fine. That's their prerogative. They're into their phones.

They're really into social media and I get it. So my kids included, by the way, don't have the same passion that I had. Right. And it doesn't mean that they're bad kids. They're my kids. It just means they've grown up differently. And so I, I, I think it really got twisted. It got really misunderstood.

I don't think kids that opt out are bad kids. I don't think that they're making a bad decision. They're making their own decision that they and their family think fits their best interests, so be it. But I think that if you would have listened to the entire eight minutes, you would have heard a very different conversation than I think some of the headlines that were just grabbed, maybe to try to help people kind of push their own agenda or push, you know, push their own narrative to whatever

platform they might have. Yeah. So I think Big Cat and I agree that we like it when players play in bowl games from our perspective as a fan and especially if it's a, if you went to a school and you see your team make it, you know, even if it's not the college football playoff, they make it to a good bowl game. You like seeing the guys that you've supported over the years play.

I think that's a natural part of being a fan to want to see these guys continue to play, to see the best players go out there and play. But also I think that we have a perspective where if somebody chooses to not play in a bowl game because they have, you know, this looming NFL money waiting for them, that they don't want to screw up. They can change their lives. They can change their family's lives. They can set their kids up for the rest of their life and they don't want

to take that chance during, you know, one bowl game for their college team. I don't think that it's fair to necessarily say that that player doesn't like football or doesn't love football because they're making by all accounts a tremendous business decision. If you look at the risk versus the reward, I don't think it's fair to say that that player doesn't love football because they choose to not play. I can completely appreciate that. And I think, again, if you had heard the conversation, I don't think you would

have felt we said all kids that opt out don't love football. Boom, period. It really wasn't that kind of vibe at all. It was more just, I think as fans of the game, like, wow, look where we're headed. My point was this, like, why is a bowl game meaningless? Like, if you're Brock Bowers or you're Will Anderson, right now, one guy's played one year of college football, Bowers at Georgia. Will Anderson's played two.

And again, in that segment, I describe it as there's two different lanes. If you're a college football player, one lane is I'm here for three years. Whoever can get me the NFL faster, that's my goal. And you know what, you're entitled to that view, more power to you. I wish you all the best from the bottom of my heart. I hope you make generational wealth, but that's one lane. If you're in that lane, why would you not only not play in a bowl game? Why would you play in the entire season?

See, I think that's where we're going. I think I think we're focused on the skip of meaningless bowl game. And I'm saying if that's your view, you're entitled, but why stop there? Like, why if it's all about the end game, which is getting to the NFL, poor Micah Parsons, poor, you know, there's been so many guys. I mean, Jamar chased it. Yeah, both. So Jamar Chase, like if the goal is to get there, skip your entire third year, go to Phoenix, go train, stay healthy.

That that was my point in that segment. Like I don't get skipping a bowl game. Like if it's about saving myself for a meaningless bowl game, what skip yourself from the whole season. That's that's one lane. And I'm not saying you're a jerk if you do that. I'm saying go for it. That's your thing. That's what you want to do.

I don't agree with it because here's why, because I care about players. I care about kids, even though people are saying I'm on this guy that hates players furthest from the truth. I love players, you know, and I look at these players like my kids. And I'm not related to them in any way or have relationships with many of them. But I really honestly do care about them because I've seen so many kids. You guys focus maybe on the guys that become Jamar Chase. What you don't see the guys I see who end up having those same dreams

as Jamar Chase and they didn't make it. They opted out of whatever they declared early. They never make the NFL. So my point is to stay in the other lane potentially have those same dreams, have those same goals, but at the same time, man, you have no idea what opportunity you have. If you go to Madison or Columbus or Ann Arbor or Austin, Texas, go chase that NFL dream.

But in the meantime, get your degree, meet people, have relationships, be courteous, be humble, treat people well. And when you go play the NFL for five years or seven years and you don't make generational wealth, or let's say you don't make it to the NFL, you bust a knee or whatever happens, you have this to fall back on relationships. And those schools will take care of you forever with the alumni and with different relationships. If you play the system, you can either let the system play you or you can play the system.

And I'll say one last thing. I didn't have a pot to piss in when I came out of high school. My parents were divorced, broken home, despite what I look like on TV. That was my background. I had no money. If I didn't get a scholarship, I would have joined the army. Now, my sister paid off student loans to she was in her 40s. We had no money. So I say that because I have appreciation for what these players are facing

because I had those same dreams. I would have killed to go to the NFL. Guess what? Went in the cards for me. I never I never got to a camp in the NFL. What am I going to do? Am I just going to go home? No, I was I wasn't a great student.

I didn't like take school as serious as I should have. But I got a business degree. I didn't know what I was going to do. I stumbled into broadcasting accidentally got into it, making $12,000 a year. Had no idea. I wasn't like, I'm going to go to game day. I'm going to go to ESPN. I had no concept of what I wanted to do. It was just bust my ass, work as hard as I can opportunity like you guys do.

Opportunity opened up and I eventually got to ESPN. And maybe it's a one in a million story. But my point is the relationships that I took advantage of opened some doors for me to get that opportunity. And that's why it breaks my heart when players put all their eggs into one basket. NFL or bust. And then when they don't make it and 98 percent of these guys aren't making it. So that's what breaks my heart, man, is we focus on Jamar Chase and Michael Parsons.

And we don't focus on the 98 percent of guys that I care about and want them to have something to fall back on if they don't make it. And so that's why I get kind of passionate, kind of fired up about this topic, because it's not as simple as go chase the money. Because sometimes that doesn't always work out. And I wish they had a backup plan. That's all. Yeah. And I think it is true that like this, what we're talking about right now, it's it's it's in the extremes because there's not a lot of players

that are like surefire. You're a first rounder. You knew that going into your third year. You don't even have to go out there. Right. Right. Put stuff on tape. I think the root of this problem is college football. I love, love, love college football. College football is about tradition.

College football is about your own relationships with, you know, your friends from college or people you love going to games. So that's where I think it breaks, where it's it's hard to be like, wait, the Rose Bowl means something, but it doesn't really mean a lot comparatively now that it did 20 years ago, 30 years ago. That's just a reality of where we are in like the landscape of sports. It just it's it's tough to swallow, but it's the truth. At the end of the day, though, I my biggest question

and you said you've been around all these programs, I'm wondering this. Has it changed a little bit in the locker room in terms of teammates being like, hey, man, go get your money. Like, don't we don't like sit out for this point? Because I think that's a very important aspect of this, where everyone takes they try to figure this out. They either take the side of, oh, this kid should get the millions opt out. It's a meaningless game.

Or they take the side of, well, if I was his teammate, I'd be pissed off. What are those teammates saying? Because I feel like they might also think like, hey, go get your money, man. Like, go get your money. They're not as bad as you know. I think they always are going to have their their teammates back. You know, I don't think there is this unbelievable amount of pressure that, wow, I can't believe you're not going to play with us. But on the other hand, if they say, hey, man, I can't I can't resist one more.

We're going one more time. I mean, there would be a ridiculous celebration. But at the same time, when they when they say, hey, I'm going to protect myself, it's become the new thing. Right. Hey, man, we get that. You got to you got to you got to do that. We totally understand that we support you. That's that is you're right. That is very fresh.

And that's how it is right now. And that's changing. And my my biggest take of the entire thing is I just don't like when anyone on the Internet shames any of these kids one way or the other. Like, if you opt out, that's your choice. You made the choice with your family, with your teammates, with your friends, everything, more power to you. If you stay, though, and like Matt Carell gets hurt and people are like,

oh, he shouldn't have he shouldn't have played this game. No, no, no. Matt Carell had he said, these guys have done so much for me. I'm going to do something for them. Like, that's a cool thing as well. And he shouldn't be he shouldn't be shamed or felt like, oh, you might have screwed yourself over because he wanted to play one last game with his teammates. Yeah. When I look back at this whole like last four days or so,

like if there's any regret, it's not for the people that are using me as a pinata, you know, over the last three days or four days. It's not that it's the it's the play if I could have been a little bit more clear, you guys do live TV. You know what it can be like when you, you know, the producers in your ear doesn't even say something like, man, the producers are so it's like you're trying to get all your words right and you're talking about a sensitive subject. And it's always not always perfect.

So if I don't apologize to anybody, it'd be to the current players because they probably didn't see the segment at all. And all they're doing is getting on social media and saying Herb Street says players don't care about it. I really, really wish and hope that current players know that, man, I appreciate the situation that they're in. I love college football. I love the players. I've always been a guy. You guys know me.

You watch get up, you watch first take, you watch a lot of these shows today. It's about throwing stuff, being a hot take artist, throw it against the wall. I'm not. I've just never been that guy. I'm not comfortable with the story ever being about me. I'm always about the players, the coaches and the storylines. And so I've been really uncomfortable over the last few days because I don't want it to be about me and I really regret not being clear in my comments to be able to make these players know how much I love them

and appreciate them and they don't have to view the world the way I do, obviously. But I don't ever want to be viewed as I'm out of touch when I have four sons that are all 21 and younger and I get it. I get I get what these kids are facing. And I would say what you just said about Matt Corral, I would encourage anybody if they have any hint. I remember when Ron Dane, your Wisconsin guy, when Ron Dane came back, I felt he was very tentative running the football, almost running to not get hurt

his last year because he knew what he had in front of him. And I remember thinking if you run to not get hurt, you're going to get hurt. Yeah. If you play in a bowl game and you're worried, oh, my gosh, I'm I'm playing in this bowl game. But what if I get hurt? You're going to get hurt. So like if you have any, I mean, any hesitation or doubt about playing a season or playing in a bowl game, I would encourage you to not play. Don't do that to your team, to yourself, because you are going to get hurt.

If there's if there's any fear at all about what's at stake. And oh, my gosh, I would I would say don't do it. You got to play the game before it is a reckless game. And you guys watch it all the time. Dudes are flying, but like when you're a freshman or sophomore like Jackson Smith and Jigba, no one's even thinking about him getting hurt. Right. He's just catching the ball around. I mean, he's just playing football.

Right. No one's like, oh, my God, be careful. But when you get to that level, you either got to power through it and not worry about being hurt. Or you if it's bothering you and it's in the back of your mind, you got to you got to you got to nip it and say, hey, man, I'm too concerned about it. I don't want to hurt myself or the team. So I'm not going to play. That would be my recommendation.

It's also tough to get hurt if you're Jackson Smith and Jigba and nobody's packing. Yeah. Right. If they're playing defense, I could see maybe how that could. I was like seven back here. That was awesome. That's the other part is like it just after all this stuff and there was opt outs for Ohio State. The game was incredible because the game was incredible.

How about Marvin Harrison, Junior? Yeah, gosh, dude is six, three, two, five. So you're right. I mean, it opens up a door for another guy. But it's going to be interesting, fellas, because I I think next year and the year after that and the year, wait till we look. We'll pull back this discussion. We'll look in 2000 and whatever, you know, four years, five years.

We're going to be like, holy cow, nobody's playing ball games. You know, like it's that's what it's just going to progressively continue to go down there. So I think there's another conversation to be had. And I saw some comparisons side by side of the the conversation that you were having about the players and then also your conversation with Lincoln Riley, who is a guy that, you know, he took a new job. He made a business decision for him and his family. But he also left his team before their season was complete.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of that. Yeah. Yeah. So I think some people saw the screenshot of you talking to Lincoln Riley and kind of, you know, you're playing nice with him because he's, you know, he's obviously had, you know, talks with you guys. You broadcast his games before and you compare that to, you know, how you were talking about some of the players that were choosing to opt out. But when there's a coach that leaves before the end of the season,

what you like, talk about how you feel about that particular set of circumstances because he's kind of doing the same thing as some of the players would be doing, opting not to stick around with his team through the end of the season. In a perfect world, it'd be great if the players and the coaches had some kind of bonding contract that allowed them to finish the task, right? Because I think that's really important. And what Brian Kelly did at Notre Dame, I mean, his team was potentially in a playoff.

And, you know, of course, Marcus Freeman stepped in. So I'll say this, though, I don't think this is just everyone's entitled to their own opinion. I just don't think it's fair. I don't look at players and coaches as apples and apples. You know, I think a coach is a 45 year old guy. He's been a he's been a student himself. A lot of times he played.

He was a GA. He's grinded his way to the point where he is. And people get really upset to think, wow, coaches are held in a different light than players. Well, they own that. Like you guys can compare yourselves right now in your career to where you are now, to where you were when you first started, wherever you were. You're a little bit more seasoned. You know, a little bit more.

You've earned the right to be in the position that you're in. And you will be imagine where you'll be in 10 years or where you'll be in 20 years. And imagine if there was a young guy that was coming up who got, you know, a podcast with you guys and just starting out and he wanted to have the same opportunities that you guys had. You'd be like, wait, I mean, it just doesn't work that way. And with players, don't get me wrong. I want to kind of recalibrate the whole system. I say we make the players employees.

I say we're down a path now. We form a union. I mean, that's where we're going with this thing. And by the way, when you if you do that, players got to understand when they go get a massage that's for free now, that's going to cost them. When they go to the cryo machine, that's going to cost them. It's a very different relationship. But that's where I think that's where we're headed at this point,

because players need to be treated that way. They need to benefit more than they are, not just with name, image and likeness. The system needs to benefit them. How I have no idea. Yeah. But but they do. They need to feel like, OK, they're appreciating what we bring to the table. These are all things that five years ago, I would have never thought we would have gotten to.

But we have to accept where we are. But to your point, man, I just I personally don't like to see coaches do what they do. I don't I don't begrudge them for going to a better opportunity or a new opportunity. But I do not like to see them leave before the season is up. But I hope we find a way to curtail that because that's just like players. You'd love to see finished a deal. Same goes for coaches without a doubt. I don't think there's any difference there.

I'm really dumb. So maybe you can explain this to me like like I'm the idiot that I am. But if if you start to treat players like their employees, you're saying that they'd have to like put a coin in a machine to like get Gatorade out or they'd have to pay. I don't know. I don't know how. Yeah, I don't know how it would work in that regard. I'm just saying that.

I've talked with a lot of people about are we going to a point where eventually the players will be unionized and that kind of thing. And they say if we do, it's a different it's a it would become a different. You can get fired. You show up late to a meeting. You're fine. You know, it's like it's just a different relationship. It's almost it's essentially like an NFL relationship. You know, I don't know if NFL players pay for put a coin in and buy a Gatorade. I don't know if it's like that.

And I don't know the specifics. I have no idea. I mean, this is like the early stages of where it may go. The game's changed. Yeah. And it's it's it's not it's not we have to start we just have to start thinking about like where is the sport going and not be like it needs to stay the way it is. And that's all there is to it. I mean, I'm more than willing to listen and evolve with the times we have to. I mean, we can't we can't just say, no, we're not going to do it.

I mean, you have to, you know, I love to protect the traditions of the sport. I love the game. I love what it stands for. Something that a lot of people, the newer fans or people that maybe look at the sport and just see money, what what what what players would tell you, whether they play today or they played a long time ago is what you learn from playing this game is really valuable. You know, whether it's high school football or college football, when you learn about being a good teammate and learn about getting your ass

knocked down and getting back up or you're not starting and you're really sad, but you keep working. I mean, that's how real life is. That's how your job is. My job is. I mean, life is hard. I tell my kids that all the time, like life is every day. There's adversity every day. And if you run from that adversity, you're as a youngster, you're not going to learn how to deal with it when you get older. And so we all have to go through it in football.

The great thing about that game is how much shit you go through to be able to figure out, man, this sucks. But this coach taught me how to get through this. And then when you become a 25 or 30 or 40 year old, you look back at that coach, man, I couldn't stand that guy. But holy shit, he changed my life and taught me about how to deal with that situation. And no one talks about any of that. It's just how much money is in it.

And that to me is kind of undermining what's so great about the sport and especially about college football. And I hope we don't lose that perspective or that lens. Yeah. And we probably will at times just because the internet, that's how it works. But I think you're absolutely right. All right, let's talk a little bit about these. This national championship game, these playoffs. So we technically pushed our bet.

Our preseason bet was that Cincinnati was Cincinnati was not going to make it over a one loss, power five team. They didn't. I would be curious, though, because you talk. You said they wouldn't make it. No, no, no, no, no, it was over. It was the entire estimation. I was rooting for Cincinnati.

I'm doing what the guys did the last three days. I'm cherry picking. Yeah. No, no, no, no. You said they wouldn't be in it. Listen, I was always very much pro Cincinnati. I was also pro. The committee will find a way to fuck them over. And if there's a team that has one loss from a power five school and Cincinnati is undefeated, the one lost power five team will be ahead of them. Was there a you talk to the committee?

I don't know how much you talk to them afterwards. Do you think in your heart of hearts, if Oklahoma State had won the big 12 championship game, they would have been in the playoff? I haven't spoken to anybody to kind of pinpoint that. It would have been it would have been a hell of a debate. My my hunch is Cincinnati would have gone ahead of them. I think that's my hunch. Well, because it would have won you the bet.

That and because of where they were all year. I mean, think about they weren't coming from 28 working their way all the way up. You as usually the power the power five does. These some bitches were sitting there at six seven at the beginning of the year and just like climb and climb. So they were they were invited to the party before the season started. And then what killed them is Indiana becoming whatever Indiana became. I don't even know what the record was.

But I remember when we were talking, I was like, man, they go to Indiana. Like in August, that was a big deal. They go to Notre Dame, which ended up being a good win for them. But then they kind of did OK. Conference play was OK for them. I don't know, man. I I I really think they would have gotten a nod and I would have enjoyed a steak on. I will do it. We're still going to do it.

We'll still go out to dinner. I think that you guys going to LA for the Super Bowl. Yes, yeah, done. OK, dinner out there. Yes. And I do think Cincinnati, if you put it into perspective, they did OK. Like they, Alabama, it's hard to beat a team that has 30, 35 stars. Yeah, they do that to a lot of people. Right. You know, I don't think it's fair to lump the group of five.

And if Cincinnati would have won or if they got or they lost, I wouldn't get a I would never like lump Cincinnati into. Well, there you go. That's why the group of five doesn't get a chance. I don't feel that way at all. I just think Alabama just took a rubber hose out. You know, it wasn't a crowbar. It wasn't a crowbar.

It was just a rubber hose and just kind of bruised them up and just told them, you know, get out of here. Yeah, slap them around for a little bit. It was, yeah, I mean, it was it's just it's a totally different, you know, level of athlete strength, speed, all that stuff. But I we've seen no more on it was no more on display in that game than the Michigan correct Georgia game. Correct. Oh, my gosh.

The Michigan offensive line. Think about what they did against Ohio State and the Big Ten. And they went in against Georgia and it was it looked like, I don't know, a bunch of NFL players snuck in to hard rock and got into some Georgia uniforms, defensive linemen, and it was just they just overwhelmed them. They had no had a chance. They had no time. I do think Michigan had a weird game plan at times where they were trying

to go sideline to sideline and like Georgia will just if you've watched Georgia at all this year, if you try to do anything within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage, they have faster and stronger guys than everyone. But you have to beat them deep. You have to. The problem was they didn't have enough time to throw the ball often. They couldn't get anything on with the Son Haskins and Blake Corum. I mean, they've been a they've been a run the ball play action team all year. And when you can't run the ball, your play action games gone.

And then you're just trying to even I felt like some of their perimeter stuff. It was with jet sweep. It was almost like, hey, guys, we're going this way. You know, it was very, very predictable to kind of set up Georgia. And then like you said, Georgia with the Kobe Dean and those guys, they can fly to the football. So those games are behind us. And now it sets us up for a rematch with with Georgia and Bama, which should be

outstanding. Yeah. In the SEC Championship, Nick Saban was saying, you guys gave us some of that yummy rat poison this week, because nobody was for the first time when Nick Saban saying like people were doubting Alabama. I think he's kind of right. People were doubting Alabama going into that game. And we looked like idiots. I felt so dumb after that game. I was like, I can't believe I actually died at Alabama.

It happened to me. I know. All of us did. All of us did. Yeah. And now there's they've got the rematch going on. And I have to try to figure out, wait, now does Georgia have all the yummy rat poison from getting beaten by Alabama? Or can Alabama is there still a way that Nick Saban can set his team down and say, OK, guys, nobody believes they're underdogs? No, I don't care what Vegas says.

You're what you're saying. Think about this. Twelve weeks of football, we were we held Georgia on a pedestal. And then there was a gap and there was everybody else. Twelve weeks. And so when Georgia went against Alabama, we thought it'd be competitive because it's Nick Saban, but there's no way you can be that Georgia defense. Stetson, Bennett, whatever, it doesn't matter.

Georgia's defense, they're going to win the game. And 10 nothing looked great. They were doing what they do to everybody. And then you got it. I mean, of course, Bryson Young ended up making plays. Jameson Williams and they just went to another level offensively. And but there's nothing. I don't think either team, maybe Georgia, I don't know if any team can play up.

They don't respect us. We're going to show them because in college football, that works. Eighteen to twenty two year old guys, they feed off of that. But I don't know. Other than Georgia, like you said, they just lost and maybe they're pissed off and maybe they show up ready to go and they're out to get revenge. Maybe you could play that angle up. But I don't I don't sense the same kind of buildup where it's real

decisive and obvious on one side like the last time. What about the element of this game? I I still do think Georgia is a better team than Alabama. And I think that they've been better all year. Kirby smart, though, like is Nick Saban his boogeyman at this point? Because if it feels like one of those games that if Georgia and I don't want to the Georgia fans are going to get very triggered by what I'm about to say. But if Georgia can't complete the deal this year, it feels like it might never

happen because this is like they are really, really good. They've been good all year. Alabama has not been as good as Alabama has been in the past. And it's just they can't get over that hump. They can't they can't beat the boogeyman here. Fair. When I say when I think about Alabama's defense and I ask you guys this, there's Will Anderson, number 31, who's just special. Outside of him.

How many guys remind you of the old Alabama defenses that Christian Harris, a great player, Jordan Battles, I mean, they've got talent, obviously, it's Alabama. But I'm talking about those guys that you turn it on years like Mika Fitzpatrick, where you're just like, holy cow, you know, he's the first rounder. I just doesn't feel like they they have that talent that they've had in the past. Doesn't mean they're still not a great team, obviously. But what your point is well taken. And I think Georgia, they've been recruiting.

Now, they've had one arm tied behind their back with their offense. They've had George Pickens, who's as good a receiver as there is in the country. Had an ACL in spring. You guys have been seeing the number one. He's come back a little bit the last three games. Jermaine Burton, number seven, who caught a big touchdown against Michigan. He's been hurt most of the year. Here's Jackson, number 10, dinged up almost most of the year.

So they've been they've been more running backs and tight ends all year. And now now more so, even in the last game, they played Bama, they've got some receivers that can get vertical. And I think they have more weapons at their disposal to try to attack Alabama. But what you're saying is fair. This this Georgia team has been building for this. Kirby, you go back and look at those games. The game that Tua threw at the Monty Smith and overtime.

I mean, they were winning the whole game. Next year, when Jalen Hertz gets benched for Tua, he comes off the bench in the SEC championship. George is winning the whole game. Remember the fake punt to Justin Field? He was the personal protector. They come all the way back and in Alabama wins that game led by Jalen Hertz. So they've definitely had their moments.

They're favored to win in Atlanta this year and couldn't get it done. So, yeah, there's a little bit of an if not now win kind of vibe. And I think it's it's as mental of a hump as it is physical. Right. And it's good, you know, with Kirby trying to beat his former head coach. Right. Yeah. How much do you think that actually plays into his preparation for the game? If you're a Nick Saban protégé, do you spend, you know, days thinking,

like trying to think one step ahead of coach Saban? Like, OK, here's here's what he used to do when I worked for him. So here's what I'm going to do to counteract that. Or do you just go out there and you call whatever the game plan is that you think is best for your team? I think it's more about you definitely are prepping. You're you're looking at that game in Atlanta, you know, in college football. I know in pros, we see it all the time when guys play twice.

But in college, it's very unusual to have another chance to play in a game. So I think you're you're studying that you're studying tendencies. You're you're not going back to your time. Now, the build up, the psychological aspect of it, like what he does the night before the game, what he does the day of the game, how he tries to get an advantage on his opponent. You have you you're privy to that because you experienced with him. But as far as the actual game planning and the XO of the matchup,

it's all about what happened in Atlanta. Are they going to run the same stuff? Are they going to? What wrinkles do we anticipate? Because we got to be ready to adjust. But I think it adds to it. Instead of Alabama playing Ohio State or Michigan or somebody like that, you know, they're playing a team that they just saw. And you wonder how much of that same game plan

Alabama will use considering how well it worked. One last thing, Mechie, John Mechie not being in the game is big. You know, he's a 1,000 yard receiver. Fantastic players not playing. He got hurt in this game last time they played. So if I'm if I'm if I'm Kirby, I'm literally taking a guy no matter where number one goes, if he's in the slot, if he's to the field, the motions over to the end of the boundary.

I'm jamming his ass at the line of scrimmage. Every single snap with a safety over top. And I'm making either Brian Robinson win the game, running the tight ends, you know, that they have the two and Bingsley make another receiver that we're not as familiar with, make someone else. But James Williams destroyed them. The last game they played, he can't beat me. He cannot beat me would be my my biggest key to this game.

Yeah, I do think that Mechie being out is actually a sneaky big piece of this because he's been like this for the last couple of years. He's never been the best receiver on that team. Some might say he hasn't been like the second best receiver on the team at times. But he's always a guy that is absolutely a threat that you can't forget about. And he's not just some guy that's popping up on the depth chart, replacing someone he's been there. And he's been making plays every week, week in, week out.

Just a real solid guy. Are you as big a college? Are you a bigger college football fan or? I'm a much bigger NFL fan. You're a bigger NFL? Yeah, but I love Mechie. I've loved him for the last like two years. I've been saying that like he is the glue that holds this team together.

OK, you're breaking it down there a little bit for me on Mechie. That was that was a lot of film, Kurt. Yeah. Yeah. I ground over. I actually I feel bad for you because you don't get to you don't get to watch the coaches room during the simulcast when you've got like I'm going to miss. I'm I'll DVR it. You've got Steve Dazio like ordering pizza for everybody.

Yes. It's it's great, man. All right. Well, Kirk, thank you so much, man. We'll see you in LA. We'll also see you on Monday night. We're very excited. This is the other part. I know that people get upset because it's always, you know, it seems like it's always the SEC. I'm so excited for this game. They're the two best teams.

It's not close to it. Like what do you say? Into the day, whether it was a 12 team playoff or 30 team play, whatever you want to do. I mean, the two best teams are playing each other. I thought Michigan, honestly, I thought they were one of the best teams, the way they played and the way they finished their year. I mean, they were doing that at the end of the year. But Georgia beat them and dominated them.

So they get a chance and they should. And as you said, it's the two best. Let's see who wins it. Yes. Yeah. Oh, and also, good luck. You're calling an NFL game on Saturday, right? Oh, yeah. Monday night football on Saturday night. You've got the Chiefs Broncos.

Do you need any help? Any prep for that? Because Patrick is good. Yeah, just say Patrick Mahomes cheat code. Yeah, Travis Carlson. That guy's a cheat code. But like, but I remember watching some of these shows on ESPN early in the year and they're like, he's broke.

His game is broke. And I'm like, how's he broke? You know, I mean, he he threw a few picks, had a few bad games, but it seems like he's doing OK for himself right now. Yeah, I'd say he's OK. He's pretty good player, pretty good player to see them on Saturday and then head to Andy right up to the game. I love it.

Hardest working man in showbiz. All right, we'll see you in LA, Herbie. All right, guys, take care. I appreciate it. Thanks, man. Good talking to you. Kirk Herbst, who was brought to you by our good friends who are at BetterHelp. You can go to betterhelp.com slash PMT and you can get 10% off your first month.

This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp Online Therapy. We talk about BetterHelp a lot on the show. And this month we're discussing some of the stigmas around mental health. For example, some people think that you should wait until things get bad before you go to therapy, but that's not necessarily true. Therapy is a tool to utilize before things get worse. It can help you avoid those lows. A lot of people think that therapy is for quote unquote crazy people,

but therapy doesn't mean that something's wrong with you. It means that you recognize that all humans have emotions. We need to learn to control them, not to avoid them. And we've been taught that mental health should not be a part of normal life, but that's wrong, too. I think we we talk a lot on the show and you hear a lot in sports these days about how mental health has come such a long way. It's not just people saying mental health has come such a long way.

It's actually emphasizing the fact that everyone could probably benefit from talking to a therapist from time to time, seeing somebody who is a professional that can help you get through certain emotions, help you feel better. It actually is a great tool that you can have talking to somebody who will listen and who can help you overcome some of the larger emotional swings that you might have in your life. So give it a try. I see why over two million people have used BetterHelp online therapy.

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And now, Jimmy Graham. And now for something completely different. OK, we now welcome on a very special guest. It is five time pro bowler, Chicago Bear, formerly a saint as well. Also a packer and a seahawk all over the place. It is Jimmy Graham, one of the best tight ends of all time. He's also nominated for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award. So each team in the NFL nominates one guy.

Jimmy Graham got that for the Bears. He's doing great work. Let's talk about the Jimmy Graham Foundation first. So what is the Jimmy Graham Foundation doing? And were you surprised when you got nominated by the Bears, you know, as being the guy? Yeah, well, first, thanks for having me. You know, it's it's it's an honor to be on part of my take, you know, obviously, and appreciate all the things that you guys do.

And some of the most entertaining content I've ever seen. So I appreciate you guys letting me on. Yes, for myself. So the Jimmy Graham Foundation, we basically provide flight experiences to veterans of any war and young underprivileged kids. And that all happens in the helicopter that I rebuilt that fall in the Vietnam War. We throw and host big events, but a lot of is really, you know, to to thank and honor our veterans and then to give these flight experiences

and and days at the airport to where I can impress upon these young kids to get more involved with the STEM program and how much how many job opportunities and opportunities that there are within the aerospace technology industry, you know, through engineering and whatnot. And even a mechanic or, you know, there's all these jobs available. And I think that there's a lot of underprivileged kids who just are never exposed to that world. Yes, I was doing some reading about you and seeing you are very much an aviation enthusiast, your flight enthusiast, your pilot.

You've got like five different licenses. We're really smart, too. I think we consider ourselves to be aviation buffs. How do planes fly? Well, there's a, you know, energy lift and dry coefficient. And really, you just need, I tell most people, you know, to to make a plane go, you need you need some cash because you got to be able to afford to gas. But yeah, yeah, you know, I've been I've been I've been basically flying planes

as long as long as I've been playing football after my rookie year. I went and got my my first license and I've I've gotten, you know, eight or nine or 10 licenses since. And, you know, I fly a little bit of everything. I'm a commercial helicopter pilot, commercial multi-engine pilot. I'm an aerobatic policy plane pilot and just kind of the gamut. So, you know, I go often and I give these experiences, you know, I give these moments and and and really just share with a lot of people,

you know, my life and, you know, how the sky's the limit. And, you know, to take a kit up and do aerobatics or, you know, really, really in the helicopter is a special moment, you know, obviously because I'm a dumb jock and, you know, it really shows, improves that, you know, it doesn't matter where you start, no matter your cards are, you know, you can you can determine your own destiny and and, you know, you try to put in the work. Yeah, as a pilot, I've always I've always wanted to ask a pilot this.

How do you feel about people clapping when the plane lands? Um, it's always pretty interesting, you know, especially, especially when you're dealing with the commercial airlines, you know, they're they're part 135. So, you know, they go through some pretty rigorous maintenance inspections and those pilots are trained. And, and, you know, there's there's so much work that goes into that. You know, the if you're looking to the numbers, it's it's it's very few and

far between, you know, especially when when you understand, you know, how these how these aircraft operate, you know, they have these cat five landings now. So, you know, even in fog, you'll basically have the plane land itself. But, you know, I mean, it's always funny. You know, I just always kind of laugh when when especially, especially on our team, you know, every team I've been on, everybody knows I'm a pilot. So the minute that there's a bump, you know, everybody's screaming my name, ask me what's happening.

You know, that's always fun. It sounds like you're saying that that planes have become, you know, able to fly themselves, that you think that it's inappropriate to clap for the pilot when you land. But what if you're clapping for the plane? Yeah. Yeah. I think you should more or less clap for the plane. Yeah. I mean, now most of the landings are done by hand, you know,

obviously because you got to stay current and but but really every plane now, especially trip sevens and stuff like that, they all have cat five landing capabilities. So, you know, that if something was really going on, you know, those things are pretty much going to land themselves in Fox. So, you know, I always think it's funny, honestly. So let's talk some football. I it's crazy how unbelievable your career has been and how you've been so good for so long that I think a lot of people forget

not that you didn't play. You played basketball at Miami, but that you played so little football at Miami. At what point? So you what was your numbers in the your one year in Miami football? It was like 17 catches, right? Yeah. I mean, I was I was just a hope and a wish. You know, I was out there just just trying to learn how to play and you know, just I personally didn't even think I was going to get drafted or even go down

fell. So that was I did all that because I thought I was on the military. You know, that's really where my head was. And so it just all kind of took a turn. So when when you make the transition, did you did anyone sit you down and like, hey, listen, dude, you ever you're you're a good basketball player. You play Division one basketball, but you average four and four. Like, this is not going to work out. Why not try football?

Or like, did someone have that hard conversation with you? And then it all clicked and was like, all right, let's fucking do this. I had I had some pretty big influences. Donna Shalala was one of them. You know, she was the University of Miami president. She loved me. She honored me at graduation and always kind of believed in me, especially since I found out every game.

She told me like my my sophomore year that I was playing the wrong sport after like my second time I fell on the road. And then, honestly, kind of one of the bigger kind of names and people who got involved pretty early was Bernie Kosar. You know, Bernie Kosar, yeah, he met me randomly. And, you know, it was it was like just random at a barbecue. I ran into Bernie and, you know, he had a football. So he was throwing the football with me in someone's backyard.

This is a no lie story. And, you know, after him telling me about the NFL and surgeries and this and all he had been through, he looked at me and said, Hey, man, you could be a playmaker in the NFL. What the hell is this old man talking about? So, you know, just kind of fast forward, you know, he he was a kind of a big a big convincing arm for, you know, for me getting into football and, you know, really just trying it out because, you know, this this guy,

Bernie, you know, told me that that I one day can make some plays. That's incredible. I mean, obviously there's sounds like there's a lot of people in your life that that helps you make that decision. But for the purpose of this show and headlines, we are going to distill it down to if Jimmy Graham never goes to a barbecue with Bernie Kosar and tosses around a football, he never makes the NFL and has an incredible career. So thank you.

That's a great, I mean, Bernie Kosar, change your life and change everyone who watches football's life. No, no, you know, I mean, I haven't seen him in a while, but, you know, obviously you're just incredibly thankful for, you know, him that, you know, saw this 21 year old kid and and, you know, after 30 minutes of just talking shit was like, Hey, I think you could be a playmaker in NFL. So it's a pretty life changing. That's crazy.

So the other part of the equation I never really understand when guys switch sports, switch positions, because, you know, we'll watch and a guy will go from guard to tackle and be like, why can't you do that? You you went from basketball to football playing tight end. At what point in your career in the NFL were you like, OK, I got this, like I got this, I've learned everything, you know, obviously you learn new things every now and then, but you felt comfortable and it was not trying to figure out like actually how to learn the game at that level.

Man, for me, there was so much learning on the job. I mean, most of my first ever were all in NFL games. You know, it's it's, you know, most of my first ever were all on big TV games, you know, either good or bad, you know. So I had to kind of figure out and kind of have a kind of a kind of a small memory, you know, just just to move on and not live in them, you know, not rest on my laurels or not rest on the mistake that I did, because I literally have never seen that in my entire life, you know, and, you know, even I would say

going in, you know, after I became a starter in my second year, kind of midway through the season, I would say about week eight, just realizing just I was bigger and faster than basically everybody in the NFL and realizing it kind of then, you know, it was one of the things where, you know, early, I mean, I think at the time, you know, I mean, the year before I had five touchdowns and I was, you know, making plays or whatnot. But until that year, you know, I think that's the year me and Grant kind of went up against each other for the, for the most yards, just like 13 something.

Kind of midway through that year is when it kind of clicked like, you know, I'm actually just bigger and faster than everybody. Yeah. No, I can go and I can go out here and embarrass people. And then, you know, just kind of, that's the kind of mindset that I took on. You know, obviously I had a great quarterback, great scheme with Sean Payton. And, you know, they kind of built me, you know, to, to be just an aggressor, you know, to just want to want to embarrass people.

And, you know, those, those years I was there and the moments that we had are, you know, legendary and special things I'll never forget the rest of my life. Honestly, you got to set up an archetype of tight end that I think people have been chasing for a while, which is like some people say, oh, you can just go out and get like a Jimmy Grand type guy, former college basketball player, not really realizing that there are a few guys that are 6'6", 260, very athletic with great hands. They can outjump everybody on the field too.

And you see a lot of guys like try to make that transition. And a lot of times it doesn't work out. What do you think is the one thing that's kind of separated you that allowed you to really excel as a tight end where a lot of guys, you know, whether it be from, you know, certain blocking assignments or just the grind of, you know, a training camp in the summer might have weeded out some of the other guys. Yeah, you know, I mean, over the last 12 years, decade, I've spoken to almost every one of those guys on the phone, you know, and, you know, I've had my opinion

piece to their coach on what I thought I needed to work on. And I mean, I've spoken to so many guys, you know, it's just, you know, just kind of how it is. But for me, I always, you know, I always ask the guy, you know, like, what's your why, you know, why do you want to do this? You know, it was for the money, it's not worth it, because you won't make it. I always say that I think my childhood had a lot to do with it. You know, I gave myself another option, you know, and, you know, from the things that I went through as a kid, you know, I just play with this type of intensity

and tenacity that, you know, I was willing to, you know, I mean, I was willing to die on certain place out there. And that's kind of how I took it most of my career, you know, at big moments, you know, I'm just man to man. I always tell myself, you know, I'm willing to die right now. And I think that that's the mentality you have to have when you get into this league, especially when you come from basketball or you come from an experience where you really don't know what you're doing. You know, you just out here running around trying not to get slapped over the middle.

So for me, that was kind of my mental piece. And, you know, I mean, at times, many times, even in my older career, you know, big moment, you know, you got to make a play and, you know, in my mind, you know, I'm willing to die for it. So I think that's kind of the big separate. So we had this debate because opt-outs are obviously all the rage in college football and everyone's talking about love of the sport. Can you be very successful in the NFL if you don't truly love football? It's a tough question, because it sounds like you obviously love football,

saying, I'm willing to die on this play. Well, it sounds like, you know, you know, you're why, as you said. And so if you have a strong why, then you can do things like that could simulate love for the sport, because you actually have a greater purpose in that and football is a means of getting there. Yeah, I mean, if you have a beast of a why, the how you get there and all the sacrifices are going to matter. And, you know, I mean, I think there's a lot of guys, why is it a little different?

You know, a lot of guys are trying to provide for the families. You know, a lot of guys come from some some pretty savage situations. And, you know, this, you know, this is it for them. So their why is that. And, you know, when when you're up against a desperate man, you know, there's there's not many things he's wanting to go through to get there. But, you know, I mean, I think in the end, you've got to you've got to love the game and you've got to love to compete. You know, that that that at the core of it is everything

because it'll catch up with you at some point. You know, these off seasons, you can't you can't spend on on yachts and out here on vacation and having a good time. You've got to spend time working. You know, you've got to be under the squad rock and you've got to take no vacations for six years so that you can reach the pinnacle. And so you can reach all these dreams and goals you have for yourself. You know, if you don't want it for yourself, you know, I mean, it's simply not going to happen.

So me, I would say what's your why one. But, you know, you have to you have to like the the competition of this game and what it brings. And if you do, then all those little things that add up, it's not going to matter. It could be also you're you're searching for your why is your why just constantly searching for it. Yeah, find it eventually. Yeah, I mean, especially when you're young, you know, you're 21 years old and 20s, you know, you have no idea, you know, you have no idea what you're what's ahead.

You have no idea kind of really what's going on. So I mean, even me, I understood that, you know, my why and what I was going to sacrifice for. But I think, you know, I mean, that's kind of something I talk to a lot of our young guys about, you know, with their lives and what they have going on. And I hear, you know, this and that, you know, I always try to guide them in the right way so that, you know, they don't make any of these mistakes that might, you know, stumble their career. I like Big Cat's why, though, just kind of like your why is trying to find your why you're searching. I think Leaves of Grass was written about that.

Looking for your why is your why. Yeah, right. Bouda did that for a while, too. So people forget that you're the reason why you're not allowed to dunk a football over the crossbar in the NFL. Yes. You broke the upright. I think that was in Atlanta back in 2013. You just you dunked on everybody and you ruined Arthur Smith's goalpost.

Did you did you ever apologize to him? No, you know, I I think of I look back at, you know, all my times in that old stadium, you know, I always said I own a little bit of real estate there. You know, I scored a bunch on them. I won a lot of games in there. And you know, it was always just a crazy rivalry. But now I'll I'll do it again. And I remember, you know, Mark Ingram jumping on my back and as I'm punching a goal post, you know,

I mean, as a big statement, you know, we we were always battling with Matt and that team, you know, to, you know, to try to win the NFC South. And, you know, it was high scoring games. Wherever the ball at the end, we're always one. So no, I'll never apologize. When I'm at about as the 32,000 dollars, I got fine in preseason for dunking the next year. OK, that's that's fair to be upset about that. Were you surprised when it broke?

Because I've seen a lot of guys dunk before. But I've never seen a guy pull the axis of an upright offense offense kilter. Yeah, I mean, back in the day, my last two years in New Orleans and my first year in Seattle, I mean, I weighed two and made pounds. I mean, I was a big dude. I was a lot bigger than I am now. I was just I remember weighing in kind of before one of the games and I was two to 88. And which is not.

Yeah, I mean, obviously, that probably why blew my blew my damn knee out. But, you know, it was just it was also a different league back then. You know, I mean, guys are huge. You know, Mike linebackers, the earlackers. You know, Ray Lewis says, I mean, all these guys were 250, 255, and you can't survive as a linebacker in the box like that anymore. You know, you've got to be fast one of four nowadays. So, you know, you know, I mean, it's just a different game.

Yeah. Who? So so the famous Jimmy Graham contract. I'm a wide receiver. I should be paid as a wide receiver on the franchise tag was an incredible back and forth. If you don't remember it, the franchise tag for the Saints, the franchise tag, it was like something about an eight million. And if he was classified as a wide receiver, it was like 12 or 13 million. So it was a big difference with what is it?

More than that? Tied in with six million and receiver was 12 and a half. OK, so even more than that. So six and a half million that you're you're fighting for my the question that has always stuck in my head from the entire back and forth. Who fucked up and forgot to take tight end out of your Twitter bio? Well, prison, that had nothing to do with it. But it was cited.

It was cited as part of the evidence. Yes, it was. Oh, there was so much stuff cited. I mean, oh, my goodness. I mean, this like I still have like the case file. It's it's it's humongous. Like it's boxes and boxes of shit. And, you know, it's just one of these things where I, you know, I never held out.

I never asked for a penny. You know, I played my rookie deal out. And when it came time, they franchised me because it was six million bucks. And they said, when two years were franchised, you twice should be 30. And then we'll get ready. And I was like, what is it? I'm not doing that. You know, for me, I told him, hey, if you give me one dollar more than

Gronk, I'll take it and Gronk signed a deal two years early. I just wanted a dollar more and they wouldn't do it. So, you know, then that's, you know, that's when things get muddy, things get weird. And, you know, I mean, it's that's when, you know, the the whole aspect of the business takes over, unfortunately, you know, and then you got to stand up for yourself and obviously they're going to stand up for themselves. And, you know, I mean, I know if I would have really won the case, then it would have been probably the way they pay players would probably be a little different now.

You know, it was going to be more like there's like in the NBA, there's not a big man doesn't make big man money and a playing guard doesn't make our money. You know, you just make playmaker money. And I knew that there was a few guys that were falling underneath this category. And so that was kind of the big tug away, you know, for me, you know, winning that and probably why Sean Payton testified against me in court. And, you know, what happens after that? Is it awkward?

Is it awkward that you had that you had your coach testify against you? Um, you know, yeah, yeah, obviously, um, you know, we had a couple of conversations and, you know, for me, it kind of hurt because, you know, I mean, I, I really saw him as like a father figure, you know, he, you know, he built me, you know, I mean, he, he created me, he helped me become who I was. And, you know, I, you know, I thought it was more than that. So, you know, obviously the business kind of took, the business aspect kind of took over and, and, uh, you know, equally, I think because he was being like that, you

know, I, I kind of stood, uh, stood my ground and, and, you know, uh, you know, I turned into a man at all seasons. Did you ever consider maybe converting to Mormonism? Because that seems to be the key for Sean Payton to want to pay like nebulous in between type guys, exorbitant amount of money. Well, you know what, um, I would say definitely kind of since then, I think guys in that, um, I think guys in that place, you know, who earned a young got paid, you know, and they just figured it out.

You know, I think Kamara, um, I think the receiver, you know, I think they just kind of gave those guys the bag just cause they realized, hey, you know, we don't, you know, we don't want like a, a leader franchise guy to, to, to, you know, have to get out here and have to be traded. I think, you know, I mean, I think a lot was learned kind of through the whole experience, you know, unfortunately. And yeah, I mean, you know, uh, you know, and that's kind of how it is. You weren't around for the year where, where Sean Payton was, uh, suspended,

right? So you're not going to be in the Kevin James movie. Oh, no, I was there. Oh, you were there for that. So who, who would you want to play you or who does play you in the, in the Kevin James movie? Oh, do they put me in there? I mean, obviously the rock, you know, that's just a good answer for anything. I keep it in Miami.

You want to hang out with tonight. The rock, like always a rock dance. Pete Davidson, I could see playing you. That'd be kind of cool. It's kind of. Dude's a stick man. He's slow. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Um, all right. So I'm a Bears fan. I got to ask how awkward is it in house hall right now? Um, awkward, uh, you know, guys are, guys are just focused on, you know, you know, and, you know, right, you know, and, and, uh, you know, staying healthy and, and, um, you know, you know, we're going to figure out who our quarterback is Sunday and then kind of go from there.

That was a great answer, Jimmy. Wow. Yeah. Great answer. Are you focused on controlling what you can control right now? Yeah, that's, that's all we're doing here, man. And, and, uh, you know, sometimes it's off season. We'll get back together.

Jimmy, talk about, talk about the mindset that goes into your, uh, your preparation for this Sunday. I mean, yeah, where are we at mentally? No, I mean, um, uh, you know, hopefully this is my last game. You know, uh, that's, that's kind of where my mindset is. This is, is, uh, uh, you know, obviously, you know, I want to be here for my boy Cole, commit, you know, make sure that, you know, he keeps rising and keeps learning, but you know, for me as well, I got to figure out what's

next for me, you know, and, and, uh, I got to figure out if there's an opportunity for me to go onto, um, you know, um, you know, uh, contender next year and kind of see what happens. You know, obviously, um, there's a lot of moving parts all around the NFL. And, and, you know, we'll see, we'll see who retires and who doesn't. And, and, you know, if I keep playing. Uh, so that actually, it just triggered something in my brain. You were part of the famous 11 tight end room that Ryan Pace put together

where he's like, I'm going to try to Pokemon, collect all of the tight ends in the entire NFL and do this going into the training camp. What was, did you have enough seats in the room? Like what was that was? Did someone have to stand? How'd that work out? Um, you know, obviously tight end positions are big, uh, it's that kind of always gets hurt, you know, kind of always gets banged around.

And, and, you know, I mean, I think they were, you know, just trying to figure out, you know, what was going to be the best, you know, moving forward, especially, you know, with how much, you know, you know, that they were supposed to be using us. So, um, yeah, it was just, uh, you know, I mean, it was definitely interesting 11, 11 tight ends. Yeah. There's a lot of people guys where they're like clicks inside the tight end room.

Like this is our title room is pretty close and you know, I'm old. So the more the mayor, because that means the less I have to practice. Um, so, so, you know, no, we're all very close, man. We, uh, even, you know, however many we had, I don't even remember what it was, you know, um, um, you know, I mean, that's kind of how some of the off seasons are every team at some point loads up on some position, trying to figure out what their future is and kind of what the president. So, so I asked you kind of a awkward question because obviously it seems

like there's change coming to the bears. Hopefully, uh, I'll ask you an easier question. How big of a dickhead is Aaron Rodgers? Oh, you're being serious. Jimmy's nodding. He's saying, yep. He just, he just, did you see that week? I didn't see that.

I didn't see the way he saw the way I didn't see the wink, but I saw the thumbs up. Yeah. No, trust me. Aaron Rodgers is my guy, man. He, uh, um, you know, obviously I spent two years there. Um, you know, it was kind of, uh, it was kind of a weird two years. Obviously this mic got fired and, you know, new offense and, you know,

just a lot going on kind of those two years there that kind of built up into what it is now, but, um, you know, me, me and Aaron are extremely close. We still talk every week. Um, so no chance, no chance. That's a lot. Yeah. Every, and, um, you know, I mean, obviously bless, you know, all the times that we spent together and, you know, obviously the therapies and stuff,

it's, um, you know, I mean, I owe them and we'll always be close. Always. And that's, that's, that's real. Has he told you, um, how much LSD he did this off season? No, um, I don't know his personal or deals. Um, you know, he's over there in California doing the same man, but, um, you know, he's had, he's had a hell of a, sounds like you're really close to him. Well, well, I have to live in Miami.

So we get on it every once in a while, FaceTime, catch up, talk, talk about things and, and, uh, you know, we share some, some similar opinions on very many things. Why don't we FaceTime him right now? We should just FaceTime him right now. Yeah, I'm probably going to do that. I mean, if you're, you guys FaceTime all the time, I would never do that. Never.

And you guys know, first of all, if, if, if randomly somebody FaceTime me while on the show, I'd be pissed. So we used to do that all the time to our guests. They know what actually got, we had Tiger Woods on Scott van Pelt called Tiger Woods. No big deal. Uh, yeah. I remember we had Michael Jordan on.

Yeah. We had Michael Jordan on. Denny Hamlin called Michael Jordan. So it works. Who's the most famous person on your cell phone? The most famous person on my cell phone. Um, wow, um, probably Mark Cuban, maybe Mark, I think you can do better than Mark.

Yeah. He's really, he's not that famous. We know him. Yeah, he's awesome. Right. Yeah. No, he is awesome. Yeah.

He's not, if we know him, then he's not that famous. What about Obama? Well, he's not my cell phone. Oh, yeah. I went to the, I went to the White House a couple of times to speak for him, but that's it. Oh, no, but you, you got Trump in your cell phone then. Trump, no, I, I saw him at a, I saw him over in Palm Beach one time.

But that's it. That's it. Um, all right. So I had one last question. This has been awesome. Everyone, uh, please check out the Jimmy Graham Foundation. He is nominated for the Walter Peyton man of the year. Uh, it'd be nice if the Bears could win something, uh, Super Bowl week for once.

So we're rooting for you, Jimmy. Um, so you are a fantasy football. Hall of Famer, your 2013 week or season was insane when you had 16 touchdowns. How often do people come up to you and, and like mention that? Cause I'd have to imagine a decent amount every day of my life. It doesn't, it doesn't matter where it was. It doesn't matter where I'm at. Almost it's anywhere every day.

I, I hear it nonstop. I mean, I've been pulled over by a cop, you know, speeding. And he's just like, Hey man, thanks. Thanks for the win. And you know, it's just, it's just nuts. You know, it's, it's, uh, I, you know, I mean, I think fantasy football has just propelled just offensive players on a different strides for your man. It's, it's, it's been great for the game.

It really has, but it's crazy. Cause at that, that 2013 season, it was also, um, it was like kind of that moment where it was a cheat code where you're like, Oh wow, tight ends can do like a bunch for us here. And also that I should mention the 2011 season, when you had 11 tight touchdowns as well, you like changed everything. So people, it's like Lydani and Tomlinson and Jimmy Graham. Those are the two guys that I think of in my mind where I'm like, I can remember

those specific years and it was so fucking awesome to have them on your team. Yeah. I mean, it's, I mean, still to this day, I get everybody in the home, just always, um, actually most of the people who probably donate to the, to the foundation is always linked to something on fantasy football, you know, paying it back. Yeah. I like that. Yeah.

Just paying it forward. So, you know, I appreciate all of you have been paying it for the last couple years for the foundation. Really appreciate it. Very cool. My last question is, do you get invited to hang out with George Kittle and Greg Olson and all those other tight ends when they get together and they do their little sleepovers? No, you know, it's, it's kind of weird, you know, this, this off season, you know, I

didn't get invited to the tight end, to the tight end extravaganza. Wow. Yeah. Which is, yeah, I was, I was kind of disappointed. You know, I, I told, um, I told Clance, um, I told some of the older tight ends, uh, this year, maybe next year, the same week, um, you know, I'll throw the, um, I'll throw the tight end mafia, me, Jeremy Shockey, uh, down in Miami or, or down in the Bahamas. And, and, uh, you know, we'll have our own little thing.

I like that. A rival tight end get together. Or you could do like, uh, uh, tight ends that should be wide receivers or vice versa. It's just you and Kelvin Benjamin hanging out. That'd be cool. Listen, again, that was all just to get a contract, but, um, you know, it happens. I would imagine if you asked like Kittle and though, although you were trying to help tight ends, like overall, because if you got paid as a wide receiver, more guys would have gotten

paid as a wide receiver, but they probably are like, dude, you know, what are you ashamed of us? You turned your back on who we are. Yeah. I mean, I, I don't know what it is. I mean, cause, uh, co-commit went, you know what I mean? I didn't even get the invite. Cole went, you know, and, and sending me pictures of all those little buds.

But, uh, I think you've got to put the narrative out there. Like next time you talk to Chris Collins worth before a game, just be like, you know what? I actually take a lot of pride in my blocking and then have him say that on the air. He loves saying that about tight ends. You know what? Actually, this guy takes a lot of pride in his blocking out. And if you get him to say that, then maybe they'll be like, all right, he wants to get back in the club and then Kittle invites you to come hang out and wrestle for a weekend.

I assume that's what they do. They just hang out and they just, let's go, let's do it. Ash heads. Yeah. If not, you guys can me tie them off you down, down to Miami, me, Jeremy Shockey, all the boys that get back together. Kelvin Benjamin. Yep.

Okay. Perfect. Awesome. Thank you, Jimmy. Appreciate it so much. And, uh, yeah. Good luck with the rest of the year. Just try not to linger around like the water cooler.

I'm sure that would probably be weird to get caught in a conversation. We're all cured, man. Yeah. Just be you. You know. I appreciate you guys having me, man. And, and thanks for the plug to the foundation, man. And, uh, you know, I'll keep watching and hopefully I see you guys soon.

Okay. Awesome, man. Thanks so much. Thanks, man. Seriously though, how big of a dick is Aaron Rodgers? He's awesome. But he's awesome. You're winking again.

He's winking again. He's a man, bro. He's a man. He's a man. All right. See you, man. Thanks so much. Okay.

Thanks to Jimmy Graham and Kirk Herb Street. Let's wrap up. We do a few guys on chicks and send you on your way. Hank. Hey, dad cat, short king, the best in the office in Spank. I have a dietary question for Billy feet picks. Oh, speaking of which, Billy has supped us up. It takes takes me like 10 minutes to eat them all every day because there's like

17 of them and one of them smells and tastes horrible. So I like gagged them down. That's the fish oil. Um, it's a it's like, I don't believe I know. I actually think my my thought process is I've been so unhealthy and putting nothing good in my body that something is better than nothing. Hopefully, you know, my liver stays intact. But I'm I believe I'm going to say that.

I believe I believe in you, Billy. We got some probiotics. So we're working it from all angles. Is there is there a chance, though? I'm actually seriously concerned about kidney health. Is there a chance that what you've given me will fuck my kidneys? Well, that's why we didn't put you on creatine. OK, most of it's anti-inflammatory.

I didn't really answer the question. Yeah, good point. I totally bought it for a second. I don't think I was like, OK, yeah, good. Billy thought of everything. Nothing I gave you is like a salt or something that would be filtered. OK, Billy wrote a very good blog today. You guys should all go read it.

So he says exactly how he's going to get us all into shape. And it also gave a little peek behind his his brain into what he actually thinks of us because in the first sentence, he was like, here's how you would potentially get one tall fat guy, one skinny fat guy. And then one you call me like short. Flab. I forget what you called what you said about decent muscle building genetics. Yeah, you did.

You did say that about my genetics. And then at the end of the blog, he said, I am not a doctor. None of this is medical advice. It's bioscience from a bioscientist. No, no, that's bro science from a bro scientist. I'm reading the blog where you said bioscience from a bioscientist specifically. Something autocorrect. Specifically only for bros.

If you are not a bro, stop reading because bros don't sue bros for medical malpractice for organ failure. I like that. That's true. It's guy code. Facts. All right. So this guy, my boyfriend has IBSC.

Don't know what that means. So he drinks mere lax every day and it makes his farts and shits unbearable. What dietary changes does he need to make life with him bearable because it is rough? So he's got irritable bowel syndrome. Okay. So he's actually probably, I go the probiotic route as we just talked about. Fibers. His gut health is not, no, not with fibers, but the certain bacteria that's in his gut

probably isn't the best. And that's why he's getting some of the irritation. I've actually seen from some research that IBS can actually be helped by a lot of probiotic research. The exact ones. I don't know, but look into it. You guys ever had a hemorrhoid? No.

Nope. I've got a. Do you have one? No, I'm just curious. That's a very specific question. No, that's kind of related to what Billy was saying. You should. Hey, PMT boys.

You should get, wait, wait. You've had a hemorrhoid. No. You've definitely had a hemorrhoid. No, you should. You're doing some research. You should get on my own. Do you think you have one?

You have one? Independently, no. No. Doing some research independently. Yeah. Just only one finger at a time? Yeah. Yeah.

Have you got, have you guys gotten that thing done yet? Colnoscopy. No. No. Forty. Are you good? Okay. Hey, PMT boys.

My husband had his air pods in while I was in labor last week. Today, I learned he was listening to PMT while we welcomed our firstborn into the world. Is this a weird move and or should I be upset with him? I think it's, science has proven that listening to part of my take while your significant other has given birth is actually a very good way to welcome the child into this world. It's not a weird move. There's nothing that you, the dad can really do in this situation.

You're just there. It's not like the doctors are doing their thing. You're trying to not get in the way but also stay out of the way. It's a very hard line to walk here. So I don't think it's a problem at all. In all honesty, I have one maybe suggestion for something that you can do while your wife is giving birth. Maybe actually don't listen to a podcast while the baby is coming out.

Is that too much? No, it's, again, it's like, I don't know. He's got one headphone in. He probably shouldn't, but also it's a very emotional, weird situation. So however you cope, I'm not going to tell you how to deal with it. He probably was listening to guys on chicks thinking that we might be giving advice on how to pull the baby out. Yeah.

Listen, when my son was born on his birthday, Goni Balls gave me fucking four WNBA picks and they all lost. We all have different memories. Okay. How do I let my, how do I get my boyfriend to let go of the past? I'm a Steelers fan and he is a Seahawks fan. I can't even watch my games in peace without mad shit talking every 10 seconds because he hates the Steelers for defeating them in a Super Bowl in 2006.

Yeah. I've debated just letting go of the Steelers and becoming a Seahawks fan, but I can't do that. Born and raised Steelers, help me let him let it go. Yeah. Seahawks should have won that game. Yeah. The ref's fucked up.

The ref's absolutely fucked up. He's in the right in this one. You're very much in the wrong. I think you just have to know going into that relationship. There's always going to be that imbalance there. The little tension. Yep. All right.

We got a few of these, two more. We got a few of these ones. So this will be a general one. But hey, PFT, Big Cat, Hank, Billy, Jake, and Bubba. I joined my husband's friends' fantasy league because I needed to fill the last spot before the draft. I asked my husband if he could help me through it since I never had gone through a draft before,

but I also told him I only wanted the cutest players. I called my team League Babes. My first picks were Josh Allen, Harrison Butker. Anyways, I ended up winning the championship, beating the organizer in the finals. My husband didn't even make the playoffs. Did I ruin fantasy football for them? Probably.

Probably. They won't say it, but probably. Their passion has probably been taken out of it. A little bit. But that's one of those things where it's like, that's kind of like gaming where you think you're smart. You think you know it all. Right.

And then the person that doesn't know shit wins it, and you're like, why do I even care so much? They should. Yeah. If they hadn't realized. So it's like your fault. Yeah. Right.

If they hadn't realized already that fantasy football is like 99% luck and totally weird bounces and like a Najee Harris happens and your whole season gets fucked even if you're the best team. If they hadn't realized that by now, they would have eventually come to that realization. You just helped them along in the path. Yeah. I wouldn't be mad because fantasy football is like so fluky.

And that's why I get upset about it. And that's why I don't like talking about it. It's like you play it all year. And then it just something right one of your best players just has a bad day or Najee Harris does that. It's stupid. Also, it's undeniable that Harrison Bucker is the second most attractive player in the NFL.

Yeah. I like how they threw that one in there. Maybe just name. I don't know. Look at him. No. As you said, I think he was the second overall pick. Oh, he's a good looking guy.

Pretty good. Pretty good. Total babe. Yeah. Maybe that's, you know, no running back strategy, hot guy strategy. Yeah. Could be something there.

Do hot or hot dudes better at football? Probably not. Aaron Rodgers is kind of ugly. Yeah. You think he's ugly? He's mad ugly. Also, something between I mean this the other day. If Aaron Rodgers won the Super Bowl,

does that reverse the long hair curse? Yeah. I think it probably does. Sure. I don't know what to think about this. It's not even really a long hair. It's just a fact that long hair quarterbacks have never won a Super Bowl.

Right. So I'm saying this would. It's not a curse. It's just a demonstrable fact. It's a law of the universe. Besides Kenny Stabler. I think we found that one. He was shaggy.

Yeah. Happy New Year. Last one. Happy New Year. Big Cat, PFT, Billy and Hank. No Jake. No Bubba. My boyfriend and I.

She probably knew that Jake's owned out. Yeah. True. My boyfriend and I have been dating about a year and lived together. The other night he was moaning so loud in his sleep so I rolled over and found out he had a raging boner. I woke him up to find out what his sex dream was all about.

Only to find out he was going to battle with the Spartans. Should I be concerned or slightly turned on? Is it fear boner? Yeah. I want Billy to answer this. Go ahead Billy. Somebody who's experienced in war mode. So there is an idea that there's a cycle when dude's sleep

where they're testosterone spikes. I think that's everyone. Which causes like morning wood. So. That's a theory. No that's a fact. That's a fact. Yeah.

But like. So he could have been cycling through like high tea in his sleep and he was going to fight with the Spartans and there's a little couple side effects from that. Is the morning wood. Is that a is that a byproduct of tea cycling or is that blood. Just like blood goes to one part of your body. No.

Yeah. I think that's different. symbiotic. There's a. I think it's the first hour of your sleep is something happens. I'm pretty sure. Rem. No it's like I can't remember what what I don't know if it's

testosterone because I think it happens with women too. Like something. No I don't know. Either way we're not scientists. We're not doctors. Don't sue us. Boners. Boners spike.

That's right. Though that's that's exactly what I'm actually looking right now. It's the medical term. It is crazy to think that every dude gets morning wood like the Pope. He wakes up with with a boner. Just crazy to think about something to smoke on for a while. Thinking about other guys boners.

Yeah. Well just every guy's not other every guys. Some dudes don't wake up with boners. Some guys don't wake up. All right. Shout out those. John Madden. R.I.P.

He didn't wake up. Sad Jack cadavers have boners. What. What. Yeah. What's a cadaver. It's a dead body. I asked med school students.

All right. We'll see everyone on Friday. Oh numbers. As 92 22. 22. 88. Just qualifying myself. Don't deserve 22.

Wow. All right. Then I'm taking 18. I'm taking 18. I'm taking 18. I'm taking 18. 32. Oh my.

He would have been. That was so classy of you Jake. Oh my god. Hashtag thank you Jake. Verbal meme Derek Jeter's little nephew. I'll be back on Friday. That was incredible. Dust lights are everywhere.

Love you guys. There you go.