PTI - Cowboys Fans Yell "Pay Micah" at Training Camp

Episode Date: July 28, 2025

Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser discuss the Dallas Cowboys, Aaron Rodgers, and Paul Skenes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, sports fans, the ESPN app has all of ESPN all in one place. The ESPN app is your home to thousands of live events, ESPN shows, and originals across every ESPN network and service. And now you can check if you already have ESPN Unlimited as part of your TV package for no additional calls. Visit activate.esPN.com to learn how to access your account or sign up, then start streaming in the ESPN app. It's all of ESPN all in one place. Sign up or activate now. Pardon the interruption, but I'm Mike Wobahn. We had a three-day weekend, Tony. How did you spend it?

I'm Tony Cornhires. You're the usual, golfing, napping, wingsuit, base jumping. You ever do that? Yeah, well, you can tell me in the break what the hell that is. So you put on this suit, so you literally look like Rocky the Flying Squirrel, and then you jump, and then you fly around. I would never do this. Never. No.

I ain't. No. It's unthinkable, but you do look like Rocky the Flying Squirrel for those people who are Bullwinkle fans. Welcome to PTI, boys and girls. In today's episode, Aaron Rogers' response to Terry Bradshaw, Aaron Judge hits the IL, and Nicola Yolkich cries. But we begin today, excuse me, with Jerry Jones reacting to fans screaming at Cowboys Training Camp, Pay Micah, an obvious reference to Micah Parsons' contract dispute. Jerry said afterwards, quote, that was a faint little sound. compared to the way they were hollering last year, pay lamb.

Whoever's not in, you can count on a few hollering that, but it was a big, loud chant last year on lamb, unquote. Well, what do you think of Jerry's response to the pay mic a chance? Tony, from one cranky old man to another, about yet another, there is nothing Jerry Jones says that I pay any attention to. Nothing. because the point of trying to decipher what he says and assign meaning to it and analyze to it is a damn waste of time.

And I don't have that much. Jerry Jones likes to hear himself talk. He likes to talk. He likes to stand in a room with reporters and talk. I'm sure if there's nobody in the room, he'd stand there and talk. It's fine. He's earned it. He's a cranky old man.

He can do whatever he wants. But I'm not paying any attention. So I assign no meaning to it. It's what he likes to do. He likes to be on stage. He's not a stage parent. He's just a stage. He's a showman.

And he wants all your attention all the time. And I'm not going to give it to him. You are more inclined to do that or read the tea leaves and go into nine levels of meanings of what he says. I don't give a damn what Jerry Jones says. So without disagreeing with you on any. particular as I disagree with you on the conclusion, even though I think what you're saying is basically right. To me, this is fabulous. And I would say, I don't know that there's any owner in any sport who has more fun than Jerry Jones. These people who are yelling pay micah,

they're cowboy fans. They're not antagonists. They're not haters. They're cowboy fans. And yet Jerry with his tongue planted firmly in his cheek trolls them. And by extension, by mentioning C.D. Lambs, from last year, trolls his player, Michael Parsons, as well. I look at Jerry probably the same way as you do in this regard. He ought to be a judge on American Idol. He's just out there talking. He has a lot of fun. And I think we both agree.

He's going to pay him anyway. I mean, to me, he's more fun than Woody Johnson of the Jets. Here's what we've learned and here's what I know. He paid Dak Prescott. He paid C.D. Lamb. He's going to pay Michael. Parsons, but because he's writing the checks, he wants to get every ounce of fun out of this thing. And the reason I know he's going to pay him is that Michael Parsons has not yet said the following

words. Get me out of here. I hate it here. He's not Jimmy Butler. He's going to get paid me for a stay. All that's true, but he hurts his team in the process. Damian Woody pointed out, he's got a couple of Super Bowl rings, Damian Woody, since the time with the Cowboys have done anything. Damian Woody pointed out that when you do this, and it's fine, you can do whatever you want. But the cost is steeper. And so you pay two dudes five and seven million dollars more. And there's $12 million because you waited and you waited and you waited. And then you miss out on two players who might help your roster. So Jerry Jones does this. The Cowboys, they're not in the big action late. They're not relevant in January. So he could be

hurting his team while he's doing it. Again, I don't care about that because I don't care about the Cowboys, even though I know that most of the press. programming on this network is devoted to Jerry Jones and the Cowboys. Now, oh my God, help me, to Aaron Rogers' response to Terry Bradshaw. You may remember that the Steelers great, that would be Terry, told 103.7 the buzz that Rogers should stay in California, chew on bark, and whispered to the gods. What a great rant that was. Rogers, who, of course, signed with the Steelers in early June, said,

this weekend, quote, Terry's a legend. He won four Super Bowls. He's had a legendary career in the media, but Terry, like a lot of people, doesn't know me. I'd love to get to know Terry on a deeper level. Maybe we could chew some bark together, close quote. Tone, your thoughts on Roger's response. It's brilliant.

It's the Aaron Rogers that I thought I knew a few years back. He reaches out to Bradshaw in the most complimentary. way. He acknowledges what a great career Bradshaw has. He acknowledges how meaningful Bradshaw is in the Pittsburgh vicinity. And then he says quite reasonably, look, some of the stuff that I've said, some of the stuff that I've done may have been misinterpreted. You may not have had the real meaning or intent from it. I don't know you. You don't know me. I'd love to get to know you. And then he ends with a joke about eating the bark. Mike, you could pay a management consulting firm, $100,000. for this. And it wouldn't be any better. It's a brilliant script that Aaron Rogers has written,

and I give him all the credit in the world because he has put Terry Brattschow in a position now where Terry Brattsch has no alternative but to smile and to say, let's chat and let's eat. It's brilliant. And Terry, we'll know that. And if you paid the management consultant firm a million dollars, they screw it up. Chances are they wouldn't be smart enough to come up with what Aaron Rogers. Did Tony, like you, when I heard this, I just thought, this is the Aaron Rogers we used to see all the time, who wasn't so self-indulgent in whatever weekly appearance that he comes off like somebody you don't want to get to know. When Aaron Rogers, for years, was someone you couldn't wait to get to know and have a conversation with. I'm lucky. I got to have conversations. Let me just say this. You and I have been around Terry Bratshaw in our lives. We've listened to him. We've sat with him.

He's entertained us. Who's better to sit around with than Terry Bradshaw? The answer is nobody. Nobody. I think Aaron Rogers knows that. I want to take the position now of a Pittsburgh Steelers fan. Because up until this happened, if you were Pittsburgh Steelers fan, you could hate Aaron Raj. Say, what do we need this guy for?

He ruined the Jets. We don't want him here. But then this happens. And it's in turnaround. It's a 180. And now if you're a Pittsburgh Steeler fan, you can say, you know what? I suddenly like him.

I'm suddenly rooting for him because he didn't acknowledge. Terry Bradshaw. Smart. Got some energy. They're just so smart. Let's move to baseball. The big news over the weekend was Aaron Judge going on the aisle for 10 days because of an elbow issue,

a right flexor strain from pain after a throw from right field. When Judge returns to the Yankees, he will likely be a designated hit or moving Giancarlo's standing to the outfield. Wilbon, what does Judge's injury do to the Yankees and to Judge's season? Well, it diminishes his season and it diminishes the Yankees, particularly if he has to either be out a longer time than 10 days, or when he comes back, if he's not the Aaron Judge we've seen,

who's right there at the top of the list with Big Dumper for MVP honors in the American League. So, Tony, one of the things about Aaron Judge, I think I'm belatedly starting to realize is that Aaron Judge isn't just the best Yankee today and he's that. He's the best player on the team. He's one of the best Yankees of all time,

which is a mouthful. And not the best Yankee on the Tampa Rays. I mean, not the best player ever on it. He's one of the best players on the New York Yankees. He's going to be a monument park. Right? If he's a two-time MVP, If he gets a third, he's with like mantle and DiMaggio and Barra, my God.

So it diminishes the Yankees if, you know, if he's not there. I grant you all of that. I don't think it cripples the Yankees because they're going to be able to put him in the batting order. Shohey Atani DHS for the Dodgers. It doesn't cripple that team at all. The problem is he's a very good fielder judge. and Giancarlo has, Giancarlo Stan, haven't been out there for two or three years,

and he has tennis elbow, so who's he throwing to? My question is the same as your question. How serious is this injury? Is it something that will keep him away from the Yankees completely? Is it something that requires surgery? We've seen this before. When Aaron Judge goes in a slump, the entire Yankee production goes down.

It seems to affect everyone on the team. He's the last 11 games, and this may coincide with pain in his elbow. The last 11 games, let me get the numbers right. Batten 184 with an OPS of 750. But on the season, Mike, batten 342 with an OPS of 1,160. That's Babe Ruthland, kids. Babe Ruthland.

So if you diminish his ability to play, that hurts the Yankees. And Yankees are a solid playoff team. They're not awesome. They need this guy. Once again, he's a great player. best player. Right now. Oh, yeah. He's their best. Let's take a break. Yeah. Coming up, what's the word for the four home run performance that Nick Kurtz delivered on

Friday night? And later, did the MLS make the right call by suspending the great Leonel Messi for skipping their All-Star game? So I thought that Rogers' response was brilliant, and I thought Jerry's was self-indulgent, but fun. Jerry is fun to me. Pardon the Interruption is brought to you by Purina, your pet, our passion. Time to find out what's lighten up the littles. Let me get the first one. Let me explain. We have a summer mailbox. The regular mailbox is having some plastic surgery. Mail time. The regular one is having plastic surgery. That's why we have it.

What's your word for rookie Nick Kurtz's performance at the plate on Friday night? Here's my word. Holy bleep. That's the word. Because Tony, four home runs and a double and a single. I mean, he scores six runs in the game. This is insane. He has 19 total bases.

There's just, if you examine just each individual act, it's crazy. When you add it all up, that's why I go, holy bleep. I'm watching baseball that night. I'm watching another game and they break in on MLB. to show you what this kid is doing. It's only a 66th game. And he's sort of gangly looking. He's like 6566.

And he's just powering the ball out. Tony, another, the double almost went out. He would have had five home runs. Holy bleep. I mean, you know, this is not in the get-up era. This is all-time stuff for 140 years of Major League Baseball. Well, this is the first. Unbelievable.

Yeah. So I'm going to use an H-word as well. but it will be one word and it will be historic. As you say, four home runs, he's only the 20th player of all time to hit four home runs in one game. He's the only rookie who's ever done it. So there's four home runs. He's six for six, as you said. He has 19 total bases.

Nobody's ever had more than 19. He scores six runs and he drives in eight. Who's putting up those kinds of numbers right now? not show hey not judge not the big dumper not right now not this year you know i mean this is remarkable i you know i my first question mike was did he do this in that minor league park where the a's play and you know because i would have discounted that a little bit maybe but no i find out he does it in houston i've never heard of this kid like there's no way to be more anonymous than playing for the A's in Sacramento.

Good for him. Good for him. What's next? There's no better night, though. He's not topping this. Not ever. He can play 25 years. He can go Tom Brady living time.

Stop talking. And he's not going to top this. Stop. There's another question I want to hold up the mailbox again because it is an awful looking mailbox. Mailbox is. Here we go. Are the Pirates right to ramp up Paul Skeen's his pitch count?

No. No. I'm a guy who wants to see starting pictures out there. And Paul Skeen's must-see TV. But the pirates are out of it. They're the only team in the division, Cubs, Brewers, Cardinals, Reds. The pirates are the only team in the division out of it. So why ramp him up to what end? You're not in contention. You're not in wild card contention. He'll wind up getting about 190. any innings just with his normal starts and normal innings left? I don't get it. Yeah. Okay. So until this particular game, he hadn't thrown more than 88 pitches in any one outing since June 19th.

In this game, he threw 99 pitches. So let's not get crazy here. He didn't throw 135. He's a professional starting pitcher, and he threw 99 pitches. That's okay with me. Let me go through some numbers here. He now has 45 starts and a little under two full seasons. 266 innings total, which is about Mike, just under six innings per start.

His career ERA is 189. This year it's 183 and it's 9.9 strikeouts per nine innings. He had nine strikeouts in this game, all of them swinging. These are Walter Johnson numbers, kids. I know you love this guy, The Miz. You let me know when he's got numbers like this at this point in his career. Paul Skeens is fabulous. And then 99 pitches is no big deal.

It's not a big deal. Yeah, but Tony, the point is, why ramp him up now? And getting contention. Go get some hitters. Go get a lineup. No, you're right. But you don't mind that he throws 99. Pitches. He's not Fergie Jenkins throwing 135.

Tony, I'm not comparing to that. I know that. Now, maybe he wants it and maybe they got to give it to him or they think he leaves. I'm not comparing him to it. You're the one who went through the numbers because you've become numbers obsessed. I don't know why. The numbers don't compare to anything that matter. Go look up the big train.

Look at his numbers. I know. Kids numbers. Not female. Let's take one last break. Still to come, Nicola Yolkich tries with joy over a harness race result. What did he have?

The big triple? Did he have it? And Luca makes the cover of a men's health magazine. 45 starts. That's a season and a week for Jenkins and Gibson and Drysdale. That's all it is. Pardon the Interruption is brought to you by Charles Schwab. Own Your Tomorrow.

Happy time, people. Happy 41st birthday, D'Amico Ryans. The head coach of the Houston Texans went up the coaching ladder with the 49ers before the Texans call. Ryan's a two-time Pro Bowl linebacker with the Texans and the Eagles. Was inside linebackers coach in San Francisco, then was elevated to defensive coordinator when Robert Salam made the ill-fated decision to become head coach of the Jets. Ryan's was a second round pick out of Alabama in 2006 and was defensive rookie of the U.S. year. The Texans are one of those teams many people see playoff potential in, especially since the

AFC South is such a winnable division, and the Texans are set at quarterback with C.J. Stroud. Yeah, and the season is going to revolve in large part, Tony, around Stroud. I don't know whether it's fair to ask or expect it for him to go back to the performance of rookie year after a little backslide as a sophomore, but they're going to need that, the Texans are. Not so happy anniversary Detroit Lions on this day 26 years ago. The franchise was stunned when Barry Sanders, the best running back in team history, announced his retirement at the age of 30. Sanders later said in his 2003 autobiography, quote,

I didn't see what good there was hanging around when the organization wasn't trying to put together a winning team. I didn't think they were as serious about winning as our competitors, unquote. Sanders said there were tears in his eyes in the last game in the 1990. season. 19 to 10 lost to the Ravens because, quote, I knew it was over, unquote. Among other things, Sanders was voted on the NFL network were most elusive back

in NFL history and the number one player to never play in the Super Bowl. Man, starting pitching, great running backs. They're the essence of their sports, and when you don't have them, I'm less interested. I don't know what the top five are, but I wrote down these names.

Jim Brown, Emmett Smith, Walter Peyton, Eric Dickerson, Barry Sanders, Marshall Falk, that's six guys. Don't ask me to kick off one. I can't do it. But that's my group of the top running backs. And I'm leaving out guys like Bo Jackson and O.J. Simpson or Earl Campbell. Great running backs.

Can we have more? Happy Trails, Emmanuel Class A. Baseball placed the Guardians closer on non-disciplinary paid leave as part of a sports betting investigation. Class A led the American League in saves for the last three seasons. He has 24 this season for a team that's a team that's one game below 500. Class A joins teammate Louise Ortiz on the same leave list and a bonus happy trails to Nicola Yokic's stoic demeanor. The Nuggets center broke into tears after his horse

won a big harness race in Serbia. Yolkich climbed over the rail, hugged the horse, and celebrated with champagne. Compare this to when he won the title with the Nuggets and said, quote, the job is done. We can go home now, unquote. Harness racing has always been Yokic's first love. His father runs a local harness racing club and once persuaded his son to become a basketball player first and a great horseman later. Yokic recently said, quote, basketball is something that I'm just good at, but horses are something in which I feel the most happiness and sadness, unquote. Care more about Class A here. I guess he's not getting traded to the shores of another lake. I was sort of hoping for that, but wow, he's got bigger fish to fry right now.

I'm sorry for cutting you off. I apologize for that. Big finish. Justin Fields back on the practice field for the Jets today. Your reaction? Good. There's only one reaction. Good.

The MLS to spin did the great Messi and Jordi Alba. One match for missing the All-Star game. Is that fair? Messi ought to buy the league and fire the commissioner. Luca Donchich made the cover of men's health. How's he looked to you? He looks great to everybody. Is he going to commit to defense too?

Not just being slimmer, but defense. He going to do that? Washington receiver Terry McLaurin ended his holdout. Reported to training camp, Mr. D.C., is that significant? Yeah, it's their best receiver. Maybe this will get done. Last one. Dion Sanders says he's cancer-free.

After doctors removed a tumor from flatter, your thoughts. Great to see him sitting there with that smile talking about how he's coming out on the other side of this and telling people to get tested. Hope you're well, Dean. We're out of time. We're out of time. We're trying to do better the next time.

Jim Vito, Brooks Brothers Searsucker, pal. I'm Mike Wilbon. Same time tomorrow, knuckleheads.