PTI - Should Cowboys Fans be CONCERNED About Micah Parsons Negotiations?

Episode Date: July 22, 2025

Tony Kornheiser and Pablo Torre discuss NFL holdouts, Lionel Messi, and the Boston Red Sox. Plus, Buster Olney joins the show! 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 eruption, but I'm Pablo Torre. Tony, a compound found in mushrooms reportedly delays aging. Tony Cornhires, it would have been nice if someone had told me that a few decades ago.

I think I've passed that point now. Of course, when I was a kid. No, there was still time. There's still time. There was magic mushrooms when I was a kid. Yeah. I don't know that we want to talk about that on a family show. Well, we can have those.

It's science now. Oh, it's science and it's ever more available and research. and available to you specifically. I love Tony Carnheiser on Magic Mushions. Yeah, is it available in gummy bears? Everything seems to be available in gummy bears. Welcome to PCI boys and girls. Wilbon has a day off, and I am joined by our great friend

who we stay close to so he doesn't investigate us. The host of the podcast, Pablo Tori, finds out Mr. Pablo Tori. And we begin today with NFL contract drama. All pro-pass rushers, Michael Parsons of the Cowboys, and Trey Hendrickson of the Bengals, they want new deals. Parsons reported to camp and practice today. Hendrickson has not reported and has posted a photo on social media of a road in Florida, which presumably is where he is.

Pablo, which ownership do you have more confidence in to get a deal done with these stars? It's the Cowboys, Tony, because we've seen this before. The theatrical production of Jerry Jones behind a microphone making his team a reality show. he's basically said explicitly that he enjoys it when his team controversy gets to make news. And so will it take a while? Sure, Dak Prescott is one data point here that suggests enough time for everybody that we know, including us, to argue about it, but it kind of feels like directionally they're going to get it done. The Bengals and Mike Brown, he is cost effective, let's say, generously, in a different, less predictable way, even if we know him to also be quite

tight with the purse strings. So give me Jerry in this one. Yeah, I agree with you 100%. The answer is I have complete confidence in Jerry Jones. And I would ask you to name me a bunch of cowboys who have ever left because they couldn't get a deal done. And the answer is you can't do that because the cowboys always get who they want.

And why does that happen? Because Jerry Jones makes the deal in his own sweet time so he can be large and in charge, but he makes the deal. I'm not going to repeat all the stuff that you said. I'm going to go to something else. The best part of the story was me finding out today that Jerry's son, Stephen, says that Jerry doesn't speak to agents.

What? He doesn't speak to agents? I thought that I was in an alien universe because I never go on social media. But he doesn't even speak to agents. Can you imagine any other owner doing that? No, you cannot. Can you imagine anyone at ESPN not talking? to agents, though you cannot imagine that because they all talk. So Jerry Jones has become my

hero because in the main sports agents are self-inflated barnacles who just want to be, you know, in the middle of the big show. And if he doesn't speak with them, that's fabulous. And he's going to get this done. The Bengals may get it done too. Jerry's going to get it done. I just like that by extension. I'm just doing the math here. My agent is a barnacle on a barnacle attached to you, which is how I feel about my role doing this show with you these days. But I digress. I digress because your whole thing here, Tony, in which you have a distance from the way the business of the sausage making actually works in your life.

He's like Jerry's. With a key difference. With a key difference, Jerry will walk up to any microphone you put in front of him, and he'll say something deeply controversial in a way that you'll. run from? Jerry Jones will say he's injured for six games. And it's like, actually, it's four, but he enjoys the mistake. And maybe it's not a mistake for that reason, which is also part of he enjoys every part of it. He enjoys being the public face of the team he owns more than most enjoy that if they're in a similar circumstance. He milks it. But again, I'm not saying he makes

all the right decisions. But if he wants somebody, he gets that person. He writes the check. He writes, He writes it personally. He does it. He does. But speaking of writing checks, I want to move to Memphis, and it's Thirsty offered to the Big 12. And you know what that word means. Tony Thirsty. Yahoo reports that the school currently in the American Conference is expected to offer the Big 12 up to $200 million in sponsorship opportunities from school boosters over a five-year period to join. And in addition, Memphis would forego any revenue shares for that same period of time. Now, league-wide support from the Big 12, those member schools, is reportedly not yet there. But Tony, what does Memphis's offer to the Big 12 say to you?

Well, the first thing it says to me is that the American conference is a clown show. They ought to consider closing the door at 6 o'clock tonight and just ending business completely. Because here's Memphis saying, we want to get out of there so badly that we will pay a bunch of other people, $200 million, they don't have to give us anything back. And not only that, if after five years they don't like us, they can get rid of us and we won't ask for anything back. So if I'm the commissioner of the American conference, I'm looking for a hole to crawl into. Now, Pablo, I don't know about you, but I've always sort of thought as Memphis is on

the border of being an outlaw school, not unlike SMU, not unlike that. And it seems to me I don't associate Memphis with anything that's particularly good. it feels to me like they're trying to buy in to good, sort of like sports washing as far as I'm concerned. SMU did this with the ACCC. They said, how much money do you want? Here is the money just let us in. And I believe that last year they won the football conference and they went to the college playoff. So it's almost like SMU is a real college now. And I think Memphis is trying to do the same thing. Yeah, I imagine this as a party. And you don't want Memphis in the party because they're not that good, honestly.

But, but Tony, you got a new friend who says, I'm going to buy everybody dinner for the next five years. And you're like, whoa, different party, different party. Welcome to Memphis potentially. So, yes, to get to do the thing that will make those playing the Tony Cornheiser, Pablo Torre drinking game, blackout drunk, I get to quote Don Olmeyer, aka, quote you quoting Don Olmeyer, the answer to all your questions is money.

Yes? And so Memphis says, I got sponsors. I know you don't like me for me, but what about the friends Ibrick? And they say, ooh, okay, well, we could use that. Memphis is a good team. Memphis had big time winning records the last two years in football. I would just say this, and I'll take about 20 seconds. The Big 12 is a second-rate conference.

Texas and Oklahoma moved out of the Big 12. And they got back Cincinnati and Central Florida, I think, and BYU. So that was not a net plus for them losing Texas and Oklahoma. And if I were Memphis, I feel very badly if I were rejected by college presidents at a second-rate conference. And I don't know what I would do then. Maybe I'd go to the fifth-rate new PAC-12. Because it's humbling to have to go to these people and say, here's all the money in the world, just let us in. We move on.

We move to soccer. And the only player in the United States worth talking about Leonel Messi. The MLS soccer game is tomorrow night. Messies coached into Miami does not want him to play in it. Messi himself did not show up at practice. But there is a rule in the MLS that if you don't post for the All-Star game, you cannot play in the next regular season game. Pablo, if you were Messi, would you want to suit up for tomorrow's All-Star game?

So am I Leo Messi as Leo Messi or am I Leo Messi as Pablo Torre, who is now referred to himself in the third person twice in this A-block, which is to say, do I have a yawning hole that I'd like more affection, celebrity, money to fill? In which case, yes, All-Star Game, that is exactly what MLS would love. Tony, this is a parallel, of course, to any sport that needs to sell itself still through the most famous athletes it has. That would be why Leo Messi, as me in that brain inside of that body, would want to do this. But Leo Messi is Leo Messi, is the most famous athlete in the world this side of Christianity. So if I'm just him, I'm thinking, you guys need me. I can pretend to be hurt. I can probably

get into the regular season game, which you still want me to play in. So probably not in that case. Okay. So to me, I want to discuss this rule for a second. This rule that says if you don't play in the All-Star game, you cannot play the next regular season game. If I understand this correctly, this rule has been on the books for a while. It predates Messi coming to the MLS. and giving the MLS viability. So I would ask you or anyone else, do you really think that the commissioner of the MLS would invoke this rule? No, no, he would not.

Because MESSI is bigger than this rule. He is bigger than the commissioner of the MLS. He is bigger than the MLS. Messi can play in whatever game he wants to and not play whatever game he wants to. And the next game he plays, the commissioner of the MLS at halftime should walk in there with a big platter of food for Messi.

All right, if I'm running the MLS, I say to me, is there anything I can do for you? You think Caitlin Clark's important to the WNBA? Messy is that important to the MLS. Anything he wants to do is fine. And let me take this another way, Pablo. Name me somebody in the Columbus crew. Oh, time's up. You can't.

You can't. You can name Messi. So what? So stop, stop with this nonsense, right? Well, to be genuine about it, too, at the end of the end of the end of the end of the president. end here. I want Leo Messi to play because more Leo Messi before he officially rides off into whatever sunset is better for sports fans. He's incredible. But you know, but you know, I believe, again, there's a Don Olmeyer quote about all of this that probably applies to. He has scored two goals.

Five of the last six games he's played, he scored two. Two goals is usually four games output for most soccer teams. Get out of here. Let's take a break. I love saying that. Get out of here. Coming up, Eugenio Suarez has five homers in his last three games. So can the Diamondbacks really afford to trade, and we're going to ask Buster only? You will also ask him which GM is under most pressure? The most pressure at the trade deadline approaches. In my ear, they just said two goals and six of the last seven.

And once again, I get to repeat, get out of here. Who else do you want to see with this guy? Stop with these rules. Can I stay? Can I stay here? There's a lot of get out of here. Yeah, you can stay there until the end of the half hour. Then you have to go. We have several baseball questions for our great friend ESPN senior writer, Sunday night baseball reporter, and great grower of potatoes.

Buster, oh, let's start with this. Eugenio Suarez of the Diamondbacks. He is supposed to be a top trade deadline candidate. But he has now homered five times in his last three games. He leads the National League with 36 homers. Do you still expect Arizona to trade him? Yeah, Tony, I think they will trade him. And in fact, the Diamondbacks front office have told interested teams,

and there are a bunch of contenders interested in him, that they will probably trade before the deadline. Suarez would be the biggest name move. With all that power, he interests the Chicago Cubs, the Yankees, the Toronto Blue Jays, and the Seattle Mariners, a team he used to play for. Look, the Diamondbacks know, from their own experience, you can crawl into the playoffs and make a dent.

They won 84 games in 2023. and reach the World Series, but they have a big hill in front of their five and a half games out of the wild card. So I think, yes, they will sell Suarez and Josh Naylor, some members, their pitching staff before the deadline. But I want to keep the camera on the front offices here, Buster. In terms of the GMs out there, core under the most pressure, is there one name to watch as the trade deadline nears? Yankees general manager, Brian Cashman, Pablo. Look, the Yankees reached the World Series last year. They came into spring training this year, made high expectations,

but they've had regression on all parts of their team, which is why I think before the deadline, Cashman will land a starting pitcher. He'll land some relief help, and they especially need help at third base, which is why they're one of the teams talking with the Diamondbacks about Suarez, it would be an upgrade that they really need. I don't think they can make a dent in October unless he makes addition.

So there's a lot of pressure on him to get some. stuff done. Yeah, look, I grew up reading you, Buster, and Tony, so it's weird for me to say this, but back in my day, we used to talk about impact starters. Now we're talking about impact relievers in general. So is there one impact reliever out there that you actually think we should be watching in terms of the most impact that they could make? And look, among all the positions, there's no question. There'll be more relievers traded before the deadline than in any other spot. And the guy that everyone is focused on hoping to become available as Ryan Helsley of the St. Louis Cardinals. In fact, I've had a manager GM indicate to me. They're hoping that Cardinals continue to drift

backward in the standings, so they put them out there. Early in the year, what the Cardinals were telling people was, we're probably not going to trade John de Zaylock in his last year of running that organization, and we want to have a good finish to his time. But they're now three and a half games behind in the wild card race. Reality is beginning to creep in. Ryan Helsley is a sort of power reliever that teams like Detroit and the Mets, the Yankees

would love to get their hands on. Lester, just let me add, parenthetically, how nice it was for Pablo to say that he used to read us when he was a child. That makes me feel very good and very old at the same time. Get you out of here on this. Last year, last year we saw the Tigers

who traded almost everybody at the deadline and then made the playoffs. I think they were the most surprising team in the playoffs. Do you have a sleeper team right now to watch for in the second half? And it's especially possible, Tony, in the American League, which is generally mediocre this year, which is why I think the Seattle Mariners are incredibly dangerous. Look, they've been playing better of late. It looks like they're going to have their rotation back in order sometime within the next three weeks. And that was thought to be the strength of this team. And on top of that, Jerry Depoto, who runs their baseball operations, is really aggressive in trade talks.

The Mariners are actually going to be able to take on some money before the trade deadline, unlike the offseason when they didn't spend. So they could be the team that Lance Suarez or Josh Naler, who knows, maybe both. But I think Jerry's going to make a big dent and do some big things before the trade deadline. I think the Mariners are a dangerous team down the stretch. Thank you, as always, Buster. Thanks so much. Thank you, Buster. Thanks, Sony.

Let's take one last break still to come. The Phillies win in a highly unusual way. And Ronald Acuna Jr. also does something you don't see every day, scoring all the way from first on a routine single to center. Two things, Pablo. First of all, Buster did not thank you directly, which made me feel good. I noticed that. And secondly, when you applied to the University of Harvard,

did you say, yeah, I've read Kornheiser and Olney, and you ought to let me in. You ought to do that. I've read some regional newspapers in the New York area. Newsday, the Times. I cited all of the regional, the directional papers, as it were.

Yeah. Yeah. Happy time, people. Happy belated 26th birthday, Chris Godderup. This was Sunday the day Godorup was shooting 67 at Royal Port Rush to finish solo third at the British Open, 12 under par.

Goddrup is a Jersey kid who played four years of golf at Rutgers and one year at Oklahoma where he was all-American. Goderup was on the Corn Ferry Tour in 2023, qualified for the PGA Tour in 2024. He won the Myrtle Beach Classic last year. Goder up just had a remarkable two weeks in Europe.

He won the Scottish Open, holding off Rory McElroy on Sunday. Then he played in his first British Open and went 72, 65, 68, 67 for third place alone. It seems to me that Goderup has played his way into some consideration for the Ryder Cup. Yeah, Tony. In the space of eight days, this kid earned $2.7 million, which is, by the way, double his career earnings.

And a thing, an event, a major that was kind of anticlimactic on Sunday, had some great characters in it. There was that Buddhist monk. There's this kid. That's pretty good. Yeah. Yeah. Happy anniversary, Greg Maddox. On this day, 28 years ago while pitching for the Atlanta Braves,

Maddox threw a complete game, 4-1 victory over his old team, the Cubs. The headline here is that Maddox threw only 78 pitches. And only 15 of them were called balls. Maddox allowed five hits, struck out six, walked none. The time of the game was two hours, seven minutes, and this was before the pitch clock. Greg Maddox was a work of art. He was a first ballot hall of famer after a career record of 355 and 227, a 316 ERA and 3,371 strikeouts. He is the pitcher all should aspire to.

And his brother, Mike, is the pitching coach now for the Texas Rangers. And the Maddox, Tony, that statistic which is invented to honor a very Greg Maddox performance of complete game, less than a hundred pitches. He, of course, is the all-time leader in Maddox is, which is appropriate. But it's that mixture of control and also stuff, but really just absolute mastery of how to manage the plate. It's unbelievable. How about Maddox and Smolts and Glavin on the same staff in Atlanta? I'm happy trails to last night's game for the Red Sox. The Phillies loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the 10th inning of a tie game.

And Mundo Sosa checked his swing on a two-two pitch, but tapped the catchers mid while doing so. On review, the Ups ruled that to be catchers interference, sending Sosa to first, forcing home the winning run. That is the first walk-off catcher's interference call since 1971. Only the second ever. The win kept the Phillies a half game ahead of the Mets in the NL East. It's just one of those things that can't possibly feel good to anyone there. Like, I get it, yes, you get a half game, lead preserved, that's cool. Just bad, just not satisfying.

It's anticlimactic to its maximum anti-climax. And a bonus happy trail to Tyron Matthew. The Saints Safety retired on the eve of training camp. The 33-year-old played 12 NFL seasons for four teams, being named first-team All-Pro three times, and winning a Super Bowl ring with the Chiefs. Matthew earned his nickname of Honey Badger at LSU due to his ferocious play. This retirement decision was a bit of a surprise as Matthew had reworked his deal to stay with the Saints earlier this off season.

Yeah, this one makes me feel old, Tony. I'm at that age where a guy I saw entered the NFL on the cover of Sports Illustrated was covered, by the way, controversially because he dared to make money off of, like, club appearances. That was the big scandal with him at LSU is now out of the league. And I feel kind of like you at this point. Aja. Quick to the big finish. Quick, Pablo. Showe how loud a homer but also hit one last night. Your reaction.

I'm glad he's still pitching. He gave him one earned over three. Ronald Acuna Jr. scored from first on a ground ball single to center last night. Are you impressed? Everything he does impresses me. Jonas Valenciunis says he will honor his contract with the nuggets rather than the splitting for Greece. Is that significant? He's backing up Nicola Yokich, maybe the best player in the world.

So yes, Wyndham Clark apologized for damaging his locker at Oakmont. Says he's detailed to the club how he plans to make amends your thoughts. Oakmont detailed to him what he should do. They made it public. There's no negotiations here. Last one, the Miz faces the Mariners. As the Brewers go for their 12th win in a row, do you like their chances? I do because I'm sitting in Wilbon's chair and the cheeseheads.

We're rooting for the cheeseheads. We're out of time. We'll try and do better than next time. Admiral Paul Becker, get well soon. Big PTI fan. And I'm Pablo Torre. Thank you for watching. Pablo Torre finds out is where I investigate stuff.