The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast - “Dynasty”, NFL Salary Cap Explosion, Packers Draft Success, Steve Kerr Top 5 Guy In NBA History

Episode Date: February 26, 2024

Colin’s joined by John Middlekauff, host of “3 and Out”! Colin starts by giving his review of his airline experience during his recent vacation (3:30), and they both give their reaction to the Patriots “Dynasty” documentary on AppleTV+ (7:30). They explore the ramifications of the NFL’s massive jump in salary cap (18:15) and the reasons why the Packers have drafted and developed players better than almost any other team for decades (25:30). They contrast the problems the NBA and MLB have with overpaying average players to the system in the NFL (40:00), and why Roger Goodell has done such an incredible job managing the NFL and its brand (44:00).  Finally, Colin explains why Steve Kerr’s body of work has put him into Colin’s” top 5 guys” in NBA history (54:00) and tells a strange story that involves mistaken identity…and Taylor Swift (01:00:30).. (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.) Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates! #Volume #Herd #3andOutSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Issued as one bonus bet based on amount of initial losing bet. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. See dkng.com slash promos for deposit wagering in eligibility restrictions, terms, and responsible gaming resources. All right. Off a week vacation. Nice to be back in the saddle. Flew Cross Country. Just landed about an hour ago. John Middilkoff, former NFL scout, going to the NFL Combine here this week. Also, three and out his podcast, go low, is his golf podcast. So I got to, first of all, I usually flight Delta. I flew American Airlines back.

I told my wife, that's the best meal I've ever had on a flight in my life. What'd you eat? It's incredible. So they start with fresh olives, you know, heated almonds, pistachios,

and then they go into this peach salad, and then they have ahie tuna. Wow. And then they go into tortilla soup, and then they go into green beans, grain bread, and, olive oil, piece of chicken with like a salsa on it.

That's what I chose. And then I waited about an hour and a half, took about a half hour and that, woke up and had like this ginger and vanilla ice cream dessert. I told my wife, I'm like, that something's being experimented. Like either profits are through the roof on American Airlines, so tip of the calf to American Airlines. I'm like, honey, I ate better than you, and I was at 33,000 feet. I can't help you. People complain about flights a lot. And listen, I don't, everyone's had a bad experience here and there. But I think for the most part, I mean, if you're not flying Spirit Airlines, it's pretty darn good. It's pretty darn good what we have in 2024, especially in this country. If you live in major airports, the ability to get around, it can't be ever been as easy as it is right now. Yeah. And I, you know, one of the things years ago, I started doing well. I told my wife, just we'll fly first class this point forward. Let's just do it. They had a.

pod. So I watched, you know, I downloaded a couple of Netflix and Apple TV shows. I downloaded, you know, four or five episodes of stuff. All of it was really, really good. But I, you know, I think sometimes, like, I've been on planes. I've had three or four people on planes that were crazy, like disruptive. By and large, you know, most people just sit down, quiet, really good people. I've said this for years. I've been a Delta Flyer forever, forever. I've been. I've been a Delta Flyer forever. I think what our industry does, commercial aviation, for how many people are at airports. And for the record, I don't care what you think about the economy. It can't be that bad because every flight I've been on for six years is packed.

And I know what I'm paying for these seats. And they ain't giving them away. There's no discounts here. My flight today, packed. Flight out. Packed. I'm not a guy that loves private, especially in the winter. I'm not going to fly it.

You know, if I can get a first class seat on a three and a half hour flight, there's no need for me to go private. I don't care. Most of the flights are on time. Now, if you're taking off at LaGuardia at 5.30 on a Friday night, no shit. You're going to sit on the tarmac for a while. But I just think, I think sometimes in America, we forget how good our grocery stores are. Like, we forget how good and efficient are.

country is I went to London about six, seven years ago, went to Wimbledon, maybe eight years ago. My hotel didn't have air conditioning. It was a high-end hotel. And the toilets were inconsistent. And I'm like, man, if you went to a Marriott, you'd go to complain to complain. I think sometimes we just complain to complain. I know multiple people, one that flies for United, one that flies for American. They both flew fighter jets in the Air Force. How does it get any better than that? That guy's overqualified to fly us around the country. That's like having Trent Williams as my personal security guard.

I mean, it doesn't get any better than that, right? And that's who a lot of these pilots are. They served in the military, fly in a lot more expensive, a lot more difficult aircrafts. And those are the guys that fly us around for 40 years from basically their age 30 till when they retire. Yeah. I mean, I couldn't even tell you the last flight I was on that had really bad turbulence. I mean, there's always bumps. Couldn't tell you. I mean, I just thought, I'm sitting on that American Airlines flight today, and I'm thinking, this is, I am. And I, they even had this little app or something on the TV. You could download and I'm watching where we're flying and it's like I can monitor the flight. I'm sitting there watching a Netflix show. I want to pivot to this, though, because one of the things I downloaded was episodes three and four of Dynasty, you know, off the Jeff Benedict book.

he's on my show in about two weeks. Episode four, John, I don't know if you saw it, is one of the best episodes of a documentary, sports documentary I've ever seen in my life. The Randy Moss arrival, the spigate, losing to the Giants in the Super Bowl. I mean, it was Robert Kraft's son said he walked into the locker room

and grown men were vomiting and bawling. And you forget the two things, far through four episodes that you forget how big that upset of Kurt Warner and the Rams was. They were offensively ahead of their time. I mean, they had a Niners feel like can anybody stop them to win that game. By the way, it was 14.3 at half. They completely shut them down. They'd already won a Super Bowl a couple years previously.

I mean, that team was pretty special. Hall of Famers everywhere. And then you forget how historic that 18 and O team going for 19. and O. You know, as I watched it, I was, I thought if I was interviewing Tom Brady and I said, Tom, take one play out of your career, I guarantee you he'd say, the David Tyree catch. And when I watched it, I'm like, oh my God, Teddy Bruske's like, yeah, we've done that to people. We did that to the St. Louis Rams. He goes, I know what they were feeling. They believe now they were the better team. You know, I haven't seen, I've seen the three episodes. I watched three,

of them on Friday night. I think we also forget, and it really kind of puts into context, how big a ball's Bill had when he made that move. Yeah. The guy was on a $100 million contract with $100 million. Oh, yeah. Drew Bledsoe, yeah. Number one overall pick.

And this is where I think football coaches, they just have more juice than the other coaches in basketball and definitely in baseball because it's more of a management league. When their gut tells them something, I mean, we see it all the time in football, right? College and pro to know that, like, yeah, Drew doesn't move a lot. around as well anymore. Right? He's been hit too much. And you watch the other thing, I'm watching it with my girlfriend. She's like, God, these guys look bigger back then. I'm like, yeah, Maria, these quarterbacks back in the day were all six six. They were all huge. When Tom and Drew are standing next to each other, Caleb's coming out. He's barely six one. These guys have them by five inches.

I mean, Drew Bledsoe's a straffing individual. That's the old school quarterback. And you're watching when Drew runs and get hits by Mo Lewis, I'm thinking like most quarterbacks now get out of bounce. Even Brock Purdy's faster, right? And the difference in style, and you've been saying this forever about Belichick, he was perfectly set up for that old school football, right? And this is where Tom benefits. Obviously, he took a lot in his control and was really good. But we're going to talk a lot about draft picks over the next couple months.

If you go to a team that sucks, unless you're an all-time transcendent talent, it's going to be very, very difficult. Tom did get to begin starting on a team full of really good defensive players. and clearly a really good coaching staff. And he'd be the first to tell you. I think a lot of these Patriot guys are kind of in a weird way offended by everyone talking shit about Belichick because it almost diminishes a little bit. Like what they had as a group was pretty special.

And you watch all these guys, you're like, it was a pretty high-level group of individuals. Yeah, it's very omerta. It's very much secrets kept in the family. That's why Mangini, I was told Mancini called Bill and said, Bill, I know what you should do. Don't do it. Don't tape the Jets. Don't do it. Bill just said, whatever, I'm going to tape the Jets.

Bill thought, like, it's Omerita. It's the family. They're secret. You got a job because of me, and it burned them. You know, speaking of folks, if you haven't watched it on Apple TV, you should, Dynasty. The book's great as well by Jeff. The footage they have is great. It's just remarkable.

But Ernie Adams, and it made me think. So Ernie Adams is just fantastic. So he is bills basically, and I, I mean, he is, you know, he's, you know, he's, kind of. Like you could, I mean, there's nothing, he's, I would say the valet, but he's his caddy. And you're like, no, no, he was often his, he was often his brains. Yeah. And I was thinking about this. And so years and years ago, when I worked at the SBN,

George Podenheimer was the CEO, and George was really sharp. But when you're the CEO of a major company, you need a two. Somebody that can call you out. Somebody that can watch the minutia. You're doing all these meetings after meetings. And I mean, and George was as smart a guy that I've ever had the, you know, honor or privilege to work under. And his two was like John Skipper, who became the president.

And I remember when Skipper got the job, he didn't have a strong two. and it really cost him. And I can remember somebody in the company saying to me, John doesn't have, he doesn't have a John. And it's always made me think about this, whether it's Andy Reed, maybe it's a Spaggs, maybe there's somebody on the staff is most great,

I mean, let's be honest, Dave Wonstat Jimmy Johnson. They just really trusted each other. Parcells and Belichick, where Belichick's like, Bill, you got to trust me on this, and they battle on this stuff. Sabin has been a remark

job in college to keep the turnstile of coordinators coming in. But, you know, and you could say since Kirby Smart left, the defense hasn't been quite as good. You know, he went to Georgia. But when you watch this special Ernie Adams, I don't even know. There are moments, and Damien Woody pointed this out. He was considered a genius in the building. Bill often, you can just see him. He'd walk off the podium at practice. When Ernie retired, about, you know, and then years later, Dante's Karnakia, I think that's undervalued. We all talk Brady, but it's Bill had people that he just, he just leaned on, and they all, in a short period of time left and watched this for Ernie Adams, who, by the way, is a funny guy. Like, if there's anybody you've ever wanted to sit and have a

beer with it in football, it's Ernie Adams. I heard when they were out of football, well, Bill wasn't, When they got fired in Cleveland and Bill went to work for Parcells, Ernie was out for a little bit, that Ernie made Bill millions in the stock market because Ernie was just so brilliant. He just started working on finance until he'd get back in the league when Bill got the head coach in New England. So he, if you think about it as a head coach, especially when you get of his level of fame and wealth, the hierarchy in a building is a lot like the military, where everyone kind of is intimidated by you. and even when you're having a one-on-one conversation, there's a level of, I'm here, you're there. It's just a natural hierarchy of the building where a coach needs a guy that he can go and close the door and have a normal human one-on-one conversation

where anything can be said. And that was always what Bill had and Ernie, right, a guy that he had known since high school. Think about that. In that 2001 Super Bowl, he was the guy, Ernie, what do you think we should do with a minute 30 left as John Madden said, kneel the ball, kneel the ball. And Ernie's like, I think we're gaffed.

Bill, let's put the pedal to the medal and go for it. Right, but that's who he asked, not Charlie Weiss, not Romeo Cronnell, not these other coaches that he's known for a long time as well. So I've always thought this about Bill. Bill is a very, very good talent evaluator at coach, right? He found Josh McDaniels, Brian Flores, Adam Peters, Jason Light, all these guys, Casario. But eventually you run out of it. And that's what it felt like these last couple of years is he just ran out of guys. Yeah.

he could not replenish the well. And obviously the quarterback situation. But I, you know, I told you, I think like a month ago, I think Bill should do Amazon TV and show his personality a little bit and just kind of rebrand himself a little bit. Because right now the NFL owners look at him like this crumaging negative guy kind of power. Power hungry. They all know he's a good coach. But you rebrand yourself a little bit. A year later, you got three guys begging you for their job.

And let's face it, right now. that just was not the case, which is crazy. He couldn't get a head coaching job. He just couldn't. No one who wanted him. And I also think, I think about this all the time in life, that no is a really powerful word that people don't use enough. And sometimes missing on a job is the best thing ever.

There was one great job opening this year, Chargers. Yeah. Next year. And this is not even unlikely. Josh Allen, Jalen Hertz, Dak Prescott. You start going to Derek Carr. there could be, I wrote to, oh, Trevor Lawrence, there could be like five, six high-end quarterbacks who need coaches. You can't win in this league. I mean, Belichick's proof, you can't win big in this

league without the quarterback. So there's a lot of these jobs. I mean, bears Caleb Williams. Absolutely. So in a weird way, Vrable and Bill, sit out for a year, you made a ton of money, golf a little bit, watch games. By the way, Mike McCarston. not at that level, ended up getting the cowboy gig. It's a remarkable. I mean, and I think about this all the time. I mean, you're a former scout, you know this. There's an insecurity among even great coaches.

Once you're out, you've got to get back in. And I've thought about this before, like even in my profession. It's like if you're talented, just sit back and watch shows implode, watch managers get, you know, axed. Stuff opens up really fast in big money businesses, Silicon Valley, football, media, blah, blah, whatever it is law. And I think coaches sometimes feel like I've got to get a gig. But, I mean, if the Chargers job wasn't open, the only other job I would have left Michigan for if I was Harbaugh is Washington. Because they have like $80 million cap space.

And I actually think, if they get Drake May, I think he's going to be okay. I mean, what did you make this week of everybody getting more cap space? Because the NFL came out and announced the revenues were higher than expected. The Rams now have like $43 million, $42 million in cap space. It doesn't feel like that long ago that the NFL salary cap was like $150 million, does it? I mean, this thing has gone up at rapid speed, $255 million a lot of money. And if you think about it, it's actually easier to set yourself up for the next several years because what's $255 in five years? $3.40.

I mean, it's going to go up substantially. So signing some of these contracts, I do think we need to look at them a little bit differently, right? When you extend the guy the way they can manipulate the money on the salary cap, to add up to $255 million, you need a lot of cap hits at $20, $30, $40 million. So it definitely makes it a lot more easy. Now, here's the problem. salary cap space is baseball. If Shohei Otani and Aaron and even they don't have a salary cap, but you know what I mean.

If a baseball player is hitting free agency, Shohay Otani's hitting free agency. If Kevin Durant's a free agent, he's hitting free agency. Well, you just, T. Higgins, franchised. You're going to see that list of like the top 10 free agents. Franchise, franchise, franchise, franchise. That's what makes football a little unique is having a lot of cabs base in this sport. Most of the best quote unquote free agents never hit the over.

market. And then to get that next tier, the B player, I think you pay like a 25, 30% premium. Look at last year, the best tackle on the market, McClinty, you had to give him almost 60 million guaranteed. The 49ers, his third contract, Hargrave, he gets $80 million, $40 million guaranteed. So you pay an ultimate, it's like, you know, beachfront real estate because not that many guys hit it. So if it's a starter, a good starter, a guy that you know is a plug and play starter, you pay for it. Right. And even some of these guys that are friends, franchise, maybe they're quote unquote available through a trade. It's like, oh, you know, we'd be open to trading T. Higgins, but we'd need your one in the

20s and then you have to pay him $23 million a year. So it's, if you want to dabble in that market, it's very, very expensive. It's why to me, the Washington's of the world, I would just take a deep breath, kind of let things play out. The Texans are a better example. Okay, you already see you got some stuff. If I got to overpay a guard and overpay a linebacker that I really like, who cares? I got $70 million.

If I invest $35 in those two guys, I feel pretty good about it. But I already know what I got. With Washington and some of these teams, let's just try to walk before we run. Let's just see how the quarterback is. Because yeah, Drake May or Jane Daniels, whoever they end up taking. I mean, how often do we see these guys be overwhelmed or whatever? Then all of a sudden you want flexibility as much as possible. To me, the Texans are a good example.

I'd be pretty aggressive here. Like, could I go get a T. Higgins? Could I make a trade? right and then pay a guy like i'd be open to a lot of different options imagine an olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged it's the enhanced games some call it grotesque others say it's unleashing human potential either way the podcast's superhuman documented it all embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year within probably 10 days i'd put on 10 pounds i was having trouble stopping the muscle growth

Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football,

or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for Raw, filtered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest

moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people.

I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick you here. unpack what went down and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill,

waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 was big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack, so I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now, so. They're finishing that sentence. Yes.

I don't think there's a more important year for black. Black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You know, one of the things you're going to the Combine, one of the things that's great about the draft is it really has, you know, the NBA draft is fun, but there's two rounds, and these guys come in at 19, and they go to bad teams. So, and the hit rate's pretty low because you don't have as much video. It's hard in the NBA. NFL, college, drive, You have minimum three years of film.

A lot of these guys come from two or three major conferences. They're playing against NFL guys. So there's misses, but there's a lot of hits as well. You know, now I was thinking about one of the things in the draft that I was reading a story, and I forget, God, I want to give credit to whoever did it. They went back and looked at last year's draft and graded it. And again, it's not so. Houston had the most successful draft.

So when C.J. Stroud comes in and crushes, some of it is very explainable. They hit like on five draft picks. Number two, I know the Rams and the Seahawks were up there. The Packers were at three. And I got to tell you something. I said this, I like both the Packers' last two drafts, is I sometimes wonder about this. But by the way, the Jets and the Giants are terrible. is that I sometimes wonder, and you worked in the building, because Philadelphia, where you worked, it's a wealthy franchise.

There's a lot of money here. Green Bay, I could argue, over the last 25 years, has done a better job than anybody in this league drafting and developing. And when you were in the league, and my take is, is a lack of an owner helpful? The guys running it are just all football guys. But the Packers, they went to last year's draft and the receivers hit and the tight ends hit. And I just, when I look at Green Bay, I think, okay, they've had different GMs, different coaches. They nail quarterbacks, grade O line. They always, always find receivers and tight ends.

When you were in the league, is it one of those classic, the millionaire next door that if you're on a school teacher salary, you're just not going to waste as much money? going to be smarter than a stockbroker who's got money to, right? Are the Packers seen as frugal because they don't have the game day revenue? But when I saw that list, and again, I apologize for not crediting who it was. I saw it on the plane. It was best draft from last year. Packers were third. And I thought, God, when is the last bad draft the Packers had?

I think a lot has to do with, you know, a lot of cultures when I get rid of everyone, right? a GM and a and a coach. The owner gets to hire everybody and he's always the boss. He's always hovering over everybody. It goes back to Ron Wolf and Holmgren. Ron taught all these guys, right? From Ted Thompson, Goudicans had worked there forever.

So they've had the same culture in terms of management since Ron Wolf showed up in the early 90s. So the way they look at players, they've always been obsessed with height, weight, speed. I don't think it has to do as much with like pinching pennies. and not being able to like, you know, you're the raise, they're the Yankees, so you have to outthink them. I just think that they've taught and streamlined it from generation to generation very, very well.

They have a, like, a company culture there that I think has transcended general managers, from Ron Wolf to Ted Thompson to now Gutakins. And I think they've been pretty consistent, back to what you're saying, with the draft, of like, they all know what they're looking for because they've been looking for the same thing now for 30 years. helps a lot when you have a quarterback, right? They have a quarterback and they know how to surround the guy. And they've always done an incredible job of surrounding the guy on offense. I think the Ravens are a pretty good example of how they transition from Ozzy to DeCosta,

because Acosta was his right-hand man forever. Yes. So it's like, when you have the cohesion, like, why are the chiefs so strong right now? Because Andy has Spags who's never leaving. I mean, and who has been, goes back for 20 years beating Belichick and Brady. it's very unique to have that. Kyle or McVeigh get a good coordinator. Boom, the guy's gone.

They can't hold on to their defensive coordinator. So I think having the cohesion, the Packers is a great place to work. I remember when we were there, when I worked in the league, everyone was always kind of envious of like, because it was like this chill vibe, but they were winning big. And it was just, through the Green Bay Packers, there was like the pressure we had in Philadelphia felt it every day when you went in the building. They definitely don't have that.

Yeah, I think the Chiefs really have that. on right now, but a lot has to do with winning. I just think it's a very unique organization, but I do think it gets back to the streamlined vision from generation to generation, and they've all crossed. You know, like John Schneider, hires Mike McDonald. They don't know each other. They're hoping this chemistry works because he's good coach with the Ravens and, you know, he knows, but it's like you're kind of keeping your fingers crossed.

You look at Harbaugh, goes to the chargers. Who do they hire as his general manager? a guy he knows, a guy he's comfortable with from Baltimore. So you're like, yeah, it's probably going to work out. He knows John. It's all in the family. That matters. Like Shanahan's had a lot of success with people he knows.

He's worked with Robert Salah. He coached Domeco Ryans. Brian Greasy, he worked with when he was young in Tampa. Dad knows him. We're all comfortable with people we know. Right. Who do you hire the volume? Like to run your management, people that you're comfortable, people with, you know, it helps.

Now they have to be talented. But like when you're all on the same page, it's a lot easier to operate. And I think for 30 plus years, the Packers have just had a lot of cohesion. Not a lot of people leave. Their coaches do. You know,

but their scouts, I don't know if they pay top-notch relative to the NFL executives, but I sure know when they're winning, things are having success, people like working there. Yeah, you can also buy a hell of a house in Milwaukee.

Live like a king. $490,000. You know, it's just, it was when I saw the list, it was, like, God, Green Bay knows what they're doing. And to your point, quarterbacks kind of make it all work. You can, I mean, listen, Brett Veach and Kansas

City's had some misses. You forget Skymore. You forget them really quickly. Mahomes makes you forget shit really quickly. Well, it's like someone told me with the Jets a couple years ago. They're like, they had all those picks in the top, whatever, the first couple rounds for two straight years. We could go seven of eight. They all could be pro bowlers. If Zach's a whiff, we're in trouble. We'd go one of eight. If Zach's a hit, contract extensions. Well, what happened? They went 7, 8, maybe not 7, 8, but 5 or 6 of 8, and Zach's a problem, and they got issues. That quarterback, I mean, if Jordan Love, and we're all going to pencil them in, I do think there's a difference of kind of, they got to fly under the radar

a little bit this year. They started slow. Then they came on, everyone next year is going to be looking at them like double-digit wins, playoff team. It is a different pressure. That's why I give a lot of credit to the Lions. Everyone took the Lions seriously this year coming in, and they handled it well. Like it's a it's a it's another now LaFleur has success now he's been a part of those type teams with Aaron so he's I feel comfortable with it but sustaining high level play year and year out that's hard. So you know there's going to be a lot of tangible pressure on Jordan Love next year. So it's it's interesting when I was this is kind of a vague topic but I I've always kind of measured how often I talk football I don't work at the NFL network nor do I want to. I

I like the NBA. I like, you know, an October, September baseball series. I like the World Cup, a good UFC fight. I like March Madness. I could never just talk football. And I've always kept the number around 65% of the show. But I was talking to a TV exec. I had a meeting about 10, 12 days ago with a really smart guy.

And we were talking about the Big Ten. And he said, those ratings are going to go up 15 to 20%. and I had given college football about an eight-year break, a hiatus on my show, because it got very regional and very southern. And I'm not anti-SEC, but if it was all, it was Alabama, Georgia, in Clemson every year for seven straight years. Yeah, and so just like, listen, once baseball became very local, nobody in Minnesota is going to watch the Mariners, nobody in Seattle gives a rip about Tampa Bay.

Yet a Seahawk fan would watch the Buccaneers and Baker Mayfield play. So once baseball, about 10, 12 years ago, I felt it really got local. I just didn't talk about it. College basketball is a turnstile now between the transfer portal one and done. You can't name the starters on Duke. But it is sort of interesting. I was talking to this executive about the growth of college football. He goes, you're not going to believe the numbers are going to explode.

And he started talking about the Big Ten schedule. And he's like, you're going to get Washington, Oregon, or Washington, Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, USC. You're going to have three and four games in a row. all day. And it did make me think as I was off this week. And I, you know, I kind of shut it down when I'm off. I don't watch sports. I just leave. And there was nothing going on anyway. I'm watching the Warriors Nuggets today. It was a crappy year. But the biggest story in baseball last week, as the season starts, uniforms, you know, they're kind of sheer see-through. Biggest story in the NBA was how bad the All-Star game was. The biggest story in college basketball was storming the

court. Yet the NFL is the sport we talk about because we watch the game. games. Listen, if you're a fan, listen to what we talk about when people, sportscasters, podcaster talk football. We actually talk about strategy in the games that the NFL with the growth of college football, which, by the way, between the draft and the combine, they're really starting to go hand in hand. College basketball in the NBA are the Grand Canyon. They have nothing in common. Most of the great players don't even want to play in college basketball. College baseball, major league baseball, college hockey, they don't connect. You know, college soccer and the MLS.

They don't connect. College football connects with the NFL more and more. And I was sitting there this week watching people talk about sports. And I thought, am I going to do an 80% football show based on the audience? As I've said, the audience drives the show. What they want, I follow ratings. And I'm sitting there thinking, I don't want to work at the NFL network. But John, between legalized gambling, people,

People now stick through bad games, this massive, yeah, Big Ten SCC explosion, where now the two conferences are going to have all the games we watch. The ratings are going to skyrocket, the 12-team playoff. I was sitting there this week, and I thought, Jesus, you're talking about see-through pants in baseball, is that amongst your friends, when you go golf, does anybody talk about anything other? Now, football is the only thing that it comes up consistently. Even, and I know a couple guys and play golf with some former Major League baseball players, they talk football. I mean, Bill's fan, a Packer fan, that's all they want to talk about. And during the fall, I think college football, like you said, think about next year, Texas Alabama, Oklahoma, Georgia, Texas LSU, the SEC and the Big Ten get, it's going to feel like NFL light. I think the NFL, I've said this forever.

I don't know if it's going to last forever my entire life. Like, I'm almost 40. Does that 40 years dominating? When I was growing up, baseball was huge. The 90s with the Yankees, basketball with Michael Jordan. But for the foreseeable future, I don't see how that gap. The All-Star game, guys actively talk, like, why would we even try to participate? Anthony Rendon, who's making $245 million.

He's that story. He's like, yeah, baseball's not even a priority. It's like, well, I think for $250 million, probably. Probably don't want to say that, buddy. You know, it's like, can you imagine an NFL play? I think the relatability sometimes with the, and I don't even blame these guys, because you're getting $250 million guaranteed some of these basketball players. I played golf last week during the All-Star break with a guy that calls NBA games.

And he was saying one problem is, and he's on a pretty high-level team, but he just sees it around the league, is it's always like you have to max everybody out. Well, you can't lose them. Well, is the guy a max player? Like, we had to max Zion. Did you? Or, I mean, did you have to? Because in the NFL, you don't have to.

That's right. And so everyone's making all this money. I don't care who you are. If you're 25 years old and you're basically guaranteed to get an astronomical amount of money, you're going to be jaded in the way you think about everything. Yeah. Where in football, it still has this old school meritocracy that if you do not produce, within two years, I've seen it forever.

It's why when I used to go to Niners camp a lot, like I'm not going to make a too big a deal about a third or fourth round pick. Because every year I've seen that third or fourth round pick. fourth round pick. By the time training camp ends, the undrafted free agents beating him out and might even beat out the starter and all of a sudden two undrafted free agents are starting. Guys are coming from everywhere, every team. I don't care if you're a playoff team or a shitty team. And that's kind of like relates to our life. You got to produce, whatever you do, you either generate revenue, get your job done or you kind of get replaced. Where I think in basketball and baseball, it's kind of like scholarship. Once you get paid, like I can't, what am I

going to do with you? Even in football, you're going to see so much. You're going to see so many names this week. You're like, God, I thought that guy was under a long-term contract. They're like, yeah, we're thinking about cutting them. You won't take a pay cut. We'll think about trading them. So basically every guy, I mean, we could probably name 30 guys untouchable in the NFL. A lot of them are quarterbacks. And then a lot of like high level, Trent Williams, Travis Kelsey, like those type guys. But basically every other name, you go half the pro bowl roster. You're like, yeah, we could move on from that guy. Yep. And I think basketball and baseball used to have an element of that. And definitely

their guys were wired, like, working in like local television in the Bay Area and meeting a lot of guys that played in the 80s and 90s. They had that attitude in baseball and basketball. I can be replaced. I can be cut. They were very relatable individuals. It's like Charles Barkley's like one of the biggest TV stars of all time. He's relatable. I think it's much more difficult for the modern guy in that sport to be relatable because you're making $100 million guaranteed whether you're good or bad. No one has a problem when you're good getting paid. But he's like, is this guy even, Jordan, is making $130 million. He's like the worst player in the NBA? Yeah. Well, and I've talked to a handful of execs, and I've brought this up before. They laugh at the NBA structure.

They're like, what a joke. They make fun. NFL guys, I remember having this conversation a couple years ago when the CTE thing came down. And a lot of these Northeast media types who don't understand the passion for football in the Midwest or college football, they're like, yeah, it's the end of the NFL. I'm like, you've been in the Northeast. way too long where baseball still talked about on sports radio a lot.

I'm like, football's not going anywhere. It's way too big to fail. There's way too much money. And they've cleaned it up. Then nobody hits at practice anymore once the season starts. By the way, you get to the Super Bowl, usually the teams that get to the Super Bowl are missing maybe one starter. Like, everybody's got the – I mean, guys are healthy. The Niners and Chiefs were healthy.

Yeah. So there's a – you know, the Chiefs a few years ago missing their tackles. And it was like, yeah, that's what happens. But one of the things, the structure of the NFL is the structure of most of our lives. You're tradable, cuttable, fireable. And I never understand fans. Like, this is like we're fans. I look at fans that I just think, you guys are out in your mind.

This idea, I want my guy to get the bag. Fuck that. I don't want many players to get the bag because it limits my flexibility. I am always rooting for the team to sign a reason. contract, so it gives the team flexibility. I mean, this idea, like, Dax got a $300 billion net worth after his next contract. He's fine. But you're not, you're not fine if you overpay players.

But it is interesting. The NFL's the only sport, and I will say the MLS and hockey are the closest NBA baseball are a mess. That it's like, you just... I talked to a former hockey guy that played 15 years. I didn't know who he was, but we started BS. And he was one of the most relatable individuals. I had to Google after.

I was like, God, this guy played. They have a relatability to the way they talk and the way they interact. They're actually, I'm like, this guy could have talked to anyone in here and could have got along. It was very impressive. Yeah, I met a guy at a bar in Naples one time, NHL guy. He was a Bruin. I didn't know.

I'm Googled him same. But I also think they have a very tight cap. And stars get paid. Everybody else makes a good living, not an insane living. And I'm not anti. I always said this. I'm not anti-players making money. I'm not anti-mobility.

But in any business, if you're paying B&C employees A money, you're going to have a problem. And I do think, and again, I love NBA playoff basketball. I really do. It's one of my favorite things. But NFL guys, they look executives, owners, they look at the NBA and baseball, and they just laugh at their structure. Well, I think one power of the NFL, like you said, about a random fan will watch not his team and know their players. I also think because the power, listen, we can argue over the franchise tag, whether it's fair or not. It's one of the healthiest things for the business by a mile.

Because when Kevin Durant or Aaron Judge or Shohei Utani, when they hit free agency, there is no mechanism to keep him. And in those leagues, guys turn over a lot, which is not great for the league. If I'm the Kansas Chiefs, I would imagine bottom 10 market in the NFL. if I want to keep Patrick Mahomes, his entire career, or the Packers with Rogers or Farve, I can until I choose to get rid of them. And that's healthy for my organization, for the league. The Chiefs were just in a Super Bowl, and they're easily now, I would say, one of the most recognizable brands in the NFL because of Patrick.

And that's not really possible. Like in the NBA, if the Nuggets make the NBA finals, it's not great. They would much rather have Steph Curry or LeBron in the NBA finals. We're in the NFL, it helps to have the Niners there. but if it had been the Lions, maybe it's not 120. What is 115 million people still watch the Super Bowl? It doesn't impact. And that's where I think the NFL has dwarfed everyone.

They're no longer dependent on markets, the brands. Yeah, zero. Their brands change by the player, by the quarterback, who you know, if Josh Allen's healthy, he's going to be on the bill for 15 years. And it's always been like that. Yeah. If you go back 10 years, the CTE check whenever it was, it was remarkable to listen to so many sports writers. It was like, guys, you're tone deaf. You don't, you never live in the South.

You don't get Texas. It was a lot of Northeast sports riders. It was a lot of this high-minded. Remember, Sports Illustrated started out covering fencing. It had to be like persuaded to cover football. There is this sort of high-minded view of, you know, college football and football. And it's like, guys, it's the best run sport. You know, there was a great moment in the Dynasty series with Roger Goodell. Remember, when they got rid of the tapes, put a hammer to him, got rid of the SpyGate tapes. Yeah. And there was this media guy. Why'd you get rid of the tapes? And he said, well, because the punishment had been handed out. Well, but what about, and he said, no, the punishment had been handed out. There was no need for the tapes. Well, I mean, why? And

Goodell said, tapes get out. He goes, like these got out. He goes, we don't. We don't. We destroyed him and it shut the reporter up. But the reporter, he wanted so badly, Goodell got hammered for that that he destroyed the tapes. And the point was, there was no value in those tapes once the spines and suspensions were handed out. Belichick was fined half a million dollars at the time, anytime a lot of money, but at the time, he wasn't making what he's making now. Yeah, yeah. And so Goodell gets a lot of crap because I think by and large, the media doesn't like power. But like Dana White and Goodell, I'd argue, are the two best, like, commissioner, CEOs of their sport. They're both, Dana's highly defiant.

And Goodell, think about how big that industry is. What's the last? Look at how leagues have dealt with societal changes, cultural changes, strikes. I've always thought, Goodell, mostly because. Goddell doesn't pander to the media. I've had dinner with them and drinks. You can ask Roger anything. He literally, I asked him on the air one time.

He came on my show and I said, Roger, I love your sport. I don't know what it catch is. My friends don't know what it catches. He acknowledged live on the air. He goes, yeah, Colin, it's a problem. That year, they changed it in the Super Bowl. Eagles, remember in that Super Bowl?

The ball was juggled and they allowed it. what commissioner would have done that. I think when I watched the dynasty, it was another reminder that the NFL is incredibly well run. And Goodell really has his shit buttoned up. How about the part when Robert Kraft bought the Patriots that he bought the surrounding area because he knew the value in that that no one. And I was like, what a genius. Can you imagine the level of business savviness that it takes to even because he's thinking that before he even has the money and the level of, no wonder he's one of the better owners in the NFL. No wonder his, you know, he's being talked about like he is to be able to make a move like that.

Yeah. So for people wondering, the stadium wasn't great. It's terrible. I think historically it was like the worst in the NFL. A lot of people thought. Yeah, it was. In fact, they threatened to go to Hartford at one point. And so Kraft bought the land around the stadium.

So if you bought the stadium, he was going to, you know, he would be making all the money around it with shops and restaurants. No, I think, I think what I appreciated about all that is that, you know, Kraft was a Patriot fan. That's all he was. He was a Patriot fan. Yeah. Yeah. And all these owners, when they buy the team, when Jerry Jones bought the team, Jimmy Johnson told me for the first year financially, Jerry was like, Going to card dealers and trying to get ads.

Like he's like, we do, we weren't the cowboys. It's like you had to overpay Kraft, by the way, the first couple of years. They were not rolling in it. No, one thing, and I said this on the podcast last week, you might not have seen because you were vacationing. But Gerard Mayo, they clearly have a huge push from the Patriots to be like, we love the media now. You guys are our friends. Our assistant coaches know your importance. And I don't even, and I've heard good things.

he's an impressive guy. I don't even necessarily blame him for saying that because it's clearly coming from Jonathan and Robert. I think they are too obsessed. Like, yeah, Bill could be an asshole. Who cares? No one, the media does, has no pull in the narrative once you start playing games. If you win, it doesn't matter how nice he is.

If you lose, it doesn't, none of it matters. He's only going to be, so yeah, they could write great articles for the next six months. The moment he starts 0 and 4 and Jane Daniels has thrown seven interceptions, and one touchdown, you got a problem on your hands. No matter how much they like the guy, they will turn on you every time. So I understand the crafts. They just want some,

they want more smiles. It's all bullshit. The reason Belichick got running out of town, he started losing. It wasn't because his press conferences are, and I just think it's a human, you know, it's natural reaction to want to pivot off what you just had in relationships.

With coaches, we see it all the time. But craft, Parcells, A-hole. Pete, nice guy, Belichick, like Parcells, now Gerard Mayo, like a Pete Carroll happy. And I think they're obsessed with the wrong thing right now in New England. And I do wonder if they got something coming their way. This is going to be a lot more difficult than they realize.

Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all. Embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.

Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined.

And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger.

So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got? to do a little kill.

Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jett. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so you all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack.

So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history.

Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You know, I've had people ask me this before. Why do athletes come on your show? And I think, well, I got a big reach. And I'm not Mike Wallace. I can ask a tough question. But by and large, most athletes have secondary incomes or, you know, projects or charities, and we always mention them. But I think the reality of athletes and sports is they largely don't need the media.

That's why I've always appreciated – let's pivot to the NBA here. It's why I've always appreciated LeBron James. It doesn't matter if it's a local, regional telecaster national. LeBron always stops to talk to the press. Always. Michael did this too. Jordan was great. Kobe was really good at this stuff. Some guys aren't.

But as LeBron's season winds down, I think the Lakers have championship length, LeBron A.D. I don't think they're a championship team. I think Boston and Denver just feel like better than everybody. But I do want to talk about the Warriors for a second because generally speaking, as I was, you know, they've gone on a bit of a heater. I think they've won eight of ten. It played really, really well. They put Clay Thompson on the bench. and they brought this rookie in who they drafted to be the next Clay, the Pods kid, Brandon Pods.

And he is, frankly, he's got, I mean, even during draft night, you're like, he kind of plays like Clay. He's got an edge to him. He's a little salty. And then Cominga now has become like a pretty consistently good performer. Wiggins is playing a little better now. Generally, you know, Shaq and Kobe breaks up, the heels break up, Michael Jordan. You can get really bad, really fast. But I'm sitting watching the warriors over the last two weeks.

And I'm like, okay, that's the last dynasty. And I'm like, now, Caminga's a real player. And Clay's off the bench. Clay's, by the way, he had a heater playing the nuggets. Clay off the bench is a totally different expectation than Clay starting. And I'm like, I know they have a rookie. But I watch them and I'm like, okay, they don't match up well with Denver, almost nobody does. Lakers do a little because AD can defend Yokic. But you know the Bay Area very well.

Are we going to have? Because it doesn't work this way. When Dynasties end, they go into the freaking tank. Durant left, they want another one. Then they step back. And I watched them in the last two weeks. And I'm like, you know what? Steph's still a top five, six player. Dremont still a catalyst offensively, excellent defensive player, clay off the bench, two young guys that can actually score. Pods can score. Cominga can score. Wiggins looks a lot better. Wiggins has played much better. I got to tell you, John, the West outside of Denver, everybody's got an issue. Like,

everybody. I think one thing the Warriors have is there a throwback. I mean, these guys have played together forever. I mean, you watch the Phoenix Suns. They've been together for 10 minutes. You know, how can you have any faith in most of these teams beside Denver that they've been put together over the last 18 months? The Warriors are much more like a 90s or 80s teams where the group has played together forever. How about Steve Kerr's contract? Right?

Yeah. Like he's not in it for the rest of his life, but as long as Steph is there and Draymond is there and now they have some young players. So yeah, I wouldn't want any part of these guys in a big game. The length, I mean, last year the Lakers annihilated him in that series length. And Clay was terrible. So to me, if Clay is the day and age of 14 through 18 is gone, right? ACL and a kid, but if he is just a solid, I can trust six out of the seven games to be in the high teens. And one of those games, he gets high.

It's like Westbrook off the bench for the Clippers. He's at Mr. Energy. Yeah, they, they, I saw Draymond said on his podcast. He's like, I'm telling you, we can compete for a championship this year. Like, their cohesion, their group, they get Chris Paul coming back. Gary Payton's healthy now. I mean, and Steph is one of the most remarkable players in the history of sports. And still, like, when he's going is one of the best players in the NBA.

The key to them, though, is Draymond, who's playing really well in Clay. Because Steph last year, like, what else do you want to do against the Lakers? It was everybody else. So they just need Clay. To me, Clay, if he can be like a B for them and then at moments a B plus a minus against good teams in the first or second round, then yeah, hell yeah, they could make a run. Yeah. You know, Steve Kerr. How about their, you see their value?

When Steph showed up, it was like $325 million. That's what Laker bought the team for. Now, I don't think they would sell for this because so much is dependent on Steph, who's 36, 37 years old. Forbes valued them at over $8 billion. Oh, I think so. The arena is the arena. It's a cash cow. It's one of the only areas.

Yeah. Yeah. And I also think that they own. So that's a huge thing. Yeah, I think that's a huge component to it. It's interesting. So I covered Steve Kerr for a couple years in Portland. And that team also had the governor of Oregon like Chris Dudley.

So it was a team that had like problem guys and then two of the smartest guys getting arrested and like mayors. And it just was a fast. Sabonis was a fascinating player to cover. Damien Stadamire, Pippen. But Kerr's remarkable. So Kerr is part of the greatest NBA team ever and hit some of the biggest shots. Yeah. He's now one of the best coaches.

He's largely considered sort of a, it's got kind of a Phil Jackson field where there's a psychology, a psychological. a psychological impact, an expertise beyond just X's nose. So he's on the greatest team, created one of the best coaches of all time. As a general manager, first of all, it's impossible. This league is, if you don't have great players, you're not a great GM. He was clearly capable. He was a tremendous broadcaster. I mean, I thought he was, I think he's one of the best analysts in any sport.

I thought Kerr was a riot. He was quick. He was nimble. He was funny. Player, broadcaster, coach. Like, Kerr, in my lifetime, Phil played, marginal player. Phil coach, great. GM, disaster.

Broadcaster, no. Like, Steve Kerr has moved into an area. I mean, I don't know what the comp is. Broadcaster, coach, player. he is one of the most significant people in league history. I think just people have taken him for granted because he looks so young. People forget that he's an older guy now. He's moving into a Pat Riley stage where I'm like, this is an all-time top five guy in league history.

And it wasn't he part? I mean, he was one of the key guys on some of those great teams at Arizona. I mean, he's been basketball royalty for since the moment he was 18, 19 years old. I think we say this a lot of times in scouting, like this guy could do whatever. he wants could run a bank, could start his own company, could be a football player. And it's usually with famous, you know, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Breeze usually fall under that. I think we look at Steve a little different because he was a role player. But like that was really the like his lowest level of accomplishment in terms of his ability, right?

Everything else he's been Michael Jordan at. Like he's clearly one of the best coaches in the NBA. He's now the highest paid guy. He was an elite. He was an all-time great shooter. He just wasn't very big. He just had physical limitations. But Michael trusted him.

I mean, the last dance is like, Steve, I'm coming to you. Right. Trust him that way. Phil swore by him. Phil begged him to take the next job. Under the media, he loves to call Phil the village idiot. But for a long time in my life, Phil was the cream of the crop.

And Joe Lacob, who was an old school kind of just like George Steinbrenner, killer, I mean, refuses, like, has gone all in on this guy now for a decade. So he went there. And Steph Curry basically went to the Warriors. He's like, I'm not playing for anybody else. So one of the greatest players in the history of the sport basically looked at management. Like, you better figure this out.

He told Marcus Thompson, athletic. Like, I wanted Steve to stay and put our contracts together. That's the guy. That'd be like Michael Jordan going, you know, and Kobe, the way they talked about Phil. That's the way they talk about Steve Kerr. So I think he's just one of those rare guys. He could have been a politician.

He could have been an executive. He was. But in any other industry, obviously he's just a basketball addict. And I think basketball, got lucky that how many guys of his level would have because the last thing that came was coaching he did everything else right he broadcasting you general manager business stuff it's like i really want to coach it's usually the other way around the guy coaches first kind of gets burned out and

does all the other stuff he actually did the hardest thing last now he he got lucky lucky's the wrong word he made the right decision because he had options instead of going to the nicks he went to the warriors and obviously it changed the trajectory of his basketball life But when you just think like basketball Hall of Famers, he's got three rings with the Bulls, he's got two rings with the Spurs, he's got four rings with the Warriors. And they've lost a couple finals, right? How many finals the guy I've been to? Probably like 15? The, we'll wrap it up here.

We've been going 50 minutes. We'll wrap it up. So I go, my wife and I, John, bought a place in Rhode Island because I went there for 10 years when I worked at the other place and we vacation, took our kids there. So we sold our house in L.A. in like July, and we bought a place in August next to a beach in Rhode Island. So it's always been one of my favorites. He showed me the picks of the party. It looked good. Yeah, it's nice. So, and that's, we're all retire in the summer and fall in about 12 years, 10, 12 years, whatever. And so Friday night, we go out with friends. And then we come home at 9.30, and we put. pull into the driveway, my wife and I, and there's a car parked in my driveway. Now, we got to remember, this is a summer, summertime. There's nobody's lights are on except ours. So I'm like, what's going on? So I pull in behind the car and I walk up to it with my phone. You know, I don't

know what's going on. We've got lights in the house. Is somebody robbing my house? So I go up there and I asked this young girl, she rolls her window down and her dog starts barking. I said, can I ask why you're here? And she says, she pauses, well, I, yeah, I was just wondering if your house is for sale. And I'm like, oh, I'm getting robbed. It's 9.30. There's no for sale sign. I'm getting robbed.

Her boyfriend's in the house. So I call 911, give them the address. well, the westerly Rhode Island police, fantastic. Like three dudes, three cars. Wasn't a lot of action, apparently. It came flying down the street. And we're kind of on a point, so it's not easy to get to. So, and they were great guys.

I mean, they were just total pros. It really made me feel good about this town. I'm like, these guys really were buttoned up. They were young, fit, look you're right in the eye. They were ready to kick ass and take names on the guy's house. Yeah, they weren't effing around. I'm like, okay. What's that?

Was someone in the house? Well, so the guy goes, sir, cars running. First of all, shouldn't be here. Cars running. And I said, there's no lights on. So my takeaway was either she thinks, because Taylor Swift lives 10 houses away. I said, much bigger than my house, obviously. I said, does she think this is Taylor Swift's house?

Is it a mental health issue? So they talked to her. And it was. She was very confused. you know, made certain claims that didn't make any sense. So then you feel sympathy. You're like, okay. Yeah.

Then I had to, then the cops went into the house. Three of them, you know, they were ready to go. Then I followed in. And in this house is 100 years old. My basement has 10 doors. I mean, it's a maze of doors. And we've been fixing it up for five, six months. So, and so I tried to email the Westrodee police the next day.

It was so damn hard to find an email. I just was going to email a sergeant. say, hey, your guys are great. You got good dudes there, man. They were total pros. But, you know, so I guess my point is when we discover that Taylor Swift was 10 houses away, I was like, that doesn't hurt property value. Now, I'm like, do you think she was looking for Taylor Swift or she's just kind of off on her own? I just said, because there's been stories of multiple people like being around the property. I mean, Taylor Swift's the biggest star in the world.

Yeah, yeah. The biggest star, beautiful, talented. So it really did make me think, oh, my God. Because this young lady had no idea who I was. I mean, she didn't care. But I got my wife in the car. I'm here to protect my wife, like, right? Like, I'm out of the car.

I got the phone. I'm like, you know. But so that's how I want to hear your thoughts on Baker Mayfield's next contract. Nah. Wasn't really interested in the Combine breakdown. Not. So anyway, the point was. I had a great week off. I love where I went. It's unbelievable. But there was a little drama. And also, and I love Rhode Island, but Rhode Island's got a neat unique history, a very unique history, that, you know, Buddy Sianz was a mayor of Providence. Providence, Federal Hill. It's where the mob hung out. So, you know, Rhode Island's the wild, wild west in government. I almost, I have a wine store business in Connecticut with my friend Brian.

You know, we thought about moving into Rhode Island, and it was like, okay, no thanks. You got to pay someone 20% off the top just to operate. Oh, John, you don't know the half of it, 20%. So, and by the way, I love Rhode Island because of its history. It's so unique. It's a little wild, wild west. They do their own thing. But earlier that night, the place I was at, I went, and it was a very interesting place.

give the name out, but I asked the people that took me there, I'm like, they got 30 people in this area. There's 12 people in the restaurant. How the hell do they fund it? My friend goes, oh, yeah, it's run by the mom. And I'm like, so between, I went to a place run by the mob. I mean, they had like 30 people, and I'm like, there's eight people having dinner. This doesn't make any sense. I mean, it was just, And then between that and the young lady who I think thought I was Taylor Swift, my Friday was it was full. It was full. It was a lot of drama.

John Gotti, Colin Coward, and Taylor Swift on the same street. Crazy ass Friday for me. Glad I'm home in quiet Los Angeles. John Middlkoff. Enjoy the combine, buddy. I will. Take it easy. Thanks so much for listening.

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