The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 1012 - Trenches Wednesday With JJ Watt, Utah Jazz Owner Ryan Smith LIVE In The ThunderDome, Andre Agassi, AQ Shipley and Darius Butler LIVE In The ThunderDome, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: November 8, 2023

On today’s show, Pat, AQ Shipley, Darius Butler, AJ Hawk, and the boys chat about whether or not it is realistic that Bill Belichick is let go during the season as is being reported right now, the college football top 25 rankings from this week, why running games in the NFL aren’t as creative this year as they have been in year’s past, and everything else happening around the sports world and the NFL as we approach week 10. Joining the show to chat about his favorite plays and biggest takeaways from week 9 of the NFL season is future Hall of Famer, Texans Ring of Honor member, 3x DPOY, countless number of All-Pro’s and Pro Bowls, JJ Watt (14:06-54:29). Next, the owner of the Utah Jazz, Ryan Smith joins the progrum in studio to chat about how Salt Lake City is one of the fastest growing cities in America, getting free agents to come to the Jazz, his interests in other professional sports teams, why he cares so much about the Gameday experience, why he believes so strongly in Utah, how he became a self-made billionaire, his thoughts on the NBA in-season tournament, and much much more (56:54-1:59:47). Later, 8x Major Champion, Olympic Gold Medalist, one of the greatest tennis players of all-time, Andre Agassi joins the show to chat about his career, his love for pickle ball post playing career, appreciating tennis after he retired, the Pickle Ball slam event in February on ESPN where he and his wife Steffi Graf will be competing against John McEnroe and Maria Sharapova, his thoughts on the current state of tennis, and much more (1:59:53-2:21:07). Make sure you subscribe to youtube.com/thepatmcafeeshow to watch the show. Or watch on ESPN (12-2 EDT), ESPN’s Youtube (12-3 EDT), or ESPN+. We appreciate the hell out of all of you. See you tomorrow, cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, beautiful people. Welcome to our humble abode, the Thunderdome. On this Trenches Wednesday, November 8th, 2023, this sports program starts now. Football! Is what we're normally talking about, and I will say today we have some great football conversation to be had here on this glorious Trenches Wednesday. We'll have J.J. Watt joining us in about 14 minutes or so. Can't wait to hear how his trip to Pittsburgh was and how life is as J.J. Watt. Who does he want to

spotlight from around the NFL? We shall see. But in the second hour, we have a billionaire coming in here. Pretty sweet. A billionaire. With a B? With a B in there. Self-made as well.

A guy who I do believe dropped out of high school at one point, was kind of off. Then he found him. Then he's back. Then he built a company, sold it twice. Now he's the owner of the Utah Jazz. Ryan Smith will be sitting in the seat that Darius is sitting in. And Darius will be sitting in the seat that A.K. Kusch is sitting in.

And then A.K. Kusch will be sitting back there. So we keep him away from the billionaire that is in the building. But yes, we'll be talking to an NBA owner today. Cannot wait for that in studio in the second hour. Then the third hour, guess what? Andre Agassi will join us. He's a tennis guy. He plays the tennis. Bald head. Very handsome, cool guy. He's also a pickleball champion. He won the pickleball slam one for a million bucks. This time he's teaming up with his wife to take on John McEnroe and Maria Sharapova on February 4th for another million bucks.

And there's a bunch of charity stuff around it all. Whatever the case, can't wait to talk to Andre Agassi. We're going to say that he's been a guest on the show at some point. That's a cool thing we're accomplishing today. The Talks at Table is here. Speaking of guests on this show, these guys are the hosts. These guys run this thing. Yeah, I'd say the vibes directors around here

at Boston Corner and at Ty Schmidt. Con Man, two days, back-to-back wild ponies. Yeah, it just felt like we had such a good time with the wild horses that I figured I'd wear another wild horse shirt. And this is kind of a wild horse drawing more so. You're starting to go with a mustache that seems to be going a little wild on your upper lip.

It's funny you say that. I did just, you know, back porch barber got me right, and I said, you know what? For Arthur Smith, don't you touch that stache. Don't you even dare. And he didn't, and I'm glad that I stuck with it. This is for Arthur. I will carry Arthur Smith's stache.

I will give him a mustache ride. There it is. That he has not been able to do because he shaved his face. Thank you. What a hero you are, Kyle. This one's for Artie. I love that guy. And it was a bummer just to watch him up there without a stache.

He was bummed. I got a lot of people sending me messages about how we need to start saying meaner stuff about Artie Smith. I want to let you know. Don't you say that. All right? Don't you say that. But we have some people here that might throughout the day. He looks different.

He looks like Dick Smith there, CEO of FedEx. He's going to carve his own path. He said he regretted it immediately, and it was like 3.30 in the morning. He said he couldn't sleep. He decided to make a decision, pull the trigger, and he's probably going to be growing it back as soon as possible. I'm happy you are growing one at the same time in his name. Speaking of great mustache, this dude has lost about 60 pounds in the last three

weeks. One half of the hammer, Cowboys Tone Diggs. You look great, pal. Thank you. I appreciate that. How were the Bengals fans in your mentions last night? They didn't think that I lost weight. What? You thought you had fatso? Tony! A lot of fatso talk. A lot of fatso, a lot of brokeback memes, which I didn't understand.

Whoa! Oh, because they're calling you a cowboy. Yeah, but you know, that's not a problem. That's not a problem. You're Jay Gyllenhaal? Okay. I guess, dude. Spangles fans are bad people, but you know. That's Ohio. Yeah, you're right. It is.

Are you trying to say you're the victim here? Is that what you're saying? What did you say yesterday? I don't disrespect the football team. It's just the franchise and the fans that I disrespect. Steelers had to play the Bengals twice and I don't know how those are going to go

so I can't say that I disrespect the football team because that may turn out bad. So you're covering all the bases here while trying to grandstand a little bit around the AFC North. I can respect it. I saw it start to get a little loud because my name obviously starts sliding into anything you guys do at any moment. It's awesome to see how people react to things

that you do. They take things very seriously. That's good. That's sports, baby. We're lucky to do it. We're lucky to do it. Speaking of taking things seriously, College Football Playoff Committee released its second ever Top 25 this season. It's a little bit of a shake-up and all the boys want is a little bit of consistency.

Greg McIlroy last night was about to flip the table. Yeah, it was awful. Watching that show, 7 o'clock every single Tuesday, with Reece Davis hosting. By the way, Reece, phenomenal job, dude. Reece Davis is so damn good at what he does. It was a good show. I really enjoy that show.

Joey Galloway, Booger McFarlane, Kirk Herbstreit, Reece Davis, Greg McIlroy, who was not happy about how we need some consistency. First it's strength of record and schedule, then it's eye test, then it's judgment, then it's what about this win, what about that win? He was asking all the right questions, but Boo Corrigan, the chair of the college football

playoff committee, comes and speaks to Reese Davis, and this is just like 20 minutes after Reese Davis has seen the list for the first time as well, because it just got finished. So Reese is tasked with basically asking all the questions that all the college football fans have about the most important top 25 ranking, literally as soon as it's coming out, as he's learning about it in real time. And he started bringing up what Greg McIlroy was bringing up about strength of record and the future.

And, you know, because Notre Dame, whenever Ohio State beat Notre Dame, was a very good win. Now Notre Dame has ratted off a few losses, not as good of a win as it once was, still haven't met one. Why is that the case? Whenever you got Georgia, Michigan, I test, I test, they're probably better than Ohio State right now. And Boo Corrigan, phenomenal. Hey, this is Roger Goodell level. Oh, yeah.

Okay. Roger Goodell level of answering things. He said, we look at strength of record, strength of schedule. We look at who it was, when it was. We also look at where it was. We do some football judgment, what plane they flew on, how the workouts went that week, what they said after the game, how the media portray

them. I'm like, damn. He didn't say all those things, but his answer basically indicated we look at everything. So there's a reasoning for every single answer that there could be. So inevitably, you can never really get it right in everybody's eyes but also can never really get it wrong in a lot of people's eyes as well tough job excited and thankful to be a part of the college football world this year and last year but i do not envy any of those people making those decisions because there's only four spots and you're already starting to look at people getting pissed off

about not being in the four i couldn't even fathom with how this end of the year could go the pac-12 could cannibalize itself still at this point at the beginning of the season everybody's talking about how great the pac-12 is if they cannibalize themselves here at the end are they still going to be complimenting the pac-12 whenever there's two three losses on a lot of those teams or are they going to remember like yeah good teams are they going to say nah just like we thought not as good it's a wild scene in college football right now. I don't think Georgia and Michigan fans should worry about what it is right now because Georgia has

Tennessee and obviously this week Ole Miss and the SEC championship, and I think it's my mic that has feedback potentially when I talk. Yeah, I think so. Good catch. Good catch. Good catch, Tony. Go ahead, Tony. Is it still going?

Yes. Isolated the problem. Here, do you want the... Yep. Give a hand out to the bangle hater. Tony Bangles. Hello? Yeah.

You're going to have to turn that one off. Hello? Yeah. There it is. So what did you say, pal? So Georgia has Ole Miss, Tennessee, and then the SEC Championship. So if they win those games, they're going to be number one. It doesn't matter.

Then Michigan has Penn State and Ohio State. They win those games. They're going to be one or two. It doesn't matter. So if those are the people complaining, it doesn't matter right now. And that's kind of what we said. Yeah, I think McElroy's pissed off, I think, about Alabama being behind a couple people.

And if we're doing eye tests right now, Alabama's much better than whenever Texas beat them. And then now we're talking about Texas lose to Oklahoma. We see what Oklahoma's done now. There's a lot of conversation. I don't envy any of the positions, but I'm pumped that we're kind of coming into a hot stretch for college football. Let's get back to the NFL. We've got two legends with us. Nine-year NFL vet, host of the Man to Man podcast and everything, DB, yesterday.

Ladies and gentlemen, Darius J. Butters. Shout to you, D. Butts. And 12-year NFL veteran, Super Bowl champion, player coach, ladies and gentlemen, Darius J. Butters. Shout out to you, D. Butts. And 12-year NFL veteran, Super Bowl champion, player coach, ladies and gentlemen, A.Q. Shipley, who is Boston Connors' mom's favorite guy on the show. Let's go! We learned right before that. Hey, Penn State could have a

big, big weekend here with Michigan coming to town at noon game. Penn State wins this game. Wow! Whoa! That'd be a game changer, A.Q. Well, the interesting thing is, if Penn State wins this game. Wow. Whoa. That'd be a game changer, A.Q. Well, the interesting thing is if Penn State wins this game,

then Michigan beats Ohio State. What happens to the Big Ten? What happens? Because they all got one loss then, right? Yes, and they all kind of A, B, C, did the whole thing. So then it comes to Iowa, Wisconsin. No, no, no. Iowa's leading the Big Ten. So then it comes to Iowa, Wisconsin. No, no, no.

Iowa is leading the Big Ten. So it would come down to Iowa, and they'd probably be the Big Ten champs by default and go to the college football playoff. Hey, the Big Ten, well, that'd be crazy if Iowa ended up in the Big Ten football or in the college football playoff. I would really enjoy to see the stats on how they are by far the worst team to ever be put in that position of all time in football-wise.

But the Big Ten is just kind of one part of the story. I mean, the SEC's got a lot to figure out. The ACC, Florida State, if they win it all, if they somehow stumble at one point, which I'm not saying they're going to, with how great they've been, ITES is going to have to help them because they kill people. But the ACC, not that strong.

Then you think about the Pac-12, it's a banana's time. You're going to get Oregon-Washington back at the Pac-12 championship. So there's another loss coming to one of them. And now, if they avenge the loss that they had early in this, it's crazy. It is. Wild stuff. Only four spots. I don't know how it's not until next year that it's 12 teams. How is this not at the beginning? And Nick Saban

told us, who we will talk to tomorrow, basically they were trying to save the bowl season. So we're only doing four because it won't take away from all the other bowls. The bowls still matter. The bowls still matter. Do they? The bowls still matter.

Do they? That was what the decision they made. Do they? Now you're asking that question. You're asking that question. You're not the only one. Everybody's wondering, okay, we won six games. We're celebrating, and we're going to hold back what a real playoff is

for that sake there? I don't think so. So 12 games, probably going to become, you know, and probably going to become, and then we'll just work right into it. And the NIO transfer portal days and the college football playoff extended days will be electrifying. And all the people that hate it right now are just scared of what could potentially become. And I understand it. And you love tradition and history. I don't think we're going to lose a lot of that. I think we're actually setting up for more of that type of stuff

to potentially either be built or to happen. Because like Bedlam, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, there has to be a financial thing that comes alongside that to both of those programs with how big it is. I assume they're going to get back into it. That's a damn shame that we're losing that particular game and this whole realignment with Oklahoma going to the SEC. But it's like I feel like all the decisions being made are around money,

and money's good. All these games are good money. So I think inevitably it will all get figured out. I think the future of college football is going to be good. Like we lost WU and Pitt for a little bit after the Big East went away, but then they made the right decision and brought it back now. I hope the same thing happens with Bedlam. Yeah, I hope so too. Oklahoma State's cool with happens with Bedlam. Yeah, I hope so too.

Oklahoma State's cool with it never happening again. Yeah, they get the trophy. All right, let's talk about NFL football here. Darius, did you happen to hear what AQ said before we went live today? About? He was talking about the NFL run game around the NFL was just absolute crap.

Is that what you were saying, AQ? Because you sent me a text late night Sunday. Really? Late night, it would be early our time, I guess, Monday. He's over there in the desert. He sent me a text and said, worst rushing Sunday in the history of the NFL. Why'd you say that, and what does that mean? Man, I'm telling you, I've been watching this for two years now pretty closely,

and the biggest thing that I'm seeing is the lack of creativity this year. I think every coordinator is scared of pre-snap penalties. I think they're scared of all the motions and shifts, except for a few teams, right? Don't get me wrong. Obviously, Miami's still doing it. San Fran, right? The Lions.

All the good running teams are still doing some good things. But for the majority of these teams, you are seeing just a lack of creativity and a lack of variety. You're seeing an inside zone week, and you're seeing – oh, here we go. Here we go. This is a classic inside zone week by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and it's going to get blown up because tight ends on the backside can't win. Okay, you get two.

But that is what you are getting. You are getting that right there. And then you're also getting the classic duo play, which I think we might have teed up. Here we go. This is the J monday night classic duo play we talk about it all the time but defenses are so good we've talked about this a bunch darius aj everybody's talked about this defenses are getting so good offensive lines are lacking right

now and then what you get is the bounce and then watch the flag come in right there because anytime you get a duo play it's meant to hit in the a gap. It's power without the puller. That's what the play is. And when it's meant to hit in the A gap and it's stuffed, like it is always on defense, then it bounces, and everybody's trying to seal their guy, this guy, and then they play over the top and you get a holding call. Oh, it's all those holds that we see are potentially, like, we know it's coming.

You guys know it's coming. I know it's coming. Because for me, I think, oh, big play. All these O-linemen just can't keep their hands inside. It's like, well, the play's not supposed to go that way. It's supposed to go this way. So whenever you're jousting with a 280 or 300-pound man, there's a chance he's going to know that your guy's going a different direction than you. So he pokes, he starts going.

Boom, you start holding. We got a penalty. That thing's going 10 yards the other way. That's exactly right. And the other thing that we're also seeing is when you watch the college game, this is all trickling into the NFL. The college game, all they run, all they run is the inside zone week, and then they run the play action off of it.

Now it's starting to trickle into the NFL. So you're seeing this lack of variety, and all you're seeing is – Oh, no, this Tom Brady said this about it. He said football's getting too simple. It's getting too easy. You're even thinking that in a run game. It's getting too easy. 100%. And you're losing the motions and the shifts because Brady said this about it. He said football's getting too simple. It's getting too easy. You're even thinking that in a run game. It's getting too easy. 100%.

And you're losing the motions and the shifts because you can't process it. Now we can't process it, so let's get everybody standing still. We don't want anybody making pre-snap things because when you get shifts and motions, what also happens? The defense moves. Correct. When the defense moves, we don't know what spots to go to. So now all this stuff we're not processing.

It's professional football. I don't know what's happening. It's professional. I don't like it. What the hell? Joining us now is a man who's It's professional football. I don't know what's happening. It's professional. I don't like it. What the hell? Joining us now is a man who's a great professional football player for a long time. He's in the Houston Texans Ring of Honor. There's only three people in there.

Wow. He's one of them. Ladies and gentlemen, guy who works on CBS Sunday kickoff show every once in a while. Every once in a while. Incredibly handsome. Very tall. Game wrecker. Was just in Pittsburgh for TJ Watt's game this past weekend. Incredibly handsome. Very tall. Game wrecker. Was just in Pittsburgh

for TJ Watt's game this past weekend. JJ Watt. How you doing, bub? I'm great. How are you doing? Hey, I see the hat on still. That means we got good things happening. Hold on before we dive in.

Gumpy, would you like to give us a Burnley update here before the owner has a chance to really say anything, Gump? Tough match this weekend against Arsenal, JJ. Best of luck, my friend. Okay, so we got Arsenal this weekend. I like that. We're playing with the big boys. Let's go.

We're playing with the big boys. How do we feel about Burnley, and what is the State of the Union here? Yeah, I will give a State of the Union. That sounds great because there's no doubt about it. It's been a rocky start to this campaign for us. It has not gone the way that we've wanted it to go. But you don't get involved in something like this to only be there for the good times.

You're also there for the shitty times, and you're also there when you've got to work through some stuff. And we are very early into a brand-new Premier League season. So I am optimistic about where we're going. Are there things we need to fix? Absolutely. But I am optimistic. Vince is a very, very smart manager. We've got a system that takes a little time to learn.

We've got new guys learning that system. So I remain optimistic. The hat stays on the head, and we go again. Hell, yeah. Let's go, Burnley. Here go again. Hell yeah. Let's go, Burnley. Here we go, Burnley. Let's go, Burnley. Yeah, Gumpy, with your negativity. Don't you worry. We've got a lot of season left. I wasn't calling for

the coach's job. That wasn't me. Yeah, that was me. It's hot. Oh, yeah. Jeez Louise. Just seeing if we could maybe light a fire under the boys' asses, but that State of the Union, I'm back. I'm back on Burnley's side here. I'm ready to, you know, wet the sails and get going. I know that's not exactly a premiere.

Up the Clarets, JJ. Up the Clarets, JJ. Let's go, boys. Let's act like you've been on board the whole time. All right. I got to say, AQ looks jacked today. I don't know what he took or what it is, but you look jacked today. What he took?

Steroids. What are you saying? He says you're on stuff. I don't know. Hey, he's down a bunch. What were you? What are you? I am 247, and I was as heavy as 320 in my...

You fat son of a bitch. He's all in the biceps and traps, baby. He's all in the biceps and traps. And calves. You should see this dude's calves, bro. I have. I have. I mean, it's what you want out of a calf. It certainly is. It certainly is. Are you back

in Arizona? I see the jersey repping Shout Out Pat. I am. I am. Shout Out Pat. His birthday would have been two days ago. 47 years old. Rest in peace, legend. I am. Rest in peace. I am back in Arizona. I had a phenomenal weekend in Pittsburgh.

I mean, I know you boys know all about it. It was a great week. The weather was perfect. I mean, we had colorama in the trees. We had crisp fall air. We had Steelers football. We were slinging some discs. It was great.

Okay. So is this your first time really getting out there to hang out during a game weekend or what made this one different than maybe a time spent? Yeah. Hey, not great, but tough twirl. Not bad. Not bad. They caught me at a bad time. I had a good twirl at the beginning and then I really lost it. I tried to bring in some extra energy and I lost the momentum of the spin. The physics of it didn't work very well. But yes, this was my first time as like a true fan. I mean, I've played there, obviously. I watched TJ a couple weeks ago in Houston, but this is my first time just attending

Heinz Field as a fan. And man, it was cool. It was really cool to see that organization, to see TJ, to be there for it all. It's a special place. It's a very, very special place. I will say that it's probably the most, the highest percentage of jerseys I've ever seen in a stadium atmosphere. Those people will wear some jerseys. And you'll see Jack Lambert. You'll see Troy Polamali.

You'll see guys from every era. It's pretty awesome. The Troy Polamali one is everywhere because he was everywhere, especially places he wasn't supposed to be at certain times where dreams are supposed to come through. But, yes, very much a Pittsburgh town over there. That's why if you get introduced last there, it's a massive ordeal. We learned, I guess, moments before the game that Tomlin picks who's getting introduced each week.

It's not an alternating thing. Pick the defense. And when TJ comes out last, hey, that's going to be a very proud moment there with that whole city going. He's not last. What? He's not last. No, he's second last. That's just because.

Cam, because Cam came back. Cam Hayward. Yeah, Cam. Yeah, no, Cam goes last. Yeah, legend. Cam's a legend. We agree. I don't know.

When I was there. He's been there when TJ's gone last. Yeah, TJ came out whenever we legend. We agree. I don't know. When I was there... He's been there when TJ's gone last. Yeah, TJ came out whenever we were there. They were playing the Beals. And Duck Hodges was... Yep, slinging the pill. Cam is a legend. Cam's a legend. Dad a legend. Cam is an absolute beast. It was his first game back, too, off of injury. But when you see your brother come

out there, and you see all the theatrics and everything that takes place during that game, you get the juices flowing a little bit you think yeah you know what maybe i will play for the steelers is that what is that what you started i mean i will say that sunday when we were at his house and he was getting ready for the game you know he comes home from the team hotel because it's a night game uh i guess it was thursday so thursday he comes home from the hotel and he's getting ready for the game you know he's getting uh dressed he comes home from the hotel and he's getting ready for the game. You know, he's getting dressed.

He's putting on his music. He's got his coffee. And as the music starts going and it gets closer and closer, he's getting ready to leave. And we start talking about the pregame. Like that was truly the first time where I was like, man, I wish I was doing this right now. Like I do wish like for that moment i was like i do wish that i was getting ready for a game i'm just that feeling that adrenaline and being able

to see it and feel it in the house um it was it was the first time that i actually had that that promo about it oh yeah how'd the wife and how'd the family think about their jj wait a minute oh it's a little bit different. You start running your head in the wall. Well, then after the game when we're driving home and he's talking about, oh, my finger hurts, my wrist hurts, you know, my heel hurts. I was like, oh, yeah, that's why I don't do it. Okay.

There's plenty of reasons why. But then I went in the next day and I worked out in their facility and it's a great spot. Being around, you know, some of those guys and the strength coaches and just kind of that atmosphere inside of a building. You know it. I mean, there's nothing like that camaraderie, that chemistry, that feeling of being in a building. So it was fun. I enjoyed it out there.

I had a great time. Did you stop by a training room? Maybe they test your knees or something called physical? I put on a show in the squat rack. Don't worry. They don't need to test them. They know what they look like. Oh, they knew the deal. This guy went on a recruiting in the squat rack. Don't worry. They don't need to test them. They know what they look like. Oh, they knew the deal.

This guy went on a recruiting visit. Wow. Cool. Got a towel. Got a lift in. Did you get to eat there? How was the food? I did not eat there.

No, I didn't. I had a protein shake after the lift, but no, I didn't eat. I would imagine the food's pretty good because I've eaten a lot of food in Pittsburgh. A lot of good food in the burg. Oh, yeah. What did you get to enjoy? I saw the Permanys folks tweeted I've eaten a lot of food in Pittsburgh. A lot of good food in the burg. Oh, yeah. What did you get to enjoy? I saw the Permanis folks tweeted you and said, we got you, JJ. Yep.

We had some chocolate-covered pretzels, which I love. We had so many. Sarah, I never know how to say it. I don't want to insult anybody. I saw you apologize for calling them pierogies, too. You can say pierogies. What are we supposed to call them? Yeah, I mean, since when are we like...

Some guy was like, pierogi is plural. Don't add an S. I saw that first. I'm like, I grew up right down the street from Rosie's Pierogies. Was she not Polish? You tell me. I don't know yet. So I thought you were...

You apologized and that guy was very kind to you, but I almost came in and was like, shut up, dude. That ain't what you just said wasn't right so you had some saris pretzels yeah we went to we went to like a pumpkin farm uh pumpkin farm place you know we got a bunch of like pumpkin pie we got a bunch of apple cider donuts big big fan of apple cider huge fan um i had a shitload of tater tots. I am talking like a shitload of tater tots. Love that. It was great, man. It was really good.

We had a good time. We were sitting around on Saturday watching college football, and this is one of the things I love about TJ is we're sitting there watching the games, and he was like, you know what? We're probably not going to remember someday who won the Texas-Kansas State game. Let's go out and make some memories that we will remember. So he literally, like, door dashed some discs for disc golf, and we went.

We'd never played disc golf before in our lives. We'd never done it. And so we went out for a couple hours, and we played disc golf in the woods. It was fun. Hey, the photos look sick. I mean, you look like you're in a full. You said you never played before.

Are you guys big Frisbee guys, big hippies out there in Wisconsin throwing those things back and forth? Nope. Never. Nothing. Haven't done any of it. Probably explains why I shot like 15 over. It's a blast and it's a lot of fun. It's also a very sneaky, good workout. Pittsburgh, extremely hilly

town. A lot of hills. A lot of hills. A lot of dangerous roads. The roads are crazy there man yeah you gotta imagine driving a stick shift there imagine that no no you're on a hill like this and then there's a road here and then also this side doesn't stop so good luck yeah there's stop signs there's stop signs but but it only applies if you're turning left if you're turning like like you don't have to stop if you're going this way, but you do have to stop. And then this road might merge in at the exact same time.

And also we have this thing called the Pittsburgh left where the first car just gets to scream on past everybody. But I hope you know that because if you don't. Well, and also the last car too. Pittsburgh left is also first car. As soon as it turns green, we're going in front of you. And then also once it turns red, three of us are also sneaking through there because we don't know where to have to go.

Pittsburgh is a beautiful place. I'm happy you got to experience it. I hope more people will get a chance to travel out there. I don't know if you're going to get treated like J.J. Watt, but you will at least have a blast. Good people over there. Let's talk about some bad people. How about these people just taking money out of these NFL guys' pockets

for football plays, J.J.? I've seen you've been tweeting about it. Now, there are some things that J.J. loves. J.J. loves a good uniform combination. JJ loves. JJ loves a good uniform combination. Of course. Loves a good uniform combination, but also likes calling out the bullshit that happens whenever maybe they're taking money out of a guy's pocket for a standard football play.

Why are you taking a stand about that in football? I'm just sick of it. Like, I've been on the other end of these fines. I've gotten some of these fines and there's some of them that have been legit there's no doubt about it i mean there's definitely plays that legitimately i understand why they're finding and why we're trying to get some of those things out of the game but what's happening now these plays that we're finding guys for and we're taking tens of thousands of dollars out of their pockets because of routine football

plays things that happen throughout the course of the game. It is mind-blowing to me. And I know that these guys can't really say anything because if they speak up, now they're going to get fined for speaking up about it. But it's – $50,000 for that. It really is. I'm sorry.

$50,000. And when you have to run the playback 10 times to figure out which guy even got fined, like which guy – like what are we doing here man and these guys are getting fined and yes i get it make a ton of money don't complain don't say anything right here what do you want a running back to do like literally what do you want a running back to do and now we're going to take away tens of thousands of dollars from them it is it is annoying it is frustrating and obviously there's got to be a reason behind it either there's posturing for the next cba so that they can say, okay, if you want to take those fines

away, you give us this. Or it's, they want people to say, we want this game to be more violent. So they want to be able to say, hey, we tried to stop the violence. We tried to stop the CTE. We tried to stop this, but you guys said you didn't like that. So I don't know what the reasoning is behind it or why it's ticking up all of a sudden, but it is out of control this year, and we have to say something about it. It's nuts. Yeah, it is. The whole thought of them doing this, and they have full power, by the way, with the last CBA. They have full power to do whatever they want.

That is judge, jury, executioner pretty much was written in there in ways I don't know if the NFL Players Union might have understood or seen coming like this. I do appreciate them potentially doing this to make it something that's so terrible that then they can say, we'll give this up in the negotiation. So let's build up something that's terrible. And then we can just be like, yeah, look at us. We're heroes. We'll give that whole thing up. Also, we need 18th game and and we need this as well, and we need that. It is crazy that that is potentially what's happening here behind the scenes. They're playing a little chess. Yeah, there's a lot of that type of chess that goes on,

and the owners act like they care a lot about certain things so that then when they give those things up, all of a sudden it's like, ha-ha, and then guess what? We don't get back percentages and guarantees and things like that. So it's like and then guess what we don't get back like percentages and guarantees and things like that so it's all the chess game man and the hardest part about cba negotiations with the nfl as compared to other sports is that the average length of career in the nfl is three years and i was a young guy once i know exactly how that feels i know you just want to play you're like sign whatever cba you want i don't care i want to play football um that's what happens when you're young and then as you get deeper into the game you start to understand You're like, sign whatever CBA you want. I don't care. I want to play football. That's what happens

when you're young. And then as you get deeper into the game, you start to understand like, oh, there's much, much more to this. And this is a much deeper and a much bigger business than I understood. And you try to pass that knowledge along to the young guys, but they don't want to listen because they think you've already made your money and you're safe. So why would I listen to you? I'm trying to make my money it's it's a big thing man it's crazy it's hard to be told something that you have to experience too you know like when you're young lucky to be here thankful to be here let's play ball then you get jaded by business you're like oh this is what all the old guys were talking about this is that

bullshit that everybody's talking about and then you tell a young guy and they're like well it's not gonna happen to me obviously no, of course not you, not you, not you. You have those NFL PA meetings, like the, the, the rep will come in and there'll be like 10 guys in the room.

And you're like, guys, you just, you need to listen to this. And, but I mean, I was the same way. You're like,

just get me out of here as fast as possible. Let me go home. Let me relax. And then later in your career, you're like, guys, please come in. Yes. We're not diving into the nflpa right now i don't want to do that i think both these sides are certainly could do better business but the nflpa choosing we're going to do this uh

on a wednesday at 7 p.m okay so after your entire day after after practice meetings here's the nflpa meeting that you guys should all listen to and at end, we're going to ask if anybody has any questions. And that'll be about 7.30 p.m. on a Wednesday, week 15. So if you have any questions, go ahead and fire away. Anybody have any? Shut up! No, got no question at all. I went through a stretch where you vote for the PA rep

every year for your team. And there was a stretch for like five or six years in a row where whoever was the pa rep that guy was gone the next year like it was a wild situation so then guys started not wanting to be the pa rep it was a never yeah interesting world never want to do that anyways let's move along i appreciate you bringing attention to this because you're jj watt so maybe there'll be a little bit changed guy lost a hundred thousand dollars in one game for two hits. Ridiculous. You know what I mean?

And then that one was only like $9,847 in comparison to a $90,000 fine, not that big. But then you see where he lowered his shoulder and hit somebody. It's like, guy loses $10,000 for that? Like what? $10,000 American dollars are gone because of that? I don't get it either. I'm appreciative of you bringing it up. Ty has a question for you, JJ. Yeah, JJ because of that? I just, I don't get it either. I'm appreciative of you bringing it up.

Ty has a question for you, JJ. Yeah, JJ, this weekend, I mean, everyone's kind of been talking about it, and he's been unbelievable, but CJ Stroud kind of just setting the entire league on fire. Obviously, you're not living there anymore, but how realistic is it that Houston either makes the playoffs this year or actually kind of goes on a run. I think it's safe to say that they're firmly in a Super Bowl window now with how good he is. And no disrespect to any

of the guys that you played with, but how pissed are you that this guy wasn't your quarterback while you were in Houston? Oh man, it is so much fun to watch. And the most exciting thing for me is to watch how he's got this city rallying again, how he's got this fan base excited and invigorated because it is a great fan base. And I love to see that they have something to cheer for and something to be excited about. And like I've said every time I come on here, not only is it the way he's playing, not only is it the way he's spreading the ball around, I mean, putting up unbelievable stats, doing it all as a rookie, but he's also leading the right way. He's saying the right things. he's spreading the ball around, I mean, putting up unbelievable stats, doing it all as a rookie,

but he's also leading the right way. He's saying the right things. He's doing the right things. He FaceTimed me from the Children's Hospital last week because there was a kid there that was a fan and wanted to say hi. That's dumb. The guy is doing it the right way. Yeah, he is doing it the right way, and it's really cool to see. And he's a guy you can be proud of.

It's a guy you want to root for. So we're very excited to have him, and we're very lucky to have him. Okay, so it was Houston before the draft that came out and said, CJ Stroud's dumb. He's an idiot. CJ Stroud, make sure Carolina knows. Our test that we do, the super-duper 0-14 test, this guy is not going to be able to remember anything.

Fool. You remember that? That was being said about him. And now we're watching him 14 tuds one interception yeah he knows what the defense is doing yeah he has his brain might be better than guys that are in their fourth or fifth year that's like one of his weapons yeah and then his arm jk clip yeah this clip is one of my favorite clips because he throws this game-winning touchdown with no time left like drove the team down the field and then immediately after he throws that touchdown, you know, some teams are going to go down, dogpile their guy, get so excited. He's cool.

He's calm. He's collected. He's like, yeah, this is what we do. This is what we do. And then you look at D'Amico on the sideline and D'Amico's like, yeah, this is what we do. Like, it's not crazy. It's not going nuts. It's like, yeah, we expect to win these games. I think between those two guys and the rest of the roster they're building in the next two or three years, if they do these off-seasons right, a lot of free agents are going to want to come to Houston because of what they're building.

They truly are about to open up a Super Bowl window here, and it's an exciting time. I didn't even think about Houston being a destination. Texas, taxes, and also Houston, Atlanta, Vegas. Sweet. You know what I mean? People do enjoy old age time.

Yes, they do. How could you not? Hey, his arm. Hose. Yeah, spins. That thing's a hose, dude. He's got such a quick release, too, man. He keeps it right tight.

Oh, like Dan Maria. Such a quick release. It's like Dan Maria. Great, man. You know what I mean? It's tough to sack. Tough to get. I mean, the guy's thrown, what, two picks on the whole

year? One pick on the whole year? One pick? Crazy. Bananas. Another rookie made his debut right in front of you, pretty much. Also has a hose in his second start in a short week, Thursday night football against the Steelers. What was your thoughts after seeing Will Levis live? I'm sure you

talked to your brother, some other guys since you're around the facility about his performance. What's your thoughts on him going forward now being named the starter down there in Tennessee? Yeah, I mean, I think he's earned that so far. I think that he's earned that opportunity. I mean, two weeks ago, put on an incredible performance, obviously. And then against the Steelers, I thought he put up a strong performance.

It was a Thursday night game, quick turnaround after his first start. But the guy has a cannon. There's no doubt about that. He can throw the ball. And he does seem to have good command. He does seem to have the team behind him and the leadership to do it. So when you have Derrick Henry that you can hand it to, and you got some of those guys on their defensive side of the ball that can play as well. So he's in a good situation. And I do think that it's probably the right time. And it's also good in the back half of this year, even if it's not necessarily

a playoff situation. It's good to see what you got the rest of the year with him. It looks like he's got some promise. Got the moxie too. Came out with no helmet on, just a hat. I don't know if you saw that. Had the camouflage hat on while he was jogging out the tunnel in Pittsburgh. I was like, alright, this guy wants to feel it.

Look at me. I'm ready for it. How was Reneg all right, this guy wants to feel it. Love it. Look at me. I'm ready for it. I'm the one. And after, hey, how was Renegade? How was it? Did you enjoy it? It was great, man, but they gave up like a 15-yard pass the first play after it, and I was like, oh, we just wasted every single ounce of energy. Which leads to Will Levis was in the end zone after that happened,

and I think it was like a 25-yard ball. He completed it. It was a, yeah. So he might have it. You know what I mean? Might have it. Might have it. Connor has a question for you.

I mean, it's cool, though. Those lights go out, and you know what's happening like that. Do you know the words? I love when a team has, I know, hey, mama. Oh, mama. Hey, mama. Hey, mama. Hey, mama.

Hey, mama. Hey, mama. Hey, mama. Hey, mama. Hey, mama. Hey, mama. Hey, mama. Hey, mama. Hey, mama. Hey, mama. Hey, mama. Hey, mama. Hey, mama. Hey, mama. Hey, mama. Hey, mama. Hey, mama. Hey, mama. Hey, mama. Hey, mama. Hey, mama. Hey, mama. Hey, mama. Hey, mama. Hey, mama. Hey, mama. Hey, mama. Hey, mama. That ain't that song, dude. Oh, mama. No, I don't know the words. Thank you for my life from the long arm of the law. And that was when you were grabbing Terrible Talon.

Oh, yeah. I was waving the shit out of that thing. That's a long song. I also learned that. Long song. Arm. Arm was gas. I was waving the shit out of that thing. That's a long song. I also learned that. Long song. Arm. Arm was... Yeah.

They caught you at the end. That's why. Yeah, they caught me at the very end. I was dead. My arm was literally gone and I knew the camera was coming at some point

so I had to keep swinging that thing. I couldn't put it down otherwise I'd look like an idiot. Yeah. That's good self-awareness. Yes, they are going to shoot me doing this right now.

I don't know when the time is, though. I think they should pre-record those shots of the crowd. Smart. They had DeMar Hamlin right behind Chris. Yeah. Chris in Torrico. And do we have to do that live? Can we not just get a shot of him maybe like 10 seconds before that

where he's not picking his teeth? Yeah, like a cool shot. Like, can we get a good shot? They put his ass right here. Buried him, guys. Right here. They got me later in the game looking at the back of the box of SARS chocolate because I had had seven pretzels.

And I was like, I literally told my wife, I said, I said, babe, I got to see. And it was 100 calories per pretzel. And I was like, oh, I'm fucked. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. You're an embarrassment. You are an embarrassment.

This is disgusting. But I ate a lot of them. Yes. And they caught me on camera doing it. Yeah, you're a pig. Obviously, you ate a lot of them. Holy hell. There's only one word.

Well, there's a few words, but certainly one that comes up in conversation a lot. Scalp bag. Yeah, digs. Am I going to have to pay that fine, too, like I paid the five grand last week? Are we doing the shot again today? Winners to be announced, by the way, today. Congrats to everybody that wins JJ's money. Marquis has been updated.

Thank you, JJ. You sack of wine. Hope you're happy. Okay? Hope you're happy. I'm not. I'm really not. Last week, I kind of was a little happy.

This week, I'm really happy. There's old... Oh, this is back-to-back weeks. I didn't even know. Yeah. So much has happened since the last time you swore on this show, I guess. There's olds all around America right now. Oh, yeah? That are like, did that guy just say...

You said it right? I know. I feel bad. Because my grandma texted me this morning, too, about the show. And I had to tell her because I'm on an hour earlier. And I said, Grandma, I'm on 1115 Central today, not 1215. I want to apologize, Grandma. You shouldn't have heard

me say that. That was wrong. I'm sorry. Wash that mouth out with soap. Now. I don't even know where to go from there. Get him out. I don't want to kick you off the show. This is back-to-back weeks.

Sometimes you've got to lay down the law, or else is it going to be three weeks in a row? Yeah. I thought we learned from our mistakes. Yeah. No, I mean, you make another shot, I'll pay more money. Yeah. Yeah.

A lot of arms. A lot of arms. That's fine. Dude, I know you've talked about it, but I want to hear it for myself. What happened with the sunburn or not sunburn at Alabama? It was preposterous. I tuned in and I was like, my guy looks like a toaster strudel out here. Yeah, believe me.

I didn't feel exactly how I looked on the camera, but also with the way the sun was hitting me and the screen, I couldn't see the screen. So I had not seen the television, what it looked like for, I don't know, 45 minutes or so. And then I got a text from like five, six people that are like, just saw you in the airport. I'm in, are you okay? And I'm like, what is everybody? And I looked down at the screen.

I'm like, holy hell. And then am I really that burnt? I did get a little burnt, but I think the, I think the camera was not white. I think it was white bounce on the crimson helmet and sure and then the crimson chairs behind me and i just blended into the whole thing i did have a sick like 1990s professional wrestler tan oh yeah you did like lex luger yeah i had a rick flair drip going on there but yeah i've got a lot of people very concerned about my health so there were none of no text from you though huh so interesting thanks for yeah no i i i uh sometimes i'm like he's just annoyed so many people texting during the show i'm

not gonna also if somebody's worried about my life and my well-being i appreciate that yeah okay all right j, 10 more people. $500. All you got to do is retweet this post, say something nice to somebody, and put the easiest way to pay you in the same exact response. Is this a Dude Perfect channel? What is this? I'm on it under a birdie.

I'm on it under a birdie. I'm on Todd. But every once in a while, ball will fall. And when it happens, JJ's got to pay people. That's great news. Unbelievable. You have a 1,000 batting percentage, batting average right now. This is unbelievable. It can't be real.

These have got to be fake. These have got to be prerecorded. Yeah, you're right. Who knows how long it's going to be. That's 20 people, $500. Boom. Not 10 people. That's 20 people, $500.

Thank you, JJ. Good guy, JJ. All right. Okay, Connor has a question. That was awesome. That was sweet. You made an interview giveaway from a guy that just cusses like a sailor all over ESPN? Hold on. Wait, wait, JJ. All right. Connor has a question. That was awesome. That was sweet. Mid-interview giveaway from a guy that just cusses like a sailor all over ESPN? Hold on.

Wait, wait, wait. Is the dude perfect? Are those shots not real? What? What are you? This is not real, guys. I'm just doing it to you. I don't want my work.

This is the wrong trick. Are you serious? Because me and my kids, we watched that. Look at this guy's face. JJ. These are my fellow businessmen you're speaking about here. We can move on. Because I'm just putting.

What? Darian. Because he asked the question. He said, hey, is this a dude perfect channel? Yes, because it was a perfect shot. Yeah. There we go. That's all I need to hear.

Dude, it was perfect. Boom. 20 people, $500 shot. Yeah. There we go. That's all I need to hear. Dude, it was perfect. Boom. 20 people, $500 shot. Tyler and the boys down there. We've seen it in person, D-Bot. It did not take three hours. It took one shot, okay? And a lot of smoke and mirrors. No. No smoke and mirrors. Come on. That's disgusting.

Okay, that's dude not perfect, what you just did back there. Okay, I watched Tyler. Yeah, Tyler. Gump, who are you texting? Gump, who are you texting back there? Oh, geez, JJ's watching. JJ's watching.

I'm working back here, JJ. I just tweeted out you swearing on the show again. Oh, no. How about that, JJ? I'm declaring, JJ. It's what a damn football game, J.J. Christ. A lot to say Christ, by the way, although people are not going to be happy about it. Football with a U.

Anyways. Lord's name. That might be worse than the F-bomb to some people. Not the FCC, though. That's on them. We learned a lot about them right there with that particular statement. But please, no reason. I had the question. No, Tyler would never. Tyler would never. Connor has a question for J.J. I please, no reason.

Conor would never. Conor has a question for J.J. I do, J.J., just to be fair to you, but they do not make it on the first try. Just to hammer that home, that is where I stand. Now, do I know that for a fact? No, but that is where I stand. Oh, okay. That was punditry.

That was punditry. That was opinionated. Shout out Ben Voln. Nobody thinks they make it on the first time every time, right? I mean, that would be preposterous. I thought they did. They're perfect. Yeah. Pat? Hello?

Tyler's as talented as they come. I saw him first time ball in a hole. And then you punted one in first try. From the concourse. I did not punt one in first try. From the concourse. I did not punt one in first try. How long were you in that coffin with Peyton Manning?

How long were you in that coffin? I don't want to ruin all the movie magic, but 20, 30 minutes. No way. A lot of shots. I don't know how much of me talking in the coffin they used, but we got a lot of B-roll footage of me talking in that coffin. I mean, a good 15, 20 minutes worth of me just chit-chatting with myself in the middle of some wood, getting a

splinter in the back of my shoulder. It was great. It was a real blast. Did you watch that episode? Did you watch it? I haven't seen the whole thing. I saw the clips. Okay. I'm going to be honest. In today's world, I struggle to find where things live, and I don't know exactly where that lives.

So if you want to... ESPN Plus. You're supposed to show me the Gary Vee card opening thing. I just received that. What? We missed one yesterday. We missed one yesterday. AJ texted me about halfway through Gary Vee's and said, hey, there's a break going on right now.

They're snapping packs? I think so, yeah. Who won? Gary beat them all. The boss won again? The boss beat everybody. Can't beat the boss, baby. Anyways, let's get back to... This show is awesome. I love this show. This is great. Well, you're trying to ruin it

every time you come in here. Do you swear on CBS when you go in there? Yeah. Hey, Bill Gower, you know what? Why don't you go yourself? Is that what you say on cbs or is a little bit more respect over there geez louise you're right you're right you're right you're right you're right you're you're 100 right i have no self-control when i come on here i need to reel it in i'm going to bring it back and i apologize you should make fly fish too if you're going to do it or show more fly fish i've never done that have you done that no i just seen the photos and they always seem to be like right here it looks cool it looks cool

yeah but i feel like fishing's relaxing you're doing a lot of it's quick yeah you got to pull that sucker quick pretty much standing though yeah that's not my mission dwayne johnson loves fly fishing on his lake down in virginia his farm yeah but he doesn't use the rod he just grabs him and you catch them. Well, I've noodled before. Let's not get crazy. I would love to get in. That's called rock fishing.

What's that? That was a terrible dad joke. Really bad. Really bad dad joke. That koa popped big. You felt so good about it. I mean, hey, it was good. We missed it.

Yes. That's all I'm not showing on you. You're in Arizona. We mean, hey, it was good. We missed it. Yes. That's all I'm talking about. You're in Arizona. We're in Indiana. That's tough. That's like cracking a joke and having somebody be like, what's that now? Oh, okay. Okay.

Move on with our lives. We will. We will. Connor has a question for you. Yeah, geez. This has been terrible. Terrible five minutes for JJ. But when you're thinking about playing for a Belichick disciple, which you have,

and you have talked about how you and Bill O'Brien are close, and it's not as if the situation in Las Vegas relates anyway to what happened in Houston, but Max Crosby and a lot of other people have been saying a lot of stuff, and Max had three sacks. He balled out. I know that is something that you saw, but what are some of the challenges that the Raiders might be facing or did face before with Josh McDaniels? In your point of view, that could have gone wrong.

Also, why are they so damn good now with Antonio Pearson? Is he just the greatest players coach that you've seen in recent memory? Yeah. I think there is definitely. When you just kind of read the comments and you see the interviews coming out of Vegas and the aftermath of having a coach fired, you kind of get a vibe there. And the players, I think you definitely know, okay,

let's say they got what they wanted per se. You better go out and ball that next game. You better go out and win the next game you better go out and win the game you better go out and kind of you know prove like hey we we are great players we can do this and obviously max having three sacks and those guys um now it's a matter of sustaining that it's kind of like that new energy you know i saw they brought the soul train back i saw they brought a bunch of that energy and excitement there's a lot of that type of stuff that goes on where all of a sudden we're having fun again, which is awesome. And it is, there definitely is

a moment of where you're like, we're having fun again. Now it's a matter of sustaining that, you know, now it's a matter of, okay, does the scheme actually hold up? Can we actually sustain this? Can we scout better? Can we coach better? Can we do these things to sustain that success? Because, you know, the music in the locker room or the basketball or all those things i mean trust me i've been in locker rooms where we've done them all um those things only last for how are you actually i lost a lot of money on a mini hoop one time no not actual money you're talking like m&ms peanut m&ms and stuff yeah no monopoly monopoly yeah no nobody plays for real real money no of course

you were shooting or somebody else was uh it was a one for one you know you shoot i shoot you shoot i shoot um and it was uh it was fun man that was that's the stuff that you miss when you're done like in the locker room shooting hoops or like you know we had uh we had one time in the houston texas locker room where we took garbage cans and we had a big open locker room. And we put one at each end of the locker room. And we played five-on-five basketball. It was awesome. And the whole place got into it.

Somebody would dunk and it would just be mayhem. It was, those memories are good times, man. Yeah, I agree. And you need that. I think it's good for the team. You know, anytime the team is spending time with each other and having a good time, that's only good for everything else. So whenever teams try to get rid of it, I'm like, well, you don't want the boys to hang out. No, when they, like, take the ping pong table out of there, they're like, get that out of there.

You're not focused. I'm like, yeah, newsflash. We're not watching film 24 hours a day. Like, a lot of coaches will be like, we don't want you rushing out of the building. Well, why do we rush out of the building? Because we're not allowed to do anything here. We want to hang out. We want to do that.

There used to be players lounges with an Xbox or a PlayStation in it. I don't care if a guy's staying in the building until 7 p.m. and playing PlayStation if the day is done and he's hanging out with his teammates. There's nothing wrong with that. The more you hang out, the better it is for your team. I can't stand when people get the basketball hoop out of the locker room. What do you think we talk about in our off time? That makes us closer. I agree.

And then they got rid of playing cards and dice. When did they get rid of that? Well, whenever old buddy walked in the locker room with a gun. Gilbert Arenas. Gilbert Arenas. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that was it. To be fair, that was it.

To be fair, that is a line we probably shouldn't have crossed. We're like, hey, Gilbert, you know, what you did is kind of ruining what we got going on over here. If I had to bet that I had nothing to do, that was probably one game. You play on the back of planes. That Bure. Yeah. When you start bringing duffel bags into locker rooms, it's usually connected to one game. Whenever you start negotiating outs, I'll give you a watch.

It's a really good watch, and I'll give you a couple other things. Instead, deal? Going to need another watch? All right, deal. We are good. Boo Ray is problematic. Oh, yeah. Boo Ray is legendary, man.

I mean, it is a blast. They're still playing it. They're still playing it. We talked to somebody. I forget who it was. I thought that game would have died with this next generation, honestly, because this next generation seems to be much smarter than we are. That game is not a game that you should be playing. I mean, there is zero skill.

Zero skill involved, and you could lose hundreds of thousands of dollars. I mean, that's real. That is a real thing that could happen. Oh, it is incredible. And I had never heard of it, never had any. In my rookie year, I went in, and one of my fellow rookies, an undrafted guy, he hopped into a game. And all of a sudden, real quick, it was 13 Gs down.

And I was like, you're undrafted. I like i got what the hell's going on man buddy that's gonna be 26k quick like next hand that is gonna go real fast yeah i uh i played cards some of the older guys hosted a poker game every single week they heard i played cards they invited me my rookie year i think they were gonna try to take me or whatever. I get cards. Everybody's seen the way my life goes here. That is kind of how it all works out. I'm very thankful for that. So then the next week, I learn a Boo-Ray on the way game, and I'm going to sit down.

A couple guys from the poker game were like, hey, this is not cards. Cards are involved, but this is dice. This is not a card game at all. I'm like, thank you. So then I started watching it, and I heard some numbers being said and i'm like how much they're uh 47 000 there's 47 000 in there yeah and it might get up to uh it might get up to 94 000 too if somebody hits you right i'm like what dude thank god yeah i was not a big blu-ray player done and it becomes like like it's not real

like you're like you're like these numbers if you if you took me outside of this situation i'm in right now and you said this number to me i'd be like yeah you're a psychopath like yeah it's a house that's a car like but on the back of a bus or on a plane like it just somehow becomes normal i saw oh gee i walked to the back of the plane having a good time. I saw OG writing this down. So it was like a four-hour flight. So you owe me 42, right? 42.

Okay, 42. And then he ripped it. Had the guy sign it. These two guys are so drunk. $42,000 on a ripped piece of paper. We both signed. That's real. That's good. And that is real. That is real. That was very real. It was awesome. ripped piece of paper we both saw that's real that's yeah and that is real

it was awesome guy got his money that piece of paper is as good as the constitution i mean you are paying that money could you imagine you lose that though that guy doesn't have that the next day oh man out hey i didn't i don't remember doing any of that all right let's move along to a guy that's probably not playing Boo Ray but has a massive brain. AQ has a question for you, JJ. JJ, can you talk a little bit about Josh Dobbs? Obviously, he was in Arizona, so you got to see it up close and personal, but what does he mean to Minnesota and what he was able to do this weekend?

Yeah, man, it was pretty awesome to see. It's kind of similar. We were just talking about kind of like that fired coach bump where you go out there the next week and you're you know you're laying it all out there I think that there's something to be said almost for the fact that he didn't know any of his receivers he didn't really know the plays he was just going out there and playing backyard football playing off pure instincts and what the coach is telling him in his ear I mean I think there's such a a power in that to where it's like, you just, you go back

to being a natural, real football player. You let the thinking come out of it. That paralysis by analysis doesn't happen because all you're trying to do is literally whatever possible to win the game. And I mean, some of the runs that he made, some of these throws that he made, I mean, literally didn't know what he was doing. And he just went out there and he balled. And it's another thing where you're like, okay, so can we can we sustain this like is this something where now the team is going to rally and they're going to be like all right this is what we're doing we're going to rally every single week or is it now you get into the game plan and other teams start the game plan and all of a sudden everything kind of catches back up but hell of a performance man

really fun to watch and every guy that i've talked to in arizona or whoever's been around pittsburgh who's been around josh dobbs they love him he watch. And every guy that I've talked to in Arizona or whoever's been around Pittsburgh, who's been around Josh Dobbs, they love him. He seems like a great guy. That guy right there, Kevin O'Connell, was talking about how he was relaying in the play and then explaining the play to Josh Dobbs, and then his microphone would cut off at 15 seconds

and then Josh Dobbs would just have to kind of calculate it all, and then they'd go back and win the game. That's absurd. He's called the Pastronaut because he's an actual astronaut, and he also happens to and win the game. That's absurd. He's called the Pastronaut because he's an actual astronaut, and he also happens to be an NFL quarterback, a great one at that. JJ, we can't thank you enough for joining us, pal. Tried to ruin the show one time. I think we kind of skirted by it.

A little bit. We had one giveaway whenever Rob Banked went home over here. Huh? Yeah, I'm losing cash every week. I love it. I love it. All about the people. Huh?

Another one? Yeah, yeah, let's do it. If you can do three in a row, this is mind-boggling. Do it. Do it. Five grand I love it. I love it. All about the people. Another one? Yeah. If you do three in a row, this is mind-boggling. Do it. Do it. Five grand. Do it. No smoking mirrors over here. Ten people, 500 bucks. From JJ. What? Ah, son of a... That was a bad ball.

That was a bad ball. All right. It's good. Now we at least all know it's real. Dude, isn't perfect. One more. One more. One more. One Now we at least all know it's real. Dude, isn't perfect. One more. One more. One more. One more. What do you got?

One more. Throw something out. Oh. That was there. All right. No more. No more. No more.

No more. All right. We appreciate you, man. You're the best. See you next week. Are you on CBS this weekend or no? I am. I am.

I think I'm going to try and talk fines on there, too. So we're going to really hammer this thing from all sides. Okay. Change the rules. We need you. Ladies and gentlemen, J.J. White. I really enjoy how comfortable he gets on his show, huh? That was a hard F-bomb. Yeah, hard.

Hard. Couple of them. Yeah. J.J. White. White. I think he won the Walt's Payton Man of the Year probably a couple times. Big charity guy. Humanitarian.

Good guy. He does that? Says the F word? Ha! Is he going to have a job on Sunday for CBN? He might not. Are they going to take him out of the Ring of Honor? Hey, that's how some people act.

Oh, yeah. You know what I mean? Do you remember that Wall Street Journal article? Mm-hmm. About our show coming to ESPN? Riddle on the F-bombs. The headline was, yeah, F-bombs. F-bomb laced.

Yeah. Yeah, okay. All right. What is this, 1924, lady? Jeez Louise. Come on. J.J. Wat-bomb laced. Yeah. Okay. All right. What is this? 1924 lady? Jeez Louise. Come on. J.J. Watto needs him to tour.

He does. We can't just have him on our show doing that all the time. What is his son's first word? It's just going to be F-dash-dash. I do think about that with old Mackenzie, daughter. Six-month checkup today. Good. Nice.

Right. Feel like a real parent. Six months already. Big time. A lot. Big time. time days are long but the time flies is what they say not so much for me you know wife is really kicking some ass but whenever they start measuring her right in front of you and you remember what it was like on day one and then you're like hoping for growth and health over this first week and everything now she's like 81st percentile and like wait 70 percentile this 60 something in her brain. I'm like, let's go, lady.

Keep going. And I'm like, fuck yeah. And then I'm like, oh, geez. Oh, no. What is going on, gentlemen? Is there something in the air? What the hell? Now I want to say it.

Don't. You missed. You had five seconds. You had five seconds. Yeah, you did. So we can just start firing them off no no no no whatever one person does you get five seconds we can just go yeah five seconds welcome to the top my friend meet you and jj i'll tie with three okay

morning is live from an attic in ohio is a college football national champion, a Super Bowl champion, a Ryder Cup winner, a COVID survivor. Ladies and gentlemen, A.J. Hall. A.J., a lot of football chatter on this show normally, ain't that right? Yeah, that's usually the case. Why? Something special today? Ho, ho, ho!

Ho! You said it. You know how the NHL's commissioner came on this show? Yeah That was awesome The NFL commissioner never came on No he didn't He's scared

He's afraid How about in the Thunderdome? Has any owner ever come in here? Any NFL owner? No Not that I can think of Ladies and gentlemen An NBA owner has

Whoa He's been here for the last hour I don't know if he's gotten dumber Smarter Or has enjoyed himself at all Ladies and gentlemen Owner of the Utah Jazz Self-made billionaire,

very important, Ryan Smith. Hey, you're super cool, dude. Yeah, you guys left me out at the gate. I couldn't even get in, so I just jumped your gate. No, no, no, wait a minute, wait a minute. Now, everybody, it's all hands on deck whenever the show starts, and you were arriving at the same time we were there.

We apologize for that. We appreciate you coming in and hanging with Big J and for making the time. Utah Jazz playing the Pacers tonight. Big one. We're here. How's the team? We're figuring it out. I mean, it's early.

We're starting. We got some new pieces, and we're trying to figure out how to gel. We got a ways to go, but we got Coach Will Hardy. Got some smart people around. We got some good pieces. We just got to power through it. Let's talk about Coach Will Hardy. Got some smart people around. We got some good pieces. We just got to power through it. Let's talk about Coach Will Hardy. He's like 24 years old.

He's 35. 35. He's a very young man. He's got a baby face. I got a chance to see him. Where did you guys find him, and why was he the guy that was hired to lead your team as a new owner three years into this thing? Yeah, so we came in. We had a little bit of a uh we're kind of starting over we're really

trying to create a championship and and go for it i brought danny engine um he's pretty good he's pretty good he's pretty good at what he does dog ange came in we started a coaching search we went through a whole long list of process what Will was definitely the youngest. Had never been a coach before, but was with Popovich for about 11 years. Was in Boston for a year. And we just, there's just something about Will. He's just got a connection. He's awesome. He's a great coach.

And he's going to be just getting better and better. And we love him. You talk about rebuilding your team. You brought in Danny Ainge from, I believe, Boston is where Danny Ainge came from. Legend. He has massive brain. You hear him talk about just genius. That's what everybody in the basketball world says.

The whole reason the Celtics are good right now is because of the moves Danny Ainge made after Paul Pearson, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett and getting them out. So I assume that was a massive strategy move for you to bring Danny Ainge in. Why did you bring him in, and how did that relationship start? I mean, we were close. He's someone that I always kind of gelled with. I would talk with him about the NBA. I had never thought that I would be in a position where we would have a team,

let alone be able to work with him. And first and foremost, like, we're friends, and we like to hang out together. And to be able to do it, if you were going to do a team, with someone that you trust and trusts you, and he can talk to to me and I think that's a big part of the NBA a lot of people I think get in my position and think they know but he's able to communicate with me he's able to talk me off the ledge he's able to to ration rationalize with me and I think that's I think that's a big part of it and so I believe in kind of the team aspect of this.

There's really no extra points for going alone. So I want to surround myself with the best people we can. And when you've got a guy like that who's willing to, you know, come in and work, and we work together on it. I mean, I talked to him on the way here, just kind of going through what he's seeing. He's, you know, in G League practice right now. He's a total junkie.

Yeah, and he did a great job with Boston. Yeah. And whenever you guys decided to redo the program, pretty much. Traderway, Rudy Gobert. Yep. Who else? Donovan Mitchell. Donovan Mitchell.

And this is you as a young owner, 44 years old, right? Youngest in the league? At the time, yeah. So, oh, no longer the youngest? Who came in? I think Matt and I are pretty close to the same age. Matt? Ishbia and Phoenix. Oh, yeah. Rocket Mortgage. Is that came in? I think Matt and I are pretty close to the same age. Matt? Ishbia and Phoenix.

Oh, yeah. Rocket Mortgage. Is that his thing? No, that's the other. That's Dan Gilbert. Oh, that's the Michigan State. Both Michigan State. Oh, sorry.

What's the other one? What's his? What's Ishbia's? I'm blanking. Oh, no. I kind of went to Michigan State. Oh, what a pig. You're a bad guy.

Ishbia gave a lot of money up there. He did. Oh, but his basketball team, the Rocket Mortgage, Michigan State men's basketball team lost. Oh, he had a James Madison. Yeah. Yeah, probably a smart move going to Phoenix Suns. College basketball, not as easy as it once was for Michigan State.

United wholesale mortgage. Yeah, just another mortgage. Yeah, we love it. We love everything about it. But anyways, whenever you go in there, you were a kid. You grew up in Utah, right? Mm-hmm. Fan of the Utah Jazz.

Die hard growing up. I think you told me you used to break into the building to watch Utah Jazz. Yeah, I mean, during the last dance, I remember not having quite enough money to get in. Yeah. I had to get in. Yeah, and that was whenever your coach was saying things to Michael Jordan at restaurants the night before? Yeah, there was a lot of discussion that was happening between Michael Jordan and the Jazz fans that year, I remember,

whether it's the pizza getting sick, wanting to go to Vegas, like whatever it was. But the Wi-Fi in the buildings, Jordan pushed off, so I don't know how. So you grow up a fan of the team. Yeah. So then you get in a position where you can buy the team and own the team.

You and your wife bought the team three years ago. All-star game coming to town, and you decide to trade away two biggest stars and say, hey, we're going to rebuild this whole thing. I assume at the time was frowned upon by Jazz fans, NBA, or how have the Jazz fans been with you being the owner? Because when we were there, the place was electric. How do they feel about you being the owner? And also those moves early, how was it received? Yeah yeah so it's probably not the ideal start you want to do when you kind

of draw it up and you're coming in and you're saying hey like we're in the middle of something um you're seeing a lot of teams right now that are going all in i mean i think in the west we've got seven or eight teams who are literally going all in on their on their franchises and they're making decisions that you know they're really taking assets from the future and pushing them in right now and you know kind of tomorrow always comes right um we were at the tail end of that with donovan and rudy and everything and um we just kind of had a chance where it felt like we needed to retool a bit to be able to to go and we had a couple teams look at offering some pretty big packages

and coming off where it would have set us up for a future, maybe try to open up another championship window. We got together with Danny and Justin and said, hey, this is a really good opportunity, and so we're going to do it. So I think starting out, that's it. Our fans are incredible. Great. I mean, Utah fans are absolutely incredible.

I think we have 251 straight sellouts. The Jazz are really the pinnacle that kind of brings everyone together in Utah. What do you mean? Just is, I mean, if you take a step back, I mean, Utah is the fastest growing market in the country. It's youngest population in the country. It's youngest population in the country. It's the number one economy with the lowest unemployment. And so it's something that everyone can come in. It's like you come in, you're a jazz fan, we're coming in together,

and we really kind of host out from the jazz for the state. And, you know, you guys come in, and it's a prime example. It was awesome. That's part of it. He was sitting next to Dwayne Wade for four quarters. Yeah, I didn't even see him until I sat down, too. So when I did sit down. Did you learn anything?

Yeah, of course. I mean, I know so much stuff now about basketball that I didn't before, naturally by sitting next to him. Go ahead, D-Bot. That's actually what I wanted to ask you about. I've been a lifelong, pretty much, Miami Heat fan. Obviously, he's the greatest Heat player of all time. Thought he would be a part of that ownership group. He's over there with you

in Utah. What's it been like working with Dwayne? Have you given any input as far as the team? What's that been like working with Flash? Yeah, I mean, so first of all, he's one of one, man. I mean, even if just the first day he walked into the arena after our press conference,

the entire arena was on their feet for Dwayne. Think about that. Someone who competes that hard for that long, wins at that level to be able to walk in and have everyone on their feet. Phenomenal business, phenomenal businessman, great partner, understands teamwork

with incredible championship DNA. So if you look at what we're doing in Utah, Danny, Dwayne, there's a lot of rings between those guys. Why Dwayne, though? Was there a thought that you needed a player, wanted a player? No, I think it was more of just I've always been a believer that you put the smartest people around that you can, and it's what you try to do here, right?

Yeah, absolutely. You're going. Absolutely, Ryan. I've never heard something more true. around that you can and you know it's what you try to do here absolutely Ryan I've never heard something more true yeah but you're you're you're really trying to build a team and and go at it and we got anytime you can get Dwayne Wade on your team you do it 44 years old owner of the jazz self-made I said that what was your company Qualtrics Qualtrics which was so Qualtrics is still a company 22 years ago started in the basement of parents house and um it's really the ability to help companies and organizations look at their businesses and their companies from the outside

in so you're grabbing feedback whether you're flying on an airline, whether you're judging the experience of fans, how are they taking it? And then you operate your business. So you guys started kind of on the internet, the pod world. You can see a takeoff. You can see the feedback in real time as it's coming in. A lot of businesses can't do that. And so that's what we're helping them do. Oh, nice. For 22 years, you've been in that game? Yeah, man. It's been a long time. You must have done pretty good to get it. Yeah, I'd say. Yeah, you're giving good feedback. You're giving good information. That's what it's about. Have you

been able to utilize anything you used from that to now ownership of the Utah Jazz? And is this full-time for you now? Is this what you do? Yeah, Smith Entertainment Group, which is kind of the entity that we created that owns the Delta Center and owns part of Real Salt Lake. Just had a big win the other night.

Oh, yeah. It's coming into the playoffs, so we go to Houston Sunday, I believe, or Thursday, Sunday. Folks, we got the Pacers today. Jazz got the Pacers. What's next? We're going, and it's a winner-take-all for that. And so our sports entity is taking a lot of time,

but I'm also still chairman of Qualtrics, and I love that business. I think we're helping people solve a lot of really good problems out there, and everyone needs it. We live in an experienced economy. People want that experience. It's something that in business is not disrupted. You won't disrupt experiences. And it's been a big part of my life and what we do, and's pretty crazy you're an american dream story ryan you need to know that

i told you that whenever i was talking to you while you're wearing sweet joggers sick shoes and a cool backwards hat i was like hey i didn't know much about you before today but i've googled you and after talking to you you're an inspiration you're american dream yeah you are an american dream story ryan and i had no idea you existed i no clue. So I'm very happy I've learned of you. And also, I think the world's better that you're in it. AJ has a question for you on the screen. Yeah, Ron, appreciate you being here. I assume my premium seats are what you guys are always trying to add and add into these arenas. When you watch a game, you see people basically sitting on the bench with the coaches and the players in the NBA game.

You see some players usually sitting in the back on the floor, stretching their back because we sell all these seats. Are there any areas of the arena that we can – there's even like a better fan experience where you're looking into figuring out where we can sit? I mean, look, we took over an arena that's always been sold out, and we're trying to figure out like what is a futuristic game experience. I think the way we host is completely different inside arenas so for example

in our arena we built all of these bunker suites where actually it's very similar to soccer if you've been to a premier league game where you go and you eat and then you come out um i think the the floor seats like if you go into like the Warriors Arena, it's crazy. Like there are people sitting next to Steph on the side of the bench there. And it's bizarre. He comes and sits down and the fans' eyes are just. We were in L.A. I was talking to Chris Paul.

Chris Paul was like two feet away from me. He was just in the game for the Suns or whatever. I'm like, I'm way too close. I actually thought that to myself. It was April 20th in Los Angeles. So, I mean, there's a lot of things. You know, I'm way too close. I actually thought that to myself. It was April 20th in Los Angeles. So, I mean, there's a lot of things. You know, I'm potentially elevated. Was that?

No, just you were feeling it. Yeah, you were feeling the electricity in the air. I might be elevated. Yeah, a little bit. Yeah, because it was such a good day. Such a great day. It was a good day. We were celebrating the day.

It was a great one. But I was, like, sitting within hand reach of Chris Paul. And I was like, I'm way too good. Why is this allowed? But that's kind of the NBA, I think. Well, I mean, you were like pretty much a bench coach the other night. I mean, I actually think you referred to yourself as one of the coaches. And arguably versus the Clippers,

you might have had a little bit to do with our victory. Come on. The Kelly Olenek, I mean. That was real deal. That was real. That was real. And so that's experience. I mean, we're trying to provide an experience if you think about an nba team we're truly a media company similarly here where you've got you've got talent that's on the floor you've

got a distribution channel and you've got this live experience that people can be a part of and there's nothing like it there's nothing like it when you're sitting down there you're sitting close and we're just trying to deliver that experience all the way up to anyone in the arena and now with what we're doing with streaming um you know we cut our own cord in utah which is kind of crazy a little controversial but um we've taken that and trying to deliver that same experience aj to everyone no matter where they're're at for our team and this brand. A little controversial. You got some help for that, I assume?

Well, no. I mean, look. Yeah. You know, I come from a world. You asked one of the things with Qualtrics. I come from a world where if you deliver a good experience, the rest takes care of itself. Boom. Got it.

And we were providing a media situation where we were only showing our games at 1.2 of the 3.3 million people in Utah and it was very much this is the experience you're going to get anything outside of that you can't track it so we cut the cord we basically signed five new media deals where we went over air free for 3.3 million people we did streaming we're now up to 16,000 people who are streaming. Nice. That's a lot. With about, you know, I would say, you know, well north of 50% of them are tuning into every game.

We're creating new content. Our coach and the organization have been incredible to bring that through. And then we also bought our rights outside of Utah. So we're going to Idaho, Wyoming, Washington, and delivering games up there. And delivering it in two or three different ways. So wherever you are and however you consume, that there's a way that you can find our games.

We want to take all friction out of watching our games. We're truly in the eyeball business now. And now we're saying, okay, we'll get broad reach. And we think we've pretty much 5X'd our market size. Yeah, that'll do. That'll do for merch that'll do for team building and also the guys that you have on your team are awesome you talk about kelly olenek he was so cool that entire evening but the way you guys played in that particular game i've only seen you guys play one time most electrifying basketball game i've ever been a part of so i assume i mean you were a big part of it well I was in there. I mean, I felt like I was in that game.

I literally did, and I was pulling so hard for you. Can't wait to watch tonight, huh? Let's go Jazz! Let's go Jazz! Playing the Pacers, that's going to be tough. A lot of Indiana people are going to be very disappointed with me, but I want to let you know I'm on. What do you want? I coached Jazz. Got the jersey. There's the video proof. I coached the Jazz. How do the other NBA

owners feel about you whenever you do stuff like this? And what is the process of talking to other NBA owners when you try to get things passed? For instance, this new in-season mega bowl that we're having, this new in-season tournament, new courts, new everything. How's that get passed? And how do the ownership feel about it? Is a lot of old mindset in the NBA, new mindset? How is that whole process of developing and growing the NBA? So one of the things that I love about being part of the league is how innovative we are. I mean, since I've been there and just like if you look at three years,

we did a play-in tournament. That was for Zion, right? For Zion, yeah. You guys did that for Zion? Yeah, we did a play-in tournament. That was for Zion Williamson, yeah. 100%. We saw it.

He's out for personal reasons tonight. I'm tired. He's out. Again? And that's it. Whoa! He's working on it. And I think that's working really well.

I think if you look at the in-season tournament, these are new disruptive ideas. And I would argue that, you know, there's a lot of other leagues that need to follow suit on trying to figure out how to disrupt themselves a little bit to innovate towards media, landscape, consumption, and where this is going in fan experience. We're going to see how it goes.

It's always never as good the first time you do it as the second or the third. But if you look at that play-in tournament at the end of the year where you've got multiple teams that are really coming down, they're playing one game to get in the playoffs. The Heat come in. They go all the way. That's in year two, and you're starting to see the success of that. I think you're seeing a lot more attention on what's going on

in two nights for this kickoff of this season tournament. Yeah, it's a mega ball. Yeah, it's a mega ball. With the new courts, I mean, I can see New Jersey. You see it go down. But kudos to Adam and everyone in that room, whether they're old or they're young, they're willing to disrupt the past to innovate for the future.

And that's what the coolest part of being part of that group is, is you're starting to see that a lot. It's not like that everywhere, especially if there's had success. And they talk about the NBA TV ratings all the time. You guys own digital. you guys own social, like X, whenever MBAs have it, that's where I watch a lot of NBA is on X. I watch a lot on Instagram on highlights. I assume Tik TOK is a massive NBA platform.

Have you guys figured out how to profit off of that? Have you figured out how to become like the digital sport? Because I feel like that is something that doesn't get talked about. If you guys were to drop ads, by the way, in the middle of highlights, and then those get clipped and then sent out. Now we're taking care of the digital stuff, Ryan. You know what I mean? Has that been something you guys have to prepare for?

And do you expect and continue growth digital-wise for the entire league? When I came into the league, I'll never forget. Adam called and said, hey, like everything you've learned in tech, don't check it at the door. We want that as part of our group. It's encouraged. I think probably the most exciting part about the league is what we've done on the global level. And I don't think we begin to

harvest. It's much more a brand building. Everything you've got is for the brand. If you actually think about... Yeah, it's stored, by the way. Stored up. Shout out. I'm just pitching it. stored, by the way. Stored up at show.com. I'm just pitching it. Thank you.

15% off all week. But like everything that we're seeing is this global game. I mean, I was in Croatia over the summer and there were cities where basketball was everything. Like it wasn't football, it wasn't soccer. It was like, it was just basketball. And I was like, holy cow. But then you look at it and it's like, well, Luka's an hour away and Djokic is not that far away.

And you're starting to see this movement of basketball globally, NBA Africa. It's pretty impactful if you think and you just actually project out where the NBA can be. I'm pretty bullish on this league. Yeah, great sport. Continuing to grow. You got Wemby, right? You got the Greek freak. Joker, obviously, you said. Luka,

you said. And I assume there's somebody else from... Oh, you're marking it. Marking it as a beast. What, he wasn't served? And he just came back in just... Two months. He went and did his military work. I mean, it's pretty cool. Yeah, and then he came back and just started draining threes. Yeah, he's a seven-footer. I think he's taking the third-most threes in the league with the third-most accuracy, which is pretty crazy.

That's pretty good. That'll play. Pretty good, I think. I think it's pretty good. Connor has a question for you about Utah. Yeah, tell Danny to send Laurie back to Boston. But with Utah, obviously, you guys had those two major players with Rudy and Donovan, and stuff happened between those two, and then Rudy gave 50 reporters COVID,

so things happened like that. Was that at your place where he did the fingies? The COVID fingies? Yeah, that was at your place. Nobody knew. Ryan told him to, I think. Did you? I wasn't involved at that time.

This was prior to my time. Oh, that's why he got the team. Post-COVID, post-bubble, like, this is genius. But you did see it, though. You were a fan of the Jazz. You saw the COVID fingers. I mean, it actually shows you the power of the league. Like, the league shut down that day,

and it almost felt like the world shut down as well. Oh, yeah. Nobody panicked. That was a moment. It was in an NBA game where they're like, everybody needs to get out of the arena. Please do not panic, but you need to get out of here immediately. You heard an actual lady yell.

The Jazz were part of that game, no? They were part of that game. Crazy. You weren't the owner at the time. No, I wasn't. So they're a much different situation. But one of the things with the NBA is like Cheech and Chong are getting $100 million contracts, and you're an owner,

so you're paying these contracts. How does that conversation go with the other owners? Because obviously there's the escalators with the all-NBA teams and everything, and you want your guys to do well, but if they don't make an all-NBA team, they're not getting $300 million. How does that kind of be scaled when you guys are figuring that out, whether it's the length of time with the team, obviously the awards, which changed now with the 65-game rule in order to get those awards awards are you guys talking to each other like okay we should pay these guys

upwards of 300 million because i mean now a lot of players are going to come into the nba and then leave the nba as billionaires because of how much money there are no it's a beautiful world right yeah for them no for all i think for everyone. Like, I think from an ownership, I don't think you've ever had an ownership groups within the NBA that are so motivated to win. Like, the competitiveness between us is at a level where you've got owners saying, hey, we're going to take it right to the max. We're going to spend as much as we can.

There's something invigorating about some of these markets. They literally need to be on heaters to fill that up and to fill what you guys felt the other night. I mean, playoff basketball is something that's pretty invigorating. But at the same time, we're all partners. And I think we just went through the CBA with the players. It was pretty harmonious if you actually think about going through that together. And nothing's ever perfect, and you's ever perfect and you're tweaking

and you're tweaking but i think everyone on both sides feels like um look the brand's in a really good spot and and we're moving together and we're gonna we're gonna be partners in the meetings and off the court i'll talk to different folks about tv or other things from different teams all the time but that night when we're facing each other, we want to destroy each other. Yeah, absolutely. And that's how it goes. And if someone can get a competitive advantage by signing a player, and the other thing is you never know.

You never know that when you sign this individual or you don't sign someone how it's going to go because you've seen people go off to a next team. I mean, Lowry's a great example of that. I mean, we got Lowry marketing in the Donovan trade, and I mean, look what he's done. I mean, you would have thought that hosting the All-Star game before that and then to have Lowry the next year starting in the All-Star game,

which you guys are going to have here in Indiana. Yeah, absolutely. Can't wait. This upcoming offseason. This offseason. which you guys are going to have here in Indiana. Yeah, absolutely. Can't wait.

This upcoming offseason. This offseason. So you don't always know. It's not a perfect science, but typically I think those awards and the system there is like if someone can go and compete and in their position rise to the top, it's normally a much safer bet. Are you in those negotiations there? Because he said Cheech and Chong, and I didn't know if he was just talking about you guys not testing for weed, which is sweet.

And I do appreciate you guys doing that, talking about trailblazing. And what other leagues need to do. Shout out to Utah, too, and Indiana. And congrats to Ohio. Ohio just yesterday. Cleveland Cavaliers are all clear. They can just walk right to the store, buy their weed, smoke their weed, go play basketball. Nobody cares.

That's 2023. Way to go. You did it. Welcome to the store, buy their weed, smoke their weed, go play basketball. Nobody cares. That's 2023. Way to go. You did it. Welcome to the future. But whenever you're talking, we're not talking about just high guys. We're talking about, like, guy number nine or ten on the roster that we've never heard of before. And a deal gets announced in a free agency. It's like old, I won't say Joseph Smith, obviously, but like John Smith.

Yeah, sure. I won't say Joseph Smith, obviously, but like John Smith, you know. Yeah, sure. John Smith signed for $92 million or something like that. Are you a part of all those? How does that go? Danny Ainge handles it, and then owners are just kind of hands off? Because in the NFL, it's mostly GMs, and then the owners are just paying the check pretty much. In the NBA, how involved are you,

and what is the norm pretty much in this process? much in the NBA how involved are you and what is the norm pretty much in this process yeah so so obviously Danny and Justin um and coach or you know typically if they're coming in with a good idea and something they want to do it's pretty hard for me to say oh no I'm not gonna back that right um that would be sweet you said Danny you're wrong I don't know anything yeah i've got my own draft board you keep yours uh but like i i think that you know it's it's pretty much kind of math and you've got so many pieces of the pizza as far as allocation of salary that you can have and if someone comes in on a max deal they're going to take three to four slices of your 10 and then there's rules in place of what you can do. I think fans a lot of times think, oh, I can just reach up and grab that person.

Well, you've got to match salaries. Now with the new CBA coming in next year where if you're over that second tier, you start losing draft picks if you're there and it's hard to get out. And so a lot, it's a little more complicated. But we have a whole group of people sitting in the back room that are sitting on their computers and they're running financial models and analysis and rules and understanding the CBA.

And you've got ChatGPT that's got the CBA in it. You can type in any of that. I mean, it's all there. And, you know, I think you've got to get lucky. Timing's everything. So if you have really good young players and you're growing part of your talent, then you can attract some free agents. So the mix that you have is really important as these championship windows open up.

So if you look in the league, there's a lot of teams who are right there, but they don't have the youth, so ultimately that's going to spin out. Or you've got teams that have a couple young stars who are still on a smaller contract, and then they can reach up and go grab some of the young. So it's all part of the balance, and this is why you surround yourself with super smart people and say, hey, I like your idea, but you've got blind spots here, here, and here, and this is what we do. Similar to the NFL, I think. Yeah.

That's kind of similar to the NFL. Ty has a question for you. Speaking of the free agents, you mentioned how Utah is one of the fastest growing markets right now, and I think when we were out there, it was the first time any of us had been out there, but it was incredible. I mean, it was awesome, and I feel like it's something that people don't really know about. But you also mentioned how seven teams in the West right now

are kind of going all in, and even though Utah is growing, you guys are obviously still a small market. In terms of like free agency, how do you battle like the two LA teams and, you know, the Warriors and the Suns and all these other, and, you know, even in the East, the Knicks and teams like that. How do you battle with those massive market teams who stars kind of seemingly always want to gravitate towards like is that something you guys have to be very conscious about moving forward obviously with some of the trades you've had you're going to get a lot of draft picks so you know homegrown talent is going to be you know paramount going forward but how how much do you kind of need to balance like oh we want to try to be very aggressive in free agency trying to convince

these guys to come out to Salt Lake City and growing your team within the draft and all that kind of stuff? It's a really good question because it's everything on the court. I don't think it's either. We have, I think, the most first-round unprotected picks. Hell of a play by Danny Aitken. And the NBA

going forward. So there is a big component of what we see about growing our talent. If you look at Donovan, he was drafted. If you look at Rudy, growing our talent. If you look at Donovan, he was drafted. If you look at Rudy, he was drafted. If you look at Darren Williams, he was drafted. If you look at John and Carl, they were all drafted. And actually, if you actually go look around the league, there's a lot less big free agent movement than you would think

if you actually go study that out. And so that's got to be a core. And then you've got to reach up, and you've got to be able to go attract some free agents. I mean, one of our big things is I don't believe Utah is a small market. There is nothing that we have in common with other small markets. I mean, you can get on a plane and go right to London, Amsterdam, Paris. We've got, I think, the third best tech ecosystem.

Everyone who came out from All-star kind of saw that i mean what we normally get knocked for is nightlife right but during all-star we stood up all that caffeine his eyes cold like like in all-star we stood up nightlife in like two weeks it wasn't hard at all standing up a tech ecosystem that's hard right right that's like really really hard and we got seven million people that come in there. And I already talked about the youngest demographic, number one economy. It's just going to get better.

You're betting on youth, that much youth inside your state. It's unbelievable. And so part of this is just showing it. People coming out, everyone who comes out to Utah has a similar experience. I didn't meet one person who came out from All-Star that wasn't like, dang, that was amazing. Like, I got to be out here more. It's good.

It's good. And it's wellness. Like, I think people want to get out more right now. And they come out and it's just like, even when you fly in there, you're looking around, you're going, this is epic. Yeah. And so now people can work there. And if their first job doesn't work out,

the second job is right there in that same location. And plus people want to be around families. they want to spread out a little bit more and that's that's why people are moving there and we do we don't need more people in Utah we just need to highlight what's going on there and that's our job that's our job the good chance the Olympics are coming back there ooh these are breaking news I think it's pretty clear that, you know, 34 is looking pretty sharp for Utah. Well, we didn't know that.

Go ahead and put it on the ticker. Are you kidding me? It's not done until it's done, but we've got great people in Utah. They're doing a great job. And when the Olympics was there in 2002, it was incredible. And so that's just another moment for the state and why we're so bullish on it speaking of go ahead Tom yeah um you talked about Real Salt Lake and then obviously you have the

Jazz um is that the end goal or is there a goal to you want to be like a Stan Kroenke that owns five teams or do you are you looking at other sports leagues how what's the future look like for you so it's it's definitely not the end, and that's not where it's going to stop. You know, I've talked to Gary Abunz. There's no secret about how hockey would do there. You know, I mean, you've got it going right there. Hell yeah. He's awesome.

Winter sport, you can see it. I think most of the other winter sports train in Utah for Olympics, so that's a big thing. And, you know, at Smith Entertainment Group, we're open to all of it. I mean, we want to be a part of everything Utah. A lot of people I know are in my spot are okay going Premier League somewhere else. I am all about Utah.

Like, I want to do sports. It's something we're in, but I want to do it in Utah because I believe in what's happening there and where this is going. And you're all going to kind of remember this conversation and be like, I remember we were talking about that 10 years ago. Like, holy cow, look at what's happened there. That guy with that backwards hat, really cool. We've been to Utah because of the Utah Utes.

Love it. You know why we're out there? Utah Utes. They were just awesome. They were the best. How many sellouts did they have straight there? I think they had 82, 83. The Utah Utes. They were just awesome. They were the best. How many sellouts did they have straight through? I think they had 82, 83. Utah Utes.

They were awesome. Cam rising. 6 a.m. 6 a.m. They were all out there. Yeah. Coach Winningham came in on a Harley, right? Yes.

They were awesome. They were awesome. Just like you. It was matching you up. Boom. And now he did beat me in an arm wrestling match, but he wouldn't take his shirt off in front of the crowd. So we don't have the football gods punish him

for that particular game. That's not an easy place to play at all. Utah Utes fans are fantastic. They were saying some stuff about another school, Utah, though, weren't they? Yeah. We're not quite. Yeah, Brigham Young University I believe is what they were saying. They were saying a word that we're not allowed to say that J.J. Watt always

says on this show. BYU. By the way, do you know what it's like? I play in the summer. I play J.J. in pickleball. Trying to get a ball around J.J.? Impossible. It's impossible. Just kind of a low-key drop there to me. We get to just play pickleball with J.J. Oh!

I'm actually challenging him because this has got to be a thing. He's gotten a lot better, but it's not a fair fight. Where at? What did you guys do? We just meet up. We just meet up.

We're pickleball guys. So where is this? A billionaire club somewhere? No, it's not a billionaire club. You guys own a sports team? He owns Burnley. Burnley? Burnley? I like what he's doing with that.

They suck. They are so bad. They are so bad. We've been following along maybe too closely. A little bit closely. Maybe too closely. Are you nudging him on that? Yeah, every show. They can't win a game, Ryan. That's our soccer expert We've been following along maybe too closely. A little bit closely. Maybe too closely. Are you nudging him on that? Yeah, every show.

They can't win a game, Ryan. That's our soccer expert back there, Gumpy. He was sitting next to me. Yeah, the Burnley team kind of stinks, but ownership's awesome. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, the Burnley owner, J.J. Watt. Yeah. J.J. What?

J.J., you're back on. J.J. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Bro, I didn't know they were coming at Burnley so hard man everybody calm down I walk in and I hear a lot of slander going on no we're just from one owner

to another I was building up how hard it is to get a pickleball around you bro okay that's fair that's fair I didn't hear that part I just heard a lot of Burnley talking here and I didn't know what I was walking into on the Burnley side. I was saying you were doing a pretty good job with it and how you were repping it. Yeah, where do you and Ryan play pickleball at? You guys have some sports ownership group meetings that you guys all have together, group texts and things like that, JJ?

Yeah. Ryan is a very good athlete. He's pretty impressive. Very good golfer. Very good pickleball player. Obviously good at basketball. Sneaky, sneaky good athlete. Where do you guys play? On pickleball player, obviously good at basketball, sneaky, sneaky good athlete. Where do you guys play?

On pickleball courts. Oh, okay. Ladies and gentlemen, J.J. Watt. Thank you, J.J. What type of weird shit you guys doing? Under the Denver airport you guys play? That makes sense.

You love Utah. Love it. But it does feel like there's a potential two sides of Utah. The ones that wear the red, and I'm not talking politics here, the ones that wear red and then the ones that wear blue. And the blue would be BYU. Yes, sir. You're a BYU grad.

I am. Oh. What happened against West Virginia this past week? It was a rough week. It was bad. It was bad. Worse than Burnley. Yeah. Saying something. It was tough.

And Pat, you texted me through that and just not a good day for all of our BYU guys and the BYU guys in the league. They all heard it. Oh, they all heard it. Yeah, I tried my best to relay the message to all of them because that is something. Kyle Van Noy certainly had to experience that. Austin Cawley had to

experience that. Who's the tight end from Pitta? Dennis Pitta. Darren Hall had a bad day. Who's that? Fred Warner go to BYU? Fred Warner. Oh yeah, he did. We got a lot of kids out there.

Mormons are dogs, dude, in football. And why do you think that is? Why do you think the Mormons are all – Puka's unbelievable. Why do you think the Mormons are all sneaky athletes? You heard how JJ talked about you. It's like every Mormon I've met has basically looked the same. Because all those guys look the exact same.

In a good way i mean kind of you know super handsome is pretty much all the very attractive the more but also very athletic it feels like why do you think the mormons have taken the sport so well um it's just it's just in the dna man i think uh normally a lot of us come from big families and that's just part of it's what you do you do. You play with your siblings. You play with your friends. And, you know, you get out of the house and roll. I mean, I think for me, you know, I didn't play in the league or any of that.

But watching these guys come out, whether it's Puka or, you know, a lot of them are playing multiple sports, Dennis Pitta, Taysom. Chris Hogan. Yeah, these guys are just – they're just – they could go pro in a lot of different things. I mean, look at Ainge, right? I mean, three sports. I think the discipline, though, is a big deal. I think, obviously, that is just something that's very natural for you guys.

And I think people talk about any religion, whatever they do in a certain way. But the amount of discipline that Mormons have to showcase to remain in LDS. But then also, you have to be a human. And I think that bodes well for sports. Like, I think I've never met a Mormon that has been, like, so ridiculously out of touch. Now, granted, I'm sure they exist. But all Mormons I've met with have been very cool, talking to me, not judgy at all about anything, very open but also very disciplined. I think those

are two very good things to have whenever it comes to sports. There's definitely a big mental side of sports and you've got to be pretty sharp to be able to do it but there's a lot of Mormons who aren't good at sports either as well. I haven't met them.

I've only heard the athletic ones. Those are the Mormons that do the soaking because who aren't good at sports either as well. Well, those are the... I haven't met them. I'm only the athletic one. Those are the Mormons that do the soaking, right? Because they're not focused on sports the whole time. Oh, yeah. Right? Is that what you're talking about? Yeah, the bad ones. Well, the athletes are needed, though, for the earthquake part.

Exactly, and that's why they're just locked in. Makes sense. Extra reps. If you guys believe this, I got some really good business ideas for you. What are you talking about? Believe what? Believe what? Will you invest in them?

Will you fund those businesses? Hold on. Just real quick. Like a super soaker? What don't you believe what will you invest in them will you fund those business like a super soaker what don't you believe you don't believe it there's we definitely believe it there's somebody on the lower bunk yes I think that's that's yeah that's real yeah nothing wasn't around when I was in college. Kyle's the one who told you. Oh, no. What? Kyle didn't tell you. Yeah, he did. Kyle was soaking all over the place.

They called him the super soaker. He might be in the middle of practice. He told you that, but you couldn't get his shirt off or an arm wrestle? Well, that was Kyle winning him, who also went to BYU, didn't he? Yeah, he's a stud. What an incredible coach. Yeah, dog. I think he's like top three, four in the country.

Their team, they got killed last week. Yeah, they did. They got a big one this week. Yeah, they got another one. And people are just kind of casting it off. I think we all forget they went 29-30 in there. And then Oregon goes in and does their thing. You got Washington, I think.

That's a huge, huge game. If Pennix and Washington play anything like they played a couple weeks ago when they were sick, allegedly, is what I've been told. Like that Utah team. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now, representing the Church of Latter-day Saints, Kyle Van Noy. Hey, boy, Kyle. Kyle.

Hey, hurry up. I got to go to practice. What's up, brother? Hey, I've been told, okay, this guy said don't believe it when we talk about soaking and earthquake. And he said this isn't real. He said this isn't real. Kyle, when we were in college, this was not a thing.

I don't know what these young kids are up to, but that wasn't a thing when we were around. I feel you, Ryan. These kids are crazy these days. It's a bunch of bullshit that has pouring onto the fire. Oh! You told us! What? I would never do that.

Hey, it's good to see you, man. You too. I'm doing good. Are you doing good? You look good. I'm doing great. It's good to see you right where you're supposed to be. That's right.

My man, thank you. Hey, it was just yesterday we were at the golf course talking. That's great. Hey, he has a hole-in-one. Did you see that? Who, Kyle does? Yeah. Yeah. A lot of question marks. A lot of people don't's great. Hey, he has a hole-in-one. Did you see that? Who, Kyle does? Yeah.

Yeah. A lot of questions. A lot of people don't believe it. No, I believe it. He's an athlete. Single-handedly can win a game. All right, see you, Kyle. Good practice, Kyle.

Who else are you pulling up here? I mean, this is incredible. Well, all of this is allegedly illegal in the whole live TV thing. Oh, yeah. Because we're just calling people out of nowhere. Yeah. Talk the bullet. I'm curious to see who's coming on next. Hey, we're a big cold call show.

We are a big cold call show. Who's the coach of your Real Salt Lake team? Because we got a guy that's Tony Miola. He should be in consideration. Well, they're in the playoffs. I was going to say. Yeah, we're in the playoffs, bro. And if they don't win the whole thing,

Tony Miola's your guy. Yeah, so, I mean, this guy's going to put a good pitch together here if we get a hold of him. Hey, but the Real going into penalties, winning in penalties the other night. The best. Is that against Atlanta? Incredible. It is incredible.

We're playing Houston. No. Best of three. You're playing Houston right now still. Oh, best of three. Because then you go perfect. Somebody went perfect. I watched it.

We did. Goalie made one save. That was you guys? Yeah, and the goalie made a save. The first save. Yeah, made the first save. And then we went perfect. And watched it. We did. Goalie made one save. That was you guys? Yeah, and the goalie made a save. The first save. Yeah, made the first save. And then we went perfect. And a couple of them were up high.

Yeah, they went for it. Where you're like, that's the one that's like, okay, this is going to fly up over. And we were perfect. So are you going to try to get Messi on your team or what? I think he's already taken. No, he could trade, right? Yeah, trade. No, no, no.

I think you just have to trade like a few mountains, I think. Yeah, we'd have to do that. We'd have to bring a few mountains, I think. Yeah, we'd have to do that. We'd have to bring in another TV deal. Joining us now is a man who maybe is coach of the future United States soccer team, maybe Real Salt Lake. I mean, we have no idea. Ladies and gentlemen, soccer royalty, Tony Miola.

Yeah, Tony! Tony! Tony, this guy owns Real Salt Lake. What do we need to know about his team? Are we going to get a big-time win over Houston here in the playoffs, or are we going to win it all? They need one down in Houston, don't they? They did a good job a couple nights ago,

and now they're playing a really good Houston side. Yeah, but I was just on the radio. He'll know. Brian Dunsteth, my radio partner, lives in Salt Lake, and he picked Salt Lake to go through. So hopefully he's right. Tony, you think anybody's going to really care about this championship because Messi isn't playing in it? Isn't that something we should have got that figured out?

Don't we think, Tony? Don't we think we should have got Messi in there? I think it got figured out just the way it's supposed to get figured out, my man. Yeah. Don't care about it. Look, it's an MLS Cup. Amen. Sorry, man.

You caught me on the bike right here. Dude, you're pulling people off bike ride here. I was riding. I had the New England game tonight. New England against Philly game, so I was just getting the bike ride. Philly doesn't stand. What time? What time? Where at? 730 Fox.

All right. Let's go. Have a good one tonight. Tell Brian what's up. Go Reds. That guy could be your coach. He's on Peloton. You guys are pulling him off the Peloton. Middle of the day. He's going to call me. Peloton. You guys are pulling him off the Peloton? Only time I ever talk to him is just cold calling him in the middle of the show.

Never met him in real life. I mean, who else are we going to dial? We're dialing for dollars here. Let's go to your phone. Yeah, yeah. Let's call Adam Silver. Call Adam Silver. Let's call MJ.

Yeah, how's that? Steve Young. You are a golfer, though. Kyle talks about it. I am a golfer. That's what your hobby is. I play golf. That's how Danny and I know each otherfer That's what your hobby is I play golf That's how Danny and I know each other

It's how I got to know Dwayne Like golf is an incredible sport It's how you I mean it's incredible The people that you can meet And you get to spend time with That you would never normally Be able to spend four or five hours with

Which is pretty cool Yeah good business they say On the golf course Sounds like it has done you very well It's First of all it's my yoga Because when you're playing golf, you can't think about anything else.

And so if I look back on my career, it's like when I go play golf, it was like, wow, I just totally thought about nothing for three hours. You got to focus on that little ball. And then you're also outside. It's a good time. And then you're with people.

And so it's like a triple. Like the three things. You love it. I love it. Absolutely love it. And you can. Like the three things. You love it. I love it. Absolutely love it. And you can never beat it. You can never master it. I'm going to go hit a hole in one.

I'm like a two. You're about to say something about it. Yeah, we're going to go hit a hole in one out back. I saw him coming in. Foxy hit one on a 75-yard hole. And I think it only took him like 562 balls. Yeah, it was a lot of balls. About three or four weeks worth every single day.

And you're just going to come out here and win. You think you can handle these Indiana wins? You're going to have to manage it. I saw Dwayne hit a hole-in-one on Pebble Beach on number seven. I was like, how in the world? I've probably teed up there so many times trying to hit it. That's so cool, by the way. Oh, my God.

He hits a hole-in-one on number seven at Pebble. Like, that is insane. Dream. I was like, there's no way. That's real. And sure enough. Did you ever play with Michael Jordan? I have.

How'd that go? Is that how we bought the Jazz? He's competitive. Fast. He's competitive. Is that how we bought the Jazz? No, it's not how we bought the Jazz. Are you upset that he's gone?

That he's out of the league? Oh, man. A little bit. Yeah, for sure. I'd lie if I wasn't saying I was. Like he's actually super helpful in having the goats sit there. Yeah. Hell yeah.

And just look across and be like, wow, this is cool. And when he speaks, it matters. And yeah, I told him before, like, man, that sucks that you're going, But I also get it. Yeah. I mean, it's tough not to get. And also, like, 100,000 in the stroke. Yeah, I don't get that.

I didn't know. That's more like JJ. That's like JJ. That's like JJ F-bomb money. Yeah, you're damn right. That's a boo-ray. He's throwing them around. That's a boo-ray.

Hey, which is game. I don't know if you've ever played it. Stay away from it. I stay away. In your ownership, sports, Smith Entertainment, or sports, you get it. SEG? SEG. Hell yeah.

Let's make that thing public, by the way. Please. You know what I mean? Let's invest in that entire thing. Have you ever had to fire a coach yet? No. Okay, so there's news coming out of the MLS. David Tepper, who's the owner of Charlotte FC,

he has fired two coaches in 18 months down there for Charlotte FC. This guy also owner in the NFL, the Carolina Panthers. He has technically fired or let go four coaches since 2019. He's on his fifth coach. So obviously, head coach Ron Rivera got fired middle of the season. Interim came in. We didn't remember this guy was the interim. This was just a few years back.

He's let go after the season. He's not right. Matt Rule comes in out of Baylor they give him 70 million dollars guaranteed he's fired after firing every other one of the coaches that are on staff both past two years interim head coach steve wilkes he does good actually let him go after the season now frank reich is sitting there looking miserable terrible staring down a potential another firing with another interim coach it's just like he obviously is a guy who would like this to move much quicker their record uh since like 2000 whatever is way below so bad way below 500 he has had a miserable experience as the owner of the panthers i don't

know how it has been with the charlotte fc and then you hear some owners that just like preach patience like you got to be patient got be patient. Feels like you understood that patience was going to be the key to this thing, but how do you know when to move on in professional sports? Not you've had to do it. And why do you think some ownerships are like that and they're just going to cycle through until they can't make it? How do you find the balance of expecting now, but also not letting a terrible coach potentially run too long? Yeah. I mean, I think it's a good question. When, you know, I don't want to get into other people's world because I don't know all the circumstances that are going on there. But, you know, going through our first experience, like with Will,

who we absolutely love, I think he's going to be a star in the league. And really sitting down with Danny. You know, if you look at Danny's history, it's like he hired Brad Stevens here at a butler and you know i think that historically in boston there was um even before doc um some coaches whether patina or whatever didn't last that long and so there was probably a lot of fear from someone coming out of college to come in and take that job knowing that hey maybe you know you're one and done or you're you're two years and out and you're giving up such an amazing college

opportunity or another opportunity back-to-back final four yeah you know you know and I I remember listening to Sean Payton when he joined when he joined Denver and he said hey what I'm looking for is like I'm looking for kind of this tri. I'm looking for ownership, GM, and me as a coach and how that blends together. I think when we go through it, we say, hey, we're in it. We're in it to win it. All of us are there. We need to try to get as much of a triad as we can there

where it all works together. Then we're kind of in where it all works together. And, and then, you know, we're kind of in it through thick and thin. And I, I just remember being a first time CEO and like my investors that came and invested in me, like they could have easily like said, Holy cow, can you believe Ryan did this? Or do you think this happened? But they, they hung, they hung through it with me and they literally went through and like kept educating kept working um and we ended up having a pretty epic run in tech and i think i believe that same that same philosophy is that we all go through it together

the biggest thing is we just keep getting better and better and better every year. And so for me, the way that I think through this is this is why that team around me and ownership is so important, that we can actually see and assess everything and go together. And I like the vibe we have within our organization right now, the vibe with Will and everything else. Tepper's just rolling through. He does not care. Don't like the vibe.

Get me out of here. Don't like this vibe. Get me out of here. Don't like this vibe. Get me out of here. Don't like this vibe. Get me out of here. How about Charlotte FC?

Don't like this vibe. Get me out of here. Don't like this vibe. Get me out of here. 72 they was building. Oh, yeah, the building in the other town. Don't like the vibe. Town's not paying.

File bankruptcy. I'm out of here. See ya. But I think the other thing is't like the vibe town's not paying file bankruptcy i'm out of here but i think i think the other thing is just understanding the details like what we took over um you know larry miller who was the owner of the jazz prior and jerry sloan had like a 17 year run and larry was in all of the details of what jerry was doing not because it seemed like he wanted to be there, but when things weren't going well, he wanted to make sure that he knew the effort that was going in. And so for me, I want to know everything that's going on in the organization so that I'm not having to guess.

I already know because times are going to get tough in sports. That's what you're signing up for. And if you know everything that's going on, you know the amount of work that's being put in. I'll never forget, as a young CEO sitting in a board meeting where someone's like, hey, that bet you made out in Europe, let's just stop it right now. And I was like, actually, no. I've been out there.

I've met with the customers. I've met with the people. It's right. It's just not hitting right now. Four quarters later, the thing was popping. That'd feel pretty good. Yeah. And so there's a couple of those where if you're not in those details,

then you're kind of taking everyone's word for it. Yeah. Well, Tepper meets a Frank Reich every single game. Yeah, that's right. Frank Reich has talked about how terrible that is. It's not fun. We get better from it. Do you talk with Coach Hardy a lot? A lot. I'll see him this afternoon. Text's not fun. We get better from it. Do you talk with

Coach Hardy a lot? A lot. I'll see him this afternoon. Text him last night. Tell him he's doing a great job. Tell him I like how fiery he is. He says a lot of J.J. Watt words. I appreciated that. I think that you can tell him you'll be on his bench. You'll be part

of his bench tonight. Can't wait. We're waiting another one. No offense, Pacers. I love Indiana, but also, I'm on team. So sorry about it. All right, that's wrapping up this Trenches Wednesday on ESPN. We can't thank you enough for joining us. Shout out to Ryan Smith. I love you, James.

We've got future legends out here. We'll be back tomorrow with NFL Week 10 kicking off with Panthers Bears. Dave Tepper might fire another coach. See you then. All right. We're back. We're still live. We're still live.

You need to know that. Just on the YouTube. Live. Switching to YouTube. Yep. Well, we're still on YouTube. All right. And also, the wire on your left one is shooting straight out the side.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, you should put it up. Yeah. Up. Boom. We messed that up. I messed that up. Oh, no. You got it no you got it i got it bro a hoodie is sweet i need one of those yeah bring back the purple outfit it's send the joggers too

we got some good stuff coming purple we got some good stuff okay that's our high school color bro is it we've been yeah we've been probably the mustang you like it yes how much purple do you have in your wardrobe? Tons. Tons. Well, that's because it was our high school stuff. Okay. We got some good stuff. This is pretty dope.

Yeah, that's awesome. Is there a new city edition that came out? I think it was voted number one city edition uniform. By far. Oh, no big deal. No, it's good. I think it's we're getting into like Jersey frenzy. Oh, yeah. It's coming out. It's like we're already planning like 26, 27 and all this,

but we got some good stuff. The other ones are so bad compared to Utah. Even Miami still? Yeah. Heat culture. I don't know how you feel about it. I don't know. The Boston ones got worse.

Like the Utah Jazz are the only ones that have unbelievable city jerseys. He has a bunch of them too. I think. Yeah, we had the yellow and the black, and then we got this. We're working through it. Who was the sweet legend that designed something that you were wearing? There was a guy in a leather jacket. I think it was Jeff Hamilton.

Oh, this guy. Dwayne's jacket. Hey, but you can't look at anything Dwayne wears because everything looks good. That leather jacket was phenomenal. Phenomenal. So we're looking around. We're looking around. That leather jacket was phenomenal.

Phenomenal. So we're looking around. We're looking around. Yeah. And there's this gentleman, this lad to the right, wearing this bright brown leather jacket. Appeared if he had the greatest tan of all time. I think he had sunglasses on, hair back sitting in front row.

He's like 65, 70 years old. Like, that guy's awesome. And he was like, oh, I'm actually wearing something he designed. So is Dwayne Wade. This guy's like the legend fashion dude out there. He was a dog. Dwayne. That guy's somebody. Who's that? Who is this? John Stockton?

No. Bring Stockton back, man. He'd probably still put up a couple threes if he had. He'd probably still ball. There's no question. That game's ageless. Tennis is in his sleep. Alright, let's get you the hell out of here. So I'm donating $20,000 to the Five for the Fight. You are? Yeah, Tennis is in his sleep. All right, let's get you the hell out of here. So I'm donating $20,000 to the five for the fight. You are? Yeah, for the Kelly.

Oh, for Kelly Olenek. Yeah, for the Kelly Olenek. Did you tell that story already? I did, yeah. Okay, we're not going to do it again. Good story. It's a great story. It's a great story.

It is a good story. Because, like, I got Kelly's side. I mean, you and I are talking, and you're talking with Kelly, and I was like, did he catch that? He caught it all. We eyed. We eyed. In the game, he caught it all.

Yeah, it was crazy. You were sitting there. You had no idea Kelly could rain like that, though. I did. I've seen Kelly when he was down in Miami. Boston. KO. I have seen it.

That's why whenever there was a little chatter about would like to see him hit a three, it's like, this guy hits threes. And the thing is, I was coming back, and I just got caught in the tunnel because I couldn't come back onto the court during the play, and then he bombs those. So I'm watching it all, and I was like, holy cow. Hey, they caught me just slapping the shit out of you. I was pretty excited.

Steve Ballmer style. I apologize. Yeah, I should have grabbed your thigh. There's a guy. Should have grabbed your thigh. How is he? He's great. Energy's awesome. Awesome. Any pool parties with him thigh. There's a guy. Should have grabbed your thigh. How is he? He's great. Energy's awesome.

Awesome. Any pool parties with him? He's a tech guy. I love him. I mean, obviously growing up in tech and seeing what they were doing. And he's been super cool to me. He was like the second person to call me when we took over. Nice.

Hey, how are you feeling? Doil-it! Yeah. Is that what he said? It's great. It's passion. He cares. And I think that's awesome's awesome hey good luck tonight

good luck the rest of the way thank you for spending time with us no no it's great it's not every day i'm in indiana this is perfect going up here yeah what you he said something so oh yeah flying in you said they feel feel the dreams here let's have you know as a guy who grew up in iowa it was disgusting that you thought that. Not every cornfield's the same. Yeah, okay. All cornfields matter. They do.

That's a compliment, though. Not every mountain does matter. It was great coming in. It was great coming in. I'm excited. I've been here a bunch. You have been here a bunch? Yeah.

Meetings and stuff? We went to a couple games. Meetings. How's your team match up against? How's our team match up? We're going to see. You guys put up 152 or 154 points the other night. That's a lot.

We slapping a wood tonight? Not the first time either. Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, but that's the league. I mean, we came out against Memphis a couple games ago. I mean, I think we hit almost every single shot, right? I like that. The league, you're able to see that.

You know, when we played, when the game you guys came against Clippers, it was a little bit more back and forth. KG. It really, you know, we match up. We've got a couple different lineups, I think, going tonight, so we'll see. Let's go, boys. It's our boy George's birthday today, too. Keontae's birthday, 20 years old.

Dog. Kid out of Baylor's? Yeah, hell yeah. Dog, dude. He was balling in the middle of this game with Kawhi out there, Paul George out there, Russell Westbrook out there, obviously happening in front of us. And he's like, hey, like 16 months ago, that guy was in high school.

It's like, that's crazy. That is crazy to think about. And then he's out there doing it. Dwayne was talking about him. I forget the guy who was sitting on the other side of Dwayne, but he was also like a minority owner or whatever. They were saying, we got to get that kid in the game more. Yeah, he's a dog.

Who's the Lululemon guy? You guys have? Maybe not Lululemon. Jordan Clarkson. He's cool. Great task. Long. Very cool. Long. Braves? Yeah. Good player. Great player. Good swag, too. Colin Sexton is one of the meanest,

toughest sons of bitches in the NBA, too. I love it. Hey, thanks for letting me be a coach on the team. I can't wait to see Coach Hari tonight. I have some thoughts. I have some thoughts on how the team needs to be. You got to get Will on. We'll get Will on.

We'll dial Will one of these times. This kid's sweet. And I say kid because he is younger than me. Yeah, he's barfed the best. He is awesome. It's awesome. Great shoe game, too. I feel like you guys have to be swagged out out here with the way this whole thing is.

He's a golfer, too. Really? Good golfer? Good golfer. Better than you? It goes back and forth. Damn. But we've got a good group.

We've got a good group. He would definitely hit a hole in one out here, though? Yeah. I mean, arguably, we'd see who'd get it first, but he would scare us. Tough green. Listen, this ain't Utah, dude. Tough green. This ain't Utah, dude. Tiny green. This ain't Utah, bro. This is Indiana. We're going to film this live.

I don't know if we're going to film it live. We'll definitely film it. Yeah, that'd be cool. We have a camera live out there, though. Really? This is the thing. Yeah, we do have a camera just set up out there. I mean, we could definitely send you out there and see how many balls it takes and just kind of check. 562.

Let's go. That's the record. Good luck, Fox. I will say, he played high school golf. He played high school golf. You got to bounce it before the green, and then it'll go in. All right, thanks for the pro tip. You got it. Sounded like he did not need to hear that. He just dunked on you. No, actually, that's good

to know. That was disrespect. That's not what you said. That saved 50 golf balls. You said thanks for the tip, bro. I's good to know. Oh, yeah. That is good to know. That's not what you said. That's not how you said it. That saved 50 golf balls. You said thanks for the tip, bro. I said the pro tip. Yeah. No, no, no.

Hey, 75 yards, what club are you hitting out there? What do you have? Like a 60, 56? If you've got to bounce it in, you might want to come in a little lower. Skirt it up there. Bingo. This guy's a golfer. But you have like 400 clubs up there.

Yeah, a lot of people send us clubs. The problem with them, they don't work. None of them. None of them work. He's got the golfer. But you have like 400 clubs up there. Yeah, a lot of people send us clubs. The problem with them, they don't work. None of them. None of them work. It's amazing. And then you got like the full putting here. It's like you guys are ready to go play. There's, by the way, boom.

That's what you're battling. You see that flag flying? Is that current conditions? Yeah. Is that a ball? Yeah, is there a ball on the cup? That's current conditions right now. Do you see the bend on that?

You got no shot. You're landing that on a VW bus. I mean, look at that. Bingo. The size of a coffee cart. It ain't easy out here, Ryan. Life's tough. It's a cold world.

Is the rock formation around it, is that, you got to get the right bounce off that? That's just strictly to separate the grass from the turf so that the people that cut our grass don't mow the grass. You've learned that one the hard way. That's a moat. That is actually a moat right there. Let's talk about the foundation, though, that you have started.

Five for the fight. Thus far, you've raised $50 million to cancer research. Shout out to you guys doing that, giving back in a good way. Cancer's an asshole. We all know that. I'm giving $20,000 for the Kelly two back threes in the fourth quarter after a nice agreement between he and I whenever he was at the scorer's table and I was coaching the Jazz, which I will be doing again this evening.

Ryan, is there any way we can get you maybe huck a couple threes to maybe double that donation to Fight for the Fight Foundation? Oh, for sure. Let's do that. For sure. Are we doing NBA style or what are we doing? Yeah, I think so. Do you want to shoot an NBA three?

I don't know. That's a long way, Ryan. Can you get it there? You got to... I don't know. That's a long way, right? Yeah. You got to get your legs in there. It's hard. So, we'll give you five shots. Five shots. You got to hit two of them.

NBA threes. Do I have to keep this... No, you can take the ears off. Okay. Five shots. Yep. Oh, my gosh. That's simple.

Let's go. Five shots. He's got a good jumper. Well, you heard Kyle. Yeah. And JJ said, hey, guys, sneaky gosh. That's simple. Let's go. Five shots. He's got a good jumper. Well, you heard Kyle. Yeah. And JJ said, hey, guys, sneaky athlete. Sneaky athlete. Which owner is the best at basketball?

Will you? Ballmer. Ballmer. Oh, yeah. Ballmer in the paint. All right. So either hoop, whichever one you want to go. Five balls.

Here you go. AJ? AJ, you think he's got it or no? I think he's going to make the first one. He thinks you're going to make. Five balls. Here you go. AJ? AJ, you think he's got it or no? I think he's going to make the first one. He thinks you're going to make the first one, so then you would have to go one of the next four, which you tell me. You said this hoop's lower, that hoop's lower. Which one? This one's lower?

Ask him about that pickleball court. That seems kind of sketchy. The one in the summer? Yeah, why are you guys playing pickle? Don't tell him. That's pretty weird, the way you and JJ were talking about that. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, so two of five.

An extra 20K to five for the fight. All you have to do, NBA threes on your own time. Don't even listen to us. No, no. Don't even listen to Connor. Yeah, definitely don't because I don't think you're going to make it. There's only like 10,000 people watching or something like that. Yeah, that's it. I think it only takes three shots. Ryan Smith!

One for one. One for one. One for one. Shut up, Connor. One for one. What is this? One for one. Well, then move to the right.

Get Big J on the board. Ryan, I will say this. There's only 47,000 people watching currently live on YouTube. So it's like a jazz band. What'd you say? Bingo. Yeah.

It is exactly like that. Him draining the first one. I told you, he's got a good jumper. Yeah. Shoot earlier. No way. You've got five of five,

100,000. Yeah. You've got five of five, 100,000. Yeah, smart. Smart, smart, smart, smart,000. Yeah. Five of five, 100,000. Yeah, smart, man. Smart, smart, smart. He knows. He knows.

Hey, you play craps or? All right, two for two right now. He hits his next three. Boom. Sorry about it. Sorry about it. That was impressive. All right, so we will give $40,000 to five for the.

Huh? You just leave when you're up. Yeah. Yep, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. He could have walked off to stop. Is he gonna go three? I gotta make you gotta make one here on the way out. We're changing our image of you this whole thing. Hold on. Hold on. All right, an extra 10,000. This ball doesn't matter. it'll be it'll be a clean 50k if this one goes in from me to five for the fight because kelly and you huh yeah kelly's name of course all right you got it the real ko you miss i get the team oh i made it got it

You made it. You made it. You got it. You made it. That was big. That was big. Great shot. Serious stakes. 50,000.

Thank you so much. I appreciate you, man. You were so kind. All right. That's pretty impressive. That was a good shot. Not just a suit. Not just a suit.

Not at all. Guys, an owner who can drain threes, 50K to five for the fight, that's a beautiful thing. Thank you to him for joining us. He might hit that whole one, this son of a bitch no he won't athlete yeah he might yes now is a man who won eight grand slams in his tennis career is that good yeah yeah yeah i think so yeah i'd say he's also He's also Pickleball Slam's only champion. Now, he was with a partner, but it's only happened one time. He won.

They're back for Pickleball Slam 2 on February 4th on primetime on ESPN. He's playing alongside his wife. Love that. And he's taking on John McEnroe and Maria Sharapova. Ladies and gentlemen, Andre Agassi. Yeah, Andre! How are you, bud? That was quite the intro.

Thank you so much. You know, I was going to bust out a shirt like that, too. I just didn't think I could pull it off as good. Andre, you can pull off anything, pal. I mean, you're like the sexiest man on earth there. All right. Ten years straight. You can do whatever the hell you need to do.

Thank you for joining us. We hope life is good. Hey, we obviously all watched you dominate on the tennis court and watching that first pickleball slam. It was nice to see you compete, see you out there with a racket in your hand. And then as we kind of learn more and more about you, we learn about how tennis was basically something you were forced to do. But you just so happen to be one of the greatest in the history of the world at it. Have you found yourself post-tennis? Is this the happiest you've ever been? And did you ever experience life when you're playing tennis,

wondering, why am I forced to do this? Well, it's loaded there. We only have a few minutes. No, we got nothing but time, Andre. Okay. Let me say that as I've gotten older, joy has been a more, uh, constant companion. Let's just, let's just put it that way. And, you know, playing a sport, I never chose the disconnect I had with all those years, that sort of a feeling of, I don't call it a love, hate. I call it a hate love because that was my transition. And I started to really, um, I learned to appreciate the good in it as I got older, but it was only through a lot of, you know, a lot of low points. Let's just put it that way.

Andre, I know you had a, you had a crazy, not like a resurgence, I would say, not a comeback late in your career when you went on a massive run as you got older. I would imagine that run compared to your run when you first kind of burst on the scene. Did that feel a little different mentally for you? Oh, way different. I mean, I don't really mean this literally, but the first time around getting to number one in the world, you almost can feel like it happens by accident, although obviously there's a lot of work and dedication that goes into it.

Second time around, when you fall to 140 in the world, you're on a daily basis knowing sort of where you're not, right? You know what a bad day really means, and you know what a good day really doesn't mean when you have that, that Mount Everest to climb in front of you. But, but I was more connected at that point than I ever been to the game. I was doing it for my reasons. I was doing it for the impact I was having in education across the country. And as soon as I took my eyes off of myself, I, the sport got a little, little cleaner in my head, you know, and I was more motivated to give everything I had to it. And I never thought I could be number one

again, but I knew I could be better than I was today. And that kind of drove me, you know, every 24 hours kind of drove me to the next. That had to feel great, obviously. And congrats on the career that you had. Let's talk about the pickleball transition here. Do you love it? A lot of tennis people were talking a lot of shit on pickleball. That was like almost the thing from the tennis community

because, you know, it's not really athletic. You can't move as much. But I'm out there sweating my ass off whenever I'm playing pickleball. I didn't understand it. Is there still a little heat

between tennis and pickleball? And what are your thoughts on pickleball? You know, my thoughts is, yeah, I wouldn't broad brush that anymore with tennis players. I mean, there's no reason why these two great, you know, sports can't play nicely in the sandbox.

I mean, geez, it's, you know, there's no reason why a tennis player can't keep a pickleball paddle in their bag when they're out there with friends. It's a great community game. It's a great participation game. And you're right. Every time I play it, it's like I just got out of a swimming pool with my clothes. Like I just got out of a swimming pool with my clothes. I mean, it looks like it's a different demand physically, but I assure you it is a physical therapist, like, you know,

a dream for pickleball to come in because the clientele that are now coming because of all the people that think they can do it. So no, we're having so much fun. It's been a great outlet. It's added a great deal to my life. I don't have the rotational issues that I would in tennis sort of at this age with my back and, and that sort of thing. But, But there's a lot of movement, a lot of stress. And it's very counterintuitive to tennis. So it's not that if you just play tennis,

you might do some things really well in pickleball, but there's other things that you have to almost unlearn first. So quite a challenge mentally as well. I think watching that first pickleball slammer, there was a million dollars, million dollars on the line. I think I just ripped out of slammer, there was a million dollars. Million dollars on the line. I just ripped out of John McEnroe's pocket. Give me that! Give me that! That's what you did.

But we talked to John McEnroe like four days before the event, and he was talking a lot of shit on pickleball. And I don't know if he was taking it as serious as I think we were in the middle of playing a lot of pickleball. It's like, hey, John, you can get good at this by playing this. Like, this is something you can definitely get better at which I think is another advantage of pickleball the sport because a lot of people that aren't necessarily as athletic they see progress quickly they're going to continue to play it but as we watch that pickleball slam kind of unfold you all kind of got a little bit more intense as the game was going you all got a

little bit better have you played a lot of pickleball? And going into that one, were you prepared? I mean, I don't want to, you know, say more, unveil more to John than I care to, but I've been playing a lot. And I've been playing with him on my mind, quite frankly, for the most part. But I've been playing it with my wife too, which, by the way, can add a great deal to your relationship

or it can ruin it. So you got to be careful with that one to be careful uh careful with that when we had such a blast last year i think the funnest part was watching uh all these champions that kind of knew how to direct their blood pressure and their energy and and get through the intensity of you know 20 000 people going silent watching on a tennis court and here we are with that same kind of experience and discipline, yet we have nowhere to direct it because in pickleball, you can't just like, you know, energy yourself through these shots. You have to kind of calm down when you hit. And it was so disorienting for all of us to deal with the pressure

that the pressure brought back some great memories. And it felt, it did feel like a slam. I got to be honest. That's why I want to do it again. And that's why Steph is doing it too. My wife, because she was there and she just, did feel like a slam i gotta be honest yeah that's what i want to do again and that's why steph is doing it too my wife because she was there and she just she's like wow that looked like a blast and she's been getting into it it's just it's a lot of fun everybody has a good time yeah they interviewed your wife during it i remember she was on the sideline i think she came out and did a serve and everything stephy graph 22 grand slam singles titles could you imagine no happening upon one of these country clubs

that has a pickleball court? And it's like you signed up for couples pickleball. Sure. You got couples pickleball, and you just so happen to run into Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi. It's like, what is the deal? You guys have been preparing. We got moves.

We got strategy. We're ready. And, hey, let's be on the record. And if she ever leaves me, I get half her slams. That puts me at about 29. I think Novak has a long ways to go. That's awesome. Ty has a question for you. Andre, when you look at professional tennis

as a whole right now, obviously there are some younger American guys who are making a push and becoming more popular and getting better. But with pickleball becoming as popular as it is and with how much other stuff there is to do, do you think we're ever going to get another great American tennis rivalry like you and Pete Sampras? Or do you think that's never going to happen again? Well, you know, listen, I think rivalries aren't guaranteed in any sport, right?

It doesn't matter how talented a generation is, right? You need to capture the imagination of cultures and people. And in the sense of me and Pete, we weren't just two opposite players, which was so obvious on a tennis court, but we were two opposite personalities and two opposite people altogether. So, you know, to find those unique dynamics, you know, Federer and Nadal, I mean, talking about a righty-lefty, one who makes it look like so ballistic and one who makes it look like poetry.

I mean, there's some special elements to rivalries. But what I will say is, you know, we're pretty spoiled in America coming off a number of generations before these three greats that we sort of have seen, you know, for the last 20 years. But we came off a hefty generation. We got four guys in the top 20 now, five in the top 25, right? I mean, watching Ben Shelton, as an example, feel, never feel overmatched with whatever environment he's in, the semis of the open, quarters of the open, and you see his, you know, his spirit and his desire to be out there.

You know, you're watching Taylor Fritz, who's going to put the back-to-back top 10 years. I mean, you're looking at, you know, Tiafoe, the way he's moved, Sebastian Korda, Tommy Paul. I mean, there's a lot of great guys. The problem has been, you know, Federer, Nadal, you know, Djokovic, right? I mean, these guys have been probably the biggest issues. I do think we're going to see an American player get to the top at some point, but you're

asking about a rivalry. A lot needs to fall right for that magic to happen. I'm listening to you break this down right now. You still follow the game very closely, obviously. Love the game. I want to let you know I know you felt like you were forced into tennis and everything like that. Tennis has got to be incredibly thankful that you were a part of it.

We were all massive fans. And listening to you talk about the sport right there was mesmerizing. That was fantastic. Have you fallen in love with the sport? What have you kind of post-retirement kind of feeling like that? How has your relationship with tennis gone? Well, listen, I'm more grateful for the game than the game is for me. I promise you that.

It's given me a platform to change so many lives on so many levels. It's given me the platform to meet my wife, my children, my life, my family. I mean, giving me the chance to freaking, you know, play pickleball and get paid to do it and take that money away from John Mackinac at the same time. I mean, there's so much fun that's kind of tied to the life it's given me. And yes, I do follow it. Yes, I do love it. I mean, I'm a student of the game. You know, I don't know if I consider myself an overachiever or an underachiever

because I spent so much time thinking about how to make myself better, and I spent so much time wasting years of my career, right? But when it comes to the mathematics of the game, when it comes to the dynamics and matchups of the game, I mean, I turn on any match and immediately, you know, I just fall right into it. But at the same time, I can say it's a lot more enjoyable from my living room than it is from the worst seat

in the stadium, which was, you know, typically against Pete or against Roger or one of those guys. So I'm just thankful I don't have to do it anymore, but I do love it. Amen. I saw a punter backed up in his own end zone while we were sitting in our, our suite or whatever. And I'm like, I am so thankful. I do not have to be the guy to do what he has to do right now.

I couldn't even imagine having to do it at the rate in the level. See what I'm backed up in my own end zone. It's my fault. You know, you can, you at least have the luxury of going, going okay at least i didn't put myself in this deficit i'm trying to i'm trying to bail out of it right but for me i was deep in that end zone and a lot of times it was self-inflicted yeah but hey that's tennis baby that's tennis baby go ahead aj yeah i'm curious with you and your wife stephy do you have any uh you know friendly competition on who may be the better pickleball player right now? Yeah, and who is?

Oh, my gosh. Yeah, so there's obviously singles and doubles in pickle. And singles is a much more direct translation of tennis than doubles. Doubles is an entirely kind of different sensibility, if you will. sensibility, if you will. So singles, we haven't gone after each other because it's a lot of, it's, believe it or not, as small as that court seems, things happen quickly because of the distance between two people. And there's a lot of ballistic, urgent movements, and it comes with a little bit more, you know, say physical demand and or risk, but doubles, we can really get out there and mix it up. And and honestly we've enjoyed being on

the same side of the court so much we haven't gone after the other one she does a couple things better than me um and a couple things come more naturally to me than her based on our tennis game but we do we do make a good combo and i don't i just don't see uh john and uh maria you know being able to live up to the standard we're going to bring, I just like to highlight that. Yeah, I appreciate you highlighting that as we highlighted a point for you in the first pickleball slam there with McEnroe hitting it into the net during the middle of your answer there. Did we learn anything about him?

It felt like you were attacking something towards the end of that. You and Roddick were kind of attacking something towards the end of that. Well, from a strategic standpoint, we were still novices then. And, and maybe, maybe John still is, I don't know how much he's played, you know, and again, dealing with the pressure with all that prize money that was on the line and, and the crowd and the, and, and I mean, it was hard to do. We started playing in credit. All of us started basically choking. I mean, just started hitting the ball to the thick part of the court. We, I mean, my opponents were blurry. I didn't even see who they were. It was, you were kind of so, so uptight about it, but now you kind of know how to drop your blood pressure a little bit when

you're out there, you know, how to kind of navigate the, the, the strategy inside, inside those nerves and going back to the, rock seminal in Miami. I mean, I've been in that environment now once, and there's a lot of quick processing you do when you've been in those levels of competition before. So I've done some good processing, and come February 4th, I think I'll be ready to make the most of the environment. Hell, yeah.

Did we learn the kitchen? That's the big deal. You've got to learn the kitchen, bro. Yeah, what's the rule? You've got to own the kitchen. What are you talking about? What is the rule? What is the kitchen? That's the big deal. You've got to learn the kitchen, bro. Yeah, what's the rule? You've got to own the kitchen. What are you talking about? What is the rule? What is the rule?

We're not allowed in there ever, but we can jump spike in there? Well, if you're going to hit the ball in the air, you can't hit the ball in the air by stepping in there, right? So that's why you can't close the net and just slam it. But if you jump across the kitchen, you can get away with some of those what they call earnings. But if the ball bounces in the kitchen, then you can step in the kitchen to play it. But you got to get yourself back in a hurry, which again, there's a lot of subtle, constant

movement in the game. And it asks a lot of your, of different parts of your body. You forgot you had, I assure you. A little sore the next day after a pickleball slam. It sounds like last question here. Hey, you need to bet. You need to get John back on your show and ask him why he's not taking me on in singles again. This guy's dodging me like there's no tomorrow. Why is that?

What is his excuse to you? I mean, some people are governed by fear in their life. I don't know. I mean, personally, I'm a guy that likes to be motivated by, you know, love. Love, you trust. You trust yourself. You get out there. Fear, you know, you get scared, you want to control everything. And

you know, John is a little bit of that in his game, a little control freak. All right. Make him pay on February 4th, Andre, make him pay. Last question here from Connor. That was awesome. Yeah. Andre, you mentioned, you know, guys not fearing anything in tennis. And one of those guys is Novak Djokovic. I mean, he doesn't fear Federer, vaccine, a disease. Djokovic is one of the greatest tennis players of all time. You've got to love it. But when you're coaching him, how much are you coaching,

and then how much are you also just like, holy shit, this guy is so good at tennis. Is his greatness one of those things where you see it on a day-to-day basis with Novak, or is he just one of the best gamers of all time? Because, I mean, he'll go down two sets, and we bet on tennis, and he will still be the favorite to win the match, even though he goes down two sets. What is it like on a day-to-day basis with Novak when you were coaching? Yeah, I got it.

He's an incredible, interesting, as as we all are and complicated person. But, you know, a lot of a lot of things come from a good place in him. You know, when I was with him, he had 12 slams. And I said, without a shadow of a doubt, if this guy doesn't end north of 20 slams, I mean, honestly, you can consider it a failure because what he's capable of doing is absolutely remarkable, remarkable in the tennis court, you know, but the tortured part of all of us as, as athletes, you know, we're all kind of tortured perfectionist on one, on one level. We all have our process to get the best out of ourselves and, and Novak based on, you know, just the life that he grew up in, what he knows is the, you know,

the environment that surrounds his entire upbringing, you know, from where he's from. I mean, he likes a good fight, and sometimes that fight's with himself, you know, and other times that fight is with his opponent, and other times it's with one person in a 20,000-seat stadium, you know, and it doesn't matter where the fight comes from. There's something about tapping into his warrior side,

and usually when he's down two sets usually the crowd is thinking they're about to see something they normally wouldn't ever get to see which is him lose so they start to get a little revved up they start to cheer his opponent a little bit more and then he starts to kind of do that um that lock on you know that lockdown mentality of you're giving me reason now to go to another gear. And I think as athletes, we all look for our ways to get into that zone. And, you know, Novak's ways, well, might not always come across, you know, let's say ideal when it comes to, he looks really pissed off at times. He's trying to find ways to bring out the best in himself and give him all the credit

in the world for constantly figuring out how to do it. I mean, what he did this year is remarkable, but it's probably no different than he's going to do next year or last year, right? I mean, he's the guy to beat. Alcaraz, though, here he comes. What a beautiful thing. Five Americans down in the top 25. I love where we are with the game.

Yeah, whenever you flip the switch and get into a zone like Djokovic does when an entire arena starts chanting against him, you go, oh, is that right? Oh, is that right? And he turns, flipping the switch and get into a zone like Djokovic does when an entire arena starts chanting against him, you go, oh, is that right? Oh, is that right? Flipping the switch in tennis, just more control on the ball. Are you seeing the ball better? What does the zone look like for a tennis player whenever you get in it? Yeah, I mean, I think the zone is kind of in a large way quieting your mind

and really locking down on the nuance of what it is you need to, you know, to do, right? And in some cases, when you're down two sets, it's because of what you're not doing. In other cases, it's because you're trying to do something too stubbornly. And so that zone is kind of a simplification that goes on, you know, for two sets, it might be a lot of noise, it might be a lot of noise. It might be a lot of distractions. You might have a lot of options. You might be trying to figure out how to win this match and you might have two or three different ways that you can do it. And then, then when it's DEF CON four and you just, you kind of get where you need to get mentally, it's just everything goes silent.

You get very clear with what your intentions are and there's nothing better than, than, than clarity and conviction in tennis. You know, I'd, I'd rather have the wrong game plan and complete conviction, complete buy-in to how I'm going to execute than have the right game plan questioning it even for a second, because everything's happening so fast out there. And I think, I think the zone is when you have total clarity, which leads to complete conviction, and one point isn't more valued than the next,

and the next thing you know, the scoreboard's a result of what just took place. God, the zone sounds sweet. Yeah. It sounds sweet. That sounds like a good time. Yeah. Especially if you have the talent to be able to do it.

Are we going to see you get in the zone in this pickleball slam or no? Oh, yeah. I mean, my problem is going to be getting out do it. Are we going to see you get in the zone in this pickleball slam or no? Oh, yeah. I mean, my problem is going to be getting out of a zone. I mean, I've been in the zone now for six weeks, it feels like. No, I'm excited to do it. I'm going to get out there and be totally clear. I mean, it's a thrill. I mean, it's a thrill.

It's not like tennis for me in the sense that I have to put myself through some kind of tortured process. It is just only added to my life. And come February 4th, I mean, we're going to put it on the line. It's going to be blessed. All right. It will be Andre Agassi and his wife, Steffi Graf, against John McEnroe and Maria Sharapova. We have some breaking news for this Pickleball Slam 2.

Okay. For a million dollars on the line with an amateur contest also happening beforehand for prizes that you can sign up for at thepickleballslam.com. There's two coaches this year for both teams. Now, one coach for either team. James Blake, obviously dog in the tennis world,

now also an owner in one of the pickleball leagues, and Jack Sock is the coach of the other team. Now, which team are they the coach of, Andre? You don't know. We don't know. We don't know.

Two icons in tennis who are actually really darn good at pickleball, I assure you. Well, if this ball goes into that hoop over there, James Blake is your team's coach. If it doesn't go in, Jack Sock is your team's coach. Sounds like a deal on a universe ball here. So you're saying I can't lose, and you're saying whoever I play with, we're still going to beat John.

I'm into this. Okay. James Blake. Okay. Jack Sock. Jack Sock will be coaching Andre Agnesi and his wife. James Blake will be coaching John McEnroe and Maria Sharapova. One million on the line February 4th.

We appreciate the hell out of you, man. You're a good man. Thank you, Pat. Appreciate the time. Hey, you were phenomenal on this. You know, you were really good. This was a great conversation. I really appreciate this conversation with you.

Oh, yeah. Flew by in a hurry. We should do it more often. Pickleball slam three, right around the corner. Ladies and gentlemen, Andre Agassi. Hey, Andre. He was not being pitched to be the person to talk about this. Interesting.

Why not? That's right. Well, that's what we said. We were like, we'd like to talk to Andre Agassi. Like, I don't think he's doing media run for this. We haven't asked him. It's like. Ask him.

If you could please ask him. We would be very grateful. We're massive fans. Because once I learned about him feeling as if he was forced into tennis, I couldn't even imagine the struggle he had inside. There was a lot of dark nights, I'd assume. Oh, yeah. You should read his book. I listened to his book back in the day when it came out.

Yeah, yeah. His hard-driving dad, like, yeah, it was rough for him. And I remember as a kid watching him play, like, crazy hair, neon colors. Like, he made tennis cool. And then you read his book, and you're like, oh, my goodness. This dude was going through it, through all of that. Okay, so I didn't read the book, but that was my assumption after hearing what he said and how he said it. So that's why I kind of led the conversation off with that, because it's like, bud, I'm sorry.

Yeah, that sucks. Like, we're very grateful for what you get. And obviously, you made a lot of money, made a name for yourself. So life is good. You have a roof over your head. You have food, everything like that. But there had to be some terror.

So that's what it sounds like. All right. Because when you lay your head down at night, you're just with yourself. You know, those are when things really get loud, I think. Couldn't even imagine if you hated everything, probably about yourself and everything you're doing while having to go out and perform,

let alone if you lose. Then it's just like the people that you're fake trying to impress are also i mean that is a very in you that's a tough run and then you hear him now it's like this guy found his joy he's great awesome hilarious too how about him yeah talking massive shit to john mackinac yeah the whole time he mentioned he said mackinac's name like 10 times probably like he wanted to get the point across. Yes, we're going to dominate. Hey, thanks for bringing up how much money it was worth. Yeah, I took that shit right out of McEnroe's pocket.

Oh, it's down there in Hard Rock Seminole. Last time I was there, I took money right out of McEnroe's. That was awesome. McEnroe kills pickleball all the time. I just heard McEnroe on something else talk about pickleball. Even though he's playing in it, he loves to trash the game, too. Because the pickleball supporters at the beginning, whenever this Pickleball Slam 1 happened,

they're like, why are we letting this guy play for a million bucks? That guy hates the sport. We have so many people that love pickleball. Why are we doing this? And then you get out there, Macaron, yay. Macaron brings ratings, he knows. He's playing. He knew what was going on.

He was getting good, too, by the end of it. Yeah. And he talked about how they didn't really know the strategy. Yeah, this dude's a dog. Legend. This dude's so sweet. So sweet. Connor, look at that hair.

Great fucking hair. Connor, that's what I'm saying. We need a sweatband maybe on that. Sweatband's not a bad idea. I do sweat a lot, too. Bandana, too. Don, like this. You can be the undertaker.

You can do the agassi right there. They sell them. Since him and Nadal always wear them, they sell those beautiful ones. Yeah. Unfortunately, I am kind of an Alcaraz guy, per se. He mentioned them. But still, the headband's a great look. I mean, hair like that, too.

Those blonde highlights. I mean, you guys are looking at the headband. I'm looking at those blonde highlights right there. Those are natural. No matter what they are, I want that. Bro, look at those blonde highlights right there. Those are natural. No matter what they are, I want that. Bro, look at the bronze tips, man. Oh, stud.

That's not frosted. Chest hair popping out all over. Yeah, that's not the photo. Oh, I'm talking about the one up there. Sorry, that one looks like he's got the blonde highlights. Oh, yeah, top left up on the thing. He does look a little bit like he is about a month highlights. Oh, yeah. Top left up on the thing. Yeah. He does look a little bit like he is about a month or two out from a good dye.

Yeah. Sunkissed. You know what I mean? A month or two out. Hair dye back in the day was right. I mean, I dyed my hair maybe 55 times. Just easy to do. How much is it? Nine bucks to go down to the store.

You dyed or bleached it? Bleached and dyed. It was big in our school. Yeah. I had a chocolate cherry at one point. That was like an $8 thing. It did not work out well. What's that?

Caramel kiss. What is that? Chocolate cherry. You kind of guess. Guess what color it is. Yeah. Red. Make sure it's chocolate cherry.

Chocolate cherry. Okay, yeah. I had no idea. It was like black with a red. It was terrible. I mean, it was $9. And there's all those beautiful, beautiful just men boxes, options, whatever it is. Yeah, caramel kiss was my go-to.

It was absurd. What the hell is caramel kiss? You get it. You get it. I've never heard of that. In your head, a color popped up whenever you said caramel. All that popped up was a Hershey's kiss with caramel inside of it. That's what popped up.

Boom. There's a color in the summer. Caramel kiss. Maybe throw some sun in, in there in the summertime. Oh, that was natural. Old school. Yeah. You could spray that shit in. Oh yeah. I've done all that. Lemon juice. Did you do that in the summertime. Oh, that was natural, old school. Yeah, you could spray that shit in.

Oh, yeah. I've done all that. Lemon juice. Did you do that? Lemon juice. Oh, yeah. That's why. That's my hair.

That's my hair. Yeah, his high school picture, he looks sweet. I also got a perm at one point. Ooh. Yes. Because I wanted the little glow out the back. The curls. Yeah, I wanted the curls out the back.

How are AQ's arms that big and he only weighs 248? I don't know. Literally, I think the shirt he's wearing is. You look awesome, AQ. The shirt's a little small. You look good, buddy. That's amazing. Is that that guy's basement?

Yeah, yeah. That shirt right there represents the basement of the rich man that you train at? Oh, yeah. They're going to kick you out. No, no, no. I think he's pumped. Oh, you're all pumped. It's on today.

Everybody is complimented how you look, too. And that body has been built in the shipyard and in WTF. That's what he used to look like before getting into WTF. Look, I got some lemon juice in the hair there. Joe knows. Yes, he does. Yes, he does. Yes, he did.

Oh, so Ursa only put lemon juice in his hair recently. That's what it is. That makes sense. No, Chito does. Ursa was in the lake. Why would you? Anyways, you look fantastic, AQ. We haven't really got a chance to talk about much with you, AQ. That's a damn

shame. I don't like that at all. Jason Kelsey, one of the sexiest dudes on earth. That's good for centers. That's great for centers. That's got to be a first time as a center. I mean, as a whole. Yeah, I agree. I mean, I don't... You think I was ever in the running? For what? Yeah, I think so. Right now, you are. I mean, I don't – you think I was ever in the running? For what?

Yeah, I think so. Right now you are. Put that picture back up. Right now. How do you even get in that running? That's a good question. You just be sexy. I think numerous people just have to see a picture of you and go, damn. Got sexy.

That's it? Yeah, I think so. Numerous people. I heard Connor's mom loves you on the program. So you got one vote. I don't know if she has any say in the people's sexiest thing. My mom does too. My mom does. Okay. Two. AJ's mom loves you on the program. So you got one vote. I don't know if she has any say in the people's sexiest thing. My mom does, too. My mom does.

Okay. AJ's mom. I haven't asked mine. I don't think she has any say, but yeah. My mom does. Doesn't work at people. Your mom works at people? Yeah, she's got say.

That's cool. Sounds like you were wondering why you made that first. No, no. I just wondered how you get in. I'm jealous of him, and that's awesome. Despite soaring fame from his New Heights podcast with brother Travis Kelsey and his Prime video documentary that is the number one watched documentary in the history of Prime video.

The Philadelphia Eagles star center 36 keeps it real as a husband and a father of three. We're just trying to have fun he says. It's that type of. That's sexy right there. I'll tell you he. Well groomed too. Hey he's an Ohio fuck. Yeah. He is funny. He should have got the cover.

Jason Kelsey is a funny motherfucker. Yes. I am a huge fan. I'm very pumped that he got on this list, but there's going to be some handsome dudes out there that are starving themselves to death on Instagram. They're going to be pissed about it. Yeah, that's right.

They're not going to be happy that football is coming in. Dayton Taylor Swift. What? Now we're taking your sexiest man title. What? Sorry about it. It's your football. Sorry about it. Zero football. Sorry about it over there, pop culture world.

Shout out to Jason Kelsey and his eyebrows. Is this the finalist and then there's going to be a winner that gets the cover? Is that how it works? Patrick Dempsey got the cover. Again. He looks real good on it. Patrick Dempsey. Clint Dempsey. That guy doesn't age. Not related. Yeah, Grey's Anatomy. A little cooler looking

Clint Dempsey. He drives race cars, D-Buts. Oh, yeah? What kind? F1. F1, for sure. Oh, I don't know. I think he does IndyCar type driving, like legit races. Smart.

Who's this? Look him up. Patrick Dempsey? The Dempsey dude. Check it out. He's an actor. You know him. Grey's Anatomy.

You know him. He was on Grey's. I fucking love Grey's. Oh, shit. That dude is very handsome. Oh, yeah. I know him. I do not know who that guy is Usually has a beard too Big driver race car guy That guy's very handsome

They killed off his character in the show And then it was absolutely awful after that And Graze So what was that? That was about a hospital? Got it I didn't get into it but everybody did I didn't know they had this on there And this is what George Clooney used to look like This is what George Clooney used to be get into it, but everybody did. I heard about it. I didn't know they had this on there. Jeez Louise. You want to watch?

And this is what George Clooney used to look like. This is what George Clooney used to be. That perfection of a little bit of a touch of gray in there, that'll do it for you. Just for men. What a vote. Hey, congratulations, Patrick. Even though we think Jace Kelsey should have been there. You can't get in there again, so Jace Kelsey can be a re-nominee if he remains

as sexy as he is. Yeah, I was looking at the list today and there was a couple people that won more than once. Hey, Cush. Yeah. Maybe next year. Hope is still alive. Okay, let's talk about a little bit of a place that has no hope. That would be New England right now.

Well, we all agree. After the greatest dynasty in the history of the NFL has concluded, now there are people talking wild shit about the future of Bill Belichick, the greatest coach of all time and the greatest general manager of all time, and the New England Patriots,

more specifically the Kraft family, Robert and Jonathan, who we're seeing on video saying, we're not good enough and we're forced to watch this pretty much. Everybody has a take on it, including Ben Volan,

who works for the Boston Globe. Boston Globe, which is a pretty important thing. Yeah, absolutely. Ben Volan's been covering the the Boston Globe. Boston Globe, which is a pretty important thing. Yeah, absolutely. Ben Volan's been covering the Patriots a long time. Yeah. Probably has a lot of connections within the Patriots. Maybe.

What does that mean? You're asking me questions? I'm just answering. They love him up there. Who, Ben? It's a bold accusation. Is that right, D-Bud? Taking Ed's face, the report indicated that Belichick will be back

with the Patriots next year, Volan wrote, but two people close to the team believe the report was really Belichick sending a message to Robert and Jonathan Kraft. Don't forget that I signed a multi-year contract. If you fire me, I have a big fat buyout coming and I intend to collect every single penny. This was about the Bill Belichick deal being released about two weeks ago when it said he signed a two-year extension. So he's still on contract for next year. Ben Volan saying that there's people that think Bill Belichick released that to send a message to Bob and Jonathan saying, oh, I think you might have forgot.

There's another year on this bad boy that is huge. Ben Volan would also say, based on my conversations, I don't think it's 100% that Belichick finishes out this season. If Belichick loses at home to the Commanders and then to the Colts and comes home from Germany with a 2-8 record, I think there's a chance Kraft's going to make the move in the bye week, which is next week for New England. Now, obviously, people overreact to everything.

Sure. And especially when it comes to NFL coaches and everything like that. But the fact that somebody seems to be pretty credible at the Boston Globe is giving this particular opinion is a wild time for the New England Patriots. Does it feel, Connor, who loves the New England Patriots, does it feel like Bill Belichick is inevitably gone after this year? And how much should we put into Ben Volin's statement? Well, let's just think about what Ben Volin's saying here.

Okay, so Belichick might not make it back in the bye week, and then instead of taking a job next year, he'll sit out a year strictly to get money from Robert Kraft. So that in its own is just false. I get it's opinionated and saying based on my conversations, is that with your

children or some guy at a bar or is that with people inside the building? I would assume he got Boston Globe probably talking to other people, but you're right. Could have been. Neighbor. You could probably pull anyone off the street in New England and they would probably have that

to say and then you could say based on people that my conversation with. So that's one thing. Journalism. Of course. The other idea that Robert Kraft would fire Bill Belichick mid-season, that is something that just won't happen. I said yesterday, I don't think

that the whole idea of what Bill has done for the team has warranted A, B, and C that he can get whatever he wants. I don't think that's true, but I also don't think Robert Kraft's going to disrespect Bill Belichick by firing him midseason because that's what that would be. Now, after the season, if they have a conversation

after they finish, let's say, be. Now, after the season, if they have a conversation after they finish, let's say 3-14, 4-13, and then he gets let go, that is something completely different than what he is assuming. Now, the idea that he gets fired, that is definitely real, and I could 100% see that happening, but I don't see him, after getting fired, sitting out a year because of his contract, one, or the other, being Bob Kraft and Jonathan Kraft deciding,

yeah, we're going to fire this guy midseason and hope for a turnaround. It's just so dumb and so fucking stupid to read those words and for people to actually take them and then take those words into other conversations with people and use them as if they are fucking fact that shit drives me insane and everything that you said works at the boston globe all these things very credible i bet he's done great work with the boston globe i don't think for one fucking second that ben volan knows what he's talking about when it's coming to this situation. Now, I could also be wrong because I am an idiot, okay? And I say very stupid things, and I don't work for the Boston Globe.

So I hope that I am wrong because if I am and Belichick gets fired, that means we're losing the next nine games by a grand total of 500 fucking points because they would be even worse without Bill. But with that being said, the reality of Bill being fired is absolutely real, and there is a chance at the end of this year that they decide to go with Gerard Mayo in-house. Let's do this thing completely over. He won't get fired if they lose in Germany. He won't get fired. Which, in Germany. He won't get fired.

Which, of course, is Colts' team. Colts fans would love that. Yeah, we're not scoring 20 points. That's just a fact. And you guys have scored 20 points in every game, so that's a loss. But basically everything he's saying here, I look at and spit in the face of Ben Volta because of how much I disagree. We get it.

Just hammering that home. What does Tommy Curran say? I want to go back to what does Tommy Curran say? Does he have some more thoughts? We could call him. We could call him. I would love to hear what Tommy Curran has to say because I trust Tommy Curran. The thought of Kraft pulling the trigger on firing Bill Belichick in the middle of the season

after everything has happened, would be awesome. That would be chaos. The amount of anonymous sources that would come out speaking on Bill Belichick's side about how he feels. If Bill Belichick was the one that leaked the information about his contract, as a reminder to the Kraft family

and everybody. I don't know. That sounds like how Bill Belichick does business. Yeah, I mean, there's a chance it's real. Fuck no. I mean, there's a chance that— Or what if someone texted him, a media member texted him? Well, I doubt he's texting, but maybe—

He's been on a season. Who knows, and said, hey, didn't you just sign a new deal? And he said, yeah, a multi-year deal. Remind the crafts. I just signed it. Yeah, okay. It's like he's evil genius when it comes to football. I think that's how we all view him.

If he's also doing that, if he has time to manage an entire roster, who we're drafting, free agency, negotiation, midseason acquisitions because we lose somebody, while also scouting college football players, coaching a team, putting in a thing, and let's make sure we get this narrative right with the media. Manipulate the media. That would be incredible. That would be phenomenal if he was doing that.

It would be great to kind of hear about it. We're calling Tommy Curran to kind of get his thoughts on the whole thing. But you said, and like Michael Lombardi said, they've got $110 million in salary cap next year. And you said you'd like to see Bill kind of rebuild and see if he can do it. There's going to be an easy out there to say, new eyes, refresh the whole thing. Setting up for that almost.

And the thing about that is he just did this. He spent $150 million in free agency. One day or whatever. One day. So it's not as if he is out on spending money. He'll do that. And the best part is that when he fucks up with the signing and maybe it doesn't work out, a la John U. Smith,

he won't just put him in the game because they paid him. He'll trade his ass away and he'll admit he's wrong. He'll look in the mirror. Yeah, and assess the situation. He'll do it again. Yeah. And he did do it again, too, with Juju Smith. We just got a report from Tommy Curran, who's currently on air somewhere.

So Tom could not jump on the FaceTime, but he basically said that he is a lame duck right now, and there is a possibility. Okay. Thank you, Tommy Curran. After the season? Yeah, that's lame duck, right? Finishing out his term. But no par, no juice.

Yeah, exactly. Because it's not around. I mean, that does make sense, though, with the money. Like, if there was ever time to cut ties and be like, hey Bill, we just did this and it didn't work. I'm not just going to let you. So then where's Bill going? Anywhere that has an opening. Chargers. He's going to Chargers.

You know who's coming to New England though. Braves. Oh yeah. I think we're going to hire in-house. I want Vrabel. Why would they hire in-house? Would they want to hire it just someone else from Bill's coaching tree? Isn't the whole point, hey, we need to try

something new here. We don't just need one of Bill's disciples to do the exact same thing he's been doing. We will say, Vrabel's just got a quarterback, potentially. The Vrabel thing is cool because he just was in New England and retired and everything. I understand the coaching tree. Gerard Mayo is a young young guy he probably understands how to communicate with the

younger crew right so it's not a possible mcdaniel situation where he's a massive prick and he's been there like allegedly and he's been there like mayo knows what it looks like when the team is good and obviously when the team is shit so that's why i want geron mayo personally because i don't think the the patriot way hold on somebody rg3 said yesterday the patriot way dies when bill belichick leaves the new england patriots yeah for sure which is awesome because that means bob o'griffin is a belichick guy not a brady guy so shout out to bob but i mean that isn't a thing but we've talked about this before the belichick way isn't a thing. We've talked about this before. The Belichick way isn't a thing. It is just going out there and playing

well. That is something I think... No, it's the Patriot way is actually the Belichick way. Patriot way is definitely a thing. 1000%. Sweet. Obviously, Tom Brady having a guy like that bought in is a huge part of it. It's like Greg Popovich having Tim Duncan

or Phil Jackson having Jordan. It's a part of that. Or having Kobe Greg Popovich having Tim Duncan or Phil Jackson having Jordan. It's a part of that. Or having Kobe. You've got to have your best players invested and bought in and to carry that out. And in football, you've got to have Devin McCourty, Julian Edelman, Grump, Slater, Lights, Vince Wilford, all these guys over the years who kind of were pillars.

But there are things about how he conducts business. And even from interviews, you're only talking about yourself. You're never talking about injuries. Rookies, you're barely talking at all. So it's a lot of things that go into it that is the Patriot way, the preparation part of it, how you practice, all of it. But you've got to have talent as well. You've got to have that quarterback position right.

That was obviously a large part of it, what happened to Tom Brady. You experienced the Patriot way. Well, but the thing that's interesting and the thing that I've heard too is they practice different with Belichick because, like, we've all – we've been in locker room. We've been – A.J., right, we've all – there's a schedule that you stick to. Like, Wednesday you do this exactly every Wednesday all season. Thursday you do this.

Practice schedule's exactly the same the one thing that i've heard is like belichick does things completely different like your wednesday is not the same wednesday every week it's games they are actually taking what they are screwing up in games and actually working on it it's not like a lot of other places that like hey listen like wednesday we're gonna work on our deuce blocks every fucking Wednesday all year long. Like, no,

like if you're struggling with your reach blocks, if you're struggling in man to man coverage, like if you're fucking red zone offense is the worst in the league. Like we are fucking working red zone offense all the time. So he actually does shit that makes sense. It's just whether it can be replicated. Yeah. Nobody else does it.

And when you hear it, maybe as a fan, you start hearing things like yeah that's what i would want my team to do yeah that's what i would want my team to do yeah that's what i want my team to do hard to do it's not like pros though yeah you got a lot of different personalities a lot of different egos people making a lot of money so it's not it's it's kind of collegey kind of militant and that shit's not gonna work it's not gonna fly in a lot of places yeah and that's why the tree is a bush.

Yeah, that's why I would want Mayo to do it. Basically, everyone on the staff I would want to keep. If Steve Belichick was a DC and Gerard Mayo was a head coach and Bill O'Brien was the OC, I would be unbelievably happy about that. So Bill's the only problem. No, no, this is if, Bill. I need Dante back. You just said it.

I want Bill for one more year. Give him a top five pick and give him all that money and then see what happens. All right, the official college football playoff rankings were released for the second straight week here last night. A.J., the Ohio State Buckeyes, even though Notre Dame win is kind of growingly not as big of a win as it was a few weeks ago as the weeks go on.

Still at number one, Georgia at two, Michigan at three, Florida State at four, Washington first one out, Oregon first one-loss team or highest one-loss team to be ranked with Texas Alabama. Not a lot of movement from last week, and there's a lot of conversation about, well, is it strength of record, strength of schedule? Is it football judgment, eye tests?

What are they doing? Boo Corrigan assured. Reese Davis last night. They're looking at everything. Everything. There's no one reason for one thing and one reason for everything. We're looking at all the different. No stone unturned.

Nope. How'd they look? When'd they look it? Where'd they look it? Who was playing? Who's hurt? How early into a comeback after an injury has it been? So there's no rhyme or reason seemingly other than this committee just kind of putting their feelings together how do you feel about ohio state at number one and i would like to let

the michigan people know there's a lot of my quotes like getting like taken we're setting like scenes almost if this is true then this has to happen i am a massive fan of being on the side of like these players didn't send connor stallions yes no two sidelines like that is not some i don't want to this these they're playing great football right now too yeah don't yeah i agree don't take away what they've done so far bingo that's what i'm saying and i've said that now if they knew and if harbaugh knew and it was like we all knew then it's a whole different conversation obviously but like for me it's going to be wild what happens from judgment day today I guess with the Big Ten maybe in the next couple days making a punishment on Harbaugh nobody knows what

it's going to be and I don't know what all we actually know Connor Stallions has resigned he's gone the Big Ten is punishing one of its biggest brands publicly for something that is not necessarily the most great thing to be known for in your conference. So we all assume it's something. We haven't seen all of the evidence, but I guess we're going to get a ruling of some sort in the next couple of days. Nonetheless, if they beat Penn State, we need a judge who's on the field. And I think they're a great football team right now. But a lot of people are about to go into a schedule that can really test them, try them, and maybe expose them or make them. And that's why college football is beautiful right now.

Yeah, you could kind of forge yourself as a team through this time because it's very tough. You're facing a lot of tough opponents, but also I love the end of Pete's tweet there. What did he say? As they're expected to take some time to absorb Michigan's response. I love the absorb part. Let them read, please.

Please. Can we give Michigan a good enough time to respond? Sources, the Big Ten expects a response from Michigan on the notice of discipline by the end of day on Wednesday. Don't expect any ruling by the Big Ten on Wednesday as they are expected to kind of take time to absorb Michigan's response. Of course, Pete.

We would assume that they would read it, but it might be a lot. We don't know. They're answering all the allegations, I guess, that the Big Ten has presented them with. They said, hey, we're going to need answers for this that we have. Michigan has responded. Now the Big Ten is absorbing the response and they said hey we're gonna need answers for this that we have michigan has responded now the big 10 is absorbing the response and seeing what the proper process is of course it's everything from

suspension to i mean stephen a smith said ban him yeah i think other people talk i mean there's a lot of things being in there i'll be excited to hear what the big 10 thinks is a right punishment yeah feinbaum was pissed this morning as well. So he wasn't saying anything about banning them. I think he thinks they should still be in the college football playoff, but he's about sick of it, and he wants action now, and he wants heads on a platter. I think we all need some, right, especially the Michigan football players. Yeah.

They deserve for us to know what the hell is written. Stuck in limbo. Stuck in between, like, okay, what are we doing here? What are you guys going to do to us? Take five scholarships, move on, get on with it. Yeah, exactly. Hopefully. I'd like to know when ESPN is going to report about Purdue stealing Michigan signals,

because all I've heard is it's on the side. Hey, I heard AP said, Associated Press, I believe, was, I don't know. It was the AP and SI, and everyone's on it now, except for Michigan and Purdue. Hello, he's out there buying property. You got all kinds of stuff. We don't know what's real, what's not, but Dan Wetzel knows. It was the AP and SI, and everyone's on it now except for... Michigan and Purdue broke the exact same rule. He's out there buying property. You got all kinds of stuff. We don't know what's real, what's not, but Dan Wetzel knows. Wetzel of Pretzel has been on the show before.

This guy is a journalist. Yeah. Michigan and Purdue broke the exact same rule. They used advanced scouting to steal a future opponent's signals. Why does the NCAA and Big Ten only care about one of them? Great question, Dan Wetzel. I believe the use of technology is the big thing, I think, is the difference, but

there's a lot of stuff coming out right now. I think the entire Big 10 and a lot of coaches, if you heard a lot of them talk since the beginning of this, is just like, let's just get the headphones in there and let's just move along. Let's do it. Change the rule. Yeah, for the bowl games, they're

allowed to use headphones and I, sorry, speaker in the helmet, and I believe they're it. Change the rule. Yeah, for the bowl games, they're allowed to use headphones. Sorry, speaker in the helmet. And I believe they're actually going to have tablets, too, on the sidelines. And I believe that's probably going to be the rules going forward. It should be. Shout out to Connor Stallion, potentially being the engine to get something that college football has needed for a long time. And look at the NCAA, quickly. Yeah, that's like a huge thing that they're actually making a change for something.

Here we go. So maybe that means that this whole thing will get settled quickly. But I think we all would like this to be in the college football world and in the sports world as much as possible. I hate talking about it because it's like, well, they're getting screwed because they're steering the signals. It's like, I agree. They're getting screwed. The players are getting screwed, though, because something happened. like i agreed they're getting screwed the players get screwed though because like something happened they agreed yeah everybody's getting screwed yeah yeah this is not good for anybody not to mention the hashtags that are going around about our good

friend pete thamel i don't like that one bit what they're saying hey pete thamel needs stefan digg shingards both of them yes he does but that's journalism. Exactly. Also, if, I mean, you know, the best way to defeat a bully is own it. He should go by Greasy Peep now. Is that what they're calling him? Hashtag Greasy Peep. Yeah. And there's a lot of hashtag where is Greasy Peep as well because of the fact that he's not talking about the other school. Putting Pete's head, you know, on the side of a milk carton and saying that he's 5'4 and stuff like that.

He's very unsafe. He's not. I agree. I've stood next to Pete. No, Pete's tall. Yeah, exactly. But yeah, and a lot of hashtag where's greasy Pete, that kind of stuff. It's uncalled for. It's not funny.

It's just ridiculous. So I think we should kind of wait for all the dominoes to fall, if you will. You think Pete's going to be vindicated at the end of this whole thing? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. He'll be right. I agree. Hey, Pete, Pete's deep in the weeds on everything. He needs to hope that this stuff doesn't keep coming out

that he's, because he's kind of just giving it to Michigan, or he at least needs to come out and be like, I haven't been able to corroborate any of that about Purdue, about Ohio State, about, you know, any of these places other than Michigan's and that lying, cheating, stealing son of a bitch Connor Stallion. Well, that's what they're kind of saying.

Yeah, exactly. Either Pete needs to say it or something needs to happen. Well, we'll continue to follow the story. You have to. It's one of the biggest stories in sports right now. There it is. We don't have to show that. Last scene, Ryan Day's attic.

Pete does not wear cheap suits. No way. Last seen, Ryan Day's attic. He weighs more than 145. I can attest, Pete does not wear cheap suits. No way. Okay. And his hair isn't thinning. And his shoes are sick. He's got a hammer, too, I bet. All right.

That's how we end the show. That's how we end the show. Can't even pee in the urinal. He carries himself with that. I like the cut of his jib. The moxie. The moxie of a man who's very confident, and we respect him.

All right, let's get the hell out of here. This has been a great day. Hell of a day. Tonight's going to be a great night. We can't wait for tomorrow. You're the best, AJ Hawk. Boys, great work today. D-Buck, great work this week. Great work. AQ, great work today, pal. AQ. Make sure you get back into the Walton training facility and

keep building those arms up because a lot of compliments today on the board. Jesus. Good for you. Can you still swing golf club or no? We'll find out. You went from that to this. Incredible.

All at the Walts training facility. Okay, I haven't had that right all day. Walts. Walts. Like the dance? Yeah, like the dance. Like takes two to Walts. What is the Walts?

That's the salsa. It's a classic one. Walts is do-do- the dance. Like takes two to waltz. What is the waltz? That's the salsa. It's a classic one. Waltz is do-do-do-do. It's like four steps. Yeah. A lot of box steps in the waltz. Oh, okay. That sounds sweet.

All right, I'm out of here. See you guys tomorrow. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice that might change their life. Goodbye.