The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 1079 - Sports Thursday, Steve Spagnuolo, Kendrick Perkins, Tyrese Haliburton, Mike Florio, Chad Leistikow, AJ Hawk

Episode Date: February 15, 2024

On today’s show, Pat, AJ Hawk, & the boys chat about everything going on in the world of sports, including Caitlin Clark breaking the NCAA women's scoring record tonight, Chiefs Statistical Analysis Coordinator Mike Frazier's impact on the Chiefs Overtime preparation, Justin Jefferson's contract situation with the Vikings & more. Pat opens the show by addressing the heartbreaking ending to the Super Bowl Parade in Kansas City yesterday, sending love, vibes, & prayers to all those affected and spotlighting the heroics of Paul Contreras in the aftermath. In the first hour, 4x Super Bowl Champion & Chiefs DC, Steve Spagnuolo joins the show to discuss the amazing football intelligence his entire defense has, Patrick Mahomes' team first mindset & talent as an athlete, Chris Jones' impact, the play call on McDuffie's massive pressure on 3rd & 4 in the Super Bowl, and more. In the second hour, Kendrick Perkins jumped on the progrum to chat about the upcoming All Star Game in Indianapolis, Joe Mazzulla firing back at him for his comments, a potential mystery off-season addition for the Lakers, and more. Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio also drops by in the second hour to discuss the future of the NFL Kickoff & his report that the NFL is unlikely to adopt the XFL's rules. In the third hour, Pacers' All Star Point Guard Tyrese Haliburton joins the show live in studio and chops it up about him having two different voices, how he feels heading into this year's Three Point Contest, his most respected trash talk opponent, the NBA Cup, the WWE, his play style & more. Also in the third hour, the Des Moines Register & Iowa City Press Citizen's Chad Leistikow joins the show to talk about Caitlin Clark's historic opportunity tonight, her Iowa career and season, and where he sees her playing next season. 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, and welcome to our humble abode, the Thunderdome, on this Thursday, February 15th, 2024. This sports program starts right now. Sports! We'll be talked about today in abundance. We have a lot of guests stopping by. Kendrick Perkins will be joining us in the second hour to chit-chat about what's going on this weekend with the NBA All-Star and his thoughts on where the NBA is. We'll have a guy named Chad Lystico. Boom.

Chad Lystico joining us, who's an Iowa sports columnist, to talk about the historic evening that is potentially taking place tonight as the Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball team play host to the Michigan Wolverines as 18.5-point favorites. And Kaitlin Clark is eight points away from breaking a record that has been in since Kelsey Plum, I believe, had it whenever she was in college at Washington. So we'll talk to him about what that's going to do

for this evening. We'll also have defensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs who just signed an extension with the Kansas City Chiefs, Steve Spagnuolo joining us, coach, defense coordinator in about 19 minutes or so. Now, sticking with the Kansas City Chiefs, we, alongside the rest of the world, are absolutely devastated and heartbroken about how yesterday's Super Bowl parade ended in beautiful Kansas City, Missouri.

Obviously, leaving one person dead, who was a radio DJ, Lisa, I believe, and her children were shot, over 20 people injured. It was an absolutely heartbreaking, devastating, terrible, horrendous ending to something that was supposed to bring the entire city together. Now, I assume that this is not going to be enough for some people, but we would like to send our positive vibes and our love to all those that are affected, because there's a chance that somebody who was affected by this potentially watches this show. Just know that we got you. You're a badass and you should have never had to experience what you experienced yesterday. We do hope that smart people figure out how these events become a lot less common going forward. We do

not have the answers, obviously, but somebody should. And that is not the way that we should live in a society, the United States of America, where we're scared to go celebrate something we're supposed to bring everybody together. We cannot let the assholes win. We can never, ever do that. And what we must always remember is even though it was full chaos, a man named Paul Contreras in the middle of this thing took it upon himself and another person that we do not know yet to tackle one of the three shooters. Two of them, by the way, were juveniles. As the weapon was falling out of his hand or his sleeve, Paul Contreras, his wife, Alyssa, who's there kicking, I believe, the weapon away, and another citizen rose to the occasion to potentially save more lives and save more injuries.

to potentially save more lives and save more injuries. So as devastating and as terrible as this was, let's remember that there's absolute dogs that walk among us. There is good in our society still. And although we should and will hopefully take care of all the scumbags in our society to make us the best we could possibly be, there are people like this man and his wife and another out there. We don't know if they're ex-military or police or anything like that or if they're just citizens who happen to be Kansas City Chiefs fans

who took it upon themselves to rise to the occasion and spear an asshole and send them to jail for hopefully the rest of their lives. We appreciate that. We must remember that. And to everybody in Kansas City, we are very sorry that that took place on a day that was supposed to be remembered for everything the complete opposite of what it will be remembered for now with that being said our job as sports people is to maybe give you a mental vacation and chit chat about what's going on in the sports world and we will do that today we're

talking about everything hopefully our conversations will be a little bit of a distraction hopefully we'll bring a little bit of positivity and maybe a little unification, which is what sports and what Super Bowl parades are supposed to do. With that being said, the Talks at Table is here at Boston Corner wearing an American bald eagle shirt. Love what you're doing. Sitting next to him, not Ty Schmidt, who potentially scheduled a vacation in a time that we would normally be off, but not this year.

It was months in advance. Not his fault. We miss you, Ty. We hope you're having a good time. You've earned it, pal. I bet you, Ty. And his place, Bruce Brown. Wow.

It's going up. Brucey! I've been reading up on Iowa women's basketball to try to fill the shoes as best I can. Yeah, this is the biggest day. This is Ty's. This would have been Ty's day because of what Kaitlyn Clark is doing this evening. Historic stuff. And she is electrifying to watch.

Unbelievable. Now, Bruce, you obviously formerly worked at Barstool. Then you got a chance to join Spotify, I believe. And then you joined us. Well, you got booed out of a building. We all saw that. You've been friends of ours for a long time. Business of ours. SeatGeek has been one of our closest partners for a long time. This Caitlin

Clark effect on these tickets has done something in women's college basketball that has never happened before. The cheapest ticket available as of this morning at 11 a.m. was $217. This is to a women's college basketball game in February. This is a February women's college

basketball game. Now SeatGeek, our partners, obviously the lowest ticket available. Naturally. Obviously the lowest ticket available. That is what SeatGeek has done forever. That is what SeatGeek will continue to do. And if SeatGeek didn't have the best ticket price, they would actually tell you on their app, like, hey.

Not a great deal. Not the best deal. I just want to let you know it's not the best deal, which is why we love SeatGeek. Shout out to Front Office Sports for doing this. The Caitlin Clark business is booming, Brucey Brown. Yeah, I mean, it's unbelievable just watching her play the way that she, you know, just basically effortlessly, it seems, gets buckets out there and kind of commands the court.

But $217, you can actually knock that down right down just below $200 with code PAT30 to get $30 off. I did not know you were going into an ad read. That was not scripted by me. I thought there was going to be some ticket thing out of Bruce. Bruce goes right into an ad read. That was phenomenal. Hey, Bruce! Here we go, Brucey baby! Football season has come and gone.

PAT30, all events. Concerts, MLB coming up, NHL, NBA All-Star Game in town. Anything you want to go to, Pat, 30, 30 bucks off. Well, not only, I mean, they've got theaters, shows, everything. Connor, what if every time he speaks today, this is an ad read? I still can't believe it. That was a masterful.

I mean, we are six minutes into this show, and SeatGeek is getting the rub of a lifetime. What if that is Bruce's gimmick? He only speaks in ad reads. He's fantastic. And obviously people know that our show is completely choreographed. Sure. Completely scripted. That was a nice surprise there. Shout out to you, Bruce.

I actually grabbed the wrong sheet. This is Monday, so it might have to be it might have to be ad reads only. Pat 30 every single time. Shout out to SeatGeek. We appreciate him. Shout out to Caitlin Clark. You know, because as a guy who has a nine-month-old daughter, okay? She's so cute, by the way. Hell yeah.

She's like jumping at this point. Yeah, good night last night? Nothing better. Happy Valentine's Day, obviously, to everybody out there. Hope, you know, obviously we're all devastated by what took place yesterday at the Super Bowl championship parade, but maybe you got a chance to see your loved ones a little perspective was put in there and valentine's day was a little bit better but like as i'm watching her you know grow she's nine months old and i'm an asshole for doing this but i assume i'm not the

only one yeah how can you but i'll see her like she's got like pretty good she got pretty good she can grab things you know she's playing like little drums with a drumstick at this point i'm like well maybe musician okay well, maybe a musician. Maybe she's a musician. She's coordinating her arms and her legs. I immediately think, I'm like, Caitlin Clark? Maybe. Business women's college basketball, pretty good. What it will be in about

18 years from now, who knows? It's like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, that South Carolina team. Women's college basketball is becoming a buzzsaw in electric as shit. And tonight, it's on Peacock, I believe. 8 o'clock, I think we're going to see history made. One half of the hammer.

Cowboys, Tone Diggs is here. Tone, what are you guys betting on these days? What is the go-to here? The Genesis Invitational starts today. Obviously, Tigers back for that. PGA. He tees off, what, 1225? 1225.

He starts. I think he was up to 180 to one. He was 151 to win the tournament. His first event back. So we're betting on a little bit of golf. We're going college basketball, NBA, NHL, a little bit of Champions League footy. You know, pretty much any

sport that doesn't deal with football, we are jumping into it. Spring training just started for baseball. So it's basically everything but football. It's kind of in the weeds. It's kind of it. Spring training just started for baseball. So it's basically everything but football. It's kind of, you know, it's kind of in the weeds. It's kind of where we make our money this year, to be honest. The other half of the hammer, Don. Cowboys, Bubba Gumpino back at the end of the table.

I believe he'll be up and down today because I think we have potentially, yeah, Tyrese Halliburton's coming in studio. Nice. Yeah, obviously a member of the Indiana Pacers. It'll be his first time on the program. My relationship with the Pacers is interesting. They threatened to sue me a few years back, but I've always had a pretty good relationship with them.

This new team that they have, because obviously Paul George, Roy Hibbert, George Hill, Lance Stevenson, that group there was awesome, electrifying. I don't think I missed a single game whenever they were playing there. Tyrese Halliburton's bringing a new energy back to Indiana. Then we got Spicy P coming in out of Toronto. And I think the way the coach that looks like Jim Carey. Yeah, Rick Carlisle. He coaches

the team. It's like the Indiana people who love basketball, love this Pacers team. Excited to talk to Tyrese Halliburton. But while Tyrese Halliburton is not in the Thunderdome today, Bubba Gumpino will be here. Hey, Gump, you're the best footy gambler on earth. Is that where we're making all our money right now?

Oh, yeah. Big news just came out. Mbappe, actually, he's leaving PSG at the end of the year. Free agent. Where's he going? He's coming to Inter-Miami? He's coming to Portland Timbers? Everyone thinks Real Madrid, but the issue is the transfer fee.

So usually you'd have to pay like $200 million to buy Mbappe. And then pay on top of it. And then pay his wages on top of that. What he's done is basically said, screw you, PSG. I'm leaving at the end of the year. You can't sell me. So it's kind of going to be a bidding war, it feels like. So is there a chance now, this has seemingly been a part of golf and soccer in a pretty big way,

Saudi Arabia can pay the $200 million and then put another billion on top of that to get Mbappe to Saudi Arabia. Is that how this is going to work out? They already tried to do that, and Mbappe said no. Yeah, offered him a billion dollars, right? Yeah. He actually was offered like $1.2 billion, I thought, for like two years of service.

Yeah, and it's not like Cristiano's doing well over there, but like Benzema's miserable, Jordan Henderson, Liverpool captain left. Like, most players aren't happy in Saudi besides Cristiano Ronaldo. So I haven't seen a Cristiano Ronaldo highlight, I don't think, since he's gone and played over there. That's why most players are probably not happy because their legacies are kind of being talked about

and they're kind of disappearing. Yeah, and like Benzema was like leading goal scorer for Real Madrid for years. Benzema! Yeah, legendary striker. He's not even playing for the team in Saudi right now. He got dropped. And they wouldn't let him go to a team on loan in the transfer window.

He wanted to go to England. And now it's like, now he's just not starting at all in Saudi Arabia. All right, well, that's soccer talk. Well done. Catch up on footy. We're doing sports today. Why doesn't Mbappe come over and play for the Columbus crew? Maybe the Indy 11.

Maybe the Pittsburgh Riverhounds. New England Revolution, perhaps? Next Wednesday, we're live. Enter Miami, gets it started. Where? The MLS? Yep. Only game.

Stand-alone game Wednesday night against Real Salt Lake. Wow. That's a huge one. That's a big one. Tough squad. Yeah, does this count towards the standings? Yeah, this is a league. Because remember last year, MLS did that really cool thing where Messi came over.

He won like 10 straight games. And then they said none of those counted towards the MLS standings. So the Miami team didn't make the playoffs. So nobody watched the MLS playoffs. Yeah, that's right. This game counts? This is the league, baby. This is where it starts.

Okay. Come on, Messi. Yes. This is the best league in the world, right, MLS? We got the best player in the world. So it's a fact, though. Also added Luis Suarez, legendary striker. Like, that inter-Miami squad should be good.

You didn't say it was the best league in the world. What's that? Gumps, we got the best player in the world, the Balloon Door. Yeah, second best player, Suarez. The Balloon Door. Yeah, best player in the world. You too. Oh, my God.

Balloon Door. Yeah. We got it. Absolutely. Should be a good year. We don't want it. Alright, let's talk a little bit of football. There's a lot of things coming out. You know, there's a Dynasty docu-series

coming out, I believe, on Apple about the New England Patriots. They've interviewed, I think, a lot of very important people to the New England Patriots. Adam Vinatieri being one of them, he will be guest hosting our show tomorrow because I believe his Dynasty docu-series on Apple drops tomorrow. So Adam Vinatieri being one of them, he will be guest hosting our show tomorrow because I believe his Dynasty docuseries on Apple drops tomorrow. So Adam Vinatieri, who was a part of that and interviewed a part of the Dynasty documentary, will be guest hosting.

I can't wait to see how. Oh, yeah. He's going to be so shredded, so jocked up. The producer of this Dynasty thing was on Up and Adams on FanDuel TV this morning, made a comment about Ernie Adams that has certainly raised some eyebrows. Did Ernie give up any of the secrets? Well, no, actually, in episode four, you actually get to see me asking him about Spygate for the first time. And one of my favorite lines from Ernie, he says,

there are certain things I'll be taking to the grave with me. What the hell does that mean? What the hell does that mean? What the hell does that mean, con man? There's certain things I'll be taking to the grave, Ernie Adams. Oh, does he have video of all the signs that everybody has? And is Ernie, is that Kay's father or grandfather? Do we know if it's Ernie? No, I believe there's no.

Oh, because Ernie Adams, Kay Adams. I wonder if Kay potentially is the one that could get the information from big great-grandfather Ernie Adams. We're not 100% sure, but take it to the grave. What is he talking about, Connor, up there in New England? I'm not sure. And let me just say, too, if he did have grandchildren, yeah, he wouldn't be telling them no matter what. Because then if he did tell them, he'd have to also kill them, and that's not going to happen. So Ernie Adams is a good soldier, okay?

He is a dog. He is someone that you want in your foxhole. If there's a grenade in there and other people are going to die, guess who's jumping on it? Ernie Mother Adams. Okay? That is who you need in a football building. Now, do I know this? Good self-censor there.

Yeah. I feel like I really sold it. I thought it was coming. We don't get credit for that. Well, no, no. You guys do. Every time I do it, I try not to do it. We as a whole. Just because sometimes I it, I try not to do it just because

sometimes I'm scared it's going to slip through, but no. The documentary's going to be unbelievable. It's two episodes every Friday for the next five weeks. You mentioned it. They interview everybody. Vinny, I believe, Bledsoe, Moss, Bruschi, obviously

all the front office. This is going to be all time. I am very worried because there's going to be a lot of bashing. There was also a report in there. And I don't know if this is from the actual documentary or if this is part of the information gatherers just bringing old stuff back to the top. But they mentioned how Brady said in it, like, hey, no matter what, I was not going to re-sign a contract there. I think Wes Welker talked about, you know, the relationship between Bill and Tom.

And he said it was like Tom was like an abandoned dog just trying to kind of like prove himself to father figure Bill Belichick over and over. And he didn't even know how Bill could do it. And hearing Wes say that is funny just because you've mentioned this before, where there's a scene from the sidelines of Bill Belichick telling Wes Welker in the preseason when Julian Edelman had a punt return, like, hey, you know who Wally Pip is? Because Edelman obviously slid right into that Wes Welker role. Feels like Wes Welker was like, yeah, I do know who Wally Pip is

and I want to be Wally Pip. And obviously he ended up going to Denver and that worked out well for him and Peyton Manning and everything. But, no, I'm super, super excited for it. Reliving all six will be nice, especially now in this era of the Kansas City Chiefs. Just to remind myself, like, hey, we're in the Chiefs era, but don't forget about your own era. Oh, you think this is a nice little reminder to everybody.

Bingo. This is a nice little reminder, like, hey, hey. They should have maybe saved this for two to three years from now. That's right. If the Chiefs continue to go. Then you might need a new name, though. You know, you got to get the dynasty rolling. I wonder if the producer is worried about that.

Well, the producer, we just learned Matthew Hamachek is his name. I believe he's the director, producer, and interviewer, it sounds like, because he said, I asked Ernie Adams this thing. I know there's been a lot of work done on this dynasty, Doc. I think there was a couple times I was potentially going to get interviewed for it, but just schedules weren't able to line up. They've really been pounding the pavement for this thing. I'm excited to see how it

goes. I don't know if I'm speaking for myself or I'm speaking for others, but I would have waited a few more years because I think the hate still runs through some people. About the Patriots? Yeah. Well, they're probably going to play off that a little bit. Yeah, I hope they do because you do become the villain. You should own that.

And that was one of my favorite parts about being a fan. Still is one of my favorite parts about being a fan is the hate that New England gets because it does just bring everyone together into that bunker mentality. But I don't know about waiting. I could see waiting a few more years. Well, you guys might want to put out another one maybe two, three years from now if Patrick Mahomes picks up another Super Bowl or two. I think they're probably working on the KC

one for that as we speak. Well, I'm just saying if you're a Patriots fan, you're going to want to remind the world maybe four years from now. Hey, hey, hey. Don't forget. Don't forget. Because they're putting up these graphics now. Oh, yeah. Every day. About Patrick Mahomes, obviously where he's at in his career with Tom Brady. You got Randy Moss talking. Everybody talking about, hey, the way that Patrick Mahomes, obviously, where he's at in his career with Tom Brady.

You got Randy Moss talking. Everybody talking about, hey, the way that Patrick Mahomes has been playing his first six years versus how Tom Brady played the first six years. Not only quarterback versus quarterback, but the way the Chiefs have succeeded versus how the Patriots have succeeded in there. They're way ahead of schedule. Way, way ahead of schedule. Now, obviously, different situations.

Tom Brady and the Patriots and everything like that. But it's like this Chiefs team, you know, like after Joey Burrow's year down in LSU, everybody in college football was like, that'll never happen again. Then Mac Jones, literally like the next year did it. And it's like, how is this? Like, we've never seen this before.

And then, boom, it happens again. It's like the Patriots, we've never seen this before and then boom it happens again it's like the Patriots we've never seen it before and then boom here we are right and potentially in the middle of another one sports work in mysterious ways Tony yeah they uh when you talk about the Chiefs being way ahead of schedule that's because there was the 10-year layoff between uh Super Bowls for the Patriots which you know does give us some hope that maybe that'll happen for the Chiefs it doesn't seem like it. Basically, with how that roster is constructed right now, it feels like they're going to be able to go maybe a couple more here in the next few years, unfortunately. But that's just, like, there has been a dynasty in every era,

but then the Patriots came out and did it basically in their two – the 20s was basically the Patriots two times. So it just makes it seem like – and then now we have another one in the 2020s. And it's just absurd. You talk about the Chiefs. You talk about the Patriots. We just talked about Ernie Adams. I guess the Chiefs have an Ernie Adams, too.

Travis Kelsey actually chatted about him on the most recent New Heights podcast. Guy named Frazier. He's a dog. He's the one that was basically the playoff overtime guru for the boys. My guy, Mike Frazier. Frazier? When he gets up in front of the... He's our

analytics coordinator or something like that. I forget his actual title. I don't know what Frazier's title is, but Frazier, for those of you that don't know Frazier, Frazier's been with Andy since our time in Philadelphia together. He's long tenured with Andy Reid. Frazier's the statistical analyst coordinator, a.k.a. he –

He kind of brings it all together. He brings it all together. He's the one that goes over all these scenarios, all these big-time situations. Yep. And a half and a game, rule changes. He's the one that comes up, stands in front of the team. When he comes in front of the team, you hear everybody get fired.

Fraze. Then sure enough, he goes over these kind of situations. I'm pretty sure we went over the overtime rules three times, four times in the two-week span that we were in the play. Actually, the overtime rules, every single week we talked about overtime rules in the playoffs. And Frazier was up front giving what we would do in all these scenarios. So everybody on the team, we knew exactly what the best situation was, how we were going to handle it, how we were going to attack it. And a guy like that, man, you don't realize how big of a job it is to do that kind of stuff

because it's kind of like, all right, you're going over the rules. We kind of know the rules. But it's like when you harp on them, it becomes second nature and you don't even think about it in the game. And it's just, you know, Frage coming up big, man. They got to get a Frage over there in San Fran. Okay. I think everybody needs a Frage, and I don't know if these Frages are everywhere.

This seems like they got their Ernie Adams as well. And then you hear from inside the NFL, you hear them talk about this phrase, how much they like him. And then inside the NFL, from NFL Films on CW, they released mic'd up footage from the coin toss in the overtime. Listen to all of them. Basically talk shit immediately upon the decision that was made by San Francisco. You good with the toss? Yeah.

Which way you want to kick it? They call it. They call it, right? They got a coin flip. Yeah, they call it a coin flip. It's their coin flip, right? Which way do you want to kick it? Doesn't matter. We want the ball, Fred.

San Francisco, you are still the visitors. What is your call? Tails again. He called tails again. Good coin toss. Oos at the beginning, too. Good coin toss. It is tails.

We'll receive. You want the ball. We're going to kick that way. San Francisco, we'll receive first and over pound. Good luck, gentlemen. They want it. They want the ball. They want it.

Hey, they want it. They wanted it, baby. We want them They want the ball. They wanted it. Hey, they want it. They wanted it, baby. We want them to have the ball. They want it. They can have it. Hey, even if we score a touchdown, they still get the ball. I didn't know that. If we won the toss, we were going to kick off, too.

We got what we wanted. Literally in real time, in the Super Bowl, in the biggest moment. Then there's some B-roll of a close-up shot, 4K, of Patrick Mahomes' face during the coin toss as it goes down. And you see his eyes just open up slightly whenever they say they want the ball. We want the ball. We want to receive. What?

Oh, okay. And that's because, I think, because of Frej. I think it's because of the Frej. They probably went through all the stats, all the analytics of, like, how many times does it get to a third possession. With these new rules, we definitely want to go second. It's like college football. We want to know what we have to do.

If there's a fourth down decision, we would like to already know ahead of time what it is. Like, the amount of times it sounds like they were told, hey, if we get to this situation, this is what we're doing. And then on a complete flip side, you got Juszczyk going, hey, we know. Did we? If we score. That doesn't matter.

It was a big brain guy. That's not just like. That's a Harvard brain. That's a Harvard guy. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who held the San Francisco 49ers on their first drive in overtime to a field goal, which I assume everybody on their team knew. Yup.

Okay. We just won. The coach of the defense that stole the show all year long. Just signed another extension to remain the defensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs. Ladies and gentlemen, defensive coordinator, Steve Spagnuolo. Paisan, how we doing? What's going on, guys? Hey, thank you for joining us. Congrats on a massive win. Congrats on a massive Super Bowl win. And obviously, all of our hearts and positive vibes are in the city of Kansas City with how that thing ended yesterday. That is devastating for all parties and heartbreaking

because that's not what football is. And that's not what that parade is supposed to be about, Coach. No, you're right, Pat. I'm glad you brought that up. I mean, it was as great of a day as it was. It was really sad. And, of course, our prayers and hearts go out to the families that were affected. But just a tough way to end it.

We don't want to take away from what a special accomplishment it was and trying to share it with our fans. But kind of sad. Like I said, we pray for those that got affected. Absolutely. And there's going to be people saying it's not enough, but hopefully this will become much less common going forward and we can never be afraid to come together as a society

and celebrate something special. Now, moving on, talk about celebrating. The overtime conversation has been a big deal, obviously because these new overtime rules. Inside the NFL just released some mic'd up situations where seemingly Frazier, I believe is the guy's name, who's the Ernie Adams, seemingly, of the Kansas City Chiefs, where he broke down what the overtime rules are and what we want. So as soon as the San Francisco 49ers say they want the ball,

you immediately know, okay, we've got to hold them to three or less, and with Patrick Mahomes, we're going to win this game. Is that the mindset as soon as it kind of happens, Coach? Well, from a defensive standpoint, Pat, I mean, our mindset is it never changes. I mean, we're going out there to try to prevent points on the board. It wasn't like, hey, we can give them a field goal and we're okay. We don't want to give them anything. I mean, quite frankly, the one that you know the play that sticks in my car a little bit

is that third and 13 unfortunately we get a penalty on it otherwise we get them to punt the ball and then you know maybe patrick just has to leave us lead us down to a field goal and win the game but listen we our team our defense our players all know uh what we have on our offensive side of the ball we know who we turn it over to and so can, I mean, it was vital that we didn't let him score a touchdown. Didn't want him to even kick a field goal. But with three points and Patrick going out there, I mean, we at least had the confidence that we might get another shot to go out, right? If we kick a field goal and we tie, we get to go back out defensively. So it felt good. Coach, let's talk about your defense. You said, I think during the playoff run, you said all 11 guys have a high football IQ. You say normally there's at least one or two guys or whatever the case is. At what point during the season do you recognize that?

And can you just dial up anything? What does that mean for you as a defensive player? You could just do a lot more, give you more freedom. What does that do for you, having guys that smart on the field? Yeah, it made us much more – we like to be multiple, okay, Pat? We've always been like that. But it allowed us to do more. And the statement I've made, because I've been blessed to work with a lot of high IQ football.

Antonio Pierce, who's now a head coach in the league. I mean, Tyron Matthew. I mean, I can go on and on. James Laranitis when I was in St. Louis. lot of high iq football antonio pierce was now a head coach in the league i mean tyron nephew i mean i can go on and on james larinitis when i was in st louis but this was the highest number of guys on one unit that we've had and when you have that i mean you feel confident in any type of in-game adjustment anything new that you put in during the week that the guys are just going to embrace it and roll with it and they did that all year long even when we had injuries pat we had guys that would step right in there from a mental standpoint and do the job i think to be quite honest with you pat i think that's a credit to our assistant coaches to have guys like that ready you know mentally to go in a game and not skip a beat. Drew Tranquil, coming to us,

you know, new from the Chargers, and Nick gets hurt, Nick Bolton. We step in, we don't skip a beat because he's a high cerebral, high IQ guy, and we're able to keep doing the things we do. How many times have you said wicked in your life, Coach? You get the Boston accent?

Oh, you said Chargers? You just popped a car in the garage right there with the charges. I mean, I heard the Dunkin's commercial coming through your – I didn't know you were – I mean, that's awesome. I couldn't even imagine when you're coaching that whole accent coming out. That's beautiful. Yeah, half the time they can't understand what I'm saying because of that accent. It's funny.

I haven't lived there in 30-some odd years, but it stuck with me, I guess. Yeah, as it should. Never lose it. It's a, I haven't lived there in 30-some odd years, but it stuck with me, I guess. Yeah, as it should. Never lose it. It's a beautiful thing. Accents and dialect are a massive piece of culture, and I think somebody's identity, and you should be proud of it. So I hope you keep it forever. Let's talk about the last play.

Well, third and four. Let's talk about third and four. Okay? You guys obviously know they pick up that first down, drain the clock, kick the field goal, it's probably over. You show left, seemingly, then McDuffie times that thing up perfectly. Is that an audible on the field? Is that

a call? How much freedom is there to kind of maybe switch sides on what you're doing based on what the other team sets up with? Well, I'll tell you what happened there, Pat, on that one, and that was a critical play. I mean, sometimes you don't realize how important a certain play is when you're in the moment, but

that was right before that play was getting close to the two minute warning so san francisco let it come down we had we had made a call they had come to the line of scrimmage if you guys remember we had made a call but they allowed the clock to come down in two minutes so now we have a little bit of time to think about it at that point i had a thought we should treat it like fourth down. I had some calls on my fourth down sheet. I got on the headset, and I looked directly at Nick Bolton because I have all the confidence in the world.

And I said, Nick, what do you think about such and such a call? And when I saw his reaction was so, yes, let's do it, and he was doing it with his hands, I said, that's the one we've got to go with. So we put a new personnel in, and the guys executed what we had decided during practice that we would run in a critical fourth down. To us, that was like a fourth down.

We had to win that down. And listen, credit to Nick being that confident in the call and making me feel that way. I mean, that's the confidence I have in him. And then the guys can go out there and execute. That's like Philly Philly.

That sounds like Philly Philly almost. If you think about how important that play was. I mean, I hadn't thought about that until you said it, Pat. But listen, that's the belief you have in players, right? And a guy like Nick, he's our quarterback. He's our Patrick Mahomes. And when he nods his head and says, yes, that's the one to go with, I'm all for it.

That makes my job a lot easier. Steve, we are baffled by the fact that you didn't get any head coaching interviews seemingly. And I want to let you know, we're also very pissed that you're back, Andy's back, Patrick's back, Toby's back, Travis is back. It's not fun for the rest of us. But I can see why every player that's ever played for you loves you. Speaking of playing for you, you did a little something different than everybody else.

Tone has a question for you, Coach. Yeah, Coach, it came out from people that were watching the film, and who knows how correct it is, but it showed that you ran the highest percentage of man against the Niners by far that they have faced this season. When did you know coming into the game that that's what you were going to do? And is it just because of the absolute dogs that you have on the back end that you thought you could match up well against their weapons?

Well, that has a lot to do with it. I will say this. The reason we shifted gears there was twofold. A, I thought I got a great deal of respect for brock purdy to be honest with you man he i he was exceptional as i watched him during the week i thought he was exceptionally scared us in a lot of different ways but the way he attacked zones in the timing you guys probably talked about it all week is in breaking routes and he's throwing it before he even makes his final break and he hit a couple of those on us and we just decided

that we needed tighter coverage we knew we had the guys that do it Trent LJ and Josh and Jalen when they went out there so we made that shift now I was feeling it the second quarter but kind of went heavy on it in the second half the very first three plays I believe in the second half were all man I just watched it just not a half hour ago again, and I thought the coverage was tight. But that was confidence in the guys we had and really a credit to or compliment to Kyle Shanahan, his quarterback, and how good they are against some coverage.

Okay, we'll talk about you watching the film again. You know, who are you doing? You're giving grades right now? I'm not even getting into it. You're a football psycho. You can't help yourself. You can't help myself. Yeah, you're a football psycho.

Hey, we got this stat from Hembo immediately after the Super Bowl. Your Chiefs defense faced the number two, three, four, and six offenses in the NFL this season in the playoffs. They combined to average 28.3 points per game during the season. Against your defense, only 15.8 okay against you guys why do you think during the playoff run when the best teams are playing and the best offenses are there and everybody's at their height in their best why do you think you were able to kind of do something that nobody else was able to do these defenses like that Miami defense obviously it's negative 15 or whatever they're going to say that's the case

Josh Allen though and the Bills were lamar jackson and the baltimore ravens were seemingly unstoppable just a machine is it like do you just come up with like the strategy the scheme obviously you're going to say your players because the way you are but like why do you think your defense played the best ball whenever it had to against the best offenses in the entire nfl you know pat i think some of that can go back to the fact that we had guys that had been through this before. I mean, a number of our guys, we were young, we're still young, but we were really young last year and they kind of went through it.

And we've got some veteran leadership that the guys have recognized the moment. Chris Jones, I mean, LJ Sneed now, Justin Reed, Nick Bolton. I mean, guys that have been in this kind of battle. And listen, we all know defensively that if you don't step it up on that side of the boat in the playoffs, you're really not going to go anywhere. It's hard in this league to outscore people. And we certainly don't want to do that to, you know, Andy, Patrick and the whole offense. We want to do our share and we know our shares to get the ball back to the offense with as many minimal points as possible. And I think our guys, there's a credit to the coaches and the players

to go out there and play the way they did. The intensity, the passion that our guys play with is just remarkable. Hey, I heard practice banging. Super Bowl week, I heard we were getting after it, too, all the way through. Is that every Super Bowl? Did Andy change that this year? What was it? Well, no. What we do is Bowl? Did Andy change that this year? What was it? Well, no.

No, we stuck. What we do is on Monday, Andy puts the pads, shoulder pads back on. Now, we're not killing each other, Pat, but we were out there. I heard it got, hey, I heard it got pretty, hey, we heard it got pretty real. No, they were, the guys were into it. Well, listen, they didn't play a game on a Sunday, so they needed that weekly, you know, hitting people, and we got after it pretty good without hurting each other.

It was great. It was great practice to be a part of. Yeah, I bet you coaches love that. Yeah, I love that. Yeah, coaches love that. Some players are like, what the hell are we doing out here today? This is Super Bowl week. Coaches are like, you see the boys hurt.

Unreal. They're ready to go. One of the guys you mentioned there, obviously, Yvette, going to be a free agent. Connor has a question for you. Yeah, Coach, you said Nick Bolton's the Mahomes of the defense. It feels like Chris Jones is probably the Travis Kelsey then on the other side on that defensive line.

And yesterday he said he was coming back for another three years, and his agent wasn't too happy about the amount of booze in him and that he was being served. But that was probably music to your ears. But how awesome is it being able to talk to Bolton and also know all those guys on the back end can do their jobs when you've got Chris Jones and you only need to cover guys for two seconds because of how good he is?

And what does he bring to the defense, just even on a day-to-day basis, as one of those leaders on that front seven? Yeah, Chris is a character that came out yesterday, obviously. And you're right about his agents. They were probably a little squirmy in their seats. But the thing about Chris is his personality never changes like what you see is what he is and he's he's great to work with during the week he keeps everybody loose um and he knows he recognizes the importance of an important moment and that's when he usually shines

but i tell you what the you know you mentioned all those guys which i think was great because it took a whole unit but when i when i throw the tape on what i get the most satisfaction out of is when the rush and the coverage kind of come together in other words you watch lj and trent and they got tight coverage in that so the quarterback's got to hold it for another half a second and then boom there's chris j Jones or Mike Dane or George Karloftis. And that's how this unit has functioned all year long. Each piece kind of plays its part, and it makes the other parts better. The guy in the middle, I keep coming back to Nick, but the guy in the middle makes it all go.

It's a fun defensive watch. It really is. And then as we talk to, like, Eli Manning, who described Antonio Pierce, who described you as Spag, it's like as you start watching, it's like, oh, this is all everybody's on a string here. Everybody's playing the same music. You know, one band, one sound. That is kind of how it's all going. It's championship run.

Now, what's your relationship like with Patrick? Because Patrick, I think after the first playoff game, he said about halfway through the season, I had to evolve as a player and realize like we got a defense that's really good. So I don't need to maybe risk it as much. We can pump the ball and let our defense kind of do its thing. That was interesting to hear, especially from a guy who everybody wants to say like, this is the greatest quarterback of all time.

His ego could get in the way and say like, no offense could do this. So for him to be open and say like, I had to realize that I need to not mess it up for our defense in the middle of the season. What is your relationship with him? And what do you see behind the scenes out of that guy that, like, legitimizes all the goat talk that's currently happening just six years into his NFL career? Yeah, I mean, listen, what you're saying is exactly. Patrick's a team guy. He's all about winning. He's all about winning. He's all about team.

And, you know, when you're on the other side of the ball, that makes you feel tremendously good. That was a huge, huge compliment that Pat paid to all of the defensive coaches and players when he made that statement. And we believe in him the same way. And it's a two-way street here. But you watch Patrick Mahomes operate day to day. He walks by my office every day on his way to the quarterback meeting room

or when he's on the field, and it's always about making all the other guys better. Patrick doesn't sit out there and make it all about him. He wants to win so bad he doesn't care how it happens, and that's the beauty of Patrick Mahomes, and it's the beauty of the rest of the guys who have all kinds of confidence in him. And they'll roll with him at any time. We rolled with them.

They, like I say, thank God we had Patrick Mahomes at the end of the game, because you know, you give up a field goal and you're just not really sure what's going to happen. And he comes right down and scores. And we all,

we all knew what was going to happen. Yeah. Watching everybody watching, literally everybody watching, I guess guess except for niners fans probably and that niners defense phenomenal right as well like not even but it's he already has like the tom brady effect like oh you gave patrick holmes a chance here right and he's gonna he's only 28 years old smacks he's only it makes no sense. He talked about growing up in a locker room.

You think that helped, obviously? I got to believe it did. I tell you what I've been trying to do, guys. I wanted to see if he could be the first two-way player. We can get him over safety. We have to play corner. I don't think Coach Reed's going to go for it, but how about that, right?

That's a legacy. He's got some speed, too. He'll start to open up the stride a little bit. Listen, this, that guy can do whatever he wants. If he wanted to be a, the ping pong champion,

he could do that. He could be a, he could be a golf pro if he wanted to be. I mean, he's just that naturally gifted and he's a great person. I love being around him. I mean, just all kinds of energy.

Well, he's very thankful that you're the defense coordinator for his team and that the rest of the NFL seemingly not interested in you. How about no more old people are allowed to be hired as head coaches? No chance. Which sucks, Spags. I want to let you know, it sucks. You're not supposed to be there for three more years.

Bruce has a question for you, diehard Giants fan. Yeah, Coach, first of all, thank you for the contributions to those Giants Super Bowls. I read that at halftime against the bills um you kind of switched the defensive lines rushing lanes and um played more zone coverage in the second half where you were playing man in the first half can you just talk a bit about how you approach halftime adjustments and how important those were to the super bowl run yeah bruce listen um the one of the things about halftime adjustments is if you're making –

I mean, we all have, as coaches, have ideas of we need to change this, we need to do that. But a lot of times it depends on what the players can handle. And I'm going to go back to what Pat brought up about the number of high-Q players we have. You can't make those adjustments on the run in a 12-minute halftime adjustment period unless you have guys that you know can mentally absorb it first and then produce it on the field. It's funny. My mind is blocked on the Buffalo game. I'm sure what you're saying is true. I just know that Josh Allen is not an easy guy to defend. He's one of the toughest ones in the league. And we kind of scratched and battled in that game.

I mean, he got them down there and they missed that field goal, thank God for us. But anytime we feel like we're making a good halftime adjustment, it's just because we're complimenting what we think our players can do. Yeah, and the high football IQ, that's like what the Patriots had for all that time, where they were able to have four different strategies, seemingly, going into the game, making quarterbacks see ghosts. Feels like you guys Patriots had for all that time where they were able to have four different strategies seemingly going into the

game, making quarterback see ghosts. Feels like you guys are in the middle of that run. Can you take me through a week for you? So like Sunday game, then Sunday night, we're starting to plan for the next quarterback offense, and then you're putting your, by what time

do you know what you're going to be doing to the next team? Because right now you're the guy on the defense. Hey, you're the guy on the defense side of the ball. So I would just like to know like your process. So at what moment, like on a Tuesday, do you know what the plan's going to be for Wednesday install? Like, when do you know what you're going to do to the person? Well, I mean, first of all, you guys know it's not one guy. I mean, I keep going back.

OC, OC, OC, OC. I'm sorry, but yeah. Yeah. No, but you know what I mean, first of all, you guys know it's not one guy. I mean, I keep going back. OC, OC, OC, OC. I'm sorry. Yeah. No, but you know what I mean. It's really important that we're a collaborative group when we do a game plan. Listen, when a game ends on Sunday, if it's an away game, I'm on the plane. We all watch it and then try to get some rest Sunday night. But Monday is a complete grind with no players there.

Players usually come in on Tuesday. I would say by the time we get to Tuesday evening, we have a pretty good idea of what we're going to do. Now there's some situational things that come up later in the week. To be honest with you guys, I always begin myself by looking at third down, fourth down, two minute, like all the critical situations I do on Monday before we get together as a staff and start doing first and second down. But we have a great group that works collaboratively through the week. And then again,

we keep coming back to the players because they can absorb it and embrace it and they work at understanding it, you know, something good comes out on Sunday. Are all your coaches back next year? As of right now, yeah, fortunately for us. I tell you, that's one thing. I was just talking to one of our assistants now, babe. We've got three young guys here, quality control guys,

that should be, you know, full-time assistants right now. But sometimes when you go on these long playoff runs, and it's been five years for us, fortunately for us. We don't ever want to give it up. But all these jobs for these guys go by the wayside because people don't want to wait, and it's a blessing and a curse. But we've got a great staff here. I know there will be great coordinators. Some of them are going to be head coaches,

and I can't wait until that happens for them. Yeah. Hopefully it will happen sooner or later for the rest of everybody in the NFL. Amen. You got your whole staff back. He's in our staff. It's great. It's bullshit.

Staff is great. Staff's phenomenal. They're all back. The players seemingly – It's against the rules. They're all back. Well, I tell you, the one thing I do fear, guys, we have quite a number of defensive guys whose contracts are up,

and we know we can't keep everybody. One of the things I was praying for each week during the playoffs was to get another week working with these guys because I've been in it long enough. You guys know it changes every year. That room changes, and this was one of the best rooms I've ever been blessed to have, and working with them every day was just a joy.

So it'll change. Every group changes. Yeah, Veach will figure it out. It's a whole... He should have to retire, too. Connor's got a question for you, coach. I need my guy, Veach. Don't let my guy, Veach, get out.

We need him to retire. We need you to retire. We need Reed to retire. We need Patrick Mahomes to say, you know what? Four's enough. Him, retire. We need the whole thing, Spags. That's what we need. Connor's got a question for you. Yeah, Coach, when you're going into games against teams, whether it's the playoffs or even later in the season,

like, for instance, the Niners, I believe their last loss before you guys was to the Ravens. Now, do you go back and do you watch tape of the Ravens to see what they're doing? And then do you pull from that, whether it be plays or strategies that they're using? Or is it mostly like, hey, we do what we do i'm coach spags i'm the best dc in the history of the national football league i don't need to pull from anybody or how or how does that work no i'll tell you this first of all that was one of the games we looked at because uh mike mcdonald actually mike and i worked together at baltimore it was my quality control and so there's some

similarities in scheme but i'm hey we're a beg, borrow, and steal profession. I mean, I'm not that – listen, I'll steal an idea or take something somebody else. We're not that stuck on what we do. But I think there is something to be said for going and looking at tape of a team that successfully defended an offense. So there is a lot of that. Baltimore was one of the games we picked out. There was a couple others.

And then we believe in looking at games of teams that have a similar defense to we run, like a four down front as opposed to a three-four, because we think like one game people will attack it the same way. But Baltimore was one of those games. I thought they did a terrific job against San Francisco in that game. They played them. Okay, well, let's talk about some of these teams because it feels like you are the puppet master for –

well, you and your staff, obviously, and your team. Coach, Diggs got a question for you. Last one, actually. Yeah, Coach. A lot of people were shocked or surprised that the Ravens and the Niners, particularly in the third quarter, just stopped running the football. Now, was that a shock to you as well? Or was that your goal?

Was that part of the game plan to get? Because that was their, obviously, those two-team strengths mostly. Is that something that you wanted to happen, obviously? Yeah, because we were told, Roger Goodell told them, they're not allowed to run anymore because Taylor Swift needs to make the Super Bowl. You guys are into the Taylor Swift effect. Whoa! You just told me what I was told on the internet.

No, but that was a conversation like, hey, they stopped doing what they were good at. And everybody's like, that's a bad decision by them. But we think there's a chance that you potentially, your defense was a reason why they did that. Was that a surprise to you? And did you expect it? Great question, Tom.

Well, what you're saying is, is true. I mean, one of our goals against both those teams was to stop the run force to try to get them one dimensional. Now, both games were close enough that I thought maybe they would stick with it a

little bit more, but look at, you know, those are, those are smart offensive coaches. They make decisions for certain reasons. And I think in both those games, we at least, I thought, hung in there against the run.

And maybe they decided that the best way for them to get some points on the board, be a little bit more explosive, was to throw it. But listen, we've got to defend whatever they do. And we were scared to death of both those teams running the football. Okay. Well, it sounds like you're going to be scared to death to a couple more championships over the next few years because for some reason, everybody's staying

in beautiful Kansas City. Thank you so much for the time. What's the offseason look like? You're already watching film? We're already preparing? We're doing a little film. I'm getting on a plane tomorrow. I'm going to go down to sunny Miami, enjoy a little bit of time down there with my wife because she deserves it, and then get back here and get back at it.

The Combine is right around the corner, guys. It's like two weeks from now we're at the Combine. It happens quick. Yeah, we did not know that. We actually scheduled off for the Combine. It's in Indianapolis. We thought it was at least a month away. It's very quick.

Boom. It's right there. Hey, if we're doing anything at the Combine, will you stop by?'s right there. Hey, if we're doing anything at the Combine, will you stop by? We'll be in the stadium if we're doing anything. Absolutely. Bank it. Put it in the books. Boom. Alright, we will put it in the books.

Enjoy Miami. You're the man. Ladies and gentlemen, four-time Super Bowl champion, defense coordinator for the Chiefs, Steve Spagnuolo. Yay, coach! Did we know that he had that big of a wicked accent out of Boston? It's awesome. I knew he was a mass guy. I think maybe it's because he coached for the Giants.

I did not know that. I thought he was like a New York accent type guy. But, boy, that guy is from the heart of Massachusetts. How about when he said to Chadges they did this? I mean, he sounded like the Dung Kings commercial. 4-3. You know, we look at guys who run a 4-3 front instead of a 3-4. Drew Twank.

I did not expect that out of him. I should have known a little bit more about him. The amount of pass-off credit to other people, awesome. And the fact, and he talked about this, it's been five years we've had long playoff runs. All of his assistant coaches are still there. So we talk about the D coordinator remaining, and obviously offense coordinator is going to be there if Andy Reid's there.

We saw that because Travis Kelsey yelled at Andy Reid. He didn't yell at Matt Nagy, you know, for potential things that were taking place. Travis Kelsey and Jason Kelsey addressed that yesterday. I think Travis would not like that to be a part of something that he would do. But in the moment, basically shit's going to happen is seemingly the whole thing. And nobody loved it. But it's like they've been able to keep all the main pillars together.

And then all the assisting coaches as well. And he talked about injuries and having young guys ready. It's like injuries are going to happen. And the Chiefs have just been able to just keep going. It's unfair. I don't like it. He's right. He's right about the coaching staff because, you know, all of these owners

and coaches, they want to have their staff set and ready to go. So if you're still playing in the Super Bowl, that is definitely an advantage to keeping your coaching staff together. And they talked about it yesterday. I think it was D-Butts talking about how they've had five years of playoff runs to go over literally every single scenario that an offense could present to you in football and then having all those same guys come back every single year.

They are leaps and bounds when a season starts ahead of every one. Now, the thing about it is, and this happens to successful teams in every sport, their seasons are much longer than everybody else's. They get two weeks off before the combine happens. There's a lot of coaches. Coaching-wise, yeah. Yeah, there's a lot of coaches that were, you know, for the last six weeks have just been hanging out, having a good time, resting, relaxing, maybe re-strategizing, scheming, learning, everything like that.

These guys have been game planning for how many weeks straight? 30? 30. 30 weeks straight pretty much. It's like that. Whenever you win, you also have the shortest amount of rest. Oh, yeah. We talked about it with LeBron James.

I think everybody has because he went like 12 straight years or something like 11 straight years to at least the finals or to the conference finals. It's like the amount of basketball that he has played is so much more than everybody else. The amount of football that the Chiefs and the amount of time they've played football over the last five times, which goes back to the Patriots.

The most amount of football, the most amount of success, the least amount of rest. It's just like all of it is set up for you not to be great over a sustained period of time, and we're right in the middle of the Chiefs being that team. Yeah, and it is brutal, and you go to New England. It's like you wonder why the Patriots didn't name coordinators all the time. It's because they get poached every damn year.

So if you don't name them, maybe there's a better chance, but it explains a lot about Philly. Philly lost both of their coordinators. Let alone how many position group coaches. Yeah, also got poached. They lose. Exactly. It matters.

We don't talk about it ever. Nobody talks about it. We don't talk about position group coaches. I feel like we've been in, you know, I don't want to say in buildings more than our show has been more than any other show. Well, between you and A.J., let alone. Well, then you also bring in Saban saban coach pagano and aq jj jj aaron rogers aaron's played a long time anyways we talk a lot i think a little bit about

like hey this is inside building how actuality works and we don't even reference the position group coaches so i feel like we need to maybe put a little bit more respect on some of their names but also there's a lot of them yeah 32 teams a lot of the ones that you know you because it's it's hard to know all of them there's so many but like you talk about chip with the lines and stuff like that the ones that you guys know you always shout out watch out for quarterback coach of the Commanders on a fast track to the top. David Blau. Yes, that one.

Is now the quarterback coach for the Washington Commanders. Cliff Kingsbury, now the offensive coordinator for the Commanders. He said, who do I want to get on my staff? I watched Thanksgiving one time with this guy for the Lions. What was his name? Plow? Plough? Plow. David Blough is now the quarterback coach for the Commanders.

I didn't even know he retired. I think all of us would have assumed he was on a team somewhere. I don't know if he retired. As a backup quarterback, but now he is. Oh, I should know this. I think he was on the Lions this year, guys. This is why the deal with the Raiders fell through, actually. Cliff said, I want Blough.

Mark Davis said, you're not getting blah. He was with the Cards in Cliff's final season, and he must have really impressed as a football mind where Cliff said, hey, if I get an OC job again or whatever, you're my quarterback. I wonder if Colt McCoy got the call first, and Colt was like, I still think I can spin it.

They had a governor. Let's talk about teams sticking together. The Minnesota Vikings have a lot of decisions to make, and Justin Jefferson was doing interviews during Super Bowl week. Here's him chit-chatting about quarterback decisions and contract decisions. Kind of, I mean, I know it's going to happen because it's a big story about these people, but I don't enjoy, and this is, listen, I would do the same thing if I were them. Asking guys contract questions is so interesting to me.

Because what happened with Jamar Chase in front of his locker in Cincinnati whenever he was cleaning out his locker. With T. With T. Higgins, a teammate of his. Like, hey, are you willing to take, let's say, more money up front for a longer deal? Maybe a little bit less money to help out T. Higgins. It's like, if he doesn't have an agent, I think that's okay. But if he has somebody

doing... I think it's just a little weird. I think you're putting people in weird spots. But like Justin Jefferson, massive news, because he's about to break the wide receiver market wide open. So, Siciliano and our guy Daniel Jeremiah asked him about the quarterback situation in Minnesota potentially lending

a hand in the decision on whether or not he goes back. Yeah, those numbers are great, but you said you don't know who's going to about the quarterback situation in Minnesota, potentially lending a hand in the decision on whether or not he goes back. Yeah, those numbers are great, but you said you don't know who's going to be the quarterback. Would you pass on doing a deal this summer if there's still uncertainty as to who the long-term quarterback is going to be? That's a great question, but I really don't know at this very moment uh you know it i really have to see if you know we really bring back kirk and i you know if we decide to want to draft or want to pick up a quarterback uh all of that plays a part but also you know i still was managed to

get a thousand yards by playing through four different quarterbacks as well. So it really doesn't matter too much who's throwing me that ball as long as someone's throwing it to me. I feel like I'm confident and I have the ability to make plays no matter if the ball is 100% accurate or if it's a little behind or a little in front or a little off. So I'm always confident in my game, confident that I'm going to play the same no matter who's going to throw me that ball. But, of course, having Kirk out there to be that leader and that captain

and to throw that ball with accuracy and precise as he does, it definitely is very valuable and useful being a receiver. Phenomenal answer from Justin Jefferson. Complimented Kirk Cousins, put Kirk Cousins over, also flexed a little bit. Hey, just a reminder, four different quarterbacks still had over 1,000 yards, and that was hurt.

So if they can't spin it and they're not accurate, I don't care. I'm going to catch the ball. Let's remember that. And it has become something where it's like, all right, Justin Jefferson is about to get paid like a quarterback. Yes. So will the Minnesota Vikings be able to continue with Kirk? Everybody's assuming not because you're not going to be able to pay

wide receiver quarterback money and quarterback quarterback money, especially Kirk Cousins with what he's been able to do business-wise. You assume another team's going to have to do that. But it's like Justin Jefferson is potentially the focal point of the Minnesota Vikings, and that'll be vastly different than how we've seen teams built in the past. But why not a guy who's arguably the best wide receiver? You look at his stats and stuff.

Oh, yeah. This dude is the guy. Historic. Historically the guy. We love Justin. I hope he gets broken off, but the salary cap gymnastics is going to have to be very real with that particular decision. Yeah, you're going to need Kevin O'Connell to be in his bag. Because, I mean, you saw what

Kevin O'Connell did with Josh Dobbs. He comes in right away and they win. So, that's incredible. And clearly he's had success working with quarterbacks. The Pasternaut did fall off that rocket. Did not leash the moon. But still, there were a few games there. There was a short leash on him. Yeah.

Yeah, he pulled him out. Yes, they did. They said, pass the line. It's fun and games, but we're about done with that. And then Nick Mullins. Yeah. Legit. Phenomenal stuff.

Nick Mullins against the Bengals throws that ball where Kevin O'Connell's watching it like, are you shitting me? And then they put him back in. Jared Hall had it. Excuse me. That was Jared Hall, not Nick Mullins. Don't want to bury Nick Mullins there. Yeah, no reason to do that to Mullins.

But nonetheless, Justin Jefferson said, you throw it, I'm going to catch it. I don't care. All right, let's just remember that's the case. Way to handle a good, tough business question as well on Radio Row on behalf of Sleep Number. Sleep tight. Four! Are happening all around us, and we'll be talking about all of them this hour kendrick perkins will

join us tyrese halliburton will join us and then in the next hour about one hour from right now a man named chad lystico boom nailed it chad lystico iowa sports columnist des moines register and iowa city press citizen will join us to chit-chat about Kaitlyn Clark doing something historic this evening where the cheapest ticket price is available on SeatGeek for $217 to watch her break the all-time scoring record for women's college basketball in the history of the NCAA. We'll talk about everything happening around the sports world with a couple great dates.

The Talks table is here at Boston Corner and at Ty Schmidt. Fly, Eagle, fly, baby. Hey, thank you very much. You're a great dude, too. That was incredible. Spags, what a—I almost just— Self-censoring. Yeah, I almost just actually said it there.

What a weapon that guy is, actually. I couldn't imagine how much they love playing for a dude like that. Massive Boston accent. I don't think I expected that at all going into the conversation. But he chit-chatted with us for like 30 minutes talking about how good his team is and how good his assistant coaches are. And he just got done watching the film again of the Super Bowl this morning. These football guys are football guys forever.

Speaking of, one half of the hammer, Don. Cowboys 10. Diggs is here. The other half of the hammer, Don. Cowboys. Bubba Gumpino looking clean. Hey, baby Gump. No, Gump. Gump, you might have to get up here for Tyrese Halliburton joining us in about 28 minutes or so.

But what a great weekend here in Indianapolis. Beautiful. Beautiful coming up. The dunk contest is going to be electric because Jalen Brown is the first time like a superstar has really been in it. A guy who's got paid. And the three-point competition is absolutely stacked. Yeah, the NBA All-Star weekend is happening here in beautiful Indianapolis, Indiana. I think Gump's just probably going to make an appearance in most of these things.

I assume Conor's going to be making an appearance in a lot of these as well. The three-point contest is good because anybody can get hot. Anybody. Like, Trey Young could not miss a single ball for three rounds. Sure. If he really wanted to. Tyrese Halliburton in his city. What? As an all-star. Going to have to put on.

Representing. He could absolutely do some damn. Donovan Mitchell, Damian Lillard, Jalen Brunson, Kat, Lauren Markkinen. Ooh, sneaky. Sneaky. And Malik Beasley. Congrats to all of them for getting a chance to represent. Is the Sabrina Ionescu, Steph Curry thing happening?

Yes. That's still happening. Just separate thing. Okay. Not all-Star weekend. No, I think it is this weekend, but I don't know which night. Saturday night I saw. Okay. I mean, we've got a massive weekend here in Indianapolis.

Lucky to be here. Thankful to be here. We'll have Kendrick Perkins joining us in about seven minutes to chit-chat about all things NBA. Joining us now from Nantucket, Ohio, is a college football national champion, a Super Bowl champion, a Ryder Cup winner, the all-time leading tackler for the green bay packers covet survivor father of 10 ladies and gentlemen agent hawk yeah hawker hawker spags was awesome man you talk yeah i just was watching the film about 30 minutes ago so yeah he just yeah we want in their office on the grinding and all time we want man to man the first three plays of the second half. I actually just watched a film this morning.

I was like, this guy, what a maniac. After that, you know, after the parade yesterday, who's he going to give grades to? He said a lot of our defensive guys aren't even on contract anymore, so he might not even see any of these. Just wants to make sure he can always get better. Football dudes are always going to be football dudes. But whenever you think about this Kansas City Chiefs team, AJ,

the more we learn, the more we've got to fear that they're going to be great forever. Yeah. I mean, I guess the only thing for people that are rooting against the Chiefs, they're hoping, hey, they get complacent. They start reading their headlines. They don't work like they used to. And it doesn't look like any of that's going to happen because, like, what we say, the whole staff is coming back.

Yes, they are worried about certain players that they're not going to be able to retain but yeah like the core is back Patrick Mahomes is there and Travis Kelsey is there and Big Red's calling the play so I think they'll be okay yeah Patrick has already reiterated like four different times nobody's done three in a row nobody's done three in a row in this modern era nobody's done it nobody's like okay so that is the let alone the devastating end to yesterday. That's a whole other motivating for the city coming together. It's like they...

Yeah, they... They have the next... They got it. Seemingly decade. Now, speaking of decade and decades and dynasty, there's a docuseries coming out on Apple about the New England Patriots dynasty. A lot of things are coming out. Adam Vinatieri will be guest hosting yesterday live or tomorrow

from the Thunderdome because he's a part of this entire thing. Excited to take a trip back in time? Do you think they maybe should have waited a little bit longer after football season? What are your thoughts on this Dynasty doc coming out on Apple about the New England Patriots, AJ? I mean, I am intrigued by all of the little things that I have read from it. Yeah, it feels like people actually were very open and honest, doesn't it? Yeah, well, I mean, their narrative, like, you know. Exactly.

It's all in building. What do you call it? Oh, that's your truth. Isn't that how you always say? Well, that's my truth. That's your truth. It's like, I'm excited to see what drama and controversy comes out of this, but also what answers do we get from things that we've asked about for a long time. Allegedly, Ernie Adams said, I'm taking some stuff to the grave.

Don't even try. So that's fun to think about. What does that mean, though? What does he – He was the one deflating the balls. It was actually Ernie's fingernails. He was videotaping. He was deflating.

He was working the weather machine. That was all big Ernie. Remember the Astros with. He was working the weather machine. That was all. Remember the Astros with the whole entire exoskeleton? Ernie Adams. He had that in his brain through his eyes. Yeah, remember there was a rumor that Tom Brady had something on his teeth that would actually, so they'd be able to talk past the 15-second speaker thing in the helmet.

Do you remember this? I do not remember. That was a real something. People actually said that? Yeah, so there was like probably 15 years ago. Oh, that explains this. Where there was something like they could talk to him through his teeth

because it vibrated his jaw so he could hear past the 15th second on a play clock. So maybe that's what Arnie Adams is talking about so that they could have eyes in the sky to Tom and say, cover two. Cover two. It was happening there through his teeth.

Remember, they were communicating. That's the type of things that are going to happen at Kansas City. They need to know that. All these things, and especially in the world that we're in now, we're in a louder world now, a more creative world now, a more technologically advanced world now. The amount of things that are going to get thrown out about why the chiefs are better than everybody in a league that's supposed to have parody every single year it's going to be ridiculous and the patriots experience all that so hopefully we'll get a

chance to dive into what the conspiracies were on why the patriots were so good for so long back 20 years ago so we can maybe relive some of those now with what the chiefs are doing and it's it's such a good layout like Like, we know the years. Like, I assume Vinny's huge in these first two episodes tomorrow. And I assume going forward, like the Welker interview probably around, you know, fifth episode, sixth episode. You think Ernie Adams has legitimate superpowers, though, maybe, in the whole entire thing, how they can control the weather? Ernie actually developed a way to build something that can actually drum up

thunderstorms and wind and everything? Well, if he can do that, we'd like him to tell us so we can help the world out a little bit. And just do sun. Yeah, well, we just need to be setting this. No, you need some rain because rain brings flowers. Well, rain makes corn. Corn makes whiskey. Love the whiskey.

You know? And whiskey also. What's that? whiskey. You know? And whiskey also. What's that? Makes my baby the old first ski. It does. And Bruce. Yeah, and makes you pass out at YouTube. That's also true. Rain is a good thing.

Very important. Rain is a good thing. Joining us now is also a good thing. We are thankful that he shows up on television. We're thankful that he shows up on television. Yes. We're thankful that he comes on our show. His fit this morning got judged, but I think he looked fantastic. Yeah.

Ladies and gentlemen, the always racist NBA stud, Kendrick Perkins. Yeah. What's up, fellas? Hey, the Cuban link looks fantastic. As a man who, you know, wears necklaces every once in a while, my neck nowhere near the size of your neck. It has to be difficult to find the proper size necklace to fit around a six foot. What are you? Six foot what?

Yeah, I mean, Pat, you know, some people in the world say I'm a 6'10", you know, 300 plus pound version of Morris Chestnut. You know what I mean? And I mean, if you put it side by side, I mean, I think it you know what I'm saying? You see the resemblance a little bit. Alright, so 6'10",

300 and whatever? Yeah, I ain't gonna go into how much over 300 pounds. Yeah, we're going down though. we're going down right now, right? Aren't we? We're on a mission to go down. Yeah, we're going down. That necklace is going to be a little bit looser the next time we see him.

It's going to be a little bit looser the next time we see you. Kendrick, huge weekend. I see it. You're right. You're right. You're right. I mean, I can go bald. I can go bald. You're right. Yeah. You're right. I mean, now that. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, I can go bald. I can go bald. No. No. Hang on. Hang on to that. Yeah.

Yeah. You know what I mean? Because once you start doing the, you know. Pushback. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah. The Stephen A. You said it.

Yeah. Well, he knows. I mess with him all the You said it, not me. Well, he knows. I mess with him all the time about it. He knows, but he's holding on to it. Kudos to him. The beard, your beard has almost become synonymous with your kind of look. Yeah. And I think it's phenomenal. Honestly, I think your look is fantastic.

Let's talk about the NBA a little bit, about to have a huge weekend. NBA All-Stars happening here in Indianapolis. We had Adam Silver on yesterday to chit-chat about how the NBA players seemingly respect and appreciate All-Star weekend a little bit more maybe than how NFL players view the Pro Bowl or how they debuted

an LED board court that's going to be in Lucas Oil Stadium for the Celebrity All-Star game that's happening tomorrow night, 7 p.m. Eastern. Then the festivities on Saturday and Sunday as well. Is that a real take on this whole thing? Like, you guys in the NBA appreciate All-Star Weekend. You come into the league appreciating All-Star Weekend. Do OGs tell you to appreciate All-Star Weekend?

Like, why do you think the NBA All-Star Weekend is what it is versus maybe what other leagues have to deal with every single year? Well, one, it's an honor. Two, right, guys get a lot of bonuses for making the All-Star, right? But on top of that, we got to give a lot of credit to Adam Silver. In my opinion, I feel like he's the best commissioner in sports, right? When you talk about a player's commissioner, when you talk about a guy that is going to do everything

to make sure the players are accommodated, make sure that the players are able to benefit from actually going down to All-Star weekend. There's so many things that a lot of those guys could capitalize on, right?

And no matter what city it's in, Adam Silver in the NBA does an excellent job of making sure the players enjoy themselves and put on a good show, a great show for the fans. Like, you know, last year we had McComb, right? The kid that won the dunk contest. Excellent idea. Excellent idea, right? Bringing in someone that actually wants to participate in the dunk

contest, because we saw over the last few years, like, the dunk contest was on the downward spiral. The tops in the game, they didn't want to enter the dunk contest. Now all of a sudden you see a guy like Jalen Brown, right, come in late and say, you know what, let me add this to my resume. And that's what we want.

We want guys like Jalen Brown. We want guys like John Moran. We want Zion Williamson. And I think what Jalen Brown did was fantastic because he jumped off the porch and said, you know what? We need more of this. We need more of our young superstars to

participate in this dunk contest. Thank you, Jalen. Love you, Jalen. Because we as casuals love the dunk contest. Some of the biggest moments from All-Star history come love the dunk contest. Like some of the biggest moments from all-star history will come from the dunk contest, whether it's, you know, taking off from the foul line or windmill

or behind the back or any of the celebrations that take place. And then you're right. What it's become, I think it's easy for a lot of people that aren't NBA diehards. It's become something for like the casuals to be able to mock. Like, oh, the NBA doesn't care. Look at the NBA players. Not only we got load management, they refuse to do the dunk contest,

everything like that. So Jalen Brown coming back. Let's go, Jalen. Let's go, Jalen. Let's go, Jalen. Maybe next year we will get John Morant taking off in there. Zion just dropped 36 last night. Look out.

Maybe next year we do get Zion doing his thing. But I appreciate how you NBA players view NBA All-Star Weekend, and we're very grateful it's happening in Indianapolis. There's parties and CMOs of every company. CEOs are in town here. It's like it's the NBA Super Bowl, like Adam Silver said yesterday. And Indy is very, very lucky and happy to be hosting it. Go ahead, AJ.

Perk, how bad do you think each team wants to actually win the game in the All-Star game? I know there's a big bump, I'm sure, in pay when it comes to that. You think there's ever a time we're going to see a team score 200 points in one of these games? Let's go. It's a strong possibility, but you know, I actually want to see guys go at it. So whatever

that takes, right? A lot of guys, you take the in season tournament for example guys were playing for that extra money like you see you see guys that are getting paid 60 plus million like braun wanted to win the end season tournament but braun also said i think it was braun or maybe steph one of those guys or no it was was Dane that, you know, when you're competing for something, it's the competition within us as athletes that we want to win, right? If you're a winner, you want to compete, you want to win.

That's number one. Number two, if it's a prize at the end, especially when it comes down to money, then guys are also going to take it to another level. Right? It's like no matter how people want to view it, it's two things that rule the world. Okay? It's money.

Cash rules, everything. Yeah. Yeah. And it's women. Okay. Yeah. We can certainly get in there. Power.

Yeah, because my wife ruled my household. If she unhappy, I'm unhappy. But if she cool, I'm great. You know what I mean? And that's how it goes. So I think, you know, the more that they start upping the ante, the more that guys are going to start competing and actually playing some defense in the All-Star game,

that's the only thing I want to see. Hey, happy Valentine's Day to you and your wife. Happy Valentine's Day. to see. Hey, happy Valentine's Day to you and your wife. Happy Valentine's Day. Yeah, for sure. Happy Valentine's Day to you and your wife. And I assume you were so romantic last night. Big perk, obviously. So romantic.

Well, I mean, you know, we talk. You know, it's cold outside. Yeah, yeah. So it's big fella season. You know what I'm saying? Now, I was working, so I didn't get an opportunity to spend Valentine's with my wife. But I will be home on Saturday. You know what I'm saying?

And the big fella will be back. All the making up will go happen. It's even better now because it's like four days of Valentine's into one day. So much love. So much. So much romance. So much. And so much romance. You know what I mean? We got a big time Saturday coming. Let's go.

Hey, let's go, Big Perk. Let's go, Big Perk. Let's go, Big Perk. The East versus West, does that matter? East versus West, making the game East versus West again? Because Adam Silver talked about that mattering. I'm so glad we went back to that format. Yep.

I'm so glad we went back to that format. I'm so glad we went back to that format. And it does matter. And I think, like, we're going to see the competition elevate even more. But you know who I appreciate? I appreciate a guy like Giannis Antetokounmpo. If you watch Giannis. Nailed it. Hey, holy shit.

You nailed that, Perk. Why you say that? Well, you nailed his last name. I can't get it. I can't get it. Hey, holy shit. You nailed that, Perk. Why you say that? Well, you nailed his last name. I can't get it. I can't get it. Well, Pat, it took me three years to work on that. I got time. I got time. I got time. Yeah, you got time.

Teneesis? He's exciting to watch. He is awesome to watch. They need to put him in. What's his name? Teneesis? They just need to make a challenge for him. That'd be cool. They need to put him in. They need to have like a – what's his name? Tenesis? They just need to make a challenge for him. That would be cool.

I thought it was Tenesis. It could be. Exactly. There's a chance you're 100%. We all work. We all work. We don't judge on this show. No. We all work.

We love the content that comes from Tenesis. Yeah, trust Tenesis. Yeah, anyway. And you know what else? Tough acting, Tenesis. Let me say this. Trust Tenassus. Yeah, anyway.

And you know what else? Tough acting, Tenassus. Let me say this. I was playing on the team with Kevin Durant when I was with Oklahoma City, and he was going down to the All-Star game, and he had mentioned to me, he said, you know what, Pert? I need to go get this under my belt. And I was saying, what you talking about? He's like, I need to go get me an all-star MVP.

That's the mindset that I want to see all the players have, right? Like going into this game and saying that winning the all-star MVP and adding that to your resume, that matters. All the greats have done it from Braun to Magic to Jordan. I mean, you know, Shaq, Kobe. Like, it matters. That shit matters. Going down there and wanting to add that accolade under your belt,

I think that's huge as well. All right, well, let's keep promoting that. Hell yeah. Because if we turn this on on Sunday and we see, like, real, that would be awesome. Sick. That'd be great for the NBA as well. I mean, if you want to go big picture.

But now, granted, you've got 82 games already. That's an added game, potentially, where everybody else is getting a break. So I can see how business potentially lingers into the mindset, especially with all the knowledge we have. But if we were to turn that game on, now, first quarter, not going to happen. No. But if we see second half and they really get going, it's like, all right, that would be a massive win i think for

not only all-star for the nba but for all type of all-star type events now last time you were on the program you made quite a big declaration that made our knicks fan very excited bruce has a question for you kendrick yeah so much has changed since you were i mean last time you were on jalen brunson was shoo-in mvp we're winning the Eastern Conference. Obviously, O.G. Ananobi gets elbow surgery. Hardenstein goes down. Is there a reason for concern with the Knicks' recent slide with all these

injuries, or do you think when we get these guys back in March, hopefully, they'll be able to turn it on with about a quarter of the season left? Is there a reason for concern? Hell no. Look, all look all the fans around the world all they need to do is keep a cool booty everything is going to be okay okay i believe right now there may be if i'm not mistaken three three and a half games back from the second play

spot when they get healthy this team could go on on a winning streak, like a 10- to 12-game winning streak. So there's no reason to panic. Last night they played, I believe they were out four or five of their key rotational guys. And we know how, like, when the All-Star game starts, the weekend starts to creep up, you know, guys start already planning their trips, their vacations, the guys that are not going to All-Star weekend, and there's so much going on, and it's the rest period.

So, just look out for the Knicks when they do get healthy and how they do come back after the All-Star break. Because the Denver Nuggets right I believe they lost four in a row and you heard Michael Malone said after the game last night he said this is a great time for guys to get away from the game lock back in get their mentality right and they're going to come back and they're going to be the devil nuggets that we saw right last year. They're going to be refreshed, rejuvenized and ready to play the game of

basketball at a high level. To all the Knicks fans around there, just keep a cool booty. Everything is going to be alright. Take the game out, blow on it, and we'll put it back in after the All-Star break. A team won by 50 last night. Connor's got a question for you.

Yeah, Perk, you're a former Boston Celtics. You know, they've just been on a tear per usual. That's what they do. I know a lot of Celtics fans are saying, you know what? If Jalen Brown wins a dunk contest, that $296 million contract was worth every single penny. Last time you were on the program, though, Tony asked you about the bird brain comment you made regarding Joe Missoula and him not being able to kind of change from going from threes to you know maybe change the style of the game while in the game immediately after that Joe Missoula was asked to give

a injury report and he referenced that and said you know you know I can't give an injury report I got a bird brain have you talked to Joe Miss yet? And then also, I know in the beginning of Mazzulli's reign, he said, you know, we want all the former Celtics to come back. Has he asked for you to come back since the bird brain, or has it not come up yet? Well, I haven't talked to – I haven't spoke with Joe Mazzulli. But let me say this. I actually love Joe Mazzullulla and him firing back, right?

Okay. Like, it's a good thing. He's actually embracing that. And all I'm doing right now is prepping him for what's to come. You're a good man. Yeah, because when you hear that adversity, especially in the city of champions, Boston. Boom.

Right? I played there eight and a half years. I don't think that's a that's going to hit them they're going to hit us they're going to hit adversity and the media is going to attack him the fan base is going to attack him throughout seven game series and he needs to be prepared for that you know i mean i actually love it now the invite i didn't receive the email okay that everybody else got i didn't get the email at the beginning of the season you know i'm sorry i kind of felt my feelings

because i do have a great relationship with my guy wick gross bag who's the owner of the boss of celtics he actually came to my wedding i saw him uh about seven months ago when I dropped my book. He came to, you know, my book release that I did in New York. Like, he's a great brother, a great friend of mine. And me and him always go back and forth on the text message because he may not like some of the things I say, but that's the relationship that we have. But I didn't get the invite, and I must say, I was in my fucking feelings about that.

I think you're allowed to be. Eight and a half years is a long time. Eight and a half years is a long time in the city, especially whenever you win together. And I appreciate the fact that you said, I'm friends with the owner. I love the Celtics. I'm just trying to toughen up his coach a little bit. Yeah, you're still a part of the team.

You're still a part of the team. You're still trying to motivate. You're trying to build. You're trying to get them better. That's very nice of you, Perk. They just put a statue. They just put a statue of Big Perk out there. Today.

I mean, you know, but, you know, I still have a job to do, and I have to be on bars. And so when I think about what I've been seeing from the Celtics right now, first of all, they're going to win the Eastern Conference, okay? They're going to win the Eastern Conference. They're going to win the Eastern Conference. I don't think it's even close. To be honest with you, the depth that they have at the wing and guard position, and Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown, Drew Holiday, Derek White,

Peyton Pritchard has come along very well. I mean, the only concern I have for them winning at all is that I don't know how Cristal Przingis' body is going to hold up. He's never been on a run where he have to make a finals run like this, and we know that he's injury-prone. But at the end of the day, when you talk about, like, it's night and day, the Celtics, as far as the separation and the rest of the day, when you talk about, like, it's night and day, the Celtics forced the separation in the rest of the Eastern Conference. What are they, the only team that's won 40 games?

Yeah, only team with over 40 wins, yep. 41-12, I think, is the record? Next best, I think, is 36-18. Yeah, but what about the Pacers? Remember, the Pacers represented in the NBA Cup. Yeah, that's right, NBA Cup. They're going to hang the banner for it. Yeah, Tyrese Halliburton's coming in in a few minutes.

You can tell him that. No, no, no. I will. Look, I love Tyrese Halliburton, but tell him this for me. It's two sides of the basketball, right? The Pacers are excellent offensively, but if they don't change their mindset and start to lock in defensively, then they're never going to reach the goal that I know they want to reach,

and that's actually bringing the championship back to Indiana. It's not going to happen. I mean, history tells us. We don't smack the wood? No. We don't smack the floor? We don't smack the floor? The Pacers don't?

Spicy peas helped a little bit. You're telling me we're not fucking freaking? We're not doing it? They got to smack the floor. They got to smack the floor and they got to slide them down. Puppies slide down. Puppies. Amen.

We're not doing that. All of their over unders, I believe for the entire year have been North of 235 points. Yeah. The highest totals of all time of all time. Last night it was two 45 boys. We got to smack the wood and it went over. They also came back from 11 down last night in Toronto.

Spicy Peas returned to Toronto. It was a big win. We won? Yeah. Big win. Hell yeah, we did. 36 and 25. 11 games better than they were at the All-Star break last season.

Okay. We're smacking the wood, too, going forward. I love that. Tone's got a question for you, Kendrick. Big perk. Talking to you and getting to know you, I kind of know how you're going to feel about things but this one i don't know and i haven't heard you talk about it there was a report that we were going to live in a world where lebron and seth were going to play together and apparently that was talked about i think okay i see the eye

so now i know where you're how did how you feel about that that uh's like, okay, Golden State, right, they made the call. We know the relationship between Draymond Green and LeBron James, right? Represented by Rich Paul, great friendship, all that. That's cool. But it's nowhere in hell LeBron James could go to Golden State. You know why? Why? It would actually take a hit on his legacy.

Now, he's already submitted, okay, but stay with me when I say this. LeBron James is in what conversation at all times? Goat. The goat conversation with Michael Jordan. There's no way that he could go and join Steph Curry, who is arguably the greatest point guard to ever touch the down basketball, in my eyes, a top five player in the history of the game, and go pair up with him.

I could see the Jordan fans right now smiling from ear to ear, and it would be hard as a LeBron guy myself, to go and defend him on that, I don't see that happening. Is that LeBron calling you right now or Rich Ball calling you right now? No, no, no. Some of the producers for NBA Today, like, they don't see me on TV right now. I'm doing a Pat Mack show right now. Nobody watches our show over there, bud.

This business right now, I'm standing on business. Yay, SOB. I love what you're doing. Whenever you think about the LeBron legacy, and LeBron, like, are they going to win? I know Anthony, he went for 35 last night. Went off. And somebody else went for 35 last night as well.

There was two guys. It might have been D'Angelo Russell. I don't know. Somebody went for 30. Two guys went for 35 last night for the Lakers, and then I saw the interview afterwards. Hachimura. Yeah, he was talking, sitting down, looking very comfortable.

Like, this is what we got to do. Are the Lakers – like, will LeBron win another one? Doesn't he have to win another one? Isn't that like kind of for this whole thing? I don't believe – look, they're not going to win it this year. Okay? Now, can they be a problem? can they be a problem can they be a problem in the west meaning a second round exit yes taking the team to seven games in the second

round i believe that but the west is too loaded i i just right now i don't see the lakers getting past the nuggets then they're not getting past the Clippers. And to be honest, I would actually throw Minnesota in that conversation as well. Those young fellas over there, Anthony Edwards and Carl Anthony Towns and what they're doing right now with their franchise being the first.

They're the best. They have the best defense in the entire NBA. They play gender-free basketball. They're really, really good. But here's the thing. Now, I said it on NBA Today yesterday. I said it on First Take this morning, and now I'm saying it on the Pat McAfee show.

Hell yeah. The Lakers need to stay in pack, right, get through this season, have a run, because another superstar is on the way this summer. Now, I can't reveal who that superstar is because I'm not Adam Sheffield or Adrian Wojnowski. That's not my job. And they trust me not to add this information out on who this player is going to be.

But if the Lakers just stand pat, they have another superstar on the way this offseason. Then we can revisit this conversation next year. I mean, I don't necessarily love what just happened there. How does that superstar play with LeBron? I think they mesh well together. Yeah, they be good. Let me tell you this.

This superstar actually is the perfect fit, not only for LeBron, but it's a match made in heaven. It's a match made in heaven for Anthony Davis. Ooh. Guaranteed to happen, you're saying? You know what? It's going to happen. Anthony D.

How many months do I got to wait now to find out who the hell this is? Six. I mean, look, Pat, you could call me on the side. I trust you. I'll tell you who it is. No, do not tell me. I will write into it. I will.

I don't know. Fuck that. Well, I can't. It's like, yeah. Now, I'm not. At least you're honest. At least you're on. At least you're on. We're live for like four hours a day, three and a half hours a day.

At some point, it'll be like, now I have heard. You know, and it'll. Can we just rattle some names here? Yeah, we'll start reading his response. Read the body language. DeMar DeRozan. His mouth closed a little bit there. Steph Curry.

He did say Anthony Davis, so it might be a point guard, but also might be a center. Might be a shooter. Might be a shooter. Because a shooter would be a good... With AD. Because, you know... Pick and roll with AD. Point guard.

Y'all can guess all y'all want, but you know in my past life, I was a really really great poker player. And I retired like four years ago. So my body language and my facial expressions would never change. But I will say this. It would be a perfect piece for Anthony Davis. Did you ever play at Paul Pierce's poker games?

No, I didn't. No, I didn't. Okay. No, I didn't. No, I didn't. Okay. I saw a glimpse into some of his card games. Yeah, I mean, you know, we did used to play a little poker and boot ray on the plane.

You know what I mean? You know, camaraderie. Absolutely. We do that in the NFL as well. I fancy myself a card player as well. The truth is I have a good time. Yeah, he lives. Yeah, he was having a good time. That woman, yeah.

Are you coming indie or no? You're not coming indie? Yeah, but I'm coming in for a day, Pat, because, you know, I travel so much, wife and four kids, you know what I mean? I'm coming in for a day. I got a show to do, one show to do, and then I got to get out of there. You know what I mean? I'm coming in for a day. I got a show to do. One show to do and then I got to get out of there. You know, son's got basketball

tournaments and stuff like that because I got to leave again in a few days. You know, the wife already kind of giving me the side eye about missing Valentine's Day. You know what I mean? So it's a whole lot of father and husband duties that I got to fulfill.

Hell yeah. Hey, well, safe travels out here to Indy. We'll be lucky to have you. And I can't wait to hear about the romance. You're the man, Big Perk. All right, thank y'all. Ladies and gentlemen, Kendrick Perkins. Yeah, Perk. So the Pacers aren't playing defense?

No. A little bit more now. Yeah, Spicy P is good defensively. So that's why they got him to smack him. And he could also score, but yeah, he's a good defender as well. And Miles Turner is unbelievable down low. He's been around a long time. Miles Turner has been here for a long time.

Because when he came in, he almost joined that original game out of Texas. He was going to be the guy. And then now he's still there. He's the leader of the team, I would assume. Miles is the guy. Or Tyrese is the guy. Yeah, Ty Miles is the guy or Tyrese is the guy. Yeah, Tyrese is the guy. See you on the chest.

He's a showman. He's so good. You saw the one the other night. Off the backboard? Yeah, threw it from the three-point line off the backboard then to Spicy P. It was sweet. Real game, live game. I don't know why they don't do it more often.

It works every time. Yeah. Just as basic pickup basketball stooge, like, I mean, if I pick up my dribble, easiest way to get it back is just throw that thing right off the backboard. But I guess in the NBA, higher basketball IQs than what we're playing in pickup basketball down there at LA Fitness. But, yeah, Tyree Salaburton is a showman.

This Pacers team, I guess they can score. Isn't that what everybody needs to be able to do whenever it comes to playoffs, is score? Defense more so. Defense is a decision, though, right? It's a decision to make. Like, hey, we're going to be able to do whenever it comes to playoffs is score. Defense more so. Defense is a decision, though, right? It's a decision to make. Like, hey, we're going to be a great defensive team. That's why the Celtics lost last year because they couldn't do it on the

defensive side of the ball, basically. Tyrese Halliburton is, I guess, five minutes out from the Thunderdome. So, when he gets here, we will certainly have to ask about. I heard we're not giving effort. What's going on? We're not giving effort on the defensive side of the ball. We can win this whole thing, from what I've been told. Let's go back and pivot to the NFL really quickly.

The XFL kickoff rule is probably not going to happen. Thank God. You did it. Thank God. Mike Florio, Pro Football Talk via NBCSports.com. Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the NFL is not likely to adopt the XFL kickoff rule. More specifically, the XFL's unique approach

is not likely to muster the requisite 24 votes from ownership. The XFL kickoff puts 20 players five yards apart on the receiving team's 30- and 35-yard line, with those players remaining static until the kick is caught by the lone return specialist. It will result in more returns. However, the source explained that neither the competition committee

nor the NFL's coaches are advocating for adoption of the XFL rule. Someone else is pushing it, the source said. If that someone else is the commissioner or someone in the commissioner's ear, it can't be ruled out completely because Roger does have the autonomy to put in a rule like he did with the fair catch rule that happened this past year. Goodell is willing to burn political equity and twist a few arms. He could try to get

to 24. That's Mike Florio who's obviously been covering a lot of rumors and things that have happened around the NFL for a very long time. I would just like to go on the record as a former kickoff guy who I think has the highest percentage of touchbacks, which might change. Might change. Might have changed. When I retired it has the highest percentage of touchbacks, which might change, might change, might have changed. When I retired, it was the highest.

Also, the most amount of recovered onside kicks of the season tied for somebody. I love the kickoff play. Absolutely love the kickoff play. I have 20-some – like, love the kickoff play. Want to save the kickoff play, but also understand the kickoff play has just become a formality pretty much with how good kickers have become. I'd like to see them back it up to the 30. I'd like to see them back it up to the 30.

I'd like to make it go old school and have everybody just sign and say, hey, we will acknowledge that this is a dangerous football play, but we're lucky to be here. We're thankful to be here because if you eliminate the kickoff completely, which is seemingly happening, and then you're going to try to attack on punt, that's a lot of jobs.

That's a lot of strategy. That's a lot of scheme. That's a lot of greatness, by the way, that teams put focus on that other teams don't. It's an advantage and a disadvantage for teams that don't try. It's taking away football. It's doing that in a matter of a couple moves. Joining us now is the man that broke that news, founder of Pro Football Talk, now with NBC Sports, Mike Florio.

Hey, boy, Mike. Florio Paisan. What's up, guys? Hey, thank you for joining us. I want to let you know. Yeah, hell yeah, hell yeah. Hey, grazie, prego. Anyways, whenever I saw you put the tweet out about the NFL

not adopting the XFL kickoff rule, I celebrated. Because the XFL kickoff, for those of us in the NFL, that's just like a practice drill for the kickoff. So guys don't have to run as far. They're going to go down the field. It looks Bush League in my eyes. It doesn't look like an actual kickoff. It makes the kickoff look terrible.

Do you think Roger Goodell is going to force this to become a thing like he did with the fair catch rule? And what do you think happens inevitably to the kickoff rule? And why did he mention punt in the same answer during his super bowl press conference whenever he was talking about the kickoff potentially being changed mike well i'll start with that one i mean for years they've been saying the kickoff is the most dangerous play in football which is never good for the life of the kickoff if people from the league are saying that the punt is the next most dangerous play they're trying to avoid situations where guys are running full speed at each other.

You dip your helmet a little bit right before impact. You get that extra pressure on the C4, C5. You can get some bad incidents of trying to avoid those catastrophic injuries. So what they've done in recent years, and we've seen it. Hey, it's the most dangerous play in football. Let's just have less of them. That doesn't make the play any safer. It just doesn't make the play any safer it just doesn't

happen now and i was told yesterday because i was interested in what the nfl was going to do because the ufl which is the merged xfl and usfl isn't going to use the xfl kickoff play they're just going to kick from the 20 and let it go yes i wanted to see if that was going to change the nfl's approach the xfl kickoff and I'm told football people don't want it. Others want it. And we've seen others get what they want when they want a rule change that the football people don't want. So I'm told they don't think they can get 24 votes, but that may not stop them from trying. Go ahead, AJ.

Mike, we hear all these, I guess, studies that the NFL does when they try to determine how many concussions were had on each, like on a kickoff this year compared to last year. Do you have any idea what they say those numbers are? I mean, with the kickoff now, are the numbers of concussions going way down, I would imagine, with less kicks being returned, I feel like? Well, look, great question. I remember last year when they came out with this number of concussions on kickoff plays. How do you know that a guy got a concussion on a kickoff return? Unless he gets knocked out on the field, it could be something that happens on a different play. rules as they were this year with the fair catch inside the 25 it goes to the 25 they don't come up with something better at some point we're going to hear hey the numbers are better now yeah because there's fewer kickoffs it keeps adding up to fewer kickoffs first time ever super bowl not a single kickoff return in the entire game 57 prior super bowls there was at least one kickoff return this year zilch zero and it was the seventh longest game in nfl history So they got to come up with a solution. And until that, it is, as

they've admitted, a dead play. It's a meaningless play. And I don't know what they're going to do, but I'd like to think there's enough people making enough money that somebody's going to come up with a solution to this thing. How come we can't just get them to sign off and say, we know that it's a dangerous play? Well, that's just one part of it that's getting the players in a position where they can't sue you the other side of it is and they lived through this 10 years ago you got parents that don't want their kids to play football that's one of the concerns not not in places that create nfl guys you know pittsburgh football yeah that's know? Pittsburgh, they're still playing football. Yeah, that's true.

South Florida, they're still playing football. Texas, they're still playing football. Ohio. Ohio's still playing football. Cali. You know, like, and the ratings are only going up and up. It's like, I understand where they're like, well, kids aren't going to play anymore. It's like, NFL guys are still going to be playing, from my understanding, from the way I view this entire thing.

We had the DeMar Hamlin thing and even though it had nothing to do with a blow to the head you know it may have been that condition where you take a blow to the chest and your heart stops they still don't know you can't prove that's what it is you rule out everything else they think that's what it was you get somebody die on the field from a head injury on a kick return I think that's the thing the NFL doesn't want for a variety of reasons number one you don't want somebody dying but number two what will that do to the game if somebody dies on the field as a result of a kickoff play so even if the liability side of

it's under control i just don't think they want to find out what happens if they have this play that they admit is dangerous even if everybody signed off to do it we're going to keep doing it and then somebody's these guys get bigger faster, we're going to keep doing it. And then some buddies, these guys get bigger, faster, stronger. They're going to collide at full speed. Sir Isaac Newton tells us that, you know, bad things happen when two things are going like this and hit at a fast speed. That's what they're trying to avoid. All right.

Well, Mike, we appreciate the hell out of you, brother. We'll be following along all offseason. Get some rest, buddy. Get some rest. I got jet lag. How do you get rid of jet lag? Is there a pill you can take? Ambien, yeah.

Or just smoke weed. Drink more, drink less? I don't know. Yeah, smoke weed, too. I think you smoke some weed, take an Ambien. Maybe a little bit of whiskey. Bud. Go down to the man cave.

Keep doing what you're doing. We appreciate you. Ladies and gentlemen, Mike Florio. Thank you. Thank you, Mike. While we were talking to Mike Florio, ladies and gentlemen, the energy in the Thunderdome has been heightened. There is an absolute stallion here.

I have no idea if he's already mic'd up or not. I have no clue if he's ready to join us. There is 20 people that walked in alongside of him. And there is... Breaking. Breaking. And there is... Breaking.

Tyree Salaburton's here, but I don't know if he's ready to come on the program or not. I have no idea. Is he just experiencing the Thunderdome? Did you see all... Oh, yeah. Money team. They have a band. There's a band sitting outside. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Six by the river. It's awesome. It's awesome. It's like a Sprinter van, like a nice... Yeah. Is that what they showed up in? Yeah, I can see it right now. Dick Sprint. By the river. It's awesome. It's awesome. Like Sprinter Van? Like a nice. Yeah. Is that what they showed up in? Yeah, I can see it right now.

It honestly looks exactly like the one Herb Street had in, what was that, Dallas? Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. It looks just like that one. Herbie's always suited in both. Just vanned up. Yeah, he is. He's always got it right. This man, ladies and gentlemen.

All right. NBA All-Star. Representing your Indiana Pacers. One of the most electrifying basketball players to ever touch a basketball court. Ladies and gentlemen, Tyrese Halliburton. Atta baby!

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Watch your drop. We can't have that. Can't get hurt here. Hey, man. Dude, thank you for coming, dude. This is having fun. Absolutely. Hell yeah. Excited about being here.

Good fit. Hey, you are hot. Hey, listen. The way you play basketball is phenomenal. You're fun to watch. Off the backboard, the pass thing. You made this no-look pass whenever I was at the game against Utah Jazz, maybe from foul line to the other foul line.

You are everything that the Indiana Pacers have needed and wanted for a long time. Kendrick Perkins told me, you don't play any defense. Whoa. That's what he just said. That's what he just said. That's literally what he just said. You know what else Kendrick Perkins said?

He said, I can't be the best point guard in our conference because it's the system that I'm in. What's that mean? You should have asked him. I don't know. Well, I didn't know that was a question. Next time he's on, I'll ask that question. I was hoping I ran into him. Kendrick asked me to ask you.

He said, there's two sides. The Pacers team, we light up the scoreboard. That is the team that we have? Well, I mean, yes. We do do that. We've been guarding a little better. Our offense has kind of dropped a little bit, so we're trying to figure out how we can balance both of them. How do you feel about the team? I know Spicy P coming in has obviously been a big

part of the storyline here around Indianapolis because this city loves basketball. Feel good about where the Pacers are? Yeah, I'm excited to have them. Obviously, he came back. I was hurt, and then I tried to come back, and I got hurt again. It's just been just trying to get my health right through this break. This break is going to be good for me. Hopefully, we're all healthy coming after All-Star break,

and we can make a playoff push. Okay, so we talked to Adam Silver yesterday, and we talked to him about the 6-5 game rule because of you. You're one of the big storylines of that entire thing, and he said let's revisit it after the season and you'll still be able to go. How do you feel about how your body is? You say health, you're getting a little rest, but you're also competing in the three-point shooting contest as well.

How do you feel down the stretch? Obviously you're going to have to play a lot of games for a lot of incentives and a lot of things like that. Do you feel the pressure of that? How does the body feel? What do you think? Every day is a little bit better. There's certain times in games where I might feel a little nag or something like that, but just got to get

through the game. At the end of the day, if the 65-game rule wasn't a thing, I'd still try to be playing right now, trying to help us win games. Yeah, I mean, I'm feeling better every day. I'm just trying to get through this break, get to the second half of the season. How do we feel about the three-point shooting contest? I feel really good about it.

Ooh. Really good. I just came from practice. Just came from practice. And what? We got big buckets down here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, last year I had the record, and then I choked in the second round,

choked in the championship. So I just got to be more consistent this year. Okay. What's the mindset? Because it's three rounds? Two rounds. So everybody shoots the first round in the top three three or top four go to the second round, and then that's the championship.

Do you get tired? Well, you know, last year I was, I think, the third person to shoot the first time, and then I was waiting for everybody to shoot, and then I was the last one because I had the highest score. So I feel like they kind of iced me. Oh, you got cold. They did.

They iced me. That's crap. That is absolute crap. Home run derby, like for baseball, they have the batting cage underneath. They should have a hoop somewhere on the side where you can stay warm. You know, I got a little arrogant, too. Like after I got iced and Buddy and Dame went and shot,

and I think the record they hit was like 19, and through every practice round my low score was like 24. So when Dame shot 19, I looked at Buddy and said, It's over. Thank you for coming. And I went up there and I didn't make a shot. I completely stopped. It was awful.

Connor's got a question for you, Tyree. Yeah, Tyree, one thing that it feels like for you specifically, you're cool with everybody in the NBA, I feel like. And I don't know if you're like the spokesperson for everybody. You were on Old Man and the Three. I think that was yesterday or a couple days ago, and you talked about the 65 game rule. Do you feel like the Pacers and yourself included,

like you guys don't really have like a rival per se in the NBA just because you guys all are such good people? Or what do you think about that aspect of it? Well, I think it's, I mean, at the end of the day, sports are about winning, you know. And I don't think we haven't played in necessarily super competitive games that haven't made a playoff push as a team yet, you know. So I think if you asked around the league right now, they'd probably say our rival.

Our rival is the Bucs because of all the extra stuff that's happened this season. But, I mean, they're proven champions. I've never played a playoff game. So I don't want to call it a real rivalry yet. But, I mean, I hope we play it in the playoffs and it could have a little bit more juice to it. That'd be cool. What year is this for you?

This is year four. Okay, so you weren't in Indiana at first, right? No, I was in Sac. You were in Sac, then you come to Indiana. Yep. And then you immediately, it feels like this is a fresh team because I've obviously been here for now since 2009, quick math, 15 years. So Roy, Paul, George, Lance, that whole team obviously had great runs.

And then we ran into the Heetles every single year, seemingly. And then the Pacers kind of, I mean, like completely out of conversation. Now we're filling up the arena. Gainbridge is filled up again, right? Do you feel the support of Indianapolis and Indiana? Is there a buzz like, okay, we got a team that we can really run and do some stuff? 100%.

I feel that all throughout the city, to be honest. Like even with what the Colts are doing, we're getting A-rich, and that group I think is exciting too. But for us, I think that for so long after P and those guys left, and Sabonis is a great player and they had other guys, but I think for the more casual basketball fan, it wasn't necessarily appealing. Post-basketball is not appealing unless it's Jokic or Joel or Shaq.

You know what I mean? You have two different voices. I do. People say that all the time. Did you hear? I didn't know if it was our microphone. I never catch it. You know, like I watch podcasts after,

and I'm like, dang, my voice changed. Mid-sentence. Did you guys? I wrote it down. Two different voices. Wrote it down. It just happened. It just happens that way naturally sometimes.

It's pretty cool. It's like, you know, Lil Wayne talked about how Drake can sing and rap. He's like okay he can rap and then he can sing in the chorus if you need to. You almost have that. Like you can accent yourself with a different voice. You don't control it though.

No I have no control over it. It just happens. Are you a chirper on the court? I am a chirper on the court. I like to think so. Yeah okay so we're talking a lot of shit. Yeah I think so. Anybody on the other side that you've ever got into some verbal tussles with that you have massive respect for? You know, I would say Dylan Brooks. And I say that to say I think that Dylan Brooks is an elite competitor in the league,

and he obviously gets paid to defend. And one thing that he does is he doesn't duck smoke. He takes on all challenges on a nightly basis. But, yeah, we've had a couple verbal battles this year. It's been a lot of fun. Okay, I enjoy that. So the basketball people, NBA guys, you guys know each other since you were little kids in AAU?

Yeah. And you kind of know who's going to be the NBA guys? Is that an accurate? For sure, yeah. I think that is usually how it goes. So you know all the guys pretty much in the NBA? I would say so, yeah. Is that the reason why there isn't as much smoke maybe as there used to be

because you guys all kind of know, like, hey, we're going to be the ones that are going to be carrying the NBA even as, like, teenagers seemingly? Yeah, I think so. I think we all grow up together. We know each other from being kids. And, you know, like there's guys in the NBA who I've known literally since I was like – like me and Tyler Hero, we were on AU teams together.

We were in fifth grade. Like I know all his – you know what I mean? I know his whole family. And that's just somebody back home, but not to include other guys around the league who I've literally played against my whole life. You know what I mean? So I think that you just get to know people

through the course of eight tournaments here and hotels together. You're 13, 14 years old, run around a hotel, go into the pool, play. We're going to be millionaires. Yeah. That is awesome. Is that why you won't play defense against him? That to be millionaires. Yeah. That is awesome. Is that why you won't play defense against him?

That might be the problem. That might be the problem. Kendrick Parker said that, didn't he? Yeah, he did. He said you got to ask him, too. Yeah, he said, I want you to ask Tyrese Albert why he doesn't understand there's two sides of the floor or whatever when there's championships.

Is that narrative about you guys? Yeah, it is. Why? Why is that the narrative? I don't like that. I don't know. Especially because I like you as a human. I appreciate that. You know, I think Shaq said it best around

the in-season tournament. We're not, we were 28th and whatever we were in defense at the time. We just need to get enough timely stops at the right times. How can we get enough stops at the right time to go on a little run? Hey, that in-season tournament was awesome for you. Yeah, come on, dude. We looked good, right? You enjoyed that?

Oh, that was a lot of fun, bro. In Vegas like the worst part about i mean it's hard like basketball football they're not necessarily neutral location sports you know like the super bowl is more of a spectacle but like the only problem is the tournament was you get to the championship and like i'm expected to get fans from the pacers to fly from indy to ve in two days to go to a game where like LA, they drove three hours. Like it was nothing but Lakers fans. Okay, a little bit of an away game. It was, it was. But that's not why, they were the better team. But yeah, yeah, no, it was

a lot of fun in there. We're wrapping up our ESPN program. We will continue on YouTube and ESPN Plus with Tyrese Halliburton who will be competing in the three-point contest on Saturday night at the NBA All-Star Game here in Indianapolis, Indiana. We'll be back tomorrow with a Feel Good Friday. Be a friend, tell a friend something nice.

It might change their life. Goodbye. Boom. See that, Tyrese? That was fucking professional. That was nice. So right there, 15300 is when we were out there. So mid-conversation, you were giving a great answer.

I didn't know how long you were going to go. I didn't know if that other voice was going to show up either. So we were going to have to figure out how to get there. That's nice. We did it. Thank you, Ty. That's point guard. You know how long you were going to go. I didn't know if that other voice was going to show up either. So we're going to have to figure out how to get there. We did it. Thank you. That's point guard. Speaking of, Tone Diggs got a question for you. Yeah, I got a question about the All-Star game on Sunday. Is there a group text

or have you guys had a conversation yet about, you know, there was always in the past where there was the one-on-one matchups there. It would get a little ratcheted up in the fourth quarter. Has there been talk yet about how it's handled going into Sunday night's game? I don't think so. I don't think so. I think the NBA

has made a big emphasis on us taking this game more seriously. So you guys have heard that? Yes. There was actually they met with every team at the start of the year because they wanted everybody to take the in-season tournament serious because it's the first year and they wanted all the because they wanted everybody to take the in-season tournament serious because it's the first year,

and they wanted all the All-Stars to take the game more serious. What does that mean? Just to be more competitive because I guess the ratings were down last year for the All-Star game because nobody took it serious. But you know what I will say? Giannis didn't play, and that affected it a lot because Giannis has one speed. Giannis is going to go 150% at all times.

So when that guy sets the tone, everybody kind of goes that way. Well, he didn't play, so I feel like everybody's coasting. It was my first All-Star game, so I was just happy to be there. I was like, I'll do whatever. That's what everybody else is doing. Is it like if LeBron then sets the tone on the other side for the West end? I assume that LeBron setting the tone and Giannis setting the tone. I don't think any of us were expecting four quarters.

I don't think any of us were expecting four quarters. How can you? It's competition or keeping score. There's a lot of guys on the roster. There's a bunch of the cliche things, but I don't think anybody's expecting all

four quarters. I think just towards the end, want to have some moments from the All-Star game. It sounds like there's a chance that that takes place this year. 100%. Usually in all the fourth quarters, and I think they do the Elam ending where it's like they set a point and you've got to get to it to win.

I'm planning some highlights for myself. I'm excited for it. How old are you? I'm 23. Turned 24 at the end of the month. Okay, happy birthday. Happy birthday. Happy birthday, Tyrese. Happy birthday, Tyrese.

Sleep here. Happy birthday. What does that mean? Every four years, 29th, February 29th. Oh, really? I'm turning six. Damn. You're the youngest motherfucking all-star in the history of the NBA?

Calvin Cambridge. Calvin Cambridge. Oh, really? True. Going the opposite direction. So it feels like the next generation of the NBA, Calvin Cambridge. Calvin Cambridge. Look at – oh, yeah, exactly. True. Going the opposite direction. So, like, it feels like the next generation of the NBA, though, solid, right? Yeah. We feel very good about the future of basketball and everything?

100%. 100%. I think the cool part about it is you see all the young guys starting to come in, but, like, LeBron's not slowing down. Steph's not slowing down. KD's not slowing down. So, I think the passing of the torch is a little over-talked about. But, you know, it'll come eventually.

Those guys will – I mean, I don't think LeBron and those guys can play until they're 50, but, I mean, they defy the odds every day. Where are you from originally? Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Okay, shout-out to Wisconsin. Yes, sir. And shout-out to the United States of America. Yes, sir.

Now, a lot of international players coming in. What does that do for the league? What does that do for you? Do you guys have to play different? Because, like, these big whites come in. Hey, they're coming in, and they're showing clips of, like, what they grow up playing in with, like, you got players and torches. And, like, it's insane.

They're playing, like, professionals as, like, 13, 14, 15. Does that change anything with American basketball growing up? What do you think about the future of that? I think that they come in with just such a knowledge for the game and understand how to play the right way. And I think that that not only affects the NBA, but also the FIBA level as well. Like you talk about what the Dream Team has done for the game of basketball,

playing internationally, and everybody's seen that. Now you've got guys like Jokic, Luka, the Bonus, Sangun is coming up. You've got a lot of guys who are – Wemby, like kind of progressing the game. So I think what it does is make our sport even bigger. I would say behind soccer, we're probably the second biggest sport in the world, top to bottom, and I think that that increases viewership and just increases the talent level.

Have you done any international trips? Were you going to do camps anywhere? I played – well, I just played World Cup last year, and the goal is to play in the Olympics this summer. Hell yeah. Are you on a team? Well, they announced the top, whatever, 30, 40 guys, and they'll announce the team, I'm assuming, here soon, so we'll see.

He was the best one last year. He basically carried United States last year. Oh, yeah. You and Reeves. Yeah. Well, carried us to a fourth place finish, so nothing exciting. What the fuck? Trust me, I know.

I know. Who did we lose to? We lost to Lithuania. Oh, Vakaitis. That guy's a player. And we lost to Canada in the third place game. Canada? And Germany.

We can't lose to Canada. Canada's good. Canada's good now. And what? Offset, curling, lacrosse. Everything. They're better at basketball now. They're good.

Yeah. Huh? They got SGA. Steve Nash playing? What are we talking about? We'll get him again this summer. We'll get him again this summer. We're excited about it. No, They got SGA. Steve Nash playing? What are we talking about? We'll get him again this summer. We'll get him again this summer. We're excited about it.

No, they're saying they're going to get you guys again. That's a good. We're all excited for it. They had. I mean. I'm bummed out about that. I just learned we lost to Canada in basketball. I didn't even know that was possible.

They had a Purdue kid. They did. Who? Edie? Edie was playing. Oh, I'm sorry. Is he in the NBA? No.

Edie will be, though. Hey, I've seen Edie. He's fucking huge. Massive human being. Omos level. How about Omos? Omos. He played UCF.

Yeah, he did. Omos played basketball back in the day. What do you think about the size? Like, you've got to be born to be in the NBA, right? Don't you think you have to have it? I think so. I think what's funny is people always come, like, dang, you're tall. But, like, I'm one of the smaller dudes on the team.

I'm 6'5". And, like, there's a lot of guys taller. I play point guards. A lot of dudes taller than me. So, yeah, I feel like you've got to be born that way. But there's a lot of guys who define the odds. T.J. McConnell. Other guys like that.

Pittsburgh. Duke and Gratz. Yeah, you too. Yeah, absolute dog. You love your team? I love my team. I love my team. Locker room good.

Locker room good. Yeah, we've got a lot of good guys. Do they all want Cody to finish his story? I think so. We talk about it pretty regularly. Oh, come on. Everybody comes to me for the updates. Everybody wants to come to me like I'm the update.

You're a WWE guy. I'm a big WWE guy. You want him to finish his story? I do want him to finish his story. I hope that we get Hollywood Rock back. Here, Mark. Can we get the theme song back, though? The guitar, wear the leather vest.

I need all that back. The Rock says. Yeah, I need all that back. The Rock says. Well, he did on our show. He said, The the leather vest. I need all that back. The Rock says. Yeah, I need all that back. The Rock says. Well, he did on our show. He said, The Rock says this. And as soon as I heard it, as he was like sitting four feet away from me, I'm like, holy shit, we got heel rock.

And then Cody came at you with the Nuggets line. What's that all about? You were flustered there in the moment. Was I? Yeah. I thought I was pretty calm. I was like, oh, man, I don't know what he's going to respond. I thought they were going to give you a mic. Yeah. And just let him continue. Yeah, I don't know what he's going to respond. I thought they were going to give you a mic.

I just let him continue. Yeah, I don't know if the arena heard what I said, but they did see my face. I guess they were able to read my lips. Yeah, so I think The Rock is. I think it is Hollywood. They tell me nothing. But I want the theme song. I need the titantron.

We're going to go to the building with the lights. I need all that. Why are you such a big WWE fan, you think? My Uncle Gary, he's deceased now, but he – Rest in peace, Uncle Gary. Rest in peace. Back in the day, you know, you used to pay for pay-per-views. Well, he knew if I cried, my mom would buy the pay-per-view.

So he would always come over and get me to cry to buy the pay-per-view. Yes. So he got me into it. Like my first event remembering watching is WrestleMania 19. That's the first one that I can really, really remember. Strong Cold The Rock. We got Jericho one that I can really, really remember. Stone Cold, The Rock. We got Jericho, Shawn Michaels. It was a lead event, a lead event.

Okay, do you think that has contributed to the way you play? Because I saw you do this no-look throw pass against Utah, and then you even did one of these, I think, in the entire thing. I think it's definitely contributed to your style. For sure, for sure. I think at home I can be a little bit more of a face, but I enjoy being a heel on the road. That's my – I get a little persona on the road.

That's what I like. Favorite place to play other than Cambridge? Boston. Of course. Boston and Milwaukee. History. I mean, who – They spit on you up there in Boston?

Well, there's a lot of history in there. I feel like there's ghosts in there talking to me. Oh, yeah? I like it. I love it. You've played well up there? I have played well up there historically. Has there any place that you just have not really been able to go bananas in?

You play good all the time? No. Can I bank on you being good every night I come watch the Pacers play? If you're there, for sure. If you're there, for sure. Yeah. At home, too. I don't know if you know this.

The Pacers threatened to sue me a few years back, so I do hold a little. Is that true? Yeah. I hold a little bit of a grudge. I wasn't there, so we can fix this. I know. It feels like it's a new team. It's a new era.

You have made it very difficult. I want to let you know, for me to hold a grudge, I'm a great grudge holder. Okay, let's fix that. Because I got four courtside seats. My mom, my girl, they're every game. But you're more than welcome to join us. Come on. Let's get it done.

Well, it's also something to do. That has been something that I've actually thought about plenty of times. Because I will hold a grudge for my entire life. Let's fix that. Let's fix that. We can fully squash it. I'm here now. Hell, yeah.

And you're fun to watch. Yeah, exactly. You are a showman out there. Let's fix that. I mean, are we throwing it off the backboard every night? Not every night. You know, I think it was just in the heat of the moment. It's just the Red Sea opened up.

I was like, saw the backboard and was like, why make sure you've made it really i want to let you know i've thought about you directly when holding grudges really yeah talking to the boys i'm like pacer's got a game tonight would be cool to go down there nah fuck that and then and then immediately like halliburton halliburton's gonna do something so sick tonight and yeah this is just one of them let's let's fix it. What can we do? Yeah, but I can't change it. Everybody's saying I'm changing it.

I don't want to get soft out there. But I would like to watch you play basketball. So I'm kind of – Towns got a question for you, Tyrese. Okay, please. Yeah, we always talk about the Final Four when it goes to football stadiums. Yeah. The backdrop and how different it is shooting.

Have you taken advantage yet? Have you gone into Lucas Oil to shoot yet? Do you shoot in there? I went to Lucas Oil today to do my three-point practice. So that's where that's happening? Yes. Okay, so the All-Star Games in Cambridge? All-Star Games in Cambridge, but the contest.

Basketball arena. Contests and all those are in Lucas Oil. I think the celebrity game is also in Lucas Oil tomorrow. How are you not playing in that? Well, I'm in Balkan season. But, I mean, CJ Strasburg, you could have played, bro. Yeah, well, I'm commentating. I don't need to debut my jumper this evening.

But it's in Indy. It's for you. You should have played. No, no. Once again, remember, I just told you about my whole – the whole thing. Right, right. Pook is the representative. Yeah, yeah.

Pook is the representative of this show. Yes. Pook Nakua is the representative of this show. I don't know if he knows that, but, like, he came on the show, said he wants to play. I guess he's. He's going. He said he's nice.

He says he's very nice. He's playing? Yes. Have you guys seen Gui Santos on the Warriors? It's his doppelganger? No. Oh, I saw it the other day. No, it looks just like him.

Like, he checked in the game. I saw it the other day, yeah. I was like, Puka. And he didn't turn around. It was trending. I thought it was him. Yeah, it was a different name on the back of the jersey, but I thought it was just like him. Like, he checked in the game. I was like, Puka. And he didn't turn around. It was trending. I thought it was him. Yeah, it was a different name on the back of the jersey, but I thought it was potentially Puka.

But, yeah, Puka's going to play. He is, like. He's excited. He's talking. I know C.J. Stroud is very good, and they showed some highlights of him when he was talking with Micah. Yeah, he had 40 on Jaime Jaquez. Yeah, the second guy in Miami.

Yeah. I watched the highlights. He was pulling up. He has been very open about being the best basketball player. Every football player thinks they can hoop. Not everyone. No. Okay.

Not you? I can shoot. I mean, I can. But right now, I can't. Bulk is easy. Bulk is easy. Bulk is easy. I mean, I can't.

Now is not the time. You didn't feel that in college? Every football player was like, I'm nice. Oh. Oh. For you, Tyrese. That's player was like, I'm nice. Oh. Oh. For you, Tyrese. That's a first one. That's good.

Oh. For Tyrese. Hall of Famer. Yeah, see, that's why. Walk the season. You know what I mean? We don't have to touch. We need to debut.

But I'll be on the commentary. I'll be on the commentary. Oh, you're on commentary for what? Like first quarter of the All-Star Game. Or Celebrity All-Star Game. Oh, okay. Okay. Okay. So the beef is starting to come out a little bit?

The Pacers beef? Well, Adam Silver came. Yeah. He squashed it. No, he didn't squash it. No, it's in the football stadium. Yeah, yeah. And it's the NBA.

Okay. So that's how I... So Pacers still... What needs to be done? Tell me. What can we do? Well, Tyrese, you need to... Give me an offer.

Give me a – You're going to need 16 10-day contracts. For all the boys? We have an open roster spot. All the boys? We can keep cycling through that. We need Zito to be an equipment manager for at least the day. I want him on the –

I gave him a jersey today. He got a – I just gave him a jersey. Hey, baby, Zito, baby. That's a shocker. I need Zito. I need Zito on the broom. Yeah, yeah. On the broom. Hey, there's some things I can make happen, so let's a shocker. I need Zito on the broom.

There's some things I can make happen, so let's figure it out. No, you need to start playing the style of basketball you play. Why? Because it's ruining who I am as a human with the Pacers. That is the real deal. But being so exciting. Yeah, and electrifying. You want me to tell you the truth? Again, I'm usually the face at home, but when I heard

you were coming to the game with the Jazz owner, I was like, oh, I'm going to heal today. I was like, we're winning this game no matter what. You guys did too. Yeah, Brian Smith didn't all have the greatest night down. He's a hell of a runner. He's a good guy, though. He's a good guy.

Good guy, good guy. That was the first text I ever got from you. That was the first text I ever got from you. I got a text, you coming to the game tonight? And I responded, yup, with the Jazz owner. I think I told you, right? I don't even think I replied after that. No, you didn't.

We're winning. That was it. Fuck that. We're winning. That's awesome. That's my first time back, I think, for a, right? I don't even think I replied after that. No, you didn't. Fuck that. That's awesome. That's my first time back, I think, for a Pacers game in, like, years. Like, years. I told you, bro. I got courtside seats for you. You just... Come on. No, I'll buy them. I'll support them.

Well, you don't have to, except my mom would love to sit. Hey, your family's awesome. I think they're pretty cool. Your dad came up to me. Your dad came up to me, I think at the WWE event. He was like, Pat, love you, man. And then as we dapped up, he said, don't you ever speak bad about my son. I was like, whose fucking dad is this? I didn't even know whose dad it was.

And they're like, that's Tyrese Halliburton's dad. I'm like, okay, love this guy's mom. That was a time. What a great time that was. Fastlane was amazing. Yeah, Fastlane was awesome. Indianapolis is a great host. I think All-Star weekend is going to be phenomenal here.

Raw is here in June? Yes. Great. Trying to get Mania? We're trying to get WrestleMania. I'm all for it. I'll miss a game if I have to. We need to host the NBA Finals as well.

Yeah, come on. Let's do it. Legitimately, real expectations because the way NBA conversations happen, there's like four teams potentially that could go win it. The way the NBA is set up, any team could win in the end? Yeah, I think this is the most parody you're seeing in our league, probably. Ever. Like, nobody knows it. I mean, Boston

and Denver are the two heavy favorites. Everybody would say they expect to see them in the finals, but shit, anything can happen. I mean, I think that's the exciting part about our league right now. There it is. That was two voices. Was it? Yeah. You know, sometimes when I lock in, it comes down.

And when I get excited, it comes back up. Maybe it ebbs and flows. AJ's got a question from an attic in Ohio. Packers legend, Packers legend. Yes. Hey, yeah. I was listening to hear the second voice we just got a little bit, so that was nice.

I think you can control it, maybe it feels like, but going back to your three-point contest situation, is there any worry from basketball players, hey, this is going to mess up my shot for the regular season? I'm thinking of baseball players doing the home run derby, and they think it messes their swing up. I don't think so. I think it's just you have to practice because you've got to know how to grab the ball from the rack.

I think there's a science to it. That's such a small thing. Sometimes that first ball, you can just grab it, right? But by the third or fourth ball, I touch it with my right hand and roll it to the front of the rack to grab it. But some guys would reach all the way back and grab it. Someone should roll it to the front, I think. Don't you think as you shoot,

shouldn't someone be there rolling them each to the front? I don't think anybody's allowed to touch the ball. Oh, there's rolls around. I don't think anybody's allowed to. So I have to reach back, roll it, and shoot it. So I think that, I don't feel that way. I feel like it's just about getting your pace down. Like, some people

shoot slower than others, so you gotta understand how many seconds can you let go of the ball and really stare at it and look at it and what's the right time to just get it. Are you able to watch it go through or no? I think so. I shoot pretty quick, yeah. I feel like. You gotta going to hit the money balls. The money balls.

Last rack. Four points. Save it for the last rack. So how is it? It's not the fifth ball at each rack? So you pick where your money rack is. So most people pick the last rack. Which one's yours?

Last rack. Last rack, of course. Four regular basketballs. Those are all worth one point. Money ball at the back is two points. So there's five spots. And then there's two, I think, three-point contests that's presented by Starry, I think, this year.

Still a company. Is it Starry? Shout out to them. You've got to grab. That's the three-point ball. That's a deep one. You've got to make those for three points. And those are at both the slots.

Okay. Well, hey, go win it. Hey, I'm going to do my best. You a Packers fan? You know, I have a long history with the Packers. Oh. I was a diehard Brett Favre fan back in the day. I know.

Yeah. Okay. We'll go forward. Football player. Football player. Football player, yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then when he went to the Vikings, I wore a Brett Favre jersey to a football game, to

a preseason football game with Tyler Hero. We went to the game together. And I'll never forget some old drunk dude. I was like, fuck you. I was like nine years old. And I was like, I will never cheer for the Packers again. I hate them. And then I decided that. And then I hated them for a little bit

before I retired. It's kind of a football free agent for a little bit. My dad's a diehard Cowboys fan. So I decided to be a Cowboys fan for like a year or two. Wasn't fun. And then got drafted. Then left Wisconsin. And I was like, you know what?

I could cheer for the Packers now. And I started cheering for the Packers. And my boy Brock Purdy went to college together. So I'm kind of a Packers Niners at this point. And a Colts. Yeah, you did great on the – You saw it? Yeah, I was there.

It's stressful, right? Yeah. You don't, right? Yeah. You don't believe that? No. You got hammered that day. If you miss... You're not going to miss. It's a big anvil.

What's your hit? You're a fucking adult, Tyrese. You're not going to miss it. You're a professional athlete. You're not going to... I think that in golf, too, and then I swing and fuck up my back. Yeah, but the golf ball is this big. Well, the hammer's pretty little.

It's a small hammer. It is a tiny hammer. Hey, so I was the first person to ever swing the hammer at the anvil at those games. Well, the hammer's pretty little. It is a tiny hammer. Hey, so I was the first person to ever swing the hammer at the Anvil at those games. You were the first one. First one ever. Was it your idea? Where did the Anvil come from? Listen, we're not going to talk about ideas at that Lucas Oil Stadium and the whole thing.

Okay, sorry. We're not going to do that. But let's say the hammer was about this size. Yeah. It was about this size, and the actual anvil itself was about this big. And it was on the sideline. And as soon as I got there, they gave me the hammer, and I'm like, this can't be what it is.

So what it has become with up on the concourse with the lights and the big sledgehammer, it's awesome. It is awesome. Yeah, you swing that hammer. What are you talking about? You swing it. I think I was more stressed going into it than when I got in front of it. I was like –

We need you to do it more. The city loves you, Tyree. Yes. Really? Yeah. The city loves you. I love the city. Well, we're lucky to have you, brother.

And have a phenomenal All-Star weekend. And thanks for representing the beautiful city of Indianapolis as well as you do. Okay. I appreciate that. Can I give you something? I know it's a Pacers beef, but I got to give you something. Which voice are you going to use? It changed again? No. I don't. Which voice are you going to use? It changed again?

No. I don't know what voice I'm going to use, but I want to give you something while I'm here. Okay. Okay, come on. Mike, let me see it. Is it a ball? It might be an honorary.

It might be an honorary. Where is it here? Oh, yes. Oh, yes. I love that. Is that the city? The city edition or whatever? Yeah, we got you at 52. Oh, yes. I love that. Is that the – that's the – Is that the city? The city edition or whatever?

Yeah, we got you 52. I know you're in both seasons, so. Yeah, I am. Hey, thank you, man. Look at this. Huh? Sweet. Pacers beef squash.

There it is. How about it? Right there. There it is. Right there. Squash. It's gone. Welcome back.

I don't know if that's true. Welcome back. I'm a Hallberg fan. Okay, okay. Hey, real quick. Hey, can you take that ball right there? Yeah. I don't know if that's true. I'm a Hallberg fan. Hey, real quick. Hey, can you take that ball right there? If you make it into that hoop. Is there another one?

You want to knock the ball? Okay, if you put it into that. What's Cuzz's name? Who? Garron. Garron. Who? Garron. Garron? Garron. Garron.

We win. Oh, good pass. Merci beaucoup, Garron. Okay. If you make one of these. Two shots. Into that hoop right over there. Yes, sir.

What? We'll give 30 people $500. Oh. Which is just quick $15,000. Going in, especially the vibes that it would have going into the all-star break all into the three point shooting. There it is. Oh my God. It's not just 30 winners. It's also like the entire city of Indianapolis riding on these two shots. Come on, come on. But Tyrese, how the burden is the truth.

Yeah, it is Oshkosh, Wisconsin money. Oh, okay. Hold on. Range, Wisconsin. Money. Uh-oh. Okay, hold on. Uh-oh. Rangefinder. Rangefinder. Rangefinder. He's elevated. He's elevated. It's not normal. He's elevated. Oh, yeah. Yeah, you're at 7'4 right now, too. Remember, up on the stage. It looked really good.

You're Omos' size up there. I'm not a hairball. Here we go. Oh, bonus ball, bonus ball, bonus ball. Oh, geez. The first one shouldn't count. That was a range finder. Yeah, first one was a – Garan with a full court pass.

Good pass. That was a great pass. That was a good pass. Hell, yeah. Bill wouldn't have got it there. I want the guy with the camera. So what Garan just did was huge for the vibes. Yeah, that would have been tough.

Ladies and gentlemen, NBA All-Star, Indiana Pacer savior, Tyrese Halliburton, will attempt to shot from the stage here into this hoop right over here as we kick off NBA All-Star weekend. If he makes it, 40 people will win $500. Wow. For the people, Tyrese. For the city. For the all-star

weekend. It is. It is. Bonus ball for you. It was flat ball. Flat balls don't count. Here we go. Here's an octoball. Flat ball, yeah.

That's the one. Alright, that was a phenomenal chest pass. What you're cooking from here to here. He's in bulky season two. The legs, the legs. Oh, yeah, yeah, up top. Up top, yeah, okay.

That's teach stinks. No, no, no, no, no, no. We do this all the time. No, listen. I just missed three. We've missed ten. Okay, hold on, though. Hold on, listen. I just missed three. We've missed ten. Okay, hold on, though. Hold on, though.

50 people. $500. $500. I think I just keep missing numbers and keep going. No, this is it. This is it. This is it. Okay.

This is the top of the ride. Fuck. Yeah. 50 people. $500. All you got to do is just put that ball into that hoop right over there to kick off All-Star Weekend right here in beautiful Indianapolis, Indiana. Tyrese Halliburton.

Here we go. Pat, there it goes. All right. Have a great weekend, dude. That was disappointing. That was sicken weekend. Bill. Oh, that was disappointing. That was sickening. No. Maybe from the court if we did, like, free throw line to other side.

Are you going to make this? You think you're going to make this? This shot here? How about if I make this, I'll match you. Okay. Now we're talking. How many? How many people?

50 people. Okay, so 100 winners? 100 winners if I make this. Okay, we need. All right. Hell yeah. All winners? 100 winners if I make this. Okay, we need... I love this. I love everything about this. Smart play by Bill. Oh! Wow! The touch!

Are you kidding me? I'm matching this. This guy did a trick shot off the stairs. What's that? Oh yeah, of course. You're not used to that. You're not used to that. You're not used to that. So a total of 100 people will win $500. Jeez.

Yeah. That's $50,000 just on a Thursday. People are going to be like, he did it on purpose because he wanted to bring the money. No, no, you're not that type of guy. I love the people. Boom. Yes, you do. Finish your story, Tyrese.

Another air ball. Oh, my God. Finish your story. Finish my story, Tyrese. This guy hates the people. I've never seen anybody hate people more. Tyrese, you said at home you're the baby face. You're the heel. Hold up. Hold up.

Hold up. Please. Holy hell. Finish your story. Finish your story. Finish your story. Right before. Hey, listen. Have all the air balls been right? Yes.

Yes, they've all been right. Okay, so I need to aim it a little low. Yeah, Josh, you're a professional. You're going to win a three-point shooting contest on Saturday. Easy. Hey, let's remember, that rim's lower, by the way. Oh, yeah, maybe. 9-11.

Drafty in there, too. 9-11. And maybe on this one. I don't know if we need to change that. That might even be worse. Too many conditions changing. I'm a pro. Come on. Tyrese Halliburton right now, if you bury this stage shot,

50 winners from me of $500, 50 winners from you of $500. This winners from you of $500. This story has so many different outcomes. What will it be for you, Tyrese Halliburton? Bitch. Get it back. Get it back.

No more talking. No more talking. Oh, yes. Ladies and gentlemen, live from Indianapolis, Indiana, right here at the Thunderdown, the host of the NBA All-Star Weekend. Come on. NBA All-Star, Tyrese Halliburton. Two-stop.

Will attempt to win 100 people. The win. $500. All he's got to do is make one stage shot. Finish your story. See, this is also hammering home, but this is a very difficult shot. People have been saying it. That is true.

People make fun of us all the time. Now people know how hard it is. Oh, no dribble. Yeah. Tough rims around here. No, no, this rim is the rock. And you're Cody. And you're Cody Rose.

Well, air balls do, but we'll talk about just the bricks. Air ball is the chin skate. Hey. Like, Cody Rose. Well, air balls do, but we'll talk about just the bricks. Air ball is a chin scare. Hey. Like, what are you doing, bro? That's a – It's your face. Ladies and gentlemen. It's your face right now.

Tyrese Halliburton is going to try to finish his story. And if he's able to do that, 100 people will win $500 from the stage. NBA All-Star Weekend. Whoa. He's so strong. Maybe back up a little. I don't know. I don't see it.

You're normally not this tall. The stage is two feet. You're a loss right now. Trick basketball. Seven-four. Hold up. Hold up. Oh, no.

Oh, jeez. No, that one didn't count. That one didn't count. We got to reset, you know, because when we clip this, it's going to be your first shot. Yeah, you should sit down. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're live, right? Yeah, there's certainly a contingency of people that are going to see this.

Uh-huh. Live. Oh, yeah. Just sit down. Let's do this. Sit down. Yeah, yeah. Remember what I'm saying?

Yep. That water's fresh there. Yeah, if you want water, if you want water, you can have one. Tyrese, that was an incredible interview, man. Thank you for stopping by. Appreciate you, Tyrese. You were great on the show. So good.

Hope to get a chance to chat with you again. And before you leave, you want to maybe shoot to win some people some money? Sure, that would be awesome. Okay. How about this? 50 people will win $500 if you shoot that ball into this hoop right over here. You know what? Because you guys have been so awesome, I'm gonna

match that. Whoa! Holy shit! That's a record! 100 people, $500. That'd be $50,000 on a glorious Thursday to kick off NBA All-Star Weekend. Wow, and somehow this basketball is ended in my hands at the end of our interview. Yeah, absolutely. You're a professional basketball player.

It's always in your hands. I carry it in my pocket. All right, guys. For 100 people. Holy shit. This is a huge day. Come on. This will be great.

Need you here. That was the one. Dude. I mean. That was the one. I don't want to be that guy, but I decided just, you know, let's see what they're saying on Twitter. Tyrese Halbern is embarrassing himself on the Pat McAfee show.

Bruh, Bruh, hold on. Bruh can't make a fucking shot to save his life. So I'm just telling you right now, that's just one. That's not true. That's not true. You can make a shot. They don't know. Come on. But what we know is that when can make a shot. They don't know. Come on.

But what we know is that when you make this shot right here, we'll get 50 people $500. 50? Are you sure? We'll get 50 people $500. That's the most I think we've done all year. All year. That's certainly the most. Yeah.

She's looking at me like we've got another appearance to go to. She can wait. This shot is the best. 100 people, $500. All you got to do is put that ball into that hoop right over there. You want to know his name? I want his at. His at is, or her, I'm not sure, is Tropical Farms.

Tropical Farms. Yep. Fuck them. They claim a visit. 100 people! Oh, my goodness. Bro, bro, give me a good test pass. Come on, Gron. Christina. There it is. 100 people. Oh, my goodness. Come on, Gron. Christina.

There it is. 100 people. Pat. Yeah. She's got the pandas on as well. Travis Scott. What's that all about? Oh, she's got to figure it out.

Now she's Tropical Farms. She's the shot doctor, right? Hey, she's. She's Roman. Yeah. We don't shot doctor, right? Hey, she's. She's Roman. Yeah. We don't want that right now. Go on. Yeah, she knows.

Oh, no. Oh, no. That's Heyman. Oh, boy. 100 people, $500. And ball again. We're going to need one here. That's my last one, Christina.

If I miss this. All right, this is it. All right, I like that. She just got a deal out of this somehow. That was a good chest pass right there. 100 people, $500. $500. Let's go!

Let's go! Nobody. Yes. Chocolate farm feet. Nobody. Roman Reigns. Paul Haley. You did it. Finish your story.

Finish your story. Yeah. Way to go, man. That's the difference between NBA guys and regular guys. That's awesome. Just steps up and bangs the shot on him first round. One time. Swish.

First time. 100 people, $500. Hey, thank you, Tyrese. Thank you, Tyrese Halliburton. Hey, thank you. That was awesome. That was sick. I cannot believe he just did that.

I mean, $50,000? 100 people, $500. Are you kidding me? First shot? We got to go thank him. First shot. All you got to do is repost the video, say something nice to somebody, and put the easiest way to pay you.

100 people, $500 to kick off All-Star Weekend here by Tyrese Halliburton. Come on. NBA All-Star from the Indiana Pacers, basically hosting the entire thing. Thank you, Tyrese. All the more, we're on. See you guys. Thank you for the jersey. ...are happening all around us.

That's A.J. Hawk. He was good at the football. There's a talk table here at Boston Corner. And at Matt Brown. Yeah. Bruce. Bruce Brown. It's Matt Brown.

It's the legal name change. Do you think that's a psycho move? No. Legal name change to Bruce? Yes. That's super psycho. No. With three U's in it.

Bruce. Oh. That would be. Yeah. It should be three U's. it. Bruce? Oh, that would be. Yeah, it should be three U's. And you have to change the last name. B-R-A-H-N. Because they would be upset. A.J. Hawk named Matt Brown Bruce.

No, no, no. I mean, who named you Matt? Oh, yeah. My mom, obviously, will probably text me this afternoon that I even said that. Yeah, but you can put the Bruce in the middle name. You can make it your legal middle name. M-B-B. Matthew Bruce into the middle name. You could make it your legal middle name. MBB. Matthew Bruce Brown.

Or name your future kid Bruce. The artist. Well, that's a layup. Junior. We need Bruce Junior. Exactly. Or Bruce II. The crazy thing, my dad, his name was J. Bruce Brown.

Okay. Which is pretty crazy out of AJ. Rest in peace to the legend, but also, so Bruce is a family name. Kind of, yeah. What do you mean kind of? It is a family name. Kind of, yeah. What do you mean kind of? It is. His dad messed up the birth certificate and just put JB,

so his legal name was just the letter J and the letter B. That's hilarious. But he meant to name him J Bruce. But he just put JB. Looking now. And now on Bruce. We got to Bruce. Way to go, Bruce.

Okay, Bruce. We did it, boys. One half of the hammer died. We got to Bruce. Way to go, Bruce. Okay, Bruce. We did it, boys. One half of the hammer, done. Cowboy's Tony Diggs is here looking great in his cowboy hat. And the other half of the hammer, done. Cowboy's Bubba Gumpino is here. Gumpy, you're the one that's tasked with ripping and posting clips whenever I'm live on a microphone. Yes, sir. You do a fantastic job.

Hi, baby Gump. Good job, pal. You do a fantastic job. I did see the way you worded that Tyrese Halliburton shot. Great work saying that that was on his first try. I really wanted it to be the one where he said, finish your story. Yeah. That would have been awesome. Or

where he said, bitch. Yeah. Or where he got up and it was his first try again. There's a lot of good options, by the way. Yeah, that was his first try. Yeah, it was his first try. Got it down. The internet was killing him. It wasn't terrible. It wasn't that bad, no.

I enjoyed you going. The internet. I enjoyed you going. I missed three. Yeah. Because we've seen you do that to other people. My worry was. People will say something.

My worry was if he didn't hit one. And you'd be like, well, yeah, but. If he didn't hit one at all and then he went into the three-point contest. And wins. Imagine he wins tomorrow. Or if he missed one at all and then he went into the three-point contest. And wins. Imagine he wins tomorrow. Or if he missed here and then didn't hit any in the three points. No, no, no, no. Whoa, whoa, whoa.

No, he hit here. Yeah, yeah. If he didn't hit one here. Yeah, we don't want that. Anyways, he has sent a text, Tyrese Halliburton, to the Thunderdome saying that Tropical Farms has gone private. Oh, is that right? Okay. That's on me. That's on me. Sorry, Tropical Farms. gone private. Oh, is that right? Okay. That's on me.

That's on me. Sorry, Tropical Farms. Sorry about that. Let's move away. Tropical Farms, get a good tweet. That's my dad, dude. Tropical Farms, that was a good tweet. Yeah, it was.

Don't you feel bad about it. Tyrese, though, I need to meet. Amen. What's his at? Following up. I want to talk to this. Anyways, let's move along because we've kept a man waiting for 30 minutes. Now, I would like to argue

that it wasn't necessarily our fault for the first 25 of it. Now, with that being said, very uncouth of us to do this to a first-time guest, especially somebody that's joining us to chit-chat about something we know little to nothing about. So it is a necessity to have a

conversation with this man. Ladies and gentlemen, Iowa sports columnist for Des Moines Register and Iowa City Press citizen, Chad Lystico. Chad, so sorry. Chad, this is not the first impression we would like to have, but to be honest, we thought the ball was going in the hoop a lot sooner, Chad. A lot sooner. Jalen Clark probably would have taken one or two tries. Whoa! We like that, Chad. A lot sooner. Kaitlyn Clark probably would have taken one or two tries.

We like that, Chad. Let's dive into the Kaitlyn Clark story. Absolute worldwide phenomenon last year during the run, I think, is when everybody kind of got introduced to her. This season was going to be one that was going to be highly anticipated for her and that Iowa team, the LSU team, the South Carolina team. Kaitlyn has seemingly lived up to the hype this year,

lived up to the pressure, and tonight she breaks and makes history. Has this been everything that everybody thought it would be for Kaitlin Clark's season this year for the Iowa Hawkeyes? I think what's most interesting about it, Pat, is she's got so much spotlight all the time. I mean, every single arena is sold out. There are hours of lines of fans waiting to get into the arena just to see her because they know that this is such a unique and transcendent experience yet every night or every afternoon she seemingly uh gives them the

the show that they need 30 plus points oftentimes a triple double 10 plus assists and uh she's averaging 32 plus points per game this year as you as you referenced she needs eight to pass kelsey plum to become the ncaa division one all-time record holder and uh she only played she didn't play a full first year because they had the covid year. She only played 23 regular season games. So she's going to get this done in 13 fewer games than Kelsey Plum did. Holy hell, just an absolute phenom. AJ's got a question for you, Chad. Chad, so you mentioned the COVID year. I believe Kaitlin has the possibility to come back and using that COVID year for another year. I know Pat and the boys, Indiana, the WNBA squad has the number one overall

pick, obviously would most likely take her. What are the chances that she comes back to Iowa for another year? Well, her stance is she's going to wait until the end. It's going to be a gut feel at the end. I mean, I kind of think that she's probably going to go. I think that's probably just my gut feel. Hell yeah. Because, I mean, this whole season has been crazy.

She's done everything she's promised. She basically came to Iowa and vowed to take the Hawkeyes to a Final Four. She did that last year. This whole college thing is crazy. I mean, the attention is celebrity-esque. You'll probably see that tonight. You'll see that when she gets to the NCAA tournament. And, yeah, you can't even turn on like a Big Ten game anymore

and not see her with Jake from State Farm. And she's on commercials, and she's got Nike, Gatorade. All that stuff will carry with her to the WNBA. And I think, frankly, she's probably ready for that next competitive challenge as well. Well, Indiana would be very pumped if she made that decision. I mean, what a perfect fit for our team, the Indiana Fever, with the Pacers doing what they're doing, the Colts doing what they're doing. Here we go.

Welcome to the city, Caitlin. We will love to have you. Now, I don't think I see her do a lot of interviews. Now, I know you get a chance to chat with her because you covered the team as closely as you do. What is she like? Is she a normal human? Does she know she's Caitlin Clark? You you do. What is she like? Is she a normal human? Does she know she's Caitlin Clark?

What is she like? Her personality is tremendous. She's fun. She's funny. She's kind of goofy. She's just like a normal Midwest kid. And this whole year has been so unique because she has to turn down so many interview requests. I believe she turned down Good Morning America, New York Times. I mean, she gets all kinds of requests all the

time. But yeah, her personality, I think that's part of the misnomer maybe about Kaylin Clark. You see her be pretty intense on the court, jawing with officials sometimes. She has gotten technical fouls in games before, but she's never brought any controversy upon herself. She's just a completely positive person, loves the attention for the women's game, and obviously she brings a lot of it every night. And she pulls up from anywhere. Yeah.

She pulls up from absolutely anywhere. 18.5-point favorites tonight at home. Go ahead, Tone. Yeah, Chad, what's the vibes? What's the atmosphere in Iowa City today? Is it comparable to when the Hawkeyes play a football Saturday or

anything that you've experienced in the city around the university before? Well, I mean, ticket prices for this game are just astronomical. They're way higher than... I mean, they're like Super Bowl level. Maybe not quite, but for Iowa City it is. I mean, hundreds of dollars just to get in. And that's the way it's been for a lot of these games, even on the road. Like the season at home is completely sold out in Iowa City.

they didn't sell out were like some neutral site in Florida where it was like a Florida Gulf Coast host site uh type of deal so I mean I was at Maryland a couple weeks ago 18,000 raucous fans two and a half hour lines to get in um I'm telling you guys that's tough business there's not a lot of people selling 18,000 tickets to anything you know like yeah obviously we watch the NFL and people are like oh look how many tickets they sell it's like 18,000 tickets is a big house. That is a big house to be selling out. And it's because of her. Even on a scoreboard, it's like, Kaitlyn Clark currently has this.

Then they got Kaitlyn Cam they're doing on this entire thing. How old is she? 22. And she just handles it, huh? Yeah, that's what's amazing. Yeah. She's so, I don't know how she does it, to be honest. Like, you ask me to come on a show and I'm, like, super nervous, you know? And then we're 30 minutes late. Yeah, we's so – I don't know how she does it, to be honest. Like, you ask me to come on a show, and I'm, like, super nervous, you know.

And then we're 30 minutes late. Yeah, we – yeah. Yeah, I just build it up. But it's on the court, and she just drops, like, first shot of the game. It probably is going to go in from, like, 25, 30 feet. And she just handles it, and it's amazing. She's electrifying. Conman's got a question for you, Chad.

Yeah, Chad, throughout the history of Iowa, there's been a lot of legends to come through. Pat Inger, Dallas Clark, Tristan Wirfs. With Kaitlyn Clark, is there anyone really comparable? Like, has Iowa ever seen anything like this to the kind of level that it's at with her? And how much do you think Iowa is willing to pay her to try and keep her there instead of letting her come to the Indiana fever?

Like we all want. Oh man. First of all, Pat anger found out I was coming on and wanted Pat to know, wondered if he was the best personal protector that he ever had. And if you say he's, he wasn't, he's going to be upset.

Well, I would never want to upset Pat anger. And he, he played PP when he was starting middle linebacker and also had a broken foot. I think he was leading the NFL in tackles as well. So, yeah, I'd say Pat Anger is the best PP I've ever had. I love that man.

I love him. Okay, there you go. No, I mean, and what's interesting is we had Luka Garza come through and he was the National Player of the Year. Megan Gustafson was the National Player of the year in 2019 for women's basketball. Spencer Lee, uh, almost was a four time NCAA champion in wrestling, uh, Keegan Murray number four draft pick.

So we've covered a lot of pretty high level athletes in the last five years or so. But, uh, the, you know, Clark is, uh, you know, we, we did a, I did a podcast today and it's like, she's Mount Rushmore of one at Iowa because she's that big. She's that she's become that big of a deal. And she is, she lives up to it. That's what's kind of really cool about what she does. And you mentioned the logo shots.

That's, that's part of the show too. She'll pull up from 30, 35 feet and pretty much drain about 40 percent of them oh yeah i've i've enjoyed watching her play and she kind of has like a messy like vibe too on defensive side it looks like she's maybe not giving maxima and then steel you know it's like she is she's phenomenal absolutely let's let's pivot real quick real quick iowa hawkeye is going to be able to get a first down next year what do we think well Torrey Taylor's gone that's another I thought we were going to talk about Torrey Taylor most of the time here I'm excited to see him at the combine I'm very excited to see him at the

combine hit NFL balls I think he's gonna he's so tall I don't think it's he's big he's a massive human being Torrey Taylor he's gonna be great in NFL, but let's talk about him being the star of that team for literally the last four years. I love that personally, but that normally means that the offense can't really do much. Are we going to be able to – are we good in the future, or what are we thinking? Defense will be good.

I know that. They do have a new offensive coordinator now, Tim Lester. He used to be a quarterback at Central Michigan. Oh, yeah. Or Western Michigan, I'm sorry. And, yeah, we'll see. You know, they got Cade McNamara coming back for the offense. Former Michigan guy.

We'll see. He's coming off the corn ACL. So, you know, they were last in the country in total offense by a wide. Yeah, last two years, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I know. Thanks for reminding me. It was tough to watch.

It was tough to watch. Tough to cover. Tough to write. About 234 yards per game. I have cautious optimism. They have Luke Lachey at tight end. They've got some good running backs, good receiver coming back. So we'll see.

Oh, they got a transfer from left tackle from Alabama, too. Big time. Yeah, now there's tampering going on. Yeah, a little bit. Yeah, there's tampering going on, they said. That's our fault. Because, yeah, we did a media interview with him, and he said, yeah. And that's where that all ballooned.

Well, I'm sure the NCAA has got it, you know. Right down the middle. I'm sure they know. I'm sure they'll have it figured out. Do you know Ty Schmidt on our show? Have you seen him? Yeah. I'm sure they know. I'm sure they'll have it figured out. Do you know Ty Schmidt on our show? Have you seen him? Yeah, I was told that he might have some Iowa questions,

but he's not here today, right? Yeah, no, he is. I would be excited to hear what his reaction was to you talking about that offense and that entire thing. Yeah, I was stumbled a little bit there. I didn't know what to say about the offense. You should hear him. It's the same story, sounds like, from everybody over there. We appreciate you joining us today, Chad. Good luck to say about the offense. You should hear him. It's the same story. Sounds like from everybody over there. We appreciate you joining us today, Chad.

Good luck tonight. Enjoy the environment. You're welcome. Thanks for having me. Ladies and gentlemen. Hey, did I say it right? Lystico? Yeah, Lystico.

You nailed it, man. You're a pro. It's on your Twitter. Helps. Yeah, but still, you got it right. So good job. I spoke French earlier. I don't know if you saw it.

Yeah, no big deal. I mean, we're out here doing it. Au revoir, Chad Lystico. Ladies and gentlemen. Hey, Chad. Appreciate you saw. Yeah, no big deal. I mean, we're out here doing it. Au revoir, Chad Lysakow. Ladies and gentlemen. Chad. Appreciate you, Chad. Thank you, Chad. Tone said 14 seconds into that guy's appearance.

Okay, I'm talking to him. Tone drops into my right ear from over there. That is the most Iowa backdrop I've ever seen. Wow. Wow. He was in his living room with a kitchen. It was awesome. There was a globe on the one side.

He had a great backsplash on his sink. The black shirt. I said, this is Iowa, baby. Yeah, he was very kind to us. We were 30 minutes late for him. Yeah, felt bad, for sure. Iowa nice. And, you know, what are we supposed to do? Hey, Tyrese, stop. And he had to finish his story. And I know exactly how I feel. Like, if you've gone into

job interviews or something like that, you're so super nervous, and that extra 30 minutes does not help. Yeah, he said, oh yeah, just let it build up or whatever yeah there's no reason to be nervous he nailed it yeah literally he had the only information that we did not have so there's no way for him not to do good pretty awesome like the biggest girls regular season basketball game possibly at least in my lifetime is on peacock and a real bummer it's not just yeah how about on espn so everyone can watch so not even on nb, it's not just on ESPN, so everyone can watch. So not even on NBC? Not even on NBC.

You changed the network. Like in how many games do you think Peacock had this year? They just happened to get the one that it's going to happen. So to be clear, 18.5 point spread. So it's not supposed to be like a great game. But I would assume that people

projected out when it could happen. Yeah, the timing of it. Oh, I'm sure they did. Now, did they expect her to score 32 a game? Is that what he said? He's averaging 30 plus. Yeah, it's just probably 32.3. I think she dropped 48 last time they played Michigan.

I'm positive. She moves at a different speed than everybody else. Shottas. You know, like, yeah, she'll pull that thing. Chuck it. And if it's a miss, she does everybody else. Shottas. You know, and like, yeah, she'll pull that thing. Chuck it. And if it's a miss, she does not care. No. There is zero hesitancy the next time down there.

And I like that the Iowa coach seemingly holds her accountable and everything, but also is very much like, hey, we got something. Yeah. She's an elite passer as well. She, man, watching some of her passes are crazy. So last year, her five, five, five, the center. Yeah, she and I know who you're talking about. Also, they were.

They were. And I don't know if she's still there or not. But there's another girl that I've seen the last couple of games where she's doing those thread needle passes. Catch layup in the same exact 30 or 40 in the last two weeks. I remember. And she understands that she's going to draw off probably three or four, too. So she's dishing as well as scoring 40. She's fun to watch, dude.

Fun, fun to watch. Like, shoot pumped to watch that game tonight, to see her. Like, that'll be an absolute scene. Iowa's going to go so many. Nuts. Do you think she's going to stop the game? Flashy three threes right off the bat. That'd be cool.

Well, that's how she does it. Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's just standard operating procedure. Are they going to stop the game? Yeah, they'll stop it. They'll give her a laminated piece of paper, won't they? I think it'll be something more legitimate. Iowa will take care of her more.

It's going to be a golden corn cob. This won't be. Yeah, maybe. That'll be better than what? If the NCAA was in control of it, we would assume something terrible is coming right down the pipe. Maybe a laminated piece of paper or certificate saying congratulations. That's actually a violation.

But if I was handling it, or maybe a third-party entity that does NIL, I assume there's going to be a pretty sick golden tractor. Maybe a watch with a number underneath it. Yeah, or like a ring.

What if she gets it, though, and they give her the mic, and she's like, it doesn't matter. I'm going to run this record up because I'm coming back next year. I can't wait to see you again. Boom, everyone goes crazy. Don't put that in the universe. What are you doing? If she does that, I will be shoot for her.

People would be very happy. We'll turn off Peacock. Yeah, I'm out. Oh, yeah. Do you want to do that? Do you want to do that, Caleb? I don't need her to do that. But will, okay, will all of her WNBA games sell out, you think? Here in Indiana? Oh, yeah. For sure. I would imagine for a while. Early, Caleb. I don't need her to do that. But will, okay, will all of her WNBA games sell out, you think?

Here in Indiana? Oh, yeah. For sure. I would imagine for a while. Early, yeah. I would absolutely go to watch Caleb Clark play baseball. Yeah. I'll drive there and go. She comes. So I think Tyrese Halliburton has courtside for fever too, if you buy the Pacer ones. Yeah. I think it's kind of like a package deal there.

It's a good deal. So we'll go to that. And Aaliyah Boston too. Like her and Aaliyah Boston would be... So it would be New York, Las Vegas, and Indiana deal there. It's a good deal. So we'll go to that. And Aaliyah Boston, too. Like her and Aaliyah Boston would be. So it would be New York, Las Vegas, and Indiana. Exactly. Exactly how it should be. Yeah, bingo. The three pillars of this country.

Let's get the hell out of here. What a day today. How's Tiger doing? Oh, Tiger. Started with a birdie, right? Yeah, he birdied one, and then he bowed a couple, and then he birdied again. So, yeah, even's not bad. What's it on? ESPN Plus.

Sweet. How is Sunday Red looking on camera? Sunday Red, he's wearing, it's like a cream-colored sweater. It looks really good. The leaderboard is really good right now. BJ? Yeah, so it's Kent Lake, Speed, Sal Torsen, Hovland are your top four. There we go.

Okay, we got golf. Watch this shit. This is what we need in the offseason. We need a stacked leaderboard. Yes, we do. We actually do. You have Tiger in there? Awesome.

Great butt, Ty. Looks great. That sun, day, red. Does look like it has a good shape to it because some of those pants, like cheaper company's pants, have like an asshole shape to them. You know, you got to tell. Now, I would assume that Tiger has his tailored to him and everything like that, but it does look like good quality.

Yeah, it does. Good color. He looks jocked. Teamed up with TaylorMade, right? Didn't he partner with them? Yeah, the TaylorMade marketing guy was the one who said, rule of thirds, you know. It's a shame that no more Tiger golf shoes will be coming out, though.

Never know. Yeah, sun. I guess Sunday. Red. Also, when he came back from the accident didn't he switch from Nike to foot joy already so there's yeah he was already wearing those like yeah the grandpa golf special you could certainly just foot joy Sunday yeah partnership just go ahead and put the name right there yep a little licensing yeah you guys got the shoes figured out thank you we're sun day red guys got the shoes figured out? Thank you. We're sun.

Day. Red. We got everything else figured out. And that's the show. Today was fun. It was. It was awesome. I didn't know going in what it was going to be like today.

Because you start looking through the news in the sports world. Obviously yesterday, terrible. The way that ended. That is not how Super Bowl parades are supposed to go. That is not how groupades are supposed to go. That is not how group celebrations are supposed to go. And we cannot get to a point where people are scared to go celebrate life. You're supposed to.

We need more celebrations of life. So obviously that is fucking terrible by all accounts. But then you start looking around like all the other news, you know. Yeah, there isn't anything. We did it today. Yeah, we did. We did it today. I mean, yesterday, too.

That's kind of the game of sports media is picking which irrelevant story do you want to make feel like a real thing. Exactly. But, like, sometimes we don't. That should be the motto of the offseason. That's kind of, isn't it? I mean, we've got to be the only sports show that's ever said that, but that's real.

You guys pop up sometimes, like, the questions that get posed on some shows. Whole segment. We'll give people a sign. Let's do sports media. Yeah, I guess. Some of them are just crazy. Questions from other sports shows. There's a chance we ruin it all, though.

I was wondering, why didn't Kyle Shanahan just fire himself? That came up today. That is a fair question. Bruce. That's a fair question. Bruce, step down. Well, we don't need to do this, okay? We're not. Jesus Christ. You know. Excuse me,

Lord. We can't have Connor be the voice reason. Yeah, exactly. But, I mean, I'm for it. I'm not saying I'm not. Anyway, sports will always have something. But there is going to be some days throughout this offseason for those that are new to this show where, boy, you're going to see a lot of struggling to season for those that are new to the show where boy, you're going to see a lot of struggling to get through stuff.

That's when we'll rely on guests and you'll see some interesting guests coming in. We'll tie them to sports for sure. But like through some of those days, we don't have the capability of being like, all right, fake bullshit. Let's battle for two hours. We don't do that. We don't have the ability or the capability to do that. So like, big shout out to Tyrese Halliburton.

Big shout out to Big Perk. And Coach Spaggs in the first hour. That guy was fucking awesome. So cool. He's from New England up there, huh? Massachusetts. If he's not from Massachusetts, sure, he's from New England, but this is a Massachusetts man.

Hey, you know who booked Coach Spaggs? Who? I bet Connor. On man. You got to go way back. No, no, no. New England high school football coach, great. John Pappas, former.

Oh, Papp. I played for him. He's tied in with all those New England NFL, Joe Philbin, Spaggs, Lou Anarumo, all those dudes. They have a little team over there. Yeah, I get a text from Connor that goes, do you want Coach Spags on the show? Nah.

Yeah. Yeah, we do. Friday? Sure. And then I get a text like 35 minutes later, he's good for tomorrow. We good for tomorrow? Yep, absolutely. Good booking, bud.

Made the show better. Yeah. There's zero effort or how do I put this? There's zero significance from what I did. I was strictly a middleman. Strong path. Strictly a middleman. That's what you need.

Middleman in the booking world. That is the way it works. Yeah, what are you talking about? Yeah, I guess. I mean, if that's someone's profession, then that's an absolute joke. But it was more so from a former coach. It's a lot of people's profession. Yeah, exactly.

So shout out, John Pappas. Shout out, John. Thank you, John. Thank you, coach. Coach John. All right, we'll be back tomorrow, hopefully with a better show. But we doubt it. Adam Vinatieri guest hosting tomorrow.

Boom. So two parts of the docuseries come out tomorrow? Yeah, how many are there? It's ten. So the next five weeks, two every Friday. I like that. I do, too. I can't do it. Ten episodes at once.

I can't do one, either. Two or three is the right age. Two's perfect. So that I can binge a little bit, and then my ADD will get past it anyways, even if it was all ten. Two's real good. So then you're not, and I think they're curing their issue, because when they would drop content early, I think they

weren't happy about the amount of time that it was significant. It was only like five days of significance and then it was gone. So they still get sustained significance over five weeks, but also us as people that have access to everything can binge a little bit as well. This feels like a good happy medium here. I like where we're getting to here.

Two to three episodes I think is the way of the future, hopefully. I hope so as well. We've been a good, happy medium here. I like where we're getting to here. Two to three episodes, I think, is the way of the future, hopefully. I hope so as well. We've been calling that for a few years now, and it seems like it's happening, and that's good news. Yeah, we need to watch, not because it's the New England Patriots, but because I believe if this method does work, then in the

future, say, for their regular shows a la Ted Lasso or a Severance perhaps, they might start releasing two a week. So that is a five-week period. That's awesome. Is the morning show done after most recent season? Whoa.

I stopped watching it on hand. They kind of left it open. I did finish it, but it took me a long time to get past that one episode. It's all about that episode. It's all about that episode. I just couldn't really get past it. Season. That went back in time. I saw about that episode. I saw about that episode. I just couldn't really get past it. Season three stunk in general. The whole thing.

Okay. Which sucks because I love Jon Hamm. That was a great show. Yeah, it was. That first season. I lost it. The boys came up to me and were like, do not watch.

Do not waste your time on it. Because I don't watch shit, pretty much. And if I do like it's very pointed like everybody has told me i have to watch something and i was a morning show fan you know because you're getting a chance to kind of see how like a show is run by their their stuff like how mainstream media has run now granted there's a lot of it this season all that other stuff happening cool but like how they run a show it's kind of cool for me to kind of watch what we do and what they do how they go about it and then the drama yeah caught up show, it's kind of cool for me to kind of watch what we do and what they do, how they go about it, and then

the drama caught up in the stories. It's like, okay, I like this show. And then Gump said, unless you want to go back to 2020, lad. Took me, literally took me a month to get past that episode that I finally circled back and finished it like two weeks ago. Because we're all trying not

to do that ever again. Ever again. Yep. There was a lot of high horse in this season. Yeah, don't do it. Go watch True Detective. And I will stand by it. I stand by watching it. Why? Have you seen season one? Yeah, I loved it. Okay.

Did you? Yeah, they did that one shot with McConaughey. It goes through the trailer and the back door. It's like some of the most intense shit of all time. They got those weird antlers and horns down in the swamps. Yeah, I think this is the second best season. I genuinely think you should try it. I know there's some supernatural aspects to it.

What do you mean? What are you, aliens? No, it's not aliens. No. We're like ghosts. Spirits. Supernatural. I believe in ghosts.

Okay, so I think you should watch. And the setting. Like, putting a show in Alaska during the eight or ten straight days of darkness is so sick. It was light in the last episode. Whoa. Jeez. It was. That's why I was shocked.

What is this all about? I mean, I looked at it. I haven't watched it. This is Espresso Martini Boy. Oh, I looked it up. Episode one, I looked it up. I said, how long is the night in Alaska? And Google told me 60 nights.

I could be wrong. No, no. I thought it was longer, too. But in the last episode, it was light out. Although, they were driving. Do we need to know this right now? Maybe I was on too many vitamins. I might be wrong, too.

Man, did you turn off the brightness on your TV? Yeah, that's what it was. Fucking glare on this thing right now. I think the episode started like day 14 at night. That show, that show. We appreciate you all. We'll be back tomorrow. Big guest tomorrow.

Huge. I think we got Ishbia, the owner of the Phoenix Suns, coming live in studio. I believe Sean's going to be live in studio. Obviously, NBA All-Star Weekend here in Indianapolis. So some of our friends from around the league are stopping by. I think a lot of people also saw Adam Silver on the show. And we're like, oh, shit, these people are in Indianapolis.

We've got flooded with invites to stuff. A little Radio Row Friday from the NBA All-Star Weekend. Yeah, we're not going down there. No, no, I didn't mean that. I meant them coming here to do that type of stuff. Pretty cool. It's sweet. I think I'm going to go talk to Stack and Matt Barnes. All the smoke tomorrow. I I didn't mean that. I meant them coming here to do that type of stuff. Pretty cool. I think I'm going to go

talk to Stack and Matt Barnes all the smoke tomorrow. I'm very excited about that. I'm a big fan of theirs. I love them. They're awesome. Yeah, Steven Jackson, Indianapolis legend, obviously. We ran in some similar circles, so I'm excited to kind of chit-chat with them. It's been awesome. I'm very

thankful that the NBA chose Indianapolis for the home of All-Star Weekend. We're lucky for that. And tomorrow will be our last show before we take a little bit of a hiatus. But then when we're back, just buzz off. Get ready. It is... Fuck off. Yeah, bingo. I think...

You know what I mean? The good news is that Monday, when we get back, we can tell you who the best quarterback of that draft class is going to be. And because he's going to New England. Jayden Daniels moved up a different mock draft today and Drake May is currently going. We don't know how we're going to feel on the Monday after

combine. So we'll be able to take in the full combine and give our educated analysis. Exactly. That's what this show is all about. Watch every rep. People love that about our show. our educated analysis. Exactly. That's what this show is all about. Watch every rep. People love that about our show. The educated analysis in journalism.

And that's what we'll do. All offseason. Ain't that right, AJ? Yep. Educated analysis. People tell me that all the time. And? And?

I don't know. What did you say after that? Journalism. You got caught up on the educated analysis. I did. I did. When's Mitt's first mock? Journalism. You got caught up on the educated analysis. I did. I did. Wins mitts first, Mark. Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Oh, I forgot. Day after the draft. Please. There's a lot to look forward to. Please. That's not one of them, but I am excited for all of them. I'm looking forward to it.

I'm looking forward to that. Hey, great work today, boys. You did fantastic. Tomorrow will be a blast. Thank you all so much for watching. We hope you'll continue to do so. A lot of people say nobody watches our show. That makes no sense to me.

But if that is the case, for those little people that watch, we are very grateful for you. AJ, great work. In the back, fantastic. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. That is a real thing. Don't ever forget it.

Even the people in your life that seem to be the most jocked and pumped and happy, go ahead and say something nice to them. Even if you don't mean it, you know, you might just bring a nice little smile to their face and change the trajectory of the rest of their day. And when things like yesterday are happening or happening, it kind of puts everything into perspective. We're in this thing together.

Team on me. Team on three. One, two, three. Team. Goodbye.