The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 1119 - Shams Charania, John Buccigross, Colts GM Chris Ballard, Bills GM Brandon Beane, Steelers GM Omar Khan, Rece Davis, Darius Butler, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: April 30, 2024

On today’s show, Pat, Darius Butler, AJ Hawk, and the boys chat about last night’s NHL and NBA Playoff games, and are joined by several great guests. First, NBA Insider from The Athletic and Stadium, Shams Charania joins the show to chat about the Lakers being eliminated from the playoffs, what’s next for Lakers Coach Darvin Ham, LeBron James, what’s going on with the Suns, and everything else around the NBA as the playoffs roll on (15:53-39:30). Next, ESPN NHL analyst and play-by-play commentator, John Buccigross joins the show to give an update about the NHL playoffs and what to look for tonight (41:19-54:49). Next, Pat and the boys Feel The Beat post NFL Draft to check in with a couple teams as they are joined by Colts GM Chris Ballard (1:07:46-1:22:12), Bills GM Brandon Beane (1:22:12-1:39:21), and Steelers GM Omar Khan (1:40:42-1:50:26). Later, host of College GameDay for both football and basketball, Rece Davis joins the show to chat about their draft coverage, how Nick Saban was, the future of college football, and much more (2:00:12-2:32:36). 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 thunderdown on this gm tuesday april 30th 2024 this sports program starts now sports our wonderful sports are amazing obviously the nba and the nhl are in the middle of their playoff run and we had an r-suite whoa we had an r-suite pelicans are at yeah yeah and if you recall, the story of the Pelicans this year at playoff run is that Zion Williamson did everything that we thought Zion was capable of doing in a play-in game, had 40-some points, took it over, and then with about a minute 40 left in that game, pulls a hamstring. Yep.

He's out. Oh, man. Lakers go on to win. Then the Pelicans are back door their way in. Then now they're getting swept by OKC. But the real story is the fact that everything we thought Zion could be, he was.

And then whenever it was the biggest time of the biggest game he played in, his body just said, nah, not yet. So now we have an entire offseason chit-chatting about whether or not Zion's going to be able to survive an entire season, whether or not he's going to be able to be a capable superstar

to represent a franchise and a program like the New Orleans Pelicans. And will we ever get to see Zion live up to the hype? I would like to say, after watching him take over that game, yes, we will. Mentally, he's been in it all year. He was in his best shape. He was doing things that were magical. In the pain, he's been in it all year. He was in his best shape. He was doing things that were magical. In the pain, he's unguardable. We just need his body to keep up with everything else going on.

Heard he hired a chef. He got some OnlyFans people away from him. There's a lot of stuff going on. But instead, the Pelicans had to play without him. And the youngest team in the playoffs in the NBA's history sweeps the Pelicans. And I'll tell you what, what's going on out there in Oklahoma City is beautiful. It is. It is absolutely beautiful.

I don't know if it's going to be enough to win the whole damn thing, but that dude, SGA, is a freak show for years to come. And the future of the NBA is in great hands. We'll be chit-chatting with Sean Sharani in about eight minutes or so. There was a gentleman's sweep as well in the nhl yeah as the florida panthers bamboozled the tampa bay lightning with a couple goals being called back from some fugazi goalie interruption interference and now the florida panthers make it past the first round congratulations to the florida panthers nine-year nfl vet south florida native

a man rocking a panthers hat right now darius j butler is here thank you hey congratulations you guys kind of uh you know there's gonna be a clause obviously because two goals are clearly goals that were called back because the goalie interference rule is one that is supposed to be a body by the book man it used to be an all not allowed in the crease, but now you're not allowed to touch him accidentally. It's bullshit. It's a bull. Rules are the rules. I don't know him, but hey, these guys got to follow him. This guy. It seems like nobody knows him. What did he say?

I don't know what he meant by that. I don't know what he meant by that. I don't know what he meant by that. I don't know what he meant by that. Because I don't know how many sports have skirts. Is he saying, is this a dress-up affair? Are we out of the gown at a gala? Is that why we're putting on the skirts? Why did he say that?

We don't know. A lot of people aren't here and they're assuming why he said it. And boy, in Canada, they are attacking him. He's been mad at the internet lately. Mad at everything. I saw two fake Bears piss off an entire country. I think they're fake. I don't know. I think they're.

It looks fake. I think they might be. Might be cartoons. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of people were mad. We're assuming that they're doing something. But who knows?

Anyways, hockey is upside down, but the ratings are through the roof. We'll be talking to the legend. There's John Bouchicross in about 36 minutes or so. He's calling, I think, for a Leafs win tonight in Austin Matthews having two goals. We shall see as the Bruins take on the Toronto Maple Leafs in what could be the end of that particular series

where Biz Nasty would owe us 10 public push-ups. We'll also have a couple GMs in the second hour. Now, you know how we do feel the beat? Where we got a beat writer so we can dive in a little bit deeper? We're going to do that with general managers of the NFL today. Let's go.

Okay, so we're going to go to a GM, let's say, here in Indianapolis. Okay. And then we're going to go to a GM, let's say, in Buffalo. And then there's a request in that should be I think from the sounds of it where we'll go to a GM in like San Francisco so we'll talk to them back to back to back about the state of their team

what happened in the draft, their mindset going forward and you know what the next couple months look like for them so I think it's going to be Indianapolis, Buffalo and San Francisco's general manager is going to join us in a second and then in the third hour Reese Davis is going to be Indianapolis, Buffalo, and San Francisco's general managers are going to join us in a second. That's awesome. Love it.

And then in the third hour, Reese Davis is going to join us to recap how Nick Saban was on college game day at the draft because I didn't really get to see anything other than clips. I saw at one point Nick Saban did this. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So I did come at this. There was a couple of give and takes, a little laugh.

Jalen Monroe was giving him a shout out. I mean, I'm excited to hear from Reese how the draft went for him. And can't wait to talk to these GMs. I do believe for the rest of the week, too, GMs that are going to be joining this particular program. Of the Cleveland Browns, Andrew Barry will be on. Of the Philadelphia Eagles, Hallie Roseman will be on. Of the Chicago Bears, who we thought that relationship was dead

because we lost our – Ryan Poles will be on the program. From the Houston Texans, Poles will be on the program from the Houston Texans. Casario will be on. Okay. And we do believe from the Atlanta Falcons, a general manager who a lot of people have questions not just us for. Yeah. No.

So we will obviously make sure we do our job in the proper journalizing of the journalism of the Atlanta Falcons GM, Terry Fonten. Okay. So it's been GM week. I think this is when we can get them before they kind of check out or dive into whatever they have going on next. Might be the last week in the office for these guys after the draft. As OTAs are taking place, maybe doing deals with other people, figuring it out, and then all of a sudden we're all eyes on fall.

The talk table is here at Boston Connor and at Ty Schmidt. One half of the hammer. cowboys telling digs is your boys gm stopping by is always good we can get any answers out of these guys corner i hope so you know it feels like this time of the year it's like hey if there was stuff you were thinking about and obviously the draft just happened we kind of experienced it with schaefter like you can tell us you know there's nothing going to happen that you might have we're thinking about doing that you know can't be done now you can tell us. There's nothing going to happen that you might have been thinking about doing that can't be done now. So just tell us. For instance, Brandon Bean,

were you really thinking about maybe trading for one of those premier guys like Ayuk or Debo for Josh Allen? Because they were mixed in in that conversation and he should be able to say, yeah, you know what? We were. Maybe we had a couple offers on the table, but we decided to go with Keon Coleman. That type of

information, just the hypotheticals that we've been dealing with for the past month, hopefully they can just tell us, hey, that was real. That was bullshit. That almost happened. That never happened. And also, when Veach calls you, do you say to yourself, yeah, I just want to make Kansas City Chiefs better to hell with the Bills. That's why I'll trade

number 28 pick to Kansas City, if you're Brandon Bean. We got a lot of questions. Sounds like, though, if you read the temperatures of all the fans, literally 31 fan bases happy with the draft. I think because of how deep it was. So all these GMs coming on

can take a victory lap. Now, Fontenot can do an explanation lap and a victory lap on top of that if he wants to, but it feels like the draft was a home run for seemingly every single team. There's enough players throughout where everybody can be like, yeah, we got better this year. And also, I don't think the expectations were as high for some of these players. But a lot of notable players were still getting drafted in fourth, fifth, and sixth round. So when you talk about fan reaction, it's almost like a perfect recipe to get a thumbs-up grade from your fans if you're a GM.

This is the right time to come on shows if you're a GM after a draft. Yeah, exactly. These guys can either take the victory laps, and then we mentioned a couple days ago, there are still some pretty solid free agents out there. So maybe who are they looking at in the drafts that they didn't have a chance to either. Someone else got a guy they were looking at. And if there are a couple other little holes that maybe they'll be able to fill with some of these premier free agents that are left over,

it should be interesting. But like you said, we got a bunch of guys who are probably very happy with their draft, and then we also got the one guy who maybe, hey, he has the opportunity to lay out the master plan. Put to bed all the this guy doesn't know what the hell he's doing. A lot of that. Yeah, exactly. This franchise is a

dumpster fire. A lot of that. All, exactly. This franchise is a dumpster fire. A lot of that. All that kind of stuff can be put to rest later this week. So looking forward to that as well. I can't wait. And maybe the GM in Indianapolis can tell us when he's starting to grow his hair out. Yeah, that'd be cool. I'm excited to learn that.

We'll have him at 110 today. It's getting long. Very long. Need to know the product. Looks good. And then he's getting... Yeah. I want to know what's going on

looks like he's just eating iron and dumbbells yeah and then just study it look at this guy roll is that a video there look he starts laughing maniacally they ought to law too obviously like an evil villain yeah he does and the laugh is perfect and uh i don't know who he was talking to, or is he just talking to himself there? Just out loud. Myself. I think he's just talking to himself there. He'll be talking to us in, you know, about an hour or so.

We'll have Sean Shirani joining us in a matter of moments. But before we get to him, did you see what Patrick Mahomes did last night? Yeah. Son of a bitch. Did you see what happened? What the hell? What is he doing? Jey Uso, obviously, the Yeet Man himself.

Yeah. Because to the house, Yeet, Yeet, God damn. Because to the house yeet, yeet, goddamn. To the house yeet, yeet, god, you get it. Right. He's yeeting all over everywhere. Always. Multiple times. Everybody's yeeting with him.

I mean, we were in Kansas City last night. Whole place yeeting. Place was soaked. The week before that, we were in bingo. Can't even do it. Oh, the week before. That was the week of Columbus, Ohio. Okay.

There it is. All right. These things all kind of roll together. Because I fly in, car, arena, car, plane, gone. Every city looks the exact same. Looks like a plane and the inside of a car and then the inside of an arena. Sure. And then I'm out of there.

All the fans have shown up, though, over like the last three months, and they've been awesome. Delivered. Every environment is electrifying. And what they all love to do is yeet. Okay? They all love yeet. Yeet. You guys yeet a few times, doesn't it?

Yeet. Yeet. A lot of yeet. A lot of quick recovery for you guys. Yeet. Thank you. I feel like I am getting a cardio together for TSD. And Jay Uso is beloved.

Yeah. Not only because of the yeet, but his story. And last night, Logan Paul, with an assist from the Judgment Day, came out and started attacking. That's Jey Uso getting attacked by Finn Balor and just dumb McDonough right there. The man with the head on the left. That's JD McDonough. Logan Paul, founder of Prime, comes over to Prime Athlete.

Patrick Mahomes is sitting front row. And he usually uses brass knucks. Didn't have his. So instead he gets his three Super Bowl rings. What did you call it, Nick? What did he put on his right hand? A dynasty. He literally put a dynasty on Logan Paul's right hand. Right in front of an entire crowd that wants to yeet all over

the place. And he goes to punch him in the face like, Patrick Mahomes, why'd you help him? Well, Pat knew what Jey Uso was going to do. Duck! Jey D. McDonald eats three Super Bowl rings. Okay? Those are absolutely bananas. Now, Finn Balor with the yeet glasses on,

they stole from Jey Uso. And Logan Paul realized what they've done. Oh, no. Oh, no. That wasn't how it was supposed to go. Well, Patrick Mahomes and Jey Uso knew exactly how that was going to go. Ha, ha! Ha, ha!

That was awesome, buddy. Yeah, it was. J.D. McDonough with three Super Bowl rings to a forehead. And then all of a sudden, J.U. So Finn Balor finished their fight. Logan Paul gets the hell out of the way. And then they all escape, okay? And Patrick Mahomes, you know, you ask him, what are you doing? I thought you were a good guy.

Why did you do that? Yeah. I like to think that Patrick Mahomes is always playing chess. He knew that with the amount of time Logan took away and how stupid J.D. McDonough is and Finn Balor speaking Irish accent, so you can't really understand what he's saying. He knew he'd be able to move when those things came in, and he did. So thank you, Patrick Mahomes, for helping out J.D. McDonough.

No way. No way. I will not clap for that. That's what he was doing. That's absolute bullshit. You saw what he did to Braun Strowman right after. Braun Strowman comes out, saves the yeet man himself. And then what he was doing. That's absolute bullshit. You saw what he did to Braun Strowman right after Braun Strowman comes out, saves the Yeet Man himself. And then what's Pat doing? Instead of saying, oh, hey, man, that was for you guys, he stands up and he grills Braun Strowman, the monster.

Well, you're not going to go punk Patrick Mahomes at Kansas City. Well, I agree. You're not going to punk. I completely agree, and I wasn't calling for that. But you're also not going to tie your anchor to Logan Paul, the villain that he is, the Batman who's partnering with the Judgment Day. We're acting as if he's helping out these guys. See, look at this.

He stares Braun Strowman in the face like, I don't care that you're a good guy. I'll smack you around too. See that right there? I'm not going anywhere. A lot of people said he said, I'm here, I'm here. But I didn't hear him say that. I heard him say. No, he's just standing up in his city.

This is his city. Yeah, I agree. And Trey Smith and Creed Humphrey obviously go excuse me okay braun welcome back monster among monsters and yeats got to pull him back because he knows you know hey look you don't want to met this guy in his city he almost tried to hit me in the face with rings well jay knows jay just said hey thank you for doing that you delayed the whole thing you set me up everywhere it was all right i wish braun would have put those assholes through a table. Thank you. I believe Braun Strowman. I was there.

And Patrick. Amen. Trey comforted Joe Borgonzi. Yeah. Okay, after the shooting in Kansas City. Trey Smith, hero. What have you done for me? If we're going to turn a worker to a shoot, brother, we can.

Thank you. I'm just saying. Last night's not the night to call Trey Smith a greenhut for anything. They're actually the heroes of the night last night. I agree. Alongside Trey Filter and Paul Contreras, the two guys that tackled the gunman that was leaving the parade, got a chance to meet them last night. It was a beautiful night in Kansas City last night, and I know Patrick Mahomes is working with the good side.

I know he was. I know he was. I know he was. Even though everybody on the internet is saying, whoa, he's just fully embraced being a heel, huh? Go ahead and pump some Super Bowl rings to Logan Paul's face so he can put them through the yeet man's mouth. I don't think that's what Pat was doing. I hope not. Patrick Mahomes is a

future goat. He wouldn't want to help out somebody hurting the yeet man. We know that. Especially J.D. McDonough. I have a lot more questions than answers. J.D. McDonough's face got... Looks better, right? Those Super Bowl rings, I think, were pretty good weapons. Yeah, it looked like it.

I mean, he... That was Dan Marino, right? Ace Ventura, a pet detective. When he's trying to find the Super Bowl ring, and he gets punched in the face, and he counts the amount of things. That's what happened to J.D. McDonough's forehead last night. Eye and forehead.

Three Super Bowl rings through. Then he gets kicked in the mouth later in the night. It was a wild night in Kansas City. We can't thank everybody enough, but Patrick Mahomes is doing the right thing. I don't think so. I disagree. I respectfully disagree. I was asking him in real time, what are you doing? Yeah. But then

after I looked back and read the situation with clear eyes, full hearts in the morning, I think he did it on purpose to help out, Jay. Like there was too much wind, it was too cold. Well, he was sick. He was sick, too. Yeah, I mean, it was sick. I mean, right there, he's like, yeah, take your time. Look at these. Go ahead. Ridiculous. You see Super Bowl rings?

Yeah, I got three of them. I'm only 28. Yeah, what do you want me to do? Go ahead and have them. Maybe he just thought it was a gift, too. Yeah. You know, like a prime, thank you for having me be a part prime. I saw them at my home's prime bottle or at the prime hydration station on the other side. It was right next to us.

I mean, he dapped up the Archer Infamy, too, walking in. I just didn't like the vibe last night. If he's going to be a heel, be a heel. Don't flip and flop. What are you talking about? Logan Paul brought him in a Rolls. He came in a Rolls Royce. I Show Speed popped out of the trunk. He did.

No, I saw. I saw. Trunk? That's not safe. Is he part? I saw the trunk open, and then I saw I Show Speed turn a corner, and my mic was not on at the time. But did he just come out of the trunk?

Yeah. I'm glad he's okay. Is he his WWE superstar now? Yeah, you're right. Randy Orton. He took RKO's. He almost broke his freaking neck. I hope that's the case.

That's electrifying. A lot of energy. He was screaming into a microphone last night. Great announcement of the picks. Right. One of the best. One of the best. Ian Logan. Joining us now is a man who's going to break some real news. That's what he does every time he comes on. We can't thank him enough. Senior NBA insider for the stadium and the athletic

and FanDuel TV. Ladies and gentlemen, Seanams Haranian. Yay, Shams! Shams, sorry, we had to break down. Patrick Mahomes helping out Jay Uso last night, even though the narrative is that he was doing the complete opposite. Anyway, Shams, big time in basketball. You look so cool right now.

Wow. So cool. Hey, I just watched the draft special you guys had last week, big time stuff. I was tuned in. Not because of you, because week. Big time stuff. I was tuned in. Not because of you, because of Coach Bilicek. I was definitely coaching. Yeah, well, it's called Spectacular Asshole.

It's not Draft Special. It's Draft Spectacular. Sean. Okay, Sean, I know you're busy. There's a lot going on. And the NBA playoffs are taking place, even though the NFL draft said. Yeah, see ya. See ya.

Just like Christmas. Yeah. Just for a couple days. Just for a couple days, though. Just for a couple days. And now we're back to regular schedule programming. 12.1 million average viewers on that first night of the NFL draft.

Shams. Is that as much as Caitlin Clark's games? Okay, so now I agree. W-M-B-A. We're covering basketball, too, now. Just Kaitlyn Clark's games. Okay, so now I agree. WNBA. Basketball. We're covering basketball too now. All ages. Shout out to WNBA.

Hey, shout out to WNBA. Shams Sharani is like, oh yeah? You guys beating Kaitlyn Clark? I don't think so. I love that, Shams. I appreciate that. Let's go Fever. We're about to be in the middle of a dynastic run here in Indiana.

Film's coming out of her training camp. I know. She's winning a half-court shooting contest. Might as well still be a Carver. She's hitting stepbacks. She's hitting Boston with these no-look passes. I think she's going to be okay. Anyways, let's get to the NBA.

Are the Lakers and LeBron James going to be okay? Hey, we are now at that time. The Nuggets have eliminated the Lakers. So what comes immediately after that? Well, what's going to happen and LeBron James going to be okay? Hey, we are now at that time. The Nuggets have eliminated the Lakers. So what comes immediately after that? Well, what's going to happen with LeBron? This has been multiple years in a row. And there was a post last night, I believe by SportsCenter or ESPN on Instagram, that basically the Nuggets have ruined every single thing

that is supposed to happen in a celebratory way for the Los Angeles Lakers over like the last five years, maybe six years. The Nuggets are the nemesis of this Lakers and LeBron team. Now, Greeny's taking a victory lap saying that they should have tried to lose to the Pelicans so then they could play OKC, whatever. Darvinham's fired. LeBron James is leaving to go play somewhere else or he's staying and the Lakers are going to trade up the draft. Bra who's going into the draft what is real what is not right now with the Lakers LeBron Darvin Ham in an offseason that is going to be like every other one with question marks all over the place Shams yeah so let's just let's look at the series first and and the Lakers really feel

like there were two very very winnableable games, especially game two. They were up 20 points in that game. They don't execute down the stretch, don't win that game. And that was really a heartbreaker for them internally throughout the entire organization. You win that game, you're 1-1, you go back home. It's a totally different tenor of the series. And just overall in the regular season, the play that happened, they felt like they should have been a higher seed this year. Because, listen, you're playing in the playing tournament race. You're putting yourself in a position where you're scratching and clawing just to make the playoffs, and then you're not able to

dictate your future. And there was a point in December, January, where a couple rotation players, high-level starters, Austin Reeves, D'Angelo Russell, were benched for extended periods of times. And from what I'm told, that was perplexing to people inside that organization, obviously outside around the league, that organization. And the buck stops with Darvin Ham as the head coach as far as making those decisions. And so starting with Darvin Ham, if you will, LeBron James, of course, has bigger implications throughout the sport. But Darvin Ham, I'm told his job is in serious peril.

The expectation is that it is highly unlikely, from what I'm told, that he's going to be back for a third season as Lakers head coach. So you think about rotations that happen over the course of the season, the disconnect that really was there in the locker room in terms of adjustments, game plans, and you saw really in the second half of the season, the players took the onus of putting it on themselves and trying to right this ship. And they did.

Listen, they won games. They got into the playoffs. They didn't have to play in the eighth seed. So you're able to dictate your future in that way. But they wanted to be in a position where you're fighting for home court advantage. And post-in-season tournament, they win the in-season tournament, right? They go 10 losses in 13 games and that stretch really derailed their season in terms of them having ownership on their future so that that is the case with darvin ham as far as lebron james that's a much bigger thing from what i'm told let's talk about darvin ham

hold on let's finish on darvin ham here before we move to LeBron. Because I think he did an interview with McManaman. Yeah, Dave McManaman. McManaman. There it is. And some of these quotes coming out, it's almost like it's a fake quote, but it's real quotes, I think, coming out from Darvin Ham. If you're coaching a team and one of your stars is like 10 games in a row, just shit in the bed, what are you going to do? I love that coming from a head coach who has been obviously missiled and torpedoed from outside.

Common sense tends to go out the window when you talk about my job in particular. Now, I thought these were fake quotes whenever I read them because this is not normally how anybody would speak, especially around this time. But that's Bleacher Report and McManaman's real deal, right? McManaman's real deal in his reporting is like, is Darvin Ham finally speaking up for himself? Is this how it's been? And is this because he knows the writing's on the wall? And how's D'Lo going to potentially take the photo that was used for that particular quote there, Sean? Hey, you know, D'Angelo Russell said

the other day he's he doesn't need any motivation I guess he's self-motivated so maybe he's not gonna do anything with it but this is really I saw those this it's really a stretch and it's in line with all the comments that have really been made over the course of the season publicly by Darvin Hammond that's another thing people internally will look at and point to is is the i guess the lack of somewhat accountability as far as whether it is a rotation gap if there is an issue in terms of the game plan the adjustment um the lack of of ownership accountability it's not something you know it's not something that i'm saying this is something that i'm hearing internally has come up as an issue and something that you know people do have to raise their eyebrows at so um listen i think there were stretches of time where d'angelo russell struggled over the course

of the year he picked it up in the second half of the season and darvin ham stuck with him throughout the playoff run didn't bench him when he went through his woes in the playoffs and you do have to give darvin ham this credit he did lead this team to the Western Conference Finals a year ago. Players did have genuine respect for him as a coach or as a person. But as in my story last night, one player we had tell us, we also need to be coached as well. And that ultimately was something that Lakers executives, that's something that they're going to have to take into great account. It was good work.

Well, they won in-season. They won the in-season tourney, which I saw them celebrate. Okay, now let's get to the inaugural in-season tournament MVP, LeBron James and his future with the Lakers. From all accounts, you know, it seems like there's different answers flying from different sources. You know, maybe he wants to leave. Maybe he's not going to take an option extension. Maybe they're going to draft Brawny. Maybe he wants to leave. Maybe he's not going to take an option extension.

Maybe they're going to draft Brawny. Maybe he wants to say he'll take less money. What is the real, what is the not at this exact point from your standpoint, Shams? Yeah, I'm told LeBron James expects to play up to two NBA seasons, and that would take him to year 23 in the NBA, 23 seasons in the NBA. He just finished his 21st season. He has a $51.4 million player option for next season,

and that does give him a great amount of flexibility, a good amount of leverage. He can opt into that deal, have an extension. He can opt out, reach a new extension. He lost control of the ball. It's two seasons. If LeBron James does decide two years, that's it. It's not going to be a third season.

By the way, guys, from what I'm told and what we reported yesterday on this piece with the Athletic, the Lakers, Jeannie Buss, they'll go as far as offering him a three-year, $164 million maximum contract if that's what it takes to keep LeBron James. If he wants to come back on a one-year max, a two- a three-year max the lakers are all in and so the question is going to be with lebron james his agent rich paul clutch sports they're going to have to meet over the next few few weeks and figure out just how long he wants to play in the nba exactly um but he's going to have to really uh look at how the lakers manage the offseason, what additions they make to the roster. One name to keep an eye on, Trey Young, potentially, as a candidate. So between now, his option date is

June 29th. And guys, this is interesting because June 29th is after the NBA draft and right before free agency. LeBron James will have all the answers he needs to have by that point. What happens with his son, Bronny James, if he does elect to stay in the draft? Another thing I reported and we reported, the Lakers very much have interest in drafting Bronny James. They know LeBron James has spoken on the record about wanting to play with Bronny. And at the end of the day, he wants the best for Bronny. If that means Bronny James getting drafted by another team, making more guaranteed money, he's obviously going to be an advocate of that. But the Lakers have made it known now to him and the world that they are very much in the

game as far as trying to pick him. And they're going to have potentially a first round pick and a second round pick to bring him in. And in a perfect world, guys, having LeBron James and Bronny James on this team next season and moving forward, that is going to be at least one of the goals for the Lakers. Okay, I think we've been talking about Trey Young potentially going to L.A. for like two years, right?

We were just there in All-Star weekend. We talked about it when I was in the Thunderdome. Okay, so that's kind of been alluded to. So, Trey Young, Bronwny, LeBron, AD, is Austin back next year? The White Hope? Well, Austin Reeves, they love him. They want him to be... Oh, that's a no.

The only trade where you move a guy like Austin Reeves is if you're getting a surefire, all-star, all-NBA type player. Is Trey Young that guy? The Lakers front office, executives internally, they're going to have to meet and discuss and figure out, is Trey Young the type of player?

But again, it's not going to be just exclusive to him. There's going to be other players that this organization, that they can come up with as far as a list of targets. But watching the playoffs, watching the second half of the season, could they need a top-flight point guard at that position? There were some inconsistencies with d'angelo russell he did have a monster second half of the season i have to give him credit he shot the ball lights out he had a couple good games here in the playoffs a couple but do you

have an answer of something that could be an upgrade and that's something rob palenka and that front office is going to get to work on but tre Trae Young is the type of player where if the Hawks, let's say in those conversations, they did have conversations around DeJounte Murray this season. So there already have been levels of conversation between those two front offices and organizations. And in those conversations, the Hawks did look at and ask for Austin Reeves. At that point, the Lakers were unwilling to give up Austin Reeves.

But does Trae Young change their mind? We'll find out in the next couple months. Okay, can't wait to watch it all unfold. Sound like the Jameses are going to be the Lakers. Yep. That's what I just heard. I think that's going to be the case. Well, listen, multiple teams are going to monitor.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think the Lakers have made it clear that they very much want to intend to stay in the LeBron James business by any means. Got it, got it, got it. And that would be cool. Yeah, it would be. I'm sure in the game, you know, traveling around, hey, this is how you do dinner, this is how you do this,

this is how you do this. Not that he hasn't already, but actually watching him. Also, Pat, let's talk about this. The level that he's playing at right now, 21 seasons, last night 30 points. What do you have, 11 assists, 11 rebounds, whatever it was, nine assists, not whatever. It was like a 30-11-9 game. This is year 21.

He's 39 years old. I mean, the level he's playing at, I don't think anyone could have foreseen this late in his NBA career. So the Lakers know, and we were told, LeBron James isn't the problem. Anthony Davis isn't the problem. How do we continue to build around them and try to compete for another championship? Sounds like all eyes are on the coach. Yeah.

And Darvham's gone. Hey, Darv, you could get another gig. Maybe with the Phoenix Suns, and that'll last a year. Yeah, there you go. And he'll be gone just like old Frank, who had a hell of a run here in Indiana for a while. Trey Young's name got mentioned yesterday. Funny you bring that up. Go ahead, Connor.

Yeah, Sean, it was awesome to know you're very tied in with the Lakers because it's a dumpster fire and you're making it seem like it's not that bad. But with Wemby in San Antonio, we talked to Brian Windhorst yesterday and he kind of threw out the idea that the Spurs might be one of the premier places that some free agents or even some guys like a Trey Young might want to go to go play with Wemby, play for Pop, and obviously because the alien that he is probably would help out a lot of guys, especially a Trey Young type guard. Is that a very real situation that San Antonio

is going to be one of the premier spots this offseason for guys to go to, or what are you hearing around the Spurs and interest in wemban yama and popovich well there's a ton of interest in a lot of players in a lot in every part of the league in terms of playing potentially with victor remenyama he is a one-on-one player he already showed in year one this guy's gonna win rookie of the year and he was a finalist for defensive player of the year all in his first season next season all-star all nba those are all things i'm sure that that are going to be very very attainable for victor women yama and with with the spurs now they're going to be in play they're going to be rumored they're going to be talked about with legitimately every top flight

point guard that we're going to see potentially on the marketplace they called last year during the season during this season expressed interest in djounte Murray so we already know there's at least some level of interest in seeing what type of all-star caliber point guard can they bring in there and so if we don't know yet will the Hawks be open are they open for business on Trae Young does Trae Young what is his future there but if a guy like that is available they're they're gonna express a level of interest they're gonna express a level of interest in any really top flight guard in the league. And Victor Wimonyama, what he showed this year, he made it clear. His timeline to winning starts now, and he is very capable.

He's very ready to make that happen. I love that. He's alien. And I like that he's embraced that, too. He knows it. That Nike logo. That's the next billion-dollar one. That's the next billion-dollar one.

He's special. That's the next billion-dollar one. That's the next billion-dollar one. He's special. He's special. His mindset, his focus, his determination. Obviously, we've seen some of these quotes. He doesn't go on his phone or doesn't do anything after 9 p.m., 10 p.m. He's locked in the gym, doesn't party, doesn't drink. This level of focus, if he keeps this. He does stuff.

Let's keep that. He does stuff, though. He does stuff, though. He does stuff. He went to the Drake concert and he wanted all... Drake wanted him to walk out with Drake the way he does. Drake and Kendrick Lamar in the middle of...

I have to go listen. I have to go listen to that right now. He talked about Euphoria about 20 minutes before we went live. I'll tell you what, Kendrick. It's six minutes long. I'm about to listen to that. It changes pretty quickly. It changes beats cup time. I mean, it is a...

What's your problem? I wonder how long this one's going to last. You know, Drake and Kendrick. Years, yeah. And then Rick Ross, allegedly. Lil Wayne came out and told Rick Ross, hey, come on. Come on.

It's a two-man fight, though, at this point. It's a two-man fight. We want to see them go back and forth. And I think Drake was baiting him, too. Drake's been baiting him. Oh, yeah. Well, he said, yeah, I mean, there was a full on. If we're just going to get bangers out of this, though, sucks to be part of it.

I hope you guys shake hands someday and get back together. But as a listener, we got bangers coming out right now. For sure. Okay, I don't know how long it's going to last, but we got bangers happening right now. Speaking of bangers, this guy used to do this. Now he just gets swept out of the playoffs. D-Butt's got a question for you. Actually, I think he dropped a banger not too long ago, too,

and you dropped an article about KD. I'm going to say about 13 seconds after that series was over, a Shams report came out about how he wasn't very happy with his offensive role and things like that. Kind of similar to Darvin Ham. We expect Vogel to probably be the fall guy out there in Phoenix. But what can we expect with kd going forward with the suns or without the suns yeah so let's look bigger picture with the suns they have devin booker on this team all nba all-star he's going to be on team usa potential future hall of famer you have kevin durant he

will be a hall of famer all nba or yeah he's gonna he's gonna be on team usa too so those two guys are among the top players in this league and then you have a guy at brad beal three-time all-star uh they need to find a way to get him to excel more in a in a proper system right proper offensively for all three of those guys any team in the league right now would want those two top guys devin booker kevin durant any team would want the problems that the Phoenix Suns have, which is you have these talented players that Devin Booker – well, to be fair, they do it on draft night. The Suns can trade two first-round draft picks.

This year's pick, number 22, or the 2031 first-round pick that they have. So they do have two first-round picks potentially to trade. So I will say that. I know there's been some confusion, but they don't have any picks. They do have those two first-round picks. I mean, listen, they do have ownership. 2031, that's a big draft. They have an ownership that's obviously willing to spend.

They've spent $260 million on this roster. So my sense is that they they want to see how this team can run it back how these three guys can coexist how can they find someone whether it's adding to the coaching staff whether it's a new coach that can fully optimize those three guys and connect with those three guys i mean devin booker and kevin durant they wanted to play with each other that's part of the reason Kevin Durant gets out of Brooklyn, goes to Phoenix. And some of this onus, we talk about Frank Vogel, and my sense very much is that the Suns are evaluating his coaching position.

They're considering a potential change or other major changes on his staff. But the onus does fall on the players, too, and it does fall on the leadership that starts with Kevin Durant, that starts with Devin Booker. And part of that is some of the offense and the offense that was run this season that Kevin Durant, I'm told, spent a lot of the second half of the season especially unhappy with the way the offense was won and his place in the offense, feeling as if he's been relegated to the corners a lot, watching pick and rolls with Devin Booker, watching pick and rolls with Bradley Beal.

So they're going to need to find a different type of offensive system, no matter if Frank Bogle is back or not. And at the end of the day, the players have to take some level of accountability because this season was not supposed to end in a sweep, not when you have Devin Booker and Kevin Durant on your roster. I don't want to continue to talk about negative stuff, but Ty has a question for you, Shams. Yeah, Shams, I saw today that Joel Embiid missed shoot around.

What are you talking about? What are you talking about? Mad Mel. Mad Mel has much longer hair. He does. Oh, okay. My bad. Don't worry about it.

He does wear a suit and glasses. But anyway, Shams. What the hell is wrong with this guy? Shams or Sean or Shams. Which one is it? But no, Shams. I'll is it? I'll take Sean. I'll take Sean. Sean, okay.

Just curious, Joel Embiid reporting he missed shoot-around today. I don't know if that's just like a miscommunication or what's going on there. Friend of the program, Michael Lombardi, who's also a massive 76ers fan, he's going through it right now basically saying, like, this is the Sixers. This kind of shit always happens. They get in the playoffs, and then they just choke and implode. Is he not going to – I mean, like, what's going on with the Sixers? Are they just completely done?

And Embiid, I mean, are things getting a little iffy over there? Like, is there a chance he's maybe out of town? I mean, all these guys in the NBA, all these good players, you know, as soon as one thing goes bad, it's, hey, get me out of here. Let me go play with another superstar. What the hell is going on in Philadelphia right now? Yeah, I don't personally get that sense from Joel Embiid, but I think his goal has always been to be a sixer and play at a high level. But listen, there's obviously major concerns with the fact that he came back from a knee injury. And then he's also

dealing with a facial issue with Bell's palsy as well. So he's gutting it out. He's trying to play on it. He's trying to continue to go. And listen, it's like every year it's unfortunate, right? Bell's palsy? Like every year there's always unfortunately something, whether it's a knee, there's always something unfortunately that happens. And Joel Embiid, you have to give him a lot of credit.

He guts it out. He plays through it. He wants to be on the court. And there are arguments made, right? You have to give him a lot of credit. He guts it out. He plays through it. He wants to be on the court. And there were arguments made, right? Like nationally people speculated about is there – does it make sense for him to potentially not, you know, play in these playoffs. But he's gutting it out. Yeah, and he's also full court defense, smacking the floor.

Everybody's wondering why the guy has nothing in the fourth quarter. It's like he was trying to go coast to coast for like three quarters straight. It's like, what are you doing? Guy's got Bell's palsy? Yeah, not good. I had no idea that was even... It just happened. He got it after he saw Logan Paul punch Jason in the face.

Alright, last question here as we wrap up. He muted us? Are you in a lobby right now? They're telling you to shut up? Basically. They're asking you to please stop talking? Is that just happening? Pretty much.

Last question here. Super negative. Look at how nice of a place. You're in places now. Remember you used to be in that dingy little, stupid little office with the thing behind you. And every single time he showed up, now he's in ballrooms, in hotels

that can't handle a little talking about ball. That's wild. Sean. Sean Sharania. Last question here. Another negative thing. We apologize. If you want to make the answer quick, cool, but let's make sure we give a good one here. Tone's got one for you, Sean. Yeah, Sean, even though the Bucs record all year was pretty, pretty, pretty good,

it just hasn't felt right there all year. Obviously, they brought Doc in, and now Giannis and Dame are both hurt for their playoff series. Doesn't matter, by the way. Pacers beat them. I'm enough with the fame. I'm playing them. That's on you. That's on Tyrese Halliburton.

They were probably going to win either way,iburton. Fill in the bucket. Anyways. They were probably going to win either way, no matter who was playing in that series. Amen, brother. Amen. They beat him in the regular season tournament, and that means everything, okay? But what's going on with the Bucs?

Just overall, is that a similar to the Sun situation? What's going on there? Yeah, I mean, it's unfortunate. The injuries that they've had to deal with, right? Giannis with the the calf strain and then you have damian lillard now with an achilles strain and mom told they're not expected to play tonight um and and so you know i think they're gonna i think i'm gonna get kicked out here guys by the way so uh you know but but basically are they all gonna play for the same team next year and what's going on? Yeah, the Bucs fully intend to bring this group back and revamp

and give it a go. Shut up. The gun pointed at Sean. Hang up the phone. Blink three times if you think they're going to answer you, son of a bitch. Oh, that was funny. I don't know what he's doing. What's that called?

Morris Code. I saw a video. Ladies and gentlemen, Sean Sharani. I saw a video of a former prisoner of war being held hostage. They made a video. John McClane. Maybe.

I know he was certainly one prisoner of war. Shout out to all of them that survived. I couldn't imagine. It was like a person was doing a video interview, blinked in morris code genius yeah could you imagine they found them yeah and it was the location or whatever and it's like could you imagine speaking and then controlling your eyes with a whole different it was now granted is that real i've no idea oh yeah probably oh it's very real. I definitely believe it, too, because they have grainy-ass footage, too, you know? But AI could, you know, you could put that right in my algo and be like, this dude is

religious. It's like, this guy was Morse code. Oh, my God. You see that? Was it community noted? It was on Instagram, actually. It was on Instagram. So there's no telling.

No. So it's real. I mean, it was a... That's kind of the rule of thumb I have. It was... I like that okay there was it did have over a thousand comments and everybody was like telling tales of other people potentially doing it the comments lately but the loud whoa holy shit people get wide open in those comments brother yeah yeah absolutely need to think about it as a bear the The, uh, so the, the, the

first one was like former prisoner of war blinks his way to safety or something. So I'm like, let me check this out. And then you scroll and it was the video, the entire thing was taking place. And then they said they found him. I'm like, wow, is that re is that human so much smarter than I could ever be in my entire life? Yes. But thinking about doing it and figuring it out and then executing it as beautiful thing. Those are good things coming out of the internet. Right. You know, like, look what we used to be able to accomplish.

Yeah. Look how smart people have always been. Exactly. That's what it's all about. It isn't just AI making two bears on the ice, making the world go upside down. Yeah. It's humans.

Speaking of humans, we got a great one here. A yinzer. Ladies and gentlemen, one of the voices of hockey. An absolute beauty from espn john buchigrass hey i like the buckos cut off we were hot early i don't know if we suck now but i know the bucks were hot early buchi 14 and 16 pat we've lost seven of ten it's not looking good we're not red hot at all right, let me tell you. Yeah, we're back. It sounds like we're back.

The Bucs are back, losing 7 out of 10, 14 and 16. We're undefeated there early, and now we're – water finds its level, it says. But we got the Hundo boys ready to close out the season for us for the next 190 games. Let's talk about hockey and the things that are going on in there. Obviously, Florida Panthers cheated last night to get the big win over Tampa Bay. Follow the rules.

Do you – Follow the rules. They cheated. What do you know about the rules? Just follow the rules. What do you know about the rules? You still got a sticker on the bottom of your hat, asshole. Yeah, because that's cool.

Bucci. Just like following the rules, Con, man. Well, that's a whole other conversation there. Bucci, should we be upset about that last night like the Tampa Bay's coach was, or is this just kind of how it's always been called and we need to respect it all? Yeah, I mean, I thought

they were both goalie interference. I love Coop. Coop's my boy. But I thought they were, you know, the first one, he couldn't cover the puck with his glove and the second one, Sorelli looked like he just spun into his leg. So, I thought they were they were accurately called okay so we like the officiating it's taking place in this particular game even though Tampa Bay's coach was thoroughly upset they're out of it now and there was one sweep in the first round of the playoffs and you chit-chatted

about it on a tweet this morning or last night I believe about how you know the caps end up getting swept by the Rangers the Rampire State Building is obviously electrifying. The bread man is doing his thing, and we'll see if the Rangers are able to continue to go. But with the Capitals, I think you said it's time for Ovi to potentially commit a little bit more. Get a chef, work out a little bit. He was held to zero points throughout the entire first series. That's not Ovechkin hockey. I guess he allegedly puts Pepsi in his water bottle during games.

He doesn't work out ever. He's just a natural freak. And if he wants to get back to being this, he needs to focus in. Is that the key to the Capitals, getting back into the conversation? And do you think that's a real conversation that Ovechkin will have with himself? That's a good question. He's not the only answer. It takes 20 guys.

20 guys dress a hockey game every night. You need at least 14 really good ones and he's just one guy. I think just for himself and breaking the record, that's where he is in his career now. He turns 39 this September. Let's get rid of the Cheetos. Can we replace the

Pepsi and the Gatorade bottles with actual Gatorade? Maybe some electrolytes, some Pedialyte, something with light beer I think is better than, at this point, Pepsi and the water bottles. But we've got to make a commitment, Pat. I mean, we've got to. This isn't a good look.

Yeah, I think it was one of my birthdays. I forget which one it was. Maybe I turned 33 or something. And Booch, you responded, you're only 33. Let's lay off the carbs. Let's lay off the carbs. Let's lay off the carbs. Obviously, you've been jacked for a long time. Yes, you have been in great shape.

And I laughed so hard at your tweet. I want to let you know you're a thoroughly entertaining human being. But your hockey analysis is always fantastic as well. Let's stay in that series. And then we have questions from the boys. The Rangers have a chance this year? Do the Rangers have a chance this year? Now, they obviously sweep the caps.

A lot of people say negative 47 score, goal differential for the caps. They shouldn't have made it in, but they did with how the end of the season went. The pen should have been in there. But do the Rangers have an actual legitimate opportunity here to win a Lordo? And could you fathom that fan base

getting a Stanley Cup this year? Yeah, an affirmative thought is 100 times more powerful than a negative thought. You know this, Patrick, more than anybody. So, yeah, the short answer is they got a chance. I mean, after watching them play, but let's face it, that was the 116 or the 164 NCAA tournament matchup, right? Rangers against the Capitals. The Capitals were the weakest team in the field. They were the last team in, you know, gold differential. Them and the Islanders were dash. They were minus. They were under par, Masters champions. So you really can't judge them

against that series. Carolina is next, and then probably the Panthers after that. So that's the road for the Rangers, and it's going to be, that's a difficult road. But just looking at everybody, the league has never been more even. We've about this before the salary cap hasn't moved since the pandemic so everybody's all even that and that's why we have what we have but the east was a bit top heavy and so I wasn't surprised that that was a sweep and that the hurricanes were probably going to sweep could have had they won in overtime so now it it's all even, Steve, and the rest of the way, once the first round's over, it's anybody's ballgame. How about the Yinzer, Jake Gensel,

getting kicked out of Pittsburgh in the middle of the season and then becoming like their guy down there in Carolina. Now they're the odds-on favorite to win it all. The Caniacs would be an awesome fan base to watch see them celebrate the Stanley Cup down there. 20,000 strong in that arena going bananas. Let's talk about another Eastern Conference team. Go ahead,

Conman. Yeah, Bucci, obviously the Bruins right now are rolling. It was tied at 1-1. They rip off both the games in Toronto with Jeremy Swayman going full-time, it feels like. How do you feel about the Bruins' odds here, and do you think that Swayman will be the guy going forward or probably still going to bounce back and forth?

And then also, Toronto, if they end up losing, are they completely blowing it up? Because word on the street is everybody wants out of that place, even Bieber. Yeah, but you said Leafs win tonight. You said Leafs win tonight. Sack of wine. The Bruins have an awful game five record recently just dreck terrible doesn't mean anything they're going to get they're going to get the best effort from

toronto and all those talented people tonight whether they can turn that to more than one game we'll see but it's just but i think you know the bruins tend to be tense in these situations the last really going back the last six seven years you know going back to game seven against st louis and you know the and chicago as well so uh yeah but boy brad marchand what a hall of fame legendary performance to put that little five foot eight guys 35 years old giant nose 6.5 cap what's that have to do with it, Boo? To bring the whole city on his little deltoids and carry everybody, drag them into the fight. I mean, it has been total

war with ruins. I love that. What is that? Is that an energy drink right there? It's not war. It's total war. It's not half-assing it, huh? We're all in. I'm in the LA Fitness parking lot right now, ready to slam the tries and delts today, Patrick.

I love that. And Marshan, I think he's a beauty, honestly. And he's the one who said to Toronto, this is over in five. Yes. Over in five. Also set the record for most playoff goals in the history of the Boston Bruins. Which is a pretty good one. It's unbelievable.

They've been playing hockey since 1923 in Boston, and this guy has your record. It's unbelievable. Hey, you know what? It feels like hockey. Yes, they're going to blow it up in Toronto. Everybody out. Sheldon Keith, gone.

Boom. Shanahan, gone. Mitch Marner, gone. They're all gone. Well, I hope not Pablo. Pablo might want to be gone. He's got a little tummy ache, and he can't play tonight. Okay.

All right. Ty has a question for you, Bucci. Bucci, what about Stars-Golden Knights? Both teams obviously winning on the road. And I also noticed, even though they're the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Knights aren't in the top five of odds to win the Stanley Cup. How do you think the rest of that series is going to go, and why aren't the Knights up there?

Is it because their goaltending stinks, or what's going on? Yeah, I don't know how those people think, but the roster's strong. The goaltending, you know, it was a question mark last year. Then Aiden Hill went out of his mind. You wonder if it'll go to him, although Logan Thompson's been good. You know, the analytics, nerd alert, the analytics say that Dallas has been the stronger team throughout this series. And you saw it kind of in those first two games, Vegas heavily outshot, still won. So that's what's great about seven-game series.

You start to figure out your opponent. Everything kind of, you know, like the Pirates, everything kind of comes back to norm over this. And Dallas is just a better team right now. The thing is, you dig a hole 0-2, it's hard to beat the same team three, four times in a row. So, you know, Vegas could easily go back and win game five, and boom, they're in a position to win game six at home. But Dallas has been the better team.

So they're doing the more winning things, the more winning plays right now than Vegas, who has a bunch of new guys, new guys coming back, timing, you know, how they feel, how's their body feel. Was it adrenaline at first? Did you have a bit of a dip before you really get in shape like Thomas Hurdle? So there was a lot of question marks. That's probably why their odds where they are, all the roster question marks and the guilt playing with a $100 million salary cap number.

Now, hey, listen, they're not the first. Following the rules. If you want to get rid of it, get rid of it whenever you vote in the next CBA. I like seeing a team kind of manipulate the salary cap to take advantage of their chance and opportunity. Speaking of chance and opportunity, Texas hockey doesn't have an actual chance here. Right. Thanks.

Road Warriors, brother. Just won two in a row going back home. Yeah, but the goal— Looking for three straight, maybe four straight. No. Maybe wrap this thing up in six. No. The way Otter's going, we got Wyatt Johnson, Young Stug, scoring every damn night.

Okay. It's Texas hockey's time, brother. Well, Golden Knight stumbled on his skates before both these games. I think that's the only reason why. You could argue we've outplayed them every game. Well, I think that's what Bucci was actually saying. Thank you, Bucci. No, no, no.

You're welcome. Wyatt, good name for a hockey player in Dallas. Wyatt. What's your favorite hockey name of all time? I'll go first. Sidney Crosby. It's dead. Good run.

Hocken Lube for me. It's Hocken Lube. That's the guy's name? Hocken. Swedish. H-A-K-A-N. Hocken Lube. Played with the Flames.

Late 80s. Stanley Cup champion. That's a great name. Are you kidding me? Bucci, what a fool. Got that total war operating at all cylinders. Bucci's been keeping Håkan Løb's name alive for about 20 years. That's awesome.

My fantasy hockey name, Håkan and the Løbs. That was my fantasy hockey name. Okay, all right. Good. Well, perfect. I'm happy that came up. Tone has a question for you, Booch. Yeah, Booch, I wanted to ask you about the Oilers and McDavid.

They won game 7-7-4, and then they lost game 2-5-4, and that felt like classic Oilers. But then the last two games, they've only given up one goal in the last two games. I know it's against Hockeywood and the Kings there. Is that something that the Oilers can do? Can they win those 2-1, 3-1 games that they haven't been able to in the past? I think they can. I think they were my pick before the playoffs started to win it.

I think the path for McDavid is opening up. I mean, Kings opening matchup, that's a good matchup. Vancouver next, that'd be a good second-round matchup. That'd be a big favorite. Cougars have their number this year, Bucci. That's a different Oiler team. A different Oiler team. 3-0 this year, brother.

And they just have that serial, maniacal, concentration, athletic focus right now that you need to win championships. And Vegas didn't have that last night for me. And that's what you need this time of year. It's hard to win for two straight months in this atmosphere of pain and bruises and injuries. And I think led by McDavid and

Dreisaitl, Dreisaitl's playing unbelievable. And then all the complementary parts they put together, I think it's opening up for Edmonton. And then after Dallas and or Vegas and Colorado smash each other for two weeks, they'll be primed to get beaten. Okay, we got four NHL games

tonight. We got the Leafs at the Bruins, the Islanders at the Canes, Avalanche at the Jets, and then Predators at the Canucks. Talk about Vancouver right there. They came back from 3-1 the other day in Nashville. It was electrifying right in George Kittle's face. I mean, right in George Kittle's face. I mean, right in George

Kittle's face. Hockey's been fantastic. What should we be keeping an eye out for this evening? Which game is a must-watch for maybe somebody that doesn't watch as much hockey and is looking to get in tonight, Booch? The ESPN games, I'm not just saying this, but our doubleheader is Toronto-Boston

and Colorado-Winnipeg. Those have been the better games, night in and night out. It's been the better television. Our ratings are through the roof. I mean, you know, my blue eyes help, but I think the hockey being so good is better. So, yeah, look, we have four 3-1s, Pat. We could have four handshake lines tonight.

Break out the Purell. We could have four handshake lines tonight. All these series could come to an end. Also, let's stretch these things out a little. Let's stretch these. Let's get a little bit more hockey. We enjoy the hell out of the NHL playoffs.

It has been electrifying like it has been since the beginning of time. Booch, you're a constant professional and I can't wait to see what you do in that LA Fitness next, bub. Oh, you're a constant professional, and I can't wait to see what you do in that LA Fitness next, bub. Oh, you're playing basketball? Tricep extensions. Oh, that's extensions.

Tricep extensions. Skull crushers. Skull crushers. What else? Love the skull crushers. So we're doing beach today? It's all beach lift today? Pool was yesterday.

Today's a push day, Pat. Tries and delts. Okay, well, good luck out there. Keep doing it, Butch. You're the man, ladies and gentlemen. John Boots. Yeah, Bootsy! All right, good hockey night tonight.

Great hockey night. Great. First shoot, great hockey night tonight. The East, too. I mean, the other two series in the East are already wrapped up, so kind of huge games for Boston and Carolina. Go ahead. For the casuals, the seed seating, how does that work?

Yeah, I don't think I see it either. The seating doesn't make any sense. It's by division, so like Atlantic two-seat, Atlantic three-seat, and then the Metro two-seat and three-seat there. They don't do one through eight for some reason anymore, which drives it. And then there's judgment calls, right? On who plays the seatings and shit. And then there's the wild card one and two.

Yeah, it's wild. I think they try to make the best, right? Isn't that kind of how hockey goes? Yeah, I mean, like Dick said, they used to just do straight up one through eight a couple years ago, and then they changed that a few years back with the CBA, and they really shouldn't have, in my opinion. They should have just kept it straight up one through eight.

Yeah, mostly because listen to us trying to explain it. Come on, Geer. It should be simple. Yeah, and with how many good teams there are right now, you should be able to 1-8 this entire thing. Well, and I think that's what me and Gumps were bitching about, too, is when they don't do it like that, then you got, you know, I mean, obviously it's nice because Golden Knights stars,

but that's a rematch of the Western Conference Finals last year that we're getting in the first round as opposed to later in the playoffs. They wanted the division rivals in the first round, correct? Yeah, and that's why basically you win your division, you get a shot at one of the wild card teams, or if you are second in your division, you're playing the third place team in your division. Of course.

So it's not really much of a reward to finish second. And you've got to play a team that you've already played a bunch of times again. But it's awesome. It's hockey. Hockey is awesome. It'll be tonight. We've got NBA games tonight as well. The Sixers at the Knicks, the Magic at the Cavs,

and the Pacers can wrap it up against the Bucs. I believe if they do, we'll have A1 Halliburton on the program tomorrow. Okay. Now, I am being told there's a chance Atlanta Falcons general manager will not be joining us this week. Why is that? Fault or not? Okay.

I think I know why. I think I have a sneaking suspicion. I was shocked. Sports! Are wonderful. We're lucky to talk about them every single day. It's not just me, obviously. The Toxie Table is here. At Boston Corner and at Ty Schmidt. Boys!

There's some sage burning over here. A little bit stronger than I think any of us could have imagined. But that's good because we're getting the bad vibes out and keeping the great vibes. Which is good news for one half of the Hammer. God! Cowboys 10 Diggs. How you guys been betting here in this offseason stuff? Pretty average for me, personally.

The other guy's been pretty great. But I've been pretty average, if we're just being honest. But, you know, so we are. Average isn't bad. I mean. What an answer. Okay. Okay.

Remind me never to ask you that question again. I said the other guys are doing great. Yeah, I mean, you kind of mumbled through that part there. I mean, we could have. You're a good gumbler, Tony. Was I supposed to lie? You're a good gumbler, Tony. I mean, we have the people keep track of the picks.

I mean, been average at best as of late. Okay, what does that mean? 50-50? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so we're. I'm losing the juice, okay? What, you're losing esteem? No, no, no, no, no.

Like, you know, if I go three and three, I'm losing the minus 110. I'm losing the 10 cents on every dollar. Oh, got it. Okay. And Bubba Gumpino, the other half of the hammer. Cowboys, Tone Diggs, you're throwing gas right now, Paul? Yeah, we still love the baseball. Love the baseball. First five.

First five we still doing? Yeah, in NHL playoffs the way it's been, you just Moneyline Parlay, all the favorites, kind of been hitting every night. Did go 2-0 in the NHL playoffs last night. Oh! Wow, that could have been first answer. Yeah, boy. That could have been. 1-2-1 in baseball.

So, you know, that evens out to... You went 4-1 last night. It's an incredible show. Hammer down every single day out of this particular Thunderdome, giving out picks. For somehow, over the last three years, they've remained above 500 pretty good.

So we thought. And, well, this guy, I don't know what his deal is. It's like, you guys are good gamblers, dude. And Gumpy, at some point, you know, know what his deal is it's like you guys you lose you guys are good gamblers dude and gumpy at some point you know he's gonna have to stop doing 40 bets a day you have to call 1-800 yeah responsible whatever and we have told him that numerous times and if you're out there you should gamble responsibly and you shouldn't blindly follow the hammer boys but these guys are winners and have been for a long time that's's not a guarantee. I'm just saying that's what the last three years

have told us. Nine years in the NFL. Ladies and gentlemen, Darius J. Butler is here. Cool look today. Just kind of a casual blue for D-Butt. A little Navy Nike tit. Oh, because it matched the Panthers hat. Yep. And the Panthers cheated to win. I think we just heard

Bucci. We respect Bucci, right? All right, yeah. They were good calls. Fair calls. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a, uh, is a college football national champion, a Superbowl champion, a Ryder cup winner, a man who has four kids in the best jawline in sports. Ladies and gentlemen, AJ Hall. AJ Fontenot can't come on the program anymore.

I mean, so I heard it was actually a real thing that he was actually going to come on because I assumed this was all a work, brother. Well, to be clear, we all were very surprised that he was maybe doing any interviews. The fact he was doing our show was like, okay, that makes sense because he understands that we'll at least give him a forum to chit-chat

about the decision that he made. And then once he says it, we'll go, okay, that's how he feels. He was the one that was making the decision as opposed to us. But we would certainly have some questions, as does the rest of the world now. He's potentially busy, you know, trying to make the Falcons better. We completely understand that. Well, I mean, there's one guy that I would like to know if he wanted him to come on or not, and that'd be Rich McKay,

but that's just me. Well, see, that's potentially another reason why with the whole, you know, we still love Raheem Morris. Can't wait to chat with Terry Fano in the future. In the future, we will ask him, though. No matter when. Which might turn out to be a brilliant pick. We have no idea what's going to happen

with the Falcons, but we do know that in a matter of moments, Chris Ballard will join us. Brandon Bean will join us. John Lynch will join us Thursday, general manager of San Francisco 49ers. Today at 140 Eastern, it'll be Omar Khan, general manager of the Pittsburgh Steelers. So we'll be feeling the beat here in a matter of moments, AJ. And I believe we've got Matthew Kachuk joining us tomorrow of the Florida Panthers. Obviously an absolute stud. Tyrese Halliburton potentially joining us if they're able to get the job done tonight

against the Bucs, but that's no guarantee. And he didn't tell me that either. You know, it was like, hey, if you guys close it out quick, yes, when the series is done, it'll come on. That means tomorrow then. Yep. So we're cooking right now, AJ. Sports seems to be alive right now aj hawk yeah i mean speaking of alive has anybody checked on shams i was watching that was troubling what the hell happened to that hotel grab him and kill him

yeah and where's he staying where it's that uncomfortable to be sitting in like yeah i'm gonna cut him obviously it's not just like a normal FaceTime call they could probably figure out. I don't know. Is there not a, and this is not us saying like, look around, but is normally everywhere I go, there is a TV, especially if it's a hotel lobby and it's normally on ESPN.

Shout out to ESPN having the real estate that it has. I wonder if Shams is potentially just on a TV like right as this person is like, what are you doing? Shams, mutes. I wonder if Shams is potentially just on a TV like right as this person is like, what are you doing? Shams, Mutes, I'm doing an interview. I'll get out of here. Did you ask to do this? I don't think so.

Shams couldn't even give us an answer on the Bucs. Couldn't even give us an answer on Giannis and Dame Dollar and everything going on up there. Couldn't even. He said, I got to get out of here, boys. This is what it is. He did say Darvin Ham's hot. He said Darvin Ham, that's what I heard there. I heard Le, he said, I got to get out of here, boys. This is what it is. Did say Darvin Ham's hot. Yeah. He said Darvin Ham is gone.

That's what I heard there. I heard LeBron James and Bronny are going to be on the Lakers next year. Austin's gone. Sounds like Austin is going to be a trade piece. And maybe Trey Young's going there. So we got a lot out of Shams before he got physically assaulted and removed from wherever he was doing that interview at. I believe he's on the west coast right i mean what the hell is going on in a hotel ballroom uh ballroom at 9 10 a.m sometime it would be 10 oh that would be last hour i guess yeah because he came on at 12 10 like

at the top of the show what the hell is going on in there they just looked at him they said we don't like the cut of this guy's jib get his ass up get him out of here you think it was a leather coat i think it might have been. Could have been. He always looks so cool. We told him he was going to come back a bunch of asses. Yeah, someday. And here it was, some ballroom. Yep.

Somebody said he didn't look like that in our ballroom. You think he can talk about basketball in our ballroom? Maybe they thought he was part of the Hells Angels or something. Oh, my God. Get him out of the lobby. There he is. This guy moving weight? Yeah.

Moving guns? That could have been. What if that thing was sleeveless? my god get him out of the water this guy moving weight yeah moving guns that could be what if that thing was sleeveless or accidentally riz the gm of the hotel's wife and you know that could have happened he is the riz guy he's the riz god yeah jeez i didn't think about that not at all what if he turned down the front off the the i was? I was thinking maybe Woj owns the hotel. You're telling me he's lying. I have exclusive rights to ballroom interview at your hotel, if you do recall. Get him out now. Get him out.

Move him. Throw him. I wonder if he was physically escorted out of that entire room. He was scared. Yeah. Let's get the name of it. Can we call him back? Let's call Shams back.

Get the name of it. Can he stay in there more days? I hope he has to stay there like i hope he still has to see those people i would like to never go to that place though you know i think we should uh casino earbuds in too it's not like it was like a super loud you know it is annoying when someone's facetiming in a huge crowded area he had earbuds and everything you could just hear him not us every once in a while i'll do the program from a hotel room, and I'll do the earbuds thing. You forget how loud you're talking. Yeah, that's true.

You just can't hear. That's true. You know, it's like all of a sudden you get a knock on the door, and it's like, are you going to? Two more hours, yeah. Okay, we've got a couple calls from people. You're yelling in here? Can you maybe?

I am so sorry. I forgot about these paper-thin walls. What if Sean's screaming in that ballroom at 9, 10 a.m. and they're like, what are we doing? It's 9, 10 a.m. Ladies and gentlemen, join us now. Hopefully not battered and bruised. Shams Schreier. Nice.

Shams, did you get physically escorted out of that ballroom last hour or no? No, no, no. Not physically. It was just, I didn't know that they had a conference. No harm, no foul. We keep it moving. We always handle things classy, professionally.

Yeah, you do. Okay. So what was the conference that was going on? Was it one of those motivational speakers like this guy? Tony Robbins. What was it? I guess even though it hadn't started yet, even though the meeting part hadn't started yet,

I guess it was a confidential conference, so I've got to respect it. It hadn't started yet, so nobody was in there, right? It looked like an empty room. Yeah. I think Shams is more bothered than he's letting on, as they say. Was it racist whites, Shams? Was it old racist whites that saidams? Is that what it was? An old racist whites that said

they didn't like how we looked? Everyone's entitled. If you have a conference room, you're entitled to it. So we understand it. We get it. We just want to talk sports. We just want to talk a little bit of NBA.

That's what we're here for. Well, we couldn't because these racist old whites kicked you out of a ballroom that wasn't being used. It's awesome. Ladies and gentlemen, Shams Sharani. Thanks for having me you out of a ballroom that wasn't being used. This is awesome. Ladies and gentlemen, Sean Schrodinger. Thanks for having me. You're okay, Sean.

I appreciate you. You're a true friend for checking on my well-being, so I appreciate that. Oh, yeah. I never wanted to stay at that place, too. We're not going to out it. What's it called again? We're not going to out it. I'm looking at the curtains.

We can start guessing. Ladies and gentlemen, Sean Schrodinger. Hotel Six? Super 8. I think it's at least a Super 8. You know what to say about these cheap hotels? What's that? They're like tight jeans.

No ballroom. Oh, yes. That is true. That's an expensive hotel. That is an expensive hotel. I didn't make that up. I didn't make that up. That has been around for about 1,000 years.

And I'll tell you, I never thought I would find an opportunity. But here we are. You never know. This like whenever you uh are at your second rodeo sure you know right and somebody asks you you ever been to one of these before you can just drop literally this ain't this ain't my first rodeo that has to be a good time let's never miss those uh ladies and gentlemen we are a uh regional show that is kind of, you know, shout out to the world internationally. And we're at a 30,000 foot view of basically everything. We wanted to get into the weeds and learn more so we could be more intelligent and more insightful to the people that watch and listen. So we created a segment called Feel the Beat where we'd be able to dabble with the beat writers of the towns and talk to them about what's going on boots on the ground well ladies and gentlemen it's time to do it again but it's not with beat writers no no

it's with general managers ladies and gentlemen let's feel the beat i was really feeling the beat. You guys were as well. Let's go deep into the weeds. Ladies and gentlemen, general manager of the Indianapolis Colts with some fresh new long hair, Chris Ballard. Yeah, Chris. How are you?

Thanks for having me. I'm good. How are you all? Hey, great. Let's talk about the hair. Let's talk about the hair. When did that start? Yeah, we got to have to. Yep, smart. Yep, there you go.

Better? Yeah, because you look like Siciliano there, actually, from NFL Network for a second. How long have we been growing out the hair? That was almost a show stealer of the entire draft weekend, Chris. last summer we vacation up in Northern Wisconsin every summer and good family friend of mine. And I went to college with his family meets us and his son, Jack, who is great. You know, he had this beautiful hair and I said,

damn, your hair looks good. And he looked at me and said, you know, why don't you go years out? I said, all right. So that's what we'll do.

We'll do it for a year. And so it's been since last July. And, of course, he works football. He's still in college, but he works on a team. And I look up about week three of the season. I see him on the sideline, and he has got a shaved head. Oh, what? I go, hold on here, man.

So I got this thing going, and you've backed out on me. But I let it keep rolling. The kids, my kids are begging me to cut it. But now it's just a point of pride. Now we're just going to let it roll. I love that. How's the wife doing? AJ, I'm coming to get you, AJ.

You look way better than mine ever did, man. You look good. You look good, man mine ever did, man. You look good. Oh, man. You're so good, man. So are you going here if we can't? Yeah, your lats look good. Shoulders? You are jock.

If I go there, I don't know if I can go that far, but we'll see. Okay, so the hair's going. Love it. All right, break. We're on a ticker. Chris Bowden. Don't cut it until you win the Super Bowl. Boom.

Okay, we'll do it. We're on a ticker. AJ, good brain over there. It's like 10 months away. Okay, let's talk it Bologna taker AJ, good brain over there Okay, let's talk about having a great brain You re-sign a lot of your own Congrats, that sends a message to the entire league And to everybody What type of culture you want to build

Going into the draft You end up with, in your words The best rusher in the draft With Leatu Latu Did you see the draft going that way? And did you think you were going to have a chance to get him in that first round? We didn't know if

he would get to us. I mean, I thought there was a couple spots in the top ten that he could go. But that run on quarterbacks, I mean, when you get lucky enough to get six quarterbacks come off in front of you, we knew we were going to have a chance to be looking at a pretty good player and one of the best defensive players. I thought there was a couple defensive players that warranted top 10 picks that ended up falling in the teens.

Okay, so when you get Leatu Latu and we beef up that particular side of the ball yet again with another pick, was it always going to be defense or was it whoever? No, we were going to take what we thought was going to be the best player to help either side of the ball. And whether that was a wide out, whether that was a tight end, whether that was a rusher or whether that was a corner, we wanted to make sure we dialed in and got the best player. And just fortunate enough, look, rushers are hard to come by. Guys that have double-digit sack potential are really difficult to come by.

So when he fell to us, we felt very fortunate. Okay, so you pick up A.D. Mitchell, obviously, next, and we get a wide receiver. You thought we needed more weapons because I was out here obviously screaming, Hey, what's up? Stephon Diggs ends up with the Texans. Why can't he end up at the Colts? Don't we think we need to add a little help for Dons and Pittman and for AR whenever he comes back? You do that in the draft.

You saw this as a deep wide receiver class. Could get one if you needed one and planned on it. Yeah. Yeah, we felt it was an excellent class. And we had a good feeling that somebody would fall we didn't i mean you never could you never know like people say they know you don't freaking know i mean we're all you know we're all trying to figure it out as we go along and so being able to get ad and with his talent level to add to the mix was that was a little

bit of luck. I wish I could sit here and tell you he was skilled, but you got to get a little lucky. Yeah, well, I'm pumped to watch him. I can't wait to see him. AR, JT, Pittman Jr. Come on! Go ahead, AJ. No, and Gold, look, and we took another kid.

I really like Anthony Gold. I mean, Gold that I think is another explosive option for us, especially in the return game. And his speed is real now, and we think adding that element to the return game and some things he can do on offense is going to help too. Hey, new kickoff. You get a guy with some gas.

You can really take advantage of it is what everybody's thinking. You drafted for that? It's almost – it was interesting. By the way, your draft show was freaking excellent. It was excellent. It was excellent with Bill. Yeah, Bill. And listening to him talk about it.

And then when you really – it almost turns into punt. It's almost like a punt return. So it's a little different than it was before where you had all this space. There's not going to be as much – it's more like a punt where there's not going to be as much space. So you need a guy – you need a couple guys that can make you miss then have the speed to finish it. So, you know, and we think he has that talent.

Okay. Go ahead, AJ. Chris, have you been able to, like to identify why there are so many offensive players taking the top of the first round this year compared to other years maybe? We were talking yesterday on the show, and we don't really know, is this just how it goes? Is it cyclical? Is there a reason or some reason you point five years ago why this might be? Well, I mean, look, the league is score points. I mean, without question. I mean, the rules of the draft, first 12 picks of the draft really is unique.

I don't think every year you'll see it like that. I mean, to get six, that's just a unique, unique year. D-Bot's got a question for you, Chris. Yeah, obviously the draft just wrapped up, and you're not going to tip your head too much, but with the available free agents out there, I know you spoke a little bit, maybe a corner, safety, but the available free agents out there i read that you know you spoke a little bit maybe a corner safety but available free agents out there how active can we expect you guys to be or is there a number you already kind of have on guys the guys out there just waiting

for teams to meet those numbers how does that work for you guys well i mean right now we i mean we're always gauging that market and and we'll be pretty patient here. I want to see how these guys respond. And I know our second year has got a lot of criticism because they're young, but we do think they're very talented, especially with Juju coming off and hopefully get a healthy year out of here. I think Jones was – I thought he played really well for a rookie, about as well as you can expect any rookie to play, getting Kenny Moore back,

getting Flowers back in the mix. That's a position we feel good about. And then being able to sign Blackman back at the safety position and then getting Scott back who got hurt last year during the last mini-camp towards ACL who we drafted in the fifth last year that we think really has big upside, we're excited for. But, look, we've got our eyes on the market. I mean, sure, like everybody else does. And between now and the start of the season and the end of the season,

we'll make sure we've got enough that we can win games with. Yeah, last year at training camp, you said, corner's young, but we're going to learn quickly. We're going to learn quickly. And you had a lot of trust in him. And, and hey we're so close to the playoffs last year yep so many injuries brand new head coach obviously training camp situation with jonathan taylor ends up getting settled but it was like last year had so much adversity and so much shit still almost made the playoffs and won the afc south i assume hopes are huh huh? We got, yup, yeah. Let's go, right?

No, I mean, look, and I give this, like you find out when shit, I mean stuff, excuse me, I'm not going to cuss anymore on TV. Oh, don't be a loser. Hey, don't be, don't let him, don't let him be. Is that Conti telling you not to do? Hey, Conti, shut up, Conti. You're like, this guy's going to talk however the hell he wants. Conti's short tattoo, you have no idea the gift.

That was the gift that keeps on giving. Okay, good. It just keeps on giving. He's the best. Conti is the best. You're allowed to swear however you want. It means you're telling the truth, I think, personally. Hey, look, as many as listen to the draft day show, I go, man, that is awesome.

I mean, they're just being real on the draft day show. go man that is awesome i mean they're just being real on the draft day show that thing was great okay thank you matt mel certainly had some moments certainly had some moments out there no but when it comes like the staff to watch shane and them work like you don't know i mean the the turnover with head coaches in this league is crazy. So you don't know. And to watch them react under extreme circumstances when it gets hard and still be able to find a way, that's exciting. Because Shane and the staff never wants to land. Shane, whoever, I mean, he always tells, look, Chris, we'll make work whoever we got.

And that's a fun thing as a general manager because whatever a guy can do he's going to find a way to make him work yeah it's been fun to watch i mean just as a season ticket holder now going to be in there thank you pete ward thank you and you i assume you're a part of that entire... Yep, there it is. Yep, okay. I appreciate you doing that. The style of football this past season versus two years ago, it was like, it was impossible to watch. Now, everything's

exciting. We're in it. We love Shane Steichen around here, and I think for good reason. He was at the Pacers game the other night. They put him on a camera. He goes, let's go. He even does like a little bit of a human motivation. I love him. i can't wait to see what your team does i also appreciate you sticking up for a lot of people connor's got the last question for you yeah chris obviously with the draft always comes teams bashing players

sometimes because you know they want that guy sometimes just because they're starting a narrative and you came out and talked about you know what was going on with ad mitchell and he dropped obviously but how do you balance that as a GM, hearing those rumors and then also kind of taking into account who the person is that you interviewed? And then just out of curiosity, were you really mad because you were the one spreading rumors about A.D. Mitchell so you would get him? No, no, it wasn't me.

Truth be told, right before I walked in, Connie showed me something and it kind of set me off. And just the timing of it, you know, happened to set a little spark with me. and I'm not going to let the outside noise dictate what we do and who we take and who we draft. I have a lot of faith in our staffs and the work they've done, our coaches and the work they've done. Look, not everybody when you're 20, 21, 22 years old is perfectly – I mean, we've all done some things in our lives. And it's – you know, the young men that come in this league, they got a lot of pressure already.

And, you know, it's our job to help them grow up. I mean, it's one of the things that, I mean, we do take pride in is with our players that we're going to help them develop not only as players, but also off the field to be the best men they can be, best husbands they can be, best in their communities. So it's deeper than just being the best player you can be. We've got a well-rounded program. David Thornton, who I know you know well, is incredible. I mean, I find it hard to believe there's someone better than him.

And so anytime that stuff starts coming out after you've taken a player, it just doesn't sit me. It doesn't do any good in my mind. How do we feel about AD, though? We like him, huh, after you chatted with him? Oh, yeah. No, we're excited about AD. Hey, me too.

We're excited about him. Was there a chance, speaking in the wide receiver department, you know, I potentially threw something out into the universe a couple weeks before the draft. And I apologize. You didn't hear it, though, because you say you keep the outside noise out. But we all understand the reality of the Indianapolis Colts, okay? We all understand this.

I hear you all, though, because I listen. Well, don't. You shouldn't. But you get it. Jim Irsay could have walked into that draft room, right, and said, Hey, there's a guy in our ring of honor Who has a son Let's go ahead and get him

Now, I'm not saying Jim would do that Jim loves ball Jim wants the best for the team and everything like that But there is a chance Jim Irsay wakes up on draft morning And says, let's do that I just said that because we're talking about the draft for two weeks For three hours But then it started becoming a thing

Like, hey, maybe the Colts do that How much movement was there potentially In your eyes, in thoughts, insights? And how much chatter was there about a ring of honor sun being available in this particular draft class? Well, there's no question we thought there was some wideouts in this draft that especially up there at the top that we thought were game changing players. You've got to be able to make a move like that, you've got to have a team that wants to move. And, you know, usually when a team wants a quarterback,

well, they're not going to take the chance to move down, all right? And then when you've got two really unique players that they're looking at, it's hard to get teams to look down. So we definitely, we explored a lot of possibilities like we do every year. But at the end of the day, we ended up staying put at 15 and taking a lot to, which we're very pleased with. And then A.D. Mitchell. I mean, it feels like it worked out for every team seemingly.

We're excited to watch him. I would always say, everybody, it's worked out for everybody right now. Not everybody. I don't know if you hear what's going on in Atlanta. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Ballard. What a draft. Let's continue to bounce around the NFL

and learn from the people that were actually making the decisions. Thank you to Chris for joining us on this glorious GM Tuesday. It's time to once again feel the beat. Ladies and gentlemen, it might have been a fill of time until this next person has joined us. He has.

Okay. The Buffalo Bills general manager since 2017, Brandon Bean. Yeah, Bean! How are you, boss? I'm good. I'm good. Good to see you, boys.

I'm a little winded. You know, we're feeling the beat a little bit too hard there, waiting to get you on air. Thank you for joining us on this glorious Tuesday. You look fantastic. How's life after the draft is over? Are we a little bit more relaxed? Is the draft a big game?

How do you view it as general manager? Yeah, you know, you take a deep breath, and then in this seat, you say, what's next? And it's start working on your scouting staff. Is there any changes there? Start working on some things just throughout your football operation. And then, obviously, next weekend is our rookie camp, so we're still working on filling that out.

Just trying to line everything up. It doesn't stop. It's just kind of like, what's next? Okay, so let's talk about some of the moves that you might make. Are you firing the person who said, yeah, we should trade with the Kansas City Chiefs and make them better, you know, whenever they are the person or the team that we've got to play against every single year in the playoffs? Did you hear that narrative?

And is that a thought that you have to take into consideration whenever you're making moves on draft night? Yeah, listen, anytime we trade with someone, if people think, you know, you should take a player there, offense divas, in this case, receiver, you're always going to get criticized, and it'll have to play out on the field, you know, ultimately with the players that we acquired, the player they acquired but you you can only it's not like we traded the player to kansas city um i i get that narrative like if we had traded you know stephon diggs to kansas city well why would you trade him there you don't truly know who someone's going to

select when you trade with them you know they're not going to call and say hey we're we're trading up and we're going to take this player and if you don't trade with them and you pick a different player, they can still trade up with someone else. So I've never understood that narrative. You know, I'm sure they didn't just call the Buffalo Bills the trade up. They probably called some other teams, too. OK, so you end up trading twice. So you get 28-32 and then you go Carolina comes up 32. You go to 33 or whatever for the second round.

You take Keon Coleman, who his press conference in that Macy's jacket, top of the line. I hope we got him some good snacks. I hope we got him a microphone a lot. But then the story goes on that Josh Allen loved Keon Coleman, loves the draft process. Is that a big piece of why you bring in Keon? And when you make that trade,

you think you can get him whenever you trade back so it's not that big of a deal for the Buffalo Bills yeah I mean listen when we were there uh listen at 28 there were good players on our board we felt there were some guys on offense and defense similar values you know a year ago we had one guy sticking out in in Dalton Kincaid and so we made the move to trade up like we. We feel if we don't get him, then we're going to have to drop back and take a lesser player. We felt we had guys on both sides of the ball. We didn't want to take a huge leap. So we went from 28 to 32. And then we're still looking at our board going, hey, we still got a little bit up there. And Carolina was being aggressive and traded up for the get.

So we were trying to, you know, not go down in value the best we could, but also acquire some more draft capital. I like, and that's all happening. Is this all filmed? The Buffalo bill social media team does a great job in content team.

Is this all filmed? You making these calls and conversations and how many of those happen throughout the night before 28 gets there? Yeah. I mean, first half of the round, you know, with 28, you know, the first half around your phone's not really ringing. and conversations and how many of those happen throughout the night before 28 gets there yeah i mean first half the round you know with 28 you know the first half around your phone's not really ringing when we got into the 20s you know our guys are checking about hey if you know if a player falls this far you know you're not telling the player but maybe we trade up but at the same time got another guy that's working the teams behind us, in this case Kansas City.

And then Dan Morgan and I worked together for years. And so once we were at 32, I waited to see who was taking the 31 and then called Dan and jumped on the horn. And he was like, yeah, because I knew earlier in the day that they might be interested in trading back in around one. So I gave him a quick call, and we got it done pretty fast. Yeah, and have you heard Leggett talk? Have you heard him?

Yeah. Yeah, I met him. I know in South Carolina they have what they call the mud package, which they told me was about this dude who's out in the country, out in the mud, hunts hogs. And he's a cool guy. You guys need to get him on your show. We really caught a lot of him. Yeah, I don't know anything about him. I just heard him speak, and the first time

I heard his one sentence that was 8-0-me-9-3-I-D-I-B-E-R-E. As soon as I heard it, I was like, okay, would love to talk to this guy forever, not just on the program. Should be a lot of fun. We have put a request in for him to join the program. Hopefully that will take place.

Go ahead, AJ. So when you're trading back, I guess what's it feel like and do you ever feel pressure from the outside when you are trading back and you're patient and you're building picks and you're kind of playing the long game? It's always the sexy thing. People get excited when you trade up and do something. Does that ever factor into any decisions you make when you feel like, all right, well, we need to make a splash or something?

Yeah, I mean, listen, if you if you worry about the outside, they just they don't have all the facts. You know, however you put it, you know, we know a lot more as far as where where we have guys, guys who are smart, guys who are not smart, guys who fit our DNA, guys who fit our system. who are smart, guys who are not smart, guys who fit our DNA, guys who fit our system. They truly don't know all the facts to be able to tell you whether to trade up or trade back. I've been more of a trade up guy than a trade back. So people have gotten on to me in the past for trading assets away. And you know how it is. You can't win. Whatever you do, somebody's got a second guess.

This year, we decided to trade back, and that pissed some people off too. So what are you going to do? Yeah, we were booing your ass. Big time. We were booing your ass on the draft spectacular. You know, mostly because we were hoping to get a chance to chat with you on draft night. Once you move to 32, we're like, we're not waiting.

Nope. And then you got out of there. I mean, that was only four and a half hours this year. Yeah, pretty quick. Pretty good. That was a shorter draft than normally it would be six to seven hours somehow. Shout out to Baltimore. There's clips coming out.

It took Baltimore seven seconds to make their selection at 30. Thank you, Baltimore. Thank you for doing that and just buying into the whole we got to watch this thing. Speaking of buying in, whole new team maybe. Deebot's got a question for you, Bean. Yeah, last year on the field, you guys kind of flipped the switch. We got to watch this thing. Speaking of buying in, whole new team maybe. D-Bot's got a question for you, Bean. Yeah, last year on the field, you guys kind of flipped the switch.

So I'm going to say from the outside looking in, it looked like you guys went more of like a 12-personnel team. Saw Josh Allen go under center more. So almost the identity of the team kind of changed a little bit. Obviously, you let Diggs go. You traded him. You let Gabe walk in free agency. Great pick with obviously Coleman on top of the draft.

But how much of that changed going into this draft with that new philosophy? And is that the plan kind of going forward around Josh Allen? Yeah, I mean, I think we did have some 12 package adding Kincaid with Dawson Knox here that we used a lot last year. And then Dawson went out. He had to have surgery on his hand or whatever. And so we started. We also got hot in an 11 package. We got our run game going after Joe Brady took over. James Cook got rolling late

and really thought it took some pressure off of Josh in the passing game to do that, just being a little more, you know, complimentary football down the stretch. And we played our best football. So we do want to be balanced. We want to be able to throw the ball. You do have to do that for sure. And it's just trying to find enough pieces that do different things, given Joe Brady and Josh, the various weapons that you can line up to get mismatches, whether we're in 11 or 12. Yeah, and Josh dialed in, huh, through the draft process?

I think I heard you say in an interview where you'll be on a golf course or something, you'll get a call from Josh, or you'll be on a golf course or something. You'll get a call from Josh or you'll be down at the senior bowl. You get a call from Josh. He had just seen a highlight maybe on his phone. What do we know? I just saw a guy. Who's that?

I just saw a guy go, what do we know about this guy? He's plugged in through the entire thing. Does he want to be a GM someday or is he just a voice? He don't want to do that, but he does love the process. He likes the mock draft. I swear the guy's done 200 mock drafts, and he'll send me what his final tally of our draft was. Hey, Bean, I traded next year's two, but with that, I got us these guys. And you look at it, and the first four picks are all guys that we have

in the top 50 on our board. Like, Josh, this is not reality. But I love that he loves it, and it's fun. And, listen, we'd be stupid not to hear some of his thoughts on things. So knowing that we would probably look at a receiver in the first few rounds of the draft, we gave him some guys. He sat down with a couple of our coaches, and I walked in there one day, and we busted balls a little bit about who he liked.

Why do you like him? Let's hear what you know. So, listen, he gave us two cents. He also – I give him credit. He knows that he doesn't have the complete picture on each player. But, listen, Keon was one of the guys he definitely did like. He was like, I'd be fired up if that was one of the guys we got. So after we traded into – speaking of golf, I haven't been golfing,

but he played over at one of the courses up in Philly, Pine – I can't remember what it is. Well, I don't know because I don't get to golf. So what course was it? Pine Valley. Yeah, he played Pine Valley. Of course, Pine Valley. The Johns over there.

One of the best. That's in Doco? Yeah. That's in Doco over there? Sorry about that. So he's from the driving range on Friday morning, and he's like, hey, what are you thinking? And I said, well, of course, I'd like to be where you're at. But secondly, I told him, I said, unless somebody blows us away,

we're going to take Keon with a trade offer. And so he thought that was cool. He was fired up. Yeah, he feels like he's a scout in there. Josh seems like just bro. Yeah. Perfect guy. And he's invested.

I love that. The fact that you take his information is huge too because we've heard there's been some other places that are like, hey, quarterback, shut up. Even if you're all pro and you're the one that's going to have to work with these people every single day they don't want their feeling it's like that makes no sense that's why hey feels like this bill's culture has been right we gotta win now we gotta win now's the time to go speaking of now in the time connor has a statement or a question yeah brandon just as a patriots fan

i'd like to know if you're shaking in your boots because there's a new big white athletic son of a bitch throwing the football for the Patriots this upcoming season. Are you scared? Are you nervous? Because I would be because it looks as though the Patriots are turning it around already.

Yeah, you know, they made a good move. We liked Drake May uh drake may a lot i was hoping i know elliot said he was uh i did talk to elliot through the draft and i was i told him i said it's a good move i we were hoping you traded the pick uh so uh no a lot of good things out of drake may we didn't get to spend time with him obviously we weren't in the quarterback market so didn't get to be around him but everyone at the school raved about his leadership, and obviously, you see the physical tools, so New England

got a good one for sure. AFC East doing what AFC East does. Last question here from Tone Diggs. Yeah, Brandon, you took Travis Clayton, who was an International Pathways NFL draft guy out of England, who I believe is 6'8", 300 pounds. What's the scouting like that for the international pathways like?

And then how much is the success of Jordan Mailata, who I believe came out of that at tackle, same position, how much is the success of him gone into more guys getting opportunities out of there? Yeah, I mean, Tony, you don't get into this seat smartly drafting players that you've never seen play football before. So I'll start there. But we got this – you know, we sent a scout down to watch these guys

at the University of South Florida, you know, all the guys in the International Pathway Program. And so this was one of the guys he flagged. Take a look. You saw his athletic ability. Let's get him in front of the O-line coach. So we got Aaron Cromer here. Aaron Cromer called me back there one day and one day and was watching the film once it came in.

You see this guy, Ben. You see him run off the ball. You see him hit the bags. Some raw hand technique, things like that, but to watch a guy run 4'7", 9", at that size, the athletic ability screams. Is he a raw piece of clay? Yes. The other positive here is that in the international program we get we get an exemption so we can carry an extra player on the 90 you know to training camp 91 and and if we were to put them on practice squad we you know it allows us to have a 17th I was about to ask you the NFL probably very very pro getting international

players onto teams now that they're making an exemption, it seems like roster-wise, it feels like a smart decision. This guy's how tall? Ran a 4'7", 9"? 6'7", 3'10", is what he's listed at on the Bills website. Oh, if he can figure it out. What the hell? If he can figure it out, yeah. Again, probably not smart to draft too many players

that you've never seen play football. But in the seventh round, this seemed like a shot worth taking. Jordan Mallette has been a great example. You know, if he came even somewhere close to that, it would be, you know, well worth that, you know, that selection. All right, last question here before we let you go golf or do whatever the hell you got to do with your scouting department. You traded away or cut all of our friends?

Yeah. Okay. Vaughn Miller's still up there. Yeah. Haven't talked to him in a while. Hopefully, you know, he'll be able to remain healthy next year and we'll watch him go bananas. And Josh Allen, obviously, we're massive fans of and everything like that.

But it's a transition. How do you kind of, you know, a lot of great teams, especially if you have a great quarterback with the way the salary cap is, you're going to have to rebuild that team a few different times. Do you feel like you're in that era right now with the Bills? And how complete is that mission? And this year, same expectations as before, even though a lot of the familiar names are no longer there.

Yeah. First off, tired of you busting my balls about how many times. It's all our friends. We're tired of it, too. Yeah, you're tired. We've been going on for two months now, enough. You're right. I get it.

No, it is. Listen, there is transition. You know, there's times, you know, throughout a team's journey along the way. And, you know, Josh is, you know, six-plus years in. You have to evolve. And sometimes it's cap-related. Sometimes it's just an aging roster. For us, we did need to do some things to get our cap back in order.

And also, we did have some aging players. And so trying to get a youth movement, add some young guys that have some leadership qualities into some of those roles. But it is going to be a challenge. It's not easy. It doesn't mean week one we're going to step out there and everything is going to blend. But change can be good. And we are excited about where we're at. Are we done? No. We're still kind step out there and everything's going to blend. But change can be good and we are excited about where we're at. Are we done? No. We're still

kind of churning the roster. We're not at 90. We'll see what guys come available the next few weeks. Maybe after June 1st some guys come available. So the roster is not set, but hopefully we find some more guys that you'll like to bring on your show this year.

Listen, anybody that'll come on for the Buffalo Bills organization, we'd be pumped. Keon Coleman. Huh? Keon Coleman. Yeah, we would like the Macy's jacket wearer, Keon Coleman, snack lover, definitely to be a friend of the program. But nonetheless, we appreciate you so much for taking time. Congrats on a great draft by everybody's standards.

And we can't wait to see what you do on the golf course this upcoming summer. Cheers, brother. Cheers, guys. We'll catch up again soon. Are you going under par ever? I don't know. If I do, I'll let you know. I'd like to. I've done it once, but it's not normal. Here we go. $50,000 donation this particular golf season if you're able to go under par. Has to be one of those nice courses

that you play at. Yeah, we're not playing something like you hustled us before. Hey, why don't you come to Oak Hill and we'll play this summer? Do your show from Oak Hill. That sounds fun. If Oak Hill will let us do a show from there, we will certainly put that into consideration.

If you tell me you're in, I'll call Okil. I would bet you they'll do it. We're in. Sweet. We're in? Yeah, yeah. Are we in? Yep.

Sounds like we're in. Yep. All right. Bring your checkbook. Ladies and gentlemen, Brandon B. He's a stick. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

So good at golf. Yeah. And then we got to hang out with him at the combine. They released a video of us chit-chatting. Just so cool talking ball and describing things. There was different moments where somebody he liked did something bad on the field. He's like, yes. He was happy about that.

I'm like, what the hell is wrong with this guy? Why are we happy about it? Because sometimes some teams, all they need to see is one of those, and they're like out on them. If it's like a fourth, fifth, sixth rounder, you see a couple things. Let's see this guy off the table. Let's see him on the field. They drop it.

Some teams take him off the board completely. It's like for us, okay, he dropped the ball in combat. Never played with that quarterback ever. Who cares? We still love him. It was fascinating to get to hear him kind of chit-chat about it all. It's funny you say that because Keon Coleman was one of those guys that people said that he did not have a good combine

because he ran like a four.6 something and he dropped. And that's the situation right there. The first probably five, six weeks of the college season, you ought to bet any amount of money Coleman would have been a top ten pick. Like right up there, neighbors, Marvin Harrison. Like he's that type of weapon. Didn't have the greatest combine, but he is an absolute – he's a dog as a football player.

Ladies and gentlemen, let's continue to feel the beat on this GM Tuesday. It's time to take a trip to another city. Let's feel the beat. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now, the general manager of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Omar Khan. Yeah, Omar. What's up, guys? You guys hear me all right? Yeah, you sound amazing.

You look great. Thank you for joining us in such little time of knowing that we— Thanks for having us. Hell yeah, Omar. Hell yeah, Omar. Okay, let's talk about the draft. We'll dive into everything else that you have done over the last couple months that have made Pittsburgh Steelers fans go from 6 to midnight.

From drinking actual river water to drinking Icy Light Mongos every single night looking forward to next football season. In the draft, you go big, big, big in your first five picks. You needed to redo the offensive line. Did you know that the city of Pittsburgh was going to be jacked up about going offensive line heavy this draft? And is this the plan and was the plan and you executed it perfectly? How'd you see draft kind of go for you and the Pittsburgh Steelers? Yeah, Pat, I think from day one, since I got this job, I made it clear that those big guys up front on both

sides of the ball were important to us. The way the draft worked out, it was just it worked out perfectly for us. Offensive lineman in round one, he got a tackle in round one, a center, and then a guard that we're really excited about in round four.

I wouldn't say it was really the plan. It went exactly to the tee, but it was, you know, we had an idea of what we wanted to do. Tom Diggs, Steelers fan, jacked about everything you're doing. Yeah, Omar. Tom, do you approve, Tom? Oh, yeah. Hats off.

Hats off, my friend. So during the video when Coach Tomlin is calling Troy Fatano, there's a guy in the background who says seven out of 20 now the internet is is just assuming that you had troy ranked seventh out of 20 obviously you guys were sitting out at 20 is that true and if that is the case with him and then frazier at 51 i assume you had him higher and then pate wilson at 98 i assume you had him ranked higher uh if if you, how hard is it to sit there at your pick and not move up a couple picks? Because when 17, 18, 19 was on the clock

and I saw Troy Fontana sitting there, I said, are we going to move up and get him now to make sure we get him? What was the situation there? Yeah, seven out of 20. I'm not sure. He may have been referring to seven guys drafted out of the pack at the time. I'm not sure. Out of your guys' top 20?

No, I think he was talking about seven. Am I wrong? Out of the pack conference, it was seven out of the first 20. I could be it. Out of the pack 12. That might be what he was meaning. But the rest of the question, yeah, you know, we were in the process of we were working the phones, hoping the opportunity was there to, you know, to grab Troy.

And fortunately, he was still there at 20. We weren't able to get a deal done. Yeah, but we got him at 20. And, you know, can't tell you how excited we are to have him. And, you know, he's a stealer. We talked about having the right type of people. Look, Pat, you're from there. from their tone you guys are from here and you know we can go and we can talk for hours about what a stealer what it means to be a stealer um but the reality

is when you're from around here or you've been here a long time you just kind of know right you guys know when when you meet a guy and you're like you know what this guy's a stealer you know what that guy's a stealer so we're excited to have him. And Frazier. Really, our draft class is really, really I'm proud to say every one of those guys, in my opinion, are Steelers. I think the community's going to like them. Tone, you're going to

love them. It's going to be great, man. The Steeler fans are going to love them. I think that is why everybody's so excited because it's like we're bringing Pittsburgh Steelers like tough, hard-nosed, work hard, not with the bullshit like that's how pittsburgh people see the steelers it's like zach frazier at west virginia he had a broken leg walked off the field at the end of that entire thing and then mccormick i believe out of south dakota there was a highlight video put together of him just pancaking people to a hair metal band. This guy feels like he's out of literally 1985.

It's like everybody seemed to be pumped about what the Pittsburgh Steelers did as Yinzers. Well, Faton is a Steelers fan, and I believe Mason McCormick is a Steelers fan, too. And then Peyton Wilson, his brother, was a pirate who lived in the Strip District. And then Frazier's just from down the road at West Virginia. It's like, oh, all these guys also have ties to the team as well. That a baby, Omar.

Look at you getting back in there with a little Pittsburgh. Now, the quarterback, the one who is, I believe, on the pole, is how Tomlin describes it, is not necessarily what everybody would think of a Pittsburgh Steeler. But, boy, Pittsburgh's around that quarterback room right now. D-Butt's got a question for you, Omar. Yeah, I'm glad you Steelers fans are happy, but we know none of that shit matters

unless you figure out the quarterback position. And obviously you guys made some big moves this offseason in that position with Russ and Justin Fields. So just how are the vibes around the team and the organization around those two quarterbacks, two new quarterbacks in the building? It's been awesome. Actually, three. Kyle Allen also.

These guys are out there. I was watching them a little while ago working out. These guys are – the team's coming together. They're gelling. Russ is an awesome person to have around here. Same with Justin and Kyle. I'm really excited about that quarterback room and what the future holds for us this year.

Connor's got a question for you, Con. Yeah, Omar. Yesterday the internet was abuzz because the Steelers were going to trade for basically every wide receiver the 49ers had. Did you see any of that? And when you do see it, do you know that you got a leak or do you know that there's just people cooking up bullshit? You know what?

I heard about it. I didn't exactly see it, but there's nothing going on right now. So I'm not exactly sure what the verbiage was, what was reported, but nothing to report. Hey, if there is, though, will you please tell us? Yeah, come on. Text us. Yeah, I'll text Tone.

He's a Steeler fan there. So he would be my person to text. Hey, look how jacked up he is. Look how jacked up he is. God, he's a real journalist. Go ahead, AJ. Omar, we already mentioned Peyton Wilson, obviously the linebacker at NC State that's all over the place when you turn on the film and watch him.

What made you guys comfortable picking him? Obviously his play is off the charts, and I guess he's playing without an ACL in one of his knees, and some people are worried about that even though he's done what he has done already. What made you comfortable, and what does he bring to the team? Because he is very fun to watch. A dude can fly and makes tackles everywhere. He loves football.

I mean, we had him graded really high, you know, and he was still sitting there with our second, third-round pick. And we wouldn't have done it unless our doctors had given us the go-ahead. Our medical team is second to none. You know, we have our head trainer, Gabe Aponsa, and our doctors, Jim Bradley, and Dr. Conco and Aaron Mayers, they are second to none. Our head trainer, Gabe Aponsa, and our doctors, Jim Bradley, and Dr. Conco and Aaron Mayers, they are second to none. And if we trust them completely and if they wouldn't have given us the clearance, we wouldn't have taken them.

I think Luke Kuechly said he's a bigger, faster version of me. He did say that. Is that what your read on him whenever you were scoring him and scouting him was? Yeah, I mean, Luke was a great player. You know, he did it for a long time. And, you know, Peyton's got a great future. And, you know, we hope he reaches that. And obviously Luke was a great player.

So that's a great place to be if we're comparing the two of those guys. Yeah, I think so if you're the guy who just drafted him. So you've got Peyton, Patrick Queen, TJ Watt, Cam Hayward. Then you've got Minka, right, in the back still. drafted him. So you've got Peyton, Patrick Queen, TJ Watt, Cam Hayward. Then you've got Minka right in the back still. JPJ. Joey Porter Jr. Joey Porter Jr. who... Great rookie year. Phenomenal rookie year. And then on the offensive side, you've got Russell Wilson, Justin Fields.

You've got... George Pickens. Okay. Naj, Warren. Muth. Muth. Who we saw in Detroit. Looks great. Hey, let's go, huh? We've got a team. You've got to feel very good where we're sitting right now in this particular part of the NFL calendar. Yeah, I feel great. You know, this happened last time.

Somebody just walked in my office and thought, no, you've got to come over and say hello now. This is unbelievable. Hey, I'm coming to sign. Hey, Debo! Good to see you, Debo. Are you going to be back on the team? Me too. Yeah, he told me to come in and sign a contract.

He said he needed me for at least three games. Hey, they're paying. The door's shut for a reason. That's Debo, Omar. That's Debo, Omar. Ooh! Still said the H. Hey, Debo.

That's all finished. That's all finished. Sorry about that, guys. No respect. The door's shut and they still come in. Actually, it's the complete opposite. He has respect for who he is. There ain't nobody stopping him fucking anywhere, Omar.

I'll tell you this. We talk about Steeler greats and being a Steeler. It doesn't get much better than that guy right there. He's awesome. He gave us everything. What does he do in the building? He just hangs around, makes sure we've got the good culture? We're doing that?

You know, he came over to visit. You know, we're fortunate. As you guys know, a lot of ex-Steelers still live here. They come by to visit and say hello. And I'd like to tell you that he came to visit me, but I'd be lying. So I don't know what he's doing in the building. What's next for you, Omar? You know, the guys are coming in.

Phase two started this week, and rookies come in next week, and we're ready to go. You know, if there's an opportunity to keep improving the team, we're going to do it. But we really feel excited about this team, and hopefully you guys can make it to La Trobe. I'd love to have you guys there. I'm ready for La Trobe.

I love training camp. Yeah, training can make it to La Trobe. I'd love to have you guys there. I'm ready for La Trobe. I love training camp. Training camp, especially in La Trobe, St. Vincent, is folklore in Pittsburgh. This year, a lot of new faces, a lot of optimism. It's because the con artist has been doing his thing. We appreciate you taking time today, brother. Thanks, guys.

Appreciate it. Always enjoy being on. Ladies and gentlemen, Omar Cole. Have a good one. What did we learn there? No trade enjoy being on. Ladies and gentlemen, Omar Cole. Thank you, YouTube buddy. All right, so what did we learn there? No trade stuff going on. No, and we heard that from sources outside of the building earlier today that all that was going on last night

with the Pittsburgh Steelers was potentially bullshit. We also learned what we thought as Steelers fans was that, hey, they were going to draft Steelers guys in definitely the last two drafts, to be honest with you, since Omar's taken, he's kind of had that initiative, and we're feeling really good about it. Yeah, and Colbert

obviously had a Hall of Fame career as general manager for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was a staple of the Pittsburgh Steelers. It's like Rooney, Colbert's going to be there, and then obviously Tomlin, and before that Karr, so he is much different. Khan he is much different. Khan is a much different operator than Colbert.

Yeah, a little more aggressive. Like Ty and I always talk about, oh, the Packers and Steelers, they're not going to be in on this guy or whatever. It feels like things are changing a little bit. He's a little more aggressive, yeah. Yeah, and he wants to find Steelers. Oh, yeah. Pittsburgh was going apeshit for offensive linemen getting drafted.

Is that the only team fan base you think that would be excited for all these? There's like a first-round O-lineman? Baltimore maybe, right? Baltimore, yeah. But that was, for Pittsburgh, it was like, I mean, we just listed out the offensive defense. It was the only position where it was like, hey, we need to do something here. And full investment.

Gotta have a good, smart football fan base to be happy about. I don't know about smart all of them, but they know football one way. And it's the other way of football. And they've watched, I mean, the last handful of years weren't great at that position, and they watched that, and they were tired of it.

Going all the way back to Ben. Ben was throwing the ball at.5 seconds because he was scared to get hit. Since 2017, really. And then after Pouncey retired and DeCastro left and Villanueva left, we lost a lot of the core guys, and it's been a while since we've – it's been a tough time to replace those guys. Well, Zach Frazier's going to be beloved. Oh, yeah. We know that.

Fala Tano, he said, you talk to him, he's a stealer. It's like, okay, I assume you talk to this guy. He's a fucking just prick offensive lineman. He's probably what I'm assuming here. Vince McCormick's a prick offensive lineman. Remember watching Fahad Tahnu last year? Oh, yeah. So big.

So athletic. Belly at. Rolled your shirt up. Walking without a helmet. Yeah, he was running people over. Weapon. What an absolute weapon. Shout out to Ballard.

Shout out to Bean. Shout out to Omar Khan making that over. What an absolute weapon. Shout out to Ballard. Shout out to Bean. Shout out to Omar Khan making that happen. Nice little GM Tuesday. Now, that doesn't end the GM run that we are on. Andrew Berry of the Cleveland Browns will be joining us at some point this week. Howie Roseman, general manager of the Philadelphia Eagles, will be joining us at some point this week. Ryan Poles of the Chicago Bears will be joining us at some point this week.

And Casario will be joining us at some point this week. And Casario will be joining us at some point this week. Once again, Terry Fondo of the Atlanta Falcons will not be joining us this week. TBD. It was deed. Oh, it was. Okay. Well, maybe someday.

Yeah, maybe. Has he spoken? I think he did the local media, remember? Yeah, the presser. Yeah, they were asking some questions as well. Who told Kirk? And what was the reaction? He started answering, and Raheem Morris was like,

The reaction will be private. We'll keep that private. Because that's what reactions are. Okay, and obviously he took it exactly. Good answer. It was. Raheem's the best. They need him to do all the interviewing.

He should be the GM. Yeah. He should be the GM. Let's just call it what be the GM he's not coming on it's the business baby this is how Kirk's career started took RG3 to overall take Kirk what the 4th round did they pay RG3 $180 no

they traded half of them it's business baby had RG3 had any success, you just did it. That's what you did. You just did it. That's what you did. That's the business.

Nobody feels fucking sorry for Kirk because he paid $400 million. He'll be all right. That's not the business. Kirk's got that little brain thing on right now. He doesn't even know. He knows. That brain thing hasn't been working

because he keeps thinking, like, what the fuck did I do that? And then they have to restart the video. Kirk doesn't think like that. It's Tuesday though, so he doesn't have the brain thing on. What did Kirk say? Kirk said he was super excited, didn't he? Just like everyone at Michigan State smart and good. He's super pumped up, and you gotta keep in mind Kirk's been an underdog his entire life. He wasn't supposed to be good at Michigan

State, and he was. He wasn't supposed to be good in the NFL, and he was. This is just another chip on the shoulder. I wouldn't be surprised if Kirk wins the Super Bowl next year. Oh! With the Atlanta Falcons! That shows me where Detroit is with their team. We just had 775,000

people show up for a draft. Thank you. And they're calling for the Falcons to win the Super Bowl. Just saying, I wouldn't be surprised. Anyways, he also broke some news. Omar. We did the math. It does check out.

I looked it up. Fatanu was the seventh Pac-12 player to go out of 20 picks in the draft in their last season. So good for the Pac-12. Yeah, we will assume that the person over Tomlin's shoulder in the suit that said the 7 out of 20 thing is a Pac-12 alum. It has to be. It was probably like, how is the Pac-12? This is the best the 7 out of 20 thing is a Pac-12 alum. It was probably like, how is the Pac-12?

This is the best fucking 7 out of 20. Has that ever happened? For the Pac-12? And now it's the last year it's dead? Forever? Because everybody thought it was the 7th best. Here, this dude right here. Run it. Do we have the video? Hey.

Say you're a 7 out of 20. Hey, hey, man. You and me both, man. Motherfucker. Seven out of 20. Hey, you'll be most, man. Motherfucker. Seven out of 20, motherfucker. He was. All right, we hope, or we thank Omar for clarifying that. All right, let's get to a break. In the third hour, we'll have Rhys Davis talking about the draft from his standpoint and everything.

I can't wait to hear what Rhys Davis has to say about it. The college sports thing. Kind of massive news about the... Big Ten and the SEC potentially negotiating with the players to get a cut of money. Now, Greg Sankey is the guy that we've been saying for a long time down the SEC commissioner. If they're going to make a thing, a whole league, this guy should probably be the one running it. Sounds like he knows that there are some issues. Instead of waiting for everybody else

to fucking figure it out, just like he did at COVID, we're going to try to figure this out and everybody else can kind of follow suit if that's what they want to do. Shout out to the Big Ten being involved this time, as opposed to what the Big Ten did last time, who's now the president of the Chicago Bears. We're not playing football.

We're not playing football, actually. Us in Ivy League are not playing football. And Sankey was like, it's different down here. We're fucking playing football. Now he's trying to figure it all out. That's good news. We'll see what Reese Davis' thoughts are on that.

Because the future needs to be... College football needs to remain college football. What we got to experience this past weekend in West Virginia, that needs to stay. Yes. You know, like the passion for the school and the pageantry and the history and everything that takes place, not only in West Virginia.

Obviously, we were literally just there. But like with what we've experienced during College Game Day all year at these big games and being on the field for these games, it's like got to keep college football. Got to keep it great. And I think there's people, seems like, in positions of power taking steps to preserve it. We appreciate that. Because we're

not the ones to figure it out. No, no, no, no. We will certainly point out the problems, though, won't we? Absolutely. We're part of the problem. Somebody's gotta point out the problems, too. Easy to do. Easy to do. Hey, they stopped doing that! That's terrible. You got any answers? You gotta stop doing that. Easy. Easy. Hey, they stopped doing that. That's terrible. You got any answers? You guys stopped doing that.

Yeah. That's the answer. Tell you what, the college football we all know and love, dead, buddy. Yep. Whoa. Not on the field. Not on the field. Dead.

Not on the field. Yeah, all right. Let's get to a break. We'll have Reece Davis on the other side. He'll tell us whether or not old negative UConon Husky Darius Butler is right or wrong. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change their life.

Speaking of that, changing your life. Become a Dude Wipes person. Okay? Become a Dude Wipes person. Now, only use one. That's all you need. Just one. Get in there.

Wipe that ass clean. Feel like you had a bad day at your house in a bag, and then go about without the chafe or the monkey butt for the rest of your day. Shout out to Dude Wipe. Shout out to you all. Sports! Are the greatest. AJ, not a lot of pizzazz, but you did try to get it on cue, which is fantastic.

That's AJ Hawk. The talk table is here. At Boss of Connor, Natai Schmidt. Sweet Wolf, is that a pack? Hey, thank you very much. Yeah, it is a pack. It is three.

Is that the Blood Moon? Yeah, this is one of the Blood Moons, yes, sir. You know, they call them Blood Moon just strictly because it has a red hue. Yeah, well, that's like one of those things where first time it happens. Holy shit.

What the hell is that? True. Yeah, and then once on Blue Moon, you know, that's's like one of those things where first time it happens holy shit what the hell is that true yeah and then once on blue moon yeah you know that's a whole nother thing which happens a lot a lot we just found out as yeah it's not always abnormal yeah it should be once in a red moon no it should be once in a solar eclipse in the middle of the day yeah now we're talking that's what people should say because remember people are all jacked up about that yeah charles barkley was pissed. Very pissed. AJ, you remember you brought him up to call a bunch of people fucking losers. You set him up to do that.

I did not know he was going to respond, I guess, that harshly. I knew he was not thrilled about what happened with the eclipse, but yeah, he brought it. He did. Well, it's not an eclipse. It's a horror happening right here in Indianapolis. People said it was fantastic. Charles Barkley said, I'm watching ball. What do we even look up at the fuck is the moon in

the sky and the sun say goodbye. Who gives a fuck? Yeah, this is what Charles Barkley said. One half of the hammer. Cowboys turn digs this year and nine year NFL vet Terry Butler. That's your Florida Panthers. Thank you. Thank you. Chuck is he's throwing some heat right now.

Absolutely. I've never been, but you know but I'm not thinking about heading there. I'm not thinking about heading there. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who is the voice of everything college. Host of the College Game Day football. Host of the College Game Day basketball. Host of the College Game Day podcast. Whenever he's speaking, it's going to sound professional and classy because that's what this man epitomizes ladies

and gentlemen friend of the program reese david reese solar eclipse very very much more of an abnormality than a blue moon which i think we're all learning as we grow older here, Reese. I heard you guys talking about that. That's how we should do it because the blue moon happens a lot. The harvest moon happens from time to time also. But once in a solar eclipse kind of doesn't roll off the tongue. That's the only problem with it. Is there a different way to say it?

Well, if you said it more often, people would just start to say it. True. You know, like if you said it. That's like quicksand. I've never seen it. Have you? Apparently it's not real. Quicksand's not real?

No, it's definitely real. Yeah, but there's no like sand that you're going to walk into and all of a sudden like your whole body just sinks in. I was ready. You got to walk up. Don't move. You get a stick that goes across. By the way, Blue Moon is every 33 months. That's still a decent amount of time.

I don't think that's right. Don't argue. QuickSand is not quite the fearsome force of nature that you sometimes see on the big screen. In fact, the treacherous grit is rarely more than a few feet deep. It's basically just wet sand that's so saturated, the friction between sand particles is reduced. I had like a good two-month fear of quicksand whenever I was a kid. I think everybody had that.

Oh, yeah. Indiana Jones documentary. Go ahead. Yeah, well, John Mulaney has a great part of one of his bits saying that quicksand is not nearly as big of a problem as he thought it was going to be when we were all kids okay i love to hear that john mullaney's got a good brain yeah i i am excited to hear that we're on the same exact track uh reese let's talk about being on

the same exact wavelength here sec big 10 have come out now and i think they're trying to figure out a cba or get money for players and get a piece of the tv pie what are you hearing about that and how quickly do you think this kind of all has to happen for the good of the sport as a whole race it's going to have to happen before they end up having to pay uh damages in that house case in which they're coming against all of the ncaa for um past wages and past money in NIL that was held back. So I think they'll need to reach the agreement before that comes, and that's what the judge has asked them to do. I think that there are a lot of athletic directors.

I've talked to some just in the last couple of days who are really concerned about the future and want to get this settled because they want to figure out how to budget things and whether they're going to how they're going to have to allocate the money. There's a lot of money. It'll be up to them to figure out how to do it. But how much will they have to allocate? So I have to I think that within the next year or so, or at least between before the time that this case would come before the judge for a ruling, I think the settlement would be helpful and kind of give us some parameters. And then, you know, you had the situation with UAB yesterday

where their entire team sort of aligned themselves with someone to bargain collectively for them in the event that that becomes a reality. So there's a lot going on. UAB? Yeah, Dilfer's team. I think all of the guys aligned with an outfit called Athletes First and with the idea that at some point there might be collective bargaining going on. A1?

Athletes First is an agency. I know that. Pretty powerful agency. It's not that. It's a union named? I think so. I think so, Pat. I was sort of reading up on it and sort of feeling my way through it. So you can't take that as absolute

gospel. But I believe I believe it's a little bit of a different entity, I think. I believe there were some Ivy League schools that said they were going to unionize football. Athletes were going to say that and they were pitching us. And it was like, no offense to you guys at the Ivy League. You guys, I appreciate the fact you're ahead of your time right now what's going on in the ivy leagues is certainly a conversation piece for the future on you know how we all view everything happening but like i like the idea of them doing it but ultimately it doesn't matter no like hey nobody cares about i you know like we get the Harvard, Yale, and Brown, and Colgate. It's a big deal.

We get that. But nobody really cares in the actual sports world about what's happening up there unless it is in the middle of a lacrosse season or whatever. It's athletes.org is who it is. They're going to have to have a seat at the table. I wanted to make sure I helped pour gasoline on something. It's going to happen no matter what. I might as well use my influence to help it happen faster on behalf of our players okay so if it sounds like trent dilfer's on board with this type of change

if uab gets on maybe this helps propel this entire thing to happen even more so well i think the thing is is that it's a beneficial it's beneficial to him uh to this because UAB and schools like them, not to single them out, but schools like them need something to try to differentiate themselves in terms of recruiting. So I think if you can go out and say that we are in favor of the players and we've taken this step ahead of everyone else, that it could help you out in that regard but i think ultimately that there will be some type of an arrangement settlement agreement to try to put this house case which is the biggest one um that's sitting in front of the schools that will that will make it make it the same for everybody so it's not as if uab i don't envision a scenario

where uab is you know ahead of the curve and therefore to get some type of advantage but right now they're probably just trying to see if it can set them apart a little bit for the moment what do they say deadlines bring what spur action spur action or whatever so now we got a deadline when his house judge is to do what he's able to do hopefully they're able to figure it out once again we don't have the answers but they need to figure them out okay law problems right we don't have the answers, but they need to figure them out. Law problems, we can tell them every day. We will.

We'll certainly announce all of the problems. We don't have the answers. Hopefully it gets figured out. Go ahead, AJ. Reese, let's say five years from now, is college football going to still be college football? Some people are pessimistic and claim that the old college football is dead, which I feel like we've been being on campus with you guys at game day.

Like college football is very much alive. I believe, are we going to be able to have this in the future? And how do we continue to have the pageantry and all the, the beautiful things that go along with college football? Yeah. D-Buck was the one that said that. It's dead.

Over there. It's our. Yeah. I see. I don't, I don't believe that, um, that college football is going to disappear. I mean, no, no, no. I don't think it's good. I don't think it's going to lose its soul.

But it's kind of what I'm saying. I mean, everybody knows it's still going to play. But I think that I think that there will still be the nostalgia, mostly because those hundred thousand people that come into those stadiums that we see every week, they treat this like going to the movies. Remember when people said, oh, if the players get NIL money, if they get paid, I'm never going to another game. I'm never watching. Well, so what? Guess what happened? They're still filling the stadium, and they're still watching in record numbers on TV.

So they treat this like watching a movie. They suspend disbelief a little bit. If a guy comes from one school to your school, well, he's your guy then. And so they're okay with it. They're not worried about all of this other stuff. They want to see the great product, which is

still on the field, and they want to see the pageantry and nostalgia and everything that goes with it. I think we do too. That's why whenever D-Butt says it's dead, it's dead. It's changing. A lot of shit has died and changed and gotten better, but the traditions, some of the conferences, obviously we talk about

Pac-12, so in that sense, I think it's dead, but hey, when something dies... Rivalry games these days... Yeah, you're right. That's the pinnacle. Of what? Trash, brother. You're talking about snoozing, watching F1 race.

But you want to come alive and feel alive? Agreed. Watch some college ball on a Saturday anywhere. But I think as long as we keep rivalry games in there, and there's going to be some that are lost, but hopefully they'll be able to get back, and we keep all the pageantry at the schools. Now, there's some schools that stink.

Don't fill up the stadium now. We're not talking about them, obviously. But I think these, you know, my father's father sat in these seats. My father's father's father's. I think that'll remain. Hopefully, that is what has to stay, right? That is what we all agree with. That's the most important thing to protect and to keep

because it's the thing that differentiates it from professional sports. You can be connected to a city in which you live or a team that you root for. But when you have either ties because you live in the state that is represented by that university or perhaps your parents or grandparents went to school there or you went to school there, you feel like that's part of you, that it's a little bit more of you than you're just a fan of a team. There's nothing wrong with being a great fan of a team. And I know there are diehards who go into three-week funks because their team loses in the playoffs.

And that's great. That's why we love sports. But I do think that there is a little bit more of a personal connection that that school or that school that represents the state in which you live is part of you. And that's the thing that separates it. The one thing I will say in support of D-Buds is I do worry that there will come a time when the revenue generating schools, the Ohio States, the Alabamas, the Notre Dames, the Georgias of the world are going to look at some of the other ones and go, now, wait, we're sharing our money with you because why?

You know, the schools that you refer to, Pat, that don't fill the stadiums, that don't have that type of tradition, that aren't as successful. That I do share some concern about in terms of where that might come down the road, say, you know, 10, 15 years from now. Yeah, and obviously we watched what happened with Washington State, right? And Oregon State. Yep. Oregon State. Yeah, the two schools. And we got dropped in the middle of it because, you know, Coach Corso, who is a one-line beauty, always has been, always will be,

who is a one-line beauty, always has been, always will be, says something, nobody wants us, Bolt, because they are the only two that were not signed to any other conferences somehow. And that's Coach Corso's fault, not the president of the school or the athletic director or anybody else that wasn't able to get a deal done when everybody else in the fucking country was here. But that's neither here nor there, okay? And I learned quickly about the fear that these fans have and like i didn't even my brain was just too naive to think like wait we're probably talking about

like not only losing interest in a program but like maybe even losing a program if this continues to go this way i didn't even think about that as an actual possibility in 2024 with how popular football is and how business has gone for football. But that's a real fear for some of these people. And I learned that, and I kind of changed. I had to walk very far back because I felt like such an asshole. But it is like that's a real fear for some of these schools, Reese, is that they're going to lose their program entirely. We can't have that happen either.

It's like there's so many things that we can't have happen while there's so much change taking place right in front of us. Right, and that is a legitimate fear because you look at the coaching carousel and some of the players. Now, coaches move, so I'm not going to sit here and say for sure that Jonathan Smith doesn't leave his alma mater of Oregon State for Michigan State absent all of these things happening. They have a running back at Oregon State, an outstanding running back,

Damian Martinez, who was was set according to reports to make 400 grand running uh running football for oregon state that's pretty good money there i don't know what he's making he's going to miami um now if they are still in a major conference does that happen maybe i mean we still see guys move but it really makes it uh much easier now for the players, the coaches, to say, look, I don't know what my future is going to look like at this level, and so I'm going to go give it a shot someplace else. That sucks. I do not like that part of it at all, because every place has, obviously, diehard fans, and more football is better for us.

Let's pivot away from football here. Connor has a question for you. Yeah, Reese, will these changes that are happening to college football, you think, slowly dwindle into the other sports? Like is college basketball obviously is probably the next one up if they were to also apply these to that? Do you think that that is going to happen or is football kind of so much different because of the numbers and the ratings that it gets that it probably won't affect these other sports? No, I think it's going to affect it some. Football is a little bit different. I think the biggest area, and basketball may be also in a similar category to football,

but I think where you're ultimately going to see it affect things is I think you'll see sort of a reconfiguration of some of the non-revenue sports in terms of who they play against. And then each school or each conference will have to decide how to divide the money or how to let schools participate in other sports in affiliation with other conferences, because it just doesn't make much sense for USC, for instance, in baseball to come play a Big Ten schedule when they probably have better competition by playing Fullerton and Irvine and Pepperdine all right there in their backyard, not to mention UCLA and Cal and Stanford and the Arizona schools.

So I think that you might see some of reconfiguration in the traditional non-revenue sports. But basketball is still going to be a big-time entity largely because of the money that the NCAA tournament generates through its media contract with CBS and Turner. Good luck to all of them. It's going to get figured out. Let's pivot away from that.

Let's talk about the draft a little bit. How was Saban? How was the crew? I got to be there for an hour. I wish I could have been there more. How do we feel? How was it up there next to him? Were you a little intimidated? Were you nervous? What was the weekend like? I wasn't. I was trying to do everything I could, Pat, to make sure that he felt comfortable. And I thought he was sensational. He was so prepared, which comes as no surprise to you guys or to anyone else

he had studied tape he had read stuff on guys he had talked to general managers he talked to coaches he he knew the stuff inside out and you know there was a point a few days before because of the abc broadcast which sort of focuses on the personalities and the paths that the players have taken to get to that point. He said, he said, well, I wish somebody had really let me in on this so I could have, you know, found out more of these stories. And I said, no, no, we want you to be Nick Saban. And I said, you have plenty of these stories from, you know, playing against them, recruiting them, running across them in camps, just share them. And there was one, I don't know why this moment has stuck out to me, but one little example of how quickly you can tell a story and personalize somebody and personalize yourself. When Drake May gets drafted and we show

the party at his high school, the celebration party at Myers Park High School, it was in the basketball gym. And when it popped up on the screen, Nick just sort of interjected, hey, I've been in that gym. I was in there watching him play basketball. You know, it took eight seconds for him to say that, and boom, it gave you another personal angle to the story. But he was great. He ate a little Debbie on television Friday night because everybody gets

punchy late in the third round. And, you know, it was great. I saw clips. You guys had a good night too. Well, that's what I'm saying. Bill Belichick was, and I can't wait to watch him. And for the hour that I got to be up there, like he was, I don't know, this is not, the word might sound bad, but it is not a bad thing.

He was like interrupting and like going. That means he's confident as shit. And like the first time you're on a set or something like that, I think the biggest thing, especially being on a microphone, is confidence and like feeling where you're at. There was not even, as there shouldn't be, he's Nick Saban, but there is a chance that that could happen. He felt like a natural.

And like as I was sitting next to him, I'm like, this guy is an actual natural at this entire thing. And it's a beautiful And it's beautiful. It's beautiful for college football, too, that he's going to be as prevalent throughout the season with you guys throughout it all. And for Bill, Bill was so prepared for everything. I mean, just like you were saying, Bill and Nick,

I think pretty similar human beings. So prepared for everything. Went through all the film. Night before, we're having some drinks, obviously, at dinner. And we're hanging out. and he orders one drink, I think because he feels obligated because we all are. It is this margarita that they light on fire. So we change all of our orders, and we're like,

we want 12 of those things. So we get them all, and he has one drink. So we all finish this, and now we're like, okay, we're going to order something now that's good. And the waiter comes over and goes, what would you like? Would you like another one of those? He goes, big day tomorrow.

No, thank you. And it's like, oh, it's like game day tomorrow. He's like viewing it, which I respect because I was sitting right next to him, and I was like, espresso martini. Like I was ordering just a little bit ago. So it was like the way he viewed it. And then after we do it in the hotel lobby, we're having drinks, telling stories like it was after game, like that entire thing. It was awesome.

And I'm sure Nick Saban felt the same way. He probably enjoyed having to prepare for something, having to execute, and then having a chance to look back on it afterwards. Because that's literally what these two fuckers have done their entire being. Did you get that sense as well from Nick as he was viewing it? Like, yeah, this is my game now. This is what we got to do. Absolutely. And he wants to be great at it and he said that and you know in talking to him the night before and spending time with me wanted to know how it was going to work what we needed he wants to be part of the team and and I think that he got off

to a start that shows that he's going to be an unbelievable member of that team. Right after the game day that you did with us, Pat, we go back in the trailer afterwards. And he looks at me and he says, what do you got for me? What I need to do better. And, you know, I mean, he wants to be great at it, which I'm sure Bill does too, which I think he's going to be. at it, which I'm sure Bill does too, which is, uh, which I think he's going to be. A lot of times he told me, well, it's your fucking show after laying out a full plan of something he wants to do. Lays out a full plan of something.

And he's like, do you think that would be good? And I'm like, do you want to, does it sound like you want to do that? It sounds like, ah, it's your fucking show. It's like, doesn't sound like it is. Doesn't sound like it is right now. And that's like, uh, but then he actually wanted shit shit like he actually wanted me to be like nah you should do this you should try this yeah and once i kind of understood that i'm like okay i should feel confident in letting bill know because he wants to be great like he doesn't want to you know last

thing bill and nick want to do is not take a piece of advice that could certainly help them that's how they've gotten to the place that they are is like gathering advice and information and tips. It's like, okay, that was a fascinating little angle for my relationship with Bill throughout the last couple of weeks as we're leading up to the draft. This year, you and Saban are going to be a beautiful thing to kind of watch each week.

Let's talk about him with the draft. I only had opportunities to kind of see clips as well of you guys. And obviously you mentioned it early. He's probably recruited 90% of those guys that got drafted so i'm interested to know you know what were some of his favorite players in the draft i saw him speak on mike uh same or still when he was drafted out of michigan and saying that was pound for pound probably the best football player in the draft so if you remember any of those guys that kind of popped out uh when they did get drafted and saban's response to him he came out of his chair when Max Melton from Rutgers got drafted.

He said, this is my sleeper cornerback. He said, I love this guy watching him on tape. He is going to be an outstanding pro. Now, I should have this memorized, but I decompressed a little bit. I think Max went in the second round, and in all honesty, I can't remember who took it. Cardinals. Cardinals.

Cardinals, okay. So, you know, he – We all Googled that, too. He did. We all Googled that. Yeah, yeah. I should have the Google machine ready. But he came up immediately when he said that.

You know, and you talked about taking feedback, Pat. One thing, we were in our meeting on the day before the draft, and there were a few things that were said, and I don't want to call any players out on this. There were a couple that he had criticisms of, and he had said, you know, I don't really want to say that on TV. And so afterwards, and I hope he doesn't mind me sharing this, but I said, you know, there's a way to do it because we need to hear

from the greatest college coach ever where you can say these are areas that he needs to improve if he is going to reach the potential and do the things that he does well at the highest level i said it doesn't sound like you're crushing the player you know because that was his thing it wasn't that he was afraid to be critical he was just cognizant of the night that it's draft night you know you're you're looking you're looking for reasons the guys are going to succeed and but it is still informative for people to hear okay look this guy's great went in the first round but here's an area that if he's really going to reach his potential in the nfl he needs to get better at and there's nothing wrong with that he was really really good about that. So Bill, he pointed out some things for everybody.

He pointed out some things, and I think Bill felt an obligation to reset expectations for rookies that get drafted. I feel like that was one of the things. Bill was like, enough with this shit. I didn't ask him if that was the case or not. But looking at the film, looking at what he wanted to talk about, it was like Bill wanted to showcase what was good for these guys. But also like, hey, here's the reality of the situation, because you look at the numbers, there's a lot more busts than there are successes. And everybody's like, well, why did this guy work out?

our successes and everybody's like well why did this guy work out it's like well this is the this is a very big flaw that if he can't figure out is going to get exposed in the nfl and it's not going to work out like i feel like bill wanted to do that just like you said nick saying that bill saying that we can't go up there and be like drake may's footwork he needs to he needs to tighten that up but like bill belichick doing it's like it's good for a patriots fans to tighten that up. But like Bill Belichick doing it, it's like it's good for, A, Patriots fans to hear that just in case there is a little bit of a slow start. It's like, okay, we knew he's going to have to work on some stuff. He's going to be able to develop and get better. But also, I bet you Drake May knows, yeah, everything he's saying is exactly what I know about it, too. There's only a couple people in that air.

People in that air. You know, and Nick and Bill, I think, are potentially two of, like, the four of them that are currently alive that could be in there. It's beautiful. It was a great draft night. Great draft night. Lucky to be a part of it. Now let's talk about somebody that's going to get drafted very soon.

Go ahead, Tone Diggs. Yeah, Reese, the draft just ended, and spring games just kind of ended. So with those two tied together, the three favorites for next year's draft are Shador, Carson Beck, and Quinn Ewers to go number one. That last one, Quinn Ewers, we just watched Arch Manning play incredible in the Texas spring game. It sounds stupid to say, but how long is the leash for Quinn Ewers?

Do you know, do you have a vibe of what's going on in Austin if there is a call already for Arch to come in because of his recruiting stats? Even though Quinn was Arch before Arden was Arch, even though he's not a Manning or whatever, but what is the sense you're getting around Austin right now after that spring game?

I mean, I haven't talked to Sark, but judging from last year and his trust in Quinn, I think the leash is really, really long for Quinn. And I don't think he'll need a lot of it because I think he's a really good player who's changed his approach to football and to his career and has been more serious about it. I'm sure he thought he was serious before, but he said it 5,000 times,

so I got tired of it last year. But he reshaped his body. He worked harder in film. He became a much better leader. Cut his hair. Yeah, the whole thing. I think he is going to have a long leash. I think he's the undisputed number one.

I don't anticipate him struggling. But it's a good thing to have someone as talented as Arch sitting there waiting if in fact something happens and they need him to play. But I think there's a clear pecking order there in Quinn's number one. Imagine Arch just sitting for two years the entire Manning operation just being like, yeah, it's

cool. Yeah, whatever. He's continuing to grow and then he just plays probably a year or two and then he's a top five pick or two yeah he's a top five good year and then all of a sudden we got another manning who's bigger stronger faster than any other mannings that have been in the nfl already i mean it's a phenomenal potential story and the way they've handled it has just been like yeah i mean that's how it goes boy he's got to wait oh he lost his uh he lost his id yeah he's got to have a college life i mean we we had college

i don't know if you heard about us. It's just like it's the most normal handled situation for somebody that could be transferring starting next year in a bunch of places. Instead, it's just like, nope, all good. Whatever happens, happens. And Quinn Ewers has handled it very well as well. I'm a big fan of Quinn Ewers. Ty, as the last question for

you here, Reese, we appreciate you. Yeah, Reese, we all know you're an Alabama alum. What are you hearing about the Kalen DeBoer era so far? When it first started, I feel like people were kind of trying to kill him with all the people who entered the portal. And then there was that video that came out of the Senior Bowl

where him and Michael Penix were obviously kind of just jacking around. But he kind of pushed him out of a picture. And then people are saying like, oh, look at Penix hates Kalen DeBoer. You know, he can't stand him. So people of yeah attacking his character a little bit uh what are you hearing uh coming out of alabama you know going into the season kind of post spring game here and are the expectations the same is it still when the sec go to the playoff and compete for a national championship last part of that yes expectations are the same they're never going to change there

and even though they weren't successful in achieving those they they didn't change when mike shula was there they didn't change when dennis franchoni was there and they didn't change for the 42 seconds and mike price was there uh that is the expectation so that's not going to change um i from what i've heard it's gone along very well. Obviously, Kalen's a much different dude. As for the Senior Bowl picture, I believe there was another picture immediately afterwards where they're all hugged up or right before some such thing. It's all good. In fact, I got a text from Kalen at the draft, and he was thrilled for all of his Washington players

because he said as good a player as they are, they're all exempl you know, just all were exemplary guys to have on the team. And so he was very happy for them. And I think, you know, the Alabama players have responded well. He and Jalen Milrow have hit it off. In fact, I was, when we were down there for basketball for college game day, I sat at the game with Jalen Milrow and Kalen DeBoer and I mean they they seem to be getting along swimmingly and you know I think look it's going to be a transition he's following the greatest coach who ever lived in terms of college football it is not going to be without bumps in the road but he's a really good coach and I think he's been really well accepted by the guys who've stayed and a lot of the guys who stayed have sort of used of used that as a bit of a rallying cry to say,

hey, you know, the guys wanted to leave, we're staying, and we're going to see this transition through. A lot of the guys I talked to from Bama, obviously I put them all over. Like I saw Jalen at the hotel the night before the draft, and I told him, like, you deciding to stay and saying, no, the Alabama thing isn't just through an air, it's Alabama, and put it on your back, that's a big deal. He obviously is like the coolest dude on earth.

They also all brought up the link, you know, let a naysayer know. They all brought it up. And I guess merch sales are good. Merch sales are killing it. We were up in the crowd. We do a segment, game day basketball in the crowd. This young lady is yelling at me, student. She goes, I've got a present for you. And I said, okay.

She said, I made you a friendship bracelet. And I said, oh, great. That's wonderful. So I put my hand out and she put it on. Said, Lank. Yeah. Hey, I thought you were potentially jumping off a cliff right there. I thought that was a career suicide happening right in front of me at the Rose Bowl.

Don't you know me well enough by now? I know. I do. I do. I do. That's why it was like, what the hell is happening? What is he doing? That is what my – and it was Rose Bowl, so it's like super early that time of year.

I've been through a lot. We all have during that football season and who knows, you know, if there's potentially milligrams still lingering around from the night before, you know, we're out there in California, you got to do it. So I'm listening to you and I'm just kind of waiting because those throws you do, those video packages are like Emmy award winning every single time. So I'm sitting there listening and just kind of dropping out. And then I hear you bring it up and i'm like i've heard that before and then you start talking and i'm like what is

happening here with reese davis and then obviously you say naysayer and i'm like holy shit and i literally while you're sitting there talking i'm right off screen with both hands on my head thinking that. And then obviously Joey Galloway starts losing his mind. Desmond Howard goes crazy. And then Herb Street's like, this guy's in the middle of his throw. It's like, Herbie, I thought he was throwing himself off a cliff just a matter of seconds ago. What a moment. Honestly, what a moment for all.

Herbie and I had no idea of the alternative meaning like i've known about the merchant i i'd known about the merchandise like since august you know terry on arnold and jaylen had done that thing and you know he'd been out there quite a bit i had no idea i think i told you this we went to the sound on it and desmond's trying to tell me i'm still not getting i don't know so we come back and we talk we do whatever we're doing and finally we get in commercial break and desmond's like you don't get it i'm like no what and he's like and he basically spelled it out here's the deal yeah yeah yeah at that point i was like no you guys really thought really thought no you would never say that go walk that road you, no, you guys really thought, really thought. No, Reese, you would never say that.

You would never say that, but I thought you were being so professional. It's like, I'm going to call it by hat. That's what it's called. Oh, okay. I didn't know how you were going to handle the end that was coming around, but I was certainly fascinated to find the merch sales through the roof. Merch sales through the roof. I saw Tarion down there after the merch sales through the roof. Merch sales through the roof. I saw Terry on down there after he got drafted to the Lions.

Big Dap up. Hey, Lane. He's awesome. Merch. Yeah, awesome. Absolutely. Lions got a great corner there. It feels like Michigan only had 13 guys get drafted.

Is that it? Only 13 guys. Is that it? Only 13. Texas was second with 11, I think. Washington, I think, was third. How many did they say Alabama has in the league? How many Alabama guys?

I forget what number. 400. 70. He went over 50 first-round draft picks as a college coach. I think it landed at 49 at Alabama, but he had some at LSU, too. So that's just first-round guys, not even the rest of them that he's put in the league over the years.

Hey, Coach, Billy Donner at the IMG Academy is trying to catch up. Yeah, he is. He's got like five or six straight? Six straight. And the top ten. Colleges with most players drafted in NFL history, Notre Dame 525. That was back whenever they were the only school that had television.

70s. USC, 523. Ohio State, 485. Oklahoma, Michigan. Alabama, Penn State, LSU, Florida, and Georgia. Those are called blue bloods right there. That is the chippers. That's who's driving things.

Those are the teams that we need to make sure they keep the traditions as we continue to move forward and everybody else. Those are the teams that we need to make sure they keep the traditions as we continue to move forward and everybody else. We appreciate the hell out of you, Reese. Likewise, boys. Good to see you. See you soon, ladies and gentlemen. Reese David. Reese! Alright. What a day today.

Seriously. The GM thing was awesome. One o'clock, GMs. How about a feel the beat with GMs? Andrew Berry of the Cleveland Browns locked in Friday, 12-20. Okay. Locked in. So now Howie Roseman of the Philadelphia Eagles, we've got to figure out. Ryan Poles and Casario still currently floating in a circle.

Okay. In a cloud. In a cloud. We don't know the exact time. As we find out the times, we will certainly let people know. And if you're a fan of the team, we will try our best. We will try our best to get all the info that we could possibly get that you need to hear. Ain't that right, AJ?

That is correct. Still no font, no update. Seeing a separate cloud. There's an update. He was in the list right here. What cloud is he floating on? He was in the cloud, but then he became a lightning bolt and he dropped himself out of that. Condensation. Big storms last night,

right? Yeah, over the last few days. There's some big-time tornadoes in the Midwest. Nebraska, Iowa. I think Indianapolis had some big storms last night, I think. It was like right when we left yesterday, the rain was

ridiculous. We only know that because flying back from Kansas City, there was a full conversation, obviously, with Elijah, Captain Elijah, about the storms that had taken place, what storms are happening now, how we should be. And normally that late, we're okay. You know, because kind of, you know, these storms only like to come out at, you know, sundown, sunup sometimes. Or very rarely overnight unless you're getting like big time rain or whatever but like you've got a full breakdown i didn't know that shit's happening right now everybody look alive everybody everybody keep their head on a swivel right now amen these storms in the midwest are a real deal and problematic as a motherfucker oh yeah man some of the tornado videos that i saw from iowa it's like you know and i get people go

out there and they, like, want to get the pictures. Like, stay the fuck away from those things. Was that the Nebraska one that was within the last, the biggest I've ever seen? Within the last, I think it was. It looked AI. Three days ago, I think it was.

It was insane. Like, it did look AI. Yeah, I thought that, I think I'm thinking the same. I thought it was fake for sure. Yeah. It's got to be the same one. Yeah, it's real. Yeah, that was the same.

That's a movie. That's kind of a movie. That's a movie. That's kind of a movie. That's Twister. That's the hangman in the new Twister movie. Boom, Glenn Powell's up inside of that thing. Geez. All these people just driving, assuming it's going to go left. What if it comes right at you? You're screwed. Then you're fucked.

There you go. It's kind of cool, though, how that works. Like a grizzly bear can only turn to the left. Jordan Hall here knows where the hell it's going. It has good read-on. They have good understanding. We appreciate getting this angle, but that's out of a movie. That looks like an AI

tornado. Hey, make a tornado in the middle of a cornfield. It's like, alright, how big do you want it? Venti. That's the fucking biggest. That's big. Devastating. Alright. Let's beat the tornado. That's big. Oh, yeah. Devastating. All right. Let's beat the Tornadoes this year.

Stay safe out there. Yeah. Let's stay one step ahead of them, even though they decide where they go. Correct. If they have a mind of their own, it feels like. Tornadoes kind of, yeah. Big time assholes. Big time. Yeah.

What's that? I said they just spawn. It's not like a hurricane where you know someone's way is just boop, boop. Yeah, and then it'll leave. And then how about the ice storm? When you're in the middle of that thing. You know though, you see those funnel clouds go the other way. But also when you feel the weather,

what is the feeling? It's super hot and then cold's coming, right? Yeah, like a massive cold front comes through. But like really warm though. Yeah, it's like hot, like 80 to 85 and then all of a sudden it gets like very calm and drops like 15 degrees like very quickly and it's like hot, like 80 to 85, and then all of a sudden it gets very calm and drops like 15 degrees very quickly. And it's like, okay, something's up here. And then there's like an eerie feeling.

Yeah, it's incredibly calm, like very, very calm. And then you hear the train coming. That was the scariest one that I've experienced here in Indianapolis. Do the animals do anything? I think they know. They hide. The outdoor animals or pets? Dogs.

Pets always dump themselves. A lot of pets go crazy when there's storms like that. Yeah, the pets are... Trying to wrangle the pets is the biggest. That's the... We've got to get down to the basement as fast as possible. Me and Sam are out on the porch. Beautiful night. And then

storms started brewing you know started brewing brewing brewing and then all of a sudden we hear this thing start coming through and it's like oh shit this is a real deal we sprint inside all of a sudden house is like shaking we're trying to get the dogs downstairs and the anxiety of trying to get the cats and the dogs and the house shaking is a part of it all and then i think there was some damage that were done, you know, maybe like 10 miles away from here that was just getting started as it was going. And it's like, holy shit, that thing just comes out of nowhere and decides, yeah, you're the one getting it.

It's a bad sum. It's a mean sum of a bitch. It's a mean cuss. Assholes. Yeah. Let's beat them this year. Let's beat these assholes this year. I'm looking over at SportsCenter over there.

Patrick Mahomes eyeballing Braun Strowman as Jey Uso tells him, hey, yeet, yeet, yeet, yeet, yeet, yeet, yeet, yeet, yeet. Pulls him away and says, now's not the time. You know, especially with Creed Humphries here, Trey Smith, a couple of heroes in the building. Patrick Mahomes, the next great one. Obviously, he didn't mean for Jey Uso to get hurt. He meant to distract Logan Paul on the judgment day so Jey Uso could break free.

We all know that's the case. Not we all. Not me all. I didn't make a compelling enough argument? No, absolutely not. Why? Because you were there and he saw it differently? Yeah, I saw the whole thing happen.

I saw them walking together. I saw he was smug. He walked in like a real smug asshole. I showed Speed checking out what's going on there in the back. He had a Louis Vuitton jacket on. I mean, that's a good-looking fit-out. It's not a light jacket. I don't think he cares because his company made $1.3 billion last year.

Yeah, he's doing okay. Look, he knew it. Patrick Mahomes sitting there like, come on, Jay, I gave you time. Boom! He's messed up. McDonough's dumb. Here's a photo from McDonough's Twitter account as of this morning saying, Hey, look, how about you?

How about you give me a nice box of prime? This is Ace Ventura, pet detective when he gets punched in the face and it has to count how many diamonds are on the Super Bowl ring because he, who he is looking for lost a diamond in the ring, which is a phenomenal situation. J.D. McDonough's living it right now. That's a dynasty right above his right eye.

That's right. It is. Jeez. Looks better. That's an assault with a deadly weapon, isn't it? Or three deadly weapons, really. I mean, especially when you're on that hand of Logan Paul. He drops people with that.

You haven't seen the last of McDonough. You know he's going to come back bigger and better. I would like to say that McDonough is quickly becoming one of my favorites on Monday Night Raw. He's willing to do whatever. They have a junkyard dog. Expecting him to drop from the Jumbotron sting next week. Yeah, just whatever.

You know, Jay, you're going to get punched in the face with platinum diamond rings. No, I'm not. Jay Uso is going to get punched in the face with platinum diamond rings? No, I'm not. Jey Uso's going to get punched in the face. You're right. Staying in there. And later in the evening, he's got this very bruised, bloody,

and he gets... He takes a kick right to the... And then he takes another right to... J.D. McDonough is Homer Simpson. He really is. He plays the rope-a-dope better than

anybody alive right now. He's starting to babyface with me. And having Super Bowl rings across his forehead is fantastic. I love everything about it. Hate that he hangs out with the rest of the crew. You know, because Dirty Sanchez Dawn was out there yesterday. He could.

His dad, Ray, back to Raw. Here we go. Ray Mysterio's on Raw. Big. Huge news. A couple huge draft picks last night. Yeah, the draft was great. The draft was everything that you thought it could be and would be.

Yeah, it seemed like a lot of people were just drafting to keep the players that they had. You know, instead of the courts move. I'm pumped. Lyra Valkyrie. We've got to call her up. It's about time. Yeah, I mean, she has gothic charisma. Nope.

That's not her. It's good to see Booker T in the war room last night. I did realize last night I'm going to have to watch some NXT tape. Yeah, Dijak coming up. I know Dijak. Look out. Formerly known as T-Bar. How about the hot dragon?

The red dragon. Oh, yeah. The big dragon. Spiky dragon. Yeah. Yeah. The big red dragon. What's his full name?

What's his real name? Ilya Drakowski or something. Dragonov. Or something. It's Ilya Dragonov. You're an asshole. No, he's a big pick. He's a huge pick.

He beat the shit out of you. I saw him a couple weeks ago on Raw. I'd hope so. He's a fucking WWE superstar. I'd hope he'd be able to. He ago on Raw. I'd hope so. He's a fucking WWE superstar. I'd hope he'd be able to. He's the number one prospect on the board. He's a pro. Where's Elias?

Well, Zeke wasn't up for draft. That whole family wasn't up for the draft. Where are they? What are they doing now? They're working. They're getting better. They're like our tribal chief. They opted out.

Well, the tribal chief opted out because he didn't want to steal a spotlight from anybody else. He's a giving tribal chief. Sure. I actually got a chance to talk to paul hayman you know uh before the show and i said he opted out uh why is that just to give everybody else their night and he's that's right that's where our tribal chief is if the world was to be flooded our tribal chief would try to give everybody oxygen that is the type of man that we're talking about here. A boat? And I said, okay. Okay, sounds good, Paul. And I just walked away. And he, go on now, lad.

You know, go on, lad. And yeah, the draft, I'm happy for those NXT people because they work their asses off them. Full commitment, full every single day. For sure. But I learned quickly I didn't know enough about them. Sure. So I'm going to have to do some research before next

Monday. They got Backlash in Lyon, France this weekend. Bonjour, oui, oui, going international. 4 o'clock. 1 o'clock. Time zone. Michael Cole will be hosting Backlash from Lyon.

I believe there is Smackdowns in France as well on Friday. Corey Graves and Wade Barrett will be hosting that. I think Michael Cole is hosting a kickoff event on Friday. 1 o'clock Eastern.

10 o'clock Eastern. Fuck. I was trying to keep up with it. I said, boy, that sounds all really early. But they're in France, you see. It's international. What time is the kickoff show? Do we have that on there?

So on Friday, they got a kickoff. They're about, France fans are about to be wild too. And Cole has to talk to him. I said, are you speaking French to these people or are you speaking English? And he said, I don't know French, Pat. So I'm speaking. I said, I hope you don't get booed out of

France pal these European fans are wild should be a fun weekend but I gotta learn a lot about a lot of these people before is it a premium live event or what only on peacock brother got it WrestleMania backlash tongue dig's been trying to tell me something for a while Gothic Charisma meets cold-hearted fury. That is the description of one of the... Not Lyra Valkyrie. It was the next player. Blair Davenport. There it is, Davenport. And she got drafted to...

Looks like it's Blue Smackdown. Okay, okay. Where's Shinsuke? Shinsuke was a Smackdown as well. Did Cody get that cereal made yet? Nakamura? What's that? Did Cody get that cereal made yet? What's that? Did Cody get that cereal made yet? Did he steal Tone's idea?

Cody's O's. Cody O's. O's! Still out there. Why wasn't he there last night? Well, he's on SmackDown now. Yeah, he's a champion. He's your champion.

I thought fighting champion. He's your champion. He's just on SmackDown and Raw every week. Nah, well, we talked about this. I thought it would be difficult to have two champions on one particular show because what's everybody else angling for, you know? Yeah. It wasn't the same without him asking us, though.

What do we want to talk about tonight? Yeah, well. Kansas City. Kansas City. What do you want to talk about? Until we eat again. What is your guys' problem? I understand you guys acknowledge your travel chief.

Always. Where's he been? Can't say he did last night, did he? He's been getting better. He's been working harder. He lost his last match. Don't you put your fucking finger up and start doing that. I did see photos of him at Disney World.

It was pretty sweet. It was at Disney with his family. Is that okay with you? He's got to reload. I don't really love when my WWE superstar champions have families. I only want them to wrestle. Cody's wife came out. How's Mommy's rehab?

Brandi Rhodes is right there. I didn't say I respected that either. Mommy was not there yesterday. You didn't see Stone Cold carry kids around? Is rehab going well? Bloodline. You was not there yesterday. You didn't see Stone Cold Mary kids. Rehab going well? Bloodline. Yeah, it is family. It's the whole thing. The whole thing is family. What did Tate have?

All his whole family in his casket? Tate's dead, man. Family's dead. Yeah. Is that why he goes back underground? The only family he had was Kane his brother From birth Twins

Dante's Inferno he goes back to hell After Disco Inferno brother Still doing it Alright That's the show I think that's how you end it That was a good breakdown of everything that happened.

Yeah, it was. Yeah, good recap. It was a big Eric Arnell title match last night. Huge. Sammy Zane versus Big Bronson Reed. Yeah, first time. Samantha Irvin, who was battling through something last night, by the way. She's awesome, by the way.

Sorry to carry off. She's amazing, like what she does. I think she's like a real singer for sure. She is. A real singer, too. She's on America's Got Talent, I believe. Season 11 with O's The Mentalist. Saw that in the whole thing.

She was battling through a congestion scientist thing. She announced Brunson Reed, Big Brunson Reed at 330 pounds. Michael Cole did a little research. I guess he's like 360, 370. No, you don't say that's it sit i said is that it you sure what do you think he's 400 pounds pure muscle well okay what

the hell is that great i will say i'm sick of watching zane brunson can we get someone else it's the fifth week in a row we're watching Bronson Reed lose to Sammy Zane. Like, fuck, man. What the fuck can we put someone else in there? Fuck! Big Bronson Reed had big night glasses. Every time Bronson Reed comes

out against Sammy Zane, all I can think is, fuck that! Every single time. I agree. Unfortunately, we gotta watch It was the first time last time. We've got to watch Zane go over again. Braun Strowman would break Sami Zayn in half. Let's get to a break. Sami Zayn's a fighting champion.

Yeah. Yeah, against one guy. So is he? Does that count? If you defend your title against the same guy. You didn't see him kick him in the mouth last night? I saw it. I saw it.

I wasn't in the ring. I like my business to be done. Inside the fucking ring. Did the bell ring? Thank you. Okay, inside the parameters. That's right. Can we get some fresh blood? I agree. That's what I'm pumping Dragon on.

Fucking put the strap on Dijak right now. Wait till the breaker gets in there. Wait till you see what Dijak does with these ropes. The way he gets in there. Wait until you see what Dijak does with these ropes. He's so tall. The way he gets in the ring. Braun Strowman's back. We've got good entrances coming out of Braun Strowman. The way they go up over.

Braun Strowman looks gigantic. Absolutely. Have you seen his thing last night? I want to see him go in there against Sammy. Let's test. If he's a fighting champion, let's test the Intercontinental Championship. Let's get to a break. We're back tomorrow. Thank you all so much for allowing us to live this life. General managers will be

joining us throughout the rest of the week. We'll be trying to create things that are worth watching, but it is doubtful for probably the next few months. But buckle up. It's about to be a great ride. AJ, good work today. Boys, fantastic job not only here, but in Detroit for that draft spectacular in the back. And everybody, good work. Good work, team. Good, fantastic job. Not only here, but in Detroit for that draft spectacular in the back.

And everybody, good work. Good work, team. Good work, team. Alright, let's get the hell out of here. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice that might change their life. We're in this thing together. Team on me. Team on three. One, two, three. Team. Goodbye.