The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 1141 - Ed O'Neill, Florida Panthers GM Bill Zito, Jeff Passan, Darius Butler, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: June 4, 2024

On today’s show, Pat, Darius Butler, AJ Hawk, and the boys chat about everything going on around the NFL including some new deals, which players aren’t reporting for camp, and who might end up without deals. Joining the progrum is legendary actor from Married With Children, Modern Family, among many others, and one of the stars of the new series “Clipped” about the Donald Sterling saga with the Los Angeles Clippers, Ed O’Neill (20:53-45:38). Later, General Manager of the Florida Panthers, Bill Zito joins the show to chat about the success they’ve been having in Florida, what it takes building a successful team/organization in the NHL, what kind of the players they’re looking for, how important Matthew Tkachuk is to the whole operation, the importance of enjoying life in Florida when not on the ice and the impact that has on the team, not looking past the Stanley Cup Finals and preparing for the future, and much more (1:07:42-1:22:21). Lastly, MLB Insider, Jeff Passan stops by quickly to chat about Tucupita Marcano getting a lifetime ban from baseball for betting, and how this is just the beginning of these types of stories. 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. We’ll see you tomorrow from Cary, North Carolina on site from TST. Cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello beautiful people and welcome to our humble abode the Thunderdome on this TSTE Tuesday June 4th 2024 this program starts now sports oh wonderful and we're lucky to talk about them every single day and yesterday while talking about sports I uh I utilized a descriptor that I certainly should not have used now to break down the whole story would take about 15-20 minutes. Obviously, if you haven't heard, you're not on the internet or I think any of the cable news or morning news situations. After about 15 minutes of doing a new game show called Guess Which WNBA Rookie here on this particular program, I utilized the words white bitch to describe Kaitlyn Clark as being the superstar in Indiana. Now, when I was

saying it, I legitimately meant it in a complimentary fashion, like this is the one, you know? And as I said, I didn't even think, honestly had no idea what was happening on the internet until two and a half hours later after the show ended that I realized. And I started reading through a lot of comments that were being said and I felt like actually the worst human on earth for a good portion of my travels yesterday over to Hershey and then into last night even during Monday night and flying home and even into this morning from things that people were saying going damn those were not my intentions but that's how you took it that's on me I do apologize to a lot of the people though that were calling me racist I had no idea that was even possible I guess I am 0.01% Italian I did did take 23 of me, so I guess there is a little bit,

maybe I had no idea that was, or sexist, like I, that was not, the 15 minutes leading up, or disrespectful to Caitlyn, the 15 minutes leading up to that, I was literally talking about how I hope that the WNBA and sports media and ex-WNBA players would show a little bit more respect to Kaitlyn Clark for what she has brought to the WNBA. And in the end, it was a takeaway that I was the most disrespectful person on earth to Kaitlyn Clark. So obviously, that's a massive I did reach out to Kaitlyn Clark through the fever PR, sent an apology, and then got a message back that she said it was all good. No blood.

We move forward. And she appreciates us reaching out and apologizing. So that obviously makes me feel a little bit better. But to the people that got pissed off yesterday and offended, I understand. I learned a lot. Okay. I will say I learned a lot. Because we are a show that anytime we talk about somebody we have massive respect for we normally call them an absolute that is just standard operating procedure at the

ESPYs I literally called Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelsey assholes in the front row because they played football so good that somebody put a wolf mask on and decided to go bankrupt so whenever I'm talking in the way I compliment is obviously not the same as everybody else I have to keep that in mind whenever I'm talking in the way I compliment is obviously not the same as everybody else. I have to keep that in mind, whatever I'm talking, maybe to a very new crowd about a very new sport that we are diving into, were diving into. And with that being said, I think the universe has told me, hey, let's stay in your own dumb ass lane. But I would like to say I meant it as a compliment. Those are my intentions. A lot of people didn't take it that way. Caitlinlyn Clark did not feel disrespected, but a lot of people said I was disrespecting her.

That's the complete opposite of what I was trying to do. And we move forward with some sports. Now, everything I said, though, in that game show, true. Yep. Matter of fact. Attendance, Kaitlyn. Ratings, Kaitlyn. Merch, Kaitlyn.

Business, Kaitlyn. Popularity, Kaitlyn i which is what i said for 50 minutes so whenever i found out that i was disrespectful to caitlyn i was massively confused that i dive in nonetheless we learn i learn i apologize and i'm also sorry i put the boys through this entire thing the toxic table is here at boston corner and that ty schmidt you know Ty Schmidt. You know, so when we talk women's sports, we just say woman the entire time. Yep. That's what I learned. OK, this is not being an asshole. This is being very real. We do have to talk a little bit different, I think, for people that don't fully understand this if we're going to dive in there. And that was my big learning lesson, I think, for yesterday.

And also, hey, don't be as abrasive sometimes. And a lot of people think you could be an asshole with some of the words that other people go oh yeah all right yep standard operating proceed so it's a wild time weird time i feel bad i put you guys through this is one half of the hammer cowboys turn digs here in the all black johnny cash looking great nine-year nfl vet darius j butler is here looking incredibly cool uh debuts yesterday i put us all in a situation i apologize i do i was reading some of the things that are being said about me though they got a point you know it was it was a but there was some stuff i was like yeah i got a point got a point got a point and uh it did settle in and it was a nice perspective changer and a realization but then i

had a lot of other people send me messages like, yo, come on. Like, you got clipped. Exactly. And then out of a 15-minute thing, which journalism, I guess, is, I don't know. Nonetheless, we move on. Let's do the sports. Dee Butch, good news for you and your Florida Panthers down there in South Florida. They're obviously in the Stanley Cup Finals yet again. Back-to-back years, they're able to do that. Do you know their GM's been there for about four years named bill zito great name great born in pittsburgh okay he's gonna be joining us in the next hour to chat

about his team this dude is a beast at uh piecing together a hockey team now it makes sense because he's from pittsburgh bill zito has uh been a finalist for the jim gregory general manager of the year award nice this season and i believe he's been a finalist three the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award this season. And I believe he's been a finalist three out of the four years he's been a general manager for the Florida Panthers. Obviously makes a big move to bring in Kachuk and Starr. They go to back-to-back Stanley Cup finals. What a team. Can't wait to chat with him.

And then we'll also have Al Bundy on the show. Wow. Ed O'Neill. What a day for Al Bundy to come on. Hell yeah. You know, I thought about that last night. I thought it was like, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. Nah, nah, nah, nah. You know, that ain't, you know, that's not.

Good jokes. Yeah, well, yeah, man, these guys have really been booked. You know, just a long time. For a long time. Obviously, he's from Married with Children, Modern Family, has a new series, Clipped, which is out today based on the hit ESPN 30 for 30 podcast, The Sterling Affairs on Hulu. Now, if you do recall what happened with Donald Sterling, owner of the Clippers, he was recorded. And then obviously massive story because of what he said on there.

It turned out nobody really liked him as a human. He sells team to Balmer. Now we got more toilets than any other arena. Big up. Which is obviously big ups for the Clippers team and the franchise organization as a whole. But I was at the ESPYs after that all happened. And Drake was the host. Oh.

Yeah. And he just released a new song. Yeah, he's got a new banger. Guantan Delilah. That's AI. No. Unfortunately not, brother. That is AI. Guantan Delilah. That's AI. No, unfortunately not, brother. That is AI.

Don't be so mean. Why are you so mean? It's sick. Drake's back. He's back. Not like he ever left, but he's back. This is... This one might actually be the dagger.

Yeah. I might never listen to another Drake song again. I am so incredibly flustered about how that's a real song. There's no way that's got to be it. He was the host. So I know that original,

Hey there Delilah, what's it like in New York City? Round and round and round and round and round and round and round. You look so pretty as you do. Yeah, I know that song. Bangor. Bangor.

Bangor. Yeah. So that times 10. And that was just random white wearing a t-shirt and a guitar. Playing white tees, baby. Dude was like busking pretty much. Yeah. Just like kind of home run.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Absolute banger. Yeah. And now Drake said, I'm going to remix that 2024 fresh off a battle with Kendrick Lamar. I don't think it's real. Anyways, he was hosting ESPYs, and he sang a song called Sterling Never Loved Us. And, yeah, it was not a good night to be white in that particular theater and arena, you know,

because Sterling said some terrible, terrible, terrible things. And then in time, somebody in that position of power in that position of uh profession comes out that hey this is the real human being you obviously have to start questioning everything and i think the nba is obviously much better past it but i'm excited to hear how al bundy's story and portrayal of this thing goes on hulu should be a good story oh yeah all through the entire sports world trailer for sure i've not seen the trailer. It's great. Looked like they casted it well. Yeah, it's already getting, like, rave reviews saying that, like, because, you know, like, a lot of people are comparing it to the Showtime show, but it's only six episodes, and, like,

what they're diving into, it's getting, like, universal praise. Available on Hulu. Shout out to Hulu doing it, because we thought Hulu was going to be in trouble with YouTube TV. Yeah. Getting a Sunday ticket. There are shows, though. I'm still, yeah, I still do the Hulu. They're going. I still do the Hulu. It's not in trouble with YouTube TV. Yeah. Getting a Sunday ticket. There are shows, though. I'm still, yeah, I still do the Hulu. They're going. I still do the Hulu.

They do make good shows. Yeah, these type of shows are awesome, too. Shogun, The Bear, this. They're doing the shows well. Yeah, very well. But, like, hearing more so about this stuff, because, honestly, personally, all I know about Donald Stern is that he's just a racist scumbag. I feel like I don't know. Billionaire,

I think. Yeah, billionaire. I don't know the intricacies of everything that went on. And winning time kind of started it with the whole magic story and Larry and Red Aubach. If they continue to do these, it's going to be unbelievable to hear some of this stuff. Okay, let's start talking about some of the NFL news happening. Can't wait to chat with Ed O'Neill here in about 10 minutes or so. There are 10 mandatory minicamps starting around the NFL.

Here in Indianapolis, there's obviously one of them. The Lions are started as well. The Bears, Caleb Williams and the boys, obviously. Mandatory minicamp, which is an extended version of the OTAs, but maybe a little bit more dialed in. You actually will see some teams get rid of one day of mandatory minicamp because the attendance throughout all of OTAs has been so good. We actually canceled our last mandatory

minicamp. Chuck Pagano, I think his first year, and that was because we had 99% attendance throughout all of OTAs and off-season conditioning phase one, two, and three, except for one guy. What up, Woe? And when Woe got there, Woe couldn't do anything

anyways because he was 275 pounds. It was 0% muscle. So Chuck actually said, we don't even need the last day. We've already done all this. There's a chance that is what takes place throughout mandatory minicamps. It is good work. It's kind of the last time you really get together before you have to do it real. But it certainly is a place for people to take a stand, like C.D. Lamp,

who is currently not at the Dallas Cowboys mandatory minicamp. Mandatory, obviously, that first word is a pretty important one there. Just like the first 15 minutes of a segment. But the first word there, that mandatory thing, is a real one. This is where fines start coming into play. This is where money starts getting deducted out. This is where shit really becomes accurate. So if people are sitting out OTAs, nobody cares.

Sitting out an off-season conditioning program, nobody cares. You sit out a mandatory minicamp, it's like, okay, this is a real deal here. CD just sees the money going around to the wide receivers and saying, wait a second, when's this happening for me, D-Butch? Yeah, I don't blame him. And obviously he wants his bag. I think Schefter said he doesn't anticipate his deal being that close to Jefferson. That's on me.

I do. I think it will definitely be right in that ballpark when he gets his deal being that close to Jefferson. That's on me. But I do. I think it'll definitely be right in that ballpark when he gets his deal done. But I'm excited to see it done. He deserves it. He's the number one guy out there in Dallas. Obviously, you got to pay Dak. You got to pay Micah. Both of those guys probably going to reset their markets as well.

So Cowboys are in an interesting spot right now. So Connor has an entire theory on the whole, do they have to pay everybody? And I don't know how long he's been cooking on it, but he certainly mentioned it this morning, and I think it's pretty real for a guy that just got the Medal of Honor from Croatia. Yeah, last night it just kind of hit me, like, okay, because all these guys

have been paid this offseason, like, CD obviously deserves to be paid. We can all agree on that, and there's been, you know, five different wide receivers get a lot of money, but if you're the Cowboys and you look at it from a four-year plan view here, Mike McCarthy's last year of his deal, right? Let's say

they do the whole 12-5 and lose in the first round of the playoffs again. Probably you can assume Mike McCarthy's out. If you don't get better, then you're just getting worse. Especially in Dallas. And people are going to say, Jason Garrett took a long time. Well, he's quarterback there and considered a child of jerry jones bingo part of that literally what he said he said i feel like he is one of my kids yeah

and like when that whole situation went down we all thought it was really weird because it was like jason garrett got fired and then there was a two-week period where it was almost as if he wasn't fired and then he officially got fired but they wanted him to leave yes jerry jones was trying to get jason garrett to walk out the door and say you know what thank you for the opportunity boom but jason garrett had an agent saying you don't go anywhere we're getting paid yeah we are sticking around for sure but yeah you're right that's how it ended and big mike it doesn't feel like he's in that situation like big mike is in his own situation he needs to win and nothing has really happened for him but so

if they are gonna go after a different head coach after this season, you can assume it'd be Bill Belichick because, you know, Bill Belichick kind of an elder statesman, you could say. He's done 49 years in the NFL. So if Jerry Jones were to go after him, then Bill Belichick all of a sudden becomes your head coach. Who knows if he's your GM. But just looking at who Bill Belichick is, does he pay quarterbacks?

Does he pay wide receivers? No. Who does he pay?backs? Does he pay wide receivers? No. Who does he pay? He does pay defensive ends. Michael Parsons. Michael Parsons is a part of the program. No matter who's coach, when's coach, how's coach. Bingo.

And Bill has done that in New England. He paid Matthew Judon a bunch of money on day one of free agency a few years ago. He's done it before, obviously, with the Chandler Jones contract when it came to reset. He didn't do that. No offense to Quinn, but could you imagine Bill Belichick getting his hands on Micah Parsons? That would be sweet. He had Julian Edelman doing cloud coverages and blitzing. Could you imagine what he would do?

He had LT. Oh yeah, that's who everybody's compared to pretty much. In the middle of the pack, guys, think about what he's done for those guys. That went to New England, played unbelievable, and then are regarded as different. Michael Parsons is one of the top three pass rushers in the entire NFL, so you would think obviously he would make him

that number one defense player of the year. You said he's going to have to. You're saying Bill, in the future, no matter where he goes, you're talking about Dallas Cowboys. Yeah, we're talking about Michael. I'm saying you've got the quarterback position. I mean, Dak, I think the Cowboys took a little too long the first time they paid him.

I think he got 40, and then obviously that deal looks great at this point. But I don't think he necessarily reset. I don't think he jumps Burrow or Herbert or those guys. But he's going to be in that ballpark. You can't, I mean, if you're Bill, you want to come in and have to draft the quarterback coming off an 11-12 win season. Let's anticipate that in the later half of the first round. I don't think you want to do that as a 73

year old head coach. You want to have your quarterback in place. I think they're going to have to take care of Dak. CeeDee Lamb maybe is the question mark. Maybe. But he's such a focal point of that offense. And then Micah, obviously we know he's got to take care of it. CeeDee was first in catches last year. He was second in yards, third in

touchdowns. CeeDee's going to get it. So good, but the conversation Tat looks sweet. Sweet. Tat looks very sweet. That's my first time seeing it. Like, CD's going to get it. So good. But the conversation, Tat looks sweet. Sweet. Tat looks very sweet. That's my first time seeing him get eyes on it. That thing's glistening right now. Thank you. Very sweet.

But you're talking about CD kind of gets glossed over because the conversation's always about the drama of the Dallas Cowboys. Yeah. You know, like, is Dak Prescott a guy? Mike McCarthy, is he on his way out? Jerry Jones, huh? What's he doing? That's the whole conversation. his way out jerry jones what's he doing that's all conversation it's like this dude is the one

making the place for the dallas cowboys whenever and uh he's obviously holding out during a mandatory minicamp it's a big statement from cd and his team saying we ain't doing shit until we get a deal together here because if he goes to mandatory minicamp gets hurt what do we get you're gonna hold that over his head now granted there are some people that have done like hold-ins you know where you show up to the building but you're not going to really participate in any of the on-field stuff we'll be in the meeting we understand it's a mandatory minicamp i'll come in say what's up do my thing but that is not how cd lamb is choosing to handle this micah parsons is in the building and uh mike mccarthy said he's engaged so i don't know what that necessarily means but cd not being at not being at this, I think, is a big statement from CeeDee.

Especially the way the Cowboys' offense has evolved the last three years. I mean, when Dak was younger, everyone talked about the O-line and how good they were. And it was the two-headed monster with Zeke and Pollard. And then Zeke leaves, and it's Pollard by himself. And he's not really the bell cow number one guy. And now they're throwing it 45, 50 times a game with Dak. So it's like CD knows, like, hey, I'm the vocal point of this offense.

It's not, hey, we're going to pound it down your throat anymore and Dak's going to make the throws when he needs to. It's like I'm relied on to catch at least 10-plus balls every single game. So, yeah, I mean, why wouldn't you? Yeah, the thought of Mike McCarthy's last year with a quarterback that's mad, a wide receiver that's mad, your number one guy on defense, not with a D or happy or whatever. It's like Mike McCarthy's just going to be, I read headlines too.

I see what everybody's saying. I'm out of here. We used to bowl where I'm going. I pretty much understand it. And that's how it's been for like the last three years for Mike McCarthy. And then you start thinking about like Bill Belichick is the head coach for the Dallas Cowboys. That would be bananas. Jerry Jones and Bill Belichick doing their song and dance together.

I would be excited to see how that goes. They've been around the NFL together a very long time. Everybody automatically assumes Jerry and Bill have respect for each other. And that's been said publicly so much that it hasn't been disputed. So I just assume that is real as well. And could you fathom an organization that is more and we got a chance to experience a little bit whenever we're

down there for WrestleMania. It is a buttoned up franchise. I mean, when you talk about the business, the way it is right now, all the tours through the building and shit, that's going to stop. I'll be excited to see how Bill Belichick handles that with Jerry Jones if that was the case. But think about the convo.

And I'm assuming we're not the only ones having this. Mike McCarthy is basically sitting there as a lame duck right now. Unless he wins the Super Bowl. That is his campaign. To remain the Dallas Cowboys head coach. Win the Super Bowl. That's fun. Because you know who's in this league right now?

Who's that? Kansas City Chiefs. Kansas City Chiefs are still playing still playing football right now you know and it's like that is what Mike McCarthy is staring down I wonder if he's content with it too

already has a championship he's already made a bunch of money he's been able to reinvent himself pretty much down there in Dallas has had success in Dallas

had a lot of success in Green Bay Pittsburgh guy football guy has stayed true to himself I wonder if he's just content with like yeah whatever happens

happens here I guess that's the only mindset he can have in this particular case and probably will get another opportunity i mean he's not super old he's not as old as bill is you know and you look at his like career record i mean they used to always talk people okay you used to always give mike shit but then they'd put his you know his wins and losses right up next to sean payton and it's like oh wow these are actually like pretty much the same guy they've each won a super bowl that you know they they had breeze and rogers and all that kind of stuff so like on Peyton and it's like, oh wow, these are actually pretty much the same guy. They've each won a Super Bowl. They had Breeze and Rodgers and all that kind of stuff.

So even if Mike does get fired and he has to take a year off, he's already done that. He went into his barn and got his good publicity up and was at the top of the Cowboys list of candidates. He probably will get another head coaching job. Well, for sure. Analytics. Absolutely. He swindled

Palisero big time. He swindled Palisero big time. He swindled Palisero. He told Jarrett, remember, they should have hung over at that press conference announcing him as the new head coach. He's right there next to Jarrett Jones. And the question's asked about how much tape he's watched on Dak, and he said, well, I told Jarrett I watch every single play. That's obviously not true.

Now that I got the job, I can say that. So I'm going to dive into that whole thing. And then you had Tom Palisero do docu-series on the team meeting room in the head coach's room that he had in his basement because he was still operating every single day as if he was a head coach he had been so ingrained in his routine that he couldn't help himself but go down in the basement give a team speech to nobody sit down in the film room build up strategy and then him and the boys would talk about how the game went. Then he'd come back upstairs and say, hey, babe,

I just had another day being a head coach of another team. Tom Palacero did that. That's a real thing. And then as soon as we saw it, we're like, oh, shit, this guy. Still got his fastball. Can't lose fastball if you're still throwing a fastball the entire time, even when you don't have a job. And then all of a sudden, he gets head coach, and the first thing he

says is, I watched this. It's like, all right, Mike. I love him. I'm a big Mike McCarthy fan. Need him in the league. But the pressure of being a Dallas Cowboys coach is a wild one, especially on the last year of your contract. He literally has to win a Lombardi.

Do you remember how loud it was, like when they lost that playoff game last year? And to Ty's point, he has basically the same exact record as Sean Payton and Mike Tomlin, and all three of those have a Super Bowl. But if he goes 12-5 and doesn't go to the NFC Championship, he's done. But Dak could play for $10 million a year because Dak said he doesn't care about the money. He doesn't play for the money.

So maybe that would be me. He's not doing it. He needs to stop saying that publicly. As soon as we heard it, we said that. And I'm happy his agent immediately afterwards said to Jerry, he doesn't mean that shit. I'm the one doing the money talking, not Dak. Dak's just doing what he's doing, being a Dallas Cowboys franchise,

which is what he has done in a fantastic fashion. He retired Tony Romo's ass to the booth, and then he kind of took that thing over. Has had no, like, aside from what? The injury that was bad and not being able to win a super bowl i guess is the the whole conversation around him he's done a fantastic job down there with the star on his helmet which is obviously not easy joining us now is a man who's conquered something that's not easy obviously a hall of famer and whatever hall of fame they have in

acting comedy life everything i couldn't even fathom out of Youngstown, Ohio, a man becoming not only a superstar and married with children, with every single blue-collar family on Earth watched religiously. Can still sing the song. Can still sing the song to this day if I had to keep it moving. Then what does he do? Oh, Modern Family. Okay, what's that? Greatest sitcom of all time.

Okay, we go from one to the other. Now, starring in a series on Hulu, The Sterling Affairs, about the story called Clipped, about The Sterling Affairs, about Donald Sterling's end of his run as the Los Angeles Clippers owner, ladies and gentlemen, legend, Ed O'Neill. Ed, how you doing, pal? Hey, Pat, good. I'm just hanging up a phone call here. He's calling me. Hang on. It's okay. Answer it if you want.

You can do whatever you need to do. Hey, I'm on the phone, Jan. It's fine. Thank you. Jan. Okay. I'm on the phone with her. What am I talking about? Anyway, Pat, I love your show. I watch your show.

I think you're doing great. I love the wife beater. You know, we used to wear those when I was in high school. You know, that was a tank top ad. Okay. Oh, I know back in high school. What you used to do back in high school. Paul Kai, what you used to do in high school back at Paul Kai.

If I could, if I could do any of that, obviously that'd be legendary. I watch your shows too. So the fact that, you know, our show exists is obviously a big deal for us. We know you're a football guy who's gone on to absolutely crush it uh let's start with you know married with children how many times is that brought up in your life and uh what are your thoughts on that as a whole because obviously that show viewed through the lens of 2024 would be certainly something you know that would certainly be something but at the time it felt like the entire country was watching that show is that an accurate depiction of that and what are your thoughts on it first you know when we started out we were we were uh you know we were

on stations ex-religious stations uh you know in the ozark mountains or something trying to be the kind of station where you had to hold up the the antenna wrapped in cellophane you know to get a good picture yeah yeah yeah but after about three years or so it started to get more popular you know every year we thought we were going to be canceled you know in the next round but we kept going and eventually we went 11 seasons which you know i you could i couldn't believe it, but it was, you know, it was a great job. You know, before I forget, when I was a kid in Youngstown, I used to field punts, me and my best friend Alfie Fleming, for Paul McGuire. Oh, I know. Yeah, legend.

Paul's from Youngstown. He lived right up the street from me, and he was like one of our idols, you know, because he was a big-time football player. I think he— Paul, he led the nation in punting, and then later he went to the Buffalo Bills, and he was a linebacker punter for the Bills. And I think he led the NFL. I mean, he's got the longest punt. I don't know.

Maybe you do now. I think he might have started bobbleheads. I don't know if that's him or not, if there was another punter. Paul was a real character. I love him. If you ever met him, you if you ever did remember him okay well i can't wait to meet him one day i was going to talk about your i was going to talk about your football run because obviously you're able to field punts we've seen you throw the ball poke high and marry with children you're natural you're stealers obviously chit chat about your time with the stealers did you know you're going to get into acting while you're playing football were you locker a locker room guy? That's why everybody was like, hey, this guy's got jobs?

No. I mean, I did some in high school. I was recruited by a nun to do a couple plays, and I was recruited to be on her oratory team, which means on Saturdays you went to various high schools and you memorized a little story, like out of Reader's Digest or something, and then you performed it in competition mostly with girls i was you know mostly competing against girls who would roll their pencils down the desk while i was you know trying to make a point or hiking their skirts up a little bit you know when i was trying to make a point yeah we get it yeah exactly that happens

to us yeah literally that's why i Chris learned about upstaging, yeah. Yeah, okay. So do you still follow football? Are you still a football guy? You know, I do and I don't. You know, like I don't have a particular – well, you know, I like the Steelers. Obviously, I had a little – I had a cup of coffee with the Steelers is what I used to say. But I watch it.

Of course, you know, I don't think I watch the Super Bowl. I tune in in the fourth quarter if it's close. Because, you know, I've seen so many screen passes and draws. You know, I just go for the result now. Same thing in basketball. I watch SportsCenter, get the highlights. That's smart play. I'll tell you, you need to watch.

Hey, if you haven't had eyes on this Patrick Mahomes character, the way he plays the football with Travis Kelsey, who I think is going to be dabbling into your world, I assume you two will be doing some sort of father-son thing. I know Travis. I did a little video for his birthday once for Eric Stonestreet because, you know, Eric was in Modern Family. He's a huge Kansas City fan from there.

And he called me and he wanted me to do a thing when Travis scored the four touchdowns in one game. And, of course, you know, I was in a trailer at the time in that T-shirt and boxer shorts waiting to go do a shot. And I did the video like that, congratulating him on beating my record at Pokai, but not really happy about it. I said, you know, I've come down a peg or two. I'm living in a trailer down by the river. All right. I enjoy that. I bet Travis was like, this is awesome.

Al Bundy just sent me a message in a tank top and boxers. Let's talk about Modern Family, Ed. When you read that script, do you think to yourself, these are the most genius writers of all time? It felt like every single line had a reason and a potential callback and obviously immense success. But when you read that script, do you think to yourself, wow, these are geniuses? Or how do you get involved with the show to begin with? Oh, that's what I thought. When I got the got the script i mean i've obviously read a lot of scripts in my time but this one when i read it i had actually met with those guys uh a year before they wrote it and they pitched the idea to me and would i want to get on board and i said no you know i don't want to do another sitcom and uh they said well would you read it

when it's written and they sent it to me a year later under a different title. And then when I read who wrote it, I thought, oh, that's those guys I met over at Fox. So I read it once, and then I read it again, and I thought, oh, my God, I'm going to have to do this. I have to do it. So I called my manager, and he said, too late. They're out to Craig T. Nelson. And I said, okay, well, I told him I wasn't going to do a sitcom so you

know I'll watch it and then a week later they came back and my manager said he passed because it was only a pilot so what happens with a guy like Craig you know he wanted like six shows guaranteed you know for like upfront money and they said it's only a pilot and what he passed figuring they'd come back to him which is the normal thing but the one guy wanted me for it so they came to me and i said make the deal you know it's going to be a hit and my my manager said you're not the star i said no it's an ensemble i like that you know it's interesting they're not going to pay your quote I said we'll get even later this is a hit show

and I've been wrong before you know but I was not wrong about that one from the jump I knew it was a hit now I would like to just really quickly be football doofus here quickly you saying it's an ensemble

team. You saying I'll prove it. We'll get the next one. That's like professional football. Hey, you're a football guy, Ed. I'm happy to hear that in the moment of deciding to be on one of the greatest sitcoms of all time, it was like your Youngstown

Ohio roots came through. Yeah, we'll figure it out later. Let me tell you a funny story. It's quick, about the Steelers. When I got cut, you know, every year after that, I would have a recurring dream at least once or twice a year. And the dream was I'm back in La Trobe, St. Vincent's College, on the sidelines in uniform, scrimmage going on.

Assistant coach comes out and says, you're in the next series I'd say okay coach and that would basically be the dream every year the only difference is every year I was the age I actually was so this went on and it ends with you're in the next series go ahead O'Neal I said hey coach do you know I'm 75 years old see you'll be alright you'll look fine go on in I said no I don't think so and I walked off the field I never had the dream again

so 75 is when it ended they finally got on there it started at 23 that's a long time Ed that's a long time I should have been seeing somebody about this no no I think That's a long time, Ed. That's a long time. I should have been seeing somebody about this. No, no.

I think this is a good thing. I think this is love. I think we found your card potentially from the era. You're not this guy in every dream. No, that's not me. Oh, no. No. You know who that is? That kid played for Penn State, and he was an outside linebacker

for the Detroit Lions. A hell of a player. Same name. I used to get guys come up to me and say, you look like him. You're O'Neal, right? I'd say, yeah. He said, you played pro football. I said, for a minute.

They said, oh, no, you were great. I said, what are you talking about? He said, you know, Penn State. I said, no, no, man. That's another Ed O'Neill. Well, hey, what a legendary football name. Ed O'Neill. These O'Neills, you get out there, they can really throw their heads around.

That guy probably got it. Hey, did you ever, in any of those dreams from 25 to 23 to 75 or whatever it was, did you ever go to the bathroom in the locker room? You know, that's one thing you can't pull the trigger on in dreams and we all know that one can't go to the bathroom door in the sideline i don't recall i know i'm not going to answer that okay smart that's smart let's talk about what you're currently working on right now that is getting rave reviews ty is a question for you yeah ed what kind of preparation goes into playing a guy like donald sterling because i assume you know not easy to talk to a lot of people

kind of around him, about him. Maybe it was, I don't know. Like, did you basically just listen to the podcast? Or, like, what kind of research and preparation goes into a role like this when it seems like everyone kind of only knows one thing about this guy and it's what the series is about? Yeah, I don't do a lot of research uh i always figure if it's not in the script we're not going to film it you know so it's a waste of

time but uh i did listen to the tapes that were released and i did listen to a couple of his interviews just to get an idea of how he talked and you know he was i i wanted to i didn't want to imitate him exactly i just wanted to i didn't want to imitate him exactly i just wanted to get like he had a kind of pedantic way of speaking and uh you know with ing endings being fully announced uh fully pronounced which i most of us don't do and so that was basically uh everything was in the script gina wel wrote a great script, and it was all there for me. You know, I mean, in my opinion. I mean, I thought it was enough.

Who knows? I mean, you know, you just dive into this stuff. Hey, is it easy playing somebody that's, like, so kind of universally hated? Well, I was hesitant about doing the role when I when I was offered it. You know, I thought I couldn't imagine anybody coming to me for this role. And then I kind of said, I think I'm going to pass. And they told them and then they called me and said, would you have lunch with Gina? Which I did not want to do because I know what road that goes down.

You know, and I but I but because she was affiliated with, she had been a protege of David Milch, who I did two series for and I consider the greatest writer in television of all time. So I met with her, a little Italian restaurant. And on my way over, I was already writing my exit speech. Smart. Trying to be very polite because I, you know, it was I was flattered, honored, honored. Yeah, but I halfway through the lunch, we were talking about other things. And she said, and then she just

said, Well, yeah, I really hope you know that that you'll do it. And I saw I'm doing it. I thought, what did I just say? She's like, so we'll have a good time. And that was it. Way to go, Ed. You know how that happens. Way to go, Ed. Way to go.

Wow. Well, you did it, Ed. Just right in the middle of the car. Yeah, all right. I'll commit to something, you know. I have no idea what to do. Yeah, go ahead. No idea what I'm going to do or how I'm going to do it.

Same was true with Not Modern Family. You know, I got that because right at the last minute. Yep. Because Craig P, you know, passed that because right at the last minute yeah because craig p you know passed they offered it i took it and then i went to the table reading and i thought and i saw sofia bagara and i thought oh this is not gonna work you know uh who's gonna believe this oh yeah yeah you know what i mean who's gonna believe this yeah but you know what i did pat i i said i couldn't figure out how to play it first of all i i was but it was bothering me Who is going to believe this? It's going to be a hard sell. But you know what I did, Pat? I couldn't figure out how to play it, first of all.

It was bothering me. And I thought, well, you know, I don't know what it's like to be my age now, which at that time was, what, mid-60s anyway. I don't remember. But I thought, I don't know how to be this age. Like, I don't know what's appropriate. I knew how to be 30, right, and down. I knew how to be even 40 but at this that age i didn't know how to even what's appropriate you know so i thought

well just play that just play that play you don't know what the hell's going on yes yeah well well you know that's that was my uh my mantra you know like whatever you know i don't know well it seemed to work out now we're in a brand new era the writers pat you you said it the writers were i mean uh chris lloyd and steve levitan created that show and we used to talk about it like it was so and it continued almost up through the whole run these guys were geniuses and you know their track record was you know frazier golden girls just shoot me you know so i knew i was in good company with these guys swinging a hot bat yeah for their entire life but it was literally you watch an episode of modern family and it's like there's

no wasted anything no wasted words no I'm surprised that you got that so well at the top you did and and it's rare because I've always said that show is well made it's just beautifully made and that was the showrunners well as a man who has so many wasted words you know I can't help but respect those that don't. Hey, we're in a new era, though. We're in a new era. Good content will always survive, though. And it sounds like you have a good gut instinct for what is fantastic.

But he's very new business-wise, I think. D-Bot's got a question for you, Ed. Yeah, for sure, Ed. You've been around the game for a long, long time. Obviously, you spoke about football career. Been rookie teammates with me, Joe Green. And now, obviously, on TV TV pretty much from then until now. Obviously, a completely different era now with the business, obviously going from linear television, cable, a lot of streaming and things.

Now, obviously, your new thing on Hulu. How do you feel about that on the business side of it? And how is it for you going forward with the streaming era? Well, you know, it helps to have like good management you know if you have i have a good manager i've got a good agents um with gersh and uh you know they take care of that end of it for the most part and you just sort of you know the whole thing for me is is the script good i don't really think i mean i love the money don't get me wrong but primarily it's this for me now because i'm in a position where I don't have to go to autograph signing.

It's the script. So if you like the script, then you go from there. Tom has a question for you. Yeah, and obviously, so you were a player. You acted as a coach as kevin o'shea and one of my one of my favorite roles of all time yep and now uh now you're playing an owner is do you have a favorite role player coach owner as far as uh on the big screen uh you mean that i've seen or that i've that you've done that you've seen or that I've been in? That you've done. No, I mean, I like

Little Giants. I like that movie. I thought it was nice. I like the relationship with the little girl. Icebox. Yeah, Iceberg. Box, box, box.

Jesus, Ed. Come on. That's our childhood, bro. Come on. That was our childhood, bro. Come on. That's right. Also a good thing. So, no, that was fun. You know, all these things are just like, you know, little stepping stones, milestones along the way. You remember them fondly.

And Rick Moranis, you know, played my little brother. And Rick is a wonderful guy. And so, you know, it's a lot of memories. Mostly it's memories about who you're working with and and how much fun you had like i did you know that's where i met john madden i met john through little giants because he was in a cameo on the bus that was you know trying to find the hall of fame and they got lost trying to find canton and they ended up in the midwest where you know where we were and you know it was just cute and uh i got to be very good friends with his son mike later uh through uh you know hap stance kind of thing and

when i i did a thing called timeline you know that show timeline it's an hour it's like a little documentary thing i i don't know if it was abc It was about Peyton Manning's comeback after the neck surgery and I narrated it. What? And it was a terrific piece. Yeah, it was great. If you haven't seen it, you've got to see it. It's great. Sounds like I should. Al Bundy is voicing over Peyton Manning.

Don had watched it and I got a call from Mike and he said my dad called me and sent me this timeline that you did. I mean, it was just beautifully written. I narrated it. And he said, it's one of the best things I ever saw on pro football. And I'll tell you, it's funny thing about it. I really have not missed playing football much ever. That's a long story. But when I was narrating it, there was a piece near the end where Peyton is on the field at twilight. And they're doing that kind of little down the field mock game, you know, with the Mike linebackers.

And he's calling out the Omaha stuff. And he's got the kid from the Patriots that they drafted. They traded for, you know, the slot receiver. Welker. I forget. Great guy. He's got the kid from the Patriots that they drafted, they traded for, you know, the slot receiver. Walker. I forget his name. Walker. Great guy. Elliman took his place.

Walker. Yeah, Wes Walker. And he's going down, and the piece was, this is the best thing, he's the happiest he could be right at this time in his life. And when I was doing it, I actually had a fight back emotion. It came at me, the memories of playing with your friends. And from childhood up, I thought, oh, my God, I'm going to start crying. And I didn't. I held it.

But it was really a strong emotion. Before the business got involved, you know, when you were just playing football as a kid, that's the sport. Yeah, I got there with your buddies, you know, yeah. Yeah, we have a great sport. You know, the business does get in the way, which we're in the middle of right now with OTAs. There's people missing, conversations and contracts. There's so much, you know, bullshit around the NFL, but the sport itself is so pure.

I'm happy to hear that show's called Timeline, you said? Timeline, it's Peyton Manning's comeback after his next surgery. Can't wait to try to watch it and find out. They won the Super Bowl that year. And he broke a record. He was cut by the Colts, which is the team

I was on. We get it, Ed. Ed, we understand what happened. Connor's got the last question for you here, Ed. With all these successful shows that you've had, obviously Married with Children and Modern Family have withstood the, what is it, the tale of time, if you will. When shows try and get remade, Jesus,

and people reach out to you or you see other people getting asked for roles similar to that of Modern Family or Married with Children? Is that something that kind of like pisses you off or pisses other type of actors off? Or is it more so one of those things like, oh, OK, you think it's that easy to make a show this good that withstands, you know, 10 plus years of seasons? Is that something that kind of gets to you or do you not even consider anything like that i really don't consider it but i'm not i don't think they really work as well as the originals ever and even like these reboots i'm not really interested in reboots or you know because you want to go forward and you want to do something you know once you do a show 11 years it's pretty much done you know you you've done it

so move on hell yeah amen ed i love everything about it we'll continue to do that and we can't wait to watch clipped on hulu available now how many episodes it's six six and then i think yeah it's six episodes six one hours or four hours like 52 minutes 53 minutes you know that you i i don't know but i can tell you i i worked harder promoting this thing than i did shooting it fx is into promotion are we the last one are we the last show you have to do oh no we almost i got rich e Rich Eisen, who's a friend. We love Rich. We love Rich.

Yeah. And then I'm doing Edelman's podcast tomorrow, Julian's. Games with names. He went to Kent State, you know, and my sisters went there. I live right down the road. Go Golden Flashes. I was committed there, and then I ended up at West Virginia. Had a great night at Kent State, though.

Oh, that's right. You went to West Virginia. Sam Huff. Legend. Absolutely. Oh, by the way, I played against West Virginia when I was a freshman at OU. You know, I went to Ohio University. Then I went to Youngstown State.

I played for both schools. And we played West Virginia night game. This is funny. Do you got a minute here? Absolutely. Ed, as many as you need. We went down there, we took a bus, we took a school bus from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio down to Parkersburg, West Virginia. So we met halfway.

It was freshmen. In those days, you couldn't play varsity if you were a freshman. So it was our freshman team. We went down there and it was still light when we arrived in parkersburg in the bus we're looking to park the bus and we see these little teenage girls pretty girls walking down the street in cheerleader uniforms you know with the pom-poms and we're all looking out the window you know yelling at them and that bullshit like that. They had O's, big O's that they sewed on their blouses because they were our cheerleaders

that they gave us for the game because they were See that? Look at that. West Virginia hospitality. During the game, they were on the sidelines and they'd do their cheers. Go Ohio U. And then if one of them made a first down, it was

yes! Oh yeah, they had to hold it back. Did you guys lose? Did you guys lose or win? We lost. We lost. Yeah, it was a close game, but they had a great running back. Garrett something. I think he played a bit in the NFL. He was a train. He was a

tough guy. Yeah. Got a lot of those. So are you, pal. You're an absolute wagon. Anything you do, we'll watch, except for Timeline, I guess. I didn't even know that existed, but I'm going to watch that. There's a lot of people in the Timeline saying we maybe need a Little Giants 2, even though you hate remakes. That might be a good time for this entire thing. We appreciate

the hell out of you. Good luck on Rich's show. Don't forget to say what's up. Thanks, Pat. Nice to meet you. Hey, you too, man. Thanks for everything throughout my life. You know, a lot of entertainment coming through that mouth of yours, pal. My pleasure. Love and marriage. Ed O'Neill is a good man.

How about it? Legend. Seriously, though, like going from Married With Children to Little Giants to Modern Family, he's been with us the whole time. Just re-watch Modern Family. Six months ago. So, so smart. Just like literally genius whenever you talk. All those ones

that go, there is a definite difference and it is the writing. Wait till you re-watch Married with Children, my friend. There's people doing that. I don't know how that's going to... I don't know if our show necessarily needs to just run episodes Of Married With Children right now Thanks to Ed O'Neill coming on

I don't love what he did to Iceberg Yeah well you see All these things are just kind of on your path To where it is I don't remember everything about Little Giants Iceberg was close enough He's going to have 11 seasons of Married With Children Modern Family, I don't know how many that is Who knows He's going to have 11 seasons of Married With Children, okay? And Modern Family. I don't know how many that is. Who knows?

He did like 280 episodes. He's going to be so rich. Oh, yeah. And he's going to make money off Modern Family until he dies. That Seinfeld money. Now they're rolling with it. Yeah, in syndication. It's on like four different networks. Well, and then it's going to get four different bundle packages as well.

Are we watching Clipped on Hulu? What are we doing? I'm excited for that. I am. Six episodes, too. Nice, short, and sweet. And then there's no season two or anything like that. Two episodes out today, I guess, of the six. Which is smart. We've been calling

for this for years. Put at least two out. Can't just give me one. Can't just give me one. We're in the binging streaming era, and then they're all like, okay, so we're only getting real hype from one weekend. Tiger King got three days. Okay? Then that ran

for another three, four months of popularity and then it kind of says what if we would have only put that out one episode a week and then all these streaming companies forgot what the main thing was we're binging these yeah that is literally what it is so we've been calling for like hey we need at least two you need at least two maybe three per time if you're trying to spread out the pop

completely understand that and now it feels like everybody's kind of doing that have you seen this outer rain show oh yeah uh no buddy yeah This is a good one. Out of Rain. What's it on? Amazon, I think. Oh, I have seen a trailer for it. I have not watched it. But it's two seasons. There's two seasons out right now.

So you can kind of roll right through. It is good. This is not classic me type show that I would watch. I was going to say, it's almost like a sci-fi western. Yes. I love Brolin. It's awesome. Is that the old guy that is in it the main star yeah yeah that's the main one yeah he's jock too the guy top left yeah yeah he's jock too

you see him shirtless a couple different times he's a dog he's jacked lad out there on the ranch current times future uh so i don't know it's a it's definitely time multiple timeline there's multiple timelines i don't know when it's supposed to be though because nobody's on their phone what do the guys look like so I try to what's that guns are always a good tell as far as what timeline it's in just because obviously the future saw Cowboys a lot of pistol stuff yeah a lot of pistol stuff but like it's good yeah it is a very good story you watch the tick-tock thing on that? That lady from the cult? Yeah. No, I saw the thing. I didn't dive in. Watched the first two minutes. Couldn't do it. Okay.

Why is that? Uncomfortable? I think it is pretty dark, if we're being honest here on what it's about. I think Zito watched it. Yeah, right. In fact, Austin Eckler's wife is the sister of the one that got kidnapped. Okay. Not kidnapped, sorry. Allegedly. Yeah, see, this is what I'm saying.

Oh, okay. This is exactly what I'm talking about, so I stopped after two minutes. Have you allegedly? Yeah, absolutely. For this particular program on this particular day. Yeah. Outer range is 1886 to 1968. Boom.

Okay, so it is back in. Wow. Nobody's on their phone or anything like that. I mean, clearly. But they're not dressed like that that year. The clothes are a little more modern. Yeah. Doesn't feel like that. See?

This is what's interesting about these shows. You never know if they're just going to mix in. But then there's a whole actual hole. Yeah, huge hole. That's what I was just seeing. Hole is a big deal. I was going to say, a pretty central piece. The hole is the star of the show. You actually get through some of the episodes going,

when are you going back to the hole? Really? When's the hole making another appearance? It's bottomless. Well, I don't know. I don't know if that's what the preview is telling you. There's some baseball news coming out. And obviously, anytime we talk baseball,

it's about something that isn't the actual sport of baseball. Now, otherul skeens and jones who are the hundo boys in pittsburgh who are throwing absolute darts to catchers normally baseball topic of conversation is something that doesn't involve balls or bats or even throwing at all normally it's the bullshit around it this one whole. It's a big one. Especially with what took place with Ipe Mitsuhara, the translator of Shohei Otani, and the mention that there's like four other or

five other baseball guys being investigated for the same thing. There is an infielder for the Padres named Tukapita Marsano. Nailed it. Oh, hell yeah. In my head, you nailed it. Hell yeah.

He's been banned from baseball. See ya. Gone. Pete Rose. According to MLB, Marsano won only 4.3% of the 231 MLB-related bets that he placed. He also was on the Pittsburgh Pirates roster. was on the Pittsburgh Pirates roster and he bet 25 times on pirate games and lost all 25 bets that he had on the Pirates. So not only is he a baseball player gambling on MLB, which is obviously a no-no to begin with, he was gambling on the teams in which he was on and he was not winning

at all. So this guy sucks at gambling and he also sucks at keeping a job as a professional athlete. This dude's been banned. They're saying they're investigating others. This is going to be a thing that's going to take place here in the middle of this transition from sports gambling very much existing, but not being legal, kind of having to catch a book or somebody get caught up with some money and then get traced and tracked through different notes and penmanship

and bank records, which is what happened to Pete Rose back in the day. Now it's all digitally tracked with the legalization of sports gambling. Now that's good news for people to not get in over their skis, you know, because if it's getting tracked, they can monitor, then keep you down. But it's terrible for these athletes that are trying to gamble on the sport in which they play, which they should not be doing anyways because you're going to ruin the credibility of sport. You can do this when you're retired. But it feels like some guys just can't get away from it, and obviously this is happening in baseball. play, which they should not be doing anyways because you're going to ruin the credibility of sport. You can do this when you're retired.

But it feels like some guys just can't get away from it, and obviously this is happening in baseball. Yeah, it's tough. I mean, I hate to see a guy banned for life, but when something like this, this is something you probably deserve. I think it happened with Porter in the NBA. I kind of do like the part where they always put out their bets, how much they won, how much they lost.

Shame these dudes. Yeah, man, but these leagues, man, they know you don't want to mess with the integrity of the game. That was something that they always preached to us, even before it was legal or all these sports books were really around. And a lot of us, I know at least me, I don't think I knew the line of probably any game I actually was playing in, especially the early part of my career. But this is something that we're going to keep dealing with, with these leagues, with these players.

But players, man, just wait. I mean, just wait. You make your money. You're living your dream. Like, just wait, man. And that bettor will be there. I promise you. Yeah, it'll be there.

It'll be better. And you'll be the best ever. Yep. Yeah, you'll know what you're doing. Whenever you retire, you'll know exactly what you're doing, sports gambling. Just put it off until then. Because to your point about the integrity of the game, obviously that is everything.

Everything disappears if there's no integrity of the game. If everything becomes the Harlem Globetrotters versus the Washington General, which is what people will think if they're betting against their own team and betting for their own team and, oh, this will work, they're in this thing together, everything goes. Sports media, sports gambling, sports teams, sports leagues, it's all gone. And this is a fear that a lot of people are talking about whenever sports gambling was becoming so prominent.

Like, hey, listen, you're going to lose everything if this becomes a real thing. It's taking place in the Black Sox back in Chicago. There was a Boston team, I think, in basketball that was doing something. There's been different stories that Tim Donahue, the NBA, that have almost taken down all these leagues. But now with sports gambling becoming as big as it is, it's like there's a real fear that that could take place. And the people that are involved in the arena, in the arena are the ones that can stop it, and they need to.

The NFL has had their situation. The NBA has had their situation. The MLB is having their situation currently happen right now. And they're going to have to punish very swiftly, quickly, and heavily so that this does not become a trend because none of us can fucking have it. Now, the bets that this guy made. Front Office Sports just put up, we were looking at that tweet. Total amount bet on baseball,

$150,000. Is it worth it? Tukapita, $150,000? I bet you win $100 million. Total amount bet on MLB, $87,000. Average amount per bet, $378. Numbers of MLB bets, 231. Bets on Pirates games, 25. That was when he was on

team. MLB bets won 4.3%. And if that doesn't tell sports gamblers what the likelihood of you being a successful sports gambler is, I don't know what else to say. This dude's on the team, professional baseball player, has only won 4.3%

of his bets. and that has been documented he's been banned they saw this shit this is what he did so anybody that's expecting to be a sharp or figure out sports gambling you got a little no shot okay that's just kind of kind of how it goes you need to know that going in but this is a real problem and if they're investigating four others is what they said four other guys got popped already and i think a couple of them i don't know what the transgressions were but a couple guys have already been suspended for at least a year. But the MLB is, like, they're thanking the stars that this happened with all the Shohei stuff. It's like, all right, perfect.

We'll take some guy that no one's heard of. We'll ban him for life. Who gives a shit? This will be a good reminder to all these guys. But I think it also underscores, like, with guys like Shohei, these guys who are making $40 million to $50 million a year, I don't know this for a fact. Like, yeah, you might still gamble, but, like Shohei these guys who are making 40 to 50 million dollars a year I don't know this for a fact like yeah you might still gamble but like if those guys have gambling problems it's in like casinos it's stuff like that it's like this guy 217 career batting average didn't play like was never going to be a star was never going to make a bunch of money so

like maybe this is his way of getting over but again Sho, Shohei wasn't like, this guy's making $70 million a year. He's not getting popped over $375 a baseball game. The Shohei thing is so sad because there's going to be people that didn't catch any of the follow-up in any of the investigation and Ipe being like, yeah, we have records of it all. There's still people that think Shohei was... We'll always think that way. Shohei Otani, this guy who we've been told is obsessed with

baseball, loves baseball, wants to become the greatest baseball player of all time. Is he going to fuck it up to gamble? No. No. I would say no. But everybody is hard not to think. And more of these stories come out. they're like, yeah, of course. Everybody's doing it.

Everybody's doing it. There's going to be people that believe that no matter what. And then Shohei. I mean, the thing with Shohei is him yucking it up with people in English after the fact, I think, is what people have continued to carry on. Like, how'd you get taken advantage of if you knew the language? Yeah, how come you're making Cameron Brink laugh when he can't even. Well, they said that Ipe was acting like he was Shohei to people.

Yes, I'm Shohei. Here's my social security number. Here's this. Here's this. bring class when well they said that ipe was acting like he was shohei yes two people yes i'm shohei here's my social security number here's this here's this and that's what those are the follow-ups that those people will never hear ever your teen requested a ride but this time not from you it's through their uber teen account it's an uber account that allows your teen to request a ride under your supervision with live trip tracking and highly rated drivers. Add your teen to your Uber account today.

Oh, interrupting their playlist to talk about Defying Gravity, are we? That's right, Newton. With a Bronco and Bronco Sport, gravity has met its match. Huh. Maybe that apple hit me a little harder than I thought. Yeah, you should get that checked out. With standard 4x4

capability, Broncos keep going up and up. Now get up to $6,000 in rebates on eligible 2024 Bronco family models. Visit your Toronto area Ford store or Ford.ca. Sports! The greatest thing on Earth. we get a chance to talk about them every single day the talks the table is here at boston connor and at ty schmidt conman a lot of people saying since your question to bob parsons the radio road two superbowls ago when you asked him

if it was his course hosting the waste management tournament which it clearly wasn't they're saying your question to ed o'neill last segment was the best you've ever had. Yeah, that one's up there. I'm going to put that in my Hall of Fame, at least. I'll never forget that question until the day I die. Honestly, what bums me out is that I asked it. I wish halfway through I said, you know what? I'm done with this.

I'm just going to throw the ball right back to you. Yeah, and hey, listen. That's going to happen whenever you're having a live conversation with a man who's made hundreds of millions of dollars in sitcoms. A man that we've seen literally throughout our entire life. Ed O'Neill stopped by the program. It was a great conversation. He is starring in Clipped, a new series documenting the Donald Sterling ending

as an owner of the Los Angeles Clippers. Two of the episodes available now on Hulu. One half of the Hammer. Die! Cowboys 10. Diggs here with a fresh new set of tattoos. What all do we get done there? Because that thing is glistening in the lights.

Yeah, I got it finished on Sunday. You know, got the Greek goddess of family. And then, you know, a note from my wife. Who's the Greek goddess? That's that lady right there? That's Hestia. And those are the birth flowers of my daughter and wife. Oh.

That's cool. That's neat. You know, flowers of my daughter and wife. It's cool. You know, this was a mission that started, what year was that? 2016 World Cup? Maybe. 2017 World Cup? Go to sleep like AR? No. Mission complete, my friend.

It looks great. Did you finish it all the way up? Yeah. Way to go. All the way down. Let's go, Tony. Wanted to be a soccer player. Just in time for the Euros this summer.

Pumped about it. The Euros are a big one. And TST. Oh, TST starts tomorrow down there in Cary, North Carolina. What's this guy's name? Bratz? Scots? Kratz? What's this guy's name? Do I remember?

I googled him. I googled him. Down there, Cary. He's been a real help. David Kratz. Dave Kratz. Dave Kratz. Been a real help. We appreciate you, Dave. Can't wait to get down there. We were told something different than get heard the complete opposite day of. Shout out to Dave. We appreciate you, Dave Kratz.

Dave Kratz, looking out for Carrie North Carolina more so than any human in the history. We appreciate you, Dave. Is he the mayor? No, no, I don't think so. Might as well be. He's on his way. He's on a fast track, it sounds like. Maybe governor. This son of a bitch might be president. Dave Kratz. I think he's in the Ron Swanson role. I think he's on his way. He's on a fast track, it sounds like. Maybe governor. This son of a bitch might be president. Dave Kratz.

I think he's in the Ron Swanson role. I think he's got a heavy sword. They got a heavy... Oh, yeah. He's got a heavy crown. Swings it with impunity. Oh, yeah. Shout out to Dave Kratz.

We appreciate you, Dave. Can't wait to get to your town, Dave. All right, Dave. Thanks for making it so easy to get to Cary, North Carolina. It's going to be awesome. Can't wait to do the show live from Cary, North Carolina tomorrow. It's going to be an honor. I think J.J. Watt's going to be stopping by Can't wait to do the show live from Cary, North Carolina tomorrow. It's going to be an honor. I think J.J. Watt's going to be stopping by. He's already checked into

the TST. He did the entire media day today and they had him run on the field and kicking balls, stopping balls, doing headers, full press conference photo shoot. Yeah, he's doing a lot. Stopping how many balls? He was just getting warmed up.

They posted this and obviously J.J. doesn't want the world to see this, but he's trying to find a spot on the field. Where am I going to be in the last? Not between the pipes. Yeah. Can't be there. Yeah, I mean, he's big. His head is above the crossbar,

which is certainly a little bit alarming with the size of the net we were training on. Yeah. I knew the goals were going to be small. That didn't... That's like a Fisher-Price size. That is a small goal. Yeah, going to have to be a real sniper

to find the back of the net there. I don't think they're going to have JJ in that area. Not after that. No way. Well, JJ, you know, did make a big stop on his wife, Kay, on his Instagram story. He did. Feels like a Tic Tac Toe soccer situation.

Yeah, here's him making a big-time save because I think as we've gotten closer to this particular soccer tournament, JJ has had to figure out, okay, actually what position am I going to play? And goalie might be it. Look at that big time save. Now, his wife was incredibly surprised that he was able to stop it and she

didn't put her best stuff forward there. She thought she was going to get by the big, dumb football guy no problem, but I assume the next one she smoked right by his ear and he said, oh, wait a second. But it should be fun to get to Kratz's town, Cary, North Carolina, tomorrow and enjoy the hell out of this TST which could be three days, could be ten days, could be two months.

Who knows? Down there in Cary, North Carolina. It's going to be a blast. The Concave Fast C boys are buzzing. Had a meeting last night. They got a session today. They got a little... We got a team. We got a team. This guy right here is going to go bananas. He's got a left-footed shot that is beautiful. After seeing how big that goal was next to J.J. Watt

and watching his highlights from last year, old Breck Shea here, he's got a red dot somehow with that left foot. Can't wait to see that. Jeff Cameron on the other side, 2% body fat. Absolute stallion. And then Mike Foss right here, the logistical genius. Dude, made it to the MLS. Has been down playing that this entire time. Played soccer

his whole life, makes it to the MLS. Doesn't have as long of a career as everybody else, so he's like, I stink, I stink, I stink. This guy's the one getting to wander together, setting up the hotels, setting up the travel, setting up the training kit. This guy, weapon. He serves the drink. And he's also the guy who's got three pairs of shin guards on, you know, for what happened yesterday.

I bet. Senior Vice President of ESPN, Mike Foss. We appreciate the hell out of those. Way to go. Way to go. I'm thinking it'd be platinum or titanium down there. I couldn't even fathom. No.

Can't wait to meet all the Concave SC boys. Did I see the reggae rovers were talking trash to you and JJ? A lot of junk. The rovers were? I've never felt more. I mean, I hate to say this. I've been talking a lot of shit, I know. I've never felt more confident going into this tournament than I do right now.

That's Coach Gumby. He's got his kit on, obviously. You look great in the jersey, Gumps. Yeah, we're ready to go. Absolutely. Why are you so confident? What's the deal? Our team has got guys.

Yeah, we're stacked. We're loaded. We got a full bench. We're ready to go. Absolutely. Why are you so confident? What's the deal? Our team has got guys. Yeah, we're stacked. We're loaded. We've got a full bench. We're ready to go. Genuinely think our team is good. But Mike Foss and the boys who have been down there, a lot of media day stuff happening today, so a lot of people on film.

J.J. Watt went through a full soccer practice today. Let me tell you somewhere you're never going to find me for the rest of my life. A full soccer practice. He's got to be exhausted after what they had him doing today now let alone playing goalie that's i think with his uh yeah i think that's that yep he's celebrating his whole thing we're getting low we're digging kicked in the head that's a big time header right there i like that he also put some home in his training they had him in the middle of uh passing circuit where he was the

middle guy running check, check, check, check, and it's like, bud, that's a lot of... Cardio. Sounds like they're messing with the owner a bit. What's that? Sounds like they're messing with the boss a little bit. Let company go, you piece of shit. Why's Burnley got Visit Detroit on the front of their tarps? Well, we got dude wipes

on the front of ours, so I think probably similar reasons, but shout out to Detroit marketing. Love everything about that. Come see our logo. Come our sign our hollywood sign on your way in now you know how that happens nine-year nfl vet south florida man florida panthers fan derrish j butler is here debuts in a matter of moments we're about to talk to a general manager who's brought a lot of happiness to your area can't wait i can't wait either i'm excited to hear what the mindset is behind building a team that goes to back-. Can't wait. I can't wait either. I'm excited to hear what the mindset is behind building a team

that goes to back-to-back Stanley Cups. He's only been there for four years. Been up for the award for best fucking guy in the league three times. What a weapon. What a dog from Pittsburgh. Joining us now from Anatic in Ohio, ladies and gentlemen, A.J. Hogg.

Yeah, Hogg. A.J., I already told the Conque Fest seed boys, hey, before that game tomorrow morning at 8.30 a.m. We like it. We like that. Yes morning at 8.30 a.m. We like it. We like that. Yes, we do. Yes, we do. I've been telling myself that since seeing that it is at 8.30 a.m.

We do like that. We can't wait. We wish it was earlier. Nice and cool. Yeah, absolutely. I was going to say, better than playing at 1 p.m. Well, see, I'm okay with 1 p.m. I'm all right with that.

The heat? This is a 6 a.m. wake-up tomorrow morning. The heat, though? For this thing. You want to play the reggae rovers early. They're used to the heat and humidity. That's like South Florida. Listen, for the good of the team, yes.

I'm just talking about me as a human. Me as a human. I am an afternoon workout guy. I am no longer a morning workout guy. But I've been training early in the morning. Me and Gumpy have been getting after it every morning, 8 a.m. We've been running sprints for the body. He's obviously getting used to it. I'm doing

no warm-up before the game. You know, before the game there's going to be a whole organized warm-up or whatever? Don't do it. These soccer games run so much. You've never seen Secretariat stretch. You know the old lines. I like to get a lot of them. You can go straight from your truck, scoring a goal within 20 seconds. So, amen.

And then maybe pulling a hamstring too, but I'm trying to do the whole – I'm going to get loose. I'm going to do my own. But they're going to have a full-on song and dance, and they're going to be trying to showcase how good a shape they're in, too. That's the first warm-up for the Concave Fast C boys. Yeah. So they're going to be out – the amount of –

the amount of peacocking and running on that field tomorrow morning. We need to maybe either show up late or act like we have an injury early. Then we cure the injury right before game starts. Nonetheless, can't wait to get to Kratz's town. Yes, sir. Cary, North Carolina. Shout out Dave Kratz, AJ. I tell you what, I don't know anything that's going on with this Dave Kratz situation,

but it does not sound as positive as you're trying to make it. Well, I certainly said something yesterday that was not taken the same way I meant it to be yesterday. This one, I think everybody's picking up what I'm laying down. Okay, good. Yeah, I think everybody's picking up what I'm laying down in this. Can't wait to do our show live from Cary, North Carolina tomorrow. They've made it so easy. And we were the ones that certainly asked to do this.

So we can't wait. We're honored. you know that is the and we were the ones that certainly asked to do this you know so this is uh we can't wait we're honored and it's i can't wait i can't wait to see what happens the old old trot is out there showing up sounds like he's uh you know he's the sheriff in town and you got to ask permission bingo that is exactly that is exactly right yeah this has been in conversation for months now yeah the whole yep this just got across Kratz's desk. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Who approved this? We appreciate you, Kratz.

He'll get it figured out. If we know Kratz football, Kratz will get it figured out. Now, I don't know if they make cables long enough to potentially get from where Kratz's idea of where our truck should be versus where the stage is.

Just in universe. I don't know if they create that, but if somebody has a couple thousand foot cables that we could use, that would be just before tomorrow. You know, if you could get them down to Cary, North Carolina, easy place to get in and out of.

Oh, yeah. Just didn't think, thought it was going to be maybe 70 feet. That's why we were kind of initially, months in the conversation. Somebody has a 2,000 foot cable. We need 10 of them by tomorrow. Or a mile or so.

Yeah, and maybe Kratz will be able to get his hands on one of those. Should be great. Should be absolutely great. Tomorrow, though, could be a Tone Diggs show here, live on ESPN from noon to 2. With Tone here in the Thunderdome just doing an episode of Hammered Don by himself.

With Mitt McMahon. For two hours. I'm watching. That's going to be a no. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is an absolute legend. And he just had to listen to us, Barry Crot seemingly, for the last few minutes. Because I apologize if we're taking up any time of this man's life. His team now, back-to-back Stanley Cup finals.

Last year, obviously not able to get the job done. This year, odds on favor to get it done against the Edmonton Oilers. Ladies and gentlemen, a man who's been a general manager for the Panthers for four years. Three of the times he's been up for general manager of the goddamn year, Bill Zito. Yeah, Bill! Thanks for having me, guys. Glad to be here. three of the times he's been up for general manager of the goddamn year wow bill zito how are you guys hey bill hey bill sorry you had to hear our uh our banter there about our show tomorrow in carry north carolina we're in a bad spot yeah well oh bill we're in a bad spot

bill we'll figure it out you'll take it down the road yeah we're gonna take it on the road we need a couple thousand foot cables if you can find them down there in florida get it to carry that'll be if i get them down here we'll have you guys come down here oh bill the elbow room's already been calling okay so i mean it has been a loud call bill let's talk about you um obviously you're a pittsburgh guy so we knew that you would be a hockey guy. Did you know that as soon as you get to the Florida Panthers, though, in just a matter of a few short years, you would have that entire town being a hockey town and in back-to-back Stanley Cup finals? When you take that job, are there realistic goals? And what are your thoughts on how success has come so quickly down there into your tenure?

Yeah, first thing, actually, I was born in Pittsburgh, but grew up in Milwaukee. Yeah, you were born in Pittsburgh. My buddies are giving me... Yeah, we heard it. They're giving me the cake, but lots of roots there still. My dad went to Pitt. No, lots of Pittsburgh roots.

When I came on board, people forget we had some pretty good players. Barkov was here. Eckblad was here. Bobrovsky was here. So the makings of a pretty good team and a pretty successful team were in place. And then we were really fortunate when we started to add. The first guy was Patrick Horowitz.

And he's a culture changer himself. I don't know if you guys ever spent any time with him, but he's the energy and the enthusiasm and most important to compete. Like the very first practice, practice ended, the guys, they did a little shooting and skills and then they got off and he chased everyone down and got them back out there to work on the ball. It was,

it was a blessing and it was sincere. So whenever you have that type of culture being built that quickly, is there a style of team that you want to have? I know we're sincere. to fight, then you talk about the skill, Sam Benton did no-look passes and what Kachuk's able to do. Like, how do you piece a team together? What are the core, whenever you're looking for a player, if he would fit in the Florida Panthers uniform? Is it just physical, tough? Like, what is it that you're looking for? And how'd you get this roster to where it is? So it's that combination, right?

So you've got the guys. It's a combination of the skill and the physicality. It's compete. And that's really what we were looking for when we were going to get players. We wanted people who hated to lose. People who have some extraordinary skill. They might have some other

they might be skating, they might be size. But whatever it is, they hate to lose and they want to come in. And they're willing to commit to the team. And that was really the blessing. And it came together because we got enough of those guys that they would pull it out of the other guys. Go ahead, AJ.

Bill, how do you, I guess, continue to have success over and over? We always talk about continued success, and consistent success is really difficult, especially at the pro level. How do you continue that year after year? Are you already looking? You're not looking past the Stanley Cup Finals, but obviously you know you have a team to run like you're already like how far down the road are you guys already planning well you know that the pro scouting side of things happens all year long so evaluating players and all the what-ifs in fact the pro

scouts are coming in this weekend just to go through we're gonna have a short window whenever the season ends before the draft and the agency so putting together all those what ifs and then and then having a plan in place for as much as we can uh moving forward but it's pretty hard right now to focus on anything other than other than the series when you see this team and you see how close you guys are and you see the matchups with Edmonton, vibes have to be incredibly high. Is there any talking to the team from you? Do you stay out of it? Are you saying, hey, we're close?

Do you let Maurice do it? What is your kind of day-to-day with the team itself? I'm around the team a lot and more almost more social, more as a support as a support and Paul handles the all the coaching it's more just being around, what do you guys need, everything okay

and then making sure I stay out of the way and don't mess it up I love that more people need to do that not that that's, you know, not that you don't have a big brain but I think it's a real thing, right? You want to help. You think this could help. And then you say, well, probably a good idea.

I'll roll with it. But it's okay. Leave it alone. Just shut up. Especially now with the run you guys are on. D-Butt, massive fan of the Panthers. Yeah, Bill. Longtime South Florida resident.

So I appreciate everything you guys Have been putting together down there What you guys have been doing How has that experience been for you Since coming into town with the fans And the engagements I guess from businesses And the fans down in South Florida Supporting the Panthers in these last few years Really special

I came in the middle of COVID And then we had our first year We did okay. We had a pretty good team. And the fans, the core fans, so many people come up to me. I've been a fan since day one or this and that. And then you'd see them around, and they'd live and die for the team. It's a real – there's a real culture here amongst a pretty considerable

portion of the fans that really are hockey and Panther fans. It's awesome to see the guys are getting more and more recognized now. You know, I think, you know, I know you had Matthew, and I think it's a lot more recognition for the real stars. And it's fun. It's special. It's a great place. Like, everybody gets along.

They're starting to barbecue before the games in the parking lot and have the tailgates. And it's a blast. Do you sell to potential free agents or somebody? Like, Kachuk told us that every day there isn't a game, he's on the beach. It's like, not a lot of places have that option in the NHL. Or golfing. Or golfing. Like, are you talking about that whenever you're trying?

Or fishing, I guess. Is that Marlon yours? Oh, that's a sailfish. One of our scouts caught it. So we're going to have that group. We had scouting meetings, and one of the scouts got a sailfish. So we're putting it up in one of the, we have this beautiful new facility. It's ginormous.

So we have to put stuff all over the place, and we're going to do that for one of them little culture pieces. Yeah, you can't do that in Pittsburgh. You can't go catch a sailfish in Pittsburgh. You know, you can't. Are you talking about that with free agents and stuff, about what life is like as a Florida Panther? Not only are we good, yeah, our team's good, but also no state income tax and life you know you're gonna be on the beach

you're gonna be able to catch catch a damn sailfish if you want to literally out here in the atlantic is that a part of the conversation in the recruiting process or is that not working hockey no absolutely when i when i first came you know there was this narrative that there was a country club you know guys are more worried about golf or what have you. We figured out pretty quickly that enjoy your life. We asked so much of these guys in the facility, in the practice, in the game. When you're outside, be happy. Go fish.

Go walk your dog. Go do things with your kids outside. And the happier you are, you're gonna be prepared if we get the right guy. He's gonna go to bed on time. He's gonna, you know, not gonna go water skiing and run a marathon outside. He's gonna enjoy what he can and then come inside but the quality of life. And that's just for the families to and front office, I assume and coaching staff for the players but for the families too and front office i assume and coaching staff

the entire building yeah i might have gone on that fishing trip with the scout oh yeah yeah obviously you're focusing on scouting and next year on the boat but also if we're going to pull a sailfish in let's make sure we're doing it properly i got a good eye on it i couldn't even that's a that's a funny thing to think about because the question is always asked, are you happy because you win or do you win because you're happy? And I thought it was a pretty vital point you said. If you get the right guy, like they're going to handle themselves as a professional. And then being happy is what leads to winning, I think, personally.

Because you're going to work harder. You're going to want to keep this particular gig more. I think all of that kind of feeds each other. Do you agree, Bill? It does. and then it becomes, it kind of, each supports its own, right? You're content, you're happy, you're in a good place,

life is good, and it helps you, actually. Then you win, and then life gets a little bit better. More money. We haven't won yet, so. Yeah, well, back to what you were saying, there's only two teams left, both years, in the last two years, and your team has been one of them. So I would say success, but obviously,

let's make sure we get to the Stanley Cup this year. Ty has a question for you. Bill, how do you balance being aggressive at the deadline when you have a Stanley Cup roster and you're kind of in that, hey, we've got to buy, win now mode, while also not kind of upsetting the camaraderie and rapport that's already in a potential Stanley Cup champion locker room?

Yeah, it's a hard one because of exactly what you just said, right? Or it almost kind of relates to what I said before. You don't want to think too much. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. But we were, in this instance, we were fortunate to have a little bit of a plan ahead of time say okay what who what how could we might be out there that we could get uh use kyle also as an example who's a character guy whether he's dressed or not dressed he's in the lineup gives guidance support so it's important but it is a fragile equation because sometimes it's really hard for guys to come in.

They want to get acclimated and boom, it's over. So it's a little bit of luck too. Well, everything is a little bit of luck. Seems like it's going your way down in South Florida. Con Man's got a question for you. Yeah, Bill, before the Panthers clinched the Eastern Conference Finals, did you tell the team, like, hey, if any of you guys touch that trophy, you're off the team immediately?

Or is that just something the team understood going into it? Like, hey, we're going after Lord Stanley's. We don't care about this one at all. Well, last year they grabbed it, and I rather appreciate it. I was bold. I was like, that's awesome. And then I came down this year and I didn't know what they were going to do. In fact, someone had asked me in media, do you know what

they're going to do? I said, no, I'm not going to ask. And I got out there and then this tells a little story about our team and actually about Matthew. So usually like for the picture last year, the players won. It's their thing. And we just kind of stayed on the bench and went to the locker room. We were going to do the same thing. Matthew turned to Paul and said, no, no, no, everybody. And it was pretty cool. So then when we were going back there, they're screaming, don't touch it.

Don't get close. So that's what I knew. I like that the team is like, hey, GM, let's go. We're getting a head coach. Let's go. We're getting a photo. And also, don't fucking touch it. Everybody.

Mrs. Teresa Viola, she came. I think the grandkids came. It was awesome. It was kind of how it is. Everybody's involved. Chuckie made sure Bob got up in the picture, too, because I think last year he was kind of buried in the back a little bit, made sure Bob got up front and center.

Bill Daly saying, okay, none of us are touching it in a nice suit. Look at the team. Hey, let's go. The boys are tight. The boys are rallying. Last question here from AJ for you, Bill. Bill, can you talk a little bit about bringing Kachuk in and what he's done, not only for, like, obviously on the ice with the boys, but also his family?

I know Big Walt is around a lot. What has that done, I guess, for the whole franchise? It's great. And you can tell just as a family how close they are, how much they love each other, how much they support each other. Big Walt's around a lot. And it's been not only an essay sort of for everybody on how to

treat people, but even Walt, when he comes on a father's trip, and he's gracious and kind and patient with all the dads, and it's been wonderful. And that sort of characteristic of the whole family

comes through through Matthew and the way he does things. Like I just told you, he had the presence in the moment to say, no, everybody get in here. It's just how he is. They want to include everybody and want to make sure that everybody has fun. And I think Matthew, the way that happens with

our group is now there's accountability that comes with it. We all want you to enjoy and have fun, but you also have to work as hard as me. Work hard, play hard, two things that have to go together if you want to have success. Seemingly, you have found a group of guys that love both of those things. Congrats on building a great culture.

Congrats on all the success. And good luck with this Stanley Cup run against Edmonton. Why don't you trade? Okay, just throwing some things in the sky here. Kachuck to the Penguins. Pittsburgh Penguins. Trade him to the Pittsburgh Penguins. We'll take Bob as well.

We'll take Bob as well. And then if you could do a three-team trade, if we give McDavid over to the Penguins, that would help you right now. Just something to think about, Bill. If you want to send some players up to Pittsburgh, we'd be appreciative. Fair enough. Oh, Bill, If you want to send some players up to Pittsburgh, we'd be appreciative. Fair enough. Bill, you said earlier, I'm Milwaukee.

Are you holding good place? I grew up in Milwaukee. I was a bad boy for the Brewers, but I'm all Milwaukee. That's not true. I grew up a Steelers fan, and I still think I have a Franco's Italian Army t-shirt in my attic. Now we're talking, Bill Zito. I appreciate you. Ladies and gentlemen, the general Okay. Now we're talking, Bill Zito. All right.

I appreciate you. Ladies and gentlemen, the general manager for the Florida Panthers, Bill Zito. Yeah, Bill. I do like that every GM that comes on, I try to tell him to trade the best player to the team that I want to cheer for. Who would you be if you did? Journalism. True. Who are you giving up, though?

Huh? Who are you giving up? Who are you giving up? Nobody. What are you talking about? We can't give up anybody. Just bring the main man. Draft picks.

2031. First round draft pick. Okay Lurie the man. Draft picks. 20-31, first-round draft pick. Okay. Classic. Just like the Phoenix Suns have. Let's go for – thank you to Bill Zita for joining us. All about culture down there at Florida Panthers. Seems like they got it all. Love that.

They're kind of similar to the Miami Heat. You know, like when you look at, like, South Florida teams, like, tough, physical, scrappy, obviously talented. I think as far as the talent side, Panthers are definitely more talented at this point in the game. But Heat, Panthers, I feel like their cultures are very similar. This Giving Tuesday, the Center for Addiction and Mental Health is counting on your support. CAMH is on a mission to make better mental health care for all a reality. And they've made incredible strides forward, breaking down stigma, improving access to care, and pioneering research breakthroughs. But now is the time to aim even higher.

You can help create a world where no one is left behind. Donate at CAMH.ca slash donate now from November 25th to December 3rd, and your gift will be doubled for twice the impact. Bumble knows it's hard to start conversations. Hey. No, too basic. Hi there. Still no. What about hello, handsome?

Who knew you could give yourself the ick? That's why Bumble is changing how you start conversations. You can now make the first move or not. With opening moves, you simply choose a question to be automatically sent to your matches. Then sit back and let your matches start the chat. Download Bumble and try it for yourself. Okay, we have some breaking news out of the NFL. Christian McCaffrey has signed a two-year extension for $19 million

per year, says sources to Adam Schefter. McCaffrey will receive an additional $8 million over what he was scheduled to make for the first two years, while adding $24 million in guarantees. The deal was negotiated and confirmed by WME Football, who has been on a couple different tweets over the last couple days getting deals done. I believe Justin Jefferson

also WME. Congrats to Christian McCaffffrey we didn't think about him but iuk you know because they got the juwan jennings deal done we thought iuk was potentially going to be next over there instead it was christian mccaffrey needs to get a little bit more money so that we can pay him a fair market share for what he does for our team now obviously you would think like john lynch kyle shanahan feel an obligation to take care of their guy who has been their bell cow since getting dropped in there but now this raises so many more questions first of all congratulations to Christian we're happy for him AJ he's a dynamic player he's awesome yeah he is but what do we do now though

what what uh I mean it credits them for getting out in front of it I think because we know how awesome Christian actually is but they have a long list man this is why I do not envy GMs and what they have to do and how you have to kind of manipulate the roster and the salary cap. Eight million more per year, too? Just how's that happen? Do Christian McCaffrey's people come up and say, hey, just real quick, we need more money? And Lynch is like, everybody needs more money.

I need more. You should see what they're paying me. I'm not happy about it. Or is this John Lynch potentially looking at the market and going, hey, we view you as running back and wide receiver and weapon with what other people are – this is probably what you do. And Brock Purdy is still on a rookie deal, so we're able to do this now as opposed to what's about to happen in the future.

I do wonder how this plays. I know. It is interesting. I don't think – has anyone gotten close to Christian McCaffrey? I know Barkley just got a new deal, but I don't think he was anywhere near that. To your point, he is, you know, he can be used anywhere. He can be a running back.

He can be a wide receiver. And he means so much to that team. As dynamic as they are and as great as Bark Purdy is, it starts with that run game, C-Mac, and then once he splits out, he's always a matchup nightmare. So Christian was at 16 a year, which was the highest paid running back.

Second was Kamara at 15, Jonathan Taylor at 14. So now he goes to 19, which, you you know puts a decent little gap in there yeah and will somebody else try to utilize that as negotiation or will we see the same standstill on the running back market except for if you're christian mccaffrey who is their weapon that he is there now granted got a lot of explosives outside and a tight end position and And Brock Purdy's been able to hit them all perfectly. But all of it goes because there is a real fear of what the hell Christian McCaffrey is about to do.

And I guess that's what they're doing. They're putting money where their mouth is. Well, with him, right? This is kind of all she wrote for Brandon Ayuk. There's kind of no way that they're bringing him back. And also goes to the point that they're drafted a first-round wide receiver. So Brock Purdy's deal affords you a lot of movement. It gives you a lot of opportunity because he was last pick.

So not only rookie contract, worst rookie contract, that is at the highest paid position at quarterback, that's normally eating 20% of salary cap. So you have a lot of room to wiggle with whenever you have Brock Purdy at your quarterback, but they're going to have to do a lot of wiggling i mean i mean that is certainly a wiggle party about to take place in san fran if they want to keep the same cast of characters around maybe for another super bowl run after this year well and if you just look at a guy like it like iuke in his situation if there is any kind of negotiation like after something like

this happens like you think he's happy he's just like happy? If he's not getting exactly what he wants, why wouldn't he just be like, no, you're paying all these other guys. We're talking about what you're going to give Purdy next year, who after all these guys get paid, he's probably going to be making over $50 million a year. It seems like they've kind of already made their bed, and they're okay with losing Iyuk. Hey, Iyuk, come to Indianapolis.

Come to Indianapolis. Most catfish. Indianapolis was allegedly one of the teams that did reach out to the Minnesota Vikings for Justin Jefferson via Adam Schefter somewhere. I don't know where he said it, but then they said no immediately, which is what Adam Schefter told us yesterday on a golf course. He said a lot of teams reach out to the Minnesota Vikings about potentially trading Justin Jefferson, and those calls were shut down quickly.

He elaborated somewhere that the Colts were on that list. That makes me feel good. I like that, too. Yeah, that makes me feel really good. I like that that was put out there. I don't know who put it out. I don't know how it got out. But Schefter said the Colts were involved.

I'm pumped about it. That makes me feel good. Let's talk about the wide receiver market now with Justin Jefferson. Everybody assumed Tyree Kill was going to be the most pissed off because that guy is potentially, if you're talking best wide receivers, especially young wide receivers who are getting paid right now, Tyree Kill, Justin Jefferson are in the conversation. Devontae Adams, I very much understand.

There's many other incredible wide receivers, including C.D. Lamb and everything like that. But what Tyree Kill is a little bit different. He's the one who kind of started this entire thing about the wide receiver market is what it is. Well, he is at OTAs, mandatory OTAs. Mike McDaniel said earlier, I just saw a smiling face out of Tyreek Hill, even though Drew Rosenhaus has come out and said that they're in the middle of conversations

about what his deal could potentially look like. Maybe it's a Christian McCaffrey type situation where we renegotiate, extend, add a little bit of money to make sure you're in a spot where you feel compensated respectfully. And now Tyreek Hill is talking about the state of his quarterback, Tua. Here's a quote from this morning. I'm not going to lie, Joe Shad reports, when I saw Tua at the Pro Bowl, I was kind of scared. He was fat as shit. Is he taking a Zempik, Tyreek Hill questioned, after noting that Tua looks great and is doing great. D. Butch, I'll ask you this question.

Was there ever a worry that Tua was a little bit too comfortable? And what do you think Tyreek Hill is trying to say? I mean, he said it. I mean, he's playing his day. But I love Tyreek Hill. Ever since he came over to Miami, he's spoke glowingly about Tua. And I think when you speak like this, even in the media, it shows that they have a great rapport, a great relationship.

I was a little alarmed at some pictures I saw from a Tua meet and greet from a couple of days ago from a couple days ago. Unrecognizable. But as long as Tua shows up, I'm sure that deal will be done. Unrecognizable? What? A couple days ago? Which way?

What are we talking about? I mean, he was slim. He was clean as shit. You weren't saying he was a big fatto. No, no, no. I wasn't saying that. You were saying he was a big fatto. Yeah.

So I think what Tyreek is saying, last year, Pro Bowl, he was fat as shit. Tyreek's work. And now he's in much better shape. So that's why he's questioning. And what Tyreek is doing here is talking shit while complimenting a person. Yep. Which can happen. You know.

No. Yeah, that is something that can happen, believe it or not. A photo of Tua has just popped up on the screen here to the right, I think, from Mr. Hey, hair's out, jawline strong. New sleeve. Tua's looking for a new deal, too, potentially in here. Let's see how this is Tua football, man. He looks a little different without the facial hair.

We got a mean, green picture. They got to pay him, man. They're about to pay him, aren't they? Yeah, he's up. I mean, Tyreek's going to need a new deal. They let Wilkins just walk out of that building, which nobody's talking about. Him and Max Crosby being next to each other next year for the Raiders

is absurd to think about. Gumpy, whenever you hear this type of rapport from the Dolphins, especially with a couple guys that are potentially up for contract, I don't want to say disputes or negative reactions, got to be good about this Dolphins team. Remember, hung 70 on a team last year. Yeah, like I said at the end of last year, I know it didn't end how we wanted it to, but I do love this team.

I love the players that we have. We also have 18 more million dollars after the June 1st pass because X is off the paycheck there. I believe we do have the meet and greet video from Tua at Macy's. Pause. What is it? He does look different. Pause. Pause. Okay, so can we zoom in a little bit?

He looks lean. He's definitely lean. I'm happy. I thought he might be the guy on the right for a second. Why do you wear his own jersey? That's not him. He's the one on the left. Our quarterback wouldn't do that, Nick. Look at those teeth.

So I do love his teeth look great. And the other sleeve. Look how happy he looks. I mean, just everything here, you know, makes me believe the two is in a great spot, in a great space. And remember, I believe what was reported is that they came back with the conclusion that it wasn't his body weight that was causing the potential concussions. It was how he was falling. So whenever he did jujitsu last offseason, they realized that that worked, that paid off. You don't have to be 60 to 70 pounds overweight.

You actually just need to know how to fall better. So now we're talking about potentially an explosive, a more reactionary tool, maybe a mobile tool around the pocket, extending, expending time for those weapons that they have, Waddle and Tyreek. This could be great news for the Dolphins with how great Tua looks and how in good shape he is. Kind of who he was in his early days at Alabama. He was more of a scramble, fine guys quarterback. And then, yeah, he had those injuries and he put some weight on. But if he gets back to those, that's a good-looking Tua.

And nobody's talking about Tua to become the number one scrambling quarterback in the NFL, but if he can move, why not? And if he can still have that accuracy and able to do their thing, good luck to the Dolphins as you've got a reborn Tua Tonga Valoa who's still going to be able to sling no matter how thin he is. You would hope. You would hope. I always thought if I lost my ass and I lost a bunch of weight,

I wouldn't be able to kick a ball as far because that's more of a... Throwing, I think, is a little different. I think he's still going to have the cannon. I assume he would still have the cannon. He might be the best version of himself that he's ever been, and that's certainly a worry for the rest of the NFL. What are they going to do on defense, though?

What are they going to do on defense is going to be ultimately the question. Let's talk about a scrambling quarterback. Lamar Jackson loses out on $750,000 of his new five-year $260 million deal with $185 million in guarantees. NFL on CBS reported that due to the 80% of off-season workouts clause in Lamar Jackson's new contract that he will not be able to hit because he's already missed at least 21% of the offseason workouts. He will miss out on a $750,000 bonus. Now, obviously, $750,000 sounds like a lot of money. You go into a gas station, grab a scratch off, and hit for $750,000, you're going to remember that day for the rest of your life. If you get paid $750,000, you're going to be paid forever. Lamar Jackson obviously knew that this was a clause,

and he decided, well, this money's already out of the contract. I'm good with my contract being worth $184,250,000 in guarantees. Don't say we love it. You know, you can show up for 80%. You can kind of make that happen. But also, if you're in South Florida and you want to continue to work out with your guy, you do your thing.

I saw a lot of people judging the fact that he's his own agent and had this amount of money in there as the bonus because you could have that down to $50,000, $100,000, which some people do. $750,000, pretty significant, but not in the grand scheme of what his contract is. Yeah, very significant. But I think when he signed the deal, it was the richest deal ever. And to your point, I'm sure something maybe came up in the offseason or maybe he just decided he would rather

spend his time training down there. I know he was one of the quarterbacks as well who has slimmed up and lost a lot of weight this offseason as well. Obviously, he had a plan. He had something going on with his trainer down in South Florida. Don't think this will be an issue going forward with the Ravens in his offense. $750,000

stays with the Baltimore Ravens. Who was saying he should have had an agent? Mike Florio was talking about it. Oh, he's valid. Not because people have ever lost out on clauses before. Nah. That was the first time, right? That was a classic Florio tweet, though.

Yeah. Classic. They knew. He knew when he had it in there that he's not going to be at 80%. Yeah, that was already decided upon. I don't know if – They know. Yeah, go ahead.

They knew when you first... Our first day of OTAs or whatever they call them now, they would say, hey, you can miss four or you can miss five OTAs and still hit 75% or 80%, whatever your percentage was to get your bonus. I do think I remember the math being done publicly. Now, for me, yeah, I got a beer, dude.

I don't really have... Free money. Yeah, I don't really have the option. I was making the $500 check that they pay during the offseason, which is why everybody just assumes that the NFL is very okay with giving up anything in the offseason because it costs them nothing and it pays nothing. So Lamar Jackson back better than ever, but not at 80% of the offseason. Uh-oh.

Is he fully committed to the success of the Baltimore Reds? Maybe he thinks it's second year of my offense. I don't need to come this year. Oh, Lamar Jackson doesn't need to work. All we're going to do is... That's called journalism, what we just did. Being negative pricks. From what I've learned,

that is called journalism, what we just did. But maybe the fact is, he feels like what's better for the team and everybody probably feels like, hey, you be the best version of you. That's going to help us out a lot. Everybody knows you're the leader of this team. Everybody loves you. And he's obviously been there.

We've seen video of him and Derrick Henry connecting and others. It's like I'm excited to see this Lamar Jackson this year in this offense with Derrick Henry still in the back. I mean, with Patrick Ricard. Patrick Ricard. Yes, Patrick Ricard. And Derrick Henry lined up behind him. I mean, with Patrick Ricard. Patrick Ricard. Yes, Patrick Ricard. And Derrick Henry lined up behind him. I mean, it's just like.

Andrew's likely has tight ends too. How are you even supposed to stop that? But is this the difference between Lamar Jackson and LeBron James, would you say? What's that? You know, LeBron would probably be there for his OTAs, his voluntary workouts with Lamar. Well, whenever you think about LeBron James, you automatically go, I talk about Michael Jordan. Well, that's true. Is this the difference between Lamar and Michael?

MJ would be there. We saw the last dance. What show are we doing? What show is this? He never asked anybody. This is journalism, you asshole! You got to compare. I mean, yeah.

I'm sorry. Go ahead. You tell us. LJ, MJ. Which one are you taking to lead the Baltimore Ravens this year? I guess I'm taking Lamar and not a 60-year-old Michael Jordan. That's an option. We got to talk about it.

I'm sorry. Did you forget that MJ built a practice facility on the set of Space Jam? Did Lamar? Did Lamar? Is Lamar even coming to practice? Well, we saw Lamar on that beach. Remember, he missed that jet ski. That's his.

He built that. He built that. You know, because running on sand is a lot harder than running on a wooden floor, which makes me wonder, does Michael Jordan not want to work as hard as Lamar Jackson is training on a beach? You tell me, pal. Well, like, do we need to bring up Larry Bird? Joe Burrow's not at practice today.

If we're doing sports media, you don't bring up Larry Bird. Yeah, people don't like Larry like that anymore. What are we even? What's that? Lamar's not at practice. Joe's not at practice. Is Russell Wilson the only one at practice in the AFC North? That's a good thing. Joe Burrow is not at practice today for the Cincinnati Bengals. It's not a mandatory

minicamp for them, although 10 teams do have mandatory minicamps happening at this time. This is the volunteer. Him, Jamar Chase, T. Higgins, Trent Brown, the team that you know on offense, not at OTAs today for the Cincinnati Bengals. Maybe they're doing a community event. Maybe they're doing some sort of photo shoot.

And they will be there for mandatory. We assume that's how it's always been. But Joe Burrow is not on a pitch counter, so that can't be the reason why he's potentially missing today. I will be excited and eager to hear why and what is happening, A.J. Hawk. Wasn't the coach scheduled to speak after practice? We're just getting news. It was a scheduled day off.

Oh, okay. That's very nice of the team. Taking G days in the OTAs. I love that. I love taking a nice G. Don't even have to go out to our facility underneath the highway. No. Don't even have to do that.

Just stay inside, hang out, have that delicious food that they serve in the Cincinnati Bengals. Oh, yeah. Hot dogs. The slop out of the janitor bucket. That's not the modern Bengals. That's in the past. So schedule day.

Oh, yeah. Much better. New restaurant. Are the quarterbacks normally still there, though? They're still at practice? They just don't throw? There's off-season things that happen. There's been days where I was in there

where I don't think Peyton had to do something somewhere, so he might have missed a day, I think. There were some of those. I think that is very normal. That's why that 80% thing is normally... Guys miss. Is it normal? I saw Mike Tom when he was at Kennywood Park, which is an amusement

park in Pittsburgh. They say it's the greatest amusement park in the northeastern area. Really? Kennywood. Better than Six amusement park in the northeastern area. Really? Can't even work. Better than Six Flags? I don't hear that. I don't know if Six Flags has the potato patch, brother. Okay.

They got Superman, brother. Superman ain't shit. Whoa, easy. It's one of the greatest roller coasters on the East Coast. What was that? What's the revenge one? Phantom's Revenge. Phantom's Revenge.

You ain't got that. They got Batman. You got Batman. You got a massive, massive... No, we create our own stuff. We don't just rip other people's shit. Well, hey, look. We're not Marks, bro. Take that up with Six Flags, brother. I'm just telling you what the rides are. First of all, Kenny's wood, okay? Yeah, which is why it's kind of like, really?

Are we still doing wood rides in 2024? Yeah, we're talking about the woods. We got plenty of steel coasters as well. Wood coasters are awesome. We've got that. We've got the racer. You trust in them, though? Obviously.

Oh, yeah. That's part of the experience. I think Pittsburgh. I think Kennywood has one of the oldest ones in North America. Yeah, they do. Besides that. You know how it was the old stuff in North America? The only issue with Kennywood is I think it only cost like $700 to go.

Excuse me. No, no, no, no. It was a lot. It was a lot. I went a couple years ago. It was very well-priced. I'm not saying $700. It was a lot. They started doing the whole...

It would be a Kennywood school trip. Each school would have a Kennywood day. That doesn't mean you're going for free, though. Obviously, you've got to buy the tickets. Then all of a sudden, each year, they're like, we've kind of bullied all these people on the thing, and they have to go, so we can fucking. I do.

Let's jack this up. And they certainly did. But, boy, it was worth it. One-day ticket is $39.99. They went back down then. That's not bad. Because that shit was way up. But Coach Tomlin was there with the boys, team bonding activities,

and he had his whistle on at Kennywood. Is that normal? It's wanted. Just in case they lose a player. How come Shane Steichen is sitting at these Pacers games and he doesn't have his whistle around his neck? That's true. What is that?

It's true. Did Rick Carlisle have his around his neck when you were? He looked like he was in the middle of coaching a game. The shoes, the pants, the combo, the hangout. We went into his office, you remember, during halftime. I mean, he was in the game at the time, but I don't think I saw a whistle. I love that. Tomlin just every morning.

All right, cell phone, keys, wallet, whistle. Got it. Perfect. I mean, that's what he does. He's a coach. I mean, I thought we were coaching guys. Well, I like the fact that Russell Wilson is the welcoming committee for your city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. That's good news.

Let's go to the desert, Jonathan Gannon. Boo, boo, boo. Shots. Explosives. Head coach for the Cardinals. Former defense coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles. He's talking about Marvin Harrison Jr. and his work ethic at his press conference. Yeah, he's extremely detailed.

He does a lot of extra, probably too much. I'm going to be fighting him about that. And he's just like everybody else right now, kind of getting out there and making sure that he's going to make some mistakes and learn from his mistakes and understand the thought process from Drew and Drew, the quarterback perspective, where he needs to be, all that stuff. so um yeah i liked how he's jumped in and he's doing a good job what are some of your downfalls i work too hard that's what again i care too much yeah i care too much but the working too hard thing is kind of the story of marvin harrison jr right even since his ohio state days uh the general bob carpenter who's a 40 year old man who still runs sprints with these college kids somehow. He said in the morning he would go in, whatever, 5.30, 6 a.m., Marvin Harrison Jr. is in there on the jugs machine before the workout. And then at night he would go in, 5.30, 6 o'clock, guess who was still there on the jugs machine?

Marvin Harrison Jr. His dad has kind of given him the game like, hey, hard work is the thing that will make you the best or be great. And he has certainly taken it to heart. That's why whenever he doesn't run a 40 and he doesn't jump jump he doesn't work out his pro day and he doesn't do shit there's some NFL teams that say we don't care we know what this guy's work ethic is we've heard about it it's almost to his detriment is what he's saying about a rookie I love hearing that about Marvin Harrison Jr. AJ Hawk yeah you definitely love to hear it and it's not truly

a worry I mean the coach says yeah he's worried that Marvin's gonna be running 100 extra routes at night and he's gonna pull a hammy or something that's what you it, and it's not truly a worry. I mean, the coach says, yeah, he's worried that Marvin's going to be running 100 extra routes at night and he's going to pull a hammy or something. That's what you worry about, but you're not truly worried. Like, you want to be – like, coaches want to have to pull you back, not push you forward. They don't want to have to tell you to go do more. They want to be able to, hey, it's all right. I think you've done enough for today.

Let's just shut it down and rest those legs. Rather have to say, whoa, instead of go. You know, that is kind of the difference of this entire thing. D-Butt, he's a guy, though. You got to see him up close and personal, obviously. Down in Georgia, and then I think, did you see him again? No. That was the only time I saw him.

We saw him. We saw him at the Penn State game right after college game day, and he was just kind of walking around, and his mitts were just... He's a guy. He's a guy. Immediately a guy. He's a guy. Immediately a guy. He's the guy. And you mentioned not doing any of the bullshit leading up to the draft, just all football.

Obviously, it's pop, show them the ropes. But this is something you want. And it's not like a gimmick or something. This is something Bob saw behind the scenes. He's not like one of the guys when the camera's around trying to do a little more. You know, the best players I've been around, obviously, they're talented, but they work their asses off.

Whether it's, you know, Reggie Wayne or T.Y. Hilton or Frank Gore, their work ethic, not only when we're in there, when we need to be in there to meet rooms, but they're doing extra. They're stretching. They're taking care of their body. They're on the jugs for hours and hours. And when they have that talent like Marvin Harris Jr. has, I mean, the sky's the limit.

Work ethic is the most important thing on the road to success, you know? And I don't know. In anything. Anything. Literally anything in life, on earth. Now, granted, there are some people, you know, who get dropped into this world just, you know, kind of on third base. Austin Rivers. Of course.

He didn't deserve that. No, I'm sorry. He did not. And we were just talking about it last week. He did't deserve that no i'm sorry he did not and we were just talking about it last week he did not deserve that but there is some people obviously and that's very nice for them and you might see them on the internet but for a lot of you kids out there okay a lot of you kids out there work ethic is the thing that you should want to keep in your soul in your life because if you would have dreams or aspirations of going anywhere that is going to be the the differentiator

that is just kind of how it is i was asked um if i wanted uh to be a part of like a children's book or something like that and i said no but then i automatically had like a thought about like if i did have a kid's book what would it be about it's like well it would be about a little kid that just fucking works his ass off like how do we get a story into kids across the country in the world like hey all of this stuff that you see on the internet is only attainable if you put the work in like it's not just going to get handed to you for most people now there's other people but that is the most important thing the fact that marvin harrison jr has it is like the main thing i think every team's looking for like does this person have a work ethic when they get money and they get time which is the

difference between the NFL and college even though money obviously with NIL is real are they going to be able to manage it or they still want to be great it's like work ethic is what we're looking for AJ and Marvin Harrison Jr. has that in spades seemingly well that's what you worry about isn't it we know these guys are fast can jump can catch everything. We know they're freak athletes, but what you don't exactly know is what are they going to do once you do pay and once they get a little bit uncomfortable. I've told people all the time, it's easy to work hard when you feel good, and you're not going to always feel good as it goes.

So that's what you have to kind of figure out, and who's going to be consistent and be the same dude every single day and not ride the old roller coaster that the NFL tends to be sometimes. Yeah, I'm going to tell you what, boys. Tomorrow on this show, you're going to see me in a bad spot. You're going to see me in a real bad spot. You never know. What if you feel really good?

I won't. Yep. We'll be 1-0. We'll be fine. Yeah, what do you mean? I don't know if we should be assuming the 1-0 thing against this reggae rover squad. I wish they would have rolled out that Burnley team

in front of us and JJ had to play for game one, but instead, that's not until Thursday night. Okay. Okay, third game in. All right, I'm sure I'll be around. You've been working, and you have talent, and one of the great philosophers said, you know, talent trumps work ethic until talent has work ethic. Shin Zu.

You were close. Talent beats... Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. There were close. Talent beats... Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. There it is. Boom. That's not the one I was referencing. Good try, I guess. I mean, point remains.

Point remains. Bill Belichick received a certificate of nationality from the country of Croatia. Hell yeah. What? Yep. He was there shaking hands with a bunch of, can I say? I'm not going to say it. I'm not going to say what they call Croatian people.

No. Croatian people. Croatian people. There you go. No, rhymes with, nope. I don't even want to say that. No, don't even, yeah. There's no point.

Croatians, yes. He shook the hands of a bunch of croatians including the president of the croatians and uh he is now officially a croatian i think is what i read yep from bill belichick pumped up that he's continuing this victory tour on life uh i enjoy everything bill's doing aj legitimately it's cool to see and it's awesome to see him getting out here and doing this i'm wondering is he a dual citizen Does he have a passport from Croatia now? I'm sure he could. He might be president.

Shit, we don't really know. We have no idea, but congrats to Bill over there in Croatia. Hell yeah, Bill. Where is Croatia? I believe it's on the Mediterranean. Yeah, on the Mediterranean. It's kind of by Italy. I'm saying Bruce isn't here.

He claims Croatia. Bruce is only in major soccer tournaments. Bruce is ladies' family from Croatia. So Bruce now pseudo-Croatian. He is Croatian. That's kind of how we hear about it during soccer tournaments. But nonetheless, unless Bill Belichick's

coaching a Croatian soccer team, they ain't got shit on the United States of America. We'll be back tomorrow live from Cary, North Carolina. Kroats is down. That should be an absolute blast. We can't wait to see what muscles are torn or ACL is teared. It should be a fun one. Be a friend.

Tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. We'll see you tomorrow. Goodbye. Nailed it, AJ. Hell yeah. Why are you going to be in a bad spot tomorrow? Bro, game at 8.30 a.m., man.

Okay, I don't know me that well. I normally work out after the day is over. And as I'm laying down to bed, my whole shit is sore. But you're sleeping. You're laying down. You don't have to do anything. This one, full day is just getting started now with this particular... That night one might be tough.

Then you've got a 7 p.m. game after our show in the middle of the day. I mean, it's... Good news is they don't need me. The team doesn't need me, which is great news, but what happens if a couple guys get gassed and all of a sudden I have to do extended minutes?

I don't think that's going to happen. I don't think any speed has ever been gassed in his life. All right, that's one guy. Breck Shea. Cameron. Blue guy. Zat Knight. I'm going to be in it.

Yeah, Zat has never been tired. I'm energy on the bench for sure. Yeah. Owner, player, Coach Miola is going to be there. Joining us now, that's big news. Huge news. Not happy about how it came to be. Yeah.

Congrats to Florida beating Oklahoma State in a super regional baseball thing. What does that mean, super regional? So when's Omaha? Regional, super regional, then Omaha. West Virginia's taking on North Carolina. In the super regional. So if they win that super regional, they're going to Omaha. Okay, UConn won.

So they're in, too? Baseball? Yeah. So is that a series now? Shocked me too. It's best of three now. Zion or not Zion? One of those. The purple one where the Brownsburg. Evansville. Evansville. They won their Super Regional. They upset ECU. I saw that

being like the biggest thing. Eastern Carolina not making it to a Super Regional. Let's stick with baseball. Let's go to the pros. The voice of a generation for the MLB. Baseball insider and analyst for espn our friend jet pass holy shit you look good yeah yeah yeah today was today was one of those like i've got a real tv hit afterwards so i had to get a little bit too dressed up no not too dressed up you look very good we appreciate it let's be let's do this thing because this is huge news i'm excited to

hear your take on this padres infielder oh two two capita two capita you got it nice two for two head boy first time two capano. Boom. Has been banned from baseball, is what you are reporting. He's only won 4.3% of his bets on the MLB and won 0 for 25 on bets on the Pirates while he was a part of that roster. This guy sucks at gambling, but also sucks at keeping a job. Baseball is now having their situation with sports gambling, just like the NFL had, the NBA had.

Now it's the baseball's time you think jet or is this going to be uh a real prolonged problem potentially for the sport of baseball pat i think it's everyone's time i think with the pervasiveness of sports gambling in society right now that this is not going to be a one-time thing and you know you see jonte porter getting banned for life you see tuca p Peter Marcano now getting banned for life. And this is for stuff that happened in the past. And maybe there is an element of scared straight that players are going to realize. But look, you see when you walk into a big league clubhouse every time, regardless of its spring training, minor leagues, major leagues. when you're in a professional clubhouse, you see Rule 21 right there.

It is plain and simple. It is in English and it is in Spanish. And it says unequivocally, do not bet on baseball. And it wasn't just Tuca Peter Marcano today, by the way. It was five players. You know, Michael Kelly with the Oakland A's suspended for a year for doing it when he was down in the minor leagues and three others, Jay Groom, Andrew Salfrake and Jose Rodriguez suspended for a year as well. I think the most surprising element of this to me wasn't that guys were gambling. It was that they were just so brazen in how they put their names on their accounts. And they were essentially like narked out by gambling operators. And they were told, like Major League Baseball was told, you know know these are the names and this is the information that we've got and they started investigating and uh now you've got four suspensions and the

first lifetime ban uh for actual gambling like pete rose accepted his but this is the first levied by major league baseball uh according to espPN stats and information, since 1924. It's been a century since we've seen this. And I'll tell you, it is not a surprise in the least with the environment that we're operating in and living in right now. Yeah, it's a shame. We don't like it. And obviously, the players are the ones who need to maintain the integrity of sport.

Because once that goes down we're all screwed we say that to the nfl people we say it to the nba people we'll say it here to the mlb people it's like hey when you're done you're going to be a better gambler than everybody you know you know what you know what though pat i i understand your perspective that it's incumbent on the players we're all individuals we all have will. We all have the ability to say, I'm going to gamble or I'm not going to gamble. But let's not look past the league's culpability in this. For the longest time, leagues from the NFL to the NBA to the NHL to Major League Baseball stayed away from Las Vegas, specifically because they were worried about the influence that gambling would have. Now, all of a sudden, you've got an NHL team in Las Vegas. You've got an NFL team in Las Vegas. You've got a Major League Baseball team going to Las Vegas. You've got an NBA team eventually that will be in Las Vegas, whether it's an expansion or being moved.

Las Vegas is the center of all of this. And I think that that has tacitly suggested to people in the sport that the embrace from the leagues has made gambling a less devious or awful thing than it was in the past. And maybe that's a reasonable thing for society to embrace but the idea that this is all falling on the players no the leagues are the ones who open this door for it to happen yeah league society i mean there's a lot of blame to go around for sure we completely agree with how accessible it is and how easy it is to gamble in a lot of places now and all you need is just to log in. But, man, as an athlete, you're like, that is like one of the, you know.

So that's my angle on this entire thing. It's like you're told. No, no, dude. Like you're absolutely right. Like the number one rule in baseball that you're taught is don't bet on baseball. Don't be Pete Rose. That's what we're told in football. We're told don't be Pete Rose in football.

That is literally the. Do not bet on baseball. And it should not be that difficult. But man, when all you have to do to bet on baseball is to pull up this thing right here and you're two taps away from potentially throwing away your career. I mean, that's how you have to look at it.

That's how you got to see it. Because to compete a Marcano, he was not a guy who was a star by any means. He was not someone who probably had a long career ahead of him. But the guy's done before his 25th birthday. Yeah, he sucked at gambling too. Hey, Chad, we appreciate you. So bad.

And that's a message to a lot of gamblers out there. They all suck. Yeah. Every one of these guys sucks at gambling. Everybody sucks at gambling. Everybody sucks at gambling. Ipe sucked. Tukapita sucked. All of them suck. Yeah. Stop.

Just don't do it, guys. Also, for non-baseball playing gamblers, I think there was an 11-leg parlay that Calvin got caught up in. This guy was on a team the pirates bet on him 25 times lost every single bet so if you're out there gambling thinking you're

gonna be able to you know good luck nobody fucking knows but you know who does the jet we appreciate you ladies and gentlemen jet passing thank you buddy all right let's get the hell out of here boys uh before we do that that, I'd be remiss, especially since I'm staring at the Intimidator's car right there. NASCAR had a hero this weekend. You know, aerodynamicy is a big deal whenever you're talking about racing. What's the most aerodynamic you can make your vehicle, and how hard can you drive that son of a bitch? Now, when I say that, I just mean like the phrase son of a bitch. Yeah.

You know what I mean? Nobody in specific. I'm not talking about the cars. But I'm just talking about it as it's a phrase. I don't know if everybody's heard it, but where I grew up, it was something that was said, so I do apologize to whoever, whatever that case, whatever. Yeah.

Nonetheless, this pit crew guy named Robert Strickska, a.k.a. Bug. This is very similar, although very different, to the fire festival guy who was going to get the water. Okay, this guy,

you remember, willing to do whatever. He was willing. I didn't see you tie that with... That's journalism. He, willing to do whatever. He was willing. I didn't see you tie that with those. That's journalism. He was willing to do whatever for that Fyre Festival. Nobody else was, but he certainly was. This pit crew member was willing to do whatever. Ah, boom!

Let me go ahead and flatten his hood a little bit so we can get this down underneath the windshield so you can see and maybe we can move a little bit faster. We got a hammer here. What's better than that? Oh, how about my gut, says Straxco, who comes flying in. Boom! Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch got into a little bit of a wreck on the outside. Right, boom, right here.

This guy's flying onto hoods. NASCAR was alive this weekend. And, AJ, I'll tell you what. The more I see from the race community the more i like in the pit crew might be the topic of conversation there was a fight in his dirt race where somebody actually hopped into a guy's car whoa he was trying to fight him and then he tossed him out there was a whole brawl racing throwing a fastball right now and strick is certainly a part of it aj well my favorite part is how he comes from like from out of frame and launches his body onto this thing.

He's a soldier for the cause. You want to keep this guy on your team. This is the guy you need on your squad. I know we talked about old G1 became big because of Netflix. If you followed around these pit crews and all the different pit crews and showed how competitive they are and watched them working out during the week and all that, that'd be a great docu-series. How about the guy that was throwing people off of Kyle Busch's truck?

Get off the truck! Imagine him afterwards. So much shit being talked. They're running that video. Oh, yeah, look, look. I grabbed him. Did you see he's selling merch? As he should be.

Get off this truck or whatever. But him watching the film of it afterwards with the boys while having a cocktail or something, that had to be a magical moment. It feels so good, too. Blocking the film of it afterwards with the boys while having a cocktail or something. That had to be a magical moment. Feels so good, too. I bet you prayed for those times as a pit crew boss. Dude, watching the video back, everybody just being like, watch you.

Watch you. You really throw. I was going to beat his ass. I was going to beat his ass. Should have beat his ass. Just going down the line. Stenhouse, Sanger's lucky he didn't, like, fucking foot on the truck. Would have killed him, too. Former football player, wrestler, something like that,

just waiting for one of those. And that dude, was it Rob? Yeah, Bugs Trix. Bugs Trix. You can tell that is not his first rodeo. As soon as he pulled it, he already knew what needed to be done. Oh, I seen his foot. We need to get that thing down, right?

Is that what I'm hearing? Are we hearing the same? We're all hearing the same thing? I got it. Just need to get the hood down? Got it. What if that's his only role? That's the only thing he does.

Someone get bugged. Get bugged. What if he comes out of a cocoon? Come on. Come on out. Like a rabid dog. That's why his nickname is Bug. He's sitting back there drinking beers until they need it.

He's got music in that helmet. Comes out Glass Bang Splash onto that Alright let me know You guys need me Goes right back in That's bug

That's racing baby Hell yeah That's a lot of fun Speaking of racing The production truck Broke down on the way Down North Carolina Yeah

Yes it did For a couple hours For a couple hours Second time this week Yeah but it got fixed It got fixed It all figured out It's gonna work Old buddy help What's his name For a couple hours. For a couple hours. Second time this week. Yeah, but he got fixed. He got fixed. He's all figured out.

It's going to work. Old buddy help? What's his name? Kratz. We weren't in Kratz's carry town. No. I think this was in West Virginia on the trip down there. Yeah, and Kratz tried to get people not to go to help.

Yeah, Kratz was calling people off. Yeah, don't you think about it. If you ever want to show your face in carry North Carolina, you do not help that. Sit your ass down. Anyways, truck made it down there, so we're in a good spot. I have no idea about the thousand foot cables and where we're going to find those at. That'll happen, though. We'll be live from North Carolina tomorrow. We got to travel down there. I got a practice

session. Yeah, here we go. I'm going to be meeting the whole team tonight. I'm going to be meeting the whole team tonight, man. I'm pretty excited, AJ. Don't get too, hey, don't need to be doing too fucking much. You know what I mean? Tonight's like the Saturday, like you run around a little bit, like quick twitch. Get that going.

Wake them up a little. Yeah, tonight we're doing a walkthrough. Hey, what's the gig? What do I need to be doing? And then also, it'll be my first time kicking a soccer ball on anything that resembles a flat field. In about 15 years or so. So that should be... I'm excited to see the pitch out there. Don't forget your kids.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, it certainly can. Those nets are tiny. They are small. I know JJ is gigantic, but, man, that net looks small. I was putting the ball where I wanted to put it, and I'm just hoping that I'll be able to just lower the one. Just drop it down a bit.

Just keep it low. Give it a chance. That's Gumby's coaching. Just pull it on frame, dude. You pull it on frame, it's going in. All right, Pike. Yeah. Pike, Paul.

I am excited to say Pike is a good word. You feel good about that. Pike. That was deep out of the – Classic soccer. The Rolodex. If I score in that first game – See you.

What's your celebration? What are you going to do? I'll do a slow – Yeah, run around and do the airplane, too. Do that. Yeah, maybe slide on do the airplane too. Do that. Yeah, maybe slide on your knees too if it's slick. Maybe you should go get a good slide. I never knew how they did the knee slide because I'm not very flexible.

So if I do that one, that's going to become a – You've seen the ones tear your whole body. Have you seen them do that? They do it so easily. All the soccer players. Oh, yeah. I don't know how they do it. I used to play FIFA.

Played a little FIFA. So I saw all the different cellies. I don't know how they do the knee slide thing. I. Play a little FIFA. So I saw all the different sellies. I don't know how they do the knee slide thing. I've never been able to. It's got to be wet. It has to be like a very specific.

I'm assuming. I'm not saying. They do that shit on every FIFA. They certainly are able to do it. That's a talent. That's a skill.

I will not be able to do that. That'll be certainly be true. It would be pretty funny though if you did that and just took a massive divot out of the field. That's exactly what would

happen to me. Drew McIntyre threw the top of the commentary table last night. Threw it and the corner of it just dug a massive hole in the outside. That's awesome. Huge, huge gash. He threw it and I saw it landing.

It spikes the thing like a yard dart and then hits the thing. I thought it was going to stand straight up into the thing. It falls down and then he ends up going through that thing oh yeah because he took his eye off the ball why is he talking to michael cole i don't know what he always does that's kind of drew mcintyre football is that when he when he gets down to brass tax he's always he's got too much going on and then he loses the the championship and we love drew mcintyre he's been on the program he's fantastic but. He's a college psychopath. But he does, just in those moments, just, hey, lock in just for a half a second.

That's it. He chases CM Punk up into a suite. Yeah, got him. CM Punk's already down there. He leaves the arena. CM Punk's already there. He finally wins it. You know, rubs in CM Punk's face.

Then what happens? Loses it to Damian Priest, who cashes in. People thought he forgot how to cash in his money in the bank. They didn't even know if Damian Priest remembered that he had the money in the bank thing they were talking about. Then he loses it to Damian Priest who cashes in. People thought he forgot how to cash in his money in the bank. They didn't even know if Damian Priest remembered that he had the money in the bank thing they were talking about. Then he loses it. Then last night he's coming out to fuck some shit up and he gets distracted. My uncle ends up through the table. It's like, hey, come walk in, which is going to be my message to Colin K. for SC tomorrow.

Boys, we're playing against the fastest island on the planet. I'll tell you what. Those boys seemed very confident in the little clip I watched. They did seem pretty calm, didn't they? I mean, there wasn't a lot of – Yeah. I couldn't see the size of them, though, but I also don't know the size of my team just yet.

Does size matter that much? Like in soccer, are you – you want the bruisers? What do you need? Smaller field here. So – It depends on the league. I do think, like, depending on your style of play, you know, are you going to ping it around or how are you going to do it, this whole thing.

But I think with how small the field is, size could work to advantage. Now, I don't know if being 245, 250 pounds is necessarily the right move, which I'm showing up at, and just in soccer in general. But I've been told that the field will look and feel smaller than I could imagine. Okay. I mean, if the goals are any indication. Don't we think small field, big goal, seven on seven? I like that.

Take the goalies. Need goalie. Beating the goalie is a big part of the feeling of scoring. You know? Yeah, I guess. So I think, like, bigger goal would be cool. Not even full size, just bigger than what they are using.

Taller goal. Make it like 18 feet tall and not as wide. 18 feet, okay. That would be a pretty good idea. 12 feet, because a goalie can get his hand on a 12-footer and pop it over the top. I think 9 feet is probably good, but just wide.

Make it a little bit wider. Make them have to defend the entire thing. Because the goalies, from what I've been told, goalies got to play with their feet in this tournament too. I would assume, yeah. Is there a small field? Part of it a lot. So goalie got to be very athletic.

From what I've been told, we do have athletic goalies. Goalie can score easy. Yes. Not Burley. Do you have Miola? He's coach. Coach Miola.ley. Do you have Miola? He's coach. Coach Miola. Okay.

Coach player, Bill Russell. We can sub him in, right? That goal? I don't think Tony Miola's stepping on that pitch. He might have to if he has to. He's going to be down there, though, which is good enough for the soccer community. You're right. I mean, maybe Tony Miola does slide in and net.

Yeah. What if he does just come out there? He has a little extendo clip for his hair. So it's like the old school hair. Gotta wear a hat, like a backwards hat. He used to be able to do... I think he used to be able to do standing backflip too. I think Tony Viola used to do that.

He still can. Well, that's where we're headed. Should be a quick flight. Down to Crotts' town. We're down here in Crotts' town, North Carolina. Did you get clearance from Crotts to land yet? You're right. We need to check with Crotts if the FBO is okay down there.

Hopefully the pilots showed up because if Crotts made a call, they might have just said like, Just like he did to the mechanics. Bingo. Yeah. Tim McAfee sat on the side of the road for three hours. What the fuck's going on when Crotts is throwing a runner's strap? Think about that.

Day before, we need 1,000 foot. Yeah, not like a couple. I mean, that just shouldn't happen. It's just that kind of stuff that just should not happen. Come on, Kratz. I came across Kratz's desk. What's his name, Jim? Fuckers think Dave.

Dave Kratz. Who the fuck? Can't wait to meet him. Can't wait to say, thanks for everything, Dave. You really make this all awesome. We're coming down here to the Dave Kratz TSD. I hope they paid you for this fucking denouement. I'd imagine his face is

on the fucking sportsplex there. He might be a carrier. That's his... This is this man's town. Who is this guy? He's fucking Kratz, dude. That's a Kratz football. Judge Jerry and executioner. You seen him before? I looked him up. He looks exactly like what you think.

I'm trying to envision him. I don't know if he's a little piece of shit or a big... No, no, no, no, no. Yes. No, he is a hardworking citizen from Cary, North Carolina, who just wants only the best for the facilities and for the city. And all we're trying to do is help. Now, the things he is potentially forcing us to do within 24 hours,

impossible to do our particular jobs. But that ain't Kratz's worry. Kratz is trying to have a safe, good tournament to go off. And that's Kratz football, baby. That's right. And we'll be playing European football, which should be called soccer, tomorrow morning, 8.30 a.m. on ESPN+. Pumped. Yes.

Can't wait. Can't wait. Can't wait It's a good sign It's a good zip on it It's kicking in cowboy boots I was going to say, are you going to play in cowboy boots maybe? Put a couple studs on the bottom? I feel like AR a little bit

Well, you'd have to get a lot closer Oh Oh I feel like they are a little bit. Well, you'd have to get a lot closer. Oh. Oh. Sounds like it hurts. What's that? Yeah, it does sound like it hurts. Kicking the ball. My foot or the wall?

Your foot. Oh. Obviously the wall, too. That low crossbar. Yeah. These are all pucks on net. It's a little bit too close. From the frame power. You're going to put rubber on net?

Dump and rubber. Oh! Yay! Woo! That's good vibes. Let's get the hell out of here. We'll be back tomorrow. We can't thank you enough for allowing us to do this for a living.

Hopefully we're able to go live. If we're not, Tone Diggs will be live from here. We'll be back tomorrow. We can't thank you enough for allowing us to do this for a living. Hopefully, we're able to go live. If we're not, Tone Diggs will be live from here. We will be live from a bus in Cary, North Carolina via FaceTime. Should be a real blast. Should be a real shit show, which is what this show is every single day. Remember, legitimately, only trying to put positive vibes out into the world through the world of sport. Sometimes, you know, it certainly doesn't happen that way. And we'll continue to try to get better.

Be a friend, tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. Like our friends here at Dude Wipes who presented the road to TST, which ends tomorrow. Because TST begins. Get the bath for your ass, Dude Wipes. Hell yeah. And keep your cheeks clean No matter the poop Be a friend, tell a friend something nice

It might change their life We're in this thing together Team on me Let's go Conkey for SC Here we go boys Team on three One, two, three Team

Goodbye