The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 1145 - Shams Charania, Matthew Tkachuk, Mark Kaboly, Darius Butler, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: June 11, 2024

On today’s show, Pat, Darius Butler, AJ Hawk, and the boys chat about the Florida Panthers taking a commanding 2 game lead in the Stanley Cup Finals after beating the Oilers last night 4-1, Aaron Rodgers and Haason Reddick being absent from New York Jets mandatory minicamp and Head Coach Robert Saleh’s comments about both missing, as well as some updates from other minicamps around the NFL, Joey Chestnut being barred from competing in the 4th of July hot dog eating contest this year by Nathan’s, and everything else happening around the sports world. Joining the progrum to chat about Dan Hurley rejecting the Lakers offer, and what that means going forward is NBA Insider for The Athletic, Stadium, and FanDuel TV, Shams Charania (14:09-33:42). Next, 2x All-Star, All-Star Game MVP, Winger for the Florida Panthers, Matthew Tkachuk joins the show to chat about taking a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Finals, the style of play thus far in the Finals, how difficult it will be playing in Edmonton, what they’ll do on the long plane ride, and much more (34:35-49:30). Later, Pittsburgh Steelers beat writer for The Athletic, Mark Kaboly joins the show to chat about Mike Tomlin’s extension, the QB position, why the Steelers are worried about their #2 WR, the revamped defense, and more (1:12:26-1:28:23). 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. Cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello beautiful people and welcome to our humble abode the thunderdome on this big Tuesday June 11th 2024 this program starts right now. Sports are the greatest and we're in the middle of two final series for the NBA it's two zip Boston Celtics as they travel down to Dallas to game three tomorrow against the Mavericks and then in the NHL last night, the Florida Panthers took a two-zip lead over the Edmonton Weathers after giving up one early and then storming back and scoring four straight, including an empty netter at the end to win 4-1. If both of these end in clean sweeps, we will certainly say,

wow, that was a dominant performance. But we will also be incredibly bummed because that means the end of these two is right around the corner. We think the Dallas Mavericks, Luka and Kyrie are going to show up. We think Drysaddle and Connor McDavid are going to show up. But if they don't, you're talking about dominant dubs in the NHL and the NBA that we will certainly have to celebrate. Today, we have Sham Sharania joining us in about 10 minutes or so. I wonder how he's feeling after the whole Dan Hurley to the Lakers thing kind of cucked his J.J. Redick to the Los Angeles Lakers thing.

That obviously doesn't take place. We have quotes from Dan Hurley. We have a lot to talk about there. Then we'll be joined by Matthew Kachuk, star for the Florida Panthers, a man who's turned around an entire franchise on a loan, obviously with a bunch of different people, fresh off a big win. It's getting physical down there.

Oh, yeah. What are his thoughts on closing this thing out? And Edmonton's going to be a tough barn up there. Can't wait to chit-chat with him. And then in the second hour, Mark Caboli from The Athletic will join us to chit-chat about Mike Tomlin signing the extension for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

And also a little NFL convo, because there's some OTAs starting, some mandatory minicamps starting, and there's some people missing. Uh-oh. There's some inexcused absences being announced by head coaches. Robert Salas and Hassan Reddick's not here. He's good, though. He's inexcused.

Yeah, he's inexcused. Is he the only one missing from Jets' mandatory minicamp? No, Aaron Rodgers also. Inexcused absence, he says. Won't you chat about that? What does A.J. Hawk know? Well, hour two, we shall find out. The talk statement's here at Boston Corner, at Ty Schmidt.

Call him, man. I see your hat. Obviously, you're feeling the vibes because the Celtics are up 2-0, and people are saying Drake May is the guy. I mean, people are saying it, but we can all see it with our own eyes, gentlemen. I mean, he threw a dodgeball 200 miles per hour today at a middle school. And, yeah, he rang up David Andrews. I'm kind of worried he might have blown out his knee because how hard he threw that dodgeball.

But vibes are very good in New England. Obviously, now is the time where I should be wearing Patriot's gear because there is that possible chance that we come around October and that if I wear Patriot's gear, then, you know, you're repping a team that's not going to be good. But it feels as though they might be, honestly. And look at that bullet from that guy. He also did a standing dunk effortlessly. Athlete. Off the vert.

Yeah, I mean, they're saying he's killing it in seven on seven. He's killing it at practice. Obviously, team building event dodgeball. He's going for heads. Drake May might be the guy out of this draft class, but there's a chance any of them could be. What do you do in the spring? Does not matter for when fall

comes. Can he read a defense? Can he break down a defense? Can he make the easy ones? Is his footwork good enough? Well, from everything we've been told by Clyde Christensen and people around him, even his obnoxious drunk uncle, this guy will go to work. This guy will go to work. This guy will do everything he needs to do to be a professional athlete.

Comes from a family of competition and athleticism, and it's seemingly working out up there in New England. Congrats. You guys haven't won enough. No, we haven't. Celtics up 2-0 in the NBA Finals. Now maybe you find the guy for the next 15 years. He's already taken photos with Tom Brady.

People are saying, wow, he looks like Tom Brady's kid. And now Drakeke may's dad good man uncle piece of trash but i do sure i do like everything that drake may's doing and i assume you can't wait to be loud and obnoxious about this north carolina tar heel through and through being the next one in the nfl yeah it is a uh prospect that i didn't really have going into this offseason that he would be possibly the starter day one, but everything you're hearing is just up until the end. No, no, no. He needs a year or two. Exactly. He's got a lot to work on.

He's got too much to work on, they were saying. But, hey, every day is getting better. Allegedly yesterday was like the staple, okay, this guy might have figured it out. Let's see if he can continue to roll. And we were talking about it. The clips out of camp when they do go full pads against

11-on-11 against that first team defense, it's not going to be good. The Patriots defense is still a very, very good defense. We were chit-chatting yesterday on the affair that the first couple weeks of training camp, we need not judge Drake Mayoff before it takes place because that defense is a pummeling defense.

That can show up early in training camp and everybody loses hope in the offense oh this quarterback's crap these wide receivers can't get open what about the running back is the offensive line worth a single damn those are the conversations the first couple weeks training camp and it's like well wait a second maybe on the other side of the ball yeah see ball get ball they are a little bit more advanced than the offense is so it's going to be hard to reserve judgment but when everything coming out of these now they're in shorts they don't really have anything. Not a lot of pressure. No one's covering

anybody. And that's why OTAs and mandatory minicamp judgment is awesome, but it's like all signs are that Drake May is the perfect candidate for the New England Patriots under a new owner, or not new ownership, new general manager, new head coach, kind of Jonathan Craft. It's kind of a new guy.

Good for you. I'm happy that things are working out up there. One half of the hammer. Cowboys, Tony Diggs is here. Obviously, massive Pittsburgh Steelers fan. Mike Tomlin signs a three-year extension through 2027. Now there's reports coming out that he was thinking about maybe getting in a TV, maybe going elsewhere, which is why this deal probably had to

get done. Congrats to you guys getting a little more consistency. 55 years, three coaches. Absurd. Pittsburgh Steelers. Chuck Knoll, he had 12 playoff appearances during his era. Four Super Bowl titles, four AFC championships. Bill Carr, he had 10 playoff appearances, a Super Bowl title, and six AFC championships. Mike Tomlin, 11 playoff appearances, one Super Bowl, three AFC championship appearances with 17 consecutive non-losing seasons, which we all know is a very difficult thing to do in the NFL.

Now, is he going to win a playoff game? Is he going to win a Super Bowl? That is what the question is over the next three years through 2027. What are your expectations? And how does Mike Tomlin get through this with everybody saying, yeah, that was a good move to extend them another three years yeah they're uh the the locals um it was split yesterday on um whether they were happy or not uh with the with the extension because of you know no playoff win since 2017 um which is which is alarming and got really really loud for Mike uh last year coach

Tomlin last year during you during the whole Mack Canada stuff. Are we even trying? Is the Steelers way done? Is it dead? There has been a bit of a rejuvenation, I would say, this offseason with the signing of the quarterbacks, with the changing of the offensive coordinator and all that, everything that they've added, that there is a bit of a – just like every offseason, there's a – and the draft.

There's a lot of positivity going into this season but if this the results are the same it's going to get loud again and i don't know if it getting loud last year uh contributed to the uh speculation on whether he was going to walk away or go to a different team or go to tv or what it was um i love coach t he's been my coach him him and Bill, obviously. Mr. Carr. But I like the extension. How do you feel about these photos right here? It's wild. Isn't it crazy?

You know, they say some things about how people age. I'm not going to say it. Nope. Nope. But cameras? We're talking cameras age? Yep. Wonderful.

Look at the technology. A guy on the left aged more? That guy on the left looks like he may be aged somehow 40 years. Tomlin somehow got younger there after shaving the head and does the entire... I liked it at the beginning. Wear shirt, tie. Hey, we're going to lock this thing up. We're a young head coach.

Nobody really knew how the hell he got the gig in Pittsburgh whenever he was signed for the Minnesota Vikings defensive secondary, I think, whenever he got the head coaching job. And in Pittsburgh, obviously, that's a massive chair. There had only been two coaches in the last, whatever, 40 years before that. So who's the next head coach? Who's it going to be?

And then Mike Tomlin gets hired, and a lot of people in Pittsburgh go, who? We signed someone. Pittsburgh Steelers used to be a real organization. Pittsburgh Steelers used to want to actually win. Now we're signing guys to be our head coach. Ain't nobody ever heard of. He's in their shirt and tie, and all he's done is take Pittsburgh by storm.

Obviously, he and Ben Roethlisberger had an incredible run. The post-Roethlisberger era has certainly been a questionable one. But will Mike Tomlin be able to lead this squad with two quarterbacks, brand new to the city, back into the playoffs, back into a title cont title contendership we shall see that's what he'll be judged on steven a smith who is a pittsburgh steelers fan said that he thinks it's the right move but he doesn't think they win a super bowl so in pittsburgh they say then that's not the right move because that's literally all people in pittsburgh think about is winning super bowls not easy right now in the afc no so what are realistic expectations you think for tomlin over the next few years

with two quarterbacks that just got brought into the building who both kind of have their own shit to them? What are your thoughts on that, Tom? I kind of agree that it is the right move, and doing an extension with Coach Tomlin because I love Coach Tomlin. I think he is the right coach. Super Bowl is always the want, always the expectation, but when you just brought in Russell Wilson and Justin Fields,

who I don't know if they're Super Bowl winning quarterbacks. Whoa! He's already won one. What are you talking about? Is Mike Tomlin a Super Bowl winning coach? Yes. Does he have Super Bowl winning quarterbacks? I don't know.

Yet Russ won those Super Bowls a long time ago. When Mike won his Super Bowl. Long time ago as well. Okay. Long. Okay, so we got more belief in. Yeah, but coaches age like a fine wine, okay?

You see Russell Wilson? He's burying threes. You see him in a uniform? Oh, yeah. New haircut. He looks so good. He looks so good. You're right. With team three, he may be aging just like a quarterback. Who? Russ? Yeah. Dude. He looks younger than ever. Yeah. That was the most Pittsburgh-looking... He shaved his head, too.

That was the most Pittsburgh-looking Steeler quarterback I have ever seen in my entire life. I believe we're trying to find the photo right now. Russell Wilson is cheesing ear to ear. You're talking about a guy that's getting paid a king's ransom from another team, coming into Pittsburgh, getting paid absolutely nothing, and being a hero around town. This is Russell Wilson revenge season.

This is Russell Wilson's time to go. And if he sucks, he's – look out. Boom. I mean, look at that guy. That's Pittsburgh. I see that. That's Pittsburgh. You can hear the song, here we go.

Steelers, here we go. Russell's going to the Super Bowl. Here we go. He's smiling big in time. Here we go. He's smiling big in the town. Here we go. He's Russell Wilson. He's throwing it around.

Here we go. A little corny, but who cares? Because if he wins, Pittsburgh's everywhere. Here we go. And then if he sucks, he's going to get cooked, ruined by Pittsburgh shit talkers,

which are a bit savage bunch. And then Justin Fields comes in. And wait a minute. There was high hopes for Justin Fields, too. Is he going to be the one who's going to take the Pittsburgh Steelers and Mike Tomlin to the next level over the next three years? We shall see. It's a beautiful time.

I actually hope Russ succeeds because if he doesn't, Justin Fields comes in and say he plays moderately well. Okay? You're going to have to pay Justin Fields off of one. Oh, let's not worry about success. One season. And I don't want to pay a quarterback like, I don't know, Daniel Jones off of one season.

And then you are screwed for the next four. Justin Fields asked the Bears to go to Pittsburgh. He did. He wants to take care of it. That's obviously big news. We'll talk to Kaboli in a second. I can't wait to hear that. Nine-year NFL vet.

Darius J. Butler is here. Yes, sir. Whenever you think about the Pittsburgh Steelers, obviously you think like hard-nosed football, good football, sound football. And when the Steelers played us, they've beaten the shit out of the Indianapolis Colts, obviously, and done that whole thing. Have they lost their luster though? Have the Pittsburgh Steelers become a team that nobody really

expects to be a Super Bowl winner? Is that problematic and how do you get back to that? To answer that question honestly I would say yes. Currently when you think Steelers you don't think Super Bowl. You think like 8-9 wins. Exactly. You think average. No losing season. You think average. Shut up. Play You think average. You think average.

Shut up. Playoff berth, maybe. And something you didn't say when you think, when I always thought of Steelers, it's defense. That's the first thing. Physical defense. You know it's going to be a tough out when you go there or they come to your house.

So, obviously got to get some things going. But you got two opposite quarterbacks. Some people always say you got two quarterbacks. You got none. And Fields, if he does have a good year, he has shown some promise early on. And if I was a Steelers fan, that would be the guy I would want to get in there and just go full steam ahead and see his prime in a Steelers uniform. But hey, you do have a Super Bowl winning quarterback in Russ.

He is in pole position right now. So we'll see if that defense can carry him, obviously, until they figure it out in a quarterback position. Here's Russell Wilson for the Denver Broncos last year, down 23-7 in the fourth. He probably has maybe 14 yards complete. He can still do that. He can still do that. Now, Sean Payton

allegedly, potentially, wanted him out of the building, so it didn't give him maybe the best foot forward whenever they were putting together game plans or play calling and things of that nature. But there were some times where Russ was cooking. If you listen to Dan Rolofsky last year, he said, Russ is still a top five quarterback.

Everybody's talking about how bad the Denver Broncos are, and obviously they give up 70 to the Miami Dolphins and everything like that, and they're not winning a lot of games. Is Sean Payton out? Are they going to bring Rex Ryan in? Has Russell Wilson still got it? I think you see highlights like that throughout the entire season. Russ still got it. Is Artie Smith going to be able to bring Rex Ryan in? Is Russell Wilson still got it? And then you see highlights like that throughout the entire season. You're like, Russ still got it.

Is Artie Smith going to be able to bring out the best in Russell Wilson and let him cook over there on a contract here for Nosh? Maybe for Nosh. George Pickens, is he going to keep Steeler stuff in his Instagram the entire year? That's a whole other question. Let's pivot away from the NFL. Let's chit-chat about the NBA. Obviously, they're in the middle of their finals,

but also a lot of drama and controversy around who's going to coach LeBron James in the Los Angeles Lakers. Well, there was one man that had all the information until he didn't. There was one man who had one particular person in the favorite position to become the new head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, and then all of a sudden we woke up one morning and there was a bomb.

That ain't right. It's this other guy from Connecticut. Well, that doesn't work out, so where do we sit now? Ladies and gentlemen, senior NBA insider for the Athletic Stadium Network and FanDuel TV, Shams Rania. Yes, Shams! Shams? Pat, how's your hip? How's your hip?

I saw the news that you broke. Those were good sources right there. I really appreciate your sourcing on that. I was kind of peeved you didn't call me to break that news, but I did see you broke it on your own. I should have. That is – next time I'll do that. Next time I will certainly hit up Sean and say,

hey, I got some info if you need it. He needs to break this. Just completely tore my hip flexor. So I was on tour. Shout out to the iCryo team down there in Raleigh, North Carolina. They were giving our team IVs, and I was getting Tordall shots. I was FaceTiming with a doctor on the beach to okay me to get Tordall. It was a wonderful setup.

Shout out to the entire crew down there at iCryo. So I was getting Tordall shots, and the Tordall is completely worn off now. Boy, this thing sucks. It really is in a bad spot, Sean, so let's not talk about that. Let's talk about you being in a bad spot. You were getting dunked on all over the internet, all over the internet. Even on this particular program, we said Sean just told us yesterday that J.J. Redick is potentially the favorite to become the Lakers,

just like he told us on May 24th. It's been the same song and dance. And then Dan Hurley's name came out of nowhere. How did we get to that position, and where do you think we sit right now, Shams, in it all? Yeah, the Lakers have been going through, like, let's look at the entire process. They've met formally with two Koji candidates. Before this whole situation, we'll get to that.

J.J. Redick met with the Lakers in person, face-to-face, with Rob Palenka, to be specific, in Chicago at the Draft Combine in mid-May. And then after that, James Borrego met with Rob Palenka in L specific in Chicago at the Draft Combine in mid-May. And then after that, James Borrego met with Rob Palenka in L.A. a week later. And then about a week and a half, two weeks after that, James Borrego comes into the Lakers facility, meets one-on-one with Rob Palenka again, meets with GD Buss, meets with other members of ownership. And so he has a more formal in-person uh meeting with everyone and uh really around the league around different stakeholders with the lakers it had been apparent that jj

reddick was separating himself as as one of the the front runners but obviously he is part of the nba finals coverage right now and and the feeling was that at some point after the finals these sides would reconvene and actually do something to bring him out to la and do a more formal meeting um and so last week on really around wednesday of last week the lakers turned their attention to dan hurley and um he has he was not mentioned from the start of this search as far as going after someone that's coming off two national championships, back-to-back championships, trying to go for the John Wooden three-peat. Obviously, John Wooden did more than just three-peat. Dan Hurley is building something special at UConn, and he was in the midst of contract extension negotiations after Memorial Day. They've been going back and forth. And the Lakers, for some reason, somehow felt like there was an opening with Dan Hurley. And around the league,

what is now being turned to me is really a Hail Mary offer to Dan Hurley. They come in six years, $70 million. So he was around five, six million at UConn. They're bumping that up two times, around $12 million per year. But Dan Hurley clearly, clearly did not want to really leave UConn. And he chose to stay at the end of the day. And he's taking $20 million less to stay at UConn, continue to build what he's building. And he's already going to go down as one of the best college coaches of all time. Obviously, what he's doing there right now, he can continue on as UConn's coach for the next decade or so. He's that good. There's going to be NBA opportunities in the future for him as well. And when you think about it, what better way to tell recruits than to say, I turned down the

Lakers job for $70 million. So Dan Hurley,ley obviously a major major winner through all this and deservingly so this is someone that should i think you guys had me on around the final four around the tournament and we talked about dan hurley and and how special he is as a coach so um and i think listen at the end there's questions around the league as to whether that was a genuine interest for dan hurley was this a genuine part of the process, or was this simply a leverage move for Dan Hurley? But clearly, he gets his money, he gets his bag. Okay, so he's turning down about $20 million over the next six years with his deal with UConn. We all assume UConn's going to give him more money, and they're going to figure that whole thing out.

I think I heard this morning that the governor of Connecticut came out and said that they're going to pay him as much as they can possibly pay him to keep him there. And to the recruits, you're 100% right. There's nothing in this world of people being noncommittal to everything. Players, coaches, we can do this. Being able to say, you saw what happened with L.A. I think it's special here. We can stick here.

And then the machine just keeps going. Congrats to you, UConn, folks. You guys are seemingly going to be able to talk shit Or whatever okay go ahead Here's the deal Pat it's going to be Six years over 50 million Dollars for Dan Hurley to go back To UConn that is what they're discussing

That's what they've been working Really two offers on the table For him it was that six years 70 with the Lakers or six years Over 50 million dollars to go back and he is taking less annually per year he's taking less obviously in the entire grand scheme of the deal but listen it's it's lifestyle it's he's always been an east coast guy he's someone that really believes deeply in what they've built at uconn what they're continuing

to build at uconn this is a team that, will have a chance to win a championship this season. So for Dan Hurley, it was a win to be involved. He spent one day with the Lakers. This is someone who really emerged last week as part of the process, and they finally met with him, made him this Hail Mary offer, and he ends up staying at UConn. Where do the Lakers go from here? They are going right back to their targets that they've always had from

the beginning. Hold on one second. Everybody's saying that Dan Hurley's going to wait for the Knicks job to open up. That was the immediate conversation. You're saying you don't think that's the case right there with your facial expression? Well, Tom Thibodeau. I don't know about the immediate future.

Five, ten years or whatever. They're saying he will wait on that while building up UConn. Who knows what happens next year? Very possible. I mean, very possible over the next ten years does Dan Hurley make a move to the NBA for sure. Okay, so we'll keep that. Put it on the ticker.

Very possible over the next decade that Dan Hurley potentially makes the move. So you said it was a Hail Mary offer, but then I'm hearing a lot of people on the internet saying this is like egg on the face for the Lakers because they make a cheap offer to Dan Hurley. I know in comparison to what he's getting from UConn, but they could have made an offer that was like too good to ever turn down and got him as their head coach. And then this entire song and dance doesn't continue to go. Now you got a team, a guy turning down LeBron James, the Los Angeles Lakers and the NBA very publicly.

And people are wondering how and why. Was it because of the money? Do you think if they offer something bigger, Dan Hurley says yes. And now I'm hearing J.J. Redick is like, wait a second. So now am I, how's this? Is that real? Do you think there's a chance J.J. Redick is feeling a certain type of way? Now he is clearly at least the second option for the Los angeles lakers even though they've had to wait it out

because he's calling games and you just said they're going back to the main targets that is jj reddick is it not jj reddick for sure has been among them james brago also i heard he's going to the calves i heard he's going to the calves he's interviewing for the. He's going to be one of the finalists for the Cavs. I think their process is playing out this week with in-person interviews. I think next week there should be more clarity on where their search goes. So, listen, if the Lakers want to go hire James Borrego, they've had a month to hire James Borrego. They've had this week after losing out on Dan Hurley, I guess,

they've had this time to go get james i think when you look at everything pat you look at the offer that the lakers made it would have made him the sixth highest paid coach in the league when you think about the highest paid coaches steve kirk greg popovich eric spolster ty lue monty williams he's right there in that class he hasn't coached an nba game and he hasn't won a championship like and he's already thrust in that in that spotlight of being one of the top eight coaches so the one thing i heard consistently around dan hurley around the situation over the weekend and really over the last few weeks as i thought about him is it's never been about the money. He's wired differently.

Someone told me yesterday, he beats differently. He beats his own drum. He's just different. And you see him as a coach, how passionate he is. And there were for sure questions on how he would translate at the next level. We saw there have been coaches. Brad Stevens, I think, came in smoothly. Billy Donovan figured it out.

coaches brad stevens i think came in smoothly billy donovan figured it out but there have been other coaches making that jump that it just did not uh you know the leap wasn't made as cleanly and john beeline a few years ago with the cavaliers that didn't go well so i think there definitely were questions but listen it's a risk i guess you're willing to take but for dan hurley it was never about the money if the lakersakers offered $10 million more, $15 million more, $70 million for six years for Dan Hurley would have made him the sixth highest paid coach. That is a significant offer to me, to a lot of people around the league. Got it. We just see NBA contracts, and we see some dude we've never heard of

who's fourth guy off the bench getting $200 million. So whenever we hear this conversation, we get a little bit confused let's get back to jj reddick now so now jj knows six years 70 million dollars is what they were willing to pay for a head coach at the lakers organization does this change negotiation is jj pissed that he's now second fiddle to dan hurley and everybody on earth knows that he wasn't their first option how do you think this all works out with jj and the lakers if it is still jj and the lakers yeah that's the thing i don't think anyone really knows where the lakers go from here in totality because you see how this process this process has not been a straight line but i would say only he can answer that question though how like how do you feel about really any coach that's going to get this job now it's this cloud that that even though it

was an attempt at the last second it was a really a hair a Hail Mary throw it really to me only the candidates themselves can ask that but listen this is the Lakers job this is still a big-time job clearly with LeBron James with Anthony Davis any coach would would walk to this situation if they offer the job to either of those two targets jj reddick james brago uh i i don't think there would be a lack of interest um but really how peed how upset only they can answer that yeah and it's a head coaching job man the back-to-back national championship in the nba yeah the back-to-back national championship head coach is going to get NBA. The back-to-back national championship head coach is going to get an opportunity if he wants it.

That is how it works. JJ knows the game. How many head coaches are the Lakers paying right now? Two? Vogel? For sure. Darvin Ham. They're paying. They just try to pay Dan. I assume they'll pay for something. His travel. They put him up

in a hotel. Are they going to have a coach? Pat, you've got to put your name in. You might have to put your name in. If me and Tony Miole are coaching together, I mean, I will certainly sign up for it. But unless Tony's in, I'm on it. That's kind of how it all goes. Let's pivot away from the Lakers because, obviously, that's a massive conversation. We can't wait to see who wants to coach LeBron James and the Lakers.

Hell, yeah. How about people just be like, nah, don't want to do that. It's the Lakers. It obviously that's a massive conversation. We can't wait to see who wants to coach LeBron James in the Lakers. Hell yeah. How about people just be like, nah, don't want to do that. It's the Lakers. It's the Lake Show. Still wants to win, too. I saw him tweet that. He said, shrug, shrug. This guy don't know me. He wants to do his thing. Is he going to opt out here coming up in June? Anyway, what do the Lakers look like?

It is a shit show for the Lake Show, currently seemingly optically from the outside in, but you hire your coach that you've wanted maybe all along. In JJ, you get LeBron back. You start making some pieces. All of a sudden, we're hunk of dory going in to another year with a loaded West. Speaking of the West, they're currently entrenched

in a down-two series against the Boston Celtics. Conman's got a question for you, Sean. Yeah, Sean, obviously the Celtics right now are rolling, but with Porzingis kind of being questionable in his status up in the air, that could change pretty quickly. Saw photos of him traveling, no brace, no sleeve on his calf. What's the status with his injuries? And then also Luka.

Luka basically looks like 18-year Big Ben before every single basketball game with all the tape and ice he has on. What's his status? Is that just kind of standard Luka Doncic football, or what's going on there? Yeah, Luka's going to play through everything. I don't see any scenario where Luka Doncic is sitting games. He's dealing with a knee sprain. He's dealing with an ankle soreness, ankle sprain injury that he had early in the year.

And now he's dealing with this chest sternum issue. I don't think he's going to be missing time, but clearly he's playing through a bunch of stuff. But a lot of guys are, right? You see Chris Asporzingas, he came back from a calf strain, a non-contact calf strain. He comes back after five and a half weeks, really, really high-level play in game one,

and then he looked like he re-aggravated it, but then he wasn't that concerned after the game joe mazzola wasn't that concerned um he said i'm gonna you know kind of like pat maybe should have done he said i'll die out there on the court i'll die out on the floor i mean so kp said he'll go out there in game three in dallas he'll die on the floor so i i'm very confident in in Porzingis' ability. This is something that hasn't been spoken about greatly, but he had to go through multiple scrimmages to be cleared to go play

in game one of the finals. And one of the scrimmages, he actually stepped on someone's foot the wrong way, kind of turned his ankle. He had two scrimmages, one on Saturday, one on Monday a week ago, and he actually turned his ankle on one of them, but clearly, it wasn't something that impacted his status. He played through it. He clearly gutted it out. This is someone that

badly, badly wants to play. He's been itching to get back on the court while he was out, and I think he really wants to win a chip, definitely wants to beat his former team. I would have won out there TSD finals. I would have been out there TSD finals. I would have been out there

for sure. I believe that. I would have died out there, and I almost did, to be honest. It was really hot. Gary North Carolina was phenomenally hot. What's the talk around the NBA circles? They're saying if the Boston Celtics don't sweep the Mavs, you can kind of call this a down year for the Celtics.

Kind of bombs, kind of crop, a tainted title. Is that what they're saying about the Celtics around NBA circles? An NBA championship win is an NBA championship win, whether it's in four games, five games, or six games. Going into the series, you would think this goes somewhere in the six-game range because of how well Dallas played. Dallas had to get through so many high-level teams in the Western Conference. You think that they're primed and battle-tested.

But Boston, I mean, it really does feel like their year a lot of the time. Maybe Boston had to go through a lot of really good teams too. No, no, no. But it just didn't look like that. They actually didn't have to play any rounds except for the finals. This is the first round for them. Yeah, so maybe the reason why the teams didn't look good is because the

boston celtics are so are that's good i agree i agree well that doesn't sound like it's great i look at jaylen brown and i look at jason tatum and the success that they've had throughout their tenure together jaylen brown four conference finals two nba finals jason tatum three conference finals two nba these, all they do is win. They just haven't won the championship. Everyone's known it around this team. This year's championship or bust, there's nothing they can do. If they lose in seven, that's a bust of the season.

That is not a successful year. I think they're ready. They're ballot tested. They're unselfish. This starting five is the best starting five in the NBA to me. John Mazzola said to the boys, the closer you get to the goal, the more comfortable you can get. He said, we can't do that.

We got to keep going. Joe Mazzola's really calling all the right shots here. It's kind of like what Spolstra was like whenever he was with that Miami Heat team back in the day. You know, kind of underrated, not really talked about as much. Now he's one of the top coaches in the NBA with five, six different teams, changes since the Heatles were down there in Miami.

Feels like Joe Mazzola is setting up for another 20 years of being an NBA coach. Will this be his first title? We shall see. Let's talk about Spoon and Miami Heat right here. Last question coming to you from D. Butch. Standing there in Miami. Obviously, big Heat fan here. Interesting to know, have you heard anything about Jimmy Butler's next move?

New haircut. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Not a huge fan of the new move. What? We'll say that. So cool. Also saw him in some purple and gold out there in L.A.

at his favorite player's game. But just interested. Who? Nah, that wasn't a Laker game. That was Brick. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Brick. Sure.

But any news on Jimmy Butler's next move? Well, Jimmy Butler spends a lot of his downtime in the offseason in San Diego. So that's a quick flight to L.A., make it to that game. And Cameron Brink, star for the Los Angeles Sparks. I have to give her a lot of credit. She's done great for herself as well. She's one of the best young players in the WNBA. I think he really wanted to go and support her. She supported him.

I think there's a video out there. I think she is not in good, Shams. I just want to say I don't talk WNBA anymore just strictly because the universe told me not to do it. I'm high on her upside. High on the upside, for sure.

We're not talking WNBA, but if you say something like that, we got to make sure. There's a video. If you go and watch it, they literally ask her to pick Jimmy Butler against every NBA player, and she literally picks Jimmy over any NBA player. That's because of his new haircut. It might be.

And so he pulled up, and he supported her. My sense is Jimmy Butler does not want to be anywhere but miami um okay hell yeah since he loves it in miami but again he is extension eligible this year there are multiple teams out there that would give him an extension and i think this is something that we'll see play out over the next month or so that he don't want to trade him he wants an extension will they give him an extension that's the question all right choms we appreciate the hell out of you brother brother. We can't wait to keep up with the Lakers coaching search

and everything else happening around the Shams Sharani Award. Keep going in there. I know you woke up and were sick though, whenever that man early thing dropped. Were you? Were you sick? I mean, today was a good day. Today, you look outside.

You look outside. It's not sunny, but it's mild. We're talking about the weather you know? Today, you look outside. You look outside. It's not sunny, but it's mild. We're talking about the weather, right? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, it's gray and blue. Yeah, absolutely. Sometimes when it's rainy, you know, you've got a down move when it's rainy, right? It rains outside.

That's right. And then the rainbow comes on the other side. You know, no rain, no rainbows, no sunshine. And the brightest days come after the darkest dawn. And when you get dunked on in the morning from Woj and then it ends up not working out, boy, that sun is brighter than it's ever been. We appreciate the hell out of you.

Tell Adam Silver I said thank you for what he said about us. He went to bat for me a little bit, which is very kind of him. You're the man. Ladies and gentlemen, Sham Sharanya. Yeah, Shammy! I used to ask about Jimmy Butler down there in South Beach. It seems like you all are pumped to keep him on the heat and in Miami.

I mean, he's a dog. He's a dog. He's a butler. So obviously I'm going to support him. He's great in the playoffs. He's carried us to a couple championships. He's still Michael Jordan. Wow.

It sounds like he, but. He's kind of moved to Anthony Edwards now. That's Michael Jordan. That seemingly happens a lot. It does. How are journalists getting away with that? That's a good question. Could you imagine if our show was just like...

Well, the best part is they never circle back either. Donnie kind of... Donnie... He's defense-like. Could you imagine if that was us? We can do it because next year, when they flame out of the playoffs, everyone just basically says, I never said that. I mean, we were talking about it, but I never said that.

And then next year, whoever's playing well, we can say it again. If they don't win, we kind of just rinse and repeat. Do it every year. It's kind of great. Yeah, it's amazing. Journalism's the best. Speaking of journalism, let's go right to the source. Ladies and gentlemen, a man who's been punched in the face in the first two games

of the Stanley Cup Finals by the Edmonton Oilers, but they're currently up to zip. Representing the Florida Panthers. A team that is just two wins away from Lord Stanley Cup. Making its way down to Sunrise in South Florida. Which should be a fantastic celebration if they can pull it off. Friend of the program, ladies and gentlemen, Matthew Kachar. Oh, fresh out of the gym.

I like it. What do we do? Are we cycling? Were we cycling, skating? What do we have going on this morning to get the lactic acids out from last night, Kachuk? Thanks for having me on again, guys. But, yeah, today it's nice having kind of like that little extra day. So today we come into the rink, had a little bit of a meeting, more of like hit the lower body a little bit, go on the bike,

try to feel good, and then tomorrow practice, get moving again, and then the game the next day. So it's good to just come to the rink every day, whether it's two days before or a day before game day. So it's good to see the guys were in a good mood today, which is always nice, and get some work in, and then get on with the rest of our day. Long season, obviously, when you get to this point, you two, you and the Edmonton Oilers

have played more than anybody. That's just natural. But you're around each other more than anybody, too. The fact that the vibes are high, I think, is a massive reason on why you guys are still in it. Have you taken anything or had any conversations about what happened last year versus what's happening this year? How much are you referencing last year's Stanley Cup final versus how you guys can handle it this year? Yeah, our coach said it best. We deserve to talk about last year with the success that we had. But then there's stuff that you've got to learn from. So we definitely referenced last year.

I wouldn't say a lot but enough um but this year it's a full uh you know it seems like a fully different season fully different group of guys um and we got one goal in mind and i think our our laser focus has been really good this year like when i say that it's like the one game approach and you know even though we are where we are right now in the series like we're going up to edmonton um we're going up there with you know win one game win that game three you know, even though we are where we are right now in the series, like we're going up to Edmonton, we're going up there with, you know, win one game, win that game three, you know, focus on that. And, you know, whatever happens, happens. The boys will have some questions about getting to Edmonton

and Edmonton's barn as a whole, because we know it is lethal and loud up there. But you said everybody has one goal in mind. Bob's only given up one goal in this series. He has been phenomenal. Obviously, 32 saves in the first one and then only given up one goal in this series. He has been phenomenal. Obviously, 32 saves in the first one and then only given up one last night, which was maybe his first shot that he faced somehow. It went through him. Whenever you guys have Bob doing what he's doing in that throughout

this entire playoff run, is there a thought after game one? It's like, hey, we got to tighten up and play a little bit better. We can't just have Bob saving our asses all game long. Or what is the expectation of Bob throughout the rest of this? And how do you guys talk to him? Do you just stay away from him? No, no, we talk to Bob. He's been amazing. He's a great, just a great human being and so fun to be around the rink.

His work ethic is off the charts. Unbelievable. And, you know, he's our backbone. He was so good for us in game one, and we didn't like our game too much in front of him um we picked it up in the third period and i really felt that that third period kind of bled into game two for us and um last night i thought we were we were you know strong um from start to finish including bob um you know the the one goal that bob let up was

his first shot and it was a two-on-one like Like, that's not how you draw it up for us. I'm sure he wasn't too happy about that. But, you know, we just really tightened it up in game two compared to game one, and we really liked our game. But that's in the past now. You move on. You try to win your day. That's been the message all playoffs long is win your day, whether it's a recovery day, practice day, or game day.

So today's a recovery day for us. Go win it and come back tomorrow better. Hey, you're winning this appearance right now, isn't he? Oh, yeah. Let's finish this off. Let's have a good appearance on the program here. Let's win this thing. Last night in the first game as well,

saw you get punched in the face by Evander Kane. McDavid got you last night in the first game as well, saw you get punched in the face by Evander Kane. McDavid got you last night. There was a couple hits, you know, that the Edmonton Oilers had on your Florida Panthers team. And I think we all kind of have a conversation right there, boom, right there, right in the mouth from Connor McDavid, which I know you love. That is something that you enjoy and hockey fans absolutely love.

But you guys are known as like a physical team, fast team, obviously not scared to mix it up. There was a little bit of a run last night too. Somebody kicked a boot. Right here short left sides. Boom! Fogle with a leg kick to the leg. There was a five minute penalty enforced on that particular one. Then later

there's a potential right with a stick to the mouth here in the lower right corner. Dirtbags. Boom, he's down. Hold on, they'll show a replay here in a matter of like 15 seconds after a scrum takes place where there's another shot. You know, that's Barkov down, who's obviously the leader of the squad. Whenever a team is doing something like this, how do you guys address it?

How do you talk about it? And do you expect it because of the style in which you guys play? Other teams know that they have to show up and kind of match the physicality well i think you know i think we're you know for us we are a fast team we're a physical team we protect each other but it's all whistle the whistle you know we really don't want to get involved in anything after the whistle with these guys or really with anybody like we're we're a strong team and we're a very close team so um but we just want to play whistle the whistle as hard as you can and sometimes you're gonna have to take a punch to the face after the whistle and just turn away and i don't know sometimes you just got to eat it like it's

playoff hockey it's just like i don't Like we're not worried about anything after the whistle. Like just go out there and play as hard as you can for 30, 45 seconds and try to win your shift. But yeah, we're, we're not worried about too much stuff other than that right now. And you know, the rest of the stuff, obviously some of the plays,

you know, we're not going to comment on it. That's in the past and move on and just, just worry about, you know, coming up for a good start in game three. So that's it. Just let me know, though, for those of us that have never been

in a hockey dressing room, change room, whatever European term you guys call it, when that guy kicks your guy, that was blatant that he was trying to... And we know, what's it called? Slewfoot. Slewfoot is mixing up.

There's a chatter about being pissed off about this happening to one of our guys. It's at least mentioned at some point. Or do you guys literally have to just act like it didn't take place and move forward? Because hockey, you got to get punched in the mouth sometimes and just move on. Yeah, sometimes you just got to move on. I think we were more just, you know, hoping he was okay and just checking in on him. So, we weren't talking too much about, you know, he was okay and just checking in on him so we weren't uh talking too much about um you know anybody on the other team and what they did or um anything like that we were just more and he was okay um yeah he was okay all right sweet so uh i like to

hear that you guys are so professional and uh just sometimes you got to get punched in the face and just kind of walk away that's why hockey is is awesome. Big Florida Panthers fan, Darius J. Butler, has a question for you. Yeah, Chuckie, home ice, man. We talk about it, you know, how much does it matter? And obviously you guys took care of home ice 2-0 at home. What was the environment like for these first two games? I know we had Mike McDaniel on the drum game one and then Big Zo game two on the drum.

What was the crowd like? What was the environment like down there at Sunrise? It was amazing from start to finish every game i mean we had um some uh you know i think dj callad was performing before yesterday's game out in the out in the park and um got the fans going before the uh before the game even started but like seriously like when i'm when i'm showing up to the rink like three three and a half hours before the game like there's people out there tailgating getting ready to go like cheering you on as you're just driving into the parking lot like the support is so good right now and it has been since i've been here and um you know obviously i think with the stanley cup final it

just uh it ramps up a bit they've been incredible that's all i can really say it's been incredible. That's all I can really say. It's been incredible. Did you meet DJ Khaled? No, I didn't. I was preparing for the game. I guess you got to do it. Gary Bettman, he had a nice conversation up there. You know, he's into the golf, Chucky. He's into the golf, big into the golf. Maybe in the offseason, you and DJ Khaled hit the links. Would love to hear how DJ Khaled is just as a human.

Oh, yeah. You know, like when he's not on camera. Because the juice that this guy brings can't be sustainable. But if it is... That's what DJ Khaled's doing. It's DJ Khaled football. Yeah, you're right. That is DJ Khaled football.

Connor's got a question for you, Chucky. Yeah, Matty. I'm not really sure how it works, but after you guys take a two-game lead in the Stanley Cup Finals, is there any expectation that going into game three the oilers might you know mix it up like do you will you guys go back and maybe watch film of when they do play a different style of hockey or is this one of those things where they trust what they do you guys trust what you do and then it's just hey let's drop the puck and see what happens again? I know this just might sound like a really simple take, but we're going in there to win that game.

Just go and win the one-game mindset. I'm sure they're thinking the same thing, but we're really not overthinking or thinking they're going to do something different. They're there for a reason. We're here for a reason and um you know we really just have to it's it's such a cliche we have to play our game and we have to play it from the start and we've been uh a good team as as games go um games go on and i felt in the third period it really showed last game and in game one so i'm hoping we can come out to just a good start and just keep that rolling for the

whole game but you know we're going up to edmonton can come out to just a good start and just keep that rolling for the whole game. But, you know, we're going up to Edmonton. It's going to be a great environment to play in. On the road, it's fun playing on the road because it just feels like it's you 20 guys versus everybody, you know? So that's a really cool way to approach the game. And we're a very close team, and we're going to take that challenge head on. So we're excited for it and just going up to Edmonton

to win that game three. Bunker mentality. It's us 20 versus the entire city of Edmonton, which I've seen that barn now a few times. It is awesome. It's going. Hey, the way they celebrate and the way they get going is fantastic. You got people taking clothes off.

Keep your eye on the puck. Don't be losing. Eyes down. Eyes on the ice and on the puck up there in Edmonton. They got distractors all the way up in the top level. You need to know that. Speaking of Edmonton, they do got a lot of oil cans up there. True. They are the oilers up there.

Not all real. Keep your eyes on the puck, Chuck. Last question here about Edmonton. Tone has a question for you. Yeah, Matthew, I think the flight time to Edmonton is basically like if you were flying to Spain from Florida too. So I don't know if you – have you done that flight yet this year? And what's the agenda?

Do you have movies? Are you going to try to sleep the whole time? What do you do on a flight that long with the boys? Oh, Russell Wilson. Maybe do high knees on the plane. Like Russ did whenever they went over to London. Maybe that type of stuff. Yeah, I won't be doing high knees on the plane.

I'll be playing some poker. Our team loves playing cards. I know exactly what's going to happen. We've been saying how we're going to take a break halfway through the plane because nobody can play poker for like five and a half, six hours. But I don't know.

We're going to be playing the whole time, I'm sure. What game? What do we play? Just Texas Hold'em. Oh, nice. I don't want to dive into too much of it to get you guys into any shit or whatever because you're playing for M&Ms, obviously, peanut M&Ms and stuff. How many people are in the game?

whatever, because you're playing for M&Ms, obviously, peanut M&Ms and stuff. How many people are in the game? It varies, but I think with a long plane ride, maybe like six or seven. I don't know. It's hard because there's two people that play that aren't at the table, so you're kind of like reaching over. It's, I don't know. It'll be fine.

It'll be fine. It's a good way to, I don't know. It's a good way to have some fun on the plane, make fun of some guys. I don't know. It's fun. How's the hockey card community? Are you an aggressive player? Do you stand back? What is your style?

No, I'm not sitting at the table, so I only play the hands where I've got a good hand. That's smart to say publicly here. I'll be bluffing my first hand now. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Got to make a play. Those playing card games are interesting because, I mean, people's cards are pretty... There's a lot of exposure to potential cards,

especially if you've got two people that aren't at the table in that entire thing. How is the hockey community? For instance, we've got a couple of A.J. Hawks in the football card community. Menace. Absolute menace worst dealing table talking everything you can possibly do that is like you shouldn't do that aj hawk does he's not the only one there's a how is the hockey card community pretty respectful

we're not trying to yeah yeah it's very respectful very respectful. It's a lot of table talk, though, which pisses off a few people. But I don't know. I think it's funny. Yeah, poker's great. Cards are the best. Yes. Cards have been around for so damn long. And you just eat up time.

So you ever play Euchre? You ever play the game Euchre? Yeah. Yep. Spades? Yep. Bure? I have not.

How about Tonk? Let's keep Bure out of the NHL plates. So that salary cap goes up a little. Which it is. Congratulations. Salary cap's going up. Numbers, please. Do you play Tonk?

No, we don't. I think it's fun, though. It's almost like cards on the plane has been i don't know been going on for ever probably since the nhl started so it's like you know you got guys wanting to play at the table but can't quite get in and then like they're like watching the games and i don't know it's like a pecking order for getting in at the table so um it's fun then there's another table um closer to the front of the plane that plays 7 up, 7 down, I think. That's mainly

the Euros. Oh, I don't think I know that name. I don't think I know. That's a good one. 7 cards up, 7 cards down? Yeah. Classic Euros. How many people are playing? How many cards do we got? I think 6 or 7 guys are playing there, right? I think that matters.

We're down to 2 cards at the end of that thing. All right. Well, good luck in the card game for sure. First things first, let's win the card game. We'll win the flight, and then we get into Edmonton, and we try to win Lord Stanley Cup for South Florida. We appreciate your time. Good luck the rest of the way,

and continue to just eat those punches in the face and just walk it off. All right. Sounds good. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it. Hockey's the best. Ladies and gentlemen, Matthew Kachuk. Yay! those punches in the face and just walk it off all right sounds good thanks guys appreciate it hockey's the best ladies and gentlemen matthew kachuk hey sometimes you just gotta get punched in the face and then skate away you like that discipline from the board i love the discipline i know we're physical you talked about a whistle whistle and what i really love about it it's not a bunch of not from the players not from the coaches you hear them talking obviously

good vibes um good continuity in that locker room. So I love it, man. I love everything about this Panther squad. I enjoy watching them play because they're a tough bunch. You think South Florida, and I've said this before, you don't think like, oh, it's a tough team. Just naturally you think South Florida, you think, oh, you got the palm trees, you know, you got

the beach on the off days. Gotta have a lot of speed, a lot of electricity. Miami Dolphins, you think of, hey, we're high flying. Elbow room. It's like, no, exactly. You think of the off days. Gotta have a lot of speed, a lot of electricity. Miami Dolphins, you think of, hey, we're high flying. It's like, no, exactly. Think of the elbow room. It's a physical... They're a bit of a throwback team. They are, like a throwback team.

What a perfect... Exactly. Cowboy, whoever... Dwayne Robertson. That's what McDavid kind of looks like. I was watching the other night, and I'm like, this is the cowboy from Mighty Ducks who's actually good, though. Do you remember that cowboy when he came out on that ice? Best puck handler ever.

I mean, Banks, obviously, good leadership. Sure. Yeah. And if he could just rotate that stick a little bit, it would have been a whole different ballgame. He finally did. But what's happening right now in hockey is beautiful. Ratings up.

This is the greatest ratings they've ever had. Salary cap's about to go up to like 80-some million or whatever. It's the biggest it's ever been. Ratings up. It's the greatest ratings they've ever had. Salary cap's about to go up to like 80-some million or whatever. It's the biggest it's ever been. New team in Utah. There's potential expansion coming now. Gary Bettman talked about it. There's no formal process of expansion. It's kind of play it by ear almost. You know, yada, yada,

yada. It's like the NHL and hockey is thriving, and we can't be thankful enough that it exists. It's a great sport to watch fun sport to watch and it's only going to get better congrats to this man okay they had a uh a lockout yeah how many years ago was the the lockout 2004 2004 is a lockout okay in the middle of that that was whenever we were juniors in high school so we do remember when it took place i was a junior in high school nick was a senior in high school at that time.

But it was like hockey's dead. The NHL is dead. You can't do this. Fans aren't going to come back. This is not the way to treat your players. This is not the way to treat the fans. This is not the way to treat the sport. Gary Bettman was commissioner still at that time. They were calling for his demise and the league's demise.

And then all of a sudden, as soon as the lockout ends, they got new salary cap structures. The teams are playing on an even playing field. The sport had changed a little bit. They changed the rules. So the sport got a little bit more electrifying. The teams got better. The parody got better. And it's like, wait a minute, here we are in 2024 and the NHL is thriving more than it ever has. And if you go 20 years ago, everybody thought it was just going to be completely dead. They have to be taking a victory lap at NHL offices every single morning. But I know they know that work isn't done yet. The NHL upping its salary cap to $88 million,

going to be able to pay more players, going to be able to have higher salaries, going to be able to do all that. But what that is indicative of is the league making more money. So congrats to hockey being in a great place, Nick. That's really what it feels like here in 2024. That was a great trip down memory lane there. And one of the big key factors in that

was when the NHL came back from that lockout, they were no longer on ESPN. They were on the Outdoor Life Network, which became the Versus Network. And then they did a deal with NBC. And now they're back on ESPN and they've got a deal with TNT. They're in more homes than ever. All the eyeballs are back on it. It's a great thing. Congratulations to hockey.

Keep going, hockey. And I'm pumped it's on ESPN because we're able to run highlights. Yeah. And that's great because the NHL had been very tight with their highlights in the past. Now they're kind of expanding on all horizons. Good for hockey. Good commissioners right now for like in all of the major NBA. Manfred, I think people would certainly wonder about. Or the ones that

you know people watch. Oh! Oh swing! Look out! Bettman like he came on our show was awesome. He was incredibly cool but like you start looking at what he's been able to do with that league and now obviously it's not just him there's a lot of people that do and he would say that

immediately but yeah the, the build, the negotiation rights that just took place two years ago, getting them back in front of more eyes, and it's all working out. Congrats to the NHL folks. Congrats to the NHL folks. Incredibly happy for them. We've got a lot

of NFL stuff happening around the league as everybody is at these mandatory minicamps, or is everybody there? Uh-oh. Not everybody. Not everybody. Wait, are there people missing? Oh, yeah.

There's some unexcused absences. Really? Big names. Here's Robert Sala, head coach of the New York Jets, talking about theirs. Is Hassan Reddick attending minicamp? No. So we've got two inexcused absences. That's a lot.

One, obviously, being Hassan. Spoke to him over the weekend. Appreciate the dialogue. He's in a really good place mentally, working his tail off like we already know. But he's choosing to sit out this one inexcusable. The second one is Aaron. Aaron and I spoke before OTA started. He's been very good in communication. He's been here the entire time. It's inexcused, but he had an event that was very important to him, which he communicated. Both are inexcused? Both inexcused, yes. So are they getting fined?

They were both subject to the CBA fine schedule. I thought journalists were supposed to be smart. That guy echoed the inexcused. Something can be inexcusable, but you are certainly unexcused if you are absent from something, and they're saying you shouldn't be. Fascinating. In Aaron's 20th year, he did not miss a single OTA. I don't think he missed a single OTA. And you got the head coach going up.

Yeah, it's honest. He's this guy. Should be here. So now he opens up the fines. Are they going to fine Aaron Rodgers? The internet is having a field day with the event. What's the event? Oh, yeah. I saw him in some teepees in some places. I saw some paint and all that.

My only take on this entire thing is like, now you're asking for a whole... Bingo. Exactly. Just lie. Just be like, yeah, he's not here. It's all good.

He was here 20 years into this thing. Exactly. He was at every single offseason. Because now people are saying like, hey, he was here yesterday for team pictures, and now he's not here today. What's going on? Okay, something's going on here.

It just... Come on, Bob. Like, you knew this was going to happen. This is the New York football Jets, gentlemen. This is what they do every single year. Something always goes wrong. It doesn't even matter if it's, what is it, June 11th

or if it's... It's already June 11th. Yeah, it's pretty crazy, which is great news. Great news. 86 days until NFL football. Crazy. Again, the fact that the Jets are doing this, this is just standard New York football Jets stuff, guys. They screw it up every single time. Redick not being there is obviously a much bigger issue. He hasn't been there all offseason.

Obviously, he wants more money. You know, they traded for him, so not getting him happy and in camp, that's kind of some egg on their face right now going into training camp. It's not what you want. I just don't know. You know? I have not talked to any source close to the situation

with the quarterback at the Jets. We'll have A.J. Hawk on the other side. What's the life event? You know, because obviously Sala heard it and was like, nah, I don't think so. Not excusing him. Going to space. What if him and R.F. Kennedy Jr. going up space get a better view of things?

I genuinely. Might be on trial. As soon as I heard him say it, I'm like, whoa, this is an interesting situation. Sports. Our awesome sports are the greatest thing on earth, and we're lucky to talk about them every single day. I'm not alone, no, no. I'm here with the Talks at the Table at Boston Corner and at Ty Schmidt.

A little yin-yang wolf on your shirt today, making a moon. That's a beautiful little piece of art there, pal. Thank you very much. I kind of looked at this shirt and thought, this is what Otis' brain is probably going through when he's trying to decide what to do with Chad Gable. You know what I mean? Hey, he's been in the middle of it there. Truly, for a while. I'm all in. I mean, we need Otis to brain is probably going through when he's trying to decide what to do with Chad Gable. You know what I mean? Hey, he's been in the middle of it there.

Truly, for a while. I'm all in. I mean, we need Otis to turn, brother. You need to get that heavyweight strap. You need to set your sights higher, my friend. Yeah, there's a chance that Otis gets a rocket ship put right on that massive back of his. He is incredibly athletic for how round he is. Yeah, for sure.

I don't think people fully understand how round he is until you see him in person. The amount of power, explosion, personality, moxie that is within Otis that we haven't been able to see because Chad Gable's been an asshole at this Alpha Academy for so long. Everybody wants to see it. Otis, you are good enough. You will find a new family if you exit that toxic

one that you're currently in right now. Clash of the Castles this weekend's going to be big. Chad Gable, Sami Zayn, Alpha Academy is going to be there. What's going to happen? How's it going to turn? Is castle this weekend's going to be big chad gable sammy zane alpha academy's going to be there what's going to happen how's it going to turn is sammy zane going to walk out of scotland as a champion or is chad gable in his bum leadership tactics going to be the one with the intercontinental title we shall see two o'clock start time in the united states of america perfect in scotland good to know now they have friday night smackdown i believe, over there as well. Yeah.

Friday in Scotland is the, I believe, the beginning of the Euro soccer tournament. They're playing Germany. One of the biggest games. Yikes. Ever. The biggest game in the history of Scotland. Yeah. And I think I heard from some folks around the building last night, would have been nice to know that that was potentially happening on Friday.

Should be great, though. Everybody is for Shoot Jack to get over to Scotland, experience Scotland, and obviously Drew McIntyre. The Scottish Warrior has a World Heavyweight Championship opportunity with Judgment Day barred from ringside against Damian Priest. I did do an intro. I appreciate you, nine-year NFL vet, Darius J. Butler. What the hell's happened with that room key?

With Morgan's room key. I saw it. Oh, I saw it. I didn't get a chance to do a pass trader. I think there was an Irishman that maybe took that room key, put it in Jack to maybe save Dom from himself. But he's also been the one that has kind of intervened in every single Dom live situation.

So I'm fascinated to see what happens with that Judgment Day. Now, I did introduce Finn Balor from the Bumash Judgment Day. Fantastic. And I was just in the middle, you know, because Samantha Irvin was checking on her fiancé, Ricochet. I got to, to be clear, I'm not her, I'm sure. When he got his head thrown off the side of that truck and then his leg hits Braun Breaker on the way down, that, that he off that concrete. Didn't sound good.

Was, and then he was, afterwards I'm like, yep, been there. A guy blindsided me. I lost all the air in my entire body. Thought I was going to die. I think Ricochet was very close last night. He gets put through a windshield. Is he going to be okay? That's what I'm saying. Is he going to be okay? That's what I'm saying.

Is he going to be able to be bad for us? I'd be shocked if he did because that's brawn breaker football. And that's what happens when you come up against the brawn. That's one half of the hammer. Cowboys turn dicks. The brawn breaker. He is football guy. It is written all over.

You can see when he turns the corner. You saw it. You did it. He turned two corners. I'm like, there's J.J. Watt, T.J. W see when he turns the corner. You saw it. You did it. He turned two corners there. I'm like, there's J.J. Watt, T.J. Watt, Miles Garrett, Dwight Freeney, Robert Mathis. This guy turned the corner. And then he beat the hell out of Ricochet.

And medical has not been released yet, but I'm wondering if he's going to be okay for next week. Is he going to be able to make it back? When's Speed? Is that on Wednesday? It's supposed to be. I assume he's dead. I mean, I assume that's why.

Is he dead? That's why Samantha Irvin ran out there. It's like, okay, he's dead. He's done. I gave a thumbs up on the way to the ambulance. And those EMTs, it was pretty herky-jerky. We're worried about his neck. And obviously, it was a very intense scene as the ambulance was there.

And the EMTs were clearing Ricochet off of a broken windshield. Let's go ahead and peel this fucking guy's body off of this car. They didn't stabilize his neck perfectly first before they moved him. And they put him up in there and he... That's why I worried. Okay, his spinal column is severed on his way to the hospital. Boom, that just lights out. Samantha Irvin had to be thinking the same thing.

She was right there. She's like, can't we be a little bit more smoother? smoother we worried about his spine or that's why breaker did it where he did it he knows ohio emts you know you just never know how they're gonna handle a neck brace i mean they certainly were taking their time too yeah you know we're sitting there with the camera watching it all live in real time and we're incredibly uncomfortable for ricochet and what just the place for him and is he gonna be okay and then your immediate thoughts are god damn these emts are taking forever what if this guy dies in their care it's gonna be a doa situation if this thing doesn't get out of the building exactly within the next i don't know how is this gonna be 90 seconds it's

gonna be four minutes right guy turned flex to the camera at one point he had a good look thank you to the emts at toled, Ohio, taking care of Rick Shea. Hopefully. We haven't been up there. I don't know. All that rushing guy's fault, right? Ilya Dragunov is certainly kind of knocking his ass beat as much as Ricochet has been by the brawn breaker. Put on a show.

It'll be an interesting story out there. Brawn breaker's a problem. Brawn breaker's sending people to the hospital. Will we see Ricochet back next week? We shall see. Nine-year NFL vet, Darius J. Butler. What were you about to say there? That's me and AJ's favorite guy, explosive.

Breaker? No, not Breaker. Breaker, hey, he's right there. Quickly rising. But Ricochet, I mean, seeing him in person, what he does, he's awesome. I'm glad I saw a thumbs up, but let me know when the medical comes through. Yeah, we'll let you know. Because if he's back next week, that'll be one of the most impressive feats in the history of modern humans.

Joining us now is a man who will certainly have some inside information on a situation that is going to brew. And it is going to brew loudly. What's going on with the New York Jets? Joining us from Anaheim, Ohio, college football national champion, a Super Bowl champion, a Ryder Cup winner. Ladies and gentlemen, A.J. Hawk. A.J., good. Yeah, Hawk. A.J., good to see you. I don't know if you saw Ricochet.

He was taken out in Toledo. Will you please thank the fine Ohioans that took care of him last night? Hopefully we haven't heard any updates. Yeah, you know, they don't treat you with kid gloves in Ohio, I guess, when they're taking you off after you possibly died, you know, doing some of your unbelievable acrobatics. But, hey, we know Ricochet will be back very soon. Okay.

I don't think we know that, brother. It's good to see the Hulkster on the side of that box. Hold on. Go back to the beginning of this. Yeah, it was good to see the Hulkster. I had to give him a brother in there. Listen to this. Oh, man.

Did you hear that smack? I was so uncomfortable. I was so uncomfortable when I heard it. And then the, oh, obviously. That's what Brawn Breaker's trying to do. It worked out. Does not budge. So we hope Rick's okay. Hey, Rick's right there.

I think he's doing the... Stay down. Well, right in front of the mouth of the south there, they think he's doing the... Doesn't have any... Just stay down. Stay down. Well, right in front of the mouth of the south there, they climb up some stairs. Oh, shit. Somebody parked really close to the stairs to the truck. Whose car is that? That must be somebody. That might have been a door dash. That might have been a door dash.

I'm not 100% sure. They parked really close to the stairs. Oh, man. Oh, you're not going to get your deposit back in that rental. It's not a rental. We don't know if it was a rental. It was like DoorDash. Yeah, it was, you know.

All right, let's get back to your ring show. We hope he's okay. And I hope he's back next week. And the week after that. And the week after that. And the week after that. What? And the week after that. What? And the week after that. What? He can take a week off.

Yeah. What? He's going to need it. But then the week after that. He's going to need him back. But I'm a little bit worried. I don't know if he's going to with what Bron Breaker did. Hopefully he's done.

And that's Bron Breaker football. All right, AJ, let's talk a little bit about football. Run the clip from Coach Sala, Evan Fox. Is Hassan Reddick attending the minicamp? No. So we've got two inexcusable absences. Run the clip from Coach Sala, Evan Fox. No, so we've got two inexcusable absences. Boss, so inexcusable is obviously not a word. Okay, we know that. Unexcusable is the word.

We're all confused. Inexcusable is certainly something. And I don't want to say it is inexcusable, especially when you know this word is the most important word to get it wrong. But he's talking unexcused for the rest of this time aj and obviously being hasan uh spoke to him over the weekend um appreciate the dialogue uh he's in a really good place mentally working his tail off like we all uh like we already know and um but uh, but he's choosing to sit out this one. We appreciate it. The second one is Aaron.

Aaron and I spoke before OTA started. He's been very good in communication. He's been here the entire time. It's inexcused, but he had an event that was very important to him, which he communicated. Both are inex excused. Both in excused, yes. So are they getting fined?

They were both subject to the CBA fine schedule. Okay. All right, AJ, listen. We know Coach Sala. You tell us. Come on, AJ. AJ, is he in a teepee somewhere right now? What is something that was very important to him that Coach Sala heard and said,

no, yeah, you're fine for that. Yeah, he could. I don't know. Not important to me. How about him saying, Hasan Reddick, we know he's working his ass off. The guy's going to be an incredible shaker. He has not been there, right? No.

No, he has not been there. Looking for a new deal. We know he's doing great. Aaron, he communicated with me before OTAs, which he was at all of them. Kind of sounded like a bit of mumbo-jumbo, but, you know. This is going to be a thing. We all know this is going to be a thing. It's already started as a thing.

Why would this be the way you go about doing this? And is Coach Sala, obviously, in a position where he could have went, yeah, Aaron's been here every time. He had something to do. We said it was cool. We're going to get some of the young guys' work and move on. And then if he does that, who's pissed at him? The players?

The other coaches? I don't understand why that wasn't the option. What do you think Coach Sala is doing here? And where the hell is your friend Aaron Rodgers at, A.J. Hawk? First off, I have no idea where he – I mean, the opportunities are endless. He could be anywhere on the planet right now. We don't know what that could be he's in the arctic right now potentially with jimmy graham yeah you never know like what once you google like hey cool things happening over the next three days he might be there i don't know what that might be

i have no clue where where he is either but they've known this for a long time if you talked before otas we're talking a couple months ago right right? Yeah, and he was at every one, right? Goes to Kentucky Derby, even comes back, you know, in years past for the Green Bay Packers. Did not go to OTAs. Worked out with his person in California, did that, showed up at mandatory

minicamp, then he was out of there. That was actually a big topic of contention almost with some of the new Packers regime. New GM, new coach, new coach fans even like hey why everybody else is here why aren't you here that type of so then he gets to the jets last year goes to everything how you doing keep it moving this is a brand new wants to be assimilated with the culture with the team and do that this year same all the the voluntary you know come fresh off of achilles year 20 in his NFL career, already knows the offense, right?

Knows the offense better than every human on the field. That's why they kept Nathaniel Hackett as the offense quarter. Every single day there for the voluntary thing. And then, well, we got two days left, and the coaches, why? Just knowing it was you, why would you do that? And this is not me saying that you should count out anybody, but, uh, being who you can afford to be the way NFL buildings operate is the

quarterback. Yeah. There's a little different situation. Ah, man. I just think this is an interesting, uh, angle for coach Charlotte to go into and I'm sure it'll be fine. I'm sure everything will be a okay, but this is unneeded. Yeah. Go ahead. Of course it causes a need, but I guess he's had some time. So I always had some time to think about this, how unneeded shit. You win. Yeah, go ahead. Of course it causes unneeded. But I guess he's had some time. Solomon's had some time to think about this, how he may handle it. You know, when he did have to speak to the media,

if he knew Aaron was not going to be there. So, yeah, he could have worded it a little better, no question about it, and said, yeah, we know. Like, yeah, we get it. Great communication. We're good to go. Like, how he kind of contrasted how Redick and Aaron's absence was. That's what made it kind of weird.

Aaron, yeah. He had an important event, he thought. We – Did Aaron tell him what the event is? Do you think he knows? Like did he have to say – did Saul have to be like, hey, well you got to tell me what is this thing you want to do? And what if he said it and obviously Coach Saul, I don't even know.

Yeah. What does that even mean? The periodic table with Terrence Howard right now. Terrence Howard are going to visit the flower of life. I mean, that's what we're going to do. Son of a bitch. And Coach Sala goes, flower? There's no flower.

We got roses. Periodic. Periodic table. Yeah, it's right there on the wall every second. It's glass. What are you talking about? And then he shows up with Terrence Howard video, and Sala's brain actually explodes. Yep.

And that was maybe what Sala was referencing when he saw his entire demeanor change when he was talking about Aaron. And obviously, we know Aaron very well. We are friends with Aaron in this entire thing. So us talking about it is going to come from a place of like, why would you even, you know? But as ex-Packers fan, i couldn't even fathom watching the jets have to deal with this because literally everything aaron does is a lightning rod of conversation of polarization and right now the internet is going to cook for the next two months probably because it's the end of otas so now this is going to cook for the next two months and coach solid calling it upon himself almost we all know how aaron rogers football goes yeah i mean it's just

like it's unbelievable and listen solid's just like, it's unbelievable. And listen, Sala's not like, this guy's kind of been putting his foot in his mouth since he's been the head coach of the Jets. So it's not like this is something that kind of happened all last year. Anytime he'd talk about Zach Wilson, he was basically like, yeah, you know, he sucks. So that's just kind of the way it is. He's not going to play. But they talked about the entire offseason.

It was basically like, hey, listen, we throw last season out the window because we didn't have Rodgers. Everything rides on Aaron Rodgers. So yeah, you're talking about not kowtowing to a guy, for sure. But when your job and the success of your team and

basically your life in the NFL at this point, if you're Robert Sala, it depends on that guy. So maybe don't piss him off June 11th when it's something that you already talked about and we're already aware of. Yeah, but we're just Aaron Rodgers, you know. Paul Walsh. Sure. I'm sure there's a lot of people out there like,

Aaron Rodgers, he's been married to a minikip. And I get it. And there's certainly an angle to say that. But if you're at every single voluntary in year 20, if you're in every single voluntary, there has been a lot of things that have happened in offseason where coaches have gone like, yeah, we're actually going to cancel the last two practice.

Don't need them because everybody has been here the entire time. Guys have missed mandatory minicamp because of other things that have happened in the past. Not rookies, second-year guys, role-player guys. No, no, no. All four-time MVP. Six months removed from him trying to come

back from an Achilles' fashion than anybody for an entire season to play for that team, to save their season. It's awesome. Football's the best. The Jets, man. The Jets are the best. I love love them all right uh joining us now is a man who covers the football and has been doing it for so damn long in the city of pittsburgh that people would like to build a statue of him in that statue he would be wearing cargo shorts because he

actually put subs uh which some people call hoagies who are wrong subs in his pocket for nature's microwave which he calls his right leg to heat that thing up and kind of slow roast that thing for six to seven hours before he houses it with some great mayonnaise at the house later that evening ladies and gentlemen from the athletic markable hey where you at you're down at upPMC right now. You look very professional. The hair's done. The shirt's buttoned. Hey, it's mandatory mini camp, so, you know, I got to take a shower and stuff. So, just flick it back a little bit.

Take the hat off. So, you know, I got to look presentable. Is Aaron Rodgers at the Pittsburgh? Maybe he's at another team. Oh. That'd be cool. That's why it's an excuse. You know, maybe that is in Coach Sala's words. Mark Caboli, I have a question for you.

Uh-oh. Mike Tomlin signs an extension through 2027. This is good news. Congratulations, Mike Tomlin. Let's go. Three coaches, 55 years. That's Pittsburgh Steeler way. We're going to have consistency at the top.

We're going to have one vision, one voice. Ex-players are going to feel welcomed back in the building because the same person that coached them is coaching this new team. It is a college environment. It is a great atmosphere. It is a family, the Pittsburgh Steelers, because of the consistency at the top. Then, as soon as this gets announced, we celebrate it.

We're excited for Mike Tomlin, especially with a transition into a brand new era of Steelers football with Russell Wilson leading the way and welcoming Zach Brown and others to the city of Pittsburgh as the Pittsburgh welcoming committee. Then I saw a bunch of Indra's say, this ain't deserved. Hasn't won a playoff game. What is your thoughts on it all? And have you seen more positive or more negative about Tomlin being the coach until 2027 at least? Oh, absolutely more negative. Oh, cabal. People in Pittsburgh are not very happy for the most part.

I wouldn't say all of them, but they do not appreciate the no playoff wins since 2016, and we are now rewarding me. Doing great. Many people have come up to me and told me over the past day of I can't believe they extended him, even though it was a done deal for a while now, because they expect more and people aren't't happy it's weird it's like two factions too it's the people inside the city the hardcore steeler fans don't like it but the people

on the outside love it i mean they can't stand the the statement no losing seasons in his career. They think that's just mediocrity as well. Myself is, I mean, stability is not a bad thing. I don't think stability is a bad thing at all, especially with this roster getting overturned and a whole new front office and a whole new general manager that you got a face of a franchise that's going to be here at least, now 2021 22 years probably will pass chuck noel for the longest uh coach in the steelers history so i don't see anything negative

about it but pittsburgh fans do well it is interesting the 17 consecutive non-losing seasons we got a chance to see how pissed off yinzers get about that because on espn you know last year as the season was going how it was going and canada gets fired and then all the chitter chatter about maybe mike thompson's gonna get traded to another team maybe thompson's gonna go do tv maybe thompson's done in pittsburgh you heard everybody that is a fan of the pittsburgh steelers but not in pittsburgh go mike thompson is at 17 consecutive non-losers. See, this guy wins football games. You're going to let a coach that wins games out of your building, especially ones with a face? And the answers came out like, yeah, yeah, we will.

Nine wins. We're about sick of it. We are done with nine wins and being the third best team, if not the fourth best team in the AFC North every single year. That's not Pittsburgh Steelers football. But now, Caboli, with Justin Fields and Russell Wilson in that quarterback room. Artie Smith calling the plays. Is there an optimism that this team will get back to playoff wins

and will get back to relevancy, not just above 500 seasons? There's a lot of skepticism still. They need to see what the quarterback position does in tell here. To me, it's Russell Wilson's, I think it's a no doubt, Russell Wilson will play this season. Start to move forward being that guy. But I think there's a little bit of confusion of how well they're going to play. So they're holding off reservations here.

They're really, really concerned about the number two wide receiver position right now, which doesn't seem like it's going anywhere positive. But, hey, look at that defense. That defense is loaded. They've switched a lot of things around offensively, coaching staff-wise, a lot of stability. It's all going to determine what Russell Wilson does. If he's able to play like he did last year, this is definitely a playoff team, a playoff potential winning team.

Oh, great. I don't know what type of Russell Wilson we're going to get right now. He welcomes Zach Brown to the city. I saw him. He made a three. He hit a home run. A cool shirt. A sweet hat.

He went to Kennywood with the team and brought his wife. And he also was hanging out with the Boys and Girls Club yesterday. Okay, so he's doing great. Hey, look at this. This is the most Pittsburgh Steeler looking guy I've ever seen in my life. Yes. I mean, I'm's doing great. And look at this. This is the most Pittsburgh Steeler-looking guy I've ever seen in my life, Caboli. Yes, I mean, I'm fine with it. I think if he puts up the 26 touchdowns like he did last year, I think this team's easily a 10-11 win team

and potentially can battle for the AFC North Division title. That's way above 500. People would be celebrating that. Go ahead, A.J. Hawk. Kaboey, what do you expect this offense to look like? Arthur Smith is there, obviously. Do you expect them to put a bunch of points up? Are they going to use the old play-action like Russ is so good at

with the run game that they may have? What are you looking for when this offense takes the field in the regular season? Yeah, what do practices look like? Yeah, number one is going to be running. I mean, they're going to run the ball with Jalen Warren and Najee Harris and that offensive line that is pretty much very young but very talented they're going to get russell wilson obviously the play action pass which he's very good at which

something they haven't been good at over the past couple of years they're going to move the pocket a little bit with russell and try try to keep the chains moving and then turn it over to the defense. Don't make any dumb mistakes. Don't turn the ball over and you got guys like Cam Hayward, TJ Watt, Alex Heisman, Fitzpatrick, Landon Roberts,

Patrick Wayne, Joey Porter. That's the way they're going to go. They're not going to try to put up a ton of points, but enough points to let the defense do what they do. And they got a ton of talent on that defense. We saw TJ Watt down in Cary, North Carolina. He's a monster. Huge.

He is an absolute monster. He'll lead the league in sacks again, and everybody will say it's not a stats position, and all that shit will take place. But if they're winning 11 games and T.J. Watts leading the league in sacks, all of a sudden the conversation is a lot different than just, oh, it's a stat, it's a stat, it's a stat. Whenever you're winning, winning, that's whenever the awards start coming back to town. Hopefully T.J. gets back in that conversation and Russell Wilson can figure it out.

Tone's got a question for you. Sharp-dressed Kaboli? Yeah, Kaboli. Sharp-dressed Kaboli? Yeah, Kaboli. Sharp-dressed Kaboli. Sorry, my apologies. What I want to know about... Holy moly, it's a sharp-dressed Kaboli. Holy moly,

it's a sharp-dressed Kaboli. The answers were super pumped after the draft. Everyone remember that? Because we drafted all those dogs on the O-line, but it feels like the Steelers are going to do the same thing that they always do, and they're not going to play those guys early because it's not the

Steeler way. Is that what we're going to have to wait until week eight to see everyone that we drafted because that's the Steeler way, Cabal? I don't know. I don't think so. I think, first of all, you're going to put Zach Frazier at center to start the season. I don't think that. I think, first of all, you're going to put Zach Frazier at center. Hell yeah. I don't think that's much of a debatable thing right now because he obviously is a second round.

Nate Herbig is a guy that really hasn't played that position much. I guess the question is, what do you do? Either Dan Moore or Troy Fulton, who's their number one pick. Myself, I would go with all the young guys. Have the young two tackles, the young center, and the two veteran guards with, say, Amalu and James Daniel, and roll with those guys. But, you know, Broderick Moore is a – Broderick Moore.

Dan Moore Jr. is a guy that's played – started two odd games. He's taken a lot of heat because his PFF grades are terrible. But I think he's still more than knowledgeable. So I don't know yet because it's OTAs and training camp, and they don't put the pads on yet. So all they do is basically go through drills right now. So it's hard to make that determination right now. But how they line up right now it is Dan Moore

but I could see that changing come a week or two into training camp. With the foresight, the fortune telling ability to be able to say this is what the Steelers might do or not do Zach Frazier's a dog. Guy had a broken leg his last game at West Virginia walked off the field with it. Yeah, absolute

beast down there in West Virginia. Everybody loves him. That'll be good for the Steelers. What other young bucks will make plays for the Steelers as we go forward? We shall see. Let's not talk about the youngs anymore. Let's talk about the old-ass dudes. Go ahead, Con, man. Yeah, Kaboli, if the number two wide receiver position

is a worry for the Steelers, in your words, is there a kind of way that they go out and maybe get like a Michael Thomas or a Hunter Renfro or one of those guys out there are they not looking out of house and they're just hoping that the guys that they have will develop into the players that they want them to be they're just waiting to see and right now I mean they got about six guys who are very similar in what they do let's see how they work out in training camp maybe one emerges i wouldn't really anticipate that right now then if it becomes a sort of an issue you see if anybody becomes hits the trade markets

you know come late august or if if the iuk thing happens which it doesn't look like it would happen for the steelers just for the fact that that's a ton of money they'd have to give him. What's he want? Probably $32, $33 million now. I don't know if they're willing to do that. The longer this goes on, it almost looks like they're just going status quo right now and, you know, maybe use Cordero Patterson a little bit more. Definitely use Pat Friermuth a little bit more and grab those other four or five guys like the Quez Watkins, the Roman Wilsons,

the Van Jeffersons and hope that they pan out the Calvin Austins. Ah, so we got no weapons for Russell Wilson. Alright. What do you got? Weapons? You just don't have the number two and when you don't have the number two, what do you do? Move.

You roll the bars your pickings side and all of a sudden george pickens becomes irrelevant then you become it becomes an issue number two what do you do do how about juju holy hell you can take them off our hands we'll give them to you for a can of Coke and some Heinz ketchup. Juju. Whoa. Listen. We like our Heinz ketchup. Yeah. Okay.

That's a lot. Maybe Jack. Yeah, Caboli, I agree. They were getting a little bit greedy up there, but Juju Smith-Schuster is the number two for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Worked out great. Yeah. Bring him back.

Worked out absolutely great. Bring him home. Yeah, that's not happening. I mean, they drafted a wide receiver, Roman Wilson. We all know what happens when they draft a wide receiver. He's going to be incredible, so I don't worry. Good point. Fair.

Yeah, you know, I mean, Juju would be interesting. I don't know what it would mark. In the cards. Juju, Muth. He's a Super Bowl champion now. What's he going to play, fullback? Who? Juju.

He's your number two wide receiver. He's looking spry in New England right now, Tony. You want him. Yeah, Drake Mays throwing the ball all over the yard door. Bingo. I mean, they're making plays all over the place. Y'all need a number two. Juju Smith-Schuster going back to Pittsburgh with Russell Wilson.

Imagine it was Russell Wilson and Juju Smith-Schuster walking out to welcome Zach Brown to Pittsburgh next time. Yes. I mean, that's what we need. That's what the Yinzers need. Comes like the third most tenured guy on the Steelers team. Juju bees are buzzing. Oh, my God.

Remember? Let's go take a trip back in time. This is fun. Do your shit, Juju. Do your shit. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah did that. Ah, yeah. Peace out. It was awesome. That's sick. It was sick. I appreciated the fact that every yinzer hated him. They were so mad at this guy. Hey, just catch the fucking ball.

How about that? Okay, let's not. Because there was a fumble situation that was starting to go on. There was a lot. There were some drops that were going on. He was going to be a Pittsburgh hero because he played physical. He hit some people and then all of a sudden everything off the field became more important to Yinzer's minds

than everything on the field for Juju. Then he goes and wins the Super Bowl and then New England doesn't work out. Juju back in Pittsburgh would be hilarious. Just like you guys were booing Juju out of town. You know who else you were booing out of town? Rudolph. Then he came back to save Christmas for you guys. guys were booing Juju out of town. You know who else you were booing out of town? Who? Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Then he came back to save Christmas for you guys.

So maybe Juju does the same damn thing, Tone. Maybe you need to turn that frown upside down at this Boston. Both of those guys were booed for good reason and deservedly, and we'll see how they did further. Is Mason going to... Listen, Mason's gone. No, you're never going to hear that guy's name again.

What are you talking about? It was Mark's favorite player on the roster for the last three years. Hello, Mark. Mark, you still there? Sorry, we just got into a full conversation. Hey, what's up, Mark? Good to see you. Last question here, Mark, as you've got a lot of things to do from D-Butt.

Hey, Mark, I know you had an injury late season a couple years ago. It's been a long offseason, obviously. Stay with me. Stay with me, Kaboli. Long offseason. Hold on, D-Bot.

He's out to lunch right now. You got us, Mark. Kaboli. Can you hear anything? Just leave it. Hey, Caboli. We didn't get you there. Were you there? Hello? Answer the question.

What is this guy doing? I'm breaking up. I can hear you, but I'm like... You can hear us? I'm looking like I'm... I'm going faster now. All right. Thanks, man.

Killed it. Killed it. He had a nice shot on ESPN there for, what, 30 seconds? At least. Yeah, that was awesome. I was worried about what he was going to do. You were worried about his health and everything. I just want to check into him and see what his summer plans were.

He's good. He's in a good mental spot. Looks great. That's Pittsburgh. Good hair. Beautiful day there. He hair. Beautiful day there. He did have good hair there. Him and Miola could be brothers.

I don't know if you should say that. I don't know if the coach deserved that. Not disrespectful. Not disrespectful. Not disrespectful. Can we get a side-by-side of two photos of him, please? I mean, we're going to try to. Tony Miola played in the Olympics, correct?

Yeah. Mark's an Olympic shot putter. Tony Miola once walked to the ring with Lex Luger as well. That's right. Carrying the American flag. Yeah, and then his American flag, he handed it off to somebody so he'd get a steel chair. Nice. Because him and Lex Luger were protecting this house over there in New Jersey.

I mean, Tony Miola started telling some stories from back in the day. He was awesome. He was incredible. I think we're trying to cold call him right now to see how much he does look like Mark Caboli. Whoa, whoa, whoa. And we will let him know that you said that. I said they could be brothers. I didn't say they look identical to each other.

And if we were to pull up two photos, you could see it too. Okay, so let's stay with the NFL conversation. Sounds like Pittsburgh's in the same exact spot it's always been in. There's some pessimism. There's a little bit of a storyline. And if Russell Wilson and Juju Smith-Schuster are the faces of the Pittsburgh Steelers, that's a good thing. That's what we just found out from Mark Aboli and all Yinzers through that conversation.

I just want to clarify. Someone said that sometimes they're the fourth best team in the division. They haven't finished in the last division since 1988. Yeah, but I'm the one who said fourth. And you eyeball it sometimes. You go, this team. This team stinks. This team would be.

Remember, the Browns still exist. Okay? But the Browns are balling right now. Vrabel is playing linebacker. Remember? We saw that video from two weeks ago. Just like the Jets. Classic offseason champs

John Kelly Jr. just made a big time play On that old ass lady Unbelievable play Beautiful play made by John Kelly Jr. David Njoku's doing a charity softball game Giving back to the town This is Ross Smith's grandma by the way Just found that out

She's part of the gimmick, she's got good personality She's got an RBI though, right? Yeah, the sacrifice? Is that what it would be? I don't know how many outs there are. If there are two outs, obviously she's not getting an RBI. We'll see. So hold on. If that person just went home before she gets tagged out here,

it still doesn't count? Yeah, correct. Well, usually it doesn't take 30 minutes to get to first. Yeah, she needed to hurry up. If she wanted to get on base, she should have moved a little bit faster. Move, lady! There it is. Celebrate. Out.

Walk. Don't even look at her. No. Don't even look at her. Just celebrate and walk it off. But Deshaun Watson, he's back after another year. Sure, sure. I mean, the Cleveland Browns got to figure out the extended head coach and GM.

Remember their defense last year? Remember their defense, especially early? How they were dominant early. They gave up like 10 first downs in the first seven weeks or something like that in combined. They need to pay Amari Cooper, pay him what he's worth. Oh yeah, Amari Cooper's not there. He's pissed. Amari Cooper wants a little bit more money.

It's going to be tough to pay Amari Cooper mostly because you're paying the quarterback $230 million guaranteed. So that's obviously going to eat in the salary cap. Obviously, Amari Cooper's not the only one that's missing some of these mandatory minutes. We talked about Hassan Reddick and Aaron Rodgers, both unexcused. You know, Hassan Reddick had not been there for the Jets.

Aaron Rodgers had been at every single one except for these two days. And Coach Tyler talked about it. Do we know about Amari Cooper? Has he been at any of the off-season workouts has this been something that had been brewing yeah i don't think he's been at anything and then also i assume it doesn't help that they did trade for jerry judy and then give him a pretty massive contract too yeah and that's always going to cause a little bit of a conversation in the locker room whenever your position gets money to gives money to somebody else that uh has never done anything for your team.

Marty Cooper's like, me and Joe Flacco got to the playoffs for this team. 250 yards. Joe Flacco and I got to the playoffs, and you pay a guy who's on terrible Denver Broncos who had to fire everybody. So tell me how that makes sense. How does that work? And then they're like, buddy, we paid a quarterback that didn't do anything for us or anybody for $230 million.

This is our game. Standard. Sorry. This is what we do around here. But, A.J., to your point, what you made last week, Cleveland Browns have extended a head coaching contract for the first time and seemingly ever. So maybe the Cleveland Browns are going to be a wagon this year

and they're finally getting some stability and they're starting to figure it out. We'll never know. I looked back when A.J. did say that. I think it was like in the 80s or 70s something like that since they've had some day since they've gave a second contract to a head coach if i if i looked correctly yeah that's a long ass time he hasn't been at anything and he's going to his last year of his contract okay so he wants money we'll see how that goes let's stay in ohio t higgins for the cincinnati bangles did not report to mandatory minicamp either. Obviously contract situation is brewing

with him and Jamar Chase both in the wide receiver room, both wanting a new payday. T. Higgins got franchise tags. I don't believe he has signed it, so I don't think this mandatory thing means anything because he's currently not under contract. He's not an NFL player right now. When he signs a franchise tag

then he's back to being an NFL player. He could be traded for another place. Obviously, they could sign him long-term until the cutoff point is. T. Higgins is a dog. Everybody on Earth is expecting him to play this one year with Cincinnati, and then he'll be on another team. Mandatory minicamp, who cares?

Jamar Chase is there, though. Darius J. Butler, which I think is indicative of how everybody in Cincinnati feels. He will get paid and remain with Cincinnati Bengals. Smart. He won't get fined, obviously, for missing. Mandatory. And, yes, he will get paid.

Probably close to his old running mate, that Justin Jefferson number, which is obviously going to be up there. And to your point, it'll probably be the last year you'll see this one-two punch with T and Jamar. Just hope Burrow, obviously, can stay healthy this year. Everything has been up and up this offseason. And Jamar Chase, I mean, since he's stepped foot in the league, he's literally on fire.

So I'll be excited to see those three running back. He looks so cool in a jungle here. Is that the zoo? Is that the zoo where they killed Harambe? Harambe did die in the Cincinnati Zoo, so not sure. They built that set inside the stadium. Look at that door in the back. Look at that door in the back. Look at that door in the back.

That might be Harambe's pit. Could be. Yeah. Hopefully they got him locked away. Where's the bangle? Bring the bangle out. Well, Jamar Chase is the bangle. Oh, they don't have a...

Bring out the bangle animal. Oh, yeah. He is the Cincinnati bangle. Yeah, but what if he was sitting on the back of a bangle? A tiger. A bangle tiger. Or maybe on a chain or something like Mike Tyson back in the day. Yeah, it would be cool.

You know, those tigers in the Middle East, they got them as pets. They're just hopping in pools on my Instagram. Until they're not. Until you're dead. People do those photo ops all the time with tigers and shit. Yeah, I'm a tiger king and that whole thing, but like, um...

Over in the Middle East, they're just walking around with these things. I've seen those videos, man. Those guys are crazy. As if you're walking your fucking dog. They're just walking a full-grown tiger. Shane obviously said, hey, I guess to that entire thing, but here he's walking one and then hopping in the pool.

Domestication. These things are hopping in the fucking pool. I've never seen that. They're a real deal. Have you ever seen them drive on those two? Oh, yeah. And then do you see them roll and then get tossed? Yeah. People are saying that was fake. Yeah. Uh-huh. The beach one? Still standing by that. That was real. That was definitely real. But no Bengal Tigers

for their photo shoot, which is certainly safe, it feels like. But there is a Jamar Chase sighting. And you're right. The Cincinnati Bengals are on the up and up. That whole set design was good. Let's go back to what Mark Caboli said about the Iuke situation brewing. You know how much money he's going to want. Allegedly, it was said

he wants to hear Michael Pittman's number, which was like 27, so 26. 27 seems to be what he is hunting for. I have no idea how that works out, who it works out for. Obviously, the 49ers paid Jawan Jennings a couple weeks ago. They drafted Ricky Pearsall

out of Florida, a rookie wide receiver. This is just going to continue to brew, I think, as they try to take advantage of Purdy's incredibly small contract, but haven't been able to do it for literally everybody on the team. Iuke seems to be the one

that it's maybe not going to work out for, which makes an Indianapolis Colts fan happy and a lot of other teams happy because he's a special talent. But this is like success problems. Every once in a while, this is going to brew. Yeah, and they gave McCaffrey that extension as well. And he's on the cover of Madden. Congratulations, Christian McCaffrey.

On the cover of Madden. I have no idea how much money that brings from a marketing deal, but I do know you have that up in your office for the rest of your life. Last running back that was up there was Cleveland Browns. Really? Yeah. Running backs have not been shown. Peterson was never there?

He was. Marshawn? Yep, Marshawn was as well, but I think it was before Payton. That would make sense. Marshawn would have been after. Yeah, Marshawn would have definitely been on there too. So that was wrong. But maybe I'm thinking about Richard Sherman.

That's who the Seattle Seahawks were. Whatever the case, congratulations to Christian McCaffrey getting a man. Everybody's pumped up about that. Everybody's pumped up. Not worried about the curse. Not worried anymore. They used to be worried about the curse. Not worried anymore. They used to be worried about the curse. Some people I saw say,

is there as many people going to be playing Madden this year because of college football? No one's buying it. No one's buying it. They're not going to change it. This is the year where it's like, okay, we actually do have to go back in the lab and change this game

because no one's going to buy it because of the NCAA game. Because they haven't been checked at all by any other game. Ever. Right? That's the big conversation about Madden. And I was very lucky to be in Madden obviously on april 1st i think you could still pump with me right now on madden which is always my first time in the game in a long time uh shout to the madden people kind of making that whole thing happen and chit-chat with it but like a lot

of complaining from the madden community about the madden game for a long time. And I don't play, I suck at video games, but the Madden community says, like, they've just kind of laissez-faired this thing because they know how much money they're going to get every time they drop. They haven't really updated a lot of shit. Some of the controls are cropped. The franchise mode's cropped. Some of this is cropped.

That's cropped. You hear literally Madden players say this about Madden. So much so that they wanted to protest Madden, but they were never able to do it because they were Madden players say this about Madden. So much so that they wanted to protest Madden, but they were never able to do it because there were Madden players and a new Madden drop, so you have to play Madden. Now with college football coming back into the fray, a little competition is a good thing. Maybe we'll make Madden better.

Maybe the college football game will push that, and it's good for all gamers as a whole. But we need not hold this against Christian McCaffrey if this one does not move. That is a conversation that needs to be had. You are seemingly a Maddener. College football game is going to be the one that's picking your interest first, though. Yeah, I mean, you could make the argument that the NCAA 14 game has been the best game since 2014 that EA Sports has put out.

That's a football game. That's the biggest problem is that the EA game for the NCAA is so much better just as far as like the way the game is played and it's the same company making the Madden game that's what doesn't make any sense is that it's not as if 2k is making the college game and you know Madden has the monopoly on the pro game it's the exact same company but they just refuse to make anything significantly better that people actually want to be better well good luck in luck in your video games. Can't wait. I'm going to play the college one. Yeah.

Because you just learn everybody's names. Playbooks. Pretty quickly. Smart. And with Transfer Portal now, you know, who's where? We don't know until that game comes out. That's right. And basically tells us, thanks for doing the research.

Let's stay in the NFL. Stephon Diggs is chit-chatting as a Houston Texan. I think it's the first time I've heard him in Houston Texan gear talk about his life before getting to Houston. Pretty beautiful sentiment to be true. Josh Allen said that you were very instrumental in making him the quarterback that he was, that he is now. How instrumental do you think Josh was to helping you elevate to the next level of the team that you ended up becoming? I feel like he was an intricate piece in my career.

that becoming? I feel like he was an intricate piece in my career because at that point, when I left Minnesota or whatever, I was a good player, but I always felt more for myself. I felt like I was better than that, that I could be better than that. Up to that point, I was just like, shit, I'm going to roll the dice and bet on myself. You know what I'm saying? And he sent me to Buffalo. I don't know if they sent me to Buffalo with the most kindness, you know, with the most great intent, but all's well ends well. You know, when I got to Buffalo, Josh was, you know, Josh is still my guy, you know what I'm saying? Like, people don't really understand what it's like to be out there.

You know what I'm saying? And he really embraced me, you know what I'm saying? He kind of had that Southern hospitality, you know what I'm saying? So, for me, he embraced me. He spent a lot of time. And I probably wouldn't be right here if it wasn't for him. I got a lot of love for that boy. So y'all give him a hug and a kiss.

That's awesome to hear, obviously, because there was a lot of drama potentially being stirred by a lot of things that were said, a lot of actions that took place, some games that weren't won. And then obviously family members sending out some tweets about how somebody sucked until somebody arrived. There was a lot of things that were said, a lot of actions that took place, some games that weren't won. And then obviously family members sending out some tweets about how somebody sucked until somebody arrived. There was a lot of drama, you know, through that relationship. Now, a lot more successful football than drama, but the drama is always going to get brought up whenever, you know, you have a little bit of a breakup or a move on or some tweets or some things like that that get into the national conversation about it all. I did appreciate him saying, I think when Minnesota sent me to Buffalo, it wasn't like the kindest intent. So I appreciate that he's like, they tried to send me to die in Buffalo.

And then they go on to become a wagon and become very successful. Team obviously doesn't win Super Bowl, but make it very far in playoffs. Experienced some big games, just weren't able to get over the hump. What are your thoughts on how he handled that question there, AJ? make it very far in playoffs, experience some big games, just weren't able to get over the hump. What are your thoughts on how he handled that question there, A.J.? And how do we think this goes with Houston and C.J. Stroud with Stephon Diggs? Well, I mean, first of all, it should go amazing with Houston. We saw what C.J. was able to do. If he's able to just continue on the path that he is

and continue to progress as a quarterback, yeah, it's going to be a great stay for Stephon Diggs. But as far as him speaking about Joshosh allen i thought that was great it almost looked like he was almost emotional talking about such a good friend and a teammate i'm not saying he was but i i would understood if he did i i just uh it's cool to see digs do that you're not used to seeing digs speak to the media when it's stuff like that people i feel like are always trying to like goad him into you know talking about somebody or saying something about a coach or a schedule. Being a wide receiver.

They try to goad him into being a wide receiver. Yeah, and Diggs is absolutely explosive, as we've seen all these highlights continue to run. But it's cool to see how much love he has for his old QB, and I'm sure he's going to love his new QB as well. Wide receivers have to have the mindset that they want the ball every single play, publicly, privately. That is literally how wide receivers are wired.

That's why you hear a lot more sound bites normally out literally how wide receivers are wired that's why you hear a lot more sound bites normally out of the wide receivers than anybody else because they're dependent upon so many other people for them to have success but they know if they get the ball their team's gonna have massive success now that can kind of come off in multiple different ways not saying just with stefan digs i'm just saying with the position group as a whole stefan and josh made each other. I think they both understand that too. That's what I heard from that entire team. Oh yeah, absolutely. You can look at the numbers. Obviously, numbers don't lie.

He's obviously competitive as hell, but top five in all my targets, catches, kind of towards the end, the targets kind of got funny, and obviously we made a lot of speculation on the outside about the relationship, but he's moved on, obviously, to a new chapter. You do kind of wonder, okay, how does that how is it going to impact C.J. Stroud,

you know, being such a young quarterback, but had an opportunity to golf with Nick Casario in Houston this past weekend out there with Liv. And Nick is an absolute stick, by the way. He won't tell you. And Bryson, Bryson DeChambeau, Thomas Peters. But Nick just talked about how high he has been on Stephon, how great he's been in the building,

how great that whole group has been up until this point. So I'm looking forward to what, obviously, except the two times they play us, looking forward to what the Houston Texans do next year. Yeah, that's breaking. Nick Casario talking highly of what Stephon Diggs not only brings to the team, but how he's been around the building. And that's great to hear, obviously.

And I think a lot of people talking about Stephobhan Diggs love him. He's been on our show. He's been great. But then there's just those moments of competitive edge and competitive juices that take place that obviously start shit and controversy and drama. Happened in Minnesota. Towards the end, it happened in Buffalo. Now with Houston, fresh start. New team. Plus a vibe that

seemingly will fit him perfectly. I'm excited to see what they do down there. Now, they gotta play the Indianapolis Golds. There's going to be a welcome to the AFC South moment for Stephon Diggs. I hate how good the Houston Texans are and are seemingly getting.

That's just good shit out of Casario, D'Amico, ownership. Just a few years ago, they were a dumpster fire. Speaking of dumpster fires, we were running into one with a kickoff rule and what it was. People were getting injured, even though we didn't see it. Numbers were saying that people were getting injured. The play had basically become extinct.

It was something to go take, you know, maybe a leak, a dump, or buy some food. There's a kickoff happening. A kicker is going to kick a ball further than ever before. Now, this upcoming year, there's a brand new kickoff rule that's almost going to force teams to have to kick it to the returners. There's a landing zone. There's a coverage area. There's a kicker standing all by themselves. And what they're projecting is 1,500 more returns happening next NFL season. Now, some NFL teams have come out and said they moved the touchback from 25 to the 30. We're still just going to do touchbacks. We'll just give them the

ball on the 30. If that's the case, do they do move that to 35? Because obviously 35, 30, and 25, the percentages of scoring are vastly different. But a lot of us are expecting kickoffs into the landing zone with return opportunities. All the kickers and all the special teams coaches have been watching the XFL's attempt at this particular kickoff and there's one thing seemingly coming out of the conversation from the special teams here's Justin Tucker addressing it all yeah it is um you know just like a pitcher tries to develop his stuff I'm doing the same thing out here um trying to figure out whichever way we can, in our minds, gain an advantage, gain an edge, you know, and whether that means, you know, putting the ball in different spots,

making it challenging for a returner to, you know, scoop up the ball easily. You know, all of those things we're looking at right now, you know, granted we are kind of in the fledgling stages of what we're trying to accomplish here, what we're trying to figure out. So like you said, we are in the lab. And more recently, my lab has actually been the weight room. This might be really surprising to a lot of you guys and a lot of my teammates because I don't spend the hangout in the weight room too frequently. But after watching a lot of these XFL plays over the last couple years, kicker seems to be involved in like 25% of the tackles.

So, I mean, I've mixed it up a couple of times. I've gotten in there. But now I've got to get some more shrugs, get the traps going a little bit, just to make sure I'm prepared for a little bit more contact. 3.8 pounds allegedly is what he's gained. He was 188 last year, so he's clocking in at 191.8. An absolute twisted steal in sex appeal. But that is a combo that a lot of special teams coaches have put out

and kickers have put out. Hey, in this particular setup, it's very easy to break through the front line and once you do that the kicker is involved in it he's not saying the kicker is making the tackle but the kicker is going to be in the area and if you're one of those kickers who has never really had any physical interaction in your entire life boy it can get scary as shit out there for some of these guys go hit some pads boys that needs to happen. Stat. Yeah, I feel like a team like the Ravens, for Justin Tucker,

they're a prime candidate. Hey, kick this ball out of the end zone. We don't need you getting hurt. We need your ass all year. Hey, your actual weapon. Yeah, exactly. So you will not be. It's 25%.

Ty, I'm sorry. If it's 25% of the plays, the kicker's involved in contact. They're going to start kicking the ball out of the end zone. You don't want your kicker involved in 25% of the return. Especially Justin Tucker. That's a goat right there. They're probably looking around like, do we want there to even be a chance for a roll-up on

Puck? He could hit a 64 to win this. They don't know how to act around a pile, too. That's a thing. You've got to keep your heads... Yeah, there's shit coming. Let's get to work, boys. Let's get in the lab. Talk. We need you next year. Yeah, it would be sweetie.

Lay somebody. All right, we're back tomorrow. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. Goodbye. Right on screws. Yeah, that was money.

Bam. Bang. All right. Sweet pants. Oh, these are the Abercrombie and Fitch who had their biggest quarter in the history of their company. No big deal. Those are Abercrombie?

Ever. Yeah. Remember, I told you Abercrombie is a completely different place. They. Was it Abercrombie? Ever? Yeah, remember, I told you, Abercrombie is a completely different place. Abercrombie is Walmart now. Abercrombie is like Goodwill. Yep. Abercrombie is, yeah, Cabela's.

Abercrombie's a brand new place. They've had their best quarter. Where did Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive, and Dodge, Abercrombie and Fitch, still be able to survive? Because that shit they were doing back in the day right now with Northland. No. And they knew it.

Our awesome sports are fantastic. That's A.J. Hawk. He's been a champion multiple times in the sports world, which is why we're so incredibly lucky to talk to him every day. Ain't that right, Talks to the Table? That's Boston Conner and that's how Schmidt. Absolutely. Stuff of legends, truly. He could potentially help out the entire

sports world, though. All he has to do is tell us what's the big ordeal that Aaron Rodgers has that Coach Sala said that ain't fucking worth of practice. What do you think it is AJ If you had to guess just as a human who knows the answer

And is going to try not to say it I mean I do not know the answer I really do not To miss minicamp has got to be something big To have this scheduled out in advance Don't you think It's got to be something that's very meaningful to him I think so too

And Bob Sala said a life event Or something like that That was very meaningful to him. I think so, too. And Bob Sala said a life event or something like that. Yeah, so. That was very big to him. Maybe his tattoo guy became available. Oh. He did get another one. I know that guy is pretty, that guy is.

Top the book. It's top the schedule, yeah, top the book, no question. Break into that artist's timeline, obviously. Maybe it is a new tattoo. There is a show, Game of Thrones, starting on Sunday. Maybe he's traveling to England to be at the a show, Game of Thrones, starting on Sunday. Maybe he's traveling to England to be at the premiere for the Game of Thrones show.

He's a huge Game of Thrones guy. Let's check commercial flights from New York. Do that. Check Southwest. Check Frontier. Southwest. I just saw King Charles' painting was vandalized by animal rights activists. Could it have been Aaron?

That's one half of the hammer. Cowboys turned dicks. I'm not sure if that's what he was doing. But it could have been. I mean, he planned this out in advance before OTAs, so maybe he knew the painting was coming. Weird painting. That was a weird portrait.

What's going on? Who painted it? Probably what? That's not Aaronaron it might be aaron no cheese grommet look at all this cruelty on rs shouldn't be messing with art no matter how bad the art is you shouldn't be messing with it they're not messers there's security there's covers you can just walk right up to that weird ass king portrait and just do whatever you they just rolled that son of a bitch heads on. There's, like, glass in front of it.

Tell you what, some things should be brought back. It's not really on the painting. What should be brought back? What's that? Can you imagine if you would have done this to, I don't know, King Henry? Or any of the other great kings of the past? Yeah, where was the Red Soldier? Your head would be in a guillotine immediately.

They got euros to worry about right now. I don't know if we should be guillotining. Public executions is what you want to bring back? Whatever the case. That's a weird... So that wasn't Aaron. That wasn't on Aaron. Didn't look like him, no. Those are the things, though. Could have been filming. You're right. We have no idea who's camera

behind that. Be fair. I don't know if he's an animal activist, but maybe. What if it comes out that it's something very sentimental? You know? What do you mean? Like what? What if it comes out that it's something very sentimental? What do you mean? Like what? What if it's something that is actually, oh, yeah, that's like a once in a lifetime.

What if that comes out publicly and then Coach Sala, I understand it was real cool. Everybody just told me how cool it was. Just handling it that way makes no sense, but they're going to talk about it. It is going to be talked about by everybody. Nine-year NFL vet Darius J. Butler is here. D. Butch, mandatory minicamp, what are your thoughts on it? What should we be taking away from this? Should we be taking anything serious that comes from any of these mandatory minicamp practices?

I think the biggest deal is always, you know, guys with deals. You know, if they're getting done, are they showing up, are they holding out? And obviously that's going to be the storyline leading into training camp. But usually, I mean, this is you go there for probably one, maybe two days, put the last little fine-tuning on your team, and then you have that one last conversation with everybody. Hey, everybody be a pro, take care of each other, be smart, show up in shape because you do have a decent break.

That is good. The players need it, the coaches need it, the front office people need it. And then when you come back, hopefully you hit the ground running. A lot of squealing tires in parking lots at the end of these mandatory minicamps. And it's not from the players. That's the coaches getting the fuck out of it. It's their only time.

Or they can go see their family and spend a couple weeks. Yeah, they're reintroducing themselves to their kids and their wives because that's the first time they've seen them since last season kicked off. As soon as the season ends, then we got to get ready for combine. Then we got to get ready for draft. Now, are we going to listen to your takes? Probably not, but we need you to have them and opinions on every single player that could be in your room. So go ahead and watch

every single play that they've ever had since high school on all of them, just in case they end up on our team. It's your job. You get paid to do it. You're lucky to do it. Remember that. Sleep in your office, even though every other human on earth is at home. That's life of a football coach. That's why when these mandatory minicamps are over, boy, they are pumped. And if the head coach throws them, you know, like a little bit of an olive branch and cancels the last one, which happens and has happened on a regular basis, which is why the handling of the inexcused absence from Aaron Rodgers just makes no sense. It makes no sense how you could handle that so many different ways. I don't know why you'd want to start any drama. Now, Aaron could come out and save him and say, yep, very understandable. I told him that what I was doing was pretty important to me

and thought we had a good relationship. I'm 20 years into this thing. I think I've been in the NFL longer than him. It's probably part of the reason he was at all the OTAs as well. He knew he wasn't going to be a king. Showing face here, right? Having an eye. A lot of things.

I have all these. Voluntary is the word. Got the cool social clips of us throwing. Yeah, everybody's loving it. I'm no looking everywhere. The calves are getting back to full size after the Achilles. Just remember all that stuff. And then this thing just, I don't think so.

Coach Ellis says, weird. I think he's going to post a picture wherever he is. I mean, what if it is just the dumbest thing? And is he going to do that stupid hashtag shit that he does? Yeah, probably. Hashtag grateful? No. He puts the hashtag at the end.

Yeah, remember? He mocks the hashtag. He loves it, too. He's like, oh, these fucking assholes with their hashtags. Let me tell them what I think. Let me tell them what I think of this entire thing. I can't wait to see what it is. But here comes some more drama. I would like to hear Greenberg's first thought. Mike Greenberg's first thought.

Of course you had to say it. Why'd you say it? Sala! Didn't need to say it. Just Greeny losing his mind. Speaking of losing his mind, 4th of July is going to be different this year. Never the same. 4th of July, you know, one of the greatest

called shots in history because the war did not end on the 4th of July, you know, one of the greatest called shots in history because the war did not end on the Fourth of July. It didn't end until the next year, actually, but it was called shot that we are going to have our independence and we're going to be a country. And although we are certainly nowhere near perfect, we are a place that everybody seemingly wants to get to because you can accomplish

the American dream here. I think I am one of those people that have been able to experience it. I'm very thankful for all the opportunities. AJ as well and plenty others around the country are able to accomplish things. Now we're not perfect, but on 4th of July, whenever we're celebrating becoming a nation and becoming the red, white, and blue, and you know, you got people out on lakes and barbecues and cookouts and grilling everywhere. Thinking about the good things that potentially take place. There's one thing that you always turn on.

There's one thing you watch. Always. You say, which motherfucker on this earth can suck down the most amount of hot dogs and buns? And it's always one name. Fucking Joey Chestnut. Before it was not Joey Chestnut. There was a lot of conversations. Japan obviously had the incredible Kobayashi,

who was a solid competitor and certainly put the dog-sucking competition on the map because what he was able to do with his shape and size was obviously phenomenal. And then this American fuck Joey Josh Chestnut came through and just wrecked the entire game. This is my game now. This is on 4th of July.

This is my game now. This is our game now. Forever. Well, forever has ended. Joey Josh Chestnut will not be competing in the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. Wow. Travesty. Done.

Call it. Joey Josh Chestnut, who has won, what, 40 straight? Something like that. Actually made them do it last year there was a little bit of rain or something and Joey Josh Chestnut said they're a fucking contest as he was marching around

get a raincoat I don't need one but you guys can get one we're doing this for the United States of America we're doing this for the people we're doing this for tradition we're doing this because this is what 4th of July is. That's what Joey Josh Chestnut did. A man who lives in Indiana now. Hoosier.

Now he won't be competing because he signed a deal with a vegan hot dog company. Impossible Foods. They make a plant-based hot dog, which I'm sure it's delightful. And I don't even know what's in real hot dogs. And I don't think we should look into it. I don't think we should find into it. I don't think we

should find out what's in it as people that still eat hot dogs, but since he signed with the vegan hot dog company, Nathan's is not going to let him in the 4th of July Major League Eating Hot Dog Eating Contest that he's dominated, and

the entire country's fucking bummed, AJ. I don't even know if people are going to light off fireworks now. Well, how much did this Impossible Foods, how much could they have paid Joey Chestnut for him to do this? Had to be a lot. I mean, this had to be a massive amount of money. In the article from the New York Post, there's a couple times where Major League

Eating said they reached out to Joey and his management to try to figure this thing out. Even something about a waiver or whatever. It feels like there's a chance that Nathan's is like, not on our watch. Can't have it. I say this, Nathan's. It's a hot dog eating contest.

If this vegan hot dog eating guy wants to eat your hot dogs, why don't you use that as an opportunity to remind people your hot dogs are better than other hot dogs? Why are you scared of the greatest hot dog sucker in the history of hot dogs sucking down? It might do better than your people because he's a vegan hot dog guy let the guy suck down dogs is what we're all saying and there's enough time to figure this whole thing out and i hope that we're able to get it accomplished because if i turn that on and i got some bush league fucking hot dog eaters on my TV,

I'm not going to be impressed. If I see somebody put down 15 or 20 and they're in second place, I'm going to know this is crap. Yeah, it's bullshit. This is fucking crap. A.Q. Shipley could do this. Well, he used to be able to do this. You know, Joe Hagley could do this.

Yeah, sure. Zito could potentially pull this off. I feel like I, if you give me the right vitamins, could potentially do that. I need to see the disgusting show that Joey Chestnut does. And that's how you celebrate America. They need to figure this out, AJ. I'm bummed out. Is it possible, though, that Joey

wouldn't eat the beef old school dogs? He wanted to eat his own impossible dogs? Joey said, I'll eat your beef. I'll eat their plants. You don't care. I just want the title. I want to be known. And the Impossible Foods people are like, yeah, we got no problem with Joey winning your contest. He's going to come right back to our plant-based hot dogs as your champion.

So they're probably dangling that over Nathan's head a little bit. And Nathan's CEO was like, we got a fucking vegan hot dog company talking shit to us. No way are we letting this happen. Because imagine if he came walking out dressed as a plant. Oh, boy. I don't think Jaws would do that. Would Jaws do that? What if he came out dressed as a plant?

Brand new Jaws. What plant? This is vegan jokes. See, that's the thing, though. I mean, we could say that Jaws, you know, likes eating vegan hot dogs. I mean, he doesn't give a shit about his health. I just saw the guy fucking wolfing down pints of ice cream the other day at a baseball game. He had

seven pints of ice cream in under two minutes. So, guess what? If you're doing that, eating vegan dogs instead of Nathan's Franks, that ain't doing it for you. And for Nathan's to say a rival hot dog company, nobody's eating those fucking vegan hot dogs. Nobody is.

Nobody is. Let's just, let's call a spade a spade. Nobody. If Ballpark Frank Sky was coming in, then I get it. If Vienna Beef is coming in and doing something, then now we're talking. Yeah, this is bug windshield situation. It is. I don't know a lot of vegans.

That's on me. I apologize. I live in Indiana. It's not on you. I don't know how many there are. There are not many here. Legit. I don't even know if you're allowed to be. Truly. I honestly have no idea. Eat some beef. You're talking to Joey Jaws Chestnut right now? Yeah. But I don't know how many vegans are thinking of them. Once again,

I don't know a lot of them, so this is very hard for me to project. Eat whatever the hell you want to eat. I don't give a fuck. Diaz Brothers, I think. I believe the Diaz Brothers don't eat meat. Yeah, exactly. They can beat the fuck out of everybody. So whatever you want to eat, whatever makes you happy, fucking do it, is how I feel. But I don't know how many vegans are like, you know what, I'll give you a hot dog. Right?

Is that? No. That is not like a meal of choice. They can't sell that many. There's no way they're selling a ton of them. Well, they gave enough money to Joey Jaws, but was that from a funding round, the money? It's for everything, though. I would assume it's not just their hot dogs. They have all kinds of food that they eat.

Oh, so he's just going to destroy their burgers. Because they got Impossible Burgers. I think they did a deal with Burger King. They do like sausage. Is that vegan? Breakfast sausages. Huh? No, is that a vegan ice cream you're using?

Not a chance. When? Is that possible? Is ice cream vegan? Yeah, they have vegan ice cream. It's made with whatever. Tom Brady eats it. Some other animal.

Some fake chemical. Are you milking a cow? Yeah. Have you ever milked a cow? Yeah. I guess I may have. When I was young, when I was a kid, like on a field trip. I've never done the...

With the hands? But I did do the power sucker. You just put it on and... Yep. And all of a sudden, it just starts filling up. What's a cow do during that? Chill. It's actually like relief. They need to, right?

People get real pissed about stealing the milk from a cow, obviously. I'm walking in Phoenix or whatever. Did the award speech about it. We sucked the milk from a mom without her even knowing it, but from the cow that I saw, seemed to be very thrilled that that milk was exiting the udders at the time. Okay, good.

Yeah. I might be allergic to milk, though, at my old age. Really? Lactose? What happens? I don't think so. You can develop it. I don't know.

I just feel like shit after I eat something. I'm not good enough at writing down what I ate each day so that the next day when I wake up and I feel like shit after I eat something. I'm not good enough at writing down what I ate each day so that the next day when I wake up and I feel like shit, I can go back and see a trend. I do think it is potentially a milk thing. You're still eating cereal though, aren't you? No, haven't had cereal in a while.

I'm the same way. Honey Nut Cheerios I've been having. What about ice cream? What if you eat ice cream? You feel bad? When I'm eating ice cream, if I'm eating ice cream on a day, I've already said fuck... What about like ice cream? What if you eat ice cream? You feel bad? But when I'm eating ice cream, if I'm eating ice cream on a day, I've already said fuck it to the whole day. So I'm eating pizza on that day too. And I'm eating other stuff. Waffles, pancakes. Because I'm trying to

not be everyday cheat day. You know? Which is what life used to be. We need to stay away from that. But I'll go get a Blizzard. Extra, extra, extra Oreo. Got that cookie place near you. Oh, it's so good. But when I'm eating that, it's already been a bad day.

So the next morning when I wake up, I'm like, could be. Could be absolutely anything. A thousand different things. It was not vegan ice cream. We just got a piece of information. Yeah, exactly. Oh, this is, where was this at? Some ball game.

This is in Toledo. I was in Toledo last night. Oh, yeah, it was in Toledo. He was at a Mudhands game. That hot dog sitting right next to him, is that a vegan hot dog? Is that what that looks like? It looks like it. It looks shocked.

I would be, too, if I was all plants and I was shaped like a fucking hot dog. That would be terrible to try to eat all this ice cream that fast. Everything he does would be terrible. I told you, he ate pierogies at two different Cleveland Cavaliers games that I was at. That's a good show. It's a halftime show. I saw him drink 13 pints of beer in like 70 seconds or something like that. 70 seconds.

Think about that. 13 pints of beer. Doesn't seem safe. LeBron numbers. Well, how many beers could he bong at one time, you think? Because he has the ability to stretch his stomach. Seven at a time? Get him a big old funnel. Alright, we'll try to figure out an event where we can get him some vegan beer.

Maybe just call in. Are we watching it now? No, no way. I do not give a fuck anymore. Who's the favorite? Probably Eric Badlands-Booker. There it is. He owns the record

for drinking strawberry lemonade and lemonade. He's lemonade drinker. Yeah, he owns the record for drinking strawberry lemonade and lemonade. He'll wolf down some dogs for sure. It'll be close. Good luck. You guys know what you're fighting for. You guys know. Joey was offered a $1.2 million contract, four-year contract

going forward by the Nathan's Hot Dogging Contest, so who knows what impossibles. Okay, so it's like 200 or 300 000 a year he got paid 200 000 last year and then got offered a 1.24 year we uh we just tried to call him he did not answer so we tried to do some journalism there go right to the source and say hey is there enough time to figure this whole thing out so if they're offering them 300 and what 1 000 a year i guess if that's a's 301.5 thousand a year for four years. So that Impossible thing has got to be, what, 500,000?

Got to be. For sure. And the Impossible people want him to do this, though, right? They don't want people being pissed at them for taking Joey out of the competition. If you pay for a professional eater to represent your product, you would like him to professional eat, I would assume, at all the events possible.

Now, how do they feel? It must hurt their soul whenever he's house and wings. Oh, yeah. And burgers. He's not vegan. Or maybe he is. He might be turning. I don't think so.

I mean, I don't know. If Joey Josh Chestnut is a vegan, that would be. Yeah, it'd be a fucking real mind exploder. It's kind of an easy sell, though. It could be like, these are so good. They're like the real thing, right? Who, for Joey Jaws? For Impossible.

Well, yeah, that's... You're talking about their business plan? Exactly, yeah. Yeah, I guess they've been doing that with like Burger King. For sure, yeah. The hayseed farmers. It's not even real beef. It's an Impossible burger.

Oh, yeah. Starbucks. The blind taste test. Yeah, exactly. Definitely, definitely real, yeah. Starbucks. Yeah. The blind taste test. Yeah, exactly. Definitely. Definitely real. Yeah. Those are.

Son of a bitch. Those aren't paid actors or anything. You can tell. Well, at the bottom, they got to say paid actors. Yeah. Yeah. So they're not. If they did catch a cowboy with a vegan burger being scored above an Angus that was on his farm.

Oh, yeah. And they had it on tape. That's what I mean. And they were going to show everybody. That cowboy. That cowboy was having a long night. I mean, there's a lot of conversations happening with that cowboy with that cowboy. For sure.

I'm going to be exposed as a fraud. Everybody's going to attack me. I'm on a whiskey being hammered after those blind taste tests. If they try to do a blind one-two on one of these guys and tell them they're giving them a whopper and then giving them an impossible one and they tell them after the fact, they're getting the shit beat up. Oh, like Buzz Aldrin. Yeah, exactly.

Exactly. They're getting beaten to a pulp. That was fake meat you just said. Exactly. Oh, what's that? Fuck you. All right, you son of a bitch. You got another thing coming and they're probably

killing that person. Beating them to death. Jeez. They don't fuck around with that kind of stuff. They don't. In Texas? You see the fight in the airport? Yeah, it was a good one. Sexy Red. Sexy Red had an entire post. She was about to throw. She was about to blast somebody.

She was, yeah. Sexy Red fresh off an NXT breaking ground appearance at UFC Apex in Vegas. Got caught up in a little bit of a melee. She's there at the bottom. She's there at the bottom. Holding like a bazooka. That hurt so bad. You hit her.

Someone hit you with that. Her getting pushed over and getting tripped and having that thing fall on top of her, obviously. Worst case situation as you're holding a metal object. But she was ready to get down and there's a lot of people going, what the fuck? Didn't I use this door?

We need to use this door. There's a fight we can't use door. Airports have been host to plenty of fights, it seems like. And seemingly everybody's okay. We're happy to hear that. We saw that one dude's cheeks at the beginning of this whole thing.

Yep, right there. And we're happy everybody's okay. I like the wheelchair guy. He goes, I'm going to fucking get out of here. Yep, I'm definitely going to back up. I don't know if she was going to throw that or, like, stab somebody with it. Yeah. But whatever the case, she was ready.

She was certainly ready. And thanks for everybody reacting so quickly and saving lives there, AJ. That one guy did have his Crocs in the right mode. He's got a travel pillow on the ground. Someone's going to pick that up and reuse it. Oh, absolutely. He just got kicked. Oh, all over it. Yeah, a lot of boots on it. That guy lost his shoes, though. Broken in the right mode. See that travel pillow on the ground. Someone's going to pick that up and reuse it. Oh, absolutely. It just got kicked. Oh, all over it.

Yeah, a lot of boots on it. That guy lost his shoes, though. Broken in now, though. Probably makes the pillow more comfy. Maybe that's why they did it. Guy, no chains broke. That's good. See, it wasn't many hand-to-hand combat, because that chain's getting busted immediately if

there's somebody with it. Where were they coming out of? Was that like the little jetway? What was that? It looked like maybe a private thing, right? Maybe a little private. That might be a big elevator. It says no.

Man, I wish she threw that thing. Yeah, what was she going to throw? If you hit somebody in the forehead with that and it was a clean shot. Was that somebody on her team that just pushed her down with that? I don't know. They were trying to hold it back at first. I feel like someone grabbed it. In the gray. Go back to the beginning there. Right when she's.

So, boom. She's holding it. Gray here with dreads, right? I think he's on her team. Yeah. I think he's telling her to kind of get out of the way maybe. Here he comes. No, no.

Don't do this sex. Jesus Christ. Can't have that. Yeah, you're probably right. And then he's going in. I'll do this instead. Hey, good move. Hey do this, Sexy Red. Jesus Christ, can't have that. Yeah, you're probably right. And then he's going in. I'll do this instead. Hey, yeah, good move. Hey, great.

That was good. That was a good move for the team. That was a good move for the entire team. Hopefully everybody's okay, and hopefully Sexy Red does not end up in jail. Let's talk about Mark Messier and Charles Barkley. $5,000. At last night's game, Charles Barkley was just bouncing around, sweet-hopping. I mean, Charles Barkley has gotten to the point in life

where he can show up at anything and do whatever he wants. Congrats to Chuck. You got to earn that. Yes, he did. Everybody's happy to see him. And everybody's happy to see him. And once, hey, come into our box. Yeah, you've seen it in person.

Like, everyone wants to see Chuck. Yeah, seen it at the golf tournament. At these live events on TV, you actually see him just walking suite to suite. Only human in any arena, invited into every suite that they have. And anytime he gets on TV, he is electrifying. Here's a Mark Messier, Charles Barkley story from last night. Welcome to Mark Messier, P.K. Subban,

and the newest member of ESPN's NBA coverage. No, we can't. Hey, Mark owes me $5,000. Are we still doing this? He owes me $5,000. Are we still doing this? He owes me $5,000. He's never paid me. What's up? I took a delay of game.

He was sitting courtside in Canada. That's true. And here's the true story. And I said, that's the real. I need to go talk to the great Mark Messier. He's like, Chuck, you're going to get a delay of game. I said, I don't care. It was the first time I had been around in my life.

He was sitting on the front row. I said, I'll take the fine. So, Mark, you owe me $5,000. Feel free. That was like 25 years ago. We'll play golf for it. You played with Wayne the other day. I know.

I heard all of your golf games. I wonder how expensive your haircut is now. I'm getting better. I played with the great Jason Kelsey and Mike Quick yesterday. It was one of the best days of my life. No tequila. Now Jason Kelsey's just golfing with Charles Boyd. I mean, congrats, Jason Kelsey.

But also, I like that Chuck is so transparent, tells those stories, pays his respect and is beloved. NHL's growing too, AJ. Any type of thing like this is good for the game. Chuck is huge for hockey. I mean, when a guy like that who wasn't always a big hockey fan, when he talks about hockey, you can see how passionate he is and how much he

cares about the sport. When you see Chuck, anything he's doing, he seems to be having a good time. I think he's going to attract people and they're going to say, I might need to check that out, whatever he's talking about. He enjoys every moment and I think he was always a hockey fan because he said 25 years ago, he saw the great Mark Messier and said, I have to go talk to this person.

It's the first time I've ever been around him. Just not publicly. Hockey's in a spot now. Obviously, we saw Shaq Hyman, you know, with the TNT run because TNT hockey and TNT NBA, same studio or studios right next to each other. It's like Charles Barkley talking about it, Shaq talking about it. You get people from outside the hockey world talking about hockey. All of a sudden, it's going through the roof, and Miami is winning. It's like hockey is a real opportunity here to expand quickly, D-Buck.

It is, and playing some good hockey, too. Obviously, Florida, sunrise. A lot of people say Miami. Sunrise, Florida. Of course. I won't jinx it, but it's coming down there, South Florida. Mark Messier was one of those guys that even if you didn't know hockey or follow hockey, like the first time he came on the show when I was on the

lease, my big brother texted me, like, oh, shit, you got Mark Messier? That was like the Michael Jordan of hockey for us growing up. So he was one of those guys that transcended sports. That was a dope story to hear Chuck tell. He had five grand, too, for a delay game. That's nuts. Off a guy's ass. Old TBA.

That was NBA. We're not getting into it. We're not getting into it. We're not getting into it. The NBA refs? I don't think it's the NBA. Oh, yeah. I don't know. We're not talking about it. Let's get out of here. We don't need to do it. Just refs in general. Yeah,

you're right. Good pivot there, Joe. In general, they all stink. TST refs had to be escorted off by police. Makes sense. Oh, they did. Those were like some of the top refs in the MLS. That's absurd. No, Nick, that's a proper response. What? There's no way.

That guy who I went off on is a ref in the MLS. Grella told me. Gumpy got two yellow cards. No, one yellow card. Probably should have got two. First one definitely should have got one. Almost got a red. Yeah, but then we came back, some are saying, you know.

Rally the boys. Yeah, you can't drop the gloves and fight out there, but you can certainly chew out a ref or two. Yeah, Gumby gets a yellow card at halftime of our, not this one. This is regular Rovers. There's no yellow card here. But he should have. And Tony Miola said he would go on the record as saying he had no idea

Gumby was out there. And Gumby said, oh, I said this. And Tony said, that was would go on the record saying he had no idea Gumpy was out there. And Gumpy said, oh, I said this. And Tony said, that was you saying that? He thought it was somebody else. And then the video is just classic. Halftime, not on air. Gumpy wasn't doing it for content. Tony tried to stop me.

I said, I got this one, Tony. That was Tony Miola in that? Yeah, it was Tony Miola. Don't do what you think it was. What do you mean? I just wasn't sure if that was Tony or not. Go back to the video, please. I thought it might have been something.

Hold on. Are we sure? Are we sure? Right there. You pause it there. That might be a mark. It is clearly Tony. That's Tony Miola, American soccer hero.

Could be a brother of. It could be a Tony Caboli, if you will. No, Miola is his name. A cousin, Miola, and yeah, maybe a cousin, sure. Anyways, yeah, this is not right. I mean, it has nothing to do. Oh, come on now. With anything aside from the fact.

Thank you. Look at their nose. He's going to fuck. Maybe the greatest American soccer goalie of all time. Well, yeah, well, that's what I mean. Because he, you know, punched younger brother Mark in the face to fuck up his nose. But look at the ears. I mean, the hair.

There are so many things. The teeth. You look at this photo. There is just a little bit of, like, yeah, they could be. They kind of speak in a similar cadence. They do. Thank you, Nick. I appreciate that very much.

It is not a shot. It is just a statement of fact. Observation. Tony's a handsome Italian-American. And so is Mark. We don't know. I assume Mark is an Italian. I believe he's Polish.

Are you just saying that because of the hats? Talk about maybe the greatest American soccer goalie of all time. He's not better than Tim Howard. Tim Howard had 15 saves against Belgium in the second round. If not for Tony Miola, there might not be Tim Howard. Have we ever seen Caboli in the pipes? Tim Howard and Tony Miola are both from Jersey, so I assume Tim Howard, if you were to ask him about Tony Miola, it would be a full-on song in this.

Yeah, but if we're saying who moves better. What about fucking Brad Guzon? Are we just going to act like he didn't ever... Rude guy. Guzon couldn't hold Miola's water. Jesus Christ. Guy's a legend. Thank you. Miola started the MLS.

Like, just, you know, started it. That's kind of how... He kicked in training camp for the Jets, didn't he? Yeah, the Giants. I think it was the Giants. Maybe it was the Jets. The Jets or the Giants. I was a massive Tony Miola fan, man. I've told this story before. Yeah. I got a chance to hear him tell stories

about the Arena League. He was playing in the Arena League as basically just like a hired gun for these places to sell out these arenas. And the amount of money he was making per game in the Arena League, it was only supposed to go so long. And then they were like,

hey, do you want to extend this? He was like, yeah, I'm playing in the arena. The Nets have to size. They're packed out these arenas. Business is good. They're waiting on the MLS, I think, to start. He was at the perfect time. Legitimately, if every American team would have

had a Tony Miola from that point forward, I think soccer would be at a much higher place. Because he went to work afterwards. They put him on a tour. He was trying to really grow the game. He was trying to be a guy. And getting him back on the sideline this week, it was awesome.

And what you were saying about him on this particular day, it just can't happen. I think your guys' interpretation of my comment is much different than my meaning of my comment. Oh, you're being taken out of context. Yeah, well, I just think that you guys are receiving my comparison as if I am taking a shot at Tony. Oh, this happened to me last week. Yeah, I'm more so.

It was meant to be complimentary. Exactly. Saying Tony Miola looks like Mark Caboli. Who's the one guy that every single time he comes on, everyone's like, let's fucking go? Mark Caboli. I was going to say Tony Miola. Tony Miola as well. Oh, there's another great comparison, Ty. Thank Bolli. I was going to say Tony Miola. Tony Miola as well. Oh, and there's

another great comparison, Ty. Thank you very much. Every time they both come on, everyone loves them. And then, sure, if you just give a quick little double take at those photos, it's like, yep, brothers, don't even have to think about it. And then you look back again, oh no, that's just two guys who love life.

Pull up Miola at the 94 World Cup, please. I know what he used to look like. We don't have a Kaboli look like in 94. It's 2001. I was watching you side by side with that. I got to say, they look like just Kaboli. 30 years ago, they probably didn't look like each other. Kaboli strutting his stuff around town in 1994.

In 94, yeah. King of the ring. All right, I think we're good. Yeah, after he was starting left tackle. Did Gaboy do any of those tough man contests where you get in the boxing gloves and you go and fight? Look at this, dude. He won gold gloves in Pittsburgh. Can we go on with his hair down?

That goalie shirt sold, I don't want to say millions, but maybe for like an entire generation. You go to a soccer tournament and every goalie would be wearing the same exact one. I think there was a blue and green one that was available as well. And they're all wearing it because, time me all. What's that thing say? No power to drugs. No to drugs?

Yeah. No power to drugs. Wow. Is that a sponsorship? Don't give drugs power. That seemed like a missionary potential. I like the Miola on the middle finger on the right. He'd make a big save and he'd flip people off

because he'd be like, who did that? Miola. Miola. Time me all. He'd make a big save and he'd flip people off because he'd be like, who did that? Mule. Mule. Tame Mule. Did he get net at all and let you guys take any shots? No, he didn't. He did not. He was mic'd up every time, though.

And he was delivering great messages, like actual coaching messages. I don't know how many people were listening all the time because he put in some great plays, and I don't know if we ran any of them. We know five guys weren't. We know that for sure. The Arena League boys had their own plays. Sounds good, Tony. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Fuck off. Alright, let's do this. Tony had to reach those. Tony had to reach the whole team. Tony had to reach like Premier League players that had played for 10 years and Arena League bad boys, you know, at the same time. And he was able to do it. Shout out to Tony, American soccer legend.

Maybe let's give him the whistle for the Yeah, gonna need to. The U.S. If they heard that speech, they would have fired Burr Halter immediately and gave him the job. The one immediately after the game? After we lost, yes. Yeah, the way he handled that. Phenomenal. Phenomenal. And then some of his speeches before games, you know, like the day after we had to fight maybe, you know,

which I don't think any of us saw coming. Any of us saw a fight coming out of nowhere. But I guess we should have. Hindsight, we probably should have. The speech that Tony had to give to rally the boys back, guy's a leader. Guy is a leader. Love soccer.

Tony Miole loves soccer. I'm happy to see him back in the world. Hopefully, as we got the Europes coming up and Copa America and then the World Cup, we're going to be talking more about the soccer, Gumpy. I'm excited about this. Yeah, very excited. Friday, Germany, Scotland, and then England's first game Sunday

and Copa starts on the 20th. Okay, here we go. Olympics, too. Olympic soccer as well. Oh, yeah. I forgot about Olympic soccer. We're going to win? Did they leave anybody off the roster?

That's, like, really good. Best young player, yeah. Don't they have that rule in the Olympics? Had too many fans. They said, can't put that person on the roster. Was that with the soccer team? Yeah. It could have happened with another team, too, but I know it happened.

Oh, that's what happened with Messi. Oh, that's why Messi's not on America's team. There it is. Too many fans. Not enough playing time. Not with this team. That's why the MLS is so upset Messi came, because there's too many fans now. Yeah, I don't want eyes on him.

They're making too much money. Yeah. That's why everyone in the league's fouling him really hard. Yeah. I can't do it. No point. Don't do it.'t do it No point Don't do it The universe told you Twice

You're a fucking idiot, don't do it How am I the idiot in this situation Just as it's unfolding I don't know That's a real reflective moment for yourself You know When you look at what's happening and everything being said, and you're the dumbest one, allegedly.

That's phenomenal. I don't know how that whole thing happens. But that's on me, and we're going to continue to get better. So many dumb fucking things are being said about that. I can't. I just can't. One thing after another. Every day it gets dumber.

Every day it gets dumber. So I'm like, is there no brains? Are there no... I'm the worst of them all, though. That's why it's not worth talking about. Why does that make me? What does that make me? It's a dead time.

It's kind of a dead time. That's a part of it, I would think, too. I mean, I can't wait for the new Face of the League conversation around fucking Nathan's hot dogs now that Chestnut's out. Yeah, you're right. All right, who's going to be the face of the league? Let's get back to that. Who's going to be the face of the league?

We need to figure out how to get the vegan boys with the beef boys for the 4th of July because that's America. Everybody coming together. Melt the pot. That's what it's all about. Just like this particular program. We can't thank you enough for watching and listening wherever the hell you may be. You're the greatest people on earth. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. We're in this thing together.

Team all me. Team all three. 1, 2, 3, team! Goodbye!