The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 1172 - Feel Good Friday With MNF Rules Analyst Russell Yurk, Ice Cube, Troy Aikman, Mike Florio, Pacman Jones, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: August 2, 2024

On today’s show, Pat, Pacman Jones, AJ Hawk, and the boys chat about last night’s Hall of Fame game between the Bears and Texans, and the new kickoff rule that was instituted last night, as well as everything going on in the Olympics, and the sports world as a whole. Also joining the show is 4 incredible guests including new Monday Night Football Rules analyst, Russell Yurk, one of the greatest entertainers of all-time and creator of the Big 3, Ice Cube, 3x Super Bowl Champion, College and Pro Football Hall of Famer, Super Bowl MVP, 6x Pro Bowl, and color commentator for Monday Night Football, Troy Aikman, and owner and creator of Pro Football Talk, Mike Florio to summarize the NFL and Sunday Ticket lawsuit. 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 on Monday. Cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello beautiful people, and welcome to our Humble Abode, the Thunderdome, on this feel-good Friday, August 2nd, 2024. This program starts now! Football! Holy hell, it is back! That's right, last night the NFL Hall of Fame game kicked off the NFL season officially. Now, were there many players that we knew playing on that particular field? Kinda! A bit. Kinda! unofficially. Now, were there many players that we knew playing on that particular field? Kinda. A little bit. Kinda. Was there a new player that we learned about named Colin

Johnson who might be an absolute weapon for the Chicago Bears? Definitely. Did we see NFL legends give interviews? Of course. Did we see Joe Buck and Troy Aikman do their thing and hear everything that they had to do? Did we get introduced to a new rules expert? Yeah. Who'll be joining us in about 14 minutes or so

to talk about the brand new kickoff that got debuted last night and also showcasing this is what will happen if wind was to take place or if this was to take place. Well, I watched that first kickoff just like everybody else. I put out a tweet once the NFL tweeted out the first kickoff and said, thoughts to just, you know, the X-verse sure which is a fun thing to do just kind of blanket statement thoughts how do you feel about this not leading anybody in any particular direction no just would like to get natural thoughts natural reaction to the first ever time we're seeing this kickoff as the brand new kickoff for the biggest best league in the world the nfl now there was obviously a conversation about the kickoff being removed from the game completely if the special teams coordinators did not figure out how to save

the play. And if you lose the kickoff, what's going to happen to punt? What's going to happen to special teams? That was kind of the ripple effect fear that people were having if you lost the kickoff. So the special teams coordinators around the NFL came together, watched what the XFL did, kind of critiqued it a little bit, made it a little bit more NFL-y, but mostly the XFL return. They changed some of the arches on kickoff, touchbacks in the landing zone, yada, yada, yada. And we saw it for the first time last night.

A lot of people's thoughts were fascinating. A lot of people said, I haven't seen enough to judge it. I respected that. I really appreciated it. I really enjoyed it. Yeah, that was good civil discourse right there. There were some people that said, this ain't football. Then there were some people that were saying,

you know what? I don't mind this. I think you could see the potential. Last night, a lot of XFL guys playing in that game. So the returns and the work is going to look exactly like it did in the XFL. We won't really know what this kickoff is going to look like until we see guys with four twos and four threes returning the kicks in the back and alongside blocking it all. Now the Canton surface is a little slick. It is a turf. Obviously, it's a high school field. The people of Ohio are wonderful.

They fill that place up. It is a real celebration. And the game got called short, so we don't know who would have ended up winning. But both the teams played great. But the kickoff was the story of this entire thing. If you go to the first kickoff, okay, this is my big takeaway from this thing. If we could put it on this back. If you go to the first kickoff, okay, this is my big takeaway from this thing.

If we could put it on his back. So, and next to me here is 13-year NFL vet corner and all-pro kickoff and punt returner, Adam Pacman Jones. Pacman, you can't do that way if you want to say hello to anybody. Hey, yep, that's Pacman Jones. Okay, so this is obviously very crucial to both of our careers. Now, one of us has tackled the other person in this shot right now. Good to know. Do you want any guesses? I'm trying to think. When did Pac-Man kick off?

I was going to say, you returned a couple of kicks, didn't you? Yeah, I played wide receiver a little bit. Quarterback? Yeah, running back. If he was playing corner, maybe, when you were a quarterback. The thing about it was, Pac-Man was about to score on us. He was about to break through there first, and I was in there. And I was going for the ball, too. I was going for the ball, too. There's no ball too there's no way right tayvon austin

took 198 on me okay on the same day that i was giving a toyota to a family of a returning soldier at halftime tayvon austin took 198 yards that was supposed to be a pin tayvon austin west virginia legend highlight legend takes one house can't be having the entire west virginia crew just take one you know on my face. Yeah, makes sense. Can't have it. Now, needed a fair catch. Son of a bitch wouldn't fair catch ever this particular guy.

So, you know, good gamesmanship, but all pro, literally. Talked about as one of the biggest and best returners of all time. So this is the first time we're seeing this kickoff, okay? So the big question with it all is there's a landing zone here. Okay, I don't know if you can hear me. There's a landing zone right here. Okay, ball has to go in there, obviously. Hang time does not matter.

Hang time does not matter at all. Because this play does not start until somebody touches the ball. So how long it's up here to give your team time to get in there does not matter. All this kicker who's all the way back, this looks kind of weird. I don't love it. Yeah, it does. I don't love the way, you know, this whole thing kind of looks. But all this kicker's trying to do is land it here, okay?

This is the goal, landing it in between the 5 and 10. That's landing it, not where they catch it. Landing it. Because if that son of a bitch lands here, that ball's coming out already to 30. So if you're trying to cover and work, you're trying to land it in between the 5 and the goal line. Hang time does not matter. So then the next question is, okay, with the landing zone, two people back, these guys aren't allowed to move.

Who's telling these people when they're allowed to go cover? Like, when are they allowed to go? And we talked to Coach Riz as he was pitching this rule to the NFL. They said they didn't want what the XFL does. The XFL would blow a whistle.

This play has started. They touch the ball. You can go blow a whistle to kick, blow a whistle when ball's touched, blow a whistle when tackle happens. Too much. Three whistles, one play. Play in between the whistles. There's a lot against football in that particular series of events. I know other sports have it where

there's a whistle that indicates something in the middle of a play. I think the NFL people did not want to add an extra whistle. So what they were going to go off of, and Joe Buck pitches, we'll be talking to Troy Aikman in about an hour and 10 minutes, so live from Canton Hall of Fame, everything he's got going on on the call last night, is they're expecting it to be like in baseball when somebody tags up or whatever. So somebody catches a fly ball, they catch it, and then the runner knows that they can go and score. Now that's been in baseball since the beginning of time, okay? For kickoff coverage, there's never been a time where you are, because you're about to, you know, this is like a lot of contact, a lot

of running, a lot of everything, a lot of energy. Are you going to make the team? You're covering kicks right now, so you're at the bottom of the roster. You need to know that anyways. So, are you going to be able to hold your water and also get off on the right time when somebody just catches the ball and you just see them catch the ball and then you're like, it's on me, I'm going to wait. I think that's asking a lot of the kickoff coverage team. So that was my big fear. It's like, how are we going to indicate when they can start covering

and not covering? Because if you're laid off the ball and they're able to set up a return, house call. But on the flip side, if you're early you're making the attack this is the first one look at that go ahead and play it guess who makes the tackle boom that guy's first one off the ball right who makes the tackle bang that guy right that's going to be an advantage did he leave early absolutely he was the first person off the ball before the ball was caught. He has a yard

head start on everybody else. He ends up making the tackle. So naturally, as somebody who sat in special teams meetings, and Pac-Man can attest to this, people are going to see this film and everybody that's going to be trying to make a roster at the bottom of the thing is going to be like, oh, they'll give you a little bit. They'll give you a little bit beforehand. And if you're the first one off the ball, you're going to make the play. You make the play, guess what you make? The team. Which means what? You make money, which is all anybody is really looking for. So I don't think they had that figured out in the first half. So then they go at halftime. They come out in the second half. Let's go to the opening kick of the second half. Okay.

Tommy Townsend, who slaughters football, had a 63-yard punt last night. It was his first punt. He is multiple-time Super Bowl champion at this point. Just dog-added to the Houston Texans, which I don't like. I don't like that they just keep getting better at every fucking position, it seems like, down there in Houston. They were supposed to be terrible. This team was supposed to be but nonetheless, let's move forward.

Fairbairn is kicking off here. This is the first kickoff of the second half. Go ahead and run it. Three steps. If it's windy, the 12th player can come on and hold it. Tommy's supposed to get the 12th player could come on and hold it tommy's supposed to get the t instead waves to his family he's gonna have to get through that entire thing they have this kickoff this is the furthest return i think that there was out to like the 32 everything else was in between the 20 and 30 from what i saw i might have missed at least one of them a lot of high scoring stuff and they called a penalty on that though they said that uh the the somebody illegal formation somebody left the line early. They would run replay.

Nobody left early. But it was clear that at halftime, somebody told ref, hey, listen, we got to call people even early because that can't become the thing. I have no idea how they fixed that. I have no idea. With human instinct, the competitive edge, what's on the line for every single one of these plays, how every single one can become a touchdown, which Pac-Man is going to talk about here in a matter of moments but like let's say it's a super bowl but it's a super bowl uh minute 15 left it's a crucial play big biggest play you're talking about biggest play and how are they going to monitor if somebody is even if you're one foot past that's a third of a yard here in america i know we're going off meters and shit for the Olympics, but a yard is three feet. Even if you're one foot, that's a one foot

advantage off early. Are they going to call that? If that's a tackle inside the 15, are they going to call that back and have them redo it? If it's a house call, are they going to talk about one of the returning teams leaving a half a step early? That's going to be

in my eyes, as kickoff person special teams person that one's gonna be the toughest to figure out that one's gonna be toughest to regulate other than that though i think there's a lot of promise for these returners legitimately i think it's gonna bring some excitement if people are kicking it into the landing zone for the returners i think this is great um yeah it that is an issue with the guys to leave early me personally i think it should be like a shot clock horn, I guess, sound for when they can go. But as returners, if it was the first kickoff return, I think it was a block away from being up out of there. Even the last one, too.

So the returners are going to be happy because they are going to get more action with the ball. I think they're going to be able to have exciting returns for sure which leads me to i think touchback take the ball to 30 as opposed to a potential breakthrough one line yeah the original rule was if you kick the touch back the ball would come out to 35 that's a big deal big the percentages of scoring a point whenever you're at the 35 first at the 25 vastly different because think about how many first downs you got to get to to get into scoring range like that is field position that is literally what kickers kickoff people and punters are doing is field position and the percentages of where they start versus how many times they score is just vastly different between 35 which what used to be a touchback 20

25 30 even 30 is a is kind of an interesting designation because couple first downs you're in maybe field goal range 35 couple first downs definitely send're in maybe field goal range. 35, a couple first downs, definitely send them out. So it's like they were going to have it be a 35-yard penalty if you kick a touchback. So forcing people to kick it in the landing zone, they moved it back to 30 to get the rule. I don't think there's going to be much change. I think you're going to see a lot of touchbacks because of what Pac-Man just said.

All you need is one person just to peek or be laid off the ball, and we got house calls, which is exactly why they wanted this to be the kickoff return. I'm just not 100% sure if we'll see it or not. Yeah, and I think that was my biggest takeaway. I don't want to say concern because obviously that's part of it. We want more excitement from the kickoff. But thinking of Tyreek Hill back there,

I think they want more touchdowns. I don't think I just, I personally, it would be weird. What if they do this and they don't make many changes to it and Tyreek Hill ends up taking 12 back this year? I don't want it to turn into a situation where it's like almost every single play is a return touchdown. It's just touchbacks. What I think is going to happen.

And I think that's why they're going to go to that. I think the 30 isn't a big enough penalty for post-touchback. Personally, I don't think it is. Just whenever you look at the percentages of scoring. But I think that was the only way they were going to get it past some of the owners that were probably voting on this rule. Wait a minute. This is going to be what our kickoff is? Well, yeah, it's going to force more returns.

It's going to take it to the 35. Somebody said, wait, a 30? We're just going to give up the 35? Somebody kicks it too good? Somebody kicks it too hard? We're not going to do that. They move it to the 30. I'm not sure.

But in theory, this is awesome. Looking at it optically, I think it's going to take that. They moved to 30. I'm not sure. But in theory, this is awesome. Looking at it optically, I think it's going to take some time for people to- It's going to take some time. Because it looks like a practice, which is what it was. This was a practice drill for the last 30 years in the NFL for kickoff coverage whenever you don't want to run the team as far. So let's say it's week 15. Thursday practice. Thursday practice, we're doing kickoffs.

Guys, boys are tired. Our bye week was early. We're doing this entire thing. We got to cover kicks, though. You don't want them running from 30-yard line, 35-yard line all the way down. So you just move everybody down to like 35, 40 on the other side. Then a jugs machine hits the ball. Whenever it's caught, everybody move on it.

This is literally what the practice drill has been for 40 years the xfo instituted it into the game but they invented it basically did all right there was a little bit of a campaign by some people over there acting as if they created the entire thing but they were the first ones to institute it yeah so i think that is something and then they had the medical results and the health results and the injury results from it and then that obviously gets pitched and turned into it it could be more exciting the kickers having to make like 25 of the tackles is pretty cool yeah that's a pretty cool thing to think about you know because uh i think we're gonna find out about some dogs that are kicking balls oh yeah now on the flip side i do worry yeah like the giants had randy bullock starting week 15 last year he brings the heat

and i i do worry about about that Like, if your kicker goes down, you're on a backup free agent that you just signed kicker, and then he's out there, you know, tackling people. So the thing is, because you don't have to hit the ball good. How hard do you think it is to keep it out of the end zone? In that landing zone. Yeah, so it's like 20 yards long. And with some of these guys who aren't kickers, who kick off,

I think the dude down in, was it Justin Reed hit a touchback? Yeah. I think he hit a touchback. That's very abnormal. Normally, whenever you see somebody from a position who played soccer growing up, who understands how to kick a linebacker or safety or corner, wide receiver, whatever it is, I think like dude perfect – you know how dude perfect is like, all right, let me throw this football as far as I can.

Okay, that's how far I can throw it. Let's put something in there. Wait, they do that? Well, I think that's just one of their strategies. They've openly talked about that. I think that that is the thing. With some of these positional players, with the way they kick, I think full kick gets them in the landing zone.

I think them just kicking it gets them in the landing zone. But if you mishit that because you're not a professional kicker and you accidentally squib it which certainly happens with people that pulls out on the 40th yeah that pulls out on the 40 or whatever so it's like trying to manage risk reward with all of it is like and it's the first time it's happening so many special teams coordinators were watching this last night just thinking to themselves like how can i take advantage of this what are they trying to do and also is this even comparable because the returners are not the returners that you're probably going to see this season?

So that is the story for me of the kickoff is how they're going to manage how this neutral zone and a kickoff team and a coverage team don't move before the ball is touched. And not too late of a getoff either. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, a brand new rules authority for us in the public, but somebody who's been around the NFL for 15 years. Made his debut last night alongside Joe Buck

and a man who's a big fan of him, Troy Aikman. Ladies and gentlemen, Russell York. Howdy, baby. Hey, Russ. How you doing, Russ? Hey, great to be here. Hey, honored to have you. Great debut last night.

How'd you feel up there? A little jitters maybe? You know, got a lot of eyes on you kicking off the season. You're in there with two Hall of Famers. Joe, obviously, in Broadcast Hall of Fame. Troy, actually in the NFL Hall of Fame and Broadcast Hall of Fame. Then you get dropped in there as the rules aficionado with, oh yeah, the biggest change seemingly in the history of football happening at the very start of it with the kickoff.

How'd you feel going in and how do you feel going into the season russ absolutely great i mean joe and troy are amazing they really uh you know kind of helped me uh to kind of understand the broadcast side of things obviously i know the football side of thing the broadcast side was a little new so like you said little jitters but great team great preparation couldn't have asked for a better group of guys all right well congratulations on a great night. Got cut short. Obviously, we couldn't get too much football. You know, they said we still got to keep waiting with the rain and the universe.

It'll still be a great Hall of Fame weekend in Canton, Ohio. Obviously, all conversation has been about this new kickoff. Now, Colin Johnson, absolute dog. Dougie Davis-Mills still doing his thing. Obviously, those are going to be conversations from the game, and those will be forgotten in about two, three weeks. But this kickoff thing is going to be talked about for the entirety of the season as it goes.

First kickoff, I was watching at home. I assume you were watching as well. As a kickoff person, I assume because we've done this drill in practice, if you get an early start like the guy who makes the tackle did, he was off before everybody else, you're going to have quite an advantage. And I know that the NFL didn't want to use a whistle to indicate that the ball has been touched for everybody to go. How are they actually telling people they can go? And how is this going to kind of evolve through the season, you think, Russ? Yeah, the players are watching for the ball.

I think the receiving team players were initially going to be keying off the kicking team players, but my understanding is that gives them a little bit of a delay. So some of them you saw looking back last night as well, and they can, you know, move. They can prepare to go downfield. They just can't take their feet off the ground before the ball is touched, and so I think they're going to get better and better with that over training camp and as the season progresses, and generally they did a good job last night. There were a few fouls where they left early, but not many. So they can prepare. So long as one foot on the ground. You've got to say base, right? You've got to have foot on line too, right?

On yard line? One foot on the yard line and both feet on the ground until the ball is touched or the ball touches the ground. Some guys would get into some sort of a lunge stance beforehand to try to be ready to go right when the ball is touched. So there's a lot to that. Okay, so how are they going to monitor it? You said the guys were pretty good last night. On the first one, there was an offside.

Second half, kickoff, they called an illegal formation. But then we looked back, it was like, not really. Are they just banking on that guys will do it right? Because let's say, I just want to toss a hypothetical out there. Welcome to sports media, Russ. Obviously, you've watched this. Hypothetical. Super Bowl.

Minute 15 left in the game. Biggest play. Minute 15 left in the game. Up two or whatever. Somebody is a foot leaning over or gone on both sides. But massive play just happens. They're going to call that back? Like, how are they going to monitor?

Let's not just say Super Bowl. Let's say every that back like how are they going to monitor let's not just say super let's say every single game how are they going to monitor it they got and how do the refs on the side that are going to be the ones tasked with saying if anybody's offsides or not do they just get like a go sign or sound from somebody how is it kind of being officiated if that makes sense no one question yeah and and one thing you noticed last night is unlike normal kickoffs in the past in normal scrimmage plays, there were no officials on the actual lines where the players were lining up the 35 and 40. They're either in front of them or behind them. So what they're doing is they're looking at the feet on the ground while peripherally watching the play and seeing when the balls touched. And they're not going to be hyper technical on this.

Right. play and seeing when the ball's touched and and they're not going to be hyper technical on this right just like you might have players on a line of scrimmage for potential false starts that you know might leave a fraction of a second early nobody wants that call uh you know so they're looking for the big ones they're going to get the big ones and you know i i assume they'll call it the same in the playoffs and in the super bowls they do in the regular season uh so there'll be a little leniency there it's not the nfl's fault not your fault that you're telling us this information but the conspiracy fodder oh yeah it's gonna be you know that's just the game we're in with how popular it is and how literally you

know everything is like this much of a difference on whether or not your city is able to celebrate or your city is bummed out for either the week or the entire off season so it's like there's going to be any time you got – because those show – oh, my God, the amount of – so you're telling me? Yeah, you're kidding me? The amount of those that's going to take place as everybody kind of gets used to it I think is inevitable. But I like the fact that the NFL is trying to save the kickoff,

which I think should be the overwhelming response by everybody. Connor has a question for you, Russ. Yeah, Russ, obviously the biggest one is the kickoff. But are there other new rules you think that will bring conversation this year, whether it's reviewing penalties or anything like that, that we're not really paying attention to now, but once the games start might bring some sort of fodder during the season? that teams now can challenge a third time if they're successful on either of their first two, because in the past, they had to win both of their first two to have a third challenge. So I think they're going to be more apt to challenge, especially late in the game, and not be afraid of not having a third challenge down the stretch. So I think that's one that's going to be big. Another one that will come into play once in a while is when a runner's

near the sideline and if they're hit, like we saw with Kansas City last year and Patrick Mahomes, if they throw a flag for a late hit out of bounds and it turns out that the contact was inbounds, replay can help with that and help pick up that flag. So you're going to see some things like that that will happen from time to time, but they will be pretty impactful when they occur. Are they just radioing down like immediately or is that something more so where you actually have to throw the challenge flag on those sideline hits? No, that's something that they'll be radioed down from the booth. How much more booths? So we're going to have a little bit more booth action. Good. Good. That's good news, right? Don't you all agree that that's good news russ yes without a doubt i mean you there the replay officials there to help them when they can see

things on the camera that everybody sees at home why not be able to help it in real real time you were right there uh review replay one of the you were the guy right yeah i was a replay official uh as part of a crew and i also then ran uh, was the head of replay for six years in the office. and like replay refs almost wanted to try to make the refs on field look good to maybe make them feel good so that there isn't a beef because these refs obviously work their asses off oh now we got somebody in the booth who's saying that i'm wrong this whole like managing that relationship has that been a thing and are refs more apt to be open to technology helping them make the right call as opposed to maybe whenever this first got instituted? Great question. That's absolutely changed. 15, 20, 25 years ago when replay first came in,

you're right. On-field officials saw replay as just a way to expose their errors. Now they've really kind of brought them in as part of the crew, no different than the on-field officials, to help them get it right. And they've really embraced the technology. They've embraced the communication. They want that information. And've really embraced the technology. They've embraced the communication. They want that information. They realize at the end of the day, a better officiated game makes everybody look better. That's a big deal. Whenever we talk about humans, man, especially

if you're a ref, the confidence you have to have is near cockiness. It has to be. You have to be very prideful. Because you're walking into hell potentially every single week. And nobody's there for you. Unless you screw over the other side, then you're on their side. But lo and behold, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

They hate you on the other side. So the amount of chutzpah like the refs have to have, that's tough for them to maybe hear that they're wrong, especially from some, like that's, I think that's a big deal for humans to get to the point where it's like, we will use the 8K technology that we have to help us, and it'll be a teammate as opposed to somebody who's trying to take our jobs. I love it.

I love everything about it, Russ. Pac-Man has a question for you, Russ. Hey, Russ, going back to the kickoff, can you challenge it? What's the rules on challenging it if I think the guy's offside or not offside? You can challenge when the ball is touched, if it touched a player, if it touched the ground, and where it touched it in relation to the various lines. You know, that'd probably be most relevant for whether it got to the 20 for purposes of treating it like a kickoff out of bounds or whether it touched in the end zone or in the

field of play for where we put the ball in touchback. But you can't challenge whether a player left early. If they lined up with a foot on the line with both feet on the ground, whether a foot came off the ground before the ball was touched, just like illegal formations on normal scrimmage plays or false starts that's not reviewable and that's not something they'll get assistance usually from upstairs on and so ross there's gonna be some people man ross is that going to be after extended conversation calls though potentially reversed because we know what extended conversation means right that means we are getting a little bit of assistance from everybody yep okay yeah i mean it's

at some point if things occur the the league is flexible on that especially on assistance the the officiating department works very closely with the competition committee and if they need to you know pull the owner together to modify the rule they can do that at the end of the day they want to get this right they want the kickoff to work and they're going to do what they need to do to make sure it works i yeah i hope they do too to save it all because you know what happens next if they don't but it's like just knowing the humans personality traits of the humans that are on those kickoff teams like their bottom of roster they're trying to make it so like just the depending on them to like in baseball when the guy catches it to tag up which is kind

of taught since you're like a little kid i think that's going to be an interesting kind of development. And I completely understand why they don't want three whistles for one play either because that's not really interesting. They'll figure it out though. We will figure it out because we need to figure it out. Yeah, baseball, there's also a guy standing next to you that's telling you exactly when to go. Go, go, go.

Yeah, very close to him. There's a coach on the field next to you. But we'll figure it out. Of course, always do. There's something else new coming that is a big deal and been talked about for a while. Let's head to Hammer. Don, Don.

With Tone Diggs, Russ. Yeah, Russell, you talked about the adaptation of technology and the acceptance of that. Where are we at with the Hawkeye technology and potentially replacing the chain gang for the first down markers? Oh, that's a great question. I mean, they're installing those cameras now, and they're practicing it in the preseason, so they're going to do a test throughout the preseason to see if it works. I think they're going to probably, if it does work, institute it next year in 2025. I don't

necessarily know that they're going to be putting in for the 2024 regular season, but it's actually really cool because the change will still be on the sideline, but when the referee calls for a measurement, you know, they'll announce that they're calling for measurement, maybe make a signal, and then like you see in tennis, they'll go to a graphic on the screen and in the stadium that will, you know, come down and show the ball relation to the line to gain, and whether it's a first down and if it's short by how much. Looks really cool. Russ.

Looks cool. In theory, all this shit is so good. We're just talking about from the world we live in, which is like the internet. Can you trust me? Yeah, bingo. That's the whole – That's like everything is now like –

and I guess that's going to be no matter what happens, but it's like I'm very pumped for the Hawkeye technology to come in there. That's an expedite. That should be a big time. That should be a make the game better. How about the reviews? You know, it feels like with the conversation from the booth a little bit more in the years and maybe a little bit more

conversation, the review times have seemingly gone down, but there's a couple in your I mean, this is literally your department. There's been a couple of the, do not take any offense to this. Your job is much harder than any of ours who judge you. And I assume we have said things that you have heard that you don't love. And we apologize for that. We do. Russ, thank you for your service

to the NFL. But we do apologize for anything we've said that we might not fully understand. And that's across the board. Now, with that being said, these reviews, sometimes too long. We agree. Like, if everybody on the Internet seemingly can agree on something quicker than what's happening in real time in the reviews,

like, that's not good because the Internet doesn't agree on anything. So it's like, that's always been a chatter. How are they expediting that process? Because I know that the reviews at the beginning, the reason why some older NFL fans didn't like it, is you're slowing up the game. You're slowing up the game you're slowing up the game it's like have we gotten to a point where we think those are going to be much quicker and

we've kind of worked out how the best process is to get to the right answer quicker i do and and hawkeye is also you know helping to put together a system where they furnish the uh the you know new york the amgc and the replay officials at the stadium, all the different camera angles in real time. So what that allows them to do is get to the angles quicker. They're working together so they can make decisions quicker. And I agree with you. If there's not something clear and obvious in 60 seconds or so, which is what the rule book technically says, then stay with the ruling on the field. It's not clear and obvious. Let's move on. Now, with that being said,

if it seems like common sense, yeah, we also need that, but then we don't need it in big situations to screw it. I mean, it's a never-ending dog chasing its tail that you guys have to figure out, but we do appreciate the striving for making it better. How are the players going to see third down? Say if I'm

sitting on a route, if they got the smart thing. They'll still have got the smart thing they'll still have sticks yeah they will still have stick right sticks are still there it's just not the chain in between they used to get tied up in knots correct the sticks will still actually the chain will still be out there the sticks will still be on the sideline with the chain one so the players and the teams understand where the line to gain is but two if for some reason that technology fails, they can still bring out the chains in that situation and measure. Handy dandy. Hey, I'm happy the chain guys

still got a gig. Let's go, chain guys. You made it. I'm making it to the streaming era of the NFL. Unbelievable. That has to be... The odds on that.

It has to be plus 100,000. At least. At least when those things were just trotting. Lasers. Trotting out there with those. Microchips. And then they would get tied up in a knot

and we gotta put this little plastic thing this is the exact art and then you had Gene Steratore oh my god, what a time congrats to Jenga hats off to them way to go now they're old faithful

that's good news last question for you Russ, we appreciate you taking time are you still in Canton or do you travel home already? Yeah, no, I'm in Canton. I'm getting ready to go to the airport now and fly back home. We appreciate you taking time. Ty has a question for you. Last one. Russell, in the last couple years we've heard the points of

emphasis that the referees are kind of focused on going into the year and whether it's been defensive pass interference or roughing the passer. It seems like early in the season those get called quite a bit just to kind of set the tone. do you know what the point of emphasis that the referees are going to be focusing on this year is going to be so we kind of have an idea what kind of calls might be called a bunch through the first six weeks or so of the season i mean i think they're still looking like they do most years at illegal contact when you have, you know, illegal chucking downfield.

That's a point of emphasis, has been for years, and is something they're emphasizing again this year. And also the difference between defensive holding and defensive pass interference when a ball's in the air versus when the hold happens before the ball's thrown. And so understanding that two-step process, because what officials need to do is they need to see the action, then they need to sometimes just turn their head and look back at the quarterback and see if the ball's in the air.

Just reemphasizing that, I think, is going to be a big part. All right, Russ, have an incredible season. We appreciate you. What a show, Monday Night Football, every single week. You're going to be A. Back in it. Will you stop by if there's any shit that pops off? Absolutely. Wouldn't miss it. it okay we really appreciate that because i feel like and i

don't know what the conversation is in the official world about us i do feel like we pay attention to officials and rules maybe more than any other show in the history of the sport no doubt because we know we know you are a, massive part of the game and the outcome. And there is phenomenal refs out there. Phenomenal refs out there. But then also there's situations where humans potentially make mistakes and then somehow we're not able to fix it and the whole world talks about it. So if we were able to have you come on 15 years in this thing,

you would know better than us. We appreciate the hell out of that. Thank you. Absolutely. Big fans. Okay. There you go. Hell yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, Russell Yur that. There you go. Hell yeah.

Ladies and gentlemen, Russell Yurk. Hey, Russ. Some of them are. No. No, no. We got one. Some of them are. We got one.

I know Big Walt. Yeah. Gene. Big Walt. Sterators. Pison. Been a fan since high school. Pereira.

That's Western Pennsylvania Italian. Pereira. Pereira. Seemingly. Big fan. Dean Blantino. And Cleet Blankman, maybe. Pereira is seemingly a big fan. Dean Blantino. And Cleet Blankman, maybe. Cleet likes us.

Yeah, I know Cleet pretty well. I forget what his last name is. Cleet something. I think it's Blake. Yeah, it's Blake Blankman. I think it's Blakeman. John Hussey. Hussey on the call last night.

Hussey's got good pizzazz. Hussey's very comfortable on the field, which is a massive piece of being a white cat, by the way, because you've got a solo shot. You know, they give out those stats how many people are watching. 48 million people watched the game yesterday. Oh, football's killing it. Yeah, but there's a 45-second period where it's one human

representing all the football, like not just the league, representing all the football right here. Why is what league. Representing all the football right here. Why is what's happening in front of me happening in front of me? And what are the penalties for it? So the refs that have a little pizzazz, a little moxie, are the ones that we all like.

But also, they're the ones that get plucked and put on TV. Bingo. So that's a whole other issue that needs to be talked about. Because, like, Gene Steratore. Best in the business. Everybody talk about Ed Hockley.

Obviously, Ed Hockley is a beast. He was awesome. He was. Great personality. Yeah. Knew how to control the flow of game, which I think is a big part of it all. Like, talking to players. Yeah.

Hey, see you doing it. We're here and you're doing it. Like, come on. Come on, come on, come on. We see it. We understand what you're doing. Let's move on. Just like Gene Steratore, though.

Like, Ed Hockley, obviously, because he was jacked. Gene just seemingly was born to be a white cat. Be a ref. And I know he's college basketball. He refs. And his father was a referee. And his brother was a referee. And his boy is a referee.

Like he comes from the family. But whenever they take him off the field, I think we all are very. Oh, yeah. Like we need to not only the way he speaks and the casualness of like, we're done here, thank you. And then he turns off his mic, he's so in control of everything. It's good for football. When football has somebody that's confident talking about it and like explaining it well

in a expedited time, it's just good for ball. I'm excited to see the new white caps out there and them shit their pants. Personal foul. 64. They screw up the way. Hold on. What number? 64.

64 offense. Shit. 15-yard penalty. First to 25. Take the hat off. And then just quit yeah give it to someone else think about they know that there's 50 million people oh yeah and they got to deliver a promo now all of a sudden and get it right you get it wrong there's not only like fans pissed now there's gambling mark i mean just hey a lot of technology let's go to hammer dad

tone a lot of technology being used. And obviously we like that. We like technology being used. I like the fact that 8K cameras are being used that can slow things down very quickly, better than a human eye can, so we can assist those officials in getting calls right. But boy, that's all gonna lead to just, oh, Hawkeye's in charge of what, what, what, and what?

Whoa, did you know that the founder of Hawkeye was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Like, that's the type of shit that's going to come from this. But I think, ultimately, the game is going to get better. The games are going to get faster, I think. And with this new kickoff, hopefully more exciting.

Speaking of exciting, we've come to a new time in the Olympics, Tone. Yeah. Track time is here. What else do we need to be looking at at the Olympics, Tone? Yesterday was a huge day for the U.S. overall. They had seven medals total. Four of those medals were gold. We talked

about yesterday the four minus the Coxman and the Rowing, who brought home the first medal in 64 years to start off the day. And then in foil, anybody know what foil is? Yeah, absolutely. Fencing of sorts. Bingo. It's team fencing. We got a gold in that one, so that was huge yesterday. Hold on, Tone.

Hold on, Tone, though. That was in the women's, right? Yes. So in fencing, we want one, two. Yep. Gold and silver. Yep. And then our team goes gold.

Our women are the best fucking sword fighters on earth. By far. Yep. Got the medal. Got the resume. We are good if we end up in that type of situation. Shout out to them. Kicking ass. Sorry, Tone. I just thought that...

1-2 and team is like a full... Like SUNY. We go 1-3 and team. We run it. We run that shit. We need to celebrate the hell out of that, I think. That's huge. We also got a gold in the pool, which is something we've ran for a long, long, long time. The 200-meter breast, Kate Douglas won that one.

And then, obviously, Simone brought home the all-around gold, which you just referenced yesterday. There has been some medals today so far as well. We've got a bronze in mixed archery. Okay. America? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. U.S.

Let's go. Love it. I'm not speaking for Italy here. I'm speaking for the US. Well, what about... Does Guinea have any of those? I have no ties to Guinea. We got a silver in equestrian today, so that was sweet as well.

And a bronze in sailing as well today. We have boats and swords. We got the best pirates in the world. Boats, swords. What else do we need? Boats, swords, what else do we need? Boats, swords, archery. Sounds like we're in there. Rum drinking, I bet.

Oh, we're in there. Whiskey drinking, definitely. Without a doubt. I don't know what equates to that one. We're going to get pirated into the Olympics. We got to get the assassin yesterday. Hand in pocket. Turk gun.

Yusuf. We need him to become an American. He's thinking about it. Is he? I mean, he has passports. Because everything we've said about him over here? Yeah. He's like, I like these guys.

I checked out. Nobody ever talks about that. I know. I mean, he's got 50 different nationalities. I did not need special equipment. I'm a natural shooter. We know. The memes with that one.

Yeah, we saw it. We know. Yeah. Yes. A lot of other people, they found out at the very last minute that you were a natural shooter. Whoa, shit. What's that? Because just at that age, that good.

Does he just go to the local shooting club? He goes to the local gun range and he's like, hey, look at this on Tuesday nights, Wednesday nights. What are we? Blindfolded. That's mostly 3 a.m. That's boring shit out of him. Mostly 3 a.m. and the targets don't normally see him. Okay.

Yeah, that's what. Exactly. It's hard not to say that with how calm, cool, and collected they are and how cool they all fucking look. Whether they're coming out of the Matrix with their glasses on or with absolutely nothing, it's like they look so cool. Who is that? The woman who won gold medal. Very similar. Broke the world record. Best shooter of all time.

Lifts her little monocle up. Finds out she broke the world record. Puts that thing in there. Walks off. No smiles. This is a world record. You should have seen, I killed 95 people in one night. With my eyes closed. What are these bad guys?

Obviously, all bad people. Nobody good. This Olympics is awesome, Tone. And we're getting into the time here where America's about to do it. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, America's about to do it here. This medal count that we have

over everybody else, welcome to track and field. This is where we run away from all of it, Tone. Yeah. Also, women's beach volleyball, Nuss and Cloth, they are undefeated in their group play. Hell yeah. LeBron was there last night loving it for those two.

Going nuts. They had a rain delay stuck around. Instead of one bottle of probably some nice French red wine, instead of one, he said, with a little rain delay, we got to do four or five of these things. Him and his bride having an evening watching the Olympics. I've been watching these families enjoy these other sports. It looks like so much fun. Yeah, it's really cool.

It do. Peyton's taking these selfies, and he's at the pool. He's marking out. He is very excited to be there. I saw the NBC The Morning Show, the Today Show. Hoda and Savannah, they went to the gymnastics meet. And, like, the way they were talking about it is like, you're a part of history. It's like, everything is like you're a part of history.

Coolest thing you've ever seen. Every time. And everybody gets treated, you know, because, like, there's a lot of. Oh, yeah. So, like, Peyton's able just to sit. Yep. Like, have a time. Right.

Watch sport. LeBron's seemingly able to do the same exact thing. It's like that is probably such a relief for all of them. Probably collectively, this is probably the best group of athletes that we've had from the United States to go represent us. Most notable, right? Most names in different sports. You just mentioned the track and field are coming up,

like Sha'Carri, Noah Lyles. She's about to cook, by the way. She's got a final tomorrow at 3 p.m. local in Eastern Standard Time. Noah Lyles also going for it. Sha'Carri cooked everybody I guess in her Olympic debut. It's like, remember

she wasn't able to run last time because a natural plant happened to, I heard it was when she was sleeping, ran into her lungs. And then she was

the fastest person on earth. That definitely doesn't make you faster. Definitely doesn't make you faster. But not allowed to compete because attacked in the middle of the night by a plant that was in the ground and just ran up the window. Now she tested positive. Like Jji mm-hmm very similar yeah hey great Olympics update so so shares about the win it all can't wait to watch that's

good redemption story just like Simone Biles happy as hell for her oh yeah after what she went through mentally I couldn't even imagine then when you get back to that stage that's when it would right yeah that's when all the work is really gonna get tested she shows up she ends up winning it now a lot of people are like she quit on her team last year i saw a lot of people saying that it's like she felt like she wasn't able to do anything and if you get like mentally broken in that particular sport i don't if you lose any confidence at all that seems like a sport where like yeah bad outcome like very bad especially with how she's doing what she's doing like they've that they've hammered that home a thousand times like hey listen she does more difficult things out here than anyone has

ever done in this sport so like yeah if you get up there and it's like you're second guessing yourself like that's that's how you like get very very hurt and also her going into the floor exercise like she or she knew like okay i only need like a 13-6 or whatever to win the amount of pressure like because i mean that that's an easy score for her. But, like, actually having to go out there and, like, that's the kind of sport where I feel like she's doing her routine already. Like, you can't kind of just, like, half-ass it. Any self-doubt at all, it's over. In a lot of sports.

But in gymnastics, it seems like there are real outcomes if you have self-doubt. You don't commit fully? Okay, well, then you're not doing the 1500 twisty mcflippity and instead you're doing a 1435 and yeah yeah you know you are in it so you probably the things that simone probably saw in like training or practice or other events growing up where people don't hit and what happens to them like i assume she's like ah right yeah people attacked her for it obviously we're all bummed out we wanted to see the simone biles show and then she does all that mental work all that and then you don't know until you know like you don't know if any of it's worked or not or if you're gonna

have a trigger or something's gonna happen so for her to win again in the way she did way to go that's not easy once you lose confidence it's very hard to get it back. That is, especially as an athlete, especially at that level, being the greatest of all time. Congrats, Harry. You know what? We're watching it. Isn't the greatest of all time? What's that?

The three-on-three basketball. Oh, my God. It's a bummer. How do they come up with the, how do they pick the players? Okay, all right. That's a great question, Pac. A lot of people are asking it. Joining us now is the founder of the Big Three you know because here in the united states of america we actually have a

professional three on three league okay wait that play sells out arenas plays a lot of games real legit shit so we are more i think used to watching three on three basketball now now the four point shots awesome that is obviously awesome so whenever we watch the olympics we're so confused to maybe explain a little bit more for us ladies and gentlemen legend icon hall of famer and like four different things ice cube hey what's happening pad what's up everybody how we doing man how's hey how's big three going how we doing we're cooking it seems like and it know, and then we're going to go to the playoffs. Drop the last four teams, keep the top four teams, and then Nashville and then Boston. Wow.

Hell yeah, that's awesome. Congratulations on another successful season. I'm seeing the clips every single week. I'm seeing more, I think, socially viral moments coming out of the big three. And I think that's because more people are becoming accustomed to it. What season are we in right now? Or a lot? Season number seven.

Hey, congratulations. Season seven is a long time. And obviously with your big-ass brain behind it, it's going to make it. We should have respected that and known that from the beginning, but I think you had a lot of people probably telling you this was not going to work because it's gimmick basketball, it's other basketball, and then all of a sudden you start selling out arenas, have real competition, real moments. Congrats to you on all the success. Now let's get to Pac-Man's question there, where he said, how do we get these three on three teams? Because the United States of America right now I think is captivated by the Olympics. We're watching it all.

And we're talking shit on these other countries, Cube. We're talking shit on Australia. Hey, we're beating the shit out of Australia. Hey, we're talking shit on these other countries. They're talking shit back. They took a screenshot of all the sports and the amount of wins you have. In the United States, three-on-three basketball was the like the worst performing group in like maybe the entire Olympics in Australia's like oh sorry say hey sorry say this lad mate hey mate hey hey do

you know they're doing this why are we at this point should we not be great at uh three-on-three basketball and what are the rules and uh do you know more than we do about it all well of course, the NBA is over USA basketball. You know, that's one thing that's an issue with why we don't have the best three-on-three athletes in the world in Paris. And they have this weird point system that they make these players go through, but they don't make the NBA players go through it. So we feel like they should have the big three players in the Olympics. We do have the best three-on-three players in the world, and it's not even close. You know, I mean, we're so confident, Pat,

that we want to challenge the gold medal winners to a game. We can play right before our championship game in Boston, August 18th. We'll fly them in and they can play against our all-stars and we'll see who's the best in the world.

Okay, sweet. I'll put up $100,000 to the winning team. I'll put up $100,000 to the winning team. That's up a hundred thousand bucks to the winning team come on baby you know we need to make this happen because oh because then we can celebrate winning the three three on three olympics because if because we you're gonna put an all-star team how would you do that what would the team be that you would use because i think a big part of this three on three basketball and why the big three guys would be such a better team suited to place because there's like real strategy and technique and shit like there is real and real dog and real yeah real dogs real strategy though like that you don't just drop in and start playing three on three out of

nowhere there's ways to go about it would it be an all-star team for you before the championship or how would you set that up yeah all-star team you know we'll get uh the players that's ready to go ready to represent the United States and bring some respect, put some respect on the name. You know what I'm saying? At the end of the day, we're not seeing the best

that we have in Paris. That's because of pettiness and politics. It seems like the guys would rather not give the Big Three any credit instead of, you know, and bring a gold, instead of bringing a gold medal home. You know, that's more important than his pettiness. Okay, well, let's let this year's, okay, be the thing that changes the future, right? Let's let this happen.

This game on August 16th before the championship in Boston. We'd love to put up $100,000. I mean, let's go. You know what I mean? We'd love to see this. August 18th. It's August 18th. Oh, fuck. It's on me. Yeah. It's right before our championship game. We should call it the Big Cup, you know,

and look, the winner, you know, we got some money to put on it, too, on top of your money, and let's do it. You know, the winner takes all. These guys don't get paid a lot, so they should jump at the challenge. We will pay all expenses for them to get to Boston and play our big three all-stars on August 18th. Why not?

I love that. I love that. More money available, too, for these Olympians, obviously, trying to strike while the iron's hot. You win a three-on-three gold medal. Get a chance to come on August 18th to the great city of Boston before the Big Three Championship. Get a chance to play against a Big Three All-Star team, and there's going to be

hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line. Why would you not want to do it? I only have one request, though. I only have one request. If the glove, Gary Payton's team, is not in the championship, we need him coaching

the all-star. Yeah. Without a doubt. We need him. Yeah, sure. Yeah, yeah. Because he'll have a lot to say. Getting their heads so quick. Yeah, because these guys weren't invited to the Olympics. These guys won the Olympics. Oh, you're good, huh? Like Gary, the amount of things. Way better than you guys.

Oh my God. All right, Cube, we appreciate the hell out of you. Thanks for what you do for sport and what's next? What do we have next coming down the line? Obviously, Big 3 rolling into Week 8. I assume you have four movies happening. Maybe a musical, a book. Maybe a superhero movie.

Broadway play. It could be, absolutely. What do you have cooking? Anything? You know, I've always got something in the pot. You know, I'm dropping an album after this season called Man Down. We've got, you know. Bangers!

We've got bangers on it? We've got bangers on Man Down? We've got bangers on Man Down? Of course. Of course. That's all I drop is bangers, baby. You know, a quintessential ice cube. And I appreciate Pac-Man for coming to our games in Cincinnati.

I know he had a good time. And thanks for, you know, rocking that hat on your desk, man. Salute. Appreciate it. Yeah. Thank you for sending it. It's a pretty sweet logo. It's a pretty sweet logo.

I saw you having a great time at the show. Yeah, it was unbelievable. And you guys are – are you taking teams now to cities, right? Yeah, we are. Detroit, it's a pretty sweet logo. I saw you having a great time at the show. Yeah, it was unbelievable. And you guys are, are you taking teams now to cities, right? Yeah, we are. Detroit, I think? We're in Detroit, we're in Miami, we're in Houston, we're in Los Angeles.

We got a couple other nice owners, you know, in talks right now for a few other cities. Franchising. This guy's turned big three into fucking Dairy Queen. Yeah, that's right now for a few other cities yeah franchising this guy's nice turn big three into dairy queen yeah that's right what a genius this guy's brain is so damn big we appreciate the hell out of you ladies and gentlemen mount westmore ice cube thank you thank you man thank you man that'd be so sick if that happens oh yeah electric yeah why not need it so sick how do you

i mean that would be the right thing to do. They got to do it. Three on three update I got for you. The women who started 0-3 have now won three straight. Let's go! They just beat Canada in overtime. I didn't realize it was sudden death. First basket wins in overtime. It was awesome.

Now they are definitely going to be in the playing at least. Hopefully they can turn things around. The men are 0-4, but they're playing right now. The women were never the part of the conversation because they're going to figure it out, we think. The men's team, though, it's like we were sold on

Jimmer Fredette, who I want to let Jimmer Fredette know thank you for your service to sports. I hope you're feeling better. Bad groin, hip flexor, we saw it. What he did whenever he was doing it was everything. Jimmer Fredette used to take over sports whenever he would get hot.

We very much appreciate what he's done. Three on three has become his thing. When we watched the first couple games and he's injured, he's not doing the same Jimmer Fredette stuff, we lose our optimism a little bit. And it turns out being optimistic was not the right thing to do with

this 3-on-3 team. I think we stink. That is how they sold it going in. It was like, this team is going to win gold. They're going to kill everybody. They got Jimmer for debt. They got Rick Berry or Brent Berry's son who played big time college basketball and another dude who is very good

who's actually the best player on the team. But everything I watched going into the Olympics, I was thinking we're going to beat the shit out of everybody. It's not going to be competitive at all. Yeah, and that's because you're an American ignorant asshole. Maybe, but

Jimmer Ferdet played all over the world. Brother, I thought the same way. Yeah, he Jimmer Fredette played all over the world. Brother? I thought the same way. Yeah, he was a Shanghai shark. He led the Chinese Basketball Association in scoring when he was over there. I was just thinking, hey, we're going to be just fine. And boy, we are not just fine. We are struggling quite a bit. And these games haven't been particularly close either.

Serbia killed us. Our USA team can't beat not one of the big three teams that we have here. Well, that's the – so the big three, and I don't get to catch every single week end, but I'll see the clips. They'll pop into my algorithm. It's like, hey, we got – Oh, yeah.

Plays. I went to – my first time going there, going to the game, it was real intense. It was – it wasn't no kiki, ha-ha playing like, oh, yeah, we just out here. No, it was real intense like uh it was it wasn't no kiki haha playing like oh yeah we just out here no it was strictly business yeah there was almost a full-on fist fight yes as gary payton was talking shit like it was they're they're really they're really getting after it and there's every clip i see there's people filling the arena yeah it's real not bingo i mean now they're expanding into because they're like a live event you know it's like a live event that's

happening around three on three which is not a knock on a league i'm just thinking the way he decided to do this and how to make it survive seven seasons going into eight seasons probably you know nine ten keep it going it's like we're gonna make this thing entertaining we're gonna do it right we're gonna do this but then also the sport needs to be legit i think it's ice cubes thing since the beginning like it needs to be good sport you got people like actually i don't say like pumped to like play professional big three but like aspirations like yeah i think i can make a big three i think i think i can make big three now it's becoming like career option for people and it's so whenever we watch what's happening out there it's like man i saw like four plays

in a big three last weekend that were just like that our team USA is not running. And we got like six, eight that are like shit, which drive, dish big part of big three. I don't know. It's just, I would be excited to see if the gold medal team, who's probably played together for a while, how they would do against an all-star team

and how they would handle Gary Payton. A Jimmer Fredette-led team, no offense, Jimmer Fredette, has a much different vibe than a Gary Payton-led team. Just a bit. And the physicality, the fouling is probably a lot different.

But Dr. J is a coach in the Big Three. It is so legit and just ready to go to go get a gold medal. And instead, we got, you know, Jimmer in the final. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

But now Beast, who's starting her own. Jimmer earned that. Jimmer might be on team. Did he? Big Three all-star team. What you say, Buck? But now B-Stew is starting her own. Jimmer earned that. Jimmer might be on team. Did he? Big three all-star team. What'd you say, bud? But now B-Stew, to your point about trying to make a legitimate living out of this league,

B-Stew is doing her own three-on-three league now. Three-on-three basketball is very relevant in America. We shouldn't be losing every single damn game. Well, it's very relevant also because it's an Olympic sport. I think something becoming an Olympic sport's a big deal. relevant also because it's an Olympic sport. I think something becoming an Olympic sport's a big deal because then like earlier commitment to sport happens because of like wanting to chase a goal or a dream of becoming an Olympic champion. Then I think the support behind the sport economy is vastly different whenever it's deemed an Olympic sport, because now you're going to potentially

represent the United States of America in this particular thing. So I love what a three-on-three basketball is doing. I like the business Ice Cube's cubes running but if you were just to sit down and look into what ice cube has accomplished guys a dog oh yeah it's crazy absolute dog just genius brilliant writing everything it has the ability to adapt good businessman ice cube and it's always been ice cube yeah doesn't seem like he's ever really. And we got what? Man down? Man down.

Coming out after the season? Bangers only. Bangers only. Okay, Ice Cube. It is. Man down. Yeah, man down. After the season.

When's the season? We got playoffs. We got the final. August 18th. That's the champion. So August 19th, I guess, would be. We're not going to put a date on him. Tuesday afternoon. And August. Yeah, end of August. There's something coming. What August 19th, I guess, would be... Ah, we're not going to put a date on him. We will not put a date on him. Tuesday after.

End of August. Yeah, end of August. Is there something coming? What a weapon. Good for him. All right, Tone Diggs and Hammer. Time. Time.

We'll have more Olympic updates in the next hour. AJ Hawk will join us. We'll also be joined by Troy Aikman and Mike Florio. Ooh. Yeah, should be a pretty good second hour, I think. What a time to be alive. Lucky to be here. Thankful to be here.

Heading to SummerSlam after this particular program. Can't wait to get to Cleveland, then to Canton, then to Cleveland, then to Canton, then to Indianapolis. At Desjardins, we speak business. We speak equipment modernization. We're fluent in data digitization and expansion into foreign markets. And we can talk all day about streamlining manufacturing processes. Because at Desjardins Business, we speak the same language you do. Business.

So join the more than 400,000 Canadian entrepreneurs who already count on us and contact Desjardins today. We'd love to talk business. Football! Man. Did you guys feel it? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Big time. You know, we had stopped saying something before, you know, the actual start of the program after the beat drops, after the intro. Sure. For a little bit there. Some people noticed, you know. Some people said, like, why aren't we yelling anything anymore? You know, why aren't you guys yelling anything anymore? And we all made the decision, like, sports is cool.

Sports is cool. Yeah, it's great. Sports is cool. But we should build up maybe until we have our baby back. That's right. And our baby back, baby back, baby back is all the way back. It is. Last night, there was an NFL Hall of Fame game,

and we saw the Houston Texans play the Chicago Bears for about three quarters. Hell yeah. It was electrifying. The over hit in the first half. Yep. The offenses were more clean than they had been in preseason games over the last 10 years, maybe of any team ever.

Completions and touchdowns and new rules in a sense that football is back, baby. The toxic table is here at Boston Corner and at Ty Schmidt. Obviously, the Olympics are taking place and we will remain avid watchers of those sports

that we see every four years that we become experts of and big fans of. And, you know, watch athletes that we maybe learn their story of over a matter of just a few days, fall in love with, get captivated by, and then our energy and our emotion is certainly, you know, kind of steered by their success or their failures. We love the Olympics. But last night with football on, Mike Tirico and I have spent a lot of time in prime time

together over the last couple weeks. It's been a blast. The view of the Eiffel Tower has been absolutely amazing. These Olympics have certainly been a great thing to lay your head down at night to and watch excellence take place. It's hard for me to flip back from hearing Joe Buck and Troy Aikman talk last night.

It was impossible. Did I know who was snapping the ball out there? No. For a little bit. But then no. Even for a little, I don't know. I don't think I knew. And then, do I know who's catching them? No.

No. Cased over. But then, Colin Johnson Yeah boom Yeah What the fuck is this guy This guy's a star

Stud It was hard He was capped Every time he was on my screen He was doing something First Moss of the year Go up and get it on somebody Colin Johnson

Snagged it Oh this guy He made one play Good for him What a rookie hero This guy is In the Hall of Fame game Makes one play

No yeah he scored Two more touchdowns. This guy was the Chicago Bears last night. Third rounder I do believe. Congrats to him becoming a name overnight. I guess you can't really learn much about a team in the Hall of Fame game, but you can

certainly learn about a player that might change the entire narrative of his NFL career. Literally the first time he steps into an NFL field or stadium or game. It's like, fun stuff last night. I loved it. Now we're going to have to, you know, grit through some bad bull. That's inevitable.

Unless last night is what is going to happen all preseason. There's going to come a time where we're going to get sick of this, so let's enjoy the shit out of this. Let's talk about this, and then let's also enjoy the Olympics. Man sitting in for D-Butch and Tone Ditch, ladies and gentlemen, from Hammer. Don. Bruce.

Brian. How you doing, Bruce? I'm spectacular. How you doing? Hey, that's great. Not a lot of people ask me that, especially in the middle of the show. You know, whenever I send it over. You did it yesterday.

The boys got on you a bit. I want to let you know. A little bit. Felt good to feel like. Thank you. Thank you for asking. I do feel good. I'm always looking out. Football's happening, you know? Oh, so bad. feel like thank you thank you for asking i do feel i'm always looking out football's happening you know always yeah you are always yeah all right yeah what good

hey way to go thanks for looking out 13 year nfl vet uh all pro returner obviously so last night's kickoff story is certainly one that piques his interest. Universal Records signed rapper, album dropping September 30th. Ladies and gentlemen, Pac-Man Jones. Pac, kickoffs are gonna be electrifying. I think there's gonna be moments this season wherever we see some more magic that we wouldn't have seen over the last few years as they have changed the kickoff rules to what they were that got so bad, so boring, that they actually thought about eliminating the kickoff completely because how bad the play was. And then now they've got something new they're trying out.

I think we feel okay about it after the first night and think that some electricity can come. I feel pretty good about it. And I think a lot of electricity is going to come because coaches are not putting in really their game plans right now. So it's just you block, you block, but we're not setting game plans for preseason.

I think they're trying to figure it out while also what can you do, what can't you do, right? Is that what you're thinking? Yeah. And scheme-wise, I don't think nobody's going to show what they're going to do week one or when the season starts. So you know how it is. When you're doing this time doing preseason, you want to see the guys,

can the guys do the base stuff for when you get them on to do the other stuff that's required to be the best to make the 56. But now i'm not showing nobody nothing in preseason it's coming back here is return right or return left yeah you gotta crawl before you can walk i think is what you're saying especially with a brand new rule brand new alignment what is even possible they're probably wondering as well because you can run some full speed especially in training camp with the guys who are going to be on special teams you can run some full speed on each other yeah they probably are starting to get a better grip of the whole entire thing, what they're going to do. I wonder how reckless some teams will be. And by

reckless, I mean aggressive with throwbacks and everything with the two guys back already separated. And also you can, the one returner can fake like they're returning it. Like they can absolutely do the old fake return because if the return a coverage team is watching to see when the person you can certainly you know oh yeah kind of game that a little bit now they have to stay on separate sides of the field they can't cut back and block but like how these special teams coaches decide to attack this will become one of the stories of the year there will be a massive play out of this a game swinger that'll come out of this that'll be done at it!

It'll be something. And I think there might be a few of them after watching last night. For kickers, you mentioned how obviously with onside kicks, you have to work on that. That's why not a lot of guys are successful in it because it hurts to work on an onside kick. And with the new rules, it's not really likely. With the new rules, yeah, you can't do that. But can you work

on a squib? Can a kicker kind of figure out exactly how to do a perfect line drive kick that bounces early and then gives those guys more time to get down the field? I'm not going to speak for every human that kicked balls in my generation, but these guys are so much better. They're so good. All these guys are so good. There's kickoffs that are just being hit like 85 yards on a regular basis. That Camarda video from last year. All these guys are so good. There's kickoffs that are just being hit like 85 yards on a regular basis.

That Camarda video from last year. It's absurd how far these dudes are kicking balls and what they're able to do with it. Justin Tucker, obviously, he gets the most perfect ball every single time. He's not the only one, though. There's like four or five guys around the league that whenever they go on the field, it's like these dudes are going to make this kick, and it's going to be a perfect single shot every time. So I think these guys are stronger and more talented.

I think techniques have been kind of tightened more. I think figuring out the knuckleball is something that one or two of them will be able to do. Because if you can knuckle and land it at the 19. Bingo. So now you get a little extra time. Now, unless they just let it run through, I guess, for a touchback. But if you could get it to – I guess you can't get it. Because you have to play it. Figure out they just let it run through I guess for a touchback but if you could get it to you know I guess you can't go down because you have to

play your cover it yeah so if somebody could figure that kick out that's how you get it and these dudes are so talented I think somebody would be able to get there but going back to your point about working on it it's like now all these guys I think it's a gift and a curse for them I used to go and if I was trying to figure something out I'm gonna kick like a gift and a curse for them. I used to go, and if I was trying to figure something out, I'm going to kick like 150 balls. You know, like I'm going to be here. I'm going to figure this whole thing out.

And then obviously the leg is completely blown out the next day and like can't do anything the next day. Got to wait a day probably to do anything worth a fuck and then go hard again. Now there's like a certain kick counter for everybody. It's like can't have you kicking more than like 50 balls, including warm-ups, warm-up swings, which are like 15 to 20 for some people. So like, I don't know where you find the time with all the new science to try to

squib it, to land it there, because you're still trying to make kicks obviously. And you're also trying to land it in between the five and the one. So I don't know if, if anybody figures it out, they're a dog is what I'll say. Cause it will take a long time to do that. And you're risking giving the ball up at the 40. Because if that thing lands early,

that thing's landing at the 40. Yeah, that's, you just, you called your own onside kick and you didn't get it. Like, that is what is happening there. Team's pissed. Defense pissed. Everybody's pissed about it. So it's like, you gotta get really good. You've got to

prove that you can hit it in practice a lot. For a coach to make that decision, you're potentially on the other side, giving the ball up at the 40. There's a lot that goes into it, but I think that would be the specialty. That's if you need one. If we need to pin them. Trust your kicker.

Yeah, trust your kicker and teams who are very confident in their defense and know that our defense is unbelievable, so we can maybe play around with this a little bit. If they take it at the 40, okay, we're still going to be okay. But also, how many guys are going to have the autonomy to make that decision on their own? Oh, yeah.

I don't think anybody. Yeah, nobody's a big enough asshole to do that anymore. It used to be the way things were sometimes. Not a lot. Not a lot. That was not a lot thing. Well, you weren't doing it unless you were. Me and Tom McMahon were like this.

Yeah. Me and Tom McMahon were like this. So it was like, I think Tom McMahon would have literally, if it didn't work out, Tom McMahon would have said I did it. Yeah. Like, Tom would have said it to take a bullet. Like, I think he would have actually done that because that's the type of coach he was. But yeah, it was a lot of trust.

And then, you know, if I had any self-doubt, just like with – That's what I mean. Just like with – that's why I think I relate to the Simone Biles thing so much because there was, like, that one year where we were doing a lot. And I literally – you call one to yourself, that is a very aggressive decision. Like, you are – that is a very – But you knew, right? I mean, from, like –

I knew I was going to get a yes. Yeah. But, boy, that's a – you've got to catch that thing. That thing's got to roll like 11 yards. Like, it is... And if it goes nine and a half yards, okay, it's their ball right on the 44-yard line. It's first quarter, primetime game, division rival. So, like, you've got to be a real asshole.

Like, you know what I mean? Like, there is a... And you've got to have a superior confidence. Supreme confidence. Yeah, at that particular time. So, I don't know. The risk-reward on everything is always kind of a conversation, and the coaches

with this new kickoff are going to have to do a lot of it, I think. Especially if they're going to... The returns with the risk-reward is going to be what you could possibly do, let alone the end-of-rounds and shit. And if you can't blindside block anybody anymore, I wonder how you even do that. But I think the ball is going to exchange hands a little bit. Or are they just going to kick it

in the end zone and touch back every single time? Joining us now is a man who might have a little bit of an opinion on it. The game last night was played in a state in which he was once the president of. He's currently in an attic in Ohio. He is a college football national champion, Super Bowl champion. He was on the punt team at Ohio State. Hell yeah. He once had, well, three times he had 31 tackles in a high school football game.

A.J. Hawk. Yeah. Hawker. Hawker, what do you think of the kickoff? I am mind-blown by the possibilities, but also a little bit worried that we're just going to hit touchbacks and the ball's going to come to 30. Yeah, I mean, I think right now when I watch, I feel like the cover team kind of has the advantage

of only being five yards apart. Imagine, like, you're trying to go backwards and get set up. If you're on the return team and these dudes are on you instantly, so it's it's really tough to win that one-on-one matchup so you see if you get even a half a step of a jump i mean that's a gigantic advantage when it comes to this new kickoff hey they said they're not going to be that like exact on that thing either so guys are going to be able to get half a step and then what happens you know if because this is i think how most people that would be on

special teams will think well if they're already going to give us a little wiggle, we can take a little wiggle on a little wiggle. Because if everybody's wiggling, then we can wiggle just a little bit more. Because you talked about just a half step. That's literally all you need in a race, five yards, with the other team turning around and going backwards. You kind of wanted to bring that up to Russ York. Yeah, especially if they're turned around waiting for the ball to be caught. You're blind. You're blindly. You don't know where your guy is, which finding your

guy is a big part of the return team. Sprint back, get back as fast as you can, flip your hips, find your guy is literally the entire thing. In this particular one, you're looking away. I hated that. That's interesting. The angle down the line where you can see both of them, the Houston

Texans returners are looking back at the ball. That's the guy who makes the tackle, Pat, the one that you said leaves first. He made the tackle because the guy was still looking back at the ball and he lost his guy. Do you think some teams will just look at the guy in front of them? There's no way you can do it. There's no way you can look at the guy in front of them. You've got to hold up for 20 yards.

You've got to hold up for 25 yards if you just hold up from there. If you hold up and just look at him, he's going to get a quicker start because you don't know when he's going to take off. Yeah, and, like, the kick slide on, like, a punt, if you were going to try and block it like that, like, there's sprinting that. So, like, even that's kind of – Is it by design so there aren't touchbacks? Do they want to leave it like –

Oh, let's attack it a little bit. Yeah, so it's, you know, you have, like, the 23 or, you know, the 30. Touchdown. Yeah, or touchdown yeah like it's either going to be hard day yeah or it's going to be electrifying fascinating maybe that is another way to look at it like no this is the entire purpose is like it is going to be hard to score but if you do you're able to go so they can regulate how many because if there was you talked about it yesterday i don't want to see 14 touchdowns from kickoff returns because it's impossible to kind of figure out or whatever.

I think there's going to be some explosive stuff. It is. There is. There will. The one-line situation, like you have to have unbelievable lane discipline when it comes to the cover teams here. So, yeah, you break the first line, you're gone. So, teams are going to try to figure out, hey, who's going to fold back?

Like, who's going to be our safety? How do you scheme everybody up? Yeah, because I did see a couple, because normally kickoff coverage, 5-5 kicker, obviously. The ones are normally deemed like the safeties, but the ones aren't necessarily on the outside. The ones just in counting order are the safeties who will drop out. And then you've got two who's normally hot to ball,

and then you've got 3-4-5 kind of figuring out their way. And then you've got the kicker on the backside of the triangle. So you've got those 3-4 four five kind of figuring out their way and then you got the kicker on the back side of the triangle so you got those three four five kind of going you got twos kind of attacking from the outside and then you got the ones in the kicker kind of as a a triangle behind kind of figuring the whole thing out let's get it all locked do they have enough time to be able to do that and do the safeties the ones do they just stay there and kind of drift in is that kind of how it ends up working out? I don't know. That's what's going to be cool to see the kind of reverses run because you're thinking,

hey, if I'm the safety on the left side, when do I start folding? How long do I hold and stay over here? Because they could bring something back. And they don't have to have blindside blocks. You know what they do a lot of times, obviously on punt, they're setting picks. You know, like either putting their hands up or just setting straight picks to where, hey, you better run through me and you're still not going to get to this guy. It'll be fascinating to see how it all comes together.

A man who saw it last night gave me a massive shout-out. Hey, massive shout-out from this guy. Oh, yeah. Hall of Famer, I assume, in multiple broadcasting Hall of Fames and certainly in the NFL. Super Bowl champion multiple times. Incredibly handsome. Oh, yeah.

Isn't he? He's absolutely jacked as well. So jack handsome. Oh, yeah. Incredibly, isn't he? He's absolutely jacked as well. So jacked. He's always in the gym, this guy. He's always in the gym. I see him. Pond and water. How so?

And ate beer. That's right. And ate beer. And then he's out there doing the whole, and then he shows up on Monday nights looking cooler than any fucker on TV. Clean. Ladies and gentlemen, Troy Aikman.

Yeah! Look how fucking cool. That and gentlemen, Troy Aikman. Yeah! Look how fucking cool. That's exactly what I'm talking about. That's exactly what we're talking about. And Jack. Look how Jack you look. That's the best intro I've ever had. Then your face shows.

You look so cool. And then look how jacked you look. Your right arm. The vascularity is literally from Ohio to Indianapolis. Hey, Troy, you're doing great. You're doing great. Thank you. Hey, you, you're doing great Thank you You mentioned the eight beer

It's all because of the eight beer Let's go Lamar Jackson's about to own that shit That's what I heard That'll be for another show I hope you guys get it sorted I appreciate the fact that you have your business, by the way, because good tasting, light carb, light calorie beer is obviously something that everybody in

this stage of existence, I think, is a fan of. So way to go, Troy. That's incredible stuff, especially from a football guy. We appreciate that. Thank you. Yeah, I'm real. Hey, I'm proud of it. We call it light beer made right. It's the healthiest, cleanest beer on the market. Pretty proud of it. It's doing really well. We're in Texas and Oklahoma. All good. You're about to do the whole rock thing where you do this and then you build it up and then some

Goliath comes in and says, we're kind of sick of you doing this whole song and dance. Then they offer you a trillion dollars. Here's a billion dollars. Hey, congratulations, Troy. You're going to look so cool. You're going to look so cool. Let's talk about going to look so cool. All right, let's talk about Monday Night Football. Speaking of looking cool, that new kickoff was obviously going to be a big part of the conversation of last night's game. They even gave a display of what would happen if it was windy. A 12th player

will come onto the field. What is your first takeaway from it? What are you hearing from some of the coaches, and how big of an impact do you think it's going to have this year, Troy? Kind of an open runway. Yeah, I think it is going to have an impact. I mean, there's no question that it's a play that it just didn't really exist in recent years with all the touchbacks. So I understand it, why the league. And I think it's been good for the kickers. I mean, as you know, Pat, I mean, for so long they've been talking about

maybe even taking it out of the game. And then it's like, well, what happens to the kickers? So, you know, this makes the play relevant. I think the fans will have an interest in it. You know, last night, it probably, there wasn't as much to it as what I was anticipating. But yet in talking with the special teams coaches, they were going to keep it pretty close to the vest and just try to evaluate players as much as anything else. I do believe that these special teams coaches have some ideas on what they want to do once we get into the regular season. They're just not going to show it.

So what we saw last night, my guess is what we see throughout the rest of the preseason is going to look a little different from what we're actually going to see week one. Troy, I know you're not a special teams guru, so the fact that you're giving this detailed of an answer, I appreciate the hell out of. I want to let you know that. Legitimately. And thank you for

the shout out last night. That was incredibly dope. Well, hey, and Pat, I'll tell you, I mean that because you know, one, you're a hell of an athlete. I mean, I follow you. I see what you do, and whether it's golf, basketball, you know, you name it. And I think part of this deal for the kicker is he's got to be pretty adept at being able to put the ball where he wants to put it and and then also you've heard it you've heard it as well that they've talked and and and the special teams

coaches that we talked to leading up to this game they mentioned that yes that it is real that they the kicker may not be the guy who kicks off because the kicker could have to be involved in in the tackling and of course uh you know you love doing that as well so that's why i love it god this pat wishes these rules were in place back when he was playing troy uh i don't know how you handled getting hit you know as quarterback you guys take some massive shots anytime i was involved in any physical activity on that field i was sore for four days so i was uh that shit that you guys put up with is insane i think that's what people talk about you know you got to get back into football shape what that means is uh mentally you have to get back to the point of being okay just being incredibly sore from every single thing that

happens out there i think that's the real deal yeah i i'm wondering i'm wondering how sore herb street was after that hit that aj put on him that i heard about yesterday you know i mean how long did it take for him to get over that hit yeah did you check up with him as a 15 year old kid did you did you follow up with herb street after you temple him hey kirk stayed in the game there was no concussion protocol in that scrimmage so kirk stayed in the game i wasn't aware that he was hurt until later on two years down the road I got a text from Herbstre yesterday going come on man come on come on yeah come on you're killing me what a legend uh Troy I'm excited to see your kind of take on the kickoff as it goes and obviously the rest of the season AJ has a

question for you Troy how did you as you got older in your career you know have a couple rings or whatever how did you approach approach camp as a quarterback? What should some of these veteran guys, you hear the old cliche, hey, let's work on it, let's think of one thing we want to get better at every single day, all of that kind of talk. But what did you do when you approached camp going in later in your career? Yeah, quite honestly, AJ, same as what I did early in my career, for that matter. I don't know if I was weird in this sense, but I loved practice.

I mean, I loved camp. I loved going out and trying to get better. It obviously was a lot different, as you know, than what it is now. I feel like today everybody's playing by the same rules, but I believe that, especially those teams that I was a part of that were really good, and I think you would probably agree that, you know, the toughness and the grittiness of those teams was developed in camp. You know, we were having training camp in Austin, Texas, you know, 105 degrees and humidity and all of that. And I think there's a bonding that happens when you're going through all that. So it's much different, as we know. But, you know, we played with the same guys for so long.

We didn't have as much turnover as what we're seeing in today's game and and I was fortunate to play with some really great players that approached it the same way and and so for me late in my career the way I went about trying to get better was no different than earlier in my career just making the best of each day and trying to fine-tune everything that we were doing well you obviously figured it out that hey when you wear your gold jacket during the Hall of Fame game, that's sick. Yeah, unreal. That is, that's a cool thing. Yes.

Like, hey, welcome to my house here. You guys are, I'm a quarterback here. You know, that is what it feels like, you know? Like, it's an awesome, it's an awesome thing to see, like, the weekend celebrated, but also you'd be proud of the fact that you have that. Like, you know, I think that's like a cool thing. You know, I'm glad you bring it up, Pat. see like the weekend celebrated but also you'd be proud of the fact that you have that like i you know i think well you know i'm i'm glad you bring it up pat and i know i i know you're you're partly kidding but no i'm not i'm not quite honestly uh you know no one asked me to wear it uh i did the

hall of fame game a few years ago when jimmy johnson was going in and and i and I wore it then but it is a special weekend. It's a special group to be a part of. I'm honored that I was voted into the Hall of Fame and to be able to represent the Hall and wear it in last night's game for the Hall of Fame game. I don't get to wear it often. I wear it Hall of Fame weekend and for that broadcast. But, yeah, I was thrilled to be able to do it. No, man, I was not joking at all. I thought it was sweet. Like, the Hall of Fame is a – hey, you know, I am a person that does not really – how do I say this?

Acknowledge awards. Like, I don't think that – I assume I was screwed out of a few whenever I was a teenager. I thought I was at least. Yeah, and I just decided, okay, I hate all awards. Like, I don't think that, I assume I was screwed out of a few whenever I was a teenager. I thought I was at least. Yeah, and I just decided, okay, I hate all awards. I don't care about any of them. I don't care about titles.

I don't care about shit. I don't want any of them. To hell with all of them. This is somebody else's opinion? Okay, well, fuck off, is how I view it all. But like, the Hall of Fame is like such a cool one

because every human I know that's a superstar, every human I know that has made it is big and has won a lot of these awards. Like the Hall of Fame is the one that's like, OK, this is cool because you're back on a team. You're like voted on by the people who really love the sport. You're the ones who are going to be representing the sport for generations to come whenever they wonder how the NFL got to where it is. Like I think it's a beautiful thing. And like Freeney going in this weekend, I can't wait to get over there and celebrate him going in. Like it is, he deserves it obviously, but it's a massive ordeal for everybody that gets in there. So I

think it's incredible. Yeah, Pat, I would, I would tell you that, you know, I think you and I are in alignment on, on awards. I, and for that matter, I would say the same thing about stats. You know, throughout my career, anyone who looks at my stats would say, gosh, how did this guy even get on the field and how did he get into the Hall of Fame? But I felt that throughout my career, it was really about winning. And I was proud of that. I was proud that we won. I was proud that after 12 years in the NFL, I was able to win three Super Bowls. in the NFL, I was able to win three Super Bowls. And in doing that, you know, the way in which we played, I sacrificed some numbers. But when it was all said and done, I was given and bestowed the greatest individual honor that you can have, and that is to go into the Hall of Fame. So

there's a lot of people, as you both know, that talk about winning. It's all about winning. But as soon as they don't get their numbers, they're the first ones to bitch. And I don't have any tolerance for it. So I'm proud of the fact that I got in and yet sacrificed considerably from a statistical standpoint. But, again, I don't mind doing it. I love that we won, but honored to have been then recognized by the Hall of Fame.

Hey, talk your shit, Troy. Absolutely. Because what are you supposed to do? Not hand the ball off to Emmitt Smith? I'm supposed to be pissed off that we've got deuces back here doing his absolute thing because

we talked about that with Tom Brady. I thing because we talk about that with Tom Brady. I think that was the big thing with Tom Brady is he was a team guy, whatever it takes to win. Whatever it takes to win. I will absolutely do it. Took less money far before everybody else started doing it, started doing salary cap, all that stuff. And then he just won, won, won, won, won.

And they were like, well, he would take the same shit from Belichick that everybody else would take. It's like, that's a trait. Not everybody has that. That is a bonus to have that type of humility. No doubt. Feels like Patrick Mahomes seemingly has it as well. Have you seen the quotes about him and the new quarterback contracts

and how he said, I'd rather just win? They're potentially the first team to win three straight. Obviously, you understand how that world is and how hard that would potentially be. Feels like the next superstar, though, has the same qualities as all the greats of the past right doesn't it feel like that with him yeah no it does and and not because he's done it already he's already i i feel that he's left some money on the table knowing that he's going to have better players around him as a result of that and and and obviously it's worked for them and they do a good job of continuing to to restock the shelves and bring in good players

and of course Andy Reid it's what they have going in Kansas City is special and when you have a quarterback who's obviously as talented as he is but yet as unselfish as he is then it gives yourself a chance and you know another guy that probably doesn't get talked about in that same light because he hasn't had the same success in the postseason is a guy who I'm very fond of right here in Dallas, and that's Dak Prescott. You know, what I respect so much about Dak, one, is he's a great leader. He's a great person. But he's an old-school guy in that he doesn't care about anything but winning.

And it frustrates him beyond imagination that they haven't had more success in the postseason. And it's the only thing that's keeping him from really being mentioned with Pat Mahomes and some of the other greats. I would love to see, you know, how Dak responds to everything that is said about him. If he is only determined and driven by winning whenever they lose, because it gets so loud. So, so loud. And it's always like, you know, Stephen A., obviously, and the Dallas Cowboys fans

have the relation that he has. And he's had, you know, the highest rated television show in sports for like the last 11 years. One of his big angles, one of his actual things is like, Dak's going to blow it. Dak's going to blow it. So Dak works his ass off just driven by winning only. And all he hears all year is he's going to blow it.

Think about the amount of like, fuck you, Dak has to have for everybody then. And then for it not to work out again and again. What if he breaks through huh what what if Dak Prescott breaks through feels like it's a lame duck you're down there though doesn't hey well it does if he if he breaks through this year I mean I I do believe he's going to be the first quarterback to 60 million and uh from Jerry from Jerry or somewhere else well that's that, that's the question. And the longer this goes, the more I think he will be playing somewhere else.

You know, I just, if it continues to drag on and he plays great, and then the Cowboys come in late to say, hey, now we want to pay you, I don't know i i don't know where his head will be at that point but uh yeah so he when you look at the numbers if you didn't have the names and you just looked at stats and again i go back to i don't care about stats i just want to see wins but wins included you would you would put dak prescott's numbers over the last couple of years along with Patrick Mahomes's. But it's what's happened in the postseason that has separated those two. And so that's where the whole organization has to be better. This isn't just on Dak Prescott. This goes back for the last 25, 30 years that the Cowboys just have failed to play their best football when the games have mattered most in January.

This year, this past year, was the one, too. I was just watching all those highlights, and I was reliving how we felt about the Cowboys last year. Because they're going to be on primetime. They're going to be talked about. You're going to see them. Last year, there was an entire train that I was on that was like, hey, it's different in Dallas this year. I was on it.

They had a lot of anxiety. I was on it. I agree, Pat. They've had other teams in other years that were good, and I thought they were capable. But last year, it just felt different. And quite honestly honestly it felt different in training camp and so they then got into the regular season and it just felt that it had the

makings of a championship team the the the locker room was tight uh they all seemed to be on the same page all the things as you know that are required to to win it all and they were positioned perfectly after the after the demise of the eagles over the second half of the season to be put in the position that they were to potentially have two home games uh and then go to you know probably san francisco for the championship game which is where it would have been and then they don't get out of the first round jordan Love obviously does what he does. That was a huge disappointment. And so I think it's hard to come back year after year.

I think that's going to be the challenge for the 49ers. You know, they keep knocking at the door. And how many times can you keep getting there and getting there and getting to the level that you have to get to? And then with the offseason, the way that it has gone for Dallas, there just seems to be a lot of negativity about what they did or didn't do this offseason. And it'll be interesting to see what this season looks like for them.

And then empty bleachers at training camp, you know, Troy. And obviously I know it's in California in the Chargers, which, whoa, Justin Herber. Uh-oh. Yeah, that one's playing it right. That's a real one. Playing it fast. That's something in the foot.

I don't know exactly what it is, but I know it holds people out. It's a broken something under something. That one's a real one. And I know, like, in L.A., the Chargers are a big-time story. And when Schefter announces this, I think we're all bummed out because we all are eagerly awaiting Jim Harbaugh's return to the NFL sideline.

And we're all pumped out on how it'll go. And now his guy, the guy over there, is seemingly going to be down for a bit. Herbert, Godspeed, buddy. Good luck, Herbert. Godspeed on that entire thing. So I know the training camp is in LA with the Chargers are a story and the Rams are a story.

And it's out in California. But nobody like nobody there that's pretty indicative of like the ride that maybe last year where this is it this is it and then people being like you know has it ever been like this has it ever been like this in oxnard troy like i don't remember ever seeing stands this empty ever for the cowboys anywhere you know i i'll be honest with you guys i i've not kept up with this one i this is the first i've heard about that it it it surprises me quite honestly it's crazy uh yeah i don't i don't know if i i don't i don't know if there's a reason for that or if they just simply didn't come but that is uh maybe traffic troy that that would be that would be shocking, quite honestly, to me.

But I will say that if they win, they'll be back on that wagon for sure. Former Cowboy, Blackman Jones. I've never seen Oxnard empty like that. But back to y'all conversation, I think Dan Quinn deserves some of this blame for Dallas playing like kind of bad at the end of the year. And I do think with Mike Zimmer in there, the defense will be ten times better. You played with Zimmer for Zimmer-Werrick, Cincy. Cincy, yeah. Everybody loves Zimmer, right? The plays from him, except for offensive players on a team in which he's the head coach.

Oh, yeah, everything's gonna be done one way, the way he wants you to do it. Anything else, like, he's not going for it. You're gonna play fast, you're gonna play a lot smarter anything else like he's not going for it you're gonna play fast you're gonna play a lot smarter but like he's adamant about doing it the way he wanted to be done excited to see micah and everybody that defense obviously incredibly talented but you got contract conversations all over that roster including at the head coach head coach was on his last year of his contract as well let's move to another contract that didn't happen anywhere in the nfl ty has a question for you, Troy. Yeah, Troy. Obviously, this was a huge talking point right as the season ended all throughout the offseason.

I feel like it's kind of hit the back burner a little bit, but it'll kind of come back to the forefront once the actual season starts. Are you surprised that Bill Belichick is not coaching a team this year? And do you think certain general manager or owners, I guess, will be more apt to kind of pull the trigger and fire a guy sooner because Bill Belichick is still available and presumably looking for a job? I'm totally surprised that there were that many jobs that were open and Bill Belichick didn't land any of them. That is surprising to me. And I don't know that it's going to be easy for him to get a job, quite honestly.

I mean, if he didn't get one in this cycle, why would someone think that it's going to be easier the next cycle? I don't know. Whoa, that's not what I heard. Legitimately, you're the first person that I think has ever said that, I think, that I've heard. Well, I'm hoping he coaches. I'm a big fan of Bill Belichick's. We all are.

I don't know. But he didn't get one this year. So I don't know. Why would you think that he's automatically going? I think everyone thought he would have gotten one of those jobs this year. The fact that he didn't, why would you think then he's automatically going to get one next year? I don't know. I think part of the perception is real.

I mean, clearly, Bill Belichick was the guy in charge in New England. And I think there are a lot of owners that don't want to give up that kind of control or found that whatever his demeanor is or whatever Bob Kraft has said about his dealings with Coach Belichick and how that might influence an owner or general manager as to how they do things. I don't know. I just don't think it's a slam dunk. But I hope he gets a job. And I believe that he will. But I hope that he does because I want to, it's hard. I'm a huge Vince Lombardi fan. I read all kinds of stuff about Vince L lombardi and there's some other really outstanding

coaches of course over the history of our game but it's hard to imagine anyone thinking that bill belichick's not the greatest of all time but yet he has to go do it and uh and right now that's don shula oh okay got it okay i love what you just ended with there. And as you matriculated through your answer there, literally all I heard was, oh, that's a lot of valid points there. Like, why didn't he get the Elena Falcons job? Well, there was a lot of like smoke that was being leaked. Like, well, maybe there was some people that didn't want to lose their jobs. If Bill came in, they were in different departments than just in the football coaching side of the entire thing right those were quickly no no that's not true that's not true and then it came out like things that the craft family is like everything that you're saying that we all thought made sense there was always like a follow up that in that isn't in there but we're dealing with humans here like these are humans making these decisions and like bill belichick brings a presence wherever he is we got to see a draft night yeah hey we got to see a draft night. Hey, we got to see a draft night, Troy. It was awesome.

Him walking through every room. We went to a restaurant. He turns the corner. Every human in there. Doesn't matter how old they are. Doesn't matter where. Is that a Bill Belichick in a wild? It's like they're seeing Bigfoot walk by.

It literally is like that. So I assume whenever he walks into some of these meetings and there's some people in control of an NFL team in certain positions, they know like, oh, this Bigfoot will take my job if he wants to. And it's like he needs to. Yeah, and that's why I think that, like I said, I'm a huge fan of Bill Belichick's. I personally, I like his style. You know,

Jimmy Johnson was the same way. I like being coached like that. And if it's just about, can Bill Belichick help an organization win? He should have had his pick of places to go last year. But as you just said, Pat, there's a lot of people that maybe are somewhat insecure and don't want to have to deal with some of what he brings or give up some of what they want to control. And I think, as you know, egos are big in this business. And egos get in the way uh and they want the credit and so

can bill will bill help a team win absolutely he will and uh it just comes down to how how much does an organization really want to win because there's there would there's not a better head coach in the history of our game than bill belichick yeah he can relate to the younger generation they're saying yes he can on the internet. Yeah. He can relate to the younger generation, they're saying. Yes, he can. On the internet. They're saying he can relate to the younger generation on the internet. They're certainly saying that.

Living his best life. We can't wait to share Mondays with him, Troy. So we're going to be doing, he's going to be joining us every single Monday. And from what I've been told from the people that are closest

to him, they're like, wait until he kind of tells you what's going to happen in the Monday night football game. Like when he says, this is probably how this game is going to go. Allegedly that is a, uh, that is the thing of his, like he is. That's why he's been so good for so long.

He's able to just project exactly what's going to happen. And it's like, if we get a chance to experience, I think that's why I like him doing all this shit that he's doing. He just announced his own show. I assume that's going to be a clip show where he's going to put out stuff or a podcast or whatever it is he's doing inside the NFL. He's doing our show. I assume that's going to be a clip show where he's going to put out stuff or a podcast or whatever it is he's doing inside the NFL. He's doing our show. It's like, I'm very thankful that he's deciding to like, let it at, like, this is a football brain that we've never heard from really. Yeah, no, I, you'll get a look behind the curtain a little bit and, and the,

and your, your viewers obviously will as well. And I will say that, know we've we've had a lot of New England games over the years and and I've talked with Bill and he will say here's what I think the game will come down to and invariably that's what it comes down to I remember there was a game they were playing the Cowboys in Foxborough and he said the you know the weather was not going to be good it's going to be really cold it's going to be icy he said the weather was not going to be good. It was going to be really cold. It was going to be icy. He said the kicking game is going to determine this game, and we're going to make them handle the football.

And that's exactly what he did, and the Cowboys didn't handle the ball very well, and it was a low-scoring game. Tom was still playing for them. And the Patriots, it was an important game for both teams. The Patriots won the low-scoring slugfest because of the conditions, but it came down to exactly what what coach Belichick said that it would and so yeah he's going to have amazing you know amazing insight it's going to be fantastic for your show hey you guys crush

in the booth you know that you and Joe you guys are so good first game last night yeah obviously you've been doing it for however many years you've seemingly been alive post football but like yeah you guys are good. You just picked up right where you left off, it seems like. Yeah, it felt good. It did. You know, that game, it's, you know, you're talking about a lot of things that don't really matter.

What are you saying, Troy? What are you saying? What are you talking about? What do you mean? I don't know. But the cancellation, you know cancellation with the weather and all, not a bad idea. Oh, jeez!

I was loving it! The interviews! You and Joe are awesome. We appreciate you. We can't wait to listen to you all season on Monday nights. We appreciate it. Thank you, brother. Ladies and gentlemen, incredibly cool looking.

Oh, he's gone. That's not no time for it. That's not cool either. I don't have time. Alright, get me out of here. I was going to put over eight again. Eight? Yeah. I mean, the vein in his bicep might have hit the off button, not his finger. I mean, that dude's

shredded. You know how they have the auto-focus on it, if you notice a couple times? I think that vein actually tapped the screen. It did. And it got off focus for a little bit. He is so jacked. It's absurd. His Instagram. Yeah, he's stacked.

His posture is phenomenal. It's like Fowler. He is like Chris Fowler. They're cut from the same cloth, it feels like. It does feel like that. Incredibly cool. They have to be, you know, in every moment, they have to be able to handle troy has called so many games like there's only obviously i mean gum was i don't know how long how long has he been in the booth how long has troy been been

in the booth whenever years i was gonna try i think he started in nfl europe i think he did a couple he did games in nfl europe when he first got out of the league to practice doing games and then boom, here we go. When you hear Troy's voice, you're like, yep, here we go. This is a big game. We know it. Started in 2001. So 23 years he's been doing it. That's since I'm 14 years old.

Most of my football memories, not that there isn't a few sparsed in before, but it's like Troy Aikman potentially was the voice of it. Then he had all the business success. Eight's going to go huge. Party in Texas and Oklahoma, obviously. He's done good, man.

He's done really good. Precious. Him and Joe. Now, Joe takes a lot of heat, obviously. Joe's called a lot of moments that are great for a lot of teams. And then, obviously, he's called every moment that has been terrible for a lot of teams. So, all of the fans of the teams in which they heard Joe Buck voice over the worst moment of their life don't necessarily love him.

He's going to be judged accordingly. He knows that. That's part of the job. But he's phenomenal at what he does. That's why nothing against who ESPN's had for Monday Night Football for the last several years, but that's why they paid Buck and Aikman what they did. It's like, hey, we need the announcers to kind of be a big draw and a big part of the show. And that was

the first tandem they went to. It was like, hey, let's go get Buck and Aikman. These guys are worth it. I mean, obviously Nance and Romo, but these guys have been doing it together for so long. They've called so many big games. They are kind of the pinnacle of calling games right now. Still like each other. Yeah. Isn't that crazy?

Definitely. Feels like they absolutely really get along. That's a huge thing, though. Obviously, you can kind of tell if guys... If it's a strictly professional relationship, if you pay attention, you can tell. There's certainly a tone that you can hear throughout the entirety of the game. Is there more going on right now?

You know, you start listening. That's a good one, right? Moving on. That's why me and michael cole i enjoy my time with michael cole so much oh like i think he does i think he enjoys his time with you as well i can't wait like summer slam is uh tomorrow and smackdown is going to be incredible in cleveland tonight and then there's a open media event happening at five o'clock that I'm hosting alongside Michael Cole. That wrestling world is so awesome. So much fun. You guys have been in

WWE 2K world. That hasn't been as much fun. What are you talking about? Playing the game itself. That's been a lot of fun. Everything that came with it, per se. That hasn't been a whole lot of fun. The hour and a half yesterday was great.

It was great. Without a doubt. It was so much fun. What happened? You guys were champs. We were celebrating. Still are. Champs.

Still are. Still are. So what's going on? Life is champ. You guys are on top. Marquee. What's wrong? Well, I guess we kind of knew it was going to happen, but you know what people are doing

to our characters in the game. Oh, really? I suppose that kind of came with the territory. You knew it was going to happen. Are they getting creative? A little bit. Real creative. Oh yeah? Wow. So you guys just been bombarded with people doing stuff with your characters on there that you couldn't have seen coming? You want to see yourself do the cool thing. Yeah exactly. I want to see myself unloading the clip. 6-3-2-40 Ty Schmidt. Exactly and thank you to all the people who have just been sending clips of us I want to see myself unloading the clip. 6'3", 240, Ty Schmidt. Exactly.

And thank you to all the people who have just been sending clips of us just kicking wholesale. Hell yeah, we need it. That is a night, because for every one of those, there's about 150 of the other ones. 150 to one? I mean, just getting bombarded out there. Tough ratio. Just getting bombarded out there. But hey, we're in the game. You're in the game. Exactly. That's the bombarded out there. You're in the game.

Exactly. That's the price you pay sometimes. You guys fighting Sammy Zane today? We'll probably stay away. You're right. Men in the game. Men in the game. Give the speech. It's not about

they're not building a statue for these people. No. They're not. Block out the speech. It's not about, they're not building a statue for these people. No. They're not. Block out the noise. I didn't even think about how miserable that could be. I am just now realizing how miserable you guys actually are about what's happening. That's what I said. You know,

I told you the other day, I was like, I'm so sorry. Jordan love signed that deal. And I was like, Oh, thank God. I can,

you know, this is what my mentions are going to be now. Like, Hey, Jordan love. He's the guy. And even like, Jordan Love, he's the guy. And even people saying, he's overrated, you pay too much. Like, whatever, I can handle that.

That's fine. I mean, didn't even scratch the surface. This is all you see when you get on Twitter. Just people calling you a big, dumb, dipshit. You suck. You look like a pedophile. I've gotten a lot of that. No, no.

Those are the only ones. I mean, there's a couple of those people who you maybe take a peek at your avatar before you're used to it. But yeah, at some point I thought it was going to kind of cease to exist or at least come to, you know, at least be going like 15 miles

an hour. We've been in the left lane on the highway the whole time. D-Bus said they're committed. They are very committed. Wrestling fans are committed. That was the first thing D-Butch said the other day whenever the game was announced. And, hey, that's why we love them.

That's why we love them. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, a man who is a phenomenal businessman and a founder of ProFootballTalk.com, which is basically the baseline of everything happening in and around the NFL. NBC Sports, obviously on Football Night in America, has this pies on to man who has been carrying the torch for the conversation about the Sunday ticket lawsuit against the NFL that resulted in $14.7 billion being paid and then $0.7 billion, $0.0 billion being paid. Ladies and gentlemen, Mike Florio. Hey. Florio.

Gentlemen. Hey. Greetings. So, I'm confused. What happened here because i saw a situation with the ufc where the ufc and the people that were suing them for this anti-trust thing for whatever it was for a run it's maybe running them out of business they were in a lawsuit then they came together and they agreed to a fee like 330 million dollars both the point the people doing the lawsuit and uh i believe the ufc

they say yeah we'll come to an agreement cool they got to get the court they go to the judge hey we figured it out we don't want to do this anymore we're all good we're getting 30 30 million judge says uh-uh let's go and try that ain't enough over both sides even the people that are doing the entire thing now we go on the complete opposite end of the spectrum where it is which how is that even possible in that first one? I have no idea how that's even possible if that's a person doing a thing and they did a thing and then I have no idea. But then this one too, it's like, I don't know how this is even possible either.

And it's both ends of the spectrum with the NFL one. They allegedly owed $14.8 billion out. And then all of a sudden the judge says, actually, I don't think that's the case. Is that what's happening? I don't understand how this works if this is the case. I genuinely have no idea how any of this type of shit works, which is why we have you on, sir. Well, first of all, I want to say hello,

because as we learned this week, interviews can go off the rails quickly if someone doesn't say hello right out of the gate. Yeah, you're right. And I did say hello, though. I'm glad to see we're all wearing black. It reminds me of the excellent line from the Johnny Cash movie, Walk the Line, when somebody says to him, what's with all the black?

It looks like you're going to a funeral. And he says, maybe I am, which is just awesome. So here's what happened. Here's what happened. And here's what happened on the UFC deal. When you have a settlement of a class action, a judge always has to approve it. I dealt with those. I lived those. A judge has to approve it

because, you know, the lawyers could just be looking for a quick score because they get a third or up to 40% of whatever the settlement is and then all the members of the class get peanuts.

The judge has to be sure it's fair. The members of the class have a chance to come in and say it's fair or it's not fair. So that's a normal step in the process and this judge decided it's not good enough.

In this case, here's what happened. It sounds like bullshit. The that's a normal step in the process and this judge decided it's not good enough in this case Here's what happened sounds like bullshit The jury found that Sunday ticket as it's currently packaged and sold is an antitrust violation and the judge said There's more than enough evidence in the record to support that fine. So plain and simple Sunday ticket as it's currently constituted and has it's been for 30 years violates antitrust law. The problem is setting damages. And what you have to do, because we know what the real world is with an antitrust violation.

It's what everybody had to pay for Sunday ticket. So you've got to construct this fake hypothetical world where we figure out what would have been paid for Sunday ticket, but for the antitrust violation. And that's almost impossible to do. So the plaintiffs put that forward with expert witnesses that the judge decided were competent enough to testify at trial. He's the gatekeeper for these witnesses. And everybody knows ahead of time what they're going to say. And he let them do it.

And then after the verdict, he says, oh, sorry, they're not good enough. I mean, what the hell? Kick them out before the trial and say, you better find somebody else or you got no case. He waited until after the trial, after the verdict. And he said, I never should let these guys testify, which is really a crock of shit. If you're any of the plaintiffs. And I mean, it's a legal term. I'm sorry.

If you're any of the plaintiffs in this case, it's like, what the hell? Crock of shit does sound like a legal term. I'm sorry. If you're any of the plaintiffs in this case, like, what the hell? Crocus shit does sound like a legal term, just like the entire... They take it, violates antitrust law, but we got no damages because the judge won't accept the evidence on what the world would have looked like if there wasn't an antitrust violation.

That's it in a nutshell. Okay, fascinating. I appreciate you wrapping that up in perfect timing. Have an incredible weekend. Summer slams tomorrow. So is the Hall of Fame. Enjoy it all. Cheers.

Right on, screws. So whenever you're. So is the Hall of Fame. Enjoy it all. Cheers. Right on, screws. So whenever you're talking, I mean right on, okay? We're talking anti-trust laws. We're in there. We're dancing. And then like right on the screws. Couldn't have been more, I don't think. If this clock is lined up perfectly, it should be pretty good. I felt pretty good there. So whatever you say,

everybody knows what's going to be said. He has to approve what's going to be said. And then afterwards says he shouldn't have it. So, what's trial for? I don't know. So, if everybody knows. The jury can hear it, I guess. Yeah, is that.

Then the judge. So, then the judge knew what was going to be said. It was said. It convinced the jury. But then the judge said, after hearing it out loud instead of typed out. I don't think that's real. How does this. Just, not on this particular case. case, but like how these things happen in your world? Because you said you were there. Judges just have the ultimate.

They can do whatever they want, whenever they want. And how is that how this goes? Well, pretty much federal judges can't get fired. They have jobs for life. Now they can have their rulings overturned on appeal and that could happen here. jobs for life. Now, they can have their rulings overturned on appeal, and that could happen here. The reality, though, is I think in this case, the judge decided, we'll just let the jury figure this out. Maybe the jury will reject this. Maybe the jury will come back with zero or a verdict for the NFL. Then I don't have to do anything. So he let the case play out. He wasted everyone's time for a month, tons of money that both sides had to spend. And now after the verdict, he let the case play out. He wasted everyone's time for a month, tons of money that both sides had to spend. And now after the verdict, he throws the whole thing out. And it's not even a new trial. It's not even a mulligan. I mean, at a minimum, let the plaintiffs go back and try to prove

damages again in a fresh trial. He slammed the door on all of it. And now their only recourse is to appeal to the Federal Appeals Court for the Ninth Circuit. And that'll take a couple of years and we'll figure out what they have to say. And it's a roll of the dice as to who the judges even are when we get to that level. OK, so obviously you'll keep an ear to the ground on all of that and inform us. We appreciate that. Does that mean Jerry Jones is going to spend money now? Hmm. Right.

Corner chicken. Wasn't that a... Yeah, yeah. He'll find another reason not to oh geez jesus louise hey we i don't understand it because they always end up paying anyway why don't they just go ahead and pay like if you pay cd land before justin jefferson gets paid you're gonna pay him less you wait until after justin jefferson gets paid you're gonna pay him more you pay dac before all these other guys get paid you're gonna pay him less now as it stands you're gonna pay him more they always wait and it always blows up guys get paid, you're going to pay him less. Now as it stands, you're going to pay him more. They always wait

and it always blows up in their face. What happened with Dak in his last contract, the way it ended up being a lot more than what it could have been, I mean, this is just seemingly the Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys story, but we'll just talk to Troy. Troy Aikman thinks that there's a chance Dak's playing for another team, and Dak's even mentioned like, yeah, I've seen and thought about

the days of playing for another team. It's a crazy time in the NFL. We appreciate you covering it all, Paisan. When's the next book? When's the next book? September 3rd. Son of mine. Pre-order on Amazon for $4.99. I'll send you a box of them.

You can like throw them on the fire or whatever you want. Absolutely. We don't do fires. Book runner? Maybe if we need it. What if we need a fire? Yeah, you're right. There could come a time where there's no electricity.

We got no nothing. And we need a fire. We're right there could come a time where there's no electricity we got no nothing and we need a fire we need some kindling hearing weird sounds and broadcast son of mine bam we talked what was that sound that's it i mean last night there was like a sound a lot yes yes it sounded like it sounded like like somebody was pulling on a hose you know when the hose is on the thing and it takes a week it was happening all night long yeah i thought there was a chance maybe it was an earpiece near a microphone because that can create like a static sound in there. But I don't know who it is. When you're in that high school stadium,

they're in that high school stadium doing that, and they're doing their full broadcast. That's an interesting every single year. I thought it was a good game. I thought it was a great game. We appreciate you, Florio, for all the coverage, keeping us smart. Thank you, guys. Ladies and gentlemen, Mike Florio, founder of Florio.

Yeah, Florio. All right, some news around the NFL before we get out. Hey, let's go to Hammer. God! Todd! Hey, Tone, let's get an Olympics update here and what we need to look forward to maybe this weekend, pal. So starting today, 2.30, we are back in the pool. The men's 50 free, starring Caleb Dressel, goes for gold there.

We've got the women's 200 back. We have two competitors in there going for gold. And then we have the men's 200 individual medley with Carson Foster going for gold there as well. That's later today. Golf going into the weekend. We've got a tie at the top between Hideki uh tommy fleetwood and xander shoffley they're all at 11 under uh john rahm at nine under uh so you see scotty down there running out the top ten it is a nice little uh leaderboard for the golf going into the weekend uh which will

be awesome and then uh as as we said there's the uh women's 100 men's 100 i think that is that is saturday as far as on the track is concerned. It's going to be a great little weekend out there. Hey, great work, Tony. Go, baby Tony. Good job, Tony. Great work, Tony. Thank you. Really good stuff.

What a big deal. What a big deal for the NFL to have that overturned. 14.8. It all happened so quickly, I feel like, too. He said a lot of money was wasted, not on the media coverage. There was actually no. Yeah. There was actually no media coverage. He was the only one. Yeah, just him just him he was most people have no idea majority people have no clue that happened he was on that

drum just like we're coming down for a top rope that purdue drum hey they're gonna lower the salary cap like last week and now boom over see the answer is zero and then on the flip side for the ufc it's like not enough you go the other way it's like what the fuck people are like no we're good how's this work so it's just one not enough. It's like, what the fuck? People are like, no, we're good. How does this work? So it's just one person, and once again, this is the sports dude situation, and I'm sure there's going to be people that are watching like, this dipshit doesn't understand how this goes.

I don't know how litigation and these lawsuits go. I have no idea. If you're in that seat... I thought they would come together if the judge can somehow shut them down, but then they still have to come to an agreement and they would settle on something. It's like the NFL. It's Goodell. Because people can make decisions, and ultimately it's Goodell going,

because there was that third-party investigation going on that the NFL hired. It was the woman who did the Washington. I forget her name. I can't remember her name. I do apologize. She was the woman who did the Washington, I forget her name. I can't remember her name. I do apologize. She was doing the investigation. She was the judge, the jury, everything for, I forget what the situation was.

Pretty big deal, though. Massive ordeal. I forget the exact situation. It was Deshawn. Okay, yeah, Deshawn Washington. She was doing all the interviews, everything, the investigation, and then she was going to be the one that was going to make the ruling and decision and then, you know, ultimately that was going to be it. It's kind of how the ruling and decision and then you know ultimately that was going to be it it's kind of how it was leaked and then we learn slowly it's like hey if good though we know how this goes if uh you know there's a chance if uh commissioner good though doesn't like it he'll be able to return it we learned that

but then good though came out and was like maybe it's written that that is the case but this is not how this is going to go and then it ended up being like that. I don't know that's how all those litigation lawsuits work. That's a wild thing. Makes sense. For millions and billions of dollars? When they say one person is judge, jury, executioner. Yeah, but there is a jury though. There is, but when you

say it in that context, it's still always one person. How about in the UFC one, the plaintiff is like, we're good. We're good. No, they don't need more. They're probably trying to spin in the UFC one, the plaintiff is like, we're good. We're good. Yeah. There's good deal. No, they don't need more. Yeah.

They're probably trying to spin that the UFC was strong arming them into settling. Well, I mean, I don't know. Maybe. Does that make sense? Is that illegal? Is that jail time then? Isn't that like intimidation of a – Isn't that jail time?

But they agreed to it. I don't understand any of how it works. I think we're all learning a lot about a lot. Yes. It's a lot of mumbo jumbo. And then you get a feel. It does feel like it, doesn't it? $14.8 billion to zero, that's a lot of mumbo jumbo. It's a pretty big swing.

That's a big mumbo jumbo. That's big, big. To Bruce's point, Jerry Jones was like, I got a peek in the future. You remember? I do this a lot. I got a peek in the future a little bit more than everybody else. I don't know if you know, we had this little thing going on down in LA.

I was the only one to testify. So maybe I'm kind of tipping my hand and tipping the lead where it's headed. Nobody else really knows about it. Think about that. Before you ask me. Drop fucking $500 million. Let's see, huh? We got 14 bills

potentially going the other way. Going the other way. So maybe he signs CD today. Celebration. That'd be sweet. I mean, why not? Want $300 million? Boom.

Why not? Micah, come on in. You want $150 million up front? Got it. I mean, $72 million a home game. It's not as if he's not going to get that eight times. Was it $72 or $77? I mean, $72 million a home game. It's not as if he's not going to get that eight times. Was it $72 or $77? I forget.

$77. Yeah, $70-something. Per home game. Per home game. Remember, we learned that because during COVID, if your team was the reason why a game couldn't happen, like too many COVIDs, you would have to pay a fine of what the home game was worth

to the other team. And then the list came out and it was like, Dallas Cowboys, 77 million bucks every weekend. It's like, oh shit. And then you got everybody else like way down there.

It's like Jerry's, maybe I have a little bit of a tip on where things are going, where they're not headed. Maybe that's what he's seeing. What, with Oxnard? With no fans, yeah. All of a sudden,

that's 70 plus millions going down to everybodynard. With no fans, yeah. All of a sudden, that's 70-plus millions going down to anybody else. We just had a little thing in L.A., and let me give you a little heads up. The questions that I was being asked, I don't think people like me right now. There's a chance Dallas Cowboys are going to be down a little bit.

We spend a lot of money. We have big yachts. We take our loans on these things because we're using other people's money, not our own, obviously, because we're smart and we're billionaires. But not as much money is going to be coming in over the next couple years. These guys are asking some mean things. They're bringing up some terrible stuff. What do you think was asked of him in there?

I would love to know. But I think didn't Florio kind of refute the fact that Jerry was the only one that had any inside track? I think I read something where Florio's like, he's not the only one. Yeah, but I like that if that is the case, which I assume other people do have an inside track on South Jerry. It's probably part of a team, though, that does it.

He's using it as open leverage. Oh, yeah. I know what the future looks like. You don't. Shut up. Can't pay anybody. We got four people that need a lot of money. Oh, that's crazy, because I got looking glass. Here's tomorrow, bitch. We don't got enough money oh that's crazy because i got looking glass here's tomorrow bitch we don't got enough money it's a different world jerry's a beast he is yes just an absolute

beast dude that's why they always went to oxnard though because jerry like the cowboys are international people all over the world love him i think oxnard was just a huge fan base they have and everything's about money but now like jerry's got to be rethinking, like, do I bring this thing back to Dallas? I think they should. I mean, you can't. They were in San Antonio a few times as well where they were practicing. Yeah, that heat. Troy brought it.

You're right. Were you guys in Oxnard every year you were there? Yeah. Because we saw in Hard Knocks there's, like, apartments. They've been in Oxnard for a long time. Yeah? Yeah. The apartments, the whole setup's already there, right?

Feel right there in the back. Locked away? Like, you guys are all locked away in, like, an apartment? Where do you all... So, we got, like, the whole village. There's nobody in there except the Cowboys and the Cowboys staff and everybody. Oh, so, like, teams will go to universities and shit for their training camp to get away, you know. You guys went there to get away.

It wasn't just for showcase. Right. Okay, got it, got it. So, this was, like like Dallas Cowboy team camp. This is like initiation, earn your stripes type shit too. Go through Oxnard. And now there's no fans there. There wasn't no fans on that picture.

Whenever you were there. When I was there? Packed. Packed. Really? Talking about like a game. Like, not one day it was less than 25,000 people out there. At Hard Knocks? Yeah. What they did? Like there were people up there. At Hard Knocks? Yeah. That they did? There were so many people in that Hard Knocks season. Crazy.

But not a big old show. Remember, we always used to see clips of the fights, Pat. Remember, there was always a fight early on, or the Cowboys would have a joint practice, and they'd have a huge fight, and it would always come over to where the chain link fence, and they were fighting right next to fans. I feel like every year we saw one of those.

Yeah, it was. Not this year. I've never seen it like that. It's normally a party like people it's a celebration it's an annual tradition yes and then they just said no we're not going yeah no thanks cowboys suck them well if that's that's what they said or did hardball come in and cut too many promos jerry was good on the mic but we got a new promo in town. And this is Jim Harbaugh guy. He was tested for the first time about an injury on

how he would respond because just a few days ago, he read from an index card a quote that he would give, in his words, for the rest of the season anytime he is asked about anybody's injuries other than his own. Other than his own. As the head coach of the football team. Anytime he was asked on a press conference, he read an index card of answers Anybody's injuries other than his own, okay, other than his own, as the head coach of the football team,

anytime he was asked on a press conference, he read an index card of answers that he could give. He's being tested for the first time with a Justin Herbert injury. Here's Coach Hardball. With the injury, did it happen on a specific play in yesterday's practice? Not qualified to know when it happened. He was evaluated last night and, you know, diagnosed last night. And then now we're following the instructions of the doctors.

And we're working through it. Was he dealing with any pain in the foot previously, like in the spring or in training camp? like in the spring or in training camp? Like I told you before, I'm not qualified to diagnose and I'm not qualified to know what somebody's feeling, obviously. You said a couple days ago, you said that you do get updated from the medical staff about what's happening. Yeah, you asked me how he was feeling. You asked me to jump in. Did you get any update from the medical staff?

I was referred back to the statement. That's the best I can do. I thought it was really thorough. It's working. Such a beast. Obviously, bummed out for Herbert. We all are. He is as well.

But boy, if this is how these jousts are going to be all year, welcome back to the NFL, Coach Harbaugh. It's great to have you. Credit to the follow-ups. The guy had some good follow-ups for him. Yeah, the local writers, the beat writers, you're going to have to bring your shit. Because as you're asking your question,

you can see him, you said it, thinking he is figuring out, all right, how do I just ruin this guy's question pretty much. And I just refer to the statement. I thought I was pretty thorough. That's from a couple days ago. Just Monday. What if he starts giving the date?

Like, I answered this question on Monday. July 31st, I kind of covered this. So why don't we just refer to that? I cannot diagnose. Yeah, bingo. Now you're asking me to dive into his feelings, he started saying. Do you think he's going to do this for every question or just injuries? This will be great.

This will be great. This will be the new Bill Belichick if he does this. Yeah, Bill was asked, you know, how does the team get better one time? And he said, we need to get better on first downs. We need to get better on second downs. We need to get better on third downs. And then, yeah, we need to get better on second downs. We need to get better on third downs. And then, yeah, we need to get better on fourth downs. And it's like, yo. Think about the person asking that question.

Like, how do you get better? Well, you are certainly not getting an answer. Yeah, no chance. There is no chance that I'm telling anybody anything at this exact moment. And I like that Harbaugh's setting a precedent right here. He's like, hey, this is how this is going to be. This is how it's going to go. We would like to let him know it's incredibly entertaining, AJ. And I bet his team

is going to fucking love it. They played that clip and did the exact same thing that we did. And then when he walked into the team meeting, I'm assuming one of them said, like, hey, great press conference. Like, somebody said it. Like, that is a moment for that entire squad. I think he's earning their trust over through all of this. And I assume in the alternate case, they're coming together. Harbaugh is a moment for that entire squad. I think he's earning their trust over through all of this.

I assume in the alternate case, they're coming together. Harbaugh is a football team builder, man. Legitimately. I wish I could have played for that guy, AJ. We hear culture thrown around all the time. He feels like a guy that thinks about it every single second of every day. How can I make my team better? I think some of these journalists

though, they've got to shake it up a little bit or try to get him off his game. Ask him about his history. Remember, like he was very open about talking about his injury past or how he's feeling. So somehow phrase it like go through the old injury reports back when he was a player. How's your old AC joint in your left shoulder that I know you popped in 97

and then kind of get him going? You got a shoulder, right? How's that? Are we still tight a little bit? Or how do we feel in the shoulder? Oh, shoulder's great, actually. Yeah. Got out with the dog yesterday.

Is there anything better than get out with the dog? I mean, I had his tennis ball, and I threw it, and it felt like I was back in the RCA dome in Indianapolis. Remember that? Do you remember that? They used to say he used to pipe in noise. They didn't pipe in noise. They played football.

The dog gets the, just like what he would go into off the, and then when I got the ball back, I was like, that was a pretty good throw. You know, the shoulder's pretty good because it had been hurt. And then what, like, the things that he, he's just so comfortable. I've never seen somebody more comfortable in a position. And it was on the biggest display after like one of the most serious accusations can be made of somebody like Harbaugh is considered a cheater which is the worst thing

you can call somebody like Jim Harbaugh because he's football guy like that like football guy hey you're a cheater like that is not something that he would want to be known Captain Cum like he does not like he does not want to be known as that then he started doing interviews and it was just like he was like i know what the truth is seemingly how he was acting yeah and we're hearing like promos from him telling stories and he talked about the the chicken and the yard bird and then actually i have a completely different opinion on these chickens 180 on the chickens high production low maintenance they're great we're looking for more chickens he said i was completely right that's happening while he's being accused of like one of the biggest cheating

scandals in college football history while he's on a run for national championship it's like this guy's a football guy through and through and i am so pumped that he's back in the nfl what would he has to win a super bowl right that's what everybody would consider a success this comeback for sure yeah that's what everybody that's what they, this comeback, too. For sure. That's what they would. I'm not saying me. I'm thinking he's Hall of Fame already, whatever. He definitely is, but with Herbert having already been to a Super Bowl, his winning percentage, what he did at Michigan,

I mean, yeah, I think that you would consider it a failure if he didn't win a Super Bowl. Not this year. No, no, no. At some point. Sucks about Herbert. Planter's a real deal, right? Planter fasciitis? Yeah, it hurt, too. Have you ever had it? Yeah, I don't know how bad it is. Isn't it the bottom of your foot? The bottom of it is right in the cut.

The arch? Where the arch is right there. It's like a strain of something, right? Yeah. And then depending on how bad it is, you can put the shoe lift in there so it don't have that much pressure on it. Nice. But if it's bad, you got to get off of it for at least three, four weeks. Oh, man.

So he's probably not. Two weeks in a boot, man. Yeah. Doctors have recommended approximately two weeks in a boot, followed by a graduated return to play. That ain't that bad. That ain't too bad. I don't think so either.

We got how many days until NFL season? 34. 14 days. You don't want it to be a thing that he has to deal with throughout the year. So, yeah, they're trying to knock it out and, hey, get him ready for week one. Yeah, they're going to want to fully recover this thing. This is like when people have groin injuries. Like, groins, like, let's just get this back fully healthy.

Because groin is something that can linger. If you tweak it, it'll just linger forever. Planner feels like the same exact thing on the bottom of your foot. That's a small thing, probably. Hammy? Just like that, yeah, hamstring. All that, it feels the same. Because, that, yeah. Hamstring, all that. It feels the same. Because one, you get it all the way back.

You think you have it all the way back, and you ain't 100%. You know certain moves, then you tweak it again. You're out another four weeks. Little muscles. I ripped my hip flexor a couple, when was that? A month and a half ago? Yeah. First week of July. Are you fully back yet?

That's the first time I've ever ripped anything. Really? Yeah. And I can't touch my touch my toes like i'm not flexible at all played soccer a lot of running obviously and that no hamstring never never never like look i don't know how it has happened i've always just said like tight muscle it's like a thick rubber band you know it just goes faster you know that's why that's why i'm able to kick the ball sword and then i was getting like you know i so I had terrible technique because technique is like be super flexible and go through it. I was just like powering through everything.

So the knees end up getting blown out and that entire thing. But those injuries, like when I ripped the hip flexor, it felt like a slingshot hit me in the thigh. I had never felt that before. Then I ripped my hamstring in here. Yeah, sprinting. Sprinting in there. It's like I'm old as shit, and I've never that before. Then I ripped my hamstring in here. Yeah, sprinting. Sprinting in there. It's like I'm old as shit, and I've never experienced this.

I couldn't imagine playing and having that feeling happen. And then like, oh, we're in the middle of the season. It's like, are we coming back? I was thinking like four days out from that thing, how I felt. Eight days out, how I felt from it. It's like, that would be like two weeks, two games potentially, if you hurt that on the wrong day. Imagine how I felt when I ran that 40 and I pulled my hamstring oh i couldn't even imagine it's terrible dude it we're old we are

so old yeah it is uh but like gearing how long the return is and how many games you miss it has like long term because if you re-injure that thing you can talk like 10 weeks it kind of happened with uh baseball uh mike trout right seemingly it kind of happened where it's like if you don't take care of it it's that's christian wilkins right hammy with christian wilkins kind of hampered him throughout the whole year i feel like was that last year this this past i don't know when it was and they've never really figured it out either right there's just like stem and it'll grow back and then some people i think how some people move how you're built how everything like they're more prone to it obviously i don't know i mean everything plays nutrition hydration genetics are a gigantic part of it allegedly you know all that

i mean like all of it because like was i super hydrated that's why i don't know i don't think i was anymore so i think genetics are a big part of it you know like some people are prone to it some people like pop their hammies a lot they're obviously a lot of super fast guys will do that but i don't know like some guys cramp you know did you have so you play with some guys that cramped really bad all the time full body cramp guys yeah yeah i wonder why some people i guess that's because we're all different that's right well said and this show is different because uh you know we're we're just bullshit about sports and everything that is surrounding it.

And we'll continue to do so for as long as people will have us. We're striving to unify everybody legitimately because that's what we feel like sports are. But also every once in a while we got to say, whoa, whoa, whoa. I love the opportunity to do this every day, as do the boys. It is an actual dream job, working with dream people. And as long as you'll have us, we'll continue to do it. I hope you have the best weekend that you've ever had in your entire life. Why? Because it's the next one. Why?

Because we're closer to the NFL season kicking off. We also have the Olympics happening. Tone! In Hammer. Time! Time! Any corrections today? Nah. Boys. Perfect day. That's what happened. Clean change. AJ just said Christian Wilkins. meant Christian Watson but we knew that

You're exactly right Thank you Tone that's why you're here We're lucky to do it I'm lucky to do it alongside a great group of people in the back Great work boys In the graphics department What a week out of you guys What a week

Incredible week That was a good week out of you guys. What a week. What a week. What a week. Incredible week. That was a good week out of that little corner. What's that corner called? Some people refer to it as Dipshit Island. There's a lot of names like that. It's Dipshit Island. Yeah, I got a few more.

There you go. No. I'm a resident member. I call it Hard Work Island. I like that, too. It's called Hard Work Island. Hard Work Island. It has to be.

That's part of the whole thing. HW Island. I like that, too. It's called Hard Work Island. Hard Work Island. It has to be. That's part of the whole thing. HW Island. That's right. Shout out to everybody that stopped by the show this week. How about Troy Aikman with those sweet glasses? Legend. Yeah. Are those prescription?

Or just sweet glasses? Jordan Davis. Both. I think it's both. You know what I mean? Sees better, looks better. Okay. That's a win-win.

Let's go sightseeing better than anybody else. I'm excited for Troy Aikman this season. Seem jacked up. Oh, yeah. Very. They got a good slate. He doesn't do interviews. He doesn't really do many, you know?

Don't really see him much. I have no idea how many requests we've put in for Troy Aikman to stop by the program. Fair amount. Fair amount. Fair amount. Okay, bud. Please. Come on.

This is going to be perfect. Did we ever figure out how that Sammy Zane fan got in here? You're right. Shout out to Bron Breaker for breaking that person in half. That Sammy Zane fan that snuck in the back door. Loser. What's that all about? How's that person doing? Saw it in half. Wow. Chris Angel, maybe. Need that. Yeah.

Chris Angel liked the post the other day. Shout out Chris Angel. Good to see you. Shout out Chris. He still doing the show? Absolutely. It's bigger, better than ever. I think he's teamed up with Starcars. Probably 12 shows a week. Yeah, wherever he is. Yeah. Three a day for four days a week.

Yeah. Then he takes three days off and goes and lives. Yep. It's Chris Angel, baby. That's Chris Angel football. Exactly. When are they going to put him back in a Raiders game? Soon.

This year. Season opener. Home opener. He's playing D-tackle next to Wilkins. Boom. Shout out Chris Angel. Sweet. That'd be Chris Angel.

There we go. He's playing D-tackle next to Wilkins. Shout out Chris Angel. There we go. He's wearing football pants. Can't see them all, but we appreciate that he bought into the NFL logo even. Mark Davis gave those to him. That's amazing. They're putting that A on all the Rangers uniforms this year.

That'd be so cool on that D-line. What if he did sponsor their practice jerseys? Everybody has the practice jersey sponsor. Mind freak right on the... Yeah. Like a bumper sticker? That'd be so sick. That'd be good marketing. He's a weapon, dude. Chris Andrews is a weapon. That D-line's going to be very good. Holy fuck

are they going to be so good. They got two of them now. You know? There was like two of them in the league. And now, of these types, like very publicly these types, past 100 miles an hour, 100% of the time, like every play, yeah, talking, bugging, everything. Well, now they're together. It's like, and they can play every snap alongside of each other.

And they help each other. Could you imagine that side of that offensive line that week? Those three? Nightmare. Oh, my God. Bubz Blaine behind them. Jeez Louise. Just pain everywhere.

Let alone pain. Those are the mental. Just the mental. An offensive guard is going to be sitting in between the center that has Christian Wilkins probably shaded a little bit. And then Crosby on this side of him. And then a tackle that is looking out at a potential

safety or corner that's coming there. I either got Wilkins coming this way or I got Crosby potentially on the outside shoulder here. What if they decide just to both and then all of a sudden you're... And then they're telling you. And then you're on the ground and all of a sudden

you're the biggest, softest piece of shit that's ever played football. And then you've got to get up, and here we go again. And that's for 60 plays, 55 plays. Even that mental part of the game, they've signed in the offseason. They always talk about these Raiders because of the ball-throwing situation. Bingo. But Gardner Minshew is a dog. He might not even be the starter.

Yeah. It's not. It's nowhere near season time. They're also pulling at the tail of Mahomes. Yikes. That's a tough division. Yeah. Patrick Mahomes is so good at football.

Yes, he is. I appreciated Troy being like, yeah, yep, yep, love Patrick. He's very good. See also, Dak Prescott. $60 million a year, Dak. I Patrick. He's very good. C also. Dak Prescott. $60 million a year, Dak. I know. $60 million. And he's not sure it's coming from Dallas.

So that would be three years, $180 million? Vegas. Vegas written all over it. Oh. Oh, man. Vegas. That'd be so cool. Preach.

New York. Definitely not New York. Football Giants. Oh, Dak in division? If he wants to piss off Jerry a little for not paying him after he destroyed his leg on a franchise tag. How about that Mara guy going, I don't know.

That guy on the couch is going to have to get up at 5 a.m. again. Mara's never stepping back foot in there. That was just for the cameras. For sure. I don't get that sense. Me neither. never stepping back foot in there. That was just for the cameras. What? For sure. Without a doubt. I don't get that sense. Me neither.

He looked very comfortable in there. He walked in there and was very much himself. Did you see him a few times? Yeah. You've got to be very comfortable in a place if you're just going to be like, oh, boy. You're not walking into some stranger's office doing that. Showing he cares.

Showing he cares. I think he personally extended Danny Dimes. Oh, boy. He cares. Showing he cares. I think he personally extended Danny Dimes. Really? Oh, boy. He was sitting at an elevated position, too. He was sitting on top of a dresser or something at one point. He was. AJ noticing that is awesome.

So he's very comfortable, obviously. Yeah. And his kid was there? Yeah. They hired Belichick. And the nephew as well as like head of personnel or something. Pretty good, right? Yeah, you know, the nepotism throughout the building is something.

Bruce, that's our giant. I'm just saying, let Joe Shane cook, all right? Just let him do whatever he wants. He was letting him cook. Remember, he was like, bah, here and the Eagles are out. They did. Yeah, I mean, they did. John Mara just talked about it, actually.

I appreciate him. It's being documented he let Joe cook, but basically every single turn, he was... Are you sure? Oh, my God. Are you sure you want to do that? Oh, I can't believe that's what we're... All right, I mean, I guess if you want to...

I'm not going to be able to sleep. If you want to cost my company, just, I don't know, probably, what, fucking... A lot of money. A hundred million. Okay. Thanks. Go ahead. All right, Joe, thanks.'t know, probably what, fucking? A lot of money. A hundred million? Okay. Thanks. Go ahead.

All right, Joe. Thanks. Yep. Not trying to run a business here at all. Just trying to win football games. You know how popular he is? That was every scene. Yeah.

Every scene he was in. I didn't see. Was there one where he was not in distress? No. No. Is he just a warrior full time? That has to be hard.'s got a billion dollars you own a team bub he was jovial at training camp they were laughing talking what'd you say when was that that was on hard knocks uh no that was just like social media yeah social media footage how long was that for how long was

that clip that was probably 30 seconds but it does seem like like john is in is in solid spirits okay i hope so that was tough to watch he was going through it well i mean he's got his buddies have alarms on their phones to text them like hey your team still sucks every time every other hour i do appreciate it i do appreciate that oh no to bozo i appreciate that he came out and said that i am sick and tired of telling all my billionaire friends why my business is the worst one out of the bunch. We stink all the time. So we're going to try to get good. That is literally what he came out and said.

And then he spent a bunch of money. It didn't work. And all of a sudden, now we're back in the same spot. I do wonder how he feels about this particular team. Can the Giants go? I'm seeing some highlights. It's basically like every team. You see things that make you say, oh,

oh, maybe. And then there's a clip like four or five minutes later that you scroll by and it's like, oh, oh shit. This team sucks, dude. And then if your algorithm doesn't feed you the other side, you're going to be in trouble. Yeah.

Suede. You know they're keeping stats in training camp now? Did you see those tweets? Who's doing that? Just every team. Team, you're gonna happen. You know the stats in training camp now. See those tweets. Who's doing that just every team You know I mean Team you know JJ McCarthy is actually ahead of my I saw you say my homes and Josh Allen in touchdowns in training 18 Total touchdowns at two interceptions in training how many how many total touchdowns at two interceptions? I got the starting quarterback.

Well, no, that was – I was just – How do you feel about that? How do you feel about that? I like it. I love it. You would start Justin Fields? Yeah. Yeah, but you're like known stealer hater.

True. No, like, honestly, like, not being a hater. You're just being pundit here. Yeah, I would start Fields. Fields have a better upside. Like, for us, upside,'ve already seen, I think. That's just me personally. He's back in shape.

He's been boxing again. He's been boxing again. Russell Wilson has been boxing again, and he is unlimited. So I think what they're thinking is who came on? Lombardi? Who came on and said that Justin Fields outside one-on-one, we're okay, but obviously the defensive situation, Lambeau said, is allegedly still the case.

Which, in Chicago, I saw electric plays out of Justin Fields with the Chicago Bears. But for one reason or another, it didn't work. And it was always with the arm, allegedly. The arm, allegedly. The arm, allegedly. And then we watched the throws he makes. It's like, oh. And then Danilovsky comes in.

It's the quick twitch. It's like going through the progressions as quickly as other people. He's not built like that. He's a little bit more long, drawn out. Whatever the case, Artie Smith has been able to draw up some offenses in the past. If he's able to utilize what Justin Fields has, what nobody else has, which is a size, power, and speed. Because once you just got – look at this.

Uh-uh. Watch this. Uh-uh. That's in the rain. Uh-uh. He's tough, too. And then he's out. And he plays like that every single play.

It's like, what a good signing by the Pittsburgh Steelers. With Russell Wilson and Justin Fields over there. Did Russell Wilson get wall-webbed by Justin Fields? Uh-oh. At a job that he, you know, never started at before because of a calf injury whenever he was pushing the sled, working too hard. We shall see. You got to feel good about the situation over there, though, Tone.

Yeah, I would just like it to be decided. I'm tired of having to flip-flop in my brain, snip-snap, snip-snap. I was in on Justin Fields when they traded for him. Now I was all in on Russell Wilson because he had the pole position. Now I've got to be all in on Justin Fields again. So you're saying every time you go all in on the other one, you quietly to yourself bury the other one, so it's hard to get past that? Yeah, unfortunately, that's just how my brain works.

That's just all I can do. So next week when Russ is the starter, and I've got to go back then, it's exhausting. I've already talked about how much better Justin Fields is. He's younger, and he'll go to the future. I've already done that. Whenever I was selling myself last week on this young gun who has something to prove versus Russell,

and then all of a sudden Russell Wilson's back, it's like, he is experienced. Okay, Justin Fields ain't got any fucking – Did you win a Super Bowl? He didn't win a Super Bowl. I didn't want to have to pay Justin Fields after only a year anyways. Okay? Now you're back, yeah.

It's an interesting dilemma for you guys. Coach Tomlin's just going to let you guys know, too. I think that'll be pretty easy to figure out. I don't think he will. But I'm all in on Justin Fields today. All right. Hey, Tony, great work this week. Thank you, Tony, too.

All right. Be a friend. great work this week. All right. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. We're all in this thing together. Let's never forget that. People say some mean stuff. People say we say mean stuff.

I don't let people know all of ours is good intentions and trying to make the world be on the same page. I promise you that is the case. And sometimes I guess it doesn't come out that way or people don't hear it that way, but that's what we're going to continue to do because life is too short. We've all lost too many friends and family members without ever, you know, thinking to ourselves, uh, Hey, this all can end today, tomorrow, the next day. Let's enjoy it all. We're in this thing together. Team on me. Team on three. One, two, three.