The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 1308 - NCAA Conference Tournaments in Full Swing, Ian Rapoport, Shams Charania, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: March 14, 2025

On today’s show, Pat, AJ Hawk, and the boys chat about all the difference NCAA Conference Tournaments that are underway and how March madness is almost officially here as we’ve already gotten several buzzer beaters and marquee matchups across these tournaments. They also discuss how the NFL world is still awaiting Aaron Rodgers’ decision, and what else is happening around the NFL. Joining the progrum to wrap up all the different free agent signings and where we stand right now with Aaron Rodgers, Cooper Kupp, and a few other players is NFL Network Senior Insider, Ian Rapoport. Later, ESPN Senior NBA Insider, Shams Charania joins the show to chat about the happenings in the NBA including Zion Williamson finally playing to the best of his capabilities, the Warriors and Cavs recent success, the Utah Jazz getting fined by the NBA for what could potentially be considered “tanking,” and Tom Thibodeau’s usage of his starters and if that’s going to change at all after Mikal Bridges recent comments. Make sure to subscribe to youtube.com/thepatmcafeeshow or watch on ESPN (12-2 EDT), ESPN’s Youtube (12-3 EDT), or ESPN+. We appreciate the hell out of all of you. See you tomorrow. Cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello beautiful people and welcome to our humble abode, The Thunderdome. On this Feel Good Friday, March 14th, 2025, this program starts now. Force! Are fantastic and obviously we're incredibly lucky that we get to talk about them every single day. On this Feel Good Friday, our job is to do one thing. That is to thrust you into a weekend of March madness magic that is gonna be stupendous In one weekend, that's gonna be better than the others You know why cuz it's the next weekend the term Friday is one that is supposed to be celebrated

It's the end of a long work week now to the service industry. I know it's just getting started for you guys We appreciate everything you're about to do but for all of us Let's understand that today is supposed to be a great day Especially with the weather being like 71 degrees here in middle of America with two days ahead of us of great sports Including golf that's about to show up hockey is gonna be out there basketball college and in the NBA and if you look on ESPN news during the day during the weekend You might see something like tire wrestling sure or dodgeball might You might be able to go out and get some fresh air, touch some grass. Let's go and have the greatest weekend of all time.

And today, we're gonna try to make sure that is an easier thing to do. We have Ian Rappaport joining us in about nine minutes for the weekly wrap up with Wrap Sheet and Friends. Us being the friends, he being Wrap Sheet. We cannot wait to chitchat with him. The numbers have been out on how much money has been spent on this first five days

of the free agency period. Spoiler, it's over four and a half billion dollars in contracts. Whoa. That is so much money. Now a lot of these contracts, the big number is all food gays, because potentially in there is you got to solve

a world's mystery and what is it, or you have to do all those things. You have to get to the bottom of it to get any of those money. But the guaranteed money too, bigger this year than it's ever been and it's only going up. Congrats to the league, congrats to all of the guys that signed these deals and changed their entire lives. And then in the next hour we'll have Shom Sharania join us. We have a couple requests out to some legendary college ball folks.

We'll see if they respond in time before the show ends and it's going to be a good one. The Talks at Table is here at Boston Connor and at Ty Schmidt. Con man, looking a lot of pizzazz today. Yeah, thank you. This is a pizzazz, Jackie. You know, the color is a little off. It's more so the Grinch. But you know, I had such an amazing morning. You know, my door dash got here. It was the wrong door dash. Hold on, boys. It was the right door dash. It was Zona's. I don't know if there's a Zona out there. Zona C to be specific. Zona C to be specific. your order from first watch is delightful let

me just say that the the salad I'm not a salad guy but with this salad and the chicken and bacon in the sauce that you have in there delicious and then the potatoes with cheese and and bacon on top of the potatoes I've never even had that mixture of something in a meal and it was delightful I could not be more happy with the wrong door dash order I don't know if that ever happens and also I know Zona is probably you know kicking rocks because my door dash order I've learned sucks. Yeah, I learned today my door dash order from that place blows, but hers or his was Fantastic. And then of course you know

just as you kind of get into college basketball especially these last couple days it is getting me pretty pumped up for next week with the March Madness little zaniness we actually all I believe maybe not all me and you however did place a pretty large wager on the Johnny's the Godfather of New York Rick Pitino kind of kind of making his way all the way to the final however, did place a pretty large wager on the Johnnys, the godfather of New York, Rick Pitino, kind of making his way all the way to the final. I heard they're a tough team. I heard they cheat.

Seth Greenberg said they foul on every possession, but they actually change what the definition of a foul is whenever you're playing them because that's how they play. That's what, that's Pitino ball. And he said he got the boys rolling. I said, you know what? I believe you, Seth, especially for Pitino. What a good story. Yeah, come on. Everything happened at Louisville.

Okay, we learned. Sure. We experienced. We read about. And we all said, wow. I don't know how that even is possible in a modern day. But hey, Patino's doing, Patino's living his life.

That's slow quick. So then he goes to Ione, and then he goes to St. John's. And all of a sudden, now they're all the way back in it. And yeah, we put a pretty large little hefty wager on them to go. First bet long time for me. And I couldn't be more proud of who,

well, Pizon I'm betting on. Yeah, yeah, let's go Johnny's. You know, the Red Storm, they got six dudes. I've been kind of ingratiated in the Rick Pitino St. John system since about 2016. Okay, so it's not like I'm just showing up at the front door, you know, as they're getting good, you know, a roommate of mine in college, he has season ticket to the Johnny's. We've been

following them since, since then. Okay. So I don't think Patino was there though. No, but Patino was the head coach of the Boston Celtics. All right. Let me tell you about that time. It was, it was tough, you know, very tough, but some people stuck by and I was one of those people. Okay. You know, Louisville, a lot of things did happen. You know what else happened? What? He won a national championship. So it's not, it's not like it was all bad. It was terrible, but it wasn't all bad. Okay.

He brought a lot of happiness to that, you know, town as well over there in Kentucky. And yeah, I think with New York, the way the basketball is going to New York, the Knicks players kind of hate their coach asking, Hey, can you stop playing us a little bit? Ain't that kind of the problem every single year? Every single year basketball person. But I remember when they played the Pacers and everybody thought, hey, can you stop playing us a little bit? Isn't that kind of the problem every single year? Every single year. I'm not really a basketball person, but I remember when they played the Pacers, everybody thought, well, they're not going to be able to just continue to go because they're all either dinged up, hurt, or tired.

Physically exhausted because they were only running like, I think they had one man, six man was basically all it was. And I think the people in the basketball world were like, they're not going to be able, at some point, this is going to end for them. And it did. Yeah. I think it was in the basketball world were like, they're not gonna be able, at some point this is gonna end for them, and it did. Yeah. I think it was because they were exhausted. So going into this year, I think the convo was, maybe the Tibbs won't do that.

They're gonna change the way they play. I guess they're doing it even worse this year than they did it last year. Yeah, doing the exact same thing in Phoney. Which we like people playing. Yeah. Yeah. We like people playing, but this is a marathon here now. There's a lot of games.

There's a sweet spot. And it's, yeah yeah like opting out People don't love sure Running people to death love it if you're not a fan of the team Yeah But if you're a fan of the team you have to think these guys aren't gonna be able to survive The length of this season, especially whenever the only thing that matters is at the very end of 82 games whenever you go forward But he's got a plan. He knows his boys better anybody else

Yeah, I don't think he does because the guy that actually said, hey, can you stop playing it so much is the guy who played the most consecutive basketball games in the history of the NBA, Mikhail Bridges. He is basically the journeyman of all journeymen. He's the Cal Ripken of the NBA. He's the Cal Ripken of the NBA. Sure, I'm not a baseball guy. I don't know what Cal Ripken did, but it was probably something like

play a bunch of games straight. So- Well, it's like 3,000 straight. But 3 straight but 3000 straight that is basically the pace that bridges is on and unfortunately Tibbs pretty durable Hell player for C Tibbs though is running them into the ground, but that's why Patino. He's gonna swoop swoop in Hey, New York City. This is a basketball city hop on the Johnny's train the Red Storms coming, baby This is what March is all about us finding some school that certainly we paid no attention to all basketball season. But now, because there's magic in the air, we're going to watch and we're going to root for them. And I'll tell you what, if they lose, I'll go right to another team. That's March Madness, baby.

So you're supposed to be easy. And West Virginia's in, look out, from what I've been told. West Virginia is in the turn, from what I've been told. Yeah, according to Joe Lunardi, they are an 11 seed right now. They're trending down, but they're still, they're still in. Trending down. I don't know what, we don't have any more games, so we're not going to be able to stop that train if they take it. Well, no, that's what I think they were probably at like maybe like a nine or a 10 seed and since they lost in the first round, they've slid down. So now if you look next to their name, they have a little red arrow

down indicating, yeah, they have bumped down a couple of spots on the seed line. That's right where West Street basketball is, where the hoops want to be. and it's been up and down here we had some injuries obviously some very key players got injured in but once we get into the tournament it's gonna be hell and everybody knows that it's gonna be hell with that being said if it's on West Virginia like on your forehead right there I am pulling for the Johnny's. Let's go Johnny. Let's go Johnny. Come on.

And maybe the Bonnie's too you know because Woz is over there GMing are they gonna be in the tournament? They're down by eight right now to VCU. I don't think so. They gotta win the conference tournament. They gotta win the A-10, yeah. Woj ain't making a tournament? Nah, I don't think so.

He's worried a little bit too much about selling those phones and trying to bring in more NIL money than making sure that they got a spot in the big dance. I did see that. We never got a chance to chat about that. That was very interesting. Can you certify any of that thing or is it just? I don't know, and I think didn't they come in right away and they're like, yeah,

you can't fucking do that. We're not letting you do that. I don't think so. So that was kind of just the end of that. But he was trying to sell them. But how would they do? He would have to take a photo with said phone at the same exact time that the news is broken. So then people know just from watching pawn stores. This is just for me watching pawn stores, having to legitimize it is always the problem. That's why they got all these buddies down the road. You know, they got an expert on this, got an expert on the Civil War,

got an expert on World War II, got an expert on maybe cars, literally. That is kind of the thing. Can you legitimize that this is whatever they say it is? And then sometimes, yeah, it's 100% real. You got a $400,000 item right here. It's gonna sit on a shelf, obviously. Got some dings in it.

Small demographic, niche group of people will buy this. I can give you, guess what? 22 grand. That was Bond Stars. That was Bond Stars football right there. That was literally what it was. But if it wasn't legitimized, then it was basically like, I'll give you four bucks for this.

This thing is junk. This thing is absolutely nothing. Might as well take this to a scrap yard and try to get a few pennies from this thing for being metal. So I don't know, when I saw those weren't for sale, I was always wondering like, how can he legitimize that those are the moments?

And maybe just takes them to a museum of sports. Yeah, exactly. Maybe takes them to a museum, maybe a hall of fame or something. A basketball hall of fame. That's right. They're a mess. And granted now, maybe Sean should think about

retiring the Luca phone. Yeah. You know and we'll talk to him in the next hour and maybe he should take a uh he should try to figure out how we can make sure that's the case. Basketball is awesome. Uh whatever we're forced to watch it. Sure. You know, the NBA is doing it. Oh yeah. I think the NBA is doing it right now. College will obviously do it over the next few uh weeks here with everything that's about to pop off.

Conference tournaments happening now. March Madness happening here in a matter of weeks. And I think it's gonna get going. I think we're gonna become big fans of that. At least act like we are. So we hope you all will enjoy the ride with us. We have some money on the St. John Johnnies, but they won't be the last team we bet on.

No way. In this particular tournament. One half of the hammer. Cowboys, AP Tone there. Great sweatshirt. The players also this weekend. Get on with to watch some real golf on Sunday No way. In this particular tournament. One half of the hammer, dad. Cowboys AP tone there, great sweatshirt. The players also this weekend. Yeah. Get on with to watch some real golf on Sunday and Saturday. Yeah, the top 10 is looking pretty good right now. Minwoo Lee is your leader, but the other. I saw him grind out a par. People love Minwoo. He hit one under a tree like we shanked the drive.

Then he hit one under a tree that like rolled onto the green like a beautiful shot, and then he rolls his putt in it and it's like, obviously these golfers are so much better than us, but you gotta have the golf gods on your side a little bit. Yeah, you do, but the top 10 right now looks pretty good. I mean, Rory's in second, our guy Akshay, sitting there in fourth, calling more Kawas at T5,

Ricky Fowler, Billy Horschel, Scotty Schaeffler, Tommy Fleetwood, those can't lay those are that's your top ten It's looking pretty good right now. So yeah, hopefully Saturday and Sunday You get to that 17th Island green and there's a lot on the line because like this is basically the start of the golf season For a lot of people is once we get here. Yeah, that's what I was about to say. This is the first big one, right? Yes, this is the first one where everybody's at it Yeah Well like the Arnie the Arnie Palmer invitational was last week not everyone is obviously there because it's

an invitation about this one. What were they called them? Signature events? I mean this is the first signature event you know of the season. Okay is and Scotty still Scotty? Scotty's still Scotty. Okay so Scotty wins. Well that's the thing I just looked at those odds and I was like plus 650 for Scoot Scheffler what what the hell is going on? I was confused by that as well. Minwoo Lee currently in the lead so I guess that's why they have him above him. Rory at plus 160. Okay, is this Rory's year? Is it about to be Rory's year? What? That's awesome. I thought he was freaking out in the practice round. It doesn't matter, Rory's gonna... Kid brought up the Masters drive. I looked into what AJ was talking about.

You remember Masters I think on 10. he had the lead as a young lad and he was shank in the history and obviously ended up ruining some college golfer was on the tee box at 11 at the players and said hey don't do what you did at the Masters like right next to him and there wasn't a lot of people so that was the person he won up I think he grabbed his phone and just walked away with it. Oh yeah and then that guy got removed from the process I don't know if he got his phone back I don't know what all happened with the phone, but yeah Rory was in some was in a little bit And it feels like okay is this gonna be Rory's here again good Congrats Roy. That's what the oddsmakers are saying Right now I mean he's up. He's up What is he up five strokes on Scotty in second one behind Minn-Woo so like if you are normally one of the best golfers in

The world at that time and you are and the lead or close to The lead you're gonna be the favorite. Okay. Good luck to Rory. What if you have a history of choking away? But the We can always change that remember he was guy. Yeah, then he kind of rattled a little bit He can come back to being a guy for sure. Yeah 100% He will give us a big number though at some point. It'll probably be tomorrow and then Sunday he'll be right back in it. Yeah and then Scottie is gonna be lurking the entire time and then obviously he's gonna do what he does. Alright let's pivot away from golf and from

basketball let's get back to the NFL. Ladies and gentlemen it's time for the weekly wrap-up with rap sheet and friends us being the friends he being rap sheet ladies and gentlemen it's Ian Wrap Up Boy. Wow man that felt good to say that's first time saying that in a few years. Let's wrap up the week that was with our friend Rap sheet. Yeah it did. We just saw a post from Adam Schefter and I believe we did the math with Spotrak as well over 4.8 billion or something in contracts this last week. Did you expect it to be this active and what's the big takeaway in your mind from free agency this week? All right well first of all the money is staggering. I didn't do the calculations. Lazy! I would imagine some...

Lazy! Max is not like exactly my thing like when like Max has to have me help him with his math homework I say ask mama like it's not exactly my thing. Like when, like Max has to have me help him with his math homework, I say, ask mama. Like it's not exactly my deal. I have someone else do that. Um, so I don't know if that's right. Where'd you go? You went to that, uh, Columbia, yeah. But like the math, I mean, I did take math,

but it was like surfaces and knots or something. I think it was my math class, which is max is a 11. You can't do 11 year old. What is that fifth grade fourth grade six times sixth grade? It's algebra you think I can do algebra. What is algebra? Multiplicate I don't know Three I don't know minus four equals Eighteen and X equals six or whatever. Oh my god. You should that's yeah, I agree This is basic. No, that's very confusing. I'm not even kidding like don't have the key right there x

What is x equal like they do the entire Parentheses and there's different like What are we even talking about you hit the parentheses first I haven't done this since what sixth grade This is my first time hearing about this. Are you kidding me? I'm gonna say cool. I will I didn't know Columbia just was it pass fail operation there Columbia as well? I did have to pass fail math class. Yes, but not that one Or is that what you meant? That may not be what you meant No are all classes pass fail Columbia cuz I know like at Brown

I had a teammate that was at Brown and everything was pass fail and I'm like what? So you just got to pass the class? They do let anybody in my first football letter was from Columbia. I don't think they would have accepted. Hey, let's go That was them just snooping around How many people from Plum High School are going getting accepted to Columbia? Tony Diggs I don't think so. I don't think so. I do wonder if you know what congrats to you. Thanks for being a trailblazer. I think my parents have it. We need more. We need more out of Plum. Not just Tony Diggs getting accepted to Columbia. I expect that is right around the corner. 4.8 billion plus is what

we're being told even though you're lazy to figure it out. And you would have to act that as numbers. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean someone have to act with that as numbers, yeah. Yeah, and act. Yeah, I mean, someone did. But here's the thing to me, it's like, I started this, you know, really started digging in on free agency probably three weeks ago. And everyone kind of said the same thing.

Ah, quality of players isn't great. It's the worst quality we've seen in a while. And I'm sort of like, one, I feel like we hear that every year, because if you're, you know, there are some very good players to get a free agency but usually Great great great players have zero questions. Usually they get locked up by their teams, right?

So I feel like that's just something teams say is like ah The quality is a great like in the end free agent prices are still free agent prices and once you get there Like you really can cash in like the money has been astounding Everyone has overpaid. I think that's the way it is every year. It's great for business, great for business because it drives up the prices for everyone else. It's also very fun for us. If you're the guys who get the bag and there's been an unbelievable amount of them, not just like the, you know, Milton Williams of the world. I mean like, you know, mid players are getting huge numbers

and I'm like, that is, mid players are getting huge numbers and I'm like, that is great for everyone because everyone gets paid. Yeah, it's life-changing shit for a lot of people and it's been fun to watch. Even DK who got that massive deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers, him talking about, you know, his fiance and like how happy he was. It's like you can see you work your entire life for these moments and you're dreaming of getting this type of paycheck And obviously a lot of people did now There's a couple people that are still outstanding in the conversation Connor has a question for you Yeah, we're actually where do we stand with Cooper Cup?

It was reported overnight the Cowboys have kind of made a push and then there are multiple teams still involved Is it still at that 12 plus team? Marker has it been whittled down to you know five plus teams that are now kind of in a bidding war for Cooper Cup? And what's the number going to be at? Yeah, I mean, I would say there were a lot of teams interested. The market was, I thought it'd be pretty hot. It was pretty hot.

A lot of teams interested. Sort of the problem now, not that it's a problem because he's going to do really fine, but the problem is a lot of teams have spent a lot of their money. So this is the reason why people like to get free before free agency is because let's say he was free a week ago. Let's say he was free like Devont Adams a week ago, might he have been able to get that 20 plus contract? Maybe, but that's just not the way it worked and he was cut when he was cut just because

of some contractual things and whatever. He's going to do fine. I believe the list is getting narrowed down. I believe we'll have a decision today. I think there's some really good teams interested. The Seahawks have been a team that's been interested. The Saints have been in the mix. You mentioned the Cowboys.

I don't get the sense they're in it now, but I believe they checked in at some point. There's been several teams. I think Cooper Cup, he's 31. Obviously, the numbers over the last couple of years are the numbers, but he is still a very, very good receiver. It seems to me more like the final piece for a Championship caliber team now as opposed to like the key cog that he was like eight years ago But I think he's gonna do very well. Okay, so very well. Is that like 12 13 14 15 10? What is there? It sounds like probably more than 12

Who and I mean maybe up to 15. Yeah, I mean I I don't actually know the firm numbers But you say to me like what teams have been discussing. I think that's probably in the ballpark Yeah, interesting because you did say in your answer that he could have got more than 20 if he was released earlier Obviously that was during the trade stuff that was allegedly happening behind the scenes for Cooper Cup now He's a free agent I'm excited to see who signs up and if it is a team for cheaper than that, that has a Super Bowl quality run, like if the Chiefs sign Cooper Cup,

everybody will go, of course. You know, I don't even know how the Chiefs would be able to do it. But everybody would say, of course, the Kansas City Chiefs do this. Or the Buffalo Beals, or somebody like, if one of these teams that are at the very top sign him and get a deal done,

you're gonna see so many other people go like, well, why couldn't we do it? And then the question would be, can Cooper Cup stay healthy? And then the question would be, can Cooper Cupp stay healthy? And if he can, he's a dog. Pull a free cup, pull a free coop. Let's go, coop.

All right, let's talk about some other outstanding stories happening, especially one that has you insiders a little bit, perturbed, we'll say. This is AP Tones question for you. Yeah, he's referencing Aaron Rodgers. He does feel like he has you guys a little perturbed because you're just sitting there and you have to wait to see what Aaron's Gonna do there are reports that

Aaron's team said that a decision is coming soon I guess it's potentially his team told the Steelers and Giants that or whatever it is What do you guys think you know or think you're hearing? What's the latest you know on Aaron Rodgers? Alright, so I'm not perturbed. I guys think you know or think you're hearing? What's the latest you know on Aaron Rodgers? All right. So I'm not perturbed. I never, you know, I don't mind talking about Aaron Rodgers. I've done it for the last like five years forever. Just like if someone's like, would you talk about the Cowboys?

I'm like, of course I would talk about the Cowboys. These people keep us in business. I'm good with Aaron Rodgers. I also like, you know, would I like everything wrapped up in a nice little bow? Someone sends me the scoop, I tweet it and that's the end. Like that would be the ideal situation for me. Like let's try to make that happen. Otherwise though, like try to make that happen. Okay. That's you still campaigning. If we can get that to happen, that would be really cool. No, I'm just saying he's like Aaron Rodgers, a

friend of the program. If he's watching this now, he might be like, you know what? I'm going to send it to him, and then that would really be great for me. Okay, so you're openly campaigning for the story. So you're not perturbed, but you certainly are eager, you know? And that's the, you're not the only one though. All of Pittsburgh is seemingly getting eager as well. And it's like, Aaron has never played for the Steelers. There's no clue if Aaron wants to play like granted.

We all assume Aaron's going to play again. I think everybody's assuming our us included, but that's not, I don't think that's been officialized. Nope. I don't think anything's been talked about. Like, you know, I wanted to say something about that. Cause you said that to me a couple of days ago, you're like, well, are you saying he's playing and I was kind of like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

But like, I am also kind of not 100% sure. Right? Like, if he, I think these are some decent, pretty good options. I could make a case for the Giants, I could make a case for the Steelers. You know, I know we've talked about that he likes Minnesota, if that, I don't know about that one, but if he, if that ends up being the one, I could certainly make that case. But if he doesn't like them, if he's not 100% committed,

then he should definitely not do it. And so like, to me, retirement should still be a consideration. I just, I don't know that anything has been ruled out now. And so to me, he asked me like, what's the latest? Those are great different. Why did you pick those expressions for each of those teams? That was D-Bone. I mean, this is a D bone picture here

And you can kind of tell you didn't kind of tell it D bones a part of it It gets the story done, but it has its shit in it, you know, that's what you do when you deal with an artist Yeah, it's kind of what you're gonna do. Good. Yeah, D bones real deal over there He's got ideas a lot of them and we and we appreciate that. We do like that. We like that he hops right in that batter's box, you know, you can tell him the exact pitch that's coming, and he goes, no, I don't think so, and then he'll, you know, he'll take a big hack at it. It's like, okay. And then he'll get right back in here. And that's a B-Bone. Hey, D-Bone! Love you, D-Bone. The entire graphics department is really... I mean, it's gone up a wave. But you're right. Interesting photos.

But with that being said, I think he's doing that because everybody in here that is belonging to the Pittsburgh Steelers are like, let's go. Let's just get you the Steelers and let's get this thing rolling. I think that's what Pittsburgh's feeling too. You know, Pittsburgh's like, hey, you have an opportunity to play for the Pittsburgh. This isn't like begging Aaron Rodgers opportunity to play for the Pittsburgh's. This isn't like this isn't like a we begging Aaron Rodgers come play for the Steelers, Steelers fans are like, you get to play for the Pittsburgh Steelers as opposed to it. And it's interesting how all of a sudden a probably.

I mean, massive decision that Aaron Rodgers has either been putting off for a few years or has been waiting to make. He's a free agent for the first time Ever so like there's so much he's potentially Contemplating and if he wants to retire Mount Rushmore player Hall of Famer Richest guy to ever play in the NFL so it's like there's a lot of shit That's probably bouncing around in a guy who is a deep thinkers Those wires I thought it was AirPods. Are those not AirPods?

He would never use AirPods, bro. You think he's gonna let these Bluetooth waves get to his brain? You're out of your fucking mind, dude. Come on, Ian. What do you know? You know nothing. You haven't covered him at all. You know nothing. I did not know that he was not an AirPod guy. People knew this? Oh yeah. Dude. Oh yeah, dude. Come on, man. No one has told me this. You should just let your eyes should have told you this.

That's terrible. Your eyes should have told you this. Anytime you guys are talking about whatever he's doing or however he's walking, you just look, just look at it. Yeah, that's fair. That's on me. That's on me. Plugged in. That's the issue with you journalists.

Okay. You guys think you have it all figured out. Just look, just look, you know, just, just look. It's right there. But he has openly talked about on this show how, yeah, I'm not letting those Bluetooth waves kind of go. 5G waves. Yeah, don't worry about it. You guys are just calling for this to go there

and also all reliable. I know it's going to work. You know, and he's right. It does work. A little bit annoying, you know. Sure. No doubt. Certainly a lot, the AirPods have evolved the convenience of it all. get caught lose them a lot though

Mm-hmm. I lose noise canceling though noise canceling air pods are pretty great. I agree very good I'm playing I lose them a lot though. Do you lose them that little things tough to keep no, I have a ridiculous blue case That's cool, man. Oh nice, dude. Is that prime? Is that a prime one? That's cute. They pay you for that. They did not. They did send it to me in the mail the long with the Halloween costume one year. So which I was. You dress up like a prime bottle. Yeah, it was awful because I was all blown

up. I looked like the Kool-Aid guy and then like you can't actually walk because there's like air on your feet. So you're like wobbling around. It was ridiculous. I think it was speed and speed was in a bottle, right? In a prime bottle. I don't think it was that bottle though. So annoying. He can move.

Yeah, but so clean speed. Yeah. But he got RKO'd I think. Yes. On the 10 mile. Oh, that's cool. Great pull right there. Good work, Z.

When'd you guys go trick or treating like noon? Yeah. No, you go at like 4, 30 or 5. That's booze in your left hand? What? OK, wrap. All right, wrap. All right, wrap. Next question, booze bag.

Ty has a question. Wrap sheet, I know you said that the Giants are still potentially an option for Rodgers, but it seems like that's kind of been eliminated, although they are one of the teams that's basically like begging him to come there. We heard Kirk Cousins said he does want to be a starter next year, but Atlanta might not get rid of him. With the Giants situation and Dable and Shane absolutely needing to win next year, what are the odds that they go

after a guy like Cousins if they don't get Rogers or are they just gonna roll the dice with a rookie quarterback and hope that they win, you know, nine games to save their jobs next year? Well, first of all, I don't get Rodgers or are they just going to roll the dice with a rookie quarterback and hope that they win nine games to save their jobs next year? Well, first of all, I don't believe the Giants have been ruled out. I've heard different rumors over the course of the week, but I haven't heard enough to say the Giants are not getting them. To me, at least to me, it feels like they're in the mix. They had Joe Flacco visit yesterday recently so my sense is if it's not Rogers, Flacco would be a strong possibility and then maybe they do draft one.

They have number two, or they have number three I should say. So the Browns visited with Russell Wilson yesterday. If the Browns decide to sign Russell Wilson, that would give them two veterans that would make me think that maybe they don't draft a quarterback. could but make me think maybe they don't and maybe the next quarterback goes to the Giants So maybe it's a veteran like Flacco and then they draft so there are still option I mean the Giants draft three like they can get a a top quarterback I just think Aaron Rodgers would make it easier for them. Okay, so let's move to the draft here Titans gonna take quarterback Browns gonna draft here. Titans gonna take quarterback,

Browns gonna take quarterback, Giants gonna take quarterback. What are your, like Browns with Russell Wilson, how real is that? If they, even if they sign Russell Wilson, are they gonna draft a QB? Because it's been like reported that the Browns are definitely taking a quarterback.

Giants, if they end up without Baron Rogers, maybe they sign Flacco, does it matter? Are they still drafting a quarterback there? What are your kind of leans on what the draft will be for these quarterbacks and does it matter what the veteran signings are? Well, I think, let's start with the Titans. I think it does matter because the Titans have not signed

a, a- Or even looked. Or even looked, right. So to me, like that at least means the Titans are, you can always trade to me like that at least means the Titans are they can always trade for someone but at least means the Titans are pretty firmly like considering maybe it's cam warded number one. I think if the Browns do sign another veteran quarterback that would make me think that they may not draft them which would then mean maybe they're the team that trades out right because if you're not taking one, maybe you trade out.

Maybe you go to three, maybe you go to... Six. Seven. Maybe you go to nine. These are all possibilities now if the Browns are not taking a rookie quarterback and are open for business. I do think the Giants will probably take one. What I don't know is, like it does seem that Cam Ward as of right now is probably, you know, the most likely number one,

but I don't know where that number two slots in. I know teams are sort of all over the map, but I don't know where he slots in. All right, we appreciate your wrap. We know you got to do some TV here in about 30 seconds. Thank you for taking time to do the weekly wrap up with rap sheet and friends. Us being the friends, he'd be in rap sheet. You're the man. You're the man. Thank you guys. Stop losing while you're walking around with the kids. Be a father once. I was very tired from a long day of texting with people.

Yeah, got it. The only coffee is the only thing that goes in here. See, there's a solo cup. Yeah, OK. Your coffee is the only thing that goes in here where's it see the only there's a solo cup Okay, your coffee is the Irish coffee though. We understand that ladies and gentlemen right here Always got a good buzz go here my coffee just go a little Bailey stay loose stay loose you put cream in your coffee Of course, you know Bailey's sir 6 a.m. I know right that's what I'm saying. Oh I know right that's what I'm saying. Oh Raps a dog dude. He's an absolute maniac. Yeah. Yes cam ward number one seemingly the thing. Yeah, the Titans

Remember that was like the big conversation whenever GM down there named more gonzi Mike poor guy the gym. Yeah, but the President of Chad Spiker brinker breaker, there it is, Chad Brinker. Sorry, Mr. Brinker and Mr. Spiker back in West Virginia. That is 100% on me. You don't pass on a generational player or a once in generation player is what he said basically. And that led off everybody going, oh, Abdul Carter is a once in generation player.

Travis Hunter actually once in a generation player. Travis Hunter, actually, once in a generation type player, especially in college, being able to play the amount of plays in both sides of the ball that he had. And then everybody was like, well, this quarterback class, they don't really have a once in a generation guy. And then you listen to Orlovsky talk after watching the film, Cam Ward, and he's like, Cam Ward's a guy.

And then you start hearing everybody talking, they're like, Cam Ward, Cam Ward's a guy. The more people talk to Cam Ward, he's a leader obviously, Krista Ball said that coming out of Miami. Dan Orlovsky broke down the fact that over the middle he's confident throwing the ball. So a lot of these young quarterbacks scared to death going here. You know a lot of traffic in here. Going outside you know there's only one person hopefully I can throw it out there. If I miss it's not a pick and I could just kind of throw it up and let my wide receiver do their thing. The timing

routes across the middle where if you miss by a foot that thing's getting taken cribbed either by safety or a linebacker. Have to have enough touch to get it over somebody and then get it in between the linebacker and the safety. So that's a very difficult throw. The ones in the middle let alone with your eyes not being able to see because you got six foot six offensive lineman standing in front of you So the middle of the field is sometimes people's biggest weakness now There's some quarterbacks that are great middle of the field Brock Purdy has been eating in the middle of the field since he got In there which is why their offense and Deebo was able to do the slant God type of shit, but there's some quarterbacks that do not do well in the middle Dan said the cam ward over the middle is very good and the ball comes out very strong. It's on time

It's on time. It's in the right spot. He obviously has enough arm for the deep ball on the outside that touch in the finesse. It's like Cam Ward might be the guy. And maybe it's because of the entire class not being great that he isn't being talked about as much. And maybe it's because Miami didn't go on a run.

You know, they lose the Syracuse last year, last week of the season, kind of derail everything after the magic was behind them. But every time you hear anybody talk about this draft, it's like Cam Ward's going number one. So congrats to him. You know, earned it buddy. That's awesome. Incarnate Ward to Washington State, Miami, and now number one, probably overall, good for him. I think a lot of it has to do with like when you, when you get these big hype guys, it's guys that have been not known for years,

but have been high draft picks for years. Like Cam went to Miami, cause I believe he put his name into the draft last year, but he didn't get the grade that he liked coming back. So he's like, screw it. I'll go to Miami, make some NIL. And then he has this unbelievable year down in Miami. So now I think it's like, scouts, coaches, GMs, they're, they're getting into this Miami tape and now they're talking to people and now They're like, oh like he should have probably been up our boards a lot earlier than he just this year

Yeah, and I enjoy I love and I mentioned it a lot I love the way him and should door bicker like I really I enjoy that the shit talk Yeah, I enjoyed a lot now Miami has a new quarterback. Oh He's going through a lot right now. Yeah. Alleged, we're not getting into it. A lot of- We are not getting into this.

Not, yeah, a lot of what? Because people- A lot of what? People that are not on the internet are gonna automatically get mad at us for talking about this, but this is a massive story. He got a couple cars stolen too. It's not just-

Yeah, overnight. Yep, that's what we were talking about. Hers were found, his were not. Exactly. That's a whole other story. I found his were not exactly another story, right? I mean, there's a lot going on since Carson has got to Miami a lot has happened He's gotten paid a lot of money to hopefully Chris ball and the boys are able to bring it back pivoting away from football College football at least let's talk about college basketball, you know, let's talk about the time of the year that we are in right now Let's talk about this special

of the year that we are in right now. Let's talk about the special stuff that happens during these couple weeks that we don't really appreciate or see all year. It's time for some March Madness magic. Ooh! J.M.U. was insane. Fuck it. J.M.U. was awesome. Yeah, holy shit. Yeah, I think we kind of forget.

That was scenes, bruh. Yeah. It was. This particular video is not in of forget. That was scenes, bruh. Yeah. It was. This particular video is not in March, but it was madness and it was magic. And we have some March madness magic. Let's start in high school, shall we? Norris High School, to be exact.

Barrett Boesiger, after just getting the ball thrown to him pretty much. Boom, let me have that. Thank you. 49-49, let me have that. Thank you. 49-49, semifinal Nebraska State Tourney. Bucket from the other side of the court. Obviously the boys are excited. Being on the bottom of that pile has to suck,

but it is March Madness magic in the high school. Now let's go to some college stuff, shall we? Louisville, Stanford, ACC, 73-73, buzzer beater by Chuckie Hepburn! Drop the elbow! That's the quarterfinal of the ACC tournament. The cards advance on a last second mid-range jumper from old Chuckie Hepburn. Get it? Find it?

Drop it. Let's move along Let's have a night down in Louisville at 4th Street live. I believe is what they call now Let's go to the mid-eastern conference tournament NC Central gets a massive win over Delaware State Isaac Parson buzzer Isaac Parson, buzzer beater, the boys are moving on. What a win for NC Central, North Carolina Central. Get the baseline, swoopty woo, whoopty woo, get the bucket.

That's what we're talking about, Isaac Parson. Let's go to the SEC, shall we? Ole Miss with a coach that just wins ball games, wins with a Sean Padula bucket. What a shot by Sean Padula. They didn't even think that that guy was gonna make that shot from Arkansas. Now Ole Miss and coach Beard moves along down there

in the great state of Mississippi. SEC tournament in Nashville. Hopefully everybody can handle Broadway. There's been a lot of celebrating down there for good reason. Let's stay in the SEC tournament. Kentucky, Oklahoma. Otega Owe, who was at Oklahoma last year, gets the baseline and the layup to get a massive win in the second round of the SEC tournament. That's just in the last two days. Yeah. High school thing two days ago.

That shit yesterday. This is all just from yesterday. Buzzer beaters, magical basketball taking place, and huge wins in storylines already developing. Congrats to College Hoops. Incredible. Yeah. It's only gonna get better too.

Some of the games yesterday, obviously Iowa, they did go down, but they put up 94 points, you know I can't I think they had credible. Yeah, I think college balls about to be a magical this morning madness Well, we talked about like, you know Duke and Auburn and and you know, Seth Greenberg said yesterday, Florida, too But in terms of like parody it really does feel like there we could see this could be one of those years where you never Know like we could get a lot of chalk in the first round or it could be one of those things where if you're gonna bet all the underdogs like you might stand to actually make a lot of money I don't think outside of maybe two to three teams there's anyone who's really like

head and shoulders better than everyone else like we could see a lot of upsets well just like what happened in football you know NIL can make some teams right especially in basketball yeah if you invest some pieces you know some money you can change your entire program, change your entire franchise. And Greg Senke put out a tweet yesterday about some graphs about how many SEC teams have made the tournament. It was like two, four, I think six was the most that they've ever had. And then once COVID hits, it like kind of changes.

Now they're going to have eight probably in this year, and then they're probably only going to grow up. And then all the responses to him are like, you guys are put money into it He's like, yeah, that's what everybody's doing. All right SEC is investing in basketball I think a lot of schools are though, especially in the NIL you get two three pieces They get hot during March Madness. You can go on a real run here. It should be electrified Yeah last year we did the bet every underdog money line just blindly and I believe after the first entire weekend

You were up money but wasn't it also last year where the Big Ten had a bunch of teams and then they all shit the bed like you talk about how the Big Ten best conference no but that's the SEC this year like we're talking about how the SEC is the best conference but then when it gets to March they might all shit the bed. We'll see. Because it's madness baby this is March. It's magic too. Yeah it is incredible. It's magic, too. Yeah, it is. It's incredible. It is.

March Madness Magic. How'd Iowa do last night in the Big Ten, Tony? Well, they're out one of their best players, probably their second best player. He got hurt for the season, had to have season-ending surgery a couple weeks ago. So, you know, hey, they gave him everything they got. You know, Peyton Sanford, who was one of the greatest Hawks of all time, homegrown kid, you know, scored 30 last night. They just, that's the thing with Iowa, is they scored the greatest Hawks of all time, homegrown kid, scored 30 last night. That's the thing with Iowa is they scored the second most points in Big Ten play

this year, unbelievable offense. They can't guard anybody. They don't play any defense. So they scored 94 points, but they gave up 106. And you're not gonna win a whole lot of basketball games, especially college basketball games, giving up 106 points. That's a lot. Illinois gets a massive win. Yeah. I mean, that. Illinois gets a massive win.

I mean that is a team that Greenberg told us. At the beginning of the season, had a bunch of dudes. Dudes got hurt, dudes got sick. Now they're all getting healthy. Still got the dudes. Big physical. They out rebounded Iowa by about 30. So you know, again, tough when you're getting chewed up on the glass to be competitive. I guess Zito just told me I was coach got ejected You guys get a fired up last time. He did France fiery. He's a fiery son of a bitch. He always has been and then there's a lot of

Discourse going around that he's been at Iowa for like 15 years. They think he might that might have been his last game So says you ever won? Well a national championship just he's won a couple of Big Ten tournaments, yeah. Has he? Yeah. MacArthur. How they doing the March Madness thing? Pretty good? No, they typically choke in March, you know, just because that's the way it goes.

So Iowa football and basketball, do they mirror each other? I don't think so. I don't think so. I mean, I think a lot of places would kill to have Iowa success it for Being as small of a state it is and basketball and in football. Yeah for sure I mean, you know like yeah, are they gonna compete for national championships? Probably not but every once in a while, you know every ten years like you'll have a team that you know I mean they were they were a two seed a couple years ago and again

They they got beat by Oregon in the second round but like they're consistently good but it is what it is. I mean, there's no pro team so that's why people live and die with them. I didn't really watch much of them this year because they weren't great but I was hanging on for every second last night. Would have loved to see them win. Frayn and Kirk just kind of running the sports over there and then Lisa Bluder, she moves along and her assistant becomes the head coach. How's the Iowa women's team? Pretty solid again like I think after you lose Caitlin Clark it's like a different game yeah for sure

but they got a she's like the best player in the WNBA yeah I know Vegas Asia will so Aja Wilson Aja Wilson Asia or Aja Asia I don't know I think it's Asia Asia she's great player I'm not saying she's not a great player she has Haja Wilson. Haja Wilson. Asia or Haja? Asia. I don't know. I think it's Asia. Asia. She's a great player. I'm not saying she's not a great player. She has a completely different skill set than Kaitlyn.

Obviously she's taller and everything like that. But in what, four years, five years, Kaitlyn's going to be considered the best in the WNBA as well. And people are already talking about what she did this off season, like putting on muscle and stuff so she can actually handle how it's a little more physical. So it might be harder to win whenever you lose that particular player. For sure, but they're going to make the tournament. They got a transfer from Villanova who's like a great scorer and her effect already though

like they're getting girls like top five girls in the nation from like California who are like you know wanting to come play at Iowa which would have never happened before her. Alright we'll obviously follow along with all the basketball. Oh yeah. Especially the Johnny's. Yeah, especially the Johnny's and also, I mean, if we're talking about Iowa and March, Matt Madness, you know, coming up here

in a little bit for the wrestling. Like that's- They need to do that when March Madness isn't happening. They need to figure out how to slide that thing right before March Madness. And maybe it is already, and I just missed a couple of the days and they probably have to do it. But Matt Madness, the college wrestling thing wrestling thing worth a watch should lead into mania

What yeah, maybe maybe it should lead into me. I mean it is electrifying. They packed that fucker out Yeah, it is Like we're talking full entrances. We're talking about real I mean it was I think it was last year was the last year two years ago last year I think is when you first saw like the- Last year I'm watching one of these March Madness games, one of these basketball games, or an entire window of March Madness games, all blowouts,

which is the worst case scenario. For sure. Because it's the only thing on TV and you know nothing about any of these teams. And then they're all blowouts, it's like, okay this is kind of tough. Then I saw Matt Madness on and I went over there and clicked it, it was like,

holy shit, Penn State's better than everybody. But also, this is awesome, more people that's on Matt madness on and I went over there and clicked It was like holy shit Penn State's better than everybody But also this is awesome more people need to watch this go ahead It does run basically lateral to the basketball tournament just looked but the the Midwest Regional which I believe is what the final four Lead eight is here at Lucas Oil Stadium, okay But if it's right in the middle of Mark madness, that's gonna be tough for anybody else to really pay attention to 28th 29th and 30th of March, which I believe is Friday, Saturday, Sunday. I know they run concurrently to basketball too. It's a winter sport, yadda yadda yadda. Yeah. They gotta find a way to...

Even if they just did it early in the week, like if it's a Tuesday, Wednesday. Yeah, like that would be perfect because there's no March Madness then and that would be so awesome just to be able to focus on that because it really is like a spectacle and so few people know how great it is And then once you are like you were just mentioning once you turn it on it's like holy shit. This is an incredible sport It's it's similar to you know, West Virginia's rifle team. Sure going at it today Come on national championship today down there in Kentucky West Virginia's in it. They put a tweet on and said yeah, you know the stage is shit and Just like tone said whenever we saw the photo West Virginia wouldn't mind a 30 40 mile an hour wins sure You know, but the fact they're doing it inside

I guess we just kind of kind of make it easier for everybody else in West Virginia will certainly Abide by the rules and yeah, we're talking snipers out here. Okay, we're talking snipers out here. Good luck to everybody Let's go to the NHL now shall we? The NHL is magical for a lot of reasons. The sport is mesmerizing. They're flying around on blades on ice like I don't know 30, 40, 50 miles, whatever it is you know with the way we're tracking humans running now obviously you would just assume that it's quite an advancement of speed whenever they're on ice, especially with how these they're like figure skater, they have the ability of figure skaters while also wearing full pads, dangling a puck with a wooden stick.

And then there's a chance at any given moment they could just get absolutely annihilated, just demolished. And then they just pick themselves up and do it again. Never any bitchinging never any complaining The skills are skill set required is obviously absurd that not a lot of people have and we're about to get the playoff time And it's the fastest most electrifying thing that you could watch the NHL playoffs, but the best thing about it is its culture They still fight people over there. They still fight people over there. They still handle business with it Oh, is that right? You think you can hit our guy like that?

Well, why don't you go ahead and drop the gloves bud? Why don't you go ahead and do it and they do it and it's it's encouraged by everybody coaches players fans Even refs one of the biggest dogs in the history of the NHL's name is Tom Wilson Okay, he has been a menace in the NHL for a long long time listen to him and Stromer who's not a fighter or a tough guy have a moment and then listen to the ref Chirp in the middle of this entire thing in the middle of an actual NHL game I think it's a toe pick Tommy if you want to go center

right side I've been waiting my whole career for one. Oh yeah. I'd like to see that one. Yeah. I'd like to see it right now Ryan. Hey you gotta put one hand behind your back. Not that stupid. That's hilarious. That is just a hilarious give and take. And then how about the ref going, oh, I'd fucking love it. Boys, I'd love to watch it. Hockey's culture is second to none, I believe, and the toughness is real. And the characters in the sport, we don't get to learn about them much because they very rarely do any media.

Like I think what Spitt and Chicklets is doing is great for the sport and for the league and for everything. But the more clips that come out that just showcase what they are and who they are as a sport, I think the better for the sport as a whole. Yeah, no doubt about it. And like the amount of games is one of those sports where it's like, oh, there's so many games, kind of like the NBA where, you know, it starts to matter like right now. But some of the things they've done to make the game better, like the the winter classic,

I feel like has been one of those things in the outdoor games, like at the horseshoe, things like that are obviously grow the game better like the the winter classic I feel like has been one of those things in the outdoor games like at the Horseshoe things like that are obviously grow the game But it would be great if we could get more like players just talking because it is such a team You know culture, you know, take care your own business don't say anything type of environment But then when you do get the mic'd ups and when you get the you know clips of behind the scenes about how much these Guys care like McDavid last year when you know The Oilers lost game seven There's that highlight of you know him in the in the locker room like super emotional and everything and seeing stuff like that behind

The seasons is awesome. Even though they hate to actually show everything about it. Yeah, we're great people. Hockey hates everything about it Yeah, hockey is just such a did it for the lads, you know for the team and yeah We're trying really hard. we gotta execute and then, like the most boring interview. A head down. Every time. Yeah. Especially the in between period stuff,

like I appreciate the commentators and the analysts trying to get stuff. There's nothing ever coming. No. Not one time. You know, it's just like the right before kickoff interviews that the NFL was trying to do. But like, you know, I think Jamis gave something good

There's been a few like personalities that are have delivered a little bit in that moment in hockey There's nothing coming out any of those because they feel like they're a distraction to their team or they're like a me guy and since they're like little tiny kids literally waking up at 4 a.m. Just Skating the ice or being told insane about you. This is about everybody else So it's I think that's a detriment to hockey But also I think people just need to know that the people in hockey are fucking awesome. They are awesome, dude Yeah, every hockey player the best comparison would be every hockey player is an offensive lineman and none of them say anything And when they do get asked questions, it's almost like an insult that they're getting asked a question about themselves and not the entire unit Yeah, Stromer they're going I've been waiting on my whole career for one. And I believe,

you know, Stromer's brother plays with Tom Wilson and obviously I believe they played together in the past. And nobody that isn't a fighter is signing up to fight Tom Wilson. Just for you that don't know, Tom Wilson, you know, I'm a Penguins fan, was, have been Penguins fan for a long time. I am, am I hope they don't say what was that word I hope they do good. I hope but at the time I definitely was and He was a problem, you know But it's not just us. He's problem fucking everybody he plays against which is why I think the boys love him on the team But I assume he is a hilarious human being after watching that give-and-take right there. I assume when Tom Wilson is done

He's gonna have a podcast or he's gonna do shows and the stories are gonna be hilariously absurd Nick is that accurate with Tom Wilson? Yeah he's a guy who's built for and like you know you say this he's got the face to match he's that got that rugged handsomeness if you see pictures of him so like he's definitely built for and after playing media career and he's a guy who you know not to throw this back to the Canada USA thing, but he didn't make that team Canada. He probably will next year for the Olympics.

And you might see a situation where you got the Kachaks going against Tom Wilson on the international ice. Well, we'll see how the national anthems are handled. Yeah, that set event, all of them. Yeah, exactly. That's because we had a new standard, right? Yeah. Is Russia playing?

The Olympic athletes from Russia? Yeah, there's Russia playing. Well, the Olympic athletes from Russia Yeah, oh We say oh you say Oh a are in the Olympics in the past, but I think we need to look into every single competitors countries Political stuff because that is now how national anthems are being judged at sporting events. Remember? Oh yeah.

I hope Iraq doesn't have a team that much. I don't think they're playing hockey. Okay. I don't know if Iraq has a- They're coming up. I don't know if they have a winter Olympic team, but if they do, I hope we support the athletes, you know, doing their thing, living their dreams. But I guess, you know, I'm not getting into it.

I'm not getting into it I'm not getting on a Friday good weekend the reason we need to do a couple segments today because it's Friday I would like to just have a good weekend it's beautiful outside I would just like to be able to sleep and not have to feel like I need to respond with some context you know which has become a very normal thing in the sports talk world for us Not everybody else that seems like a lot of other people say a lot of things that are yeah, it's kind of much where yeah

Very bad words. Yeah, very. Yeah, very holy shit, and it just keeps on move. It's like, okay Yeah, we get it feels targeted. Nonetheless Evan Ingram a former tight end for the Jacksonville Jaguars He came out and said I tight end for the Jacksonville Jaguars, he came out and said, I appreciated my time in Jacksonville, but they just let a dog off the leash. He was excited to get to somewhere new and Sean Payton of the Denver Broncos was excited to get a player in his camp, that is a joker position that he can do everything with. He saw that with Evan Ingram and the only reason why we know that is because Evan Ingram announced his signing to Denver Broncos as the Joker, you know hanging out of a police car from a dark night So whenever you think about this Sean Payton led Denver Broncos

They were much better than anybody could have imagined Okay, much better than anybody could imagine with the amount of dead cap that they had not just Russell Wilson Everything else they had going on with what the Denver Broncos had been over the past few years. Just a mess. They got a rookie quarterback in Bo Nicks. He was good at the beginning of the year, got great at the end of the year. Sean Payton's culture seemingly settling in and now he's got a dog in somebody that he's viewing as a joker just like he was with Taysom Hill whenever he was down there in New Orleans in the way he operated his offense. It's like what are the Broncos, are the Broncos gonna be real? They're in a tough division.

But I think the Broncos are on a green arrow up and Sean Payton only wins. I think that's all I've ever really known him to do. Yeah, so obviously everything was a down year last year in Jacksonville, but two years ago, two seasons ago, he had 114 catches for the Jaguars, which is just absurd. He is a dynamic tight end, but like you pair him with Cortland Sutton

and then in Mims and Vailay, they have two really good young wide receivers. They need to probably get a running back. But with Sean Payton and Bo Nicks, they're only gonna go up. They're only gonna get better. So yeah, the Broncos are gonna be a problem potentially. Let's stay in the AFC West.

The Chiefs have signed Gardner Mentschuk. Oh, wow. Congratulations to Gardner Mentschuk getting a one year deal with the Kansas City Chiefs. We watched Gardner two years ago here in Indianapolis, just do it. Okay, once at a Pro Bowl inevitably. Now he was like fourth alternate or something like that, fifth alternate, whatever the case. He was one play away from leading the Indianapolis Colts to an AFC South Championship. That is real. That is not a makeup at all.

Gardner Minchu under Shane Steichen's leadership in offense was great for us. He then signs like a $30 million deal with the Raiders. It does not work out. They are still looking for a quarterback. Andy Reid says, let's get you over here. We know you got a big brain. We know you're a good moxie guy. We know you're a good energy guy. Come on over. He's not the only one. Zip on the ball. Zappi also signed a one-year deal with the Kansas City Chiefs. There's competition brewing for that QB2 spot in Kansas City behind Patrick Mahomes. DK Metcalf will be wearing number four for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He addressed that in the press conference, you know. Hey, GP's been here longer than I have been, obviously. He has created a legacy with the number 14. I will wear four. He looked

giddy to be a Pittsburgh Steeler, Don. Dude, it was awesome. He was smiling the whole time. He was talking positively the whole time. Obviously he just got engaged two days ago. So he's in a good mood. You got paid $30 million in a good mood. Got number four, looks great in a good mood.

Vibes are high. Yeah, that looked like a different DK than I've ever seen. And maybe we don't pay attention enough. He was happy, jovial, super pumped to be a Pittsburgh dealer And I think Pittsburgh people are excited for it as well. Sam Darnold spoke to the media He chit chatted about the last two games now that he's joined the Seattle Seahawks said he's gonna treat it as a learning lesson

John Schneider general manager of the Seattle Seahawks came out and said we made an offer Very good offer to Gino and it felt like I was gonna be over So a lot of people talking right now about the decisions being made And Sean McVeigh and Andrew Whitworth are moving Wait at 6 a.m. At the village that we just learned about from Andrew Whitworth have this safety squat bar squat rack This is at 6 a.m. They're doing this. This is Whitworth Obviously, he's got a probably a cardio late belt on if I had to guess so many plates obviously

he said he's staying in shape as if it was still football season working out every morning at 5 a.m. or 6 a.m. and the guys dumpers still real yeah you know whenever you're judging offensive lineman defense alignment you're looking for some explosion how do you do a lot of people say like well what's the they got a big ash Whitworth's ass is obviously gigantic. I literally sent him a text immediately. Actually, I called him immediately after seeing this video. And I'm like, yo, I need to be doing whatever you're doing,

because you still got all the explosion. It is very evident with how you're doing it. He's not the only one. McVeigh's moving weight in here as well. McVeigh's getting under the bar, squatting. Not as many weights as Andrew Whitworth, but still a shit ton exploded for a coach in the NFL at 6 a.m. at the Village the boys are getting after it Ryan Sorensen I do

believe is the trainer in there so I love seeing it Lane Johnson also did posted some massive squatting video yesterday with him using a safety rack as well it feels like this is the thing And I have not gotten under a squat bar since I've been forced to do it back when I was playing, because I didn't want to put the bar on my spine. I know it's, sorry, I'm not as tough as everybody else. This thing seems like the thing. So we got one of those on the way.

Don't you worry about it. Yeah, I see everybody doing it. It's like, you guys are more jacked than I am. You gotta be doing it for a reason. Let's go ahead and check it out. Love the guys getting after it. Love the the team mindset and I love guys sticking with it What's that say you get some no bull lifting shoes, too? I do love the no bulls. That's no bull, baby I'll get that cardio weight belt

All right our one wrapping up here on this feel-good Friday March 14th 2025 our two will be on the other side once again. Thank you all so much whoever bought big night or two will be on the other side. Once again, thank you all so much. Whoever bought big night tickets. It's going to be a blast on April 9th. Can't wait to see you in Pittsburgh. Who the quarterback be for the Steelers by that? Maybe we find out. Maybe we don't. Want to own part of the airline you flew with on your last vacation? Or part of the company that makes your favorite triple shot latte with extra foam? What about owning part of a company that one day could send you on a tour of outer space?

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We is not just I, obviously it's also the toxic table at Boston Connor and at Ty Schmidt. Sweet glasses. Thank you very much, yeah I got a new pair of glasses, a new prescription. I'm sick and fucking tired of squinting at that TV every single day and then just having the worst headache ever going home so I said you know what I got my glasses on. I think they look good. Thank you. I like them. Those are good glasses. I had glasses on the other day. I don't believe you were here. It was

on Monday I wore glasses because I had a little thing going on with my eye. Sure. And I'm like well I don't want that to be obviously a distraction for what I'm talking so I put these glasses on, the blue light glasses. And I feel like I was really taking care of myself and also covering up some of those evidence. Then I woke up the next day just stopped doing it. So I was like all right yeah we're not wearing glasses anymore and I'm just gonna act like it didn't happen. Then I woke up the next day, just stopped doing it. So I was like, all right, yeah, we're not wearing glasses anymore. And I'm just going to act like it didn't happen. Why was my eye doing that for that long? Don't know, but also not even going to care about it. I think you look good.

I think glasses are a good look. I think it's a good thing. Yeah, I mean, I've worn them quite a bit in the past. And then I kind of just, my prescription was sold. I was like, well, I'm not going to wear these because they're basically like blue light glasses. But then they just gave me a really bad headache So I said, you know what? I'm gonna go to the optometrist and sure enough

Wow, you know if you have bad eyes, you can't wait 15 years to go get your eyes checked again You know cuz you they will get worse on you. So your eyes got worse. They did they did but no got a new prescription and Can we see the screen? Oh, yeah, you hit me Can actually read what's going on up there. Don't have to... That's a good day. Yeah. Let's put up a graphic. Let's put up the... Can we put up the, I think it was the Big 12 basketball tournament graphic? Oh, that one. I deleted that unfortunately. Oh, okay. That was a terrible graphic. Big 12, really? That was good. Whoever in there was like, you know what? This is a good idea.

We'll put out a white graphic with white boxes on top of it with maybe even white font. I mean, that was, here it is. Oh, this is not the same one. This is a random, this is just an Excel spreadsheet that was created to probably make fun of the Big 12 one. You can read that there, right? For the most part, I mean, that's still very small.

You know, very small, but but you can't see the bottom row at the eye doctor's test right now oh no I mean I can but it's still you know I mean you got Texas Tech up there I can I can I can make it out playing Texas Tech is playing Arizona oh what is the rank of Arizona oh yeah that I can't I couldn't tell you but I guess if you had to guess, what would it be? Oh, I think I'm guessing Texas Tech is near the top. I'd say Arizona's maybe like a seven seed. Okay, Arizona's a three seed.

Okay. Texas Tech is a seven. Nope. Sorry, Texas Tech is a two. Yep. So twos look like sevens, and threes look like eights. You know, especially if you're from far away.

Sure, but let me just do like, like that is, I can't see anything that's just a white screen yeah pretty much just with like a little little bit of like smears on there when I go like this I can at least I mean like the the bottom line right now the bottom bar like that you know you can I mean I can see it you know cuz it's bold but when I mean I can read I can read everything welcome to a whole new drive it driving really is. Driving is where it really, you know. Nice.

Being able to see? Yeah, you and Foxy are a liability, brother. I don't think my eyes are as bad as Foxy's, but it's when you get a new prescription, you put them on, it's like, Jesus Christ, I probably should have been driving with glasses for a while. Not great. So this is a message to everybody. If you can't see shit, they make things

that make you to be able to see things. And it's much better when you can see stuff. I have some friends that have like, I'm not wearing glasses. I'm like, glasses aren't that bad of a look. And also speaking of looking, you're gonna be able to see stuff. That's probably a good life you could have.

I'm not gonna become a glasses guy. I'm like, well then do contacts. I'm not dealing with those every single day. It's like, you can't see anything. Like what are you, you can easily get this fixed. As somebody that was fucking blind for a long time and had contacts that I didn't want to change. I just left in my eyes for years and years and years. Once you can see things actually,

cause even those contacts to your point, they were way behind. So I couldn't really see much. And I used to walk into physicals where they would have the eye test, the quotes, would have like an eye test every year. Obviously I'm walking by the thing and I'm reading that bottom line and I'm memorizing the letters and then I'm sitting down and just battling off. Alright good.

Sounds great. And then you're just rolling along. Don't have to do that. You can actually see the world and it's a beautiful one if you're able to get it. So Foxy I go to the eye doctor every single year and they say what you should not be in public with how bad your fucking eyes are They give me contacts. They give me glasses and send me on my way. It makes no sense That's why I'm gonna get the LASIK done. I would have absolutely no chance to reading that screen I think about you every single day when I pop stuff up and I'm like, how is he reading this? So I got the LASIK, you know LASIK is uh it's a it you felt like I felt like I became a superhero overnight I felt like I have two good eyes now I can like actually see everything yeah they say that I'm gonna have to redo it at some point because I got it done

rather young right but yeah it is it is cool to be able to see stuff that's what I'm saying it's on the way it's on the way I just learned that you do get contacts and glasses though. So you still can't see with your contacts and glasses at night. Contacts are tough because lights. It's the rays. The rays of the light are brutal. I may try out. It has a name for it.

I always forget what it is though. Stigmatism, right? Say like this was a light. Say this was a light. What's it called? Stigmatism. Maybe. I don't know.

That doesn't sound like that. I believe that is. Your eyes are shaped like footballs instead of round. OK. Shout out to football, by the way. I'm happy sound like that. I believe that is that's one of your eyes are shaped like footballs instead of around Okay, shout out the football by the way. I'm happy we did that But say this is the light. Okay, this is what you see When you have contacts that light is It is like this big I do that if I squint my eyes and make it happen Yeah, so that's what it is all the time. So like if there's lights next to each other, what's that?

That's just a big fucking blob. That's why like the indoor facility that went to the cold state of lights all over the ceiling. I had never been able to see the ceiling because it was just all lights over on top of each other. And then whenever I got the the LASIK that I'm like, wow, this is really, wow. It's like taking a jump from like the box televisions to like 1080. Not even like 8K or 4K or whatever the case is. So I'm happy you're doing that. I think it's a good look, Ty. I appreciate it. And just a message everybody, you're not too cool for glasses. Like, life is much better whenever you can see shit. Yeah, but I couldn't give two shits what people think about that.

Well, I think you look cool right now. Well, and I think I kind of am a glasses guy. I mean, I started wearing them when I was in seventh grade. So if you don't care then, you sure as shit shouldn't care when you're 34 years old. So I mean, it's, like you said, it's better off to be able to see things and kind of be able to experience the world around you.

Yeah, then be worried about how other people think you look with glasses on. Here's, Zito found a picture. This is kind of what lights do. Yes. That is kind of what lights do whenever you have contacts. That is like what a contacts are. I don't know about whenever you're just blind because I just always had contacts in my face whenever from what I remember. But that is literally what it is. And that can carry to that can drag to. Yeah. And so when it's raining and it's wet out, it's reflecting on everything. Yeah, that's what contacts are. If you have bad eyes, I don't know about like average eyes with contacts They're good, but like bad eyes with contacts. It's fucking that is life right there. Yeah, that's what I have I have average eyes with contacts and it's not that bad I mean it sucks like it becomes like that if you wear them like say I sleep in them And I don't wake up and change them. I'm just like screw it. Let's just roll

We'll see how the day goes by the time the night comes then it's just like terrible Yeah, and typically those typically those day goes by pretty terribly That's a great jacket, you know, I just gonna have when you're wearing a jacket like this and you know, maybe you look like jacket you know that's just gonna happen when you're wearing a jacket like this and you know maybe you look like No, but it's nice having contacts. It's much better life. Joining us now ladies and gentlemen He's a guy who has had hawkeyes since he was a child. That's right. Been able to see everything What a gifted man this man is. He's a college football national champion a Super Bowl champion Ryker Cup winner father of ten ladies and gentlemen AJ Hawke Mazel AJ Mazel Shalom, how are you?

You've always had 20, 10 eyes, perfect vision? Yeah, I've been lucky, my eyes have been good. My left eye is my non-dominant eye, that one, it's always been pretty apparent. My right eye's better, but my left eye's still legit, so I don't have any issues. I was walking around seventh, eighth grade, I think, maybe even ninth grade, just like this, everywhere.

Yep. Teachers are like, you should get glasses or contacts. I don't have time. Okay? I buy, I'm A-okay. And then you get contacts. Then you get contacts and you like see stuff, you're like, yeah, it's nice that I don't have to have

my face scrunched up like this to see everything. That is a nice little thing though. Scrunch your eyes a little bit. Give a little zoom in. Yeah, shout to the human body being able to do that. AJ, what's Aaron doing, bro? I'm sick of it. Come on, man.

What's going on? I don't know. Like what's the deadline? Is he gonna wait till the big night out and he's gonna be a big surprise and say, hey, I'm coming home guys, here I am. He comes out like in a Jersey. In Pittsburgh? Oh my God, would you imagine that? home, guys. Here I am. He comes out in a jersey. In Pittsburgh?

Oh my God, would you imagine that? April 9th. Oh, happy shit. How many days? We've got a way to go. Holy shit. Ways to go. How many days?

How many days is that until April 9th? Steelers would be okay with that, right? Just wait until April 9th, maybe? Shockingly, the fan base would. What's that? I saw a poll, now, listen, if you, obviously, NFL fans are gonna think this is wild. Okay Pittsburgh fans are super super happy to have Mason back and potentially to have Mason as a starting quarterback

I saw a pool this morning Who do you want as your starting quarterback and had Mason and Aaron and Russ and someone else? Mason was like six Mason was like 60% Rod was like 25% something like that. So Yeah, it's wild. He't it amazing how you can shape how people feel about something? Like legitimately, now granted, it has been reported that the Steelers are waiting on Aaron Rodgers. Then it was reported he's looking for $90 million. Then it was reported like, yeah, basically he's just holding people hostage right now.

Like whenever you know those things in there at some fan base, it's like, I don't wanna deal with this guy. And it's like easy to think like that because it's kinda true, you know, kinda is happening if you look at it that way. But like not even a thought of like, hey, this guy maybe has a lot going,

like this is a pretty big decision in this entire thing. This is, he has to weigh a lot of different options at this moment, including retirement. Have we ruled out, AJ, has there been a ruling out of retirement yet in your conversations with him? No, I guess there has not. Like we've never officially ruled it out, but that would definitely surprise me,

but yeah, nothing would shock me. You know, nothing would be shocking, but that is something that we don't talk about, right? Is anyone saying, do we know if he's going to come back and play? No, the only conversation is, this son of a bitch won't answer which team he wants to play for.

It's like, I have not talked to him. I don't know how much AJ has talked to him, but the last time we talked to him, he's like, there's a lot of things that have to be decided here because he is, and the last two years have not been fun. A lot of people think he just be decided here because he is and in the last two years have not been fun a lot of people think Like he just you know enjoyed seeing the jets fail Like that is not an accurate depiction of how he views that at all

He wanted to go back because how shitty it was no matter what the situation was and there's gonna be some people that will Never believe that because of how they feel about aaron rogers because you know, he was immunized for a little bit And everything of that nature, but it's like I think he's got a lot of shit that he's weighing on him right now. And you can tell that in the picture whenever he's waltzing around the beach, I saw some guy in my comments whenever we posted this reel. And he said, uh, this is a staged photo. It's like, okay, you think this is what Aaron would stage a photo, but he actually believes that that guy actually believes that that is the case and it's like it's amazing how you can shape your opinion about somebody if Enough shit is said and you read it and don't even look into it and it's like some of its true based in truth But the way it has been kind of like this guy's an asshole

Kind of angle on it has set up for all these things that are happening Around the league right now to be honest I think the one team that Aaron is is not he's not holding any team hostage But the least hostage would be the Pittsburgh Steelers because you know, they signed Mason Rudolph Russell Wilson is not coming back Okay, you can not walk back into that locker room after they are waiting for Aaron's answer They signed Mason Rudolph like Russ can't walk into that locker room I don't think personally think he's either going to the Browns or Giants whatever They're not going to sign Joe Flacco to play over Mesa or whatever

So I think the I think the Steelers organization is fine waiting on Aaron at this point to be honest our source Says have told us That Aaron walks the beach at sunset every night. It's a part of the reason why he has that house California the Sun rises in the east it sets in the west that is the last place that the Sun is seen in the United States of America over there and also our source says every night is a thinking session about what life is supposed to be that's all the source said yeah that's all the source said? Yeah that's all the source said. Son of a bitch. Tony come on Tony. Tony I thought you just said it was okay.

Real quick let him know uh I've been sending a lot of messages okay this has been a one-way street here I've been sending a lot of messages because a lot of things are being said that I don't think he knows him I don't think he has any idea that I don't think he knows I don't think he has any idea I don't think he cares that much Agreed that's kind of how he is But I don't think he has any idea about some of the things that are being said, you know I don't think he knows that like Pittsburgh people now are at the point where like we don't fucking want him like if you don't Be like so I know what they're saying if Aaron's watching that's not what they're saying

They want them to definitely not watch it because he would have known this Through the entirety. So I like send a message like, yo, this is what's being said. This is what's being reported. Just so you know, like what's going on. Never get a response, but I'm just hopefully that cracked into his world. So he understands that this is kind of happening.

And then I set him the reel of the, you know, the beach walk thing. And then that was the response. That was response. I do that every single night, you know, so this is kind of Part of a lot more people taking pictures than tonight. I guess Yeah, and I think you should probably take a week off. Yeah, stay on the patio Different route maybe walk the shores of the mall or the alligator tonight and with where he lives

the I Mean the the lens with where he lives. I mean the lens. It's got to be such a big lens. It has to. Yeah, but somebody, I mean this guy, I don't know who he was. I should look into it. I should find his name. He has like 60,000 followers. Seems to be legit. Seems to be legit. Oh, the guy who posted this? Yeah, no. No, who put the comment that he did this on purpose. Like this was a staged photo. I've never been, like, for what reason? What would the stage, what would it do? I have no idea. Like like I don't know why Aaron would want that to be the stage. He's out there with like if he's out there and he has a you know bench press out there and he's benching and throwing a football and squat and then I would say

yeah, this is fake. But I think people just think that about Aaron immediately and if you're told enough things about a guy I assume inevitably it is easy to fall into that conversation. Yeah, that's what he has to do now to AJ's point. He's put out a bench, he needs to bring football, he needs to get a tire and hang it from a tree, and he's just start throwing football through it all night tonight till the sun sets. Because you imagine the photos of him in the dark doing this type of stuff. I want a helmet on too. Yeah, shoulder pads. I want a helmet on. I mean, shit, put the pants on just no shoes Bingo full pad doing that on the beach. He puts one of his old Packers helmets on the whole world will be like wait a minute

He's going back Into the ocean swims out there and his pads gets the ball comes back He should maybe tape like Steelers logo on one side. yeah Vikings logo on the other side Giants logo on the back something right off retirement right on the forehead and then like throw the ball up see which way it bounces each time oh my gosh or four different helmets and he sees it if he makes it in any of the helmets all this one matters the garbage cans yeah our bitch cans yeah logos yeah can throwing trying to put it in garbage can go in the Steelers

Well, it's good knock that one out walks down with his wired in knocks over the bucket walks all the way back Universe is trying to eyes closed while he's throwing it So it's just universe balls over and over and over what moon balls even better bloody ball. Yeah Throwing that type of thing. That's what he needs to do. All right, I'll send it What if you jumped in there like it'd me some good pictures if he jumped in the ocean He's swimming full past next next thing. You know, he's holding two fins He's riding dolphins throughout the wild ocean not even the trained dolphin Well, that's what happens if he doesn't make any of them. You need to go out there in full pads

Start spinning it Into trash cans start spinning it into trash cans. Yep. And the trash cans, maybe some flaming loops with big circles that are, that are on fire. Make it sweet. Oh yeah. You're right. We want smoke and team logos and a pyro.

Okay. That's actually not a bad idea is like do it like the Pope. He could just do black smoke every day from his house and then when you make smoke exactly when he makes yellow smoke for the Steelers what if what if he does and this will be the last time we hypothesize about what he should be doing at sunset on the beach then he lives a house sure this would be the last time we talk about it he should come out in a full Pittsburgh Steelers uniform mm-hmm do a throwing session see how he does sure next night come out okay a full Pittsburgh Steelers uniform. Do a throwing session, see how he does.

Next night come out full Giants uniform. Throwing session, see how he does. Then put the Vikings one on, see how, and then let that be the judge. Are you your best you in those colors? He can find out on the beach tonight at sunset. And then the retirement one, he can just come out like butt naked

with like a paintbrush in something and draw something. And if it's like a great painting No, you wear one of those geese He can wear his jersey Jordan Poyer Ayahuasca Jersey Yeah, yeah, you can wear that one and we need we need oh Ben the necklace you got the necklace

Oh, yeah, I think I think I think it might be by the for the brand helmet in the corner But yeah, that's it is actually good. I know that would be something that would play Connor wears it on the weekends It puts it back. Yeah, that's the reason I knew it was over there. Yeah, they're the tassels Yeah, he comes out like this with a headband on here. Maybe an acoustic. Yeah that entire thing Yeah, maybe that's the play. Sage burning. All right. Just let us know what you're doing at sunset tonight, Bob. Or tomorrow night.

We'll see it on the photos. Yeah. We'll see it from the creepy paparazzi that you're setting up, Bob. That's what people are believing. Weirdo. It's happening again. Bracket brain. That time of year when basketballs, backboards, and buzzer beaters start bursting into view,

images of underdogs are overwhelming you at every turn. Sites of storybook endings are never-ending. There's only one thing to do when Bracket Brain hits. Download the ESPN Tournament Challenge app and fill out your women's bracket by tapping into the number one bracket game. Your Bracket Brain will thank you. Presented by Capital One. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a senior insider for ESPN for the NBA.

Friend of the program, gonna break it all down for us. Ladies and gentlemen, Sean Chiragno. Yeah, Sean. Pat, the boys, you know, congrats on the sell art, by the way. Is that how you say it? Sell art? Yeah, you're close, you know, congrats on the cell art, by the way. Is that how you say cell art? Yeah, you're close. You're close.

I mean, you forced it a little bit, but I appreciate your attempt at that. I really do. You sent me a photo the other day of a five year anniversary. Was that the first time you're on a program? That was the first. Yeah. March 12th. I think that was the day after the Rudy Gobert positive test for COVID and, and yeah, his

whole incident and the world shutting down, the leaks shutting down at that point, suspending. So that started, you know, a good, a good so far five year run, great relationship here. So you know, I appreciate you guys. Now we're very lucky and thankful for you, buddy. You've been our NBA guy. And then obviously you getting the senior insider gig at ESPN. We've been nothing short of proud of you. Now, with that being said, let's start talking a little bit of ball.

From me, I got one question, one question alone. Zion Williamson, triple double the other night. He had 22 assists. Guy had 22 assists. Whenever he's playing, he's a triple double machine. The conversation has always been, will the Pelicans let him play tonight? Is he in better shape now?

Is he more healthy now? Why is he on the court? And when can we get him to another team to do this whenever it matters in the playoffs? So, yeah, I mean, he's had two triple doubles in the last couple of weeks. We know when Zion Williamson is on the floor and when he's healthy, all you get from him is elite play. And, you know, the last few weeks, he's averaged 24 points, Pat, in 28 minutes. So you're talking about a point a minute. So for him, I think you're going into this off season, it's going to be a big one.

I think him, the Pelicans, they have to sit down, they have to figure out what is the path forward here? What is this franchise looking into? What's the level of commitment? And Pat, I agree, like there have been points where they have to like let him go and let him play, but it goes both ways, right? He got suspended a little while ago for being late to a team plane. It was a pattern of tardiness that he had. You know, for Zywe, the next step for him is showing that commitment, showing that devotion, continuing to grow as a professional.

And a part of that is being on time all of the time because listen, one thing we know, everyone in the NBA knows this, a devoted, committed, healthy Zion Williamson is a problem for the NBA, for every team in the league. And he hasn't gotten to that point clearly from a health perspective. He's been hurt at different points in the year. And that's unfortunate for basketball fans and everyone. Yeah, I agree. And hopefully Zion will lock in.

You talk about being on time. Okay, so now we're hearing some more stuff. These are like more pieces of information that we didn't necessarily have for a long time. Cause all we had known is that the Pelicans just don't want to play them cause they think he's going to get hurt. So they're trying to gonna get Hurt so trying to conserve them the trying to conserve was like well How long are we just gonna conserve a guy that says he can play and inevitably is a career just gonna be wasted

Conserving a guy because he has been playing like this since we've seen him on the internet unreal and look at him Look at him. I haven't seen him look this good since his rookie year slash is Duke here Like I'm watching these hot like he hasn't been doing this since his rookie season in the NBA the way he looks to and I mean He's definitely hovering around like sub 280. He's listed at 284 pounds. I can't say he's Lower than that now. Let's go. He is Physically, I think the pelicans are as thrilled with him as they've ever been But again Pat you guys know it from a professional athlete perspective Physically, I think the Pelicans are as thrilled with him as they've ever been. But again, Pat, you guys know it from a professional athlete perspective, greatness and that superstardom

level that elite, all NBA, all world level of play that comes with commitment, that comes with devotion. Yes. And clearly from a health perspective, he's had some bad luck, the hamstring over and over again, but part of that is preparation too. If he could put all of that together, and yeah, he was suspended. This is public information. He was suspended.

I broke it. He was suspended. He was late to a team flight, I want to say a month and a half, two months ago-ish, and he was suspended again. And that was the first time the Pelicans reprimanded him for tardiness. And that goes on throughout the NBA, but it was eye opening to see. And he needs to be on time. He has to be committed.

He has to be devoted. All that comes into play. Because if he can get there, Pat, we're looking at a player that has the chance to be a top three to five player in the NBA. Come the Indiana Pacers too. We're ready and excited for you here. You'll love it. He'll be on time in India. He might end up being on time to everything in India.

Yeah. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Listen, India's a good city too. There's a lot of good people, a lot of good times. And Naruto, I think is the name of the tattoo he got around his belly. He could do this out here in Indiana. No problem at all. AJ has a question for you, Shams. Shams, what's going on with Tanky in the NBA right now? I know Utah got fined a hundred K or something because marketing they're trying to hide him and say he's not healthy I know some other teams they're sniffing around like they may be doing similar things Is this a problem and how are they gonna fix all this? Yeah, the NBA is keeping a very close eye on this

Larry market was being sat a few games the league determined as a star player There's a player participation policy and and when there's a star player that's healthy enough to play that their doctors deem and the team withholds them, you get fined $100,000. It goes up in escalation as far as a fine with every game and every potential situation. So if the Jazz get hit again with a fine, you're looking at $250,000 and it keeps going up and up and up. You know, the Mavericks were fine a couple of years ago for, I think it was $500, $700,000, almost a million dollars for essentially openly, I don't know if taking is the right word. I don't know if people would be happy if I use that, but

Are they going to get that today? Are they going to get that this year? for a better draft pick? The Mavericks? No, Uh, the, the Mavericks, uh, no, I don't, I don't think the mouth everybody would just say, listen, shitty moves. Doesn't mean you're trying to lose. Like this guy thought everyone is legitimately so hurt in Dallas or any of Anthony Davis, Derek Lively, the second Daniel Gaffer, David, PJ Washington, I'm not career in torn. He's going to be out pointing points into next year. So yeah, I don't know about the basketball guys. They might be looking at Dallas in a few different ways.

But I will say going back to Western No AJ, the NBA is looking at a couple other teams. I'm told the Philadelphia 76 are another team the NBA has started an investigation on and looked into just based on you've got Tyrese Maxx in this time Joe you know we know we know Paul George has missed time but I think with Philadelphia it looks a little a little bit more legitimate maybe because you think about Tyrese Maxx he's been banged up all year Paul George he's been playing the the five games before the All-Star break in February guys I'm told Paul George was playing with painkilling injections. He had to get injected essentially for painkilling for five straight games

just to play. You know, with groin injuries, knee injury, a finger tendon injury. And so Paul George, I'm told he's going to visit with doctors in the coming days and potentially need a procedure, which obviously would then sideline him, you know, likely for the rest of the season. So and Joel Embiid's already shut down, we know how that went. So, you know, they've looked into Philadelphia a little bit and seen, you know, they're also in a position. They've got a top six protected pick that could go to Oklahoma City if they don't keep it. So this is something that the NBA is definitely keeping an eye on. I appreciate the NBA looking into this stuff because that became a lot of the conversation

at the end of every NBA season is like this team is openly trying to lose so that they can gain maybe what 4% chance in the lottery to get a better pick. It was like not a guarantee. That 4% could go a long way though. That 4% could go a long way. I agree. I say that the blackjack table every time and the craps table and all that, but that was like literally what teams are doing. And then we get to the draft lottery and the team wouldn't they get like the fourth overall pick or something like that instead of the first overall pick and it's like okay so you just pissed off all your fans and put out shit product for the last half of the season pretty much and it didn't

work out for you it felt like that was kind of becoming an NBA routine conversation that we were having when did they decide to start cracking down on this you might said it in your answer and I might've missed it there. But did Adam Silver say, this can't be what our league's known for and how did it kind of come about? Yeah, Adam Silver, the NBA, the board of governors,

NBA teams, GMs, like they all came up with a strategy and the player participation policy in particular for star players, for players resting, things of that sort, it's a wide range of things that fall into that policy. And that has allowed, like for the Sixers in particular, their season started with an investigation Pat. Like they had an investigation at the start of the year around the help and the player participation policy of Joel Embiid.

And what the league found is there was no violation. He had a legitimate knee injury. The violation was, is the team saying publicly that he's fine, that there's nothing going on with him. And so if you are saying that publicly, but if the player, the league, their doctors determine this player is dealing with an injury. So it goes a bunch of different ways and it gives the league a lot of latitude to look into these teams and players and who's openly,'s openly know sitting a guy that could be healthy enough

I'm gonna need two doctors saying this guy's hurt. I'm busting it So this guy's the highest-paid guy the best guy and he's not playing who's making that decision Well, we all talked I'm gonna need two doctors need him in the next ray get him in the next right now And then they show it back. Oh guys got a Hairline fracture in his knee. All right, we were wrong. Okay. No, no, no penalty. You know, just keep it moving. That's how it's going. Shout out to the NBA trying to crack down on that. Couldn't even see the x-rays. Couldn't see the scans. Right now. We aren't doing that. I appreciate

that they're trying to, you know, fix or correct maybe some narratives that are about their league. But if you talk to Tyrese, Tyrese played through like a strain groin for a while. Paul George playing five games while getting shot up with vitamin T. Is that Tor at all that they were using there? Did you know? I can't confirm what it was, but Paul George needed five consecutive games of painkilling injections just to play. And that's what goes to the Sixers from an injury perspective. They have been so beat up from Joel to Tyrese Maxey to Paul George. These guys are just, I mean, for him that need painkilling injections for five straight

games, that goes to Paul George. Obviously he was trying to make himself as available as possible. He signed a massive max contract last off season and that's an extreme length to go and try to be available for your team. Agreed. Painkiller is not normally how you describe Toradol, although Toradol does do that. So maybe it was something even stronger than that.

And obviously that's not what we're looking for, you know, in professional sports, but hopefully they're able to get healthy and shout to the NBA saying, you ain't going to suck on purpose anymore. Okay. League sucks enough. Yeah. We don't need you trying to suck anymore. We got some good momentum going right now.

There's a lot of, there's a lot of stuff going on right now, Pat. You have the Cavaliers. Hold on, hold on, hold on Shums. We'll ask you about it. Okay we will we will dive into it because the boys have these questions for you but there is a lot of momentum for the NBA right now and I want to say finding a team for trying to suck I think that adds to the momentum of the league as a whole. I like this I don't hate this. Now let's talk about some of those stories. Connor has a question for you. Yeah. Sad state of affairs just because, you know, going into the season, I don't know if you

guys remember, Shams was on here like, Hey, Connor, are you worried about the Sixers? Like, no, this is what happens with Philly. It's sad, but you know, this is just the reality of a Choms. You kind of look like an idiot, but I don't like it. I don't like it for you. Shams not one bit because you know, it is what it is. It sells each the best. But look-

You know, in that way, BC, your bias definitely helped you a lot in that project. Yeah. Yep. Sixer season. So I'm just crediting your bias. I'm not crediting you. Yeah, typically it does. It is what it is, Sean.

I'm sorry. This trophy's here for a reason. Looking at the West though, the Warriors now are unbelievable. I think they've won, you know Nine of the last ten not sure if it's now ten in the last eleven after Steph go you started the Warriors BC But they're in the West. I don't worry about them. I just worry about getting to the finals But with Steph hitting his four thousand three obviously hell of a year for him going all the way back to the Olympics He's you know now being considered in the goat conversation that's being brought up. It feels like every day, which is definitely rightfully

so. How do you feel about the Warriors now? And has Jimmy Butler's camp been able to reach out to you and apologize because obviously you were getting killed during all those, you know, trade rumors. And then of course, per usual, you were 1000% right. These celebration videos are awesome it's cool to see you know Steph with another sweet achievement but how are the Warriors as a whole and do you see them making a massive run now? Yeah I'll start with we need to get at Community Notes you know I'm a big X-Fan Community Notes we got to go back to that tweet I had about Jimmy Butler and the trade saga. So, Camilo Nost really needs to go and fix that ASAP. We need to get that handled when there was some denial, we should call it.

Yeah, speaking of the war, I mean, there's 13-1 with Jimmy Butler in the lineup. This team is totally different with him there. And last night, VC John and Camilo got back in the lineup and he had a great game. His ability to slash and play in the dunker spot. He came in and he he he averaged 21 points a game in his last 10, 12 games before his ankle injury in January. And I think he has the ability to make this team an X factor, make them even more dangerous. But I think the Jimmy Butler entrance to

this organization has changed everything you know the question that I kept getting around the league was like him and Draymond Green are gonna get into fights like that relationship you're talking about two alphas how are they gonna get along how are they gonna coexist and everything I hear they're as tight as ever they they've bonded so much and that's as tight of a relationship and that's what's really gonna drive that engine in Golden State and Here's a good story for you guys. So step and curry. He had a birthday party. Oh, I like good stories Mm-hmm. The entire team was there from what I'm told and and you know

The party went pretty late into the night, you know 2 3 a.m The last three people there. Can you guys guess who those people were? Jimmy Butler Draymond and Jimmy Butler Spending time. Oh, they're fighting. They're talking. We're getting their camaraderie They're playing cards to end the night and I think you're seeing how that looks right on the floor You're seeing these guys smiling you're seeing them laughing you're seeing you're seeing them really come together as a group and it's translated onto the court. And what word did Jimmy Butler use when he was trying to get out of Miami?

He's using the word joy. I think his joy is back now in Golden State. And I think the Warriors are playing like they thoroughly love each other. So when I look at the West, Oklahoma City, definite contender for a championship. The Denver Nuggets, definite contender for a championship. You look at that standing. I think Memphis, you have to put them in there. What can they do?

What do they look like with a fully healthy John Moran going into this playoff run? The Lakers, before their recent injury run, they were up there as well. And now you have to put Golden State into that mix. I think this team is serious. I think they're legit. I think they're legit.

I think they have a real chance to make a deep run in this playoffs. Okay, so obviously the Luka trade to LA was talked about. Jimmy Butler trade to Golden State, huge. Huge for all the storyline, especially because they've been healthy. And let's talk about the Los Angeles Lakers

and what you just chatted about there. I got some Hembo stats here. The Lakers are eight and three in games in which LeBron and Luca both play they combined average 51 18 and 14 in those games. Okay, so obviously that's great news whenever they're on the court together LeBron We had Rich Paul on the show earlier this week And he said like, you know LeBron knows his body better than everybody better than anybody So, you know kind of taking it to his pace. I don't know exactly what that meant, but I think it means like LeBron is a very durable person

and he has obviously transformed his body a couple of different times. He pays attention to it a lot. He invests a lot of money into his body. He'll know when he's available to come back. What is the story with this Lakers team, you think? And when does, you know, the magical duo come back? Yeah. So let's start with the team itself. Anytime you're without LeBron James, Jackson

Hayes, Rui Hachimura, those are three starters. In the NBA if you have three of your starters out like that it's very very very hard to win games especially when you're talking about LeBron James who has been dominant on both ends of the floor. He was on pace to make it all NBA. If he gets back in time to qualify for all-NBA, he has to play seven more games, he's gonna be on an all-NBA team. He might even make an all-defensive team at 40 years old in year 22. That's impressive. They need him back bad, but they also can't rush it. So you hope you're gonna get Jackson Hayes, Rui Hachimora back in the coming days. Those guys are more day-to-day than I think LeBron James is.

I still expect, I reported last weekend on Sunday that he's going to miss one to two weeks at least. So this Sunday or this Saturday Sunday makes it one week. He's not expected to play Sunday on ABC against the Phoenix Suns from what I'm told. I would expect him to still miss another week. So that would put him at about two weeks. And yeah, I mean, LeBron James knows his body better than anyone else in the NBA might know theirs.

I would hope everybody knows. I would hope everybody knows his body more than anyone. I don't know if anyone can probably diagnose themselves as much as LeBron can, but he also had this injury already. He had a bad strain groin. He had a torn groin muscle in 2018 that he missed about a month and a half for then came Back and struggled a little bit you if you want to call it and then he had to get shut down for that season And so I think LeBron James knows exactly how to handle this. This is not as severe. This is not as bad

I would expect to take another week which would put him at about two weeks and we'll see how much longer than that I know not everybody loves this that's deep in in the NBA world. And I'm not just talking about Charles, who we love. We love Chuck. We love the TNT team. Shaq was on yesterday. That beatbox was pretty alcoholic. Yeah. There's a lot of alcohol in that thing.

Tastes great. Chucked one of them. Shaq's in Vegas doing shows every now and then. 130 shows a year, brother. 130 shows a year is what he does. Yeah, DJ Diesel's doing his thing. He's the man. He's a hard worker.

Spinning. Yeah, I mean, I don't think he watched the OKC selfies game. Oh, yeah, no, we know that. He actually said he wasn't going to watch it. He did not watch. Which was wild, which is the entire thing. But like, Barclay was trying to stick up for the whole league

and trying to stick up for like the storylines that are already awesome in the NBA that don't involve like the big markets or the Los Angeles Lakers in LeBron. So I respect where he was coming from but like us as football people with the Lakers resurgence there with that massive trade that you broke where you said your palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy, whenever you put that tweet out I heard I think in an interview but nonetheless as soon as that happens a lot of the casuals like us were like, Oh, let's see how this goes. And in a way it was going was awesome.

So if the NBA obviously can continue to have that with the SGA led, okay. See, I watched them get to Celtics the other night. They are so good. They are so, so good. Hey, hey, what do you say SGA all the way potentially MVP? Uh, maybe. Oh, we'll see. Okay. SGA all the way potentially MVP maybe We'll see okay bars from Sham Sharani I love everything about it, but this guy fun to watch and his braids are always twisted real tight

I mean it is Some of the best hair that we've seen in professional sport in a long long time I don't know if he's getting that twisted every single day, but it does feel like he must be, he must be getting it right. Cause that, that does not impact his game. It doesn't come in. It doesn't come in. I mean, it is tight. Doesn't impact anything. Does it swirl anywhere? Like he's locked and never looks loose. It is. He has great hair. He's seemingly very charming. I mean, affable.

Everybody, I mean, seemingly in all of the aspects, SGA is a superstar. He's not the only one on that OKC team. Ty has a question for you. That's right, Choms. OKC got back there, seven foot one, 105 pound phenom. Mr. Skeletor himself, Chet Holmgren, he's back. How much does this change everyone's perception of Oklahoma City moving forward save one of his skinny little legs snaps in half like a toothpick? I mean him and Jaylen Williams aka J-Dub, those guys are stars as well. Jaylen Williams got named to the All-Star team. If Chet Holmgren was healthy this season, he

would have been an All-Star in all likelihood as well. So they would have had three All-Stars in the All-Star game. And this is a perennial team. This is a team that's potentially set to be together for years and years and years to come. And that starts with SGA though, right? The way they developed him, they traded for him after one year with the Clippers. I think SGA learned a lot from Lou Williams in the Clippers, but he learned even more and he really developed with the Oklahoma City Thunder in that regime. They gave him a max contract when no one really knew is he a max player, but they believed in him and they got him.

And I really look back when I think about this from a business perspective, all of this with Oklahoma City though started last season. When they were home growing, Josh Giddy and they were able to trade him for Alex Caruso. That's a young player that you have built in your system and you're able to have the value and go get Caruso. And then they made a trade at the deadline. They got Gordon Hayward last year at the deadline, $30 million that they sent out in future salary.

And they got Gordon Hayward, and I think there was a lot of criticism, why did they make this trade? And there was some back and forth. Gordon Hayward didn't really understand why he was there, and Sam Presti was like, I don't know if this is a good, but why though?

They made that because they were able to open up a $30 million slot that they gave to Isaiah Hartenstein, who was a big part of this team too. This is a team, and I think it starts with SGA, it starts with Chet Holmgren, as well as Jalen Williams aka j-dub But they're eight nine deep and I think this is a team in the playoffs where if some of those guys can step up to Challenge, I mean they're one of the favorites as well along with Cleveland Hardenstein's got a mask on too. I believe ready as a nose. I think I saw him in the Batmobile the other day

He's got a nice, you know nasal fracture. I believe or some nasal injury, but he's he's been he's been balling. He's been doing his thing Obviously missed in New York, but he is he's gonna have a big role on this team having him finish games with Chet Holmgren You know who is much more than 105 but as I don't know guys referring to ease, you know He's he's on the he's on the slender side He's still going into his body. He's got a young guy. He had a little beard the other night I think what I was watching hair he was sick hair. I mean he was stroking He's a monster just think about it if they had him healthy all season could this team have 165 68 70

You know, I know Kevin Durant who's six foot 11, doesn't want to say he's a seven footer, but in Wembe, same as I think, if you're able to keep somebody that's built like that, obviously a weapon in basketball, healthy for the entire season. That seems to be a modern Marvel as well. Like I think at OKC,

they're assuming that Chet's going to miss some games because of just, I mean, how can he be that tall in your joints? Like there has to be something that's gonna, that's just my natural thoughts. You know, and that goes for anybody I think that's ever been overly, I don't wanna say overly sized, but overgrown. Tall. Like Andre? That's always, anytime I got-

You gotta go back to Andre the Giant. You're dealing with foot injuries, you're always dealing with something, and that's always your idea. Anytime a guy- You can go back to Andre the Giant. Like, you know- You're dealing with foot injuries. You're always dealing with something and that's always the worry. And thankfully, Victor Womanyama hasn't had anything severe. Obviously, he has the blood clot in his shoulder now. You know, we wish him the speed of recovery. Chet Holmgren had a freak fall on his hip, fractured his hip.

Like, those are things, thankfully, like, these are freak situations. It's not like he's had a foot injury that's, you know- Well- That continues to linger year foot injury. That's you know Continues to linger year after year after his you know rookie year Yeah But you talk about Wemby there his family like knew about all the foot and the ankle stuff allegedly through high school They were like training his feet and his ankles and like Trying to make the things that are gonna take a much bigger beating than they would with most other humans be as healthy as possible It's a real thing you got to think about that's why Kevin Durant with how much he's been able to just move now

Granted he has had injuries obviously injuries are gonna happen But with how long he's been playing with how he's been able to move in his build. It's like what an absolute Well, how about the how about like the the return from Achilles? I don't think we're ever gonna see a return from Achilles to that level of Kevin Durant He had the Achilles injury at 30 years old Usually after you have an Achilles tear your career goes on the decline or you're steady at best He's been playing his best basketball and he's now with 36 years old. No one has played at this level after an Achilles tear That's for sure. Hopefully Wemby's able to just do it. Hopefully Wemby's the

Because he's special. He's fun to watch. He is it's like you're watching a movie. Yeah, and he's the guy on San Antonio. Like, Holmgren's awesome, but like SGA's obviously scoring 30, 40 points a night. Yeah, SGA's the guy. Yeah, exactly. And OKC could be the team to turn the tide on the Celtics as far as the Celtics being, you know, kind of baby faces all of a sudden. Because a lot of people feel the way Ty feels about Holmgren and then SGA, the style play, SGA plays that if there's more eyes on it,

people might start. What was that commercial? Ooh, BC's scared of OKC. I want OKC. I want to play OKC. They're so young. You played them the other night. It did not end up well for Boston,

but obviously regular season, having to win in a series is vastly different, especially if it was in the finals but let's stay in the east big storyline coming out or coming once again that kind of ended last year's season as the storyline in the God and in New York AP tone has a question for you Shams. Yeah Shams you talked about Hartenstein and the Knicks missing them it feels like they're missing anyone who can play 40, 45 minutes a night. You know, the Knicks, they were worn down in the playoffs. They had a lot of injuries in the playoffs last season. It's coming up again, Mikael Bridges and Tom Thibodeau potentially are not, not agreeing on, on playing time and minutes and stuff like that. Thibodeau has been like this

everywhere he's been. How do you see that going in New York? I think these are healthy conversations that if I'm looking at Mikael Bridges He has clearly felt this way for a while and for him to say it publicly I'm sure this is stuff that he's tried to get across privately as well And I think for him this is more of a resort of like listen I've probably tried to say things privately and now like if we're gonna try to get this right and turn this season and Try to be at that level and get that trust in our bench like we have to challenge it We need to have these conversations. I think it is healthy

I think it's productive and it sounds like from my understanding him and him and Tom They would have had productive conversations in the aftermath of all this so now you move forward and We won't know how this stuff is all going to get impacted until we see the return of Jalen Brunson. How does Mitchell Robinson get utilized come playoff time? And at the end of the day, will the starters get worn down? Will those players not be able to finish the season at a high level?

One thing about Tom Thibodeau, he always has his team play at elite levels, especially in the regular season. And they've always been there in the playoffs too. I mean, just from the Bulls teams to the Minnesota teams, he always gets his teams to overachieve in the regular season and then in the playoffs, things have to break right. And unfortunately, some of his teams have had a lot of bad luck. Like the year Derrick Rose towards ACL, they were a favorite to win the championship. You can't really, it's hard when you have you have a torn ACL that could be a freak thing could be a wear And tear whatever so I think it is healthy to have those conversations

I mean from a professional athlete perspective like you guys know like you you have to have these moments and Challenging each other and that's what I was gonna bring up is like when Chip Kelly came to the NFL Everybody was like this guy's came to the NFL, everybody was like, this guy's going to change the NFL because he's going to bring this up pace, high speed offense from Oregon to the Philadelphia Eagles. They got LaShawn McCoy who can play running back. They got all the pieces and the boys once we started, I think everybody running NFL and I don't want to speak for AJ in the Packers locker room, but everybody in our locker room,

whenever we were watching them like the first five five six weeks with how many plays they were running and how up speed was like They're not gonna be able to survive like these dudes are not gonna be able to survive how long The NFL season is let alone at the end of the season That's when the most important football is and that was the same exact combo that was happening with NBA guys that we were talking to Retired NBA guys and guys that were currently in the league They're like this Knicks team has to break at some point. Like there's no way a human body can go as hard as they have gone. And then it happened against the Pacers. Like you saw it happen. I think Jalen got hurt in that series. OG, Anoby. And it was like things like, ACLs I think can happen to anybody,

Achilles can happen to anybody, but it'd be like a muscle strain or something happened that is like wear and tear, exhaustion kind of thing. And it was almost like the convo about the next end of their year. And then going into the season, and I'm a doofus obviously, but I do remember that happening because it was like the Pacers benefited from that conversation. I was like, is Tibbs gonna, is he gonna change the way, are they gonna not play as much? Disappear. That was at the beginning of the season.

And then now it's like a talk again it's like no yeah they're running that shit back literally they are yeah well the seasons the season was like I remember at the first month of the season when I was hearing from other team execs or like other scouts and people at these games like have you seen the Knicks rotations lately and I'm like yeah I've seen the boxers like have you noticed like their starters are literally playing like 38 to 40 minutes it's like a seven main rotation the first month of the season and I'm like, yeah, I've seen the boxers. Have you noticed their starters are literally playing 38 to 40 minutes. It's like a seven-man rotation the first month of the season. And I'm like, yeah, that's pretty crazy to think about.

Oh, gross! Early part of the season, you have eight, nine, 10-man rotations. But I will say, that's kind of shifted a little bit ever since that first month of the year. And I think for the Knicks, we we're gonna see answers in the playoffs and I do think these conversations are healthy and uh, it sounds like they they've handled it the right way in the aftermath to keeping people healthy Like we want people to play. I think that's why everybody wants the NBA to play But it's like if you literally what just happened last year Was the reason felt like that was literally the only reason it was being talked about why the Pacers beat the Knicks, right?

Wasn't that the story that beat the Knicks right wasn't That the story that you guys Knicks fans were saying Bruce wasn't that kind of thing? Yeah, I mean Julius Randall fell and dislocated his shoulder Jaylen Brunson broke his hand Oh, Gia Nino B with the hamstring strain was probably the only injury that you could point to and say that was too many minutes This season presses precious a Chua was injured to start the year, so we didn't have much depth But we do need to play Deuce McBride more like he's a great backup guard season, Precious Achua was injured to start the year, so we didn't have much depth. But we do need to play Deuce McBride more, he's a great backup guard. And Tibbs, he's one of those coaches,

it's not so much like he just wants to play the starters 48 minutes a night. He just won't watch bad basketball. So if you come in, turn the ball over, and don't play good defense, he's putting Brunson and the boys back out there as soon as he can. I love that. I hope they end up winning. You know, I do. I hope they end up winning and I hope there is like a marathon ability from these guys. But everybody that's in the basketball world says that that's potentially an issue.

We'll find out. They can be built different. I also love the Timbs like I ain't watched it. Yeah. OK. This sucks. Get these fuckers off the court. They're not representing my team. I can't take it anymore. I respect that. I respect that I appreciate that shawms. What do we've not brought up that we should uh, whenever it comes to mba storylines Yeah, calves going for their 16th In a row tonight, I think against memphis

They've been you know, you think about in the eastern conference the calves the celtics The I mean you have to throw the Bucks in there. Pacers, could they make a run? New York, can they make a run? So I think the Eastern Conference, if you're looking at the Cavs and the Celtics, if you're looking at the standings right here and we end up with the Cavs-Celtics Conference Finals, that's going to be a bloodbath. That's going to be an amazing series.

Another guy we haven't given much love to, obviously Donald Mitchell gets a lot of love everywhere. Darius Garland, All-Star guard, Evan Mobley. You think about those types of bigs. You think about Chet Holmgren, Victor Ramoniyama. Evan Mobley is in that category as well as a guy that can defensively on offense, he's dynamic playmaking, he's dynamic. He's had a few almost triple doubles this year as well.

And he's played on an elite level from a big man perspective. He's about seven, seven one. So, or six 11, seven foot one. So he's, he's also a beast inside. All right. We appreciate it all. I know you have ESPN, NBA, full court press Saturday. Wow.

Yeah. NBA countdown with Shams, Kendrick, Malika, Stephen A and Bob Myers. That starts at 8 p.m. on ABC. And then obviously Nixon Warriors with Mike Bring Doris Burke, Richard Jefferson and Lisa Salters on the call at 8 30. We can't wait to watch Shams. Are you at the desk now? We got you at the desk.

You know, here and there, you know, I play the role, you know, I play. Exactly. That sounds like a no. Let's keep working, Shams. When we're ready, when we're ready, when we're ready to deliver information, I'm ready, baby. Maybe you'll get another Luka, biggest trade tweet of all time out there. Maybe you'll get an opportunity to speak. Okay? Let's fucking head down, keep grinding. Like you were five years ago, when when I saw you on March 4th. I was in like a spaceship five years ago so you know I think I think we've come a long way. Wow. We have look at that. Look at you. Simple mobile hotline that is.

Think about whoever was selling those. That's a young That's I don't know if you've got some some You've got a little bit more hair. I was trying to a refined I was probably 285 in this 275 285 right after the 2019 season That was a tough one for us. Yeah, same watch to her. Nope different watch that's oh, that was probably you and Zion Oh both both at the lowest weight of your careers You and Zion both both both at the lowest weight of your careers. Um Interesting i'm probably 255 right now. I know I played it like 230 So well in a soccer photo. Yeah, I was well, i'm sure Played at less at do what i'm saying for your career this career

Yeah, this career this is probably the lightest i've been in it. No, no, no, I got real light for NXT with Adam Cole. Definitely. I got real life with WrestleMania for Austin Theory. But those are reasons you got light for that. We're talking life for real for real. Life for living. Yeah, we're living here, Shams. Just like you, we'll watch you this weekend and we appreciate you, ladies and gentlemen, Shams Sharani.

Thank you. Yeah, Shams. A big weekend of basketball, AJ. Obviously, we got the NBA full court press Saturday on ESPN. Should be great. College ball conference championships happening all weekend. Golf happening, hockey happening. Have a great weekend.

We'll see you Monday. I hope it's the best weekend ever. Oh, yeah. Snuck it in there. Oh, yeah. Of course, yeah. Snuck it in there. Should be.

I'm so pumped for the golf. Yeah, it's real golf. Yeah, this is like the first home where it's like, OK, so you can get behind. Speaking of Tiger Woods, heard he's in a potential happy place personally. That's what the internet's saying. We're not going to talk about it because who knows?

Somebody will try to sue us out of the entirety of it. Heard Tiger's got a new lady. But also, Achilles, that is a, I don't think we've talked about it on this particular program, Tiger Woods towards Achilles. That is a, that is brutal. That's a great way to describe that. Especially after all the injuries and all the things that have happened,

for him to have to fight back the amount of times that he has, that car crash was crazy. We thought he was potentially dead, right? That was being talked about there. Instead it was just massively damaged to his body, his lower body, his back and everything. And then now, an Achilles tear. And we know Tiger Woods will do the Tiger Woods thing. back and everything and then now and Achilles tear and we know Tiger Woods

We'll do the Tiger Woods thing, you know, he'll do the Achilles. He'll commit fully to the recovery He'll come back and be super jacked, you know, try to golf and get through it all again. That's like Tiger Woods mentality I think it always has been but that sucks that sucks for him, especially with you know, TGL have him so much That dude has so like I just think of him as a human trying to walk around and live like a normal life Like he already is very like we know he almost snapped his leg in half He has those crazy back injuries too when you have a like we know like if your back hurts Everything sucks in life. It's impossible to do anything that dude has a then they have his back fused And he's had multiple surgeries now with the achilles leg snapped in half like he has

Just absolute massive amount of things to his body. Like I feel bad for the dude when it comes to that. Me too. We appreciate it. Obviously he's been paid very, very well for everything he's done. So we're not saying that he, you know, is living a tough life compared to other folks, but he has given us so many years of entertainment and obviously his body has taken a beating

through it all. The Achilles is the most recent But you think about that like so when he comes back back issues Anytime you see somebody with a back issue the way they walk is very obvious But he can't walk certain ways because how fucked up his legs are you so now his back is potentially gonna get fucked up because I was Gonna have to walk with the Achilles let alone the leg I mean, it's just everything kind of feeds into the other you know what what why will he walk fucking 18 holes? It's like all right the fact that this guy's still walking

I think we should all be pretty pumped for and then on the other side of some killies I can't wait to see him win his next major Yeah Why are you guys this might not? I hope he goes to the champions tour because I think he's just like he is he's too jacked for one like he needs I think he needs to lose like he just he can't be that jacked with how old he is he's too jacked for one like he needs I think he needs to lose like he just he can't be that Jacked with how old he is. It's just his body just breaks down So when he does come back like is he gonna have to change how he plays like I don't want to see tiger going

Out there getting out driven by three-fourths of the field like these guys are just getting to really good Yeah, exactly And it's like it so it's just not the same and granted like when you go to a batia right now Who dropped out of like high school till you try to become a professional golfer is now like top five at the players He's a stud. He is in like it's a next generation Like I like Occha but like I don't I don't want to watch Occha beaten tiger because then for me that's like I mean like if Scotty beats tiger if Rory beats tiger sure Exactly, but like if he's going out there and it's kind of like what it is right now, like

you just, it's not fun watching Tiger at the Masters when you hope he goes out and shoots like a 68 the first day and then you see him kind of start to break down the second day and either makes a cut and then has to like withdraw on the third day because he just can't do it or he shoots like an 83 on the second day and misses the cut Like that's just not the tiger I want to remember when we all saw him with how Domine was so I hope he goes to the champions tour where he Can get it in the cart and then he's playing, you know, Freddie boom-boom couples and he can he's kind of that guy Yeah, or he goes to you know, he joins Turkey the crown prince. God bless him You know, and then yeah, it kind of just goes that route

It maybe unites live and PGA being the final guy to be like is hey, it's time It's time to just screw all this bullshit like thinking about the players. It's awesome watching the players So so happy about it It would be better with Bryson in Brooks and those guys who are over there DJ cup It would be awesome If all those guys are playing the players and Cup it would be awesome if all those guys are playing the players and if Tiger were to be that final piece to be like hey my final kind of contribution to the game of golf exactly is I'm going to be

the one that just says enough of this you guys are now the same league we're doing this the live tournaments that are you know in the United States those are just gonna be a part of the PGA now and if there's one in you know, in the United States, those are just going to be a part of the PGA now. And if there's one in, you know, London, that's just a normal PGA event, not a major or anything like that. Like we're going to do that as well. Yeah. And you can turn some of these tournaments into a live style of golf. Exactly.

Yeah. You know, some of these PGA off weekend ones, you know, and those PGA, what's that? What happened? What do you mean? Well, like a year ago, two years ago, they said they came to an agreement. Like where did that, where did that go? Four different times? What happened? What do you mean? Well, like a year ago two years ago They said they came to an agreement. Where did that three four different times now remember? Yes. There was a coffee meeting in Italy that was the first one whenever the President of the PGA who won a hand? Yeah, Jay Monahan. Remember he came out early

It was just high horsing to hell on all the golfers that were getting high horsing to hell on all the golfers that were getting multi-generational wealth laid in their lap for the first time ever in the golf world. We learned a lot about the life of a PGA golfer, about what's guaranteed, what's not guaranteed. Oh, everything is not guaranteed. We will certainly make money off of you this week and you not necessarily will make any money

no matter how great you are or how big your name is. So there was some holes in the professional golf world that were certainly taken advantage of by a big money partner. But said big money partner was obviously cast aside and said we're never doing business with this person. If you do business with a person, you are the devil. Actually, you are the worst person on earth. You can't, you shouldn't be able to sleep at night, let alone hit a golf ball if you do this. And then what? Like a year later, maybe 13 months later,

there was a secret meeting between the crown prince and the director of sports for Saudi Arabia, and Jay Monahan, he comes back, he goes and takes a leave. He leaves, cause they like kick him out basically, because there was a lot of PGA golfers that were offered 80, 90, a hundred million dollars to go join Liv. And they said no, because they were riding with the PGA. And then the PGA all of a sudden is going like,

well, wait, how much money do you have we will potentially take that so that was like a big that was a big thing and then there was the government trying to get involved with a monopoly car there was a lot of a lot of stuff that was kind of happening but yeah two to three different times it has been in our world what we have seen and talked about they've had an agreement where they've come together and we're all pumped We're like, okay so now the PGA is getting access to much like

Everything is gonna great everything's gonna get better and all the best golfers gonna be there And yeah, I don't know if anything's ever really come of it and what it means, you know It's always a lot more these live deals like I know Brooks Recently said he has for life. He still has to fulfill his obligation, right? Like for his contract with live and then after that he doesn't know what's gonna happen But are we gonna see some of these guys not renew with live and come back to the PGA? I think allegedly I read something that D. Shambow's contract is up too soon with live. Maybe this is last season I read that as well. I don't know the details though

I guess there was an amount of money that he asked for and he said that was not true. Okay, so he said it's not true Okay, so yeah, these contracts I guess are coming up You know just come right back to the PGA and get their card and every like they're like they never left Will that work? No, cuz remember at one point it was said if you do this, you're never welcome back You're banned and then the Masters were like, uh All the majors were like him work. We're starting to get a little yeah. Yeah, we're gonna love play. No care Yeah, you PJ is your guys you wanna see the stuff that we're doing We don't you want you want to dive into the history of Augusta real quick. Do I do that?

No, what a beautiful place obviously beautiful place new trees every day somehow the the the whole The whole the whole golf world has obviously been shaken up a bit over the last couple years TGL was the most recent attempt to kind of make golf Different form and enjoyable playoffs coming up. I'm sure those guys really care golfers are getting tested going on stuff like that, too What'd you say H? Sorry Tyler the golfers getting tested with the media I see column or more Kiowa said he doesn't know anything to these people like rock. Oh damn. It's getting weird, man Yeah, rock. Oh came right back Rocko Western, Pennsylvania guy He's the man a photo that I saw of his quote had him with a stogie. Yeah me too gray beard backwards hat

He looked like a G shades like an absolute G. I saw that Arnold would have ran his ass Speaking of what Tiger won that one with a torn ACL or whatever. We have some breaking news out of the college basketball world. Pete Dan was reporting that Iowa is dismissing basketball coach Fran McCaffrey after 15 seasons. We literally just talked about this. Wow. We literally just talked about this about an hour ago. He reached seven NCAA attorneys in his 15 years and is the school's all-time leader in wins with 297. Iowa finished 17 and 16 this year.

Obviously they lost Illinois last night and he got ejected during the game. In his last game as head coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes he got kicked out. Pretty gangster way to go out Fran. Way to go coach. I asked the question I was like okay so does the basketball team like me or the football team like good but never really gonna go because Fran's been there a long time, Kirk's been there a long time is that just kind of what it is? Ty you actually said like this is kind of what the Iowa basketball team is you've said they've choked a couple times they've had a couple good teams what are your thoughts immediately here upon hearing the Frans on his way out of the men's basketball program? Yeah I mean I think I

definitely knew it was coming so I'm not surprised. I love Fran McCaffrey. A lot of people don't like him because he he is like there. I guess people within Iowa, I think, like him. A lot of people outside don't like him because he is he's fiery. He's a psycho, but he's always got his guys back. But when you like you meet him, like he is the most like he is one of the most level headed, you know, like just good to people. You know, he's not

Iowa. Yeah, like shit like this is awesome. Like, and he used to do stuff like this all the time. He's just a great guy. And then like off the court, like good, good, just a good dude to everybody. And like Steve Alford, who people in Indiana, like a lot of people, like if Iowa fans, like he was a prick to everybody off the court as well. You know, like Iowa was winning at the time and people liked him, but like he was a very well noted, like this guy's an asshole. This guy sucks. Fran wasn't that way.

But it's one of those things with like Iowa football. Like they have the NFL success. Like they get guys into the NFL. So like the recruiting footprint is much different. It's a lot different with Iowa basketball because like they get, you know, they'll get good dudes. But like Iowa State is kind of like that in, you know, like Tyrese, you know, and guys like that, like they get transfers in. So they don't really send a bunch of guys to the pros. So they kind of have to like their whole model is, hey, yeah, we might get,

you know, a good dude from St. Louis or a dude from Illinois. But most of the people who are playing basketball for Iowa are kids from Iowa white kids from Iowa I mean, that's you know, a lot of people make that joke to like you watch a big ten game You're not seeing a whole lot of big ten teams trot and five white white dudes out there who you know But Iowa has chase. Well, I mean, it's just it's just the truth So I was citing white it is single years It is what it is and it's like so they they do what they can like they're, they've always been one of those teams where if they shoot really well, they can beat anybody because they shoot a shit load of threes.

But that's what happens in the tournament. You, you go cold and you end up getting beat by 20 because you can't shoot it all. So it kind of, it did run its course. Like he coached two of his kids all the way through there. Um, he had another kid who's a senior in high school right now and he didn't commit to Iowa. So I think a lot of people saw that and were like, the end's probably near. I mean, it's just what it's just, it's a little bit different than football.

I think they'll stay with Kirk forever because he's won a couple of BCS bowls. Like he's kind of entitled to that. I think basketball, it's just like, and I don't know if NIL and stuff like that, like the football team is always going to be like, I don't know if and I own stuff like that like the football team is always gonna be like I don't know how much the facilities are nice and everything, but I don't know how much boosters around the state of Iowa like they care but if it's a pecking order like money and Resources and funds are always gonna go the football team and women's basketball and wrestling me now now for sure wrestling Yeah wrestling just got a new deal. So it's like it's one of those things where that's crazy to think about Yeah, like if and if they won that would probably change a little bit

But I think it is one of those things like they've they've had a couple of these teams and they just haven't had the success In the postseason so him staring at that ref Not saying a thing You're proud of yourself get his plate his player comes to tap him to try to pull him wait. Nah, don't even think about it No, no, thanks. I got this fucker know with my look that I will not appreciate the way he's doing whatever so awesome You feel good looks like chef tea the ref counts like shift. Yeah, and the ref steps forward too. I appreciate it Yeah, what? Yeah what? Fringes, don't you say you step in me? My foot, don't the court. I'm just kind of waltzing over

I can't believe you that's what he's saying with his whole body. Yeah, can't eject me. I'm not gonna say anything But I just want you to know I'm not happy with what you Yeah, I'll be here on one second what what if you were to hit the ball Right there hell Hello for run friend Yeah, his credit to he got he got hired my freshman year of college and I was Right after the basketball season my freshman year. I will fucking sucked before he got there Todd Lick lighter Who used to be the coach of Butler small school, you know took him on like a couple runs. He came in he went like I

think he won nine games his first year in like eight games his second year Like I will basketball was in a really bad spot and Fran, you know I mean leaving the all-time wins leader took him to seven NCAA tournaments like it You know, I think a lot of people will look very fondly on his time in Iowa City. All right. Well, uh That's good You know good thing there in program all oh, yeah That's a good thing there in program hall. Hell yeah. Got a great weekend ahead.

Conference basketball game is on right now. Pumped. A lot of things are happening. Diane Racini is reporting some scoopage from Scoop Town. Scoop Town. She now granted news changes every day I think with teams and everything like that. So what information is being said today is maybe not the same as it was two days ago or maybe even this morning

You know as things continue to evolve Allegedly what she is now reporting is that the Minnesota Vikings are trying to figure out what they want to do with Aaron Rogers or JJ McCarthy or what they want to do with their team. So Aaron's giving them time to make their decision Now the Vikings have yet to make a decision. So we all wait Okay, so- A bunch of nothing. Seems to be what's going on right now. Is that real?

Possibly, maybe. I mean, Dynama City has a lot of inside sources. Is that real right now? Maybe, will that change tomorrow? And yesterday was a dip, maybe, who knows? Who knows what's happening behind closed doors in all these buildings? Who knows what text messages are being sent?

Who knows what emails are being kind of passed back and forth? Who knows what agents are saying to different teams? I mean, it's pretty, pretty chaotic business. Clue. NFL and free agency as a whole, let alone whenever you got a guy who's a Mount Rushmore player first bout Hall of Famer, potentially making a decision for the last time of his football life on what jersey he's going to gonna wear which is obviously a big moment for him And if he will play football, that's right. Well, we do know he's there's chance. There's gonna be a sunset walk cuz source

Says have told us that that's the MO Get a blanket. So surely I don't want this. He's got to set it up. He's got to make it make it a good one Do it he's got to really do something for them. Yeah, cuz Aaron's like when the sun goes down I'll be moving down a beach sometime That's what he's doing Just contemplate that you it's beautiful. I Mean, we saw this yellow That's pretty beautiful

The that's a part of it though. That whole... Exactly. Staged it! Staged the photo, walking on his beach with his wired headphones. With that blanket wrapped around him. It's what he wanted. Backwards hat. Once people think he's cool.

It's crazy. Alright, let's get you a break. We'll see you on Monday. Thank you all so much for allowing us to do this for a living. Remember, big night on April 9th will be a great time. Are we streaming that show? Ooh, we shall see. Be a friend, tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. On that note, boys in the back, great work. Great work, boys. Graphic boys, great work.

Great work boys. Graphic boys great work. Mitt you fucked up a podcast upload but everything else you did great. That's on that's on everybody else for having you do that just want to let you know. I did not know that was the case until maybe uh 12 hours later. So that's not on you. That's more so on me, but say see also group decision there. Mitt you're doing great. been doing great. Street, some more water, mate. AJ, great work this week. Does it not drink water or what? This morning he was just sitting there.

He's 26 years old and just said about a coughing that and then after it was done, he just sat there, took it and then just kept working. Didn't even look for a water. Eyes running at that point, obviously, because he was choked. Didn't even think about getting a water or drinking. Just kept on working.

Foxy actually had to get up, get him a water, dry it. This helps. I was sick of hearing him cough. Yeah. That's no shit. Thanks, man. Drinks it, obviously stopped. It's like, all right.

What would Mitt be doing if you didn't work here probably dead I hope not I hope not and that was all the car out of cars keep him a lot of things it's also keep her uploading podcasts okay let's make sure that's case we learned that maybe next year maybe next year we'll get into that stage of life and you know, it's been a great week this week. We appreciate you all for allowing us to do it for a living. Thank you to all of our guests that stopped by and thank you to everybody that bought tickets for Big Night Out.

All right, we're in this thing together. Team on me. Team on three. One, two, three. Team. Give it up.