The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 1309 - St. Paddy's March Madness Monday With Darius Butler, Rick Pitino, Greg Sankey, Tom Izzo, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: March 17, 2025

On today’s show, Pat, AJ Hawk, and the boys chat about the NCAA Tournament field being set and some of the controversy surrounding which teams got in and which teams didn’t including West Virginia getting snubbed and North Carolina making it with their Athletic Director Bubba Cunningham being the Selection Committee Chair. They also cover Derek Stingley Jr. becoming the highest paid CB in the NFL and resetting the market, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins getting paid, Cooper Kupp and Sam Darnold’s respective deals with the Seahawks, and more. Joining the show to chat about his career, the tournament as a whole, and why coaching in his hometown is so special is the Head Coach of the St. John’s Red Storm, one of the GOAT’s, Rick Pitino. Next, the commissioner of the SEC, Greg Sankey joins the show to chat about his league’s success this year and setting the record with 14 teams getting into the tournament, how he thinks they’ll fare in the tournament, the SEC’s success in sports as a whole, conference realignment, how he’s going to manage being in attendance for so many teams competing, and more. Later, another one of the GOAT’s, Michigan State Head Coach, Tom Izzo to chat about his team this year and what they need to do to cut down the nets, the incident against Michigan on MSU’s Senior Night, his love for football, how things have changed over the course of his time as Head Coach of Michigan State, what he loves about Michigan State, how he would describe his culture, and more. 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 Thunderdom on this St. Patty's madness Monday March 17th 2025 this program starts now Patty! That's right a lad from Ireland way back in the day who eliminated all the snakes from Ireland we celebrate the shit out of him today Happy St. Patrick's Day to everybody on earth. Obviously it's a holiday that is supposed to revolve around having a good time, celebrating life, and maybe having a booze cocktail or two.

Maybe a little green beer, maybe smoke a little green tree. Have the time of your life and in memory of not only St. Patrick, but your Irish friends who like to enjoy the shit out of life. Now I'm not saying life is always good for the Irish folks, have been a very blue-collar crew since the very beginning. And if you look at the history of what the Irish have done for the United States of America,

I think people would have a lot more respect for what the Irish have done and what they've built and who they fought for and how they fought for this particular country. But on this St. Patrick's Day, all we say is, cilantro, and we hope you all get a chance to enjoy life for a little bit in, uh, in honor of your Irish brethren.

Now, with that being said, uh, we decided to stay in the blue collar jeans and, uh, we have two Italians on today. Okay. Two of the greatest Italians in sports history, coach Izzo of Michigan state greatness, uh, icon obviously for the Spartans. We'll be joining us in the next hour and,. And the godfather of New York, Coach Pitino of St. John's, Johnny's, the rise of the Red Storm on vice is currently electrifying.

He'll be joining us about 19 minutes or so. And then at 12.40 we'll have the commissioner of the SEC, Greg Schenke, okay, he's got 14 teams in the tournament. Nobody's pumped, that's a record in the history of the tourney. How many teams did they have like 10 years ago? Like six or something like that. Four maybe. Then they got eight.

Then they were down to six. And post COVID, you start looking at the numbers of how much the SEC has invested in basketball. Now they have a record 14 teams in the NCAA tournament, which is obviously a record. Can't wait to talk to Sankey about that and let him know everybody's pissed. Everybody's pissed. No league is good enough to have 14 teams in the tournament is what people are saying on the internet and around the world.

But also most people are saying West Virginia got screwed. West Virginia, the Mountaineers. Now, listen, has it been the highest of highs for the Mountaineers over the last five, 10 years in sports? Our rifle team just won another national championship. Boom! How you doing? Keep it moving. Our gymnastics team, I believe, is the top 40 program on earth. There's other sports that are obviously soccer team dominating, both men's and women's. So you talk about sports at West Virginia, there's been a lot of success,

but at the men's basketball, men's football, there hasn't been, you know, the national moment for a while. And I think that was held against us. Coach DeVries now there's a lot of future conversation about him maybe leaving West Virginia which sucks completely because he and his son you know came into West Virginia in the city, in the state, in the university really love these these two. You know they're saying he's going to leave I'm hoping he doesn't. I'm hoping that he has a little bit of an axe to grind because how this season ended but they held against us that his son, his boy got hurt. His boy got hurt. Whenever Rich Rod's introductory press conference happened,

that was two months ago, three months ago. And they were used that against him for going into the tournament. Now, with that being said in football, obviously, Florida State was on like their fourth string quarterback, third string quarterback. That all happened like the last games of the year, like boom bang pow, everything happened. This has been like a long time, this kid hasn't been playing. And in 111 of these so-called bracketologist specials

people, you get it. West Virginia was in the tournament. Now, it wouldn't have been a high seating, obviously, we should have played a lot better throughout the season. And, you know, certainly had a little bit of a get back, a setback, and we didn't do well in the big 12 tournament either lost very early But in 111 of these so-called experts brackets We were in West Virginia was in first time ever a team has been in all

111 bracket ologies brackets and didn't make the tournament. So obviously they're holding something against West Virginia That is just another chip on the shoulder. Obviously, it's bullshit. We don't love it We don't like it play better. You're indefinitely but nonetheless West Virginia will be back. Okay, West Virginia will be back on top in all the big sports and it starts with a football program Well that start next fall. We're not sure will that be in the next two years? I believe it and this West Virginia basketball team obviously had a great year this year. Not good enough I had a good year this year Not a great year this year in a conversation to make the

top 68 is you know you can't be getting too upset in that entire thing but with that being said West Virginia got screwed and you know who benefited from all this? Who's that? The University of North Carolina who I think we're all starting to hate? I guess? Are we all starting to hate the University of North Carolina? I think so. Is this just because of what happened? So riddle me this the athletic athletic director of UNC, Bob Cunningham. Big Bob. Good name. And obviously his name came up because I think he wasn't the biggest fan of Mac Brown.

Mac Brown was the head coach of the football team. What does Bubba want versus what does the Chancellor's want? What Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob. Bubba's name has been, you know, through the tabloids and the headlines, we shall say, especially whenever you're the athletic director of a program, esteemed program, like University of North Carolina, especially in that Tar Heel Blue with Jordan and everything they got going on.

People are going to talk about Bubba Cunningham, especially when your name is Bubba. That's not a very normal athletic director name. You got Bubba calling the shots down in North Carolina? Well, everybody's saying Bubba did call a shot shot Bubba was the head of the selection committee chair whatever the hell it is and he also gets a hundred four thousand dollar bonus if North Carolina makes an interment Bubba's made a lot of money okay Bubba's made a lot of money but a hundred four thousand dollar check coming around

that's not a bad thing to take place it's hard not to automatically say well this seems to be a little bit contrived, doesn't it? The last team in that got in over, I think there's multiple teams that are not necessarily through. Indiana was the second team out. Now, once again, play better. I'm pissed off about it too.

Who, who, who? Hoosiers are a basketball place. Now, granted, Signetti's got them playing great football as well. Could be a fantastic sport university. Not making the tournament sucks, but UNC makes it over them, and they have a gripe as well.

Obviously West Virginia's pissed, and then Bubba's sitting up there, chair the whole thing, get $104,000 bonus, because of this, it's hard not to be like, you cooked the books. Hey Bubba, I've met some Bubbas before. They weren't above cooking the books, okay? And I know you are probably a fantastic athletic director.

Congratulations on getting Bill Belichick down there. That's a big play They've also said that you guys are all in obviously football wise That was a part of Bill Belichick going there So I assume there's some good that you have done and I'm sure you are respected by a lot of North Carolina people But I'll tell you what we think at West Virginia We think this crooked son of a bitch one in there and he said he wasn't in the room when North Carolina Carolina was being talked about okay We're in a room when West Virginia was getting talked about. Okay, were you in a room when West Virginia

was getting talked about? Did North Carolina get brought up when West Virginia was getting talked about? Because if it doesn't, then I don't think you guys are doing your job properly. So nonetheless, Bubba, I know it's a hard job. I know we're talking about 64 to 68 here. Although there's automatic bids of teams.

Like everybody's mad North Carolina's gonna get in. Then I saw the same people on CBS Sports that were upset about it say they're gonna beat San Diego say So like you know, I suppose being tournament but also about to probably win their first round not saying that's guarantee I'm saying that's been the chatter. So there is madness already begun in March and People West Virginia aren't happy. Not at all people of Indiana aren't happy No, and that happens to be a large part of my role decks So I got a lot of text from people saying you you gonna be a coward tomorrow and because ESPN's one making these decisions. You think ESPN wants Bubba Cunningham to look good? That's what you

think? Why do you think that is the case? Why do you think they want to put over the ACC now over everybody else when I thought all they want to do is put over the SEC? Well they do want to put over the SEC, that's why they got 14 teams in there. It's like okay who are we pissed at? Are we pissed at Sankey? Are we pissed at ESPN? Are we pissed at Bubba? Are we pissed at the committee? I'll get to the bottom of it because fuck everybody. Now with that being said, go Johnnys. Go Johnny. Red Storms coming. St. John's team won the Big East. Hey, who is the team that won the last couple Big Easts and what did they go on to do? Let's go to the Talks at Table at Boston Conner. Happy St.

Paddy's. Who won the Big East the past couple years? That'd be you, Conn and happy St do? Let's go to the talk table at Boston Connor, Happy St. Patty's. Who won the big E's the past couple years? That'd be UConn and Happy St. Patty's Day to you too. Thank you, thank you. And then UConn would do what? I believe if memory serves me right, and granted it is St. Patrick's Day, so we've been making fun of Italians and drinking beers all morning, but I believe they went on to win every single game by 10 plus points on their way to back to back national titles. So is that what St. John's gonna do? We shall chat with Patino hearing about Coach Patino in about 12 minutes or so. Ty Schmidt, I know there's some people in the back that are saying, Big East, or I'm sorry, the Big Ten, I got a chance to go down and watch.

Big Ten basketball something, Michigan back on top. Congrats to the Big Ten champs, Michigan. You guys fired your coach, allegedly you guys are gonna take West Virginia's coach, bring him back to Iowa. I hope you don't do that. Obviously the guys building something special over there, supposed to be a mountain here, but if he was to go back home, everybody would be like, yeah, this is always gonna happen, you know, that whole conversation. Big Ten basketball though.

Michigan State's the team we gotta hope here. Michigan gonna be able to go on the shot, because I watched this Michigan State team win or lose to Wisconsin with my own eyes. Obviously got studs everywhere. Jay Rich's kid is a He's a he's a real guy Atkins a Kins. What's his name? Atkins? Yes, Atkins He has this swat four feet. I mean 15 feet in front of me. Probably he was flying through the air You got coaches though. Obviously he's gonna be joining us next hour

He's Michigan State can be going able to go on a run? That Wisconsin team beat them. And then Wisconsin obviously lose to Michigan. Michigan great, I think, early. Then they got a little bit of a downtime. Now they're back being great. How's the Big Ten going to fare in this entire thing? I think Michigan State will be pretty solid, but you talk about, you know, just how everyone perceives it. I mean, Michigan wins the, you know, the conference tournament and they're, so they're playing their best ball of the year. They get a five seed in the tournament. So it's kind of like, yeah, I saw they beat Wisconsin twice. They beat somebody else twice. Right. And they got seated lower than those people. What the hell is the selection committee doing? Everybody's mad about UNC over

West Virginia and Indiana. There's a lot of other issues. Everybody's saying about this selection committee as well. Exactly. But a lot of teams in the big 10, I think Foxy would have tested this. Not only is this probably a down year for the big 10, but you got a team like Michigan state who should be there. They're talented. They have one of the best coaches. But teams like Wisconsin, like they're one of those teams where if they shoot the ball well, they might score, you know, 90 points and could beat anybody and if they don't like their defense is unbelievable. But we're looking at, I mean the Big Ten Championship in the first half, I think it was like, you know, 29 to 26, a bad basketball.

You get a lot of that in the Big Ten. So it's one of those things where a lot of these teams, if they shoot well, they can beat anybody. But if they're not shooting well, like they could get beat by 30 by anybody. And that's kind of the problem with the Big Ten, I think. Big 12 didn't get as many teams represented. I saw their commish came out and spoke a little bit.

Obviously the ACC is having a down year for the ACC. So all eyes are on the SEC, which we'll talk to Senki here in about 30 minutes or so to get his thoughts and opinions on the amount of people saying the SEC's bullshit. Now quickly, one half of the hammer down. Cowboys, AP Tone with his sweet hoodie on. Happy St. Patty's to you as well.

Who's the odds on favorite to win this entire thing? And what are some lines that we should keep an eye on? That would be the Duke Blue Devils. They are the odds on favorite. Even this entire thing and what are some lines that we should keep an eye on? That would be the Duke Blue Devils they are the odds on favorite even without Cooper flag right now they assume he's gonna play here at some point but they are your odds on favorite and then you got the two big dogs Florida and Auburn at the top of the SEC obviously we talked about the SEC and how many teams they have they are just littered with favorites up there to win the tournament but as of of right now, Duke is your favorite.

And then, you know, the SEC teams and, you know, Houston teams like that, that are pretending, of course your guys, your guys, Johnny's. Thank you. One of the favorites. Yeah, Florida, Florida, I watched them against Tennessee this weekend, got a chance to watch all these championship games.

You know, it's fun to kind of like dive in back into basketball. Awesome. And it was, it was, watching that Florida team, very good. Thoroughly enjoyed it. And I haven't watched any college basketball all year. And it was watching that Florida team. Very good. Thoroughly enjoyed it and I haven't watched any college basketball all year. And I think Tennessee team's very good as well. And then getting a chance to watch Michigan State Wisconsin, number nine for Wisconsin. Light skin kid, I didn't know his name. Killed us. He's got a gun. This kid was a real dude. He was so good. He was a real

dude. I was like, I got real excited to get back into the Madison March. And speaking of the Madison March, last thing here as we wrap Up Pete Tam was reporting the West Virginia politicians plan to announce an action against the NCAA and tournament selection committee later today tied to WVU snub worth noting there that now governor Patrick Morris He was the attorney general in the state who successfully challenged the NCAA transfer was if you remember that was because like People are getting paid so like you're taking away employment opportunities by only One transfer happening if you do recall this at the beginning of the NIO Patrick Morrissey was the Attorney General now he is governor one in November follow up. This is him replying to it

Yep today. I'm joining a West Virginia attorney general and an act announced actions against the National Corrupt Athletic Association. Live stream at 1 p.m. right here on X. Governor Patch Morris he said listen I wanted to do this as an AG. I did. Now I'm governor. So I got a little bit more say. I'm sick and tired of what's going on at the NCAA. Good luck over there. I don't know if they'll be able to overturn it in a few days. If I not. Maybe. Maybe Washington gets him turning and maybe because all this momentum that they're going to be able to go on the run. I do like that the state's like, nope. Yeah, this is bullshit. Yeah, we're not going to do, we're going to need some answers. Okay, you're not just answering Reese Davis who did a great job in his interview. You're going to have

to be answering in a core law, brother. Okay, who said what at what time? Can we get her a transcript of what happened in those meetings? Hey, Bobby, you said you weren't in there when North Carolina is being discussed. That's interesting Because the notes that I see here you were eating a muffin in the corner of the room Whoa, whoa, that's what he's ready and willing to do former suit obviously So he's ready for the suit excited for all that the madness has already begun before the game started and that is a magical thing Now let's go to the NFL massive deals were done were done over the weekend. T Higgins, Jamar Chase, highest paid. Congrats to them. We'll talk more about that in a matter of moments. But at the DB position there was a signing that ruffled the entire numbers of every salary cap across the NFL.

Derrick Stingley Jr. of the Houston Texans signed for 30 mil a year. This comes a few days after J.C. Horn of the Carolina Panthers signed for 25 mil a year. This comes a few days after J.C. Horn of the Carolina Panthers signed for 25 mil a year. There was a convo about maybe the DB market being down. Now we're seeing 89 million guaranteed over three years for an absolute stallion in Derek Stingley Jr. Ball Hawk, joining us now. Everything DB, good D, bad D, hosts Darius J. Butler. Hey, everybody. Yo, yo, yo, what's good? Y'all got me? Yes, youarius J. Butler. Hey, everybody.

Yo, yo, yo. What's good? Y'all got me? Yes. You look fantastic. Where are you at quickly so we can tell everybody? We are back in New Orleans where we worked for the Super Bowl, obviously, but now we're here for a huge volleyball tournament for my daughter.

Shout out to you. Gave her some great tips. She's playing a new position this weekend. Outside hitter. She usually libero the back line defense and now she's up near that net. So they've been, they've been kicking ass, having a great time out here. A lot of, I feel like a kind of a bum because I'm not in the St. Patty spirit. A lot of green out here.

Big St. Patty's down out here. There was not a word at. What's your problem? What is your problem? I'm sorry. You're Irish. Honestly, yeah. You're Irish. The coach said. You were telling us you were Irish.

The coach said they had some shit for us. I haven't got a chance to see the coach yet. So once I get into the convention center... Uniform, you know what. Yeah, hopefully I don't get pinched before she gets it to me. Listen, all you got to do is happy St. Patty's with a D. And then just keep walking.

Act like you understand it more than anybody. Okay, we know you're very busy. Shout out to your daughter, by the way. I saw that spike, that was awesome. She, she, they start- Kickin' ass. A lot of floater, huh, Serves? A lot of floater, everybody floatin'?

Not everybody. It depends on who you run into. Some of these teams, look, you got teams from Cali, Texas, Alabama, New Orleans, Florida, so you run into some of these, it's a difference, it's levels. So, but that team, that was a lighter level team, but we've definitely ran into some of these it's a difference. It's level. So but that team that was a lighter level team But we've definitely ran into some dogs where it's one player that just controls the game every time it gets to that left side

Yeah, I got is You got to be careful. No free balls. No free balls. Yeah, I understand that and the video you sent me shout to Maya She had a great pass then she got outside boom bang pow It was beautiful to watch Anyways, I love it good dadding volleyball is great sport played in high school. It is love the sport It was probably my favorite sport. I played in high school I think probably cuz there was really no pressure on what was gonna happen You know, there was no thought of like am I gonna do this for a professional because I just introduced to it

But I love it. It is a great sport Okay, let's get to the DB's get paid JC Horn 25 mil a year less than a week ago now Derek Stingley Jr Getting 30 mil a year 89 million guaranteed Why do you think Derek Stingley was the guy to take this big jump in to pay? For DB's and how do you feel about the deals that are kind of unfolding now? First of all talk about good daddy all these guys football is in their blood you're talking about second third even fourth generation with Stingley his grandpappy or great-grandpappy was a New England Patriot all SEC guys all

first-rounders all guys living up to the billing but Derek Stingley Jr. he's just he's a little different even as talented as that LSU 2019 team was a lot of people that you talked to in that builder around that program said this is the guy this is probably the best guy on the roster and he's lived up to it outside of injuries that kind of plagued him throughout his college career and early on his NFL career but he's been healthy he hit his stride last year, been the first team all-pro. Five interceptions, played all 17 games. He could do everything.

He could play off, he could play man. You could leave him on an island. He can come up and tackle. But his ball skills, I think, separate him from the pack. Patrick Surtain Jr., defensive player of the year, phenomenal technician, can do everything as well. J.C. Horne, once again, another guy who, if he stays healthy, he'll continue to be

one of the best D. best DBs in the league. But Derek Stingley Jr., him and Patrick Surtain right there, 1A, 1B as far as best cornerbacks in the league go. Okay, so we looked up the numbers. Jalen Ramsey, I think, has the third highest average for per year. And Jalen, though, we've seen him doing this a long time.

You know? We've seen him in Jacksonville, we've seen him in Jacksonville, L.A., now he's in Miami, obviously. That's a very long, great career. We would say that the next generation of DB's corners were in a very good spot. Yeah, we are in a great spot right now. The Quinian Mitchell of the world, even Cooper DeGene, we'll see what he does to that spot. Hey! Happy St. Patty's Day! Leading the way for the exciting whites, but whites but yeah these guys they're doing their thing

and it's still a still a wide gap you just saw Jamar Chase get his bag he's getting 40 40 plus a year and now with Derrick Stingley Jr. really really completely resetting the cornerback market getting 30 million a year so it's still a wide gap there but these guys are valuable especially when you can travel when you can follow that number one receiver to the left or to the right side of the defense with the guy we got all pro Mooney or Indy now who's gonna be doing that following number ones that kind of changed the defense it gives the defensive coordinator a little bit more freedom when it comes to taking the other guys away around the field but yeah we're in a good spot right now as

long as that continues to trend north for those top cornerbacks that's big time for the whole position group as a whole. All right. Well, good luck down there to your daughter I hope hope they give you some green, you know for a good. Yeah, I guess I'm I gotta guess I gotta watch my six There's a lot of it's a lot of everybody else got green on Yeah, I get on pay I get on board board. All right, good luck out there. We appreciate you joining us. Congrats to the corners, ladies and gentlemen. Darius J. Butler.

Yes, sir. Thank you, buddy. Thank you, bud. It was cool. He was sending me videos. Saw it on his story, too. Yeah. Yeah.

So he's so into it, too. He was like, hey, she's playing in a new position. We got to get to a gym. We need like 30 minutes at least. Is there anything I could do quickly? I was like, yeah, let me remember back to high school. Let me think back to a drill that we did. I don't know. If I had to teach my kid, this is what I would do. Bang, we're working while standing. Let's just get the topspin on this thing. Then we had

the jump, then we had the point. And obviously she's more athletic than I would ever be. She's Darius J. Butler's daughter and she's good. She's a good player. She's good at defense, she's good at offense. Seems like those tournaments, he's really enjoying the shit out of it. That's good dad. Now, ladies and gentlemen, joining us. Okay, you wanna talk about dads, how about a godfather?

Okay, how about going back to New York and turning the police upside down? And in doing so, having a documentary shot about the season and just delivering gems seemingly every single time that he speaks. Only coach in the history to take six different teams to the NCAA tournament. The Big East coach of the year from the St. John Johnnys. Ladies and gentlemen, coach Rick Petino. Yeah coach! How are you P, Paisan? I'm great, thank you. Hey, happy St. Patrick's Day.

I know you can't wear any green because of the school colors and everything like that, but just know that we're celebrating the hell out of you and the Johnnys over here while we're drinking some green beer or such. Let's talk about this season. And coach, first of all, you're electrifying. Every clip that comes out from you speaking to your team is wonderful.

The one that I enjoyed most that made me feel like I was back in a locker room is whenever you were pissed off at your guys for when adversity struck that they continued to like kind of collapse. You said, who, where were you raised that you have such a weak mentality? When do you dig in? Like the motivation that you were given to these guys

obviously struck home. They come out and crush in the second half. Is that like your life motto that you're putting into your players? Like how do you develop what messages you want to send at the time? Is that just your beliefs and how you have got here? And honestly, I fucking love listening to you coach. And I've never played basketball a day in my life. Well thank you.

I think it revolves around the structure of your team. This team is a hard working team but they count that misses too much. We're not a great shooting team. We rely on perseverance, a very strong defensive work ethic, and if we miss two or three we deflate and I keep telling them you keep shooting. You move the basketball you take open shots you never deflate you just get on to the next play and we had a tendency early in the year because we're all new to each other of deflating so I got him out of that we got it we went out at halftime of that game we won it in the Big East final we were down three at halftime we came back out we won we got down 15 early down three at halftime won We came back out. We got down 15 early, down

three at halftime, won it by 15. So it's just a matter of dealing with adversity. I never ever wonder about dealing with adversity with my team. I've always concerned myself with dealing with success with every team I've ever coached. Success is so much more difficult to deal with than adversity. You get comfortable. You win the Big East title, obviously, and I saw you talk to the team and to the press about it. And obviously you're incredibly proud. You talk some shit, which seemingly is classic Coach Pitino and that all. But what is the message to the team after you win the Big East title? Because obviously there is a comfortability about having a successful season that comes with winning a title and now your most important basketball happens.

So how do you keep everybody kind of grounded? Well we broke down a season from the beginning in three phases. Phase one was to try and have the best big E schedule a season that you could possibly have try to win it, get in the NCAA. Then you play three games and we tried to mimic these because we have very little NCAA experience on this team. Only two players have played in the NCAA and one did not play. Zubia, who's had a great year, did not play. So we took the Big East Tournament and said, okay, this is the first round of NCAA, second game is the second round,

third game and so on. And we put a lot of pressure in each game to survive and advance. So we did that. Now phase three is you're playing against teams you've never seen before. And probably if you're lucky enough to get by the first round, then you played a toughest seven ten matchup there is in the country. Yeah, the next round is what everybody's talking about because could be a couple of legends. On that note, that note Anthony de Julio has a question for you Coach Patino. Yeah coach. Let's I know it's one game at a time Let's say you get by Omaha and then it's either or Bill Self or coach Cal Do you like in that second round potentially going against a future Hall of Fame coach in those guys where you?

You kind of know who their teams are who their teams will be versus a coach that you've never gone against and you don't know their style? You know, it doesn't come down to every coach in the NCAA is going to be really prepared. They both Bill and John know exactly what not to do because they've been there many times. The other coach may not have been there and they're not familiar with the NCAA but these two guys are Hall of Fame coaches They know what not to do. Their teams will be well prepared They're young. They're going to have great talent certainly So we're super excited to be in the tournament st. John's right now. We've turned the corner We've built the culture and now we just got to take it to another level in the next few years

We hope to build it to a new level. I love what you're doing Love the excitement around the city. I don't get to New York as often as I should, you know It's a beautiful town beautiful city Seth Greenberg told us that you're just dominating New York Post back page is just but they know but they know but they know and then I saw your quote about being from here and how the St. John's is representing the entire city. I assume that's a massive piece of the recruiting pitch, right? To build back St. John's.

I think more than anything else, think about this at Kentucky. Uh, we went to two championship games and we were never invited onto the tonight show with Jimmy Fallon. Here we win the big East. We're on the tonight show with Jimmy Fallon. So as you know, New York's the media capital of the world, the financial capital of the world. And if you win, everything is exaggerated.

If you lose, everything is exaggerated. So you better win. Yeah, well, I think you're doing just that. It feels like that's the only thing you do. Speaking of winning, how'd you live or do against a quarter of Jameson? I had two beers. Just a little fact, a little journalism here. Ty has a question. I was looking for a Jameson's commercial. They didn't

hit me. Yet, yet. Hold on. It's on their way. They got a lot going on right now at St. Patty's. They were underwater. They'll probably catch up later this week. Ty has a question for you. Coach, NIL has obviously changed the way college basketball is in a big way and it's still early on but how have you noticed like your booster support and NIL compared to maybe what it would have been at like a Kentucky or a Louisville. I know Mike Rapoli just came out and basically said like hey anything coach needs he's going to get moving forward so how has that whole situation been at St. John's? Obviously winning a Big East tournament doesn't hurt either. So obviously Mike Rapoli along with other boosters have been great for St. John's but

everything's going to change next year. So we've adapted to the NIL last two years. Now it's going to change. It's going to go to the revenue sharing by the schools. Each school gets 22 million. Football will dominate the pool because they have more players. So here's the luxury we have along with the other 10 Big East members. We don't have football, so the revenue sharing will come more into basketball. We will have more money in basketball than all the football programs. So we've got a lucky break along those lines and revenue sharing will really help the Big East. Coach, you know, your journey back here to the spotlight is a beautiful one. And you know, we live in Indianapolis. We're not that far away from your previous homes. When that ended,

how it ended, was there, and you gave that adversity speech to your team. Was there ever a doubt that you were going to get back to this moment? Not that you did it with Iona, you know, but like now you are back to being in the spotlight being talked about as a goat again Everybody, you know, like did you ever have a doubt that that was gonna take place or is this always the vision to get back to the top? Well, the NCAA enforcement staff the is is I won't I won't call them corrupt. I will call them inept The reason I say that is it takes them five years to decide your fate. So whether you're guilty or innocent doesn't matter. It's going to take them five years to judge you.

So after five years I get exonerated. Well now I'm over in Greece coaching a legendary program, Panathinaikos. And to be perfectly honest with you, Pat, I thought I was going to end my career in the Euroleague, which wasn't bad by the way. I was visiting Moscow, St. Petersburg, Madrid, Tel Aviv. I visited places I'd never experienced. Panantinikos is like the Boston Celtics of Europe. So it was a wonderful thing for me. I learned an awful lot at age 65 being over there. So I thought that was the end for me. Then I went back to Coach Iona University where we were lucky enough to go to NCAA two out of three years and that was very exciting. I wouldn't have moved from my owner, just St. John's as a local team

and I got a chance to move over to here. Okay, so expected to maybe stay over there in Greece or into Euroleague and then as opportunities continue to arise. Did you get a new, I don't want to say perspective or love or hunger After the five-year exoneration to reprove like everybody can eat shit Basically a lot of things are said about you coach a lot of things I think a lot of people say well, it's great you're having a redemption I really don't believe in the word redemption because those who judge you really don't know the facts They really don't know either way innocent or really don't know either way, innocent or guilty, they don't know it.

And so you take, obviously, if something went wrong, you're the head of the team. You have to be responsible for all actions that go on. So obviously things were done the incorrect way. I suffered the consequences, left a great job at the University of Louisville. And I talked to my team. I didn't hang my head. I took off for Greece, didn't know one person. My wife and family did not go with me. I arrived in Athens, Greece, not knowing a person.

The entire arena, at halftime, when I walked out, there's a cloud of smoke. Everybody's smoking in the arena. I was smoking to death. And if I did anything good over there, I said to the prime minister, listen, you gotta stop smoking in restaurants. You gotta stop smoking in the arena.

And we got that passed. They don't smoke in restaurants anymore. They don't smoke in arenas. So that was a great thing. The experience of coaching Panatinaikos was about as enjoyable as anything I've ever done in coaching. And like I said, just early alluded to, I learned so much. The Euro league is like the Golden State Warriors with 35 year olds

who didn't make it in the NBA. They had a pass cut move and the offenses were brilliant. So you're a Greek lobbyist, one of the goats, and the only guy to ever take six different teams in a tournament. Now you talked about the three years with Iona. We actually have a little year question for you. Connor has one. Yeah, coach usually doesn't take three years.

Obviously you mentioned with St. John's this being your second year and things already kind of turning around. And then there was a graphic that we have, and it was basically every single school you've been at the year before they were obviously not very good and then by the second year of the Rick Pitino coaching tenure they are unbelievable and you've been to the tournament obviously the first coach ever to win the conference tournament with five plus teams I believe What would you say is kind of the coach Rick Patino culture that gets instilled, that kind of hits home for so many of the players year two? Is it the guys you bring in after that first year or is it the guys that are kind

of already there understanding how you want them to play basketball? Well, all of those combined, but let's look at it this way. You're taking over a program, Kentucky was on probation. The Knicks won 21 games, the Louisville was down and out, Providence was dead last place since the inception of the Big East, so they're all fallen on hard times. You come in, you don't have enough time to recruit. So the first year is just building a culture of hard work, building a culture where everyone plays with unbelievable passion, and in the second year you bring in your own players, you've established a culture, and now you're ready to go. And then from that point on, now you've built the

culture, now you have the reputation to bring in even better players, and now you've built a strong program. So it's all pretty much been the same, but the one thing I can tell you is this one of all of them means the most to me along with the Knicks because the other programs, we went into Madison Square Garden at Louisville, won back-to-back Big East Championships, and I was so proud of the guys and one team won the national championship. But this is doing it the same way, but you're doing it where you grew up eight streets from Madison Square Garden, and this is your your home the people all talk like you when I was in Louisville

and in Lexington nobody sounded like me yeah you said the word prepared the way you said it earlier and everybody was like the hell is this guy saying around here all the people in New York seemingly rallying around you I was in Madison Square Garden last Monday. What a place. 20,000 somewhere in there. I mean it was glorious coach. Yeah the Big East semi-final and the Big East final with all St. John's fans. It just brought back memories of when I was coaching. Unfortunately I coached against Lou Karnasekka who was 100 this year and passed away. But I was coaching against Lou Providence versus saint john's remembered coached against rolling massimino john thompson senior

uh... jim bayheim pj callisimo all the uh... jim calhoun all these great coaches in the big east at that time it was a wonderful experience for a young coach okay so let's talk about that and conferences i want to west virginia when west virginia was in the big east obviously absolutely legendary run in the Big East, obviously, absolutely legendary run in the football world and still running in the basketball world.

The SEC now is having a moment here in college hoops. Do you pay attention to all of that? Is there something or a reason you would point to other than just NIL and maybe the SEC investing more at these schools? Why do you think the SEC is having this record- breaking type season? Well, obviously they have more teams than just about anyone, the Big 12, Big 10.

Now, they've all expanded, where the Big East has not expanded. I've been trying to get them to expand now for two years. I think that even combining, like Coach K said, the ACC with the Big East in basketball would be a wonderful thing so Larger is better certainly but the sec i can tell you right now from every team that i've watched They are unbelievable Every team you're talking florida tennessee Mississippi mississippi state arkansas i'm leaving out

mississippi mississippi state arkansas uh... i'm leaving out all of them and i have you know that i have no all incredible as with also great veteran coaches you know they're all good you pick your boy who do you like better uh... the good made oats or bruce pearl who you like better john calipari mark both we you know they're all great and uh... they're veteran coaches

who again know what not to do as well as what to do so the s e c has maybe the best combination of coaches uh... who have had wonderful experience but so does the big twelve and so does the big ten the biggies right now has a lot of young coaches including myself yes absolutely hey you look younger than ever that lotion routine must be the real deal you italians got something special in there you know you and you know, you you you paisans got it figured out

Biggie's ACC would be absolutely bananas. Yeah, that would be great basketball. Holy shit Yeah, and I think it's necessary to combat all the people combining their conferences We need something to although we had five teams out of 11 make the tournament That's great But we need something to make it even better. And I've always believed if it's not broken and you're successful, break it and make it better because other people will. Because other people will, you're right.

Other people who have either a different motive or more money will come in and try to change what is working. That's been since the beginning of time in all businesses. Speaking of business, your business, the film, you said every time you watch the SEC for a tournament, what do you do? How far out are you watching film and preparing your team? Is it game by game? Like how do you prepare the Johnny's here? I think what I've always done is defensively, we will prepare, do everything to go against Omaha's offense. But offensively in the next three days, you prepare for the weekend. So let's say that, it's not true, but let's say that Arkansas played a matchup zone. So in

the next three days, we got to prepare for Kansas, Arkansas, and Omaha offensively so we don't go into one day prep offensively going against defenses you haven't seen. But defensively, we just focus in on Omaha. Okay. Hey, thanks for that insight. Now I feel like a genius. You know, they've been preparing for this defense for the last four or five days.

Yeah, since Sunday. You know, that's what I'm gonna sound like an asshole whenever I act like I know what I'm talking about. When I don't, you certainly do though. And you're a good lobbyist in Greece. I assume you'll be a great lobbyist at the Big East office. Big East ACC would be awesome. Yeah. That'd be the best basketball, that would be the best conference tournament in the

MSG obviously. Oh my. Matt, do you remember the pitch snuggle game with against Lowell in 2013, 2005? Yeah brother, pitch snuggle and I maybe four to five, just like you a couple beers, maybe a quarter Jameson, four to five pitchers at Club Z afterwards. Yeah, I remember you got pit snoggle. So we were playing basically two, three zone because we only had seven players and the seventh player had a stress fracture so he couldn't practice. So we would just play in flat two, three zone. We went out there and they made, I believe it was 13 or some incredible number of threes at halftime. We cut it from 18 to 13. We went up at halftime. We had about 10 minutes. We took all the chairs.

They run a Princeton offense with their great coach. And we're going over at halftime, man to man, which we hadn't played the whole season, trying to defend the backdoor offense and the guys were so brilliant we wanted in overtime okay but we changed our entire season defensively in a halftime moving the chance that's good coaching you know sounds like you know what the fuck you're doing I'm happy you did that be line was obviously the coach at what I'm being one was a tremendous coach Gansi be line pit snoggle trying to think of that there was a tremendous coach. Gansi, Beeline, Pitznagel, I'm trying to think of that. There was a Jamie on that team. His son, his son was great.

Yeah, Pat, yeah, Pat was, and Gansi was a dog. Don't get it twisted. That squad was great. Until you moved chairs at halftime and caught him and manned him. You're an ass. Of course. We could have had a great time in Morgantown. Coach, we could have had a great time.

We appreciate you. Good luck the rest of the way. You don't need to know this and add any extra motivation. Connor and I are all in heavy on the Johnny's, especially since West Virginia got screwed heavy on your team. I can't wait to watch you. Thanks for having me guys. Ladies and gentlemen, the Godfather Rick Petino. All right, halftime changes Changes the time.

Yep, they were prepared. They were prepared. It comes down to that preparation. Isn't it? Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, I don't know, I don't know either. I'm guessing now. Don't know how he transitioned into the preparation there,

but yeah, I don't have enough of a New York accent, but as soon as he said prepared on the thing there, I'm like, oh, he gets back home too. I assume it's just dialed up a thousand. He's the king back there. And watching him win this weekend was cool. That was a cool thing to kind of watch him do. Scared me a little bit, you know,

especially because the bet that we placed on them to win it all, but then the information was immediately put. You call him one, hey, one, one, you win, you win. You got a good squad, you got a good squad. I liked that he's like, hey guys, we're gonna miss shots. We can't shoot. Yeah. All right, so you guys get upset that you can't shoot.

I know you can't shoot. So whenever you miss, let's just, actually the only reason why we're shooting is so you guys can have some fun. We need to be, that's a good mindset. It's all in how you frame things. I bet you, Pitino, it sounds like from watching his vice show, every message he's delivered,

I'm like, I like the way this guy talks in frames things that's all coaching is how do you frame something in somebody's mind to either drive them or bring out the absolute best in them and the way he delivers his message like that the mental toughness speech that he gave about adversity and battling and digging in like it was awesome to see him kind of deliver that and I the boys obviously listened and reacted in the second half well you said too like, you know, you got to empower these guys He said a lot of the guys on this team like don't have any NCAA tournament experience Which like we've seen when you have like teams with older backcourt since the guys who have played in the tournament before like that

really matters, but it's also a good thing they won the big east tournament because with the Selection committee who knows they lose that they might be looking at like an eight seed or a nine seed. Yeah, maybe worse. Yeah, well that's uh, that leads perfectly into this. The selection committee seemingly liked one conference more than everybody else didn't they? Ridiculous man. What's that all about? Record-breaking 14 teams in the dance. Joining us now, the commissioner of the Southeastern Conference ladies and gentlemen Greg Seckie. How you doing Greg didn't know you went into the selection committee's office and paid them all off I didn't know that's what we were doing in March Greg. No that's that's earned man I could go through the record if you want I think they said it on the show 89% of our non-conference games I'll go through all the data for you that informs it.

No, Greg, that's why we love you because we think you not only represent your conference in a fashion that has all your schools thankful, but you have a lot of pride in the SEC. So whenever I see the reaction that I saw whenever 14 teams were selected on the internet, I couldn't wait to chit chat with you. Going into this I guess SEC conference tournament then into the selection Sunday Everybody talks about how great the SEC was this year the SEC the SEC. It's the SEC's year now granted That's media fodder and people say that that is what it is But why do you think the SEC was so good at basketball this year? Is it investment? Is it commitment? What do you think it is?

They're really transition from you guys having four to six to eight teams in the tournament each year to now to 14? commission We had to learn some hard lessons. We spent a lot of years with with three or four teams being and that was it and I think all of those words you used are part of it. I'll start with coaching Every one of our 16 coaches has been in the NCAA tournament with one team at least as a head coach. I think six of them have been to the final four. A lot of depth and a lot of experience. There's the commitment, we have new arenas, new facilities, trying to manage through this new era of name,

image and likeness and the transfer portal. Perhaps we've been a bit ahead, but I don't know that it really matters if you're great at like namums and like and so if you don't have the right leadership in place and and I'll really start there. To go back ten years ago, we needed new expectations for how we performed on the men's basketball side because we succeeded in everything else quite candidly, but we didn't even meet our own expectations in men's basketball And that's what's different today is we're we're functioning in men's basketball like we do in women's basketball or baseball softball football

Gymnastics, I mean you go through the golf. I should yeah Yeah men's and women's is what he was talking about you guys take a lot of pride in how your sports do. And you know, the conversation about the basketball, we need to get better in the men's basketball for the dance. I think a couple of years back, the Big Ten had a shit ton of teams. I don't remember if it was 10 something, maybe 12. Yeah, maybe 12. And then first round or second round, not great.

Like the Big Ten ended up not performing as well. Didn't have 14 teams, which is obviously a record breaking number, but had a lot. It was supposed to be the Big Ten's year and then got in and it was almost like upset after upset. Do you think your teams are built for the tournament to go on a big run? And how will you be shit talking throughout all this? If your teams do well, will there be a tweet, oh, oh, or are you just going to idly watch your squads go out there and compete? watch your squads go out there and compete? Well, talking season's behind us. And last Monday, I sent a memo to our coaches to say, hey, whatever, wherever you're seated, wherever your sights set, whatever your opponent,

just focus. And so we want to stay focused as a group. So I'm going to own that as well. Now, there is a level of pride and I think there's a level of pride in the league. Really cool set of text messages from coaches yesterday who gained access, who got in maybe as eight, nine, 10 seeds. And it's a grind for those guys. And I said back to them, I'm proud for all of us. I'm proud of what we do on the women's basketball side. You know, we've got every one of our 16 universities represented on either the men's or women's side. I think that stands alone. We've got two number one seeds on the men's side, two number one seed on the women's side. I think as we go forward, there's a chance for upset. Sure, when you're like eight, nine, ten, for upset, sure. When you're like 8, 9, 10, 11, losing is not an upset. The level of competition this year in our league and winning almost 90% of our non-conference games, a bunch of

those against high-level teams, and then playing through the grind of our conference schedule on the men's side and the women's side means you're prepared for just about anything. Now, you have to go meet the moment. You have to go meet the moment. And that's the question that comes up and the records are clean. We're all undefeated at this point. And then week to week, game to game,

you have to make your way through six games over three weeks to see the national champion. Every time you answer, I just think to myself, I wish this guy was the commissioner of whatever league I had. The amount of pride, investment, everything, you go to all these games, you talk to all these people, and you're not scared to be like, yeah, our conference were better than you at sports. Like, that is our goal, that is our mission, not only academically, but

we like to play well on the athletic side of this all. I love the way you chat. And I think there's a lot of hate because of you know for a long time during the football season the SEC SEC SEC was the big thing for ESPN obviously ESPN has deals with the ACC they have deals with the Big East I think they have deals with the SEC they got deals a lot of people but no it's SEC SPN like the fact that you're even on my show right now people are gonna say that I'm in on the SEC SPN it's like well if the Big Ten had this many teams in there

We'd have Petitio on here too, Paisan say happy St. Patty's like it's just a conversation You've been very good to us But I think the SEC just gets a lot of disrespect because the amount of shine and light on The sports teams from down there. Do you agree with that or do you try to not pay attention to any shit? Well, I I hear the noise. I'll tell you one thing about the Southeastern Conference. We are not uninteresting, right? And I think people wanna watch,

they wanna be in conversation about that, which is interesting. And whether it's 14 men's teams, 10 women's teams, you know, you go back when I threw out the Sesame Street Quoted Game Day last December, about one of these things is not like the other. Like I can only use that once, I can't use it over and over. People may interpret that as arrogance.

I think that's really defining who we are, who we've become, how we want to function. We want to be unique. And I use with Pete Thamel in an article the word unicorn because we're a unicorn league. Just the historical success, it hasn't happened in over 40 years in men's basketball at the college level, the kind of non-conference success, the kind of high-level competition. And I'll just say from our fan standpoint, to be in Nashville for the last week, you can hear in my voice.

I've got the post-tournament congestion. But to just be around that feel, that environment, that intensity, that's really unique and special and a credit to what happens on our campuses and our communities. Sometimes that might be a little bit over the top, but it's what makes us special, I think. Yeah, and go back to your point about the early history of those SEC schools. I think Saban talked about how, you know, there was no professional sports in any of these places,

so the universities were the sports teams. They were the ones representing the entire state, the city, everything like that. So generations and generations, I'm not saying it's all like that, like Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan, you go through the big Oregon's, like there are places that have massive fan base and I'm not saying that is just in the SEC, but it feels like it's everywhere in the SEC. It is like this is what we will live and die with and the sports teams obviously are supported in a massive level. Now on that note, you did a little bit of this with Texas and Oklahoma, now Coach Pitino just brought it up literally 15 minutes ago. Go ahead, Conman.

Yeah, Commissioner, when it comes to conference expansion, do you talk to other commissioners about the benefits? Do they ask you, hey, how did you go about it? What is that process like? Because Pat mentioned Coach Rick Patino has been kind of lobbying to the Big East about bringing in more teams, maybe something with the ACC. Is that something you taught other commissioners about or is it more so, you know, if the right

teams come along, that's when certain conferences should consider adding teams in? If you want to shut a meeting down, ask me to talk to my colleagues about expansion and you will watch them run to the corners of the room like all of a sudden me talking about expansion is like Front page headlines what's going on? So Not a lot. I really look at our expansion with Oklahoma in Texas And I again I said this last week like if if you want to go someplace and challenge yourself And again, I said this last week, like if you want to go someplace and challenge yourself academically, challenge yourself at the highest level of athletic competition and not spend hours upon hours on an

airplane, this is the place to be. We can get from one side to the other pretty efficiently. And the last three weeks, I've been on 14 of 16 of our campuses and I can make that happen much like our teams for in-person meetings. When I think about expansion, I've always thought about something that's connected to who we are and Oklahoma and Texas really represented that. Great universities within a geographic footprint, you know, Oklahoma contiguous state, relationships from the big eight, the big 12 days, relationships from the big eight the big 12 days high level expectations for their athletics programs Across the board and that's who we are and that's why it fits and that's probably driven other decisions We obviously were kind of early in this current round of movement

But you like the bottom line is if I roll into a meeting and say hey, let's talk about expansion It goes quiet really quickly. Well, you should tell ACC and Big East to combine forces for basketball. Come on. You should you should that would be awesome. Don't leave that one alone. Okay you don't want that 14 to get touched. That 14 number getting an attorney obviously could be dancing. Tone has a question for you just mentioned something about it. Yeah Commissioner you just talked about being on 14 of the 16 campuses and being in Nashville and we've been with you at the National Championship stuff. We know you

like going to the games with 24 teams in between the men's and women's tournament. Can you just tell everyone like, hey, there's too many teams and I'm just going to stay home and watch these. No, I'm not. I'm going to go. So, I'll tell you a long time ago. I'll I'll tie the Rick Pitino thing in 1986. I thought he was going to be a high school basketball coach in upstate New York. He was speaking at a coaching clinic when he was at Providence. It was the year that Billy Donovan was a senior. They went to the final four.

So like October 86, he spoke for three hours and it was riveting. Just like went by in 10 minutes. And so you go back to like the 21 year old me who was going to coaching clinics trying to figure out how to coach basketball. To be able to go and experience first and second round games in this role is a moment I cherish and appreciate. So this week my plan is to be at games in Lexington and Raleigh I'll see five of our teams between those two places bounce back and forth on the men's side next week We actually right across the street here in Birmingham hosts the women's suite 16 and the lead eight Hopefully have a bunch of our teams there

So I'll split my time that way and then coming to the final four, you know, you don't know what happens But I'd really, really love to be figuring out how to bounce back and forth between Tampa and San Antonio because we got a bunch of San Antonio because we have a bunch of teams and those men's and women's final four of them. Buddy, the whole world is hoping you guys have nobody in the tunnel. Outside the SEC, yeah, the whole world, I'm saying, it's crazy because in your mind, it's like, hey, we got to go here now We got to go now

We're in there in the SEC probably feels as if there is like a us against the world mentality all the time But it got especially with a record-breaking number of teams You know a record-breaking number of teams getting in there after West Virginia gets absolutely hosed Absolutely hosed commission. I don't know how you can change it, but you need to. Okay, you need to change everything that happened in West Virginia. Maybe let us send the SEC something to think about. Something to think about.

Huh? Academical. Yeah, well that makes people nervous when you start saying that. I was going to put you on the selection committee. That could fix it as well. So you got two ways you can go there. Hell yeah.

Oh hell yeah. And it seems like I might watch more college basketball than people that are in there and I watch next to none Yeah, so Don't laugh don't laugh. Don't laugh. Come ish can't be laughing at that I'm not I smiled some and then I self corrected so that people wouldn't interpret anything from that facial reaction Smart that's a good play. That's why you're the best commission last question here speaking of your conference. Go ahead tie

Yeah commish so obviously we're coming off a national championship where the big ten wins in football and then you have a record-breaking Season in basketball. Do you think it would be fair to say that it's kind of trending towards the SEC becoming a basketball conference I know it's you know, it's different down here and all that kind of stuff But do you think that narrative will get started at all after you have a season like this? First, I'm thrown by the Iowa gear in front of you and not on you for the first time that we've ever been together. You know, going through some tough times right now. The reconfigure. We want to be in everything. What are you mean, Pat's the one who threw in gymnastics. I think we've got one, two and three in gymnastics nationally right now.

Baseball! One in baseball, one in softball. You know, I haven't checked the golf and tennis rankings, but we ought to be close. There was a point a couple weeks ago where we had 14 teams or 14 sports in competition and we had the number one ranked team in 12 of those sports that's what we want to be. Damn! And when we go through this change we talk a lot about opportunities across the board we want to be great in everything and I think we can do that. Now we're gonna go through change as we

deal with name, image and likeness payments and this revenue sharing stuff out of a legal settlement of its approved But that doesn't change our aspirations All right We have a hard out here in like 90 seconds you saying 12 out of 14 sports currently being played of SEC school is the number one overall team. Is that good? I don't know everybody can keep getting mad We just stay committed to sports down there Which is why I think a lot of us who understand what's going on down there have such appreciation respect for it quickly though. You just mentioned that their revenue sharing that's gonna go through we all just assume I mean that's been the conversation basically for the last six months

Well, we have a responsibility to prepare but that's up to a judge not to me Okay, but everybody is acting as if it's gonna go through right? They should so as far as the behavior, understand, they're preparing for that reality. But again, whether a settlement is finalized is up to the court and to the judge in the courtroom, not to me. All right, so let's hope that it goes through. Let's hope that judge goes hammer,

on some regulations on college sports going forward. We appreciate you so much, commission. Good luck the next few weeks with your conference. Thanks guys, good to be with you. Be well. Hey, that Nashville voice is sounding fantastic. We've all heard it. Ladies and gentlemen, Greg Sankey.

Hey, Kamish. We became a fan of Greg Sankey during COVID, which a lot's coming out now. I'm learning. If you were just to scan some things like some- New articles. New articles coming out. Big publication. Yeah, I think so. A publication that's potentially, anyways, we're all learning and we all need to remember it If you were just to scan some things like some new article new articles coming out just big publication

Yeah, I think so a publication has potentially anyways. We're all learning and we all need to remember it for the future But remember there were some conferences that were saying we're not playing football. We're not playing football. We're not playing football Thank you came out and said We're playing football Okay, I don't know what everybody else do we're playing football Then some schools were trying to get to the SEC and then all of a sudden kind of force everybody else's hand To continue to play football. That's what we met sanker like this guy this guy loves ball Yeah, and he's always been good to us people are hoping his schools lose. He's saying I don't think that's a case

This day is happening currently and obviously we hope you all have a moment to take a breath and enjoy your life and cheers to your Irish, you know, family, compadres, brethren, you named it, just a slonche to forget about the worries and the bad times and have a good time in the name of the fine Irish folks. The Toxic Table is here at Posse Conner and at Ty Schmidt. Con man, like seeing the green jacket on this St. Patty's Day alongside the Kangol. Yeah, it's one of those days that you look forward to. You know, I also have my Tim Robinson t-shirt on, just kind of my favorite one that I have. It's just one of those things that

remind- That's first day of school shirt right there. Yeah, yeah, exactly. It is kind of first day of school shirt and you wear that on St. Patty's Day as an Irishman. You want to have your best fit you want to be doing Everything you can to enjoy the day to the fullest and that's what we've been doing you know I mentioned in the first hour We've been you know drinking gin I and making fun of them And there's nothing more fun than doing something like that on a day like today. I believe it is Guinness I or get a sigh excuse me. I don't I'm not a hard

That's on me. We that's what we were saying We're saying get I in Ireland, so I figure we kind of Plural plural Guinness. Yeah, we had a good time in Ireland by the way I hope everybody's having as good a time as we did over. They definitely are on a day like today I hope they are we had a blast over there. I don't know what's going on Over there day to day. I guess my algorithm showcases. I guess cuz my name is Patrick McAfee They're like you're gonna want to see this, bub. I'm like, oh okay, I hope it all gets figured out, obviously. We can't wait to get back there. The more events that Ireland hosts, the more opportunities for us to go over there. So every time we get a chance to

you know say do we want to go to Ireland, everybody in here goes, yeah, yeah, we would like to go to Ireland. Ireland's a fun time. They took care of us mightily. And obviously there's another college football game. Iowa State is in that game. There's an NFL game obviously happening over there. A lot of things taking place in Ireland. We will enjoy it as we will enjoy the Irish today. One half of the hammer, done.

Cowboys AP Tone is here and joining us live from an attic in Ohio. Ladies and gentlemen, he's a college football national champion, a Super Bowl champion, a Ryder Cup winner. Ladies and gentlemen, AJ Hawk. Yeah national champion a Super Bowl champion a Ryder Cup winner ladies and gentlemen AJ Hawk Oh green hoodie! Green hoodie on AJ Hawk! Good lad.

Hey happy Paddy's Day America that's what Connor told me this morning so I strapped my green sweatshirt on yeah it's a big day here I live in Dubwood Ohio so St. Patrick's Day is obviously a big day. A lot of drunk whites rolling around tonight I can't wait to see the photos or the rollout. Happy St. Patty's to you, bub. And it's a glorious day. You know, maybe a little shamrock, maybe a little lucky. Sure.

You know who didn't get lucky, AJ, over the weekend? Who? Who's that? I heard you, you're a little bit upset, huh? West Virginia, Indiana, and Ohio State. You need to start speaking up too, pal. You have a platform. Obviously, you're the former president of Ohio. Ohio State got screwed in this entire thing as well pal.

Yeah they did. The thing is Ohio State when they dropped their first game in the Big Ten tournament I think everyone kind of knew their chances were very slim to get in. Now West Virginia felt like they got even ripped off even more than the Ohio State team. So I guess we just had a couple days to prepare for this. We dropped our first game in the big 12 as well. Well, I don't know what you guys were thinking after that, but I know we saw how state fans thought we missed our opportunity, we missed our chance here.

Well, our quad one record was so good. Six ways in quad one. What do we got quad one, quad two, quad three, and quad four, four, if whatever we go to make decisions, we don't care if it's the first quarter or fourth quad. Because UNC wanting 12 or something in good quad games. That's right. West Virginia undefeated in good quad games, maybe one loss. So you tell me how that works out.

Oh, I know how the guy running the whole thing is getting 104 racks if his team gets in and all of a sudden he said he leaves the room. Okay, Bubba. Okay, Bubba. I would like to let Bubba know that I understand he is a man of honor. I would assume some people would say that to know him I understand he's probably a phenomenal athletic director and I would hope that my athletic director would be In the room where it happened making moves through trying to get my school in there. That's why I'm saying Ren Baker Hey, we need to get you in the room where it happened rent So you can do some shake hands shaking and maybe a little bit of moving and rattling and saying, you know, next year maybe we shake your hand if your hand's located maybe still on your

wrist or anywhere else, you know, or if you need us to shake, rattle, and roll, we'll be able to do that. Ren Baker obviously said he was devastated for the team, disappointed for the team. Coach DeVries, who is potentially not going to be the coach of the Mountaineers much longer, which is the rumors around here. Are you guys hearing the same rumors at Iowa? Yes, yep. That and Drake's head coach as well. but apparently his buyout is pretty hefty

So I don't know if that is but that is yes that he is linked to Iowa heavily Okay, so I mean that's what's happening in West Virginia So yeah, it's a bummer, but we have to pick another team now West Virginia said no to all tournaments by the way They said no to all of them. respect. NIT there's another one, no we're not doing, I mean maybe, but it also might be because the coach, you know it all feeds the speculation that the coach who is a guy seemingly, good for West Virginia, his boy, good for West Virginia, and then we get him and then all of a sudden he's gone. It's just like, that's tough.

That's a heartbreaker. That is a heartbreaker, especially if we're supposed to be in the tournament or not. So Con Man and I kind of put our wagon on the St. John's Johnny horse. Even more so after talking to Pitino in the last hour. What a legend of a man. Now granted that could change here in about 14 minutes. Whatever coach is, Michigan State joins us. We might latch our wagon elsewhere. But since Ohio State is not in, what is the team that you are potentially pulling for pulling for I don't think yeah I guess we picked St. John's are pretty high up it could be anybody what team are you latching no one seats yeah no one's okay no one seat so when I was a kid whenever I thought a bracket I always had Duke winning no matter what I grew up a big Duke basketball fan stay with Duke you got Duke okay we need somebody to represent Duke on this

particular program you do okay so you got Duke all right tone who you going on North Carolina I like what they did. Okay, North Carolina now fair. What they do tone. Well, they potentially you know, their way. Is this the first time anything like this has happened? This blatant? Yeah. So the stats that are coming out are interesting. Like, West Virginia, and I don't know if it's a real stat. And I don't know who is the 111 people

There was a hundred and eleven bracket ologist or something that fill out their projected brackets I don't know if it's media or pundits or experts or whoever it is This is the first time ever that all 111 had one team in and then they don't go in so Not even one out of the hundred and eleven experts Thought that West Virginia was not going to be in there and it it's all because the quad one shit, the quad one record, the quad two record, all the points, some of the wins and yada, yada, yada. Now granted, they exited early from the big 12 tournaments. So that was probably held against them. DeVries got hurt like months ago.

They held that against him too. It's like, okay, a lot of basketball has been played since that took place. But yeah, a lot of people were saying this the first time in the history of basketball has happened, even though every single year, we're talking 64 to 68 here. And people are upset about who didn't get in, which reminds us whenever we're talking 12 team playoff for football, they can make this thing 100 team playoff

and 101, 102 are gonna be pissed about not having the opportunity. Can I change my mind? I immediately regretted my decision. Yes, who are you going with? I'm gonna go with Bruce Pearl and Auburn. I like the way he talks about his guards. Yep, he talked about his guards in a fashion

and said they were tough. Now, he said it differently, and obviously, there were some on the internet there that, you can't say that. Well, it's the real world. Everybody else was like, yeah, it's probably how a basketball coach talks to his team. And we're finally getting actual sports coverage.

Like, hey, this is actually what it sounds like whenever a coach is talking to it. Yeah, but I don't like the way it sounds. Well, that's on you. We're just telling you how it actually goes as opposed to everything else. You saw his, his point guard was like, yep, absolutely. And Bruce just kept rolling. He said it and then just kept rolling. They had to stop him almost and be like, do you know what you, what are we talking about? That's the reason why our team's different. It's a compliment. Guys will get down and pay. Yeah, I'm hyping up the boys here. I'm hyping up the boys in this entire thing. You're right. I mean Auburn can

certainly have a squad. Tennessee look good. Florida look great. Ty, what team are you picking because your team doesn't even have a coach right now? Yeah, I'm gonna roll with Drake. I'm gonna stick with Iowa, the state of Iowa, and I'm gonna go with the Drake Bulldogs who a lot of, you know, 29 and 3, a lot of people said they got job getting an 11 seed as well. Okay, so we have our teams now that we're picking I would like to showcase another one of the small schools that got in for the first time ever And I guess the way people are talking about it down in Carolina. The school is a good time Oh, yeah, when High Point University the Big South champs got announced into

The bracket their place one apeshit look at this video AJ The Big South champs got announced into the bracket. They're placed one, apeshit. Look at this video, AJ. That's awesome. I mean, that's what it's all about. Huge pop. That's what it's all about. They packed that whole fucking arena out just because they already knew because they were

champs so they're automatically in. It's like, let's just go find out where we're going to be and then also let's go berserk and let the world know how appreciative and pumped we are about this. I hope High Point does well. I hope they go on a magical run strictly because of the way they were rolled into my life, which is them getting announced. They're seeding in the tournament. Yeah I don't know like how much if you guys know a lot about High Point or not the only thing I knew like

High Point was where my wife goes there for a big interior design like thing twice a year and then I hear their college there is gigantic for like CEOs and big-time business school and networking and everything I don't know what you guys if that's true or not. So what we heard and I think Connor knows a little bit more so he'll go here in a second what I heard from a lot of people is they have a good time down there. I heard it is a good time. Very nice, very nice.

And you get set up for life if you do the right thing when you go to school there, that's what I hear. And good time university, from what I heard. Yeah, people were talking about like, not a lot of people make it, you know, because good timing so much is what I heard. Yeah, AJ kind of just said, you know, if you do the right thing there, you're set up for good,

but that's about 1% of the student body that does the right thing. I believe they have a couple of pools on campus. What? You can just go outdoor pool. I guess you got to pool in the middle of campus. Yeah, you can go shoot the shit just hanging out there. I actually did, I know a guy,

took him eight years to graduate and he didn't regret one of those years, even though it did cost him about, I know a guy, took him eight years to graduate and he didn't regret one of those years, even though it did cost him about half a million dollars to get through his time there. But most people who end up at High Point, if they're not from a warm climate, they don't last at High Point. They have to go back up north, go back to the cold and actually go to school somewhere. Which I believe is why they have an 80% acceptance rate. I've looked at like, you don't even need to take

like the ACT or the SAT to get in there. It's not, you know, like, so pretty much- I'm way off, my bad. I'm way off on this school then. Yeah, you were saying a lot of things that I heard the complete opposite about. No, yeah. I'm going off when one person told me

that's the problem I'm doing. I didn't check this person when they told me all this information. Like, oh, that's pretty cool, man. That's great. Yeah, cause I saw the video problem I'm doing. I didn't check this person when they told me all this information. I'm like, oh that's pretty cool man, that's great. Because I saw the video and I'm like, I love this place. Holy hell, I love this place. So I come in here this morning, another coastal elitist, Bruce knew some people that potentially went down to High Point. Then we started looking into it. I think there was comparisons to South Harmon Institute of Technology, which I love. I absolutely love that. But the way they reacted to the seating, it's like, which I love. I absolutely love that.

But the way they reacted to the seating, it's like, that looks like a place I would love to go to. And I assume there's going to be even more people. Now, what did you learn in more of your research? Like I said, you know, it must be because they like to have a good time down there. If you're letting 80% of the people who, you know, want to go to your school in, a lot of people are dropping out. So I think it's very, very easy to get in there,

which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's kind of a come one, come all situation. And guess what? If you can't hack it here, at least you have a great story to tell after a year or two. We hope, I don't know what their football team, if they have a football team, but we hope they have a massive football game someday.

It would love to come do a show there. Would love to come to High Point, just because of the energy that is seemingly around that university. Let's pivot away from the madness. We'll dabble back in about seven minutes or so when Michigan State icon coach Izzo joins us. Let's talk about the NFL, more specifically Cincinnati, Ohio. They get Jamar Chase and T. Higgins' deals done. Jamar Chase becomes the highest paid non-quarterback in the history of the NFL. 40.25 a year. You see if Myles Garrett's gonna get 40 I'll get a little bit more than that. He certainly did. And T Higgins becomes the highest paid number two wide out in the history of the NFL. Both over a hundred million

dollars. Now granted the Super Bowl champions have paid two wide outs at a very high high clip. They also paid a quarterback a high number they've now paid their running back at a high number and they were able to win the Super Bowl now they had a lot of young dogs on the defense they were able to build up an offensive line become the best in the NFL and go on a run what is this deal or these deals say to you AJ and what is most important now for the Bengals to get back into the relevancy of the Super Bowl. They're going to be able to score.

They're going to be able to light it up. I think if they hit on a couple key pieces, welcome back Bengals. Is that how you're feeling? Is that is that how Ohio feels? Yeah, I think I mean this is like a I feel like this is a turning point for the Bengals as a franchise as an organization. What do you think of when people think of the Bengals? They think oh they're family run.

They're cheap. They don't want to spend money They're not gonna do this But we we know we've talked about the indoor facility they have now and I didn't think there was a chance that they were gonna sign Both these guys I thought they were going only going to be able to find a way to get Jamar done But I believe what rap sheet last week said it's it's definitely possible that they're gonna get both these guys done and now they're talking about You know, they're they're ongoing talks withson. If they can get Trey back as well, then yeah, we're, this is like turning the page. This is a new Bengals organization. Before we dive into Trey Hendrickson, for these two dudes, congratulations.

And to your point about Cincinnati Bengals spending money to the Bengals fans. Congratulations. This is a fantastic time to be a Bengals fan. You got a quarterback from Ohio. He's got his pieces that he absolutely loves and your team's investing and doing business. You talk about that indoor facility. He also sold the naming rights to the stadium

for the first time in the history. So it's like, welcome, welcome to the Cincinnati Bengals. I'm excited to see if it works out. Now with Trey Hendrickson, there's been a lot of different reports, a lot of different. I believe Diana Rossini tweeted sources say Cincinnati is working to retain Trey Hendrickson and discussions are ongoing between the two sides. The Bengals are attempting to do what many in the league thought difficult and keep and pay all three of their stars. Then Jeremy Fowler

put out a tweet this morning that was basically alluding the same thing about the pieces that would have to fall in place for a deal with Trey Hendrickson to take place. That feels difficult. That feels like a really difficult, that feels like a very tough move at this particular case, especially what the market is for a sacking like player. Hopefully we'll be able to learn more over the next few days. But this one feels very difficult so I understand that they've said that they were gonna sign T and Jamar and T even put out a cap thing and then they get the deal done and I understand they said they're gonna sign Trey Hendrickson as well but in the modern world this one feels like

it's gonna be difficult to get done just because he's coming off his best season he's the best in the league and this potentially last time deal is gonna happen for so that that'll be impressed if Duke does this you're talking about magician with this entire thing and obviously we're pulling for him. Yeah it just doesn't seem possible like with if you look at Max Crossley what he get 91 and a half million guaranteed and then Myles Garrick got you know 110 million guaranteed I forget if that number is correct but it was north of a hundred million and both those guys didn't have the year that Trey Hendrickson did and it sure Trey's you know 30 31 but then there's reports about you know teams from GM's that they're calling and the asking price for

Trey is impossible to meet yeah so it does feel like one of those situations where unfortunately for Trey Hendrickson, he's about to bite the hey This is how Cincinnati does business bullet Yeah, well we we know how that works and the tea and Jamar thing is incredible the fact that they could get that done is Awesome, but you know you posted something on X last night, and it was just a question You know is this style ball is pouring? And it was just a question, is this style of ball, is pouring $125 million in cap hit between your quarterback and two wide receivers? Is this a way to get back to the Super Bowl?

Yeah, there it is. Can Cincy make it back to the Super Bowl? And I think if we've learned anything from the past two Super Bowls, no is the answer. And I know it stinks for Cincy. And I- Eagles paid two guys, they paid a quarterback for a hundred million Less than what the Cincinnati Bengals just did by salary cap went up with the salary cap did go up Absolutely, but the thing is too, you know

The Eagles have those very pivotal positions on defense locked in with the draft and Cincinnati Can you know absolutely draft guys and I saw a report that was kind of mind-blowing And that was that the Bengals are really gonna have to nail their draft picks on defense, which holy shit I don't even think of that Maybe they do that and then they're fine and it doesn't really matter But the thing with the Eagles is they did nail their draft picks all of them at the most important positions the D line in the corners And so it's one of those situations and you know the Chiefs even and the Rams going back to the Super Bowl from the 2023 season. Like

that was a ground and pound like hey we're gonna beat you up we're gonna hold on to the ball it's gonna be you know possession versus what Cincinnati seems to be fixing to do which is still electrifying football. Like that it is cool to watch them throw it all over the yard and a lot of fancy teams are gonna have their players He goes have the best offensive line in football boom. That's a whole nother Conversation about whenever you start comparing the team. Well, they pay to wide receivers paid the quarterback even paid the running back It's like they have the best offensive line in ball. They lose Jason Kelsey Still yeah have the best offensive line prepared. That is a massive ordeal Like can can Joey B stay upright if he can the offense

Can go now how you gonna stop the other team and are you gonna be able to give your defense enough rest? I don't know. I'm excited to see their vision, you know, cuz obviously Duke is a good football mind They were in a Super Bowl just a few years ago. So can they replicate that we shall see Yeah, if I'm a Bengals fan, I'm spinning like this because and I've watched Terrible offensive football over the last however many years I think it's it's easier to get better quicker on the defensive side So if you are gonna pay a side, I think the right side to pay is Offense so because you're not gonna like it just the Eagles went from 26

To in 2023 in defense they get it They get a new DC which the Bengals are gonna do and as long as you hit on your first two draft picks and they're in incredible corners, you know, and they turn out to be great and you're off your defensive line youngins, they're playing well too. You know, you get pretty good on defense pretty quickly. Okay, so congrats to the Bengals and today's boys. Trey Hendrickson, I don't want to be a bearer of negative news, but that feels... That feels like that's gonna be tough. That feels like that's gonna be tough that feels like that's gonna be tough only one year left on his deal this from Jeremy Fowler few things keep in mind is the Bengals try to extend

Trey Andrickson uptick in talks occurred late last week before the Higgins Chase started to get locked in there's definitely trade interest but the Bengals have not shown any eagerness to deal him okay we've heard the same thing this will inevitably be a new money issue currently owed 16 million in 2025 so even as since he offers two years 60 million that makes three for 76. This dynamic is a factor here Yeah, cuz 90 just became 90 something became number for max just a few weeks ago So, you know, how would they be able to do it? Duke was able to get it done with the water receivers So hopefully you'll be able to do a trade but that seems Unlikely, but if it is unlikely

How come they won't? Let them go get entertained some trade talks. Yeah. Well, I mean it's all they're negotiating through the media as well I would imagine they want to get to if they're going to deal him. They want you to hey come come It throw us a few first-round picks or something. Yeah, I uh, which isn't gonna happen. No chance Yeah, that's why I think that's potentially what has been happening you know yeah hey you want Trey Henderson? Sweet we need uh four four ones we're not gonna do that oh we gotta pay him too okay all right we'll do it you guys said you want them we have them what would DK go for? DK Metcalfe? Different position second yeah okay well everybody wants a first and something.

And then all of a sudden reality sets in. Yeah. And it's like, we'll take a second. Yeah, we'll take a second. We'll do that for sure. And then some guys go for an absurd. Oh yeah. You are exactly what you're worth.

And you're worth is what somebody's willing to give. And that is just kind of how it all works out. Congrats to Derek Singly Jr. Speaking of words. Highest paid corner, 30 mil a year he's getting from the Houston Texans. This is obviously a massive signing for corners as a whole. We had D-Butt on in the first hour.

He is currently at his daughter's volleyball tournament down in New Orleans. Good luck. Hey, let's go. Let's get some wins. He said that they run into some teams that got some high from different states, but they're going to battle just like this dude. Absolute stud. You know, Deepa brought up how injuries early kind of slowed down,

but then whenever he was a hundred percent healthy, he's become exactly what they projected for him to become. Casario didn't want to lose them. Casario paid him a shit ton of money. And he becomes the third, I guess, multi-generational player to get broken off at the DB position. to lose them, Casario paid him a shit ton of money and he becomes the third, I guess, multi-generational player to get broken off at the DB position. Surtain obviously gets paid a shit ton of money. J.C. Horne gets paid a shit ton of money.

Now Derek Stingley Jr. gets paid a shit ton of money and Jalen Ramsey rounds out like the top four in DB pay. How do you feel about this signing AJ and what were your thoughts immediately upon reading it? I was surprised with the number. I was very surprised that it was 30 a year, but I was incredibly pumped for Derek and his family. Yeah, I mean, I guess you're surprised by the number, but with the salary cap going up in the salary,

some of these dudes are getting, I'm not shocked by it, but I had D-Bud said it best. I mean, when you have a guy that can line up outside, he can follow the best receiver and you can trust him and you feel very, very good about that. It opens up your whole playbook as a defensive coordinator. So yeah, I give him credit for getting this thing done. Who knows what a corner is gonna get two years from now.

So good for them and good for Derek Stingley Jr. If you can cover guys and you can rush the passer defensively, you are going to get paid, that is for sure. Okay, so I don't wanna, you know, hypothesis too much cause you know, I'm a dumbass So why would I want to do that about what the future potentially looks like? But now that we're getting back to running a lot, you know being able to Man on the outside is gonna be vital. So we go back now to the Daryl Rivas type days

You know whenever people are just locking people down So you can commit more to the box because it feels like the box is gonna become more important with prevalence of running coming back into football. So if you got a guy, I think you're gonna keep a guy and that means those prices should go. There's gonna be a high end and then there's gonna be a young group. That's what there's gonna be.

I don't think there's gonna be any more middle ground at corner. You know, where they're gonna move into safety or nickel or something like that. I think with how you're gonna have to commit to the run game, and I might be talking completely out of pocket, I am a doofus, but with how you're gonna have to commit to the run game, I think they're gonna want to have guys that can ISO. I think that is gonna be a, we're either got a guy that can ISO, we're

gonna pay him, or we're looking for somebody that can do it. I think that's potentially the next step. AJ, you would know football better than me, your early thoughts on my hypothesis. I like that. And think about like, just think defensively, if you were a coach and you know every team you play has, whoever their number one receiver is an absolute monster. He's a complete stud.

A lot of teams now have two, sometimes three guys like that. So if you at least have one lockdown cover corner that you feel great about, that he can take their best player away, or at least limit their explosives. Yeah, it really opens up everything else you can do. And like you said, if you're, it is a cool time in the NFL that we are getting back to some physical downhill football when it really matters.

And if you have a dude outside like that that you feel good about, it just makes your job that much easier as a play caller. Revis is literally just all right, they were playing 10 on 9 or 10 on 8 or whatever, on that defense. Because it was just Revis is gonna do Revis and then we all can now play football Like that is that is a weapon, you know, like Rex Ryan obviously understood that bill Belichick Obviously understood that and I'm not saying that there's gonna be just to rel Revis is falling out of trees But it's like everybody's gonna be looking for that now, especially With this out of trees, but it's like everybody's going to be looking for that now, especially with this.

This back. It's back. Yeah. Cause you'd be like, well, why would skill positions get paid? Well, cause they need to counter so that we can send more meat and more men at these running backs that are fast, strong and bigger than they've ever been in the past. Yeah. And it's not just running backs now, you know, every single quarterback, you know, like it

was 10 on nine when Revis was there, but it's 10 on 10 now. You know, every single QB is moving around, especially the young ones that are coming into the league. Like you saw what Jaden Daniels did. I'm not saying anybody else is gonna be able to do, you know, that, but just looking at the QBs that are, you know, projected in the first round now. Chador, Cam Ward, Jackson Dart. Like when we pull up their highlights, they're running, they're moving around all over the place. So like even that aspect of it makes you think like, okay, well having those man guys on the outside and then to AJ's point about him getting paid, he's going to be 24 in June. That's a three year extension. Think about when he's 28 being able to re-up again and who knows where the league will

be at then. It might already be Turned back to you know throwing the ball all over the place. All right, let's go back to the madness That is March ladies and gentlemen. It is an absolute honor to be joined by this icon From Michigan State. He became the head coach up there in 1995 Eight Final Four appearances a national championship obviously an absolute stud in a Paisan that has led Michigan State in a way that has every Spartan fan around the globe saying that's our guy.

Legend, GOAT, the best, love Tom Izzo so much. That's Evan Fox. You have no idea. Evan Fox actually put a photo of he and Coach Izzo into the group this morning when he was 10 years old. Yep. 2005 Michigan state basketball camp right there. Ladies and gentlemen, the man from that photo alongside Evan Fox, coach Tom Izzo.

Yeah. Go, go, go. Coach, how you doing? Well, I know your show is a little different than most, but I didn't think you guys were drinking on the show. I mean, God almighty, that's a little bit too much for me. I don't deserve that, but it is an honor to be on your show. I think, I know my buddy Mariucci just talked to you the other day and

him and I have been a long time together, so this is great. I'm a football guy at heart. I actually like football more than basketball. Okay, well that's probably why your teams are so damn tough, you know, and why we have so much appreciation. And that's what I was telling Coach Mariucci. And he said, obviously he grew up with you in Michigan, has watched this, tries to support as much as possible, says he comes to every Big Ten Championship,

says he's trying to get to a couple games this year that are historic. Let's talk about that now. You've been breaking a lot of people's records as you've continued to go here with Michigan State. And every record that passes, do you try to celebrate? Do you try to think back? Do you reminisce?

Is there nostalgia? How do you handle all the shit that's kind of coming with this stage of your career at Michigan State? You know, Mary G came in for our Indiana game. I was supposed to break Bob's record then and we lost at home. So Marriottchi wasn't invited back for a month, you know, and I got rid of him. But, uh, you know what? Those, those kinds of records aren't as important to me because that just means

you stayed somewhere a long time. I think the records that are important to me are the banners that hang and the rings you get and the things that'll last. You know, records are made to be broken. Banners are made to me are the banners that hang and the rings you get and the things that'll last. You know, records are made to be broken. Banners are made to stay forever. Eleven time Big Ten season champions, obviously. And you say just because the records happen is because you stay somewhere a long time. That's very rare, man. Especially nowadays, coach. They'll get rid of people. They will can people. They will move on. Fran just got moved on in Iowa. I think a lot of people assumed he'd probably be there for a long time But everybody in Michigan State loves you from the football people to every single fan

It's like you embrace everything that is Michigan State. What does that mean to you? And what is Michigan State to those that maybe don't understand what are the type of people? What is the type of culture that you try to have with your team? Well, we're kind of the blue collar institution in this state and damn proud of it by the way. But you know, Nick Saban and I started together as assistants, then we started together as head coaches and kind of had similar philosophies.

And you know, what I've enjoyed about Michigan State, they've been good to me. I think I've been decent to them. And you know, the blue collarness is what I like, you know, it's a multi, there's many different kinds of people here and multicultural in a lot of ways. And, you know, we are what we are. And for the most part, you know, I'm really proud of what we are. Mark D'Antonio came here and we went to a final four. They went to a final four in the same year. Those are exciting times when you can do things like that. Yeah, Foxy still remembers getting all boozed up. I was in college when that happened, coach. So I went to both the

final four in Indianapolis, watch your team and I watched the football team as well. One of the greatest years of my entire life. Yeah. Foxy, we love you for that, man. We love you. Let's go, coach. You have no idea. You're the legend. Foxy actually has a question for you, coach. Okay, coach. January, February is an absolute real thing. I've watched it my entire life and I just need to know from your perspective, what's the secret sauce? How do you do it? Is it just a combination of the entire season coming together and finally you're getting hot at the right time? Or do you actually right now at this time crank practice up, do anything different? I need to know because I've watched it so many

times in my life. Well, these last couple of years there was no March then because it was January, February and things weren't as good. But for the most part guys, we have had some luck in March. I said God put March on the planet for basketball coaches and it's been good to me. But I think it's a combination of things and good players. I think we try to after the first couple years, year four, we're in a final four, year five. We won it. And I kind of learned then that this is the new standard, nothing else will be accepted. And you got to build towards it, you know, and you don't

want to be so good in December and then not very good, you don't want to burn guys out. So we've kind of had a philosophy. And at the same time, I'm the luckiest guy in America, why Michigan State, from Magic Johnson, Mateen Cleaves, Steve Smith, you know Draymond Green, I mean those guys are all calling back now this week and making sure they're threatening our guys to be very blunt and honest about it. They threaten them and and that works better than the coach doing anything. Hey the standards the standard okay we will rip those jerseys off of your backs. Yeah, you don't show up. I got respect for that.

When the alumni buys in, especially whenever you've been around that long, it's easier to sell to the team, I would assume. Go ahead, AJ. Coach, you mentioned that you like football better than basketball. What is it about football that you love so much? And do you ever incorporate some kind of football drills,

bring the pads in, knock the guys around a little bit at practice? Hell yeah. Well, I can tell you the funny story now you probably heard it but in 2000 when we or 2001 when we won the national champ we went to three final fours and we went to Ohio State and we lost the rebound battle for the first time in I think 18 games and I said then I got back I told my equipment call Saban, tell him I need 12 sets of gear at practice tomorrow.

We play a game called the war game. It's a rebounding drill. So we had practice. I was mad. I brought out the pads, all the players, you know, the six, nine guys are wondering what the hell is a pad. So Mateen Cleese was teaching guys how to button their chin

straps. He was loving it. I was mad. I wanted to be a grind drill. They started having so much fun for 15 minutes. We beat the hell out of each other and nobody got hurt. Now, if I did that today, I'd probably get sued. So I don't do that as much anymore. but that was fun. And you know what? I had Zach Randolph. I had some guys that got after it. And that's why we went to three straight Final Fours. OK, so hold on. I know you can't do the drill now, but let's go back in time.

We're on wood with pads. Are we on a wrestling mat? Can you take me through the drill? Are we just Oklahoma drills? What's going on? Of course the Oklahoma drills. I know that one too, but five guys line up under the basket, five guys at the three point line. Boom, we hit each other and whoever gets the ball gets the ball. And it was all on hardwood. It was a football team on hardwood. It was, somebody called my team that at the final four that year. They said, well, that's nothing but a football team on hardwood. And he was right, but it won a national championship. So it wasn't

all that bad. No, we need to get the pads back out. We need to get the pads back out. It sounds like, I like that you have a tough team. I like that you have a tough team. I like that. That's part of your culture, the blue collar. And it came out on senior night. One guy was ready to fight two people. Go ahead, con man. Yeah, coach has a football guy. clearly you were pretty pawned about Trey Holloman kind of throwing down at mid-court when Michigan decided to basically do the exact wrong thing.

There's actually cut up footage of them not standing there for any free throws until then. It became a little bit of a scene. And then after the game, of course, you gave the speech and kind of gave Trey that honor as a junior to kiss the logo at mid-court, which is reserved for seniors only. When a moment like this happens, is this something you're showing every recruit? Like, Hey, you're coming to Michigan State. This is the kind of guy we want being able to throw down for your teammates.

And how proud were you when, you know, just watching from the sideline after the dust settled like, wow, I try almonds an absolute junkyard dog and we gotta love that. Well first of all time out you know I wasn't proud of it. Okay okay okay. I gotta do my job and I didn't even know what happened but you gotta flash back to the Fab Five sitting with their butt on that thing, rubbing it on it. There was a lot of things people don't know. When you've been here 30 years, you know, I was actually here 40 because I was here as an assistant. So there was a lot more to it.

I talked to my players about it, but I don't condone anything that is that crazy. I'm not that crazy. And I didn't condone it. But I, uh, I felt like after I heard what happened, after I saw the voice stuff, there was a lot more to it than you would, the average person would know. So, uh, I just wanted to make sure they know everybody's got a tradition. Can you imagine guys, you guys, you played football, both of you. Can you imagine the banner at Michigan that they touch every time they come out? If our football team stood under it and didn't let them do it, there'd be a hundred thousand fans fighting. So, you know, that's just the way it is. I got it. And I think all of us respected and appreciated the way you handled it with

your player. Now, the Michigan people are going to be like, hey, you're just standing there. Well, you want them to do it. It's always gonna be an out. But I do appreciate the rivalry. That only happens in a rivalry. Yeah, it's weird how it's never their fault either, but neither here nor there. Coach, don't laugh. You know it, you know it.

He knows it well. But you know what? One thing that a rivalry, like John Beeline used to ask me, you know, one day I said, well, you, you gotta hate your rivals. You know, you, you can respect them. You can't like them. Do you like your wife's ex boyfriend? I mean, it's illegal to do that. Respect respect, respect. Ty has a question for you coach coach being another big 10 guy I've

watched enough of your teams over the course of my life to know that you're not exactly you know about the bullshit everyone these days is kind of talking about how much kids have changed from you know maybe 20 25 years ago how How much has your coaching philosophy changed over the course of your career? And how different is it coaching kids now than it maybe was when you had those teams with Mateen Cleves and Mo Pete and guys like that? Oh, those guys were fist fighters.

I mean, it has changed, but I use the football term all the time. When things change and you got all these different offenses and defenses, and at the end of the day, you still got to be able to block tackle and not turn the ball over, you know, and, and, and basketball, you still got to be able to defend and rebound to win on the road and, and not turn the ball over. So I think I've changed some, unfortunately, I think I'm getting back to the, my old self, your show maybe brings it to, to fact you, you say, and do what you want on this.

You're not politically correct all the time. And I would be considered not a politically correct guy all the time. But, uh, I think if you spend time with your players, they know you're coaching them to win championships. You want them to win championships. You want them to be pros. You want to, they want to do these things that 1% of the world does, but they think everybody should just be able to do it by patting you on the back and nice job, buddy. You just missed 10 shots in a row. That's great. You know,

yeah. But remember the old cliche is they don't care what you know until they know that you care. like obviously those moments Oh my god. Yeah. Oh really? Yeah, I got a sign it fell down But I keep it on my desk all the time because you're right about that. It is true I'm gonna make sure I get in here. Oh, no. Oh, no. This is the 20 years difference thing, too You know, it's got a half face. You need to slide to your right. I think To my right. There you go This is the 20 years difference thing too. You know, it's got a half face. You need to slide to your right, I think.

To my right. There you go. Is that better? Smack the wood, slide to the left. There you go. Yeah, yeah, perfect. You nailed it, you nailed it. Absolutely.

On the other right, I got it. Yeah, that whole, that's a cliche for a reason though. Like what people see on TV at the biggest game, a coach and a player interacting, they don't see the actual hundreds of hours beforehand to get to know that person. Are you a guy that views all of them like your kids? You know you hear a lot of coaches say that type of thing like I wouldn't let my kids do this so I'm not gonna let my players do this. Is that how

your relationship is with the boys on the team and has it been that way throughout the entirety of you had to evolve? Well you know my two kids are now 30 and 25 and I unfortunately unfortunately, I have to admit, I spent more time with my players than I did my kids. And that's not always fair. That's the reality of coaching as I think every football and basketball coach and probably other sports too. But that is the reality of it.

I try to bring my family in with my team because you don't get enough family time unless you do that. But hell uh, hell yeah, you look at them, uh, you know, you want them to be successful. You want them to be great. You want them to win championships. You want them to, you know, have a life after basketball. I mean, really our job is to make the next 70 years better than the first 20. It's getting harder to do because holding people accountable and things is, you know, people look at that as illegal nowadays. I think it's coming back I think it's coming back stay strong stay strong I think it's coming back for the good of everybody by the way for the good of everybody. If everybody's allowed to make

money while and earn money for what they do and what they bring sweet if they're also able to evolve into become men you know going forward and women in sports that'll be great for society as a whole. I think it's coming back. Tona is the last question for you here, coach is, oh, yeah, coach, kind of around that, around the family and the 20 years difference and being able to coach guys harder, is it easier when you have Jason Richardson's kid, Jason Richardson on the team? Are you allowed to coach him a little harder because he is the son of a

professional athlete and they kind of just come in with an idea of the work and the ethic and all that that you have to come in to be successful? You know, Jason's been a treat. He was not only raised by his father, who was 14 years in the league and won, you know, championship two final four, national championship here and all the things he accomplished, but his mother's a coach too. She coached him. So he's getting it from all sides. And he has been an easy kid to coach because, you know,

he expects more of himself than I expect of him. And that's, that's pretty cool when that happens. So yeah, Jason has helped. And when Jason was here with Matina and those guys, man, it was, it was a little crazier back then, but it was fun too. And it's an honor that he'd let his son come play for me after 25 years. For your team to go on a run, what do they have to do, Coach? What is your main thing here for your squad?

Yeah, we got to get a little better with our three-point shooting. That's been a weakness all year, but we've defended, we've rebounded, we've ran good, we've shot free throws, we got to the line. You got to be good enough to be great and then lucky enough to win in this tournament because there's always a Cinderella out there or there's always an upset waiting. You know, unlike your guys sport football, usually the bigger, stronger, better team wins. We got going to put that damn orange thing in that hoop. And some nights, no matter how good a play you run, it just doesn't get there. And so that's why I say you got to be a little lucky too. But I like the fact that our defense travels and we'll see what it can do for us.

All right, coach. Well, good luck. And hopefully it's nine final fours for you and all of the Spartys. Fox, do you have anything to say to him on the way out? Coach, thanks for everything. You're the man, you're the goat. Can't wait to watch you guys win the title this year. And?

And? Go green. Go white. Hell yeah, that was a big moment for Foxy there. It was a big moment. We appreciate you, coach. Ladies and gentlemen, Tom Izou. Yeah, coach.

Needed you to get a go white back for him. Had to. Yeah, had to. Get this guy a a go white back for that. Had to. Yeah, had to. Get this guy a new pair of pants. I thought you weren't going to do it there. No, thank you. You lobbed that one up for me. Yeah, well, also I thought we were going to miss the entire, what's the entire thing here?

The entire thing is go green, go white with Coach Izzo. Got that photo of a, if 10 year old me would only know. Watch this. Congrats to you, Foxy. Yeah, that's cool. I mean, you can grow up in the Lansing area, he literally is God, like actually. Foxy has loved Michigan State.

Yeah. Loudly, proudly, through a lot. Ride or die. And when you play basketball, from the Lansing area, every single coach you ever have tries to be Tom Izzo. And it means you're running a lot, you're physical, the rebounding,

all that you're getting yelled at all the time and obviously none of them are Tom. But that's how it is. Really? He got an octave up there. Oh he's known for his raspy voice because he's yelling all the time. Raspy? No so my voice he did have a raspy voice that was fantastic. My voice gets like that whenever I lose it and I never know if there's gonna be a voice there. So like I'll go to speak which is tough whenever you're a professional speaker you know not knowing if you're gonna have it so every once in a while you'll travel to a different octave because you know you have to go you know it's there you know

it's there so whenever he did the rivalries and got all the way up there I'm like oh I wonder if he was battling there didn't know if the voice was gonna be these basketball coaches some of them him very much so oh definitely had they won Saturday and played yesterday he probably would have had no votes. Him and Hurley? Yeah it feels like all the other most successful ones Calipari, Patino like all the ones that actually go. They get. Oh yeah last year I think it was last year right Foxy where he was ripping a kid on the sideline was it two years ago? No was it for a three-point I'm trying to as he brought it up like every once in a while

get after a guy and I'm not always politically correct. I remembered him on the sideline. People killing him. So people were so mad. It might've been two years ago. It might've been two, yeah, yeah, yeah. As he was saying it, I was like, oh yeah. They're killing him.

I do remember you getting fucking after somebody. Yes. I like that though. I like good accountability coaching. You have to in basketball. Basketball, I feel like you kind of have to. Like you gotta be on them every second because if you have one, one lapse, like, yeah,

team goes on a run, you're done. Did you see the player that his, I think it was, was it Michigan? His gum fell out and he decided to pick up his gum off the floor. He got back cut, easy layup, screwed him. Who's coach at Michigan first year there, right? Dusty May.

First year at Michigan, wins the big 10. I think he's the first coach ever to win the big 10 tournament in its first year as the head coach I believe is what I heard yesterday I was trying to keep up with all the news and learn as much as I possibly could Had to go over CBS sports network. They had a show on for a long time. I appreciate them They were on for like three hours afterwards breaking down every single team. I was trying to learn Everything I possibly could yeah, it was hard to find information out there

from any other network, CBS was seemingly on it, we appreciated them doing that. Biggest story of the day is what? Oh, the fucking bracket's out. Who are these teams, can we learn about them? CBS did that for us, so shout out to them and shout out for spending a day with them. Also yesterday AJ, I don't know if you saw this,

the players had like a four hour rain delay. Thunder lightning down there Jacksonville Rory McElroy was he gonna blow it after such a long wait? Well he ended up tying with a man named Spahn then they slept on it overnight Spahn probably not a lot Rory knew it was gonna be St. Patty's whenever he woke up in the morning and had an opportunity to win his 28th PGA Tour Championship. Damn. Rory very early, very quickly established dominance over Spahn. First hole would end up getting a birdie with a beautiful drive and a beautiful chip and a wonderful putt. He would be minus one through the first hole of a three hole aggregate battle and he didn't have much competition spawn spawn lasted about one shot on 18 and the

first hole he sprayed it into the rough couldn't even see the ball then he get to 17 a second hole he puts one in the water as expected he was plus three through two holes against Roy McElroy and Rory just coasted to a dub in a three-hole extra playoff this morning down at the players in Jacksonville and I'll tell you it was pretty obvious what was going to happen literally from the first swing of spawn and that's like the experience that's uh understanding and I think it's a little bit of the Irish understanding that St. Paddy's day needed a Rory dub AJ from the beginning of this week where Rory was grabbing phones of collegiate golfers to now being the champion on a Monday with the longest players in a

long time, how do you feel for the state of golf? I watched yesterday and would have watched if there was no delay and did watch after the delay. I enjoy that golf is back. Yes, but I think this venue makes it awesome. Obviously the island green, then the winds picked up on the weekend. Like these guys make it look too easy though. That's the problem like they're shooting these crazy scores when it's blowing crazy wind. It doesn't matter. They just find a way to to continue to score. But yeah, I felt like wins if you watch spawn if you to drain that birdie putt

on 18 on Sunday night to win it all boom he goes home. He wins it when he left that thing like an inch short you felt like all right. Yeah, it's been a good run bud, but it's gonna be a tough for you to win this three hole playoff tomorrow. Yeah, he's going to have to eat dinner on this. He's going to have to lay down on this. Him and his brain and his pillow tonight are going to have a lot of chat about, yeah, I'm supposed to win this thing.

Tomorrow morning, three best holes of my life. Oh. Three very difficult holes. Every 16, 17, 18 seem scary as hell to play as well Yeah, our closer which I respect out of the way the whole TPC sawgrass is Constructed and it all I put out a tweet to said, you know, it's st. Paddy's like Rory has no chance of losing this And it really did feel that way like even from their warm-up to them showing up to getting to the first hole It all felt like Rory was comfortable and Spawn was not.

And that is what? The game of golf. And Rory even said, I think Rory coming into it knew that. I think he said, hey, this is the, after he won, he said, this is the fourth time I have won on St. Paddy's Day. And now Rory joins Jack Tiger and Scottie Scheffler as the only players in the history of golf to win multiple players and multiple major championships so yeah it's quite a group to be a part of. Congratulations to Rory McIlroy obviously a beautiful day for the Irish lad and now the next tournament what starts tomorrow that call for life yeah he's quite a grind but he won four and a half million dollars I believe today at the players and they went back to what's that? I thought it was five. I thought it was more five and I think that's wait

I saw said four and a half million because Jack was like fifty thousand or something whenever he won way back in the day And how much golf has kind of evolved and changed? Yeah, and spawn got like two point two seven five million Like both are still going on very happy. You knew that last night when he was laying down exactly Yeah, what's the app? He's exempted into a lot of the big tournaments to the rest of your still I could Life-changing second-place finish for him certainly is let's do another NFL deal that happened over the weekend Makai Bekton is signed with the Chargers to play guard to your 20 million bucks Congrats to Makai Makai goes from being a bust out of the Jets at Tackle,

goes to Stoutland University in Philadelphia, moves down to guard, becomes a dominant interior offense lineman, wins the Super Bowl, and now signs a two-year, 20 million dollar deal on a Jim Harbaugh team. So congrats to Mackay. They're going to love him over there, I think, from everything we heard. And once Herb gets his hands on Mackay in that weight room, the sky is the limit for old Mackay in that offensive line Yeah, we've talked about the Silver Bells Club with Khalil Mack, you know using those 200 pound dumbbells I assume Mackay Bekden might have some of that in his future as well Ladies and gentlemen before we wrap up here on ESPN on this st. Patty's madness Monday, March 17th 2025 happy st. Patty's Day to all of you.

Who would we be if we didn't bring in our favorite Irishman, ladies and gentlemen, from the WWE, Seamus. Yeah Seamus! Oh he wants a crack over here, you all right? Hey! Yo! Hey!

It's like the old days, fell apart a few points. Paul here, come over here and say hello, will ya? Paul Owens, Bullock Inspired here in Halle, Baltimore. How's everybody? Hey, launch up, Paul, launch up, Paul. a few points Yeah, a lot of those Guinness is but a lot of Guinness is Paul I had a good time over there pal thanks for the hospitality Okay Happy St. Patrick's Day. Hey, Happy St. Patrick's Day. We're pulling a few for your hairlines. Okay. Get on the chest air pot. Get on the jacket over here, all right? All right. Hey, have some viewpoint.

Sláinte, fella. Hey, Sláinte, Seamus. Sounds for a buddy. Happy St. Patrick's. Hey, thank you, Irish people. All right, Sláinte. Have a great night. We'll never remember.

Okay, yeah. Amen. Go on. Go on, Seamus. Go on, Seamus. Go on, Seamus. Go on, Seamus. Go on, Seamus. Go on, Seamus. Go on, Seamus. Go on, Seamus. remember okay yeah amen okay thank you legend that was chocolate milk obviously you never chuck actual beer on

television yeah I would never do that. He's going to have a good one. Oh, yeah. I mean, James is ready to go. We will continue this program on YouTube, ESPN+, Disney+, and TikTok Live. The March Madness stuff is so spectacular because it's a sport we rarely pay attention to on this particular program. And then it injects itself into our life and it takes over and I can't thank the College

Hoops Committee enough or a community enough for a kind of building to this moment and from what I've heard the SEC is about to walk right through this thing or what a St. John's Johnny's make some magic how about some teams out of the Big 12 that maybe got in over top of West Virginia will they be able to do the thing Big 10 grind and pine football are you gonna be able to go? Or maybe a Cinderella story that won their conference championship for an automatic bid. Who's gonna turn their school into a place that every basketball fan on earth knows about? Who's gonna change their enrollment from one to maybe triple the size in one magical moment to a shining

moment just a few weeks from now. That's what March Madness is all about. So from us to college basketball, slantcha. Happy St. Patty's Day. We'll see you tomorrow. Goodbye! I don't think we're off yet. Yeah I was gonna say do we change it to 153? Nah yeah it was 154. That was sweet. Yeah, Hillsville. Maybe the best time out for the district. That's all the time That's all time.

He's starting to get his 153 right now. I think we're still on. I think we're still on. Still alive. That might be my favorite thing that's ever happened. Yeah, pretty good little happening there. I'll tell you, it's been a great St. Patty's boy. Yeah, one of the best days of the year.

We're going to start to finish, really. Tim McVie went to a beer garden this weekend. Nice. Shot her down, obviously. Busted his shit, right? Yeah, pulled his calf. Yeah, it happened last week, obviously. What are you doing?

You tell me, Bob. You tell me. Running? Was he racing people in the car? Yeah. Shut her down, obviously. Busted as shit, right? I get a pic, yeah, pulled his calf. Oh. Yeah, it happened last week, obviously. What are you doing? You tell me, Bob. You tell me. Was he racing people in the street?

You know, my dad's not like a boozer, like a big boozer at all. But like, St. Patrick's Day just becomes like, it has, like he's for a long time. Squat in a picnic table with everyone sitting on it. Yeah. Pulled his calf. Probably.

That's what happens. Are we drinking or not? Yeah. That's what happens. Are we drinking or not? Yeah. What's on his back like he's John Cena with the AA speaking of tonight Monday Night Raw Amber Russell's John Cena returns from what I've been told. Oh he'll Cena say. I will not be there. That was like a nine hour flight. It's tough with the day job. Sure. But I do know Michael Cole and the boys will be absolutely crushing it. We will all watch along in awe at the greatness. Happy St. Patty's to all of you. And I already said goodbye once. I'm not doing it again. Okay. We'll continue this digitally and we'll see you tomorrow.

We'll see you tomorrow. Slutcha! All right, let's go to the bathroom. Yes, please. Jeez, Elise. That was such a good one. It was still, yeah, it was still great. You know, it was still great. It was, no, 53 was a good one.

Oh, that's what I'm saying. It was still great at 53. We should've just went the black. Yeah. Just let it sit for 90 seconds. And people can just read all the shit that's on the screen still. Sports Center, after us. I don't know if we should take pride in this or not

Up yeah, huge good show though. Mm-hmm. We like the people that host that show Yeah, that is out. They like us as well, which is very cool with them and I think it's doing good So if we were just leave 90 seconds dead or kind of fucked up a bit Good point, which we would not fuck them a little bit. Good point. Which we would not want to do to them. No. Ever. There are others. I'm joking. It's another year around the sun. We're older.

We're more mature now. That's how it works. Yeah. All right. Ladies and gentlemen, here's the you. Here's the dream. Here's the us from the whole damn teamoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo You know all because your Irish family and friends, you know decided to make this a holiday way back I actually got a chance to celebrate st. Patrick's Day in Ireland one time And you know everybody says like well, it's not the same America is in Ireland America ruined it America ruined it They were very boozed up on st. Patrick's Day in Ireland where I was but they did it like the night before I was in this like smaller town

They did it the night before into the morning, had a parade through the town. And then it was kind of over after the parade. Everybody like kind of called it quits. I don't know if that town is like every town, but that was the town I was in. And you're pretty exhausted at the end of it, but you're definitely pretty banged up too.

And the parade is obviously fun and go through the entire town. Ah, everybody's shit faced. And then you're kind of done for the afternoon. So I think they did celebrate it over there. I assume it is different than over here because over here it's just a lot of people saying, we can get hammered because the Irish are having a day today.

And that's okay too. We currently have a live camera on the Temple Bar in Dublin, Ireland. Slantja to all parties enjoying themselves. Love the lighting. Love the lighting. Love the shamrocks. I love that we walked through that area and certainly remember all of it. Yeah, no doubt. Yeah, you know, that is the, that's the best part. AJ, we can't wait to get back over to beautiful Dublin. Ain't that accurate? Dublin's pretty awesome, man. It was my first time ever getting to a step foot over there.

And yeah, the people, it's everything's about the people. Like obviously the old history tradition, everything about it. But the people are, people are all like Seamus, which look at Seamus. He's like the nicest, most fun dude you could ever be around. I said this at the beginning, nicest until not, you know, like that's the thing. I said this in a good way. Yeah, in a good way, also if you want some come get some you know that is yeah I said that at the beginning of the show that like you know we're having a couple of Italians on the show today and his own patino and it's like the Italian and the Irish you do the research are like the

He's a blue-collar one in the same blue bloods These are the blue-collar blue bloods here the Irish Italian. So it is a, I think it's a very similar group of humans. And whenever we got over there, not scared of shit talk, you know, not scared of shit talk, which is blue collar community, which we all come from one. So I think that's why we adapted so easily over there, but just willing to have a good time too. Like, yeah, if this is what you want to do, let's do it.

Live music everywhere, you know, I had a, I can't wait to get back. Oh, so pumped. I can't wait to, I'm going to do it differently this time. What do you mean? Why? Well, we're going to make sure that the audience can hear our show. So that our show isn't just me chugging beers to a crowd of a couple hundred Irish lads. Sure. Who are packed into JR Mahins over there having a good old time, which I would recommend to all those people that we just saw in Dublin.

Go to JR Mahins. It is a great pub, stories, great time, good people. But it was back then nobody could hear us, you know, everybody's being quiet. These Irish lads are like, hey pal, we're having a Friday here. You know, trying to get fucked up. And you're kind of come on. We can't even hear what you're saying. We can see you. We can't hear you. So that's when the beer chugging started. It was like, Hey, here's to the, here we go. Thanks for coming out. You know, I can't hear a word we're saying but let's go ahead and do that and then one thing led to another I think I did 10 12 and uh dance from Mrs. Saban yeah obviously a lot of that was awesome talk to a local

American football coach yeah he was awesome he was good time and then got a chance to kind of meet everybody that was out and about in the city felt like and Saw a lot of different places and it was a good time I can I legitimately can't wait to get back and happy st. Patty's to everybody over there and in the united states, uh Recreating what we did, you know over there either today or yesterday or saturday A lot of people had their st. Patrick's day celebrations over the weekend, obviously So, you know, congrats everybody surviving or thriving currently on this St. Patrick's Day celebrations over the weekend, obviously. So, you know, congrats to everybody surviving or thriving currently on this St. Patrick's Day, AJ.

Yeah, it reminded me, I was walking with Seamus when I got separated from the pack. We walked with Seamus somewhere that night after the show and we're just walking, you know, there's people everywhere and all of a sudden he's like, oh, hey, there's, and he goes and he hugs this girl. He goes, hey, AJ, meet my sister. And his sister was right there standing outside

some awesome building that they were at. And I never asked goes, hey, hey, Jay, meet my sister. And his sister was right there standing outside some like the awesome building that they were at. And I never asked him like, hey, did you know shit? Did you just randomly walk? Like, I hope you guys worked this out. If not, this is awesome. And we hugged her, met her, it was great. And then we just kept moving and she went in her direction as well.

I'm like, I never got to ask Seamus, like, did you guys talk before this? And does Seamus call everybody that he knows his sister? Yeah, is that his sister? Yeah, exactly. What's this? Oh, this is my brother. This is my brother. He might be right. He might be right.

Yeah, I mean, Seamus is the greatest. Yeah, he is the man. He is so much fun. Him on that flight over there, just the best. Holden Court, his seat was at the perfect spot as he was just pouring. We delayed our trip 45 minutes. Strictly. Because Seamus was trying to find proper mugs.

That's right. He did. Proper Guinness mugs from a proper pub. He goes, I finally found them. You know, gave like a put over some bar we've never heard of. And there are McGullies. It's great. It's great bar. And then Pauly over there in Jersey. I assume that they, it's my brother. I'm surprised he didn't say. Yeah. This is my brother. All right. Let's talk talk about some news happy St. Patrick's Day everybody and congrats to Tim surviving another one mm-hmm you know that's good news

kind of pulled a calf yeah strained a calf not a hundred percent you say day last week just kind of leaked in at a weekend I saw him limping that's not true yeah he was doing calf raises over here on the steps and I walked in. He was over there. I got workers thing. What happened? Strayed my calf. When'd you do that? Last week. Oh, really? Was it St. Patrick's Day celebration on Saturday? No. What do you think? Why is he lying? Yeah, it was last week. You know, it was hurt. I'm like, all right, Tim He needs to get better because uh what he's doing in his weight room on a daily basis is awesome Have you seen this guy? Hey, we're talking Yeah, I believe it and I'm telling him he can get on some science, you know, like at his age there's a lot of things, you know that if you wanted to get like All the way back like get easily dirty. I'm not doing that. I'm like, okay, okay

Okay, you know it would help maybe but even with this calf or somehow and need it Shout out to McAfee. Happy st. Patrick's Day to him some football news. We haven't chatted about Cooper Cup We officially get some numbers three years 45 million dollar deal in total and I don't think I fully understood the significance of him going back to Seattle I guess he's from outside of Seattle obviously played college in that state and he talked about you know deal in total and I don't think I fully understood the significance of him going back to Seattle. I guess he's from outside of Seattle obviously played college in that state and he talked about, you know, having Washington back across his chest and then the letter and then like the response of the people the the boys coming home, you know, it's like that is really what they're selling and in a time where the Seattle Seahawks are potentially losing fans that they can definitely regain

But they've certainly lost interest of some of their fan base some of the 12s have certainly seemingly Not had as much optimism about what's going on with the Seahawks than they had in the past Especially moving on from Pete Carroll moving on this new era other teams were actually taking over the stadium and primetime games Never happened in the history of my understanding of the Seattle Seahawks. Bringing a hometown kid back especially one that is as beloved as it appears as Cooper Cup is in Washington, good move business-wise. Also get Sam Darnold a weapon, good move football-wise. I like this a lot for the Seattle Seahawks, AJ. I think it makes sense on all ends. Obviously, Cooper gets to come come home and everyone all the fanfare with that But they need him like they need Cooper Cup to step in day one and be the man and be a stud for Sam Darnold

So it's gonna be huge that whole receiver room But yeah Cooper Cup like you like we've said a million times on here when healthy is one of the best receivers in the NFL The question is how long can he stay healthy and I think There was a report that the Seahawks can get out of the Sam Darnold deal. I think Floria reported the Seahawks can get out of the Sam Darnold contract after one year, $37.5 million. So I don't know exactly how that all comes to be. The structure allows the Seahawks to escape the contract after one year in $37.5 million.

While it's generally frowned upon for teams to scrap contracts when the guarantee flips from injury only to fool in the Early days of the waiver period that's what the Raiders did with Derek Carr in 2023 the good news for the players that it gives him a head start on free agency by more than a month if the Seahawks Pick up the second year of the Darnall contract at 27 and a half million. It's a two-year 65 million dollar deal That's an average of 32 and a half million per year Okay, so it's a one-year deal with a two-year option by the team Coming up next year 37 and a half million this year then a two-year option Teamside after the season ends before free agency period

Opens up so that I wonder why that was the structure that Sam Darnold agreed to how much was he being offered at other places? And is this another opportunity for him to bet on himself and play great ball while making good money? Yeah another thing talked about in the article and just about the contract was how you know towards the end of the year if Seattle isn't having a good year it would be a situation where he might get benched because of his injury guarantee for next season. So just like what happened with Derek Carr. Just like what happened to Eric Carr and Dan Jones is who they referenced with the giants just this past season, because that's exactly what happened with,

with them. That's why they benched him. So they went out to pay him. So the deal is you're not our, uh, Dan Jones and Derek Carr, you are not in our next year plans. So we're not paying you any next year's money right now. Uh, and you might injure yourself walking down the steps. And that what they said Derek Carr, right? Oh yeah, kept him get out of here. Turned his fob off.

You can't get in, buddy. He goes from starter for however many years, not 10, whatever it was, from the transition from Oakland over to Las Vegas as well. Hey, he goes from starter, starter, starter, and then, yeah, you're not allowed in the building. How about that? We'll get your shit, okay, out of your locker because we you're not allowed in the building. How about that? We'll get your shit

Okay out of your locker because we don't want you know On the bag so you're not getting hurt here if we haven't made this point clear enough You will not be around and we will move forward and then he's come out and been like, you know I wish it was a little different. I wish I could have said goodbye People in the time. I don't think he said anything negative If I recall I talked to him at the Pro Bowl afterwards and I asked him about it And he was just said all the right things did all the right things. He ends up with the Saints They give him a big deal. He's a starter coming up next year, but that was an interesting situation Daniel Jones is different because they wanted to keep him around they just wanted him to do. Yes like defense practice squad safety

Yeah, hey, you're gonna be all over here half speed now Let's not get too good at defense vent because then we got to maybe play you we don't want to do that Remember, so let's not do too much good stuff And then he asked for his release ends up with the Vikings now with the Indianapolis Colts So those contracts are so many interesting little things because a precedent that has happened you know anytime something has happened in the past people lean on that and That's why everything happening for a first time is so damn important well

and like you said like it really does make you wonder whether what other offers he got because like when you really dive into this like this isn't that I mean granted you know gives him another opportunity to kind of like prove himself but for what he did you would I mean that this really isn't that much security like there is a chance you know they're a new team their offensive line isn't as good as Minnesota's was he's gonna have you know I mean Cooper Cup but then in jig brother losing two of those receivers like there is a Scenario where you could see he he doesn't have a great year and he does get benched at the end of the year And there's a chance he goes on in balls for sure. Yeah, and then you know, everything activates

Only team decision is an interesting forfeiture You know like after this year It's like team decides whether or not they want to implicate or imply the next two or implicate mmm in What's the word like activate active? Whatever there's a word somewhere implant. No, no what? Institute institute the next two years of the deal impale. Yeah, they want to impale St. Donald's bank account the next two years of

This deal they can do that. That's interesting because you would think you would at least want a little bit of say there I don't know how often this takes place. I don't Was Sam Darnold offered by Minnesota? Yeah, that's I mean what was he offered by Minnesota? He was offered by the Steelers Was he offered? Okay, so it's like West Coast Maybe must have been similar must have been similar situations though similar like there's tiers to contracts You know some people have you know, it might look like a five-year deal But it's really a two-year deal and then it's like year by year The team has a decision after that

But if you're an owner if you're a GM you would like every player on the roster to have a contract They get to make a decision. Hey, if you live up to it and you earn it, yep, we'll pick it up on the next league year and you'll have another year under your belt. But yeah, this is definitely a team friendly situation. Yeah, cuz they're negotiating at this year's prices. But salary caps gonna go up and potential value is gonna go up and you're stuck in it whether you like it or not.

It's a- Yeah. That's good. Hey, Schneider's driving a good business up. Oh yeah. Well in Vegas, like Vegas was tied to Darnold, but you could kind of make the assumption they picked Gino Smith over him because they ended up trading for him

and gave something up instead of going after Darnold. But with Washington, we do kind of have to remember it's no income. It's just like Florida. You're kind of getting that entire deal. Great tax benefits in the state of Washington. Not Washington, DC, but in state of Washington you have great I wonder because remember they came out and said Gino Smith was offered the same deal

Yes, I wonder if it was this type of deal and Gino was like probably that's no because they said 35 to 40 This is 37 and a half. That would be right in between 35 to 40 So now we know a little bit more about why Gino opted basically to be traded out of Seattle and turned down their deal probably because of that. Yeah. That is probably the reason why. That's 1000%. Okay. Especially after being proven, being there for a few years, you know. Now everything's starting to come together. Everything's starting to come into focus. Yeah. Like what the hell's going on with Aaron Rodgers? I saw him playing flag football this

weekend. Looks like he could still spin it. He was he was he was standing flat-footed just like this right here Flat-footed didn't even move boom bang pow touchdown. Look at this boom bang pow out route running back. Thank you touchdown feeding That guy might be a player. Yeah, hold on. We should think about maybe moving him in there What did you hear from Aaron about the flag football? Tournament and obviously he does this every year and the reason why I know that is because normally when he's at this, it does become news because there's something that has to be done

and it's for charity, it's giving back. He's done this every year that he's been on our particular program. I don't know how many years going back. I don't know if he won this year, I don't know if Josh's team won. There was a little bit of shit talk which we love but NFL quarterbacks, former NFL quarterbacks take a team and then they play in an

actual tournament and then they raise money. It's a beautiful event. And every time Aaron's at it, there's a conversation happening around him. What have you heard about the tournament and what have you heard Aaron's going to do, AJ, just tell us. Just tell us. Honestly, I wish I knew, I wish I knew what was taken so long. I really do.

Like for real, I got questions as well from my side. So I don't know what the deadline might be. I don't know when a decision would come and I don't really know what's going on behind the scenes. But what yeah, like what could be holding up now and when does it happen? You tell that that's the those are the questions. What he's asking. Those are the questions.

Yeah, this is this one. I don't know for real. This one. I don't know what's happened for real. I'm confused. Okay so as the days have moved into at least a week you know there's never been any indicator that Aaron was going to give an answer. There's never been anything from Aaron's team that says he's making a decision. There's been nothing from Aaron Rodgers about him playing ball again like there there is literally nothing. And there's been cities that have gone through full cycles.

This guy's gonna be our quarterback all the way to, fuck this guy, I'm sick of this guy. He don't wanna be our quarterback. And it's like, he has said a thing. He's just kind of waited on the beach with a blanket around him, with obviously wired headphones. That beautiful sun.

With the sunset with our last sights On this continental United States of the Sun and he's contemplating wondering trying to figure out the life That is here in Roger and there's obviously a blood moon Last week. So the views are obviously Spectacular out there. So there's all that going on as well So it's a fascinating dilemma because there's reports that came out now that said the Minnesota Vikings are trying to figure out what the fuck They want to do and Aaron's allowing them the opportunity to figure out what they want to do Once again, I've been told nothing. I have asked I've certainly asked AJ certainly hasn't asked a G. Sam. That's my friend

I'm not gonna fuck it Hey, the Vikings said anything though. The Vikings said anything like hey JJ's our guy Nothing has been said by the Minnesota Vikings which also leads to the mystery of it all I believe Schefter said on the Schefter podcast last week that nothing is indicated that the Vikings and Aaron Rogers are in there Is that something that was said? He may have said that I know know that, yeah, he indicated, because I know I asked him like, hey, is it a possibility? This was a couple of weeks ago,

but is it a possibility that the Vikings decide that he wants to go there? And he said, he supposes it is a possibility, but nothing he has heard would suggest that they have any interest in Aaron Rodgers right now. And Rusini, now Rusini has had a lot of posts, and once again, every situation is fluid. Especially with Aaron and they're talking about a goat but basically every situation especially whenever it's business a free agency.

I mean look at the Milton situation everything is pretty fluid. So there's been multiple different reports. But I believe Rossini last week put out a post that was like the Minnesota Vikings are trying to figure out what they want to do in the future and Aaron is willing to Minnesota Vikings are trying to figure out what they want to do in the future, and Aaron is willing to give them the opportunity to figure out what they want to do. That was the first time really that it was reported. We had hypothesized about Aaron going to the Minnesota Vikings a lot.

Just like, hey, they need a quarterback, or they don't, in JJ McCarthy. But they might need a quarterback, and with the way they're built, they're built to win right the fuck now. And Aaron Rodgers might not be able to run like he was able to run 10 years ago. He can still move and he can still spin it and in that offense if you can spin it I think you're in an okay spot with Kevin O'Connell. So is that a

real thing? Now we sit and wait and see and once again Aaron has said absolutely nothing. I think Aaron is still trying to figure it all out as well, or maybe he's just Rap I know I know less than anybody AJ knows more than anybody Which is what? Everybody needs to understand for sure which which in this situation is is basically nothing Okay, basically boom Seek a ticker speaking Thank you to Sea Geek.

Hey, the Sea Geek Ticker's becoming a thing. It's on a couple other shows. Oh really? Have you seen it? No, I have not. Yeah, shout out Sea Geek. I like that. Okay.

That's a good play. Nobody was ever on the Ticker Sea Geek. You know, it's good business. It's a good move. You're on the screen. Shout out to the Sea Geek Ticker and shout out to Sea Geek as a whole. The greatest ticket buying platform on planet Earth and AJ

Over 28 million downloads, let's assume it's near 29 million now because this is from a month ago or so. Maybe Especially now with so many events to go to so many live events summertime coming up Summertime coming up? Yeah. Summertime. And a livin' easy. Get a ticket you can go see the... It's fucking 40 degrees outside. Yeah it's cold. It is. I'm done with it. I started looking at houses in Puerto Rico. Yeah. Yeah. Next to the Paul brothers? I don't know where they're at exactly. But yeah.

That's what I did. I wanted to thank my daughter. On a nice stroll outside. You know, I'm home for the weekend It's good. Let's go outside. It's fucking 40 degrees where 30. How is it? Why is it so cold? It was just 70 degrees. This is the fifth winter we have had in this spring cycle I'm done with it and Puerto Rico was either for the day to in part of the cloud That's all same thing on my phone on my weather app son of a bitch. I'm fucking going. Mm-hmm That's my gosh. I have my daughter. I can't there's 50 mile an hour winds. It's yeah degrees. Okay Jesus fucking Christ here

Yes, pretty windy very windy so windy so So people were scared to death in Ohio They were people thought like it was gonna be one of those storms like you got get in your Get in your basement hunker down like all that neighbors house dock off through Through garage. That's a big dog through Also, it was windy through the like the dock or I don't know what's called Foxy grew up on a lake the the like the docker I don't know what's called Foxy grew up on a lake the boathouse yeah we're the boathouse garage that's cool oh god they leave

theirs up in the winter ah yeah that's on them yeah yeah that's what that's what I've learned in this entire thing cuz I was surprised by it and they're like now I shouldn't have been there it's like well it's in the fucking outside garage now I've never seen anything like it waves these waves that are hitting oh boy unbelievable looks like the fucking Pacific well, it's in the fucking garage now. I've never seen anything like it. Waves, these waves that are hitting, unbelievable. It looks like the fucking Pacific Ocean. It's real chop when it gets that windy. Yeah, it was unbelievable. And then the lake effect, I guess the wind,

cause there's nothing to stop it. It just kind of, it seems like picks up speed. Oh yeah, that's swirling. I think we're here in a train. I'm holding fire. I don't know if his lake life's for me, but I can get down in Puerto Rico. Sure. And if I was going to Puerto Rico and I want to go to a live event down there

Are you seeking? Amen. Ain't that right AJ? Oh, yeah. Can we get the Sun though? No, can we get the Sun? No kid with the warm, uh-huh, which I still don't understand how that works. Okay, never will What I'm not getting into it. Which part? I could be so fucking sunny and it's, you know, like what's, well, the atmosphere, blah, blah, blah. Okay, all right. Can we fucking change it? You know?

Well, we are actually in it's ruin. It's like, okay, all right. I would just like nicer weather. Grew up in Pittsburgh, went to Morgantown, live in Indiana. Sure. I think Indiana is the windiest place, you know? I think it is one of the windiest place at least

Obviously there's tornado alley and everything over there which Sucks that is the tornadoes come through here to it is crazy thing. It's always windy here Oh every day is windy every day. It never stops the wind never quits the greatest Maybe durability and conditioning of anything is the wind in Indianapolis, Indiana. It never wavers. It is always windy. And then whenever it's cold as shit, it's just like we get Arctic storms and it's just blowing through town. And I thought it was done. I thought it was done. But it turns out that little prick groundhog might've been right. Yeah, he was. I don't like it. We're not even at that time yet. What do you mean? Feels like two more weeks. It's so gray. It's always gray in Indiana. That's the worst part for me. Yeah you should see Pittsburgh brother. I mean that's even way more gray. Way more gray. I don't

know how that's possible. We were born in the dark. Yeah exactly. More rain days. I don't remember what year. It was one of the years all of them when I was living there Yeah, maybe maybe all of them. It was definitely one of the years where I was like, Jesus Christ feels like it rains every day You know more rain days than Seattle Everybody talks about Seattle. I'll rain so much. It's like good check. That's real Yeah, I don't know if it's still that way haven't been haven't lived there in a while But there was a time that I assume it's the same rain all the time now granted There's a toughness that comes from that

You know whenever you got to go outside and get smacked in the mouth with cold wet the worst the worst Combination in what cold wet right in the face. There's a toughness that comes with that But yeah rain and then Morgantown fucking I mean, it's you know, you're doing this one here And then out here, so I almost'm gonna say I'm going Puerto Rico. I didn't though, I still need all four seasons. Need that in my life, but I'm getting close. I think I'm getting close. I'm getting soft, I'm getting close.

I mean, at this point, you know, when you have a set, we had a 75, 77 degree day on Friday and you can't turn that in. There were tornado warnings on Friday night Yeah, it's gonna happen again here exactly but then on Saturday I mean you got it you got to turn the goddamn heat on in your house. It's ridiculous Yeah, yeah, because you don't it's 50 degrees. I wake up in the morning and it's yeah 52 degrees in my living room Well, hey listen, we know it can be worse. We understand that we're just saying we're done with it

Yeah, we're done with it. So the Sun needs to act accordingly now we did look up Obviously Pittsburgh receives slightly more rainfall annually than Seattle. Yeah, so, you know, it rains all the time in Seattle Not all the time. I'll tell you why cuz it can rain more the time and it does in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. So This is a stage of my life. I never thought'd get to, where I'm almost done with it. I'm almost done with it. Yeah, I've been done with it. I used to talk shit on the, you know, the super good weather. I assume you did too, AJ.

I assume you did as a guy. Yeah, as I get older, I do understand why people spend like three or four months down in Florida in the winter. I do understand that. Well here, you'd have to spend seven months, baby, because you never know when it's coming back. Easy come, easy go, each day something new. You know what though, it's coming back. Easy come easy go each day something

new. You know what though it's about to get warmer let's go let's go let's go but it doesn't matter how warm it is outside or how cold it is outside it's all about what's the temperature at the show and it's going to be perfect and it's going to be electrifying especially whenever you buy your tickets from our friends at Seeky now seeky is offering right now a 30 off with the code pat 2025 pat 2025 30 off to you know new or repeat purchasers There are some restrictions apply. I do believe if it's more than 30 bucks you can't they're not gonna owe you money Okay, you know that's gonna be they'll actually rate the tickets for you. If it green it's a good ticket it's red bad ticket shit ticket hey you can get a

better ticket somewhere else but if it's green it's like hey good ticket good price we scan the entire internet for you you're welcome shout seek you can also scan a QR code that's for ESPN bet which by the way gonna be very active over the next oh weeks or so. Might be gettable, okay? Might be gettable. Where they are, they might be gettable. Some crazy promos coming up. Yeah, maybe some zany promos. Read the fine print.

But definitely do that. Sure. But then maybe some late movement. Yeah. You know, maybe some late movement. I haven't kept up with it with college basketball, but some of these sports books a little later than the others. Some sports books much more comfortable with their shit in making decisions. Other people following decisions that are being made in places. So let's remember that as we attack this March Madness, if you're a

gambling, that maybe we got an opportunity here. We have not done an ESPN bet March Madness yet so we do not know and you only find out in real time you only find out when the bullets are flying so let's keep an eye on that you know because some people are creating the lines and some people are watching others and it's like people can get got yeah Gumpy who you like in this tourney who is your your team of destiny? So I was on Alabama, but Grant Nelson, their big man, he's getting imaging done on his leg today. If he's out, that changes things. I actually like Tennessee.

Okay, Tennessee played Florida well, lost to them obviously in the SEC Championship, but that SEC tournament was a grind. Yeah, that was a tough one. All season, they got them calloused up. Dude, you hear Sankey? AJ, as he spoke about the SEC team, he said there's currently 14 sports being played At one point in the last couple weeks, there's 14 sports being played. 12 of them had an SEC team at number one

So yeah, people are mad about 14 teams in the tournament Well, we can do that in every fucking sport if we want to. He didn't say that exactly But kind of. They got a lot of pride down there in their sports and it's paying off Especially if you look at the current dance No, I love how Sankey came on an insulin. He talks about hey, I can go through each one I'll go through each team and tell you exactly the older their quad wins or whatever When do we start using the whole quad situation? That feels like this year that feels like this year? Yeah, they know by the way They talked about it. They didn't use it because West Virginia, a lot of quads, we had ATVs out of the fucking

barn. Yep. And UNC. What is a quad one victory? That's good teams. I think it's like, but like who, who decides a good team? Like ranked WVU, WVU be Gonzaga when they were ranked third in the goddamn country. Ken Pala, right? That's the rankings. I don't know what that is. They don't know what that is. They don't use him anymore. I would assume there's 300 some D1 basketball schools. You divide that by four and you figure out the quads. Yeah, and Chris Anderson,

Monteneer journalist, this guy was on it last night. This guy was on it. He's the one that found $104,000 bonus, I do believe. Chris Anderson was like, fuck this shit. Basically all night is what I was reading from Chris. Chris Anderson had me fired up. I just want to let Chris Anderson know, I appreciate his work, his due diligence.

This is what he said, listen, his very first team left out of the NCAA tournament team, obviously WVU had six quad one victories this season. The last three teams in, UNC, Xavier, remember them, and San Diego State, they have five quad wins combined. What? Quad one wins combined. So what happened? You tell us AJ! That's why the governor of West Virginia is currently doing a press conference with an actual national corrupt athletic association banner in front of him at the press conference. He said I want information, I want the notes from the meeting, I want to know who was where when what happened

That is why I'm doing this today well and I think that's why so many people are as pissed as there because like you said like if You want to eliminate this whole thing then you just got to be a little bit better and you'll get in but agree But Joe Lunardi who is you know, the godfather of bracket ology off the book Yeah, very tough the book tough to get a hold of, although we did look at his rates and maybe there is something that could be done there.

Oh yeah, his booking fee is good. Yeah, exactly. Might get him next year for two weeks after. Exactly. Might not be real. Exactly. But he typically gets 98 or 99% of the teams correctly in the field in their seat.

He had West Virginia as like an eight seat. It wasn't like, you know, one of the last four in one of the 11s in the play in game. So everyone assumed that they were like comfortably and not, not even anywhere near like really on the bubble. So when it comes to comes out that they're the first team out of the tournament, it's kind of like, well, how do you go from being, you know, like in like that 52, 51 spot at large to completely missing the tournament? It's kind of like, well, how do you go from being, you know, like in like that 52 51 spot at large to Completely missing the tournament. It just doesn't make sense

And then there's other teams that are pissed that are in the tourney Like there's a lot of people about the seeding and like well, how is this the how is this the seeding like it? We're in the turn So I guess there's always going to be something that you can be grudge or whatever But it feels like this year there's a lot of people just being like This is bullshit because it's not just West Virginia people. You know a lot of West Virginia people are saying this is bullshit for West Virginia. Now UNC being one of those schools that's always on top in the basketball world has been historically and then also Bobbitt Cunningham

the athletic director is being the head of the selection committee being a part of it. People don't love whenever they feel like they're being bamboozled, you know, especially if it's a big name, and especially if West Virginia, a school that I don't want to say gets little to no respect, but gets little to no respect, is getting the butt end of it. Easy to create baby face heel here

in this particular story. But it's not just this situation. There's a lot of other situations in a seating where people are like, what was the thought? Michigan. What was Michigan? Their five seed, you know, and they just won the big ten like what are we what are we even talking about so I think what the governor of West Virginia

is saying is we just want a little little transparency sure some explanation here I like that he's doing it good for him I'm glad he's doing that he was the same dude we had him on the show remember he was the Attorney General we had him on the show oh yes yeah he was um he was pushing for what's that called uh employment uh yeah i think it was in the employment world anyways they they weren't letting people transfer and then he was like well if they're able to make a million dollars over here and they're not able to hear aren't you kind of like breaking labor laws or yeah like some labor laws aren't you kind of withholding whatever it is he took on the court and won and then

that's kind of kind of started the trend I mean kind of started the end the whole the whole damn thing in that whole thing so he's not scared to go after in suit like actually go about it he's been in there before and he is a former attorney general so he's a suit so like that is kind of his mo especially when he feels like his state has been Bamboozled Wronged Robed what's the banner say on the podium? National corrupt athletic association. I mean, that's a great touch. It's great touch to let people know exactly where you stand

Fucking governor In case you guys are confused. Huge flag. This is what this is about, right here. If you don't hear me today, see me today, OK? We're in this fucking country, and we're sick of this. We're right here. Guy here feels the same way.

We're together. Don't need to say anything else. West Virginia needs being interned. If they're able to turn this around this quick, it'll be unbelievable. Yeah, it might happen. I talked to, uh, I talked to Jimmy Seafood, John. He's a big UNC fan. Monodonkos. Yeah, Papadopoulopoulos.

That's not his name. That's the name of the team that Patino coached. Yeah, I'm sorry. In Greece. Yeah. Menodakis. I believe it is Menodakis. That's closer. Yeah, at least. Great up Greece. Yeah Minidakis I believe it is At least great chips, but it's Minidakis. I Guess his last last name. Okay. Yeah, wait up this up, please. John Minidakis. I believe it is mine was funny. Okay You don't think his name is Minidakis. It's not a really M. I N a D a K is

John Minidakis. Okay. Okay, Greek lad who owns Jimmy's Famous Seafood over there in Baltimore. Fantastic Crab Cakes. They did start a few things though. You know, like those cicadas that came out of the ground for the first time in 40 years. You remember them?

Oh yeah. Hummin' and buzzin'. They had a cicada parade. Yeah. Okay, over there in Boa. They're the ones that started the entire thing. What else? People were talkin', well, now we got

a little bit more information. Well, what was the thing that you heard from them? Well, there was a little bit of convo about, you know, COVID-18. No, no, the New York Times said they came from a live leak in China, they released an article. That was COVID-19. Oh, okay, sorry.

We're talkin' about COVID-18, nonetheless. Jimmy's Famous Seafood is a great place with great people, with great food. Gonna have to get past some of the things that they've done. Yeah. Every time I go there, I have a blast. Super nice, redid it. He's a whole new bar deck area.

Used to be a shit hole. With, kinda. People did kinda say that. Old school, not a shithole, old school and they've updated everything, good business these two kids, Menodakis and his brother they got one there in high school good kids, good men

good men, good dads great chefs the moms are in the bakery yeah, bakeries it's downstairs go to the bakery. Chefs do kiss their mother. Yeah. Okay, that's good news.

Because there's good chefs you just said. Yeah. The Menodachises. Yeah, talking about the minute. This could be a minute duck eye situation. Yeah, the Menodachises. No, it's docu-seble. These are the brothers right here.

Okay. The one on the left, John, huge UNC fan. Okay. Die hard UNC fan. So he put out a smart ass tweet to me. You know, oh, sorry you guys didn't get in, you know? And I told him, they need to acknowledge the fuckery and forfeit their spot to the West Virginia Mountaineers.

Do what's right for college basketball. Do what's right for the future. UNC says they love college ball, they're one of the staples and pillars of college ball. Do what's right for the future. UNC says they love college ball. They're one of the staples and pillars of college ball. Do what's right. Forfeit your spot and call West Virginia and say guess what you're in. And then also give us all your jump warm-ups. Yep. We want all the fits. We want all the Jordan stuff. Send it all to me. All your Jordan stuff. I'm sure they'll do that, right?

They'll do that. Man, Doc is, I don't think he responded. I don't know if he's thinking about it, but it is. It's one of those things where this might motivate this team too, you know, like immensely. They're playing against San Diego state and, uh, San Diego state. The CBS people are like, got UNC beaten San Diego state. Just, just did a 20 minute thing about it. They do not deserve. I think it said they're gonna make it this week 16 yeah that was an interesting little dilemma I think everybody was having but that's madness March all right we're gonna get the hell out of here Monday Night Raw starts in like 20 minutes I think on Netflix can't wait to watch, can't wait to watch.

Bomb the Monterey, but this day, on this day. Where is he again? They're in Brussels. Jean-Claude Van Damme, is he gonna show up? That's where he's from. Who knows? Who knows? Good.

Who knows? Sweet. You never know what's gonna happen with Jean-Claude Van Damme. But on this day, after a selection with the thing, with the day, with the bomb, with the halva, that was gonna be very very difficult very very appreciative of everybody at the WWE basically saying like Hey, you know and I'm gonna hate watching it to be honest with you

Cuz I'm you know, I need to wear a headset in here while we watch it Yeah, I put a headset on fucking get in and call it sure Russell practice call it. Yeah, yeah. Get in Cole's ear. Get in Cole's ear to throw him some gems. Can he get wired up so he can at least drop a few things that you want him to say? I never know what he's wired to because you know he's deaf so he's got the, he's got his hearing aid things inside of his head like his implant. Then he's got another headphone on top of that which is what I'm hearing and everybody's hearing but his ear things can Bluetooth to other stuff so like you could be

talking to him one time and he that no way he because his actual ears are just on a video that's on his phone and he is just completely checked out like the biggest noise canceling operation of all time you know because he needs those things to hear but then every once in a while, it'll be like one ear, and then he'll take you off his ear, and then he'll put you on a speaker. It's like, but then he has the headphones on the outside there.

So I think I could maybe hack into one of those ears if I really wanted to, but I'm just going to take in the entertainment that is Michael Cole. Hell yeah. It's going to be hard not to be there though. We're on the road to WrestleMania. Yeah. Getting close. A month away. Real close. Real close. Never again. Never again. Okay we're gonna get out of here. Let's go enjoy that and then we'll be back tomorrow. We'll be off Thursday, Friday for the tourney. You know March

Madness. And yeah it's a wonderful time to be alive. We can't thank you enough. Big night out is gonna be cool. Big night out's gonna be really cool. Big night out's gonna be really cool. So that what, hour and 10 minutes? 92 minutes, 92 minutes, hour 32. Secondary market available, I do believe, which I don't love, but I mean, it was kind of expected. Don't love how-

There's no way to stop that, is there? Nah, I don't know. A lot of artists have tried, you know? A lot of artists have tried to figure it out. Taylor Swift has a good angle. I think there's a couple of comedians that have a good business plan around it. It's not easy.

I don't know how you do it. Especially with how good these, you know, ticket scalpers are. Yeah, it's a good business. Good news is you get a ticket. I promise it'll be worth it. You know, some of those ticket prices are absurd and I would not spend that for anything.

But I promise it would be worth the price of admission. I'm gonna try my best and I think the show is packed the show is packed. Oh, yeah And people are now brainstorming because even more so because they saw the reaction So now I think people are understanding. Oh, this is actually a thing, you know, cuz it wasn't really real until Okay. Now this is an actual thing that's gonna have to happen So then now everybody that said yeah, i'm in started like saying oh I could also and it's like, oh all of a sudden the show Getting a little bit better all of a sudden Everything's starting to like even what i'm saying is the people that are gonna be part of the show are giving like I think they were very excited about the reaction and what the possibilities are here

So I think it's like, uh brainstorming starting to the possibilities are here. So I think it's like Brainstorming starting to happen even more. Well, so it's coming together really really well, really really all the technical aspects have been completed Which is a big deal. Yeah, those have to get tested though. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Those all have to get tested the stage Hilarious It's part of the show though. Stage is part of the show. Has to be. Yeah, there's some big things that are part of the show.

But those have to be built. So whenever I'm pitching what I would like it to be built like hilarious convo's. And I appreciate these people for taking me serious. Whenever I'm saying the things that I'm saying. Need, need it to be able to smoke one side. Okay, need to be able to have smoke come out of one side. Cause we don't know if we're going to need, we can definitely do smoke on one side. Okay, need to be able to have smoke come out of one side. Because we don't know if we're going to need, we can definitely do smoke on one side. Should we

do smoke maybe on both sides though and then alternate? Yes. Good idea. Yes, good idea. I would, yes, that would be good. Lighting, need it to be able to be specific. We need the lighting to be able to be specific. Okay, just need it to be, you know what I mean? I need it to be able to be, need to be able to be specific. Okay, there what it just needed to be You know what I mean? I need it to be able to be need to be able to like okay so we can set it up so we can Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom any time right? I'm like Yes, that is exactly what I'm talking about and that's like the WWE people You know like whatever you're working with like the greatest on earth at things. It's like I think it's gonna come together quite well

I think it's gonna come together quite well. I do believe it's gonna be streamed Where at though? Where at though? Yeah, how will that go? Will the setup be will it be free? Of course, nobody's gonna have to pay to watch our shit But if you're in that building, you're gonna get a chance to experience a show of a lifetime and potentially walk out of there with a much bigger bank account. Over a million bucks being given away in the arena. Now granted, that should move some tickets just to begin with because you could potentially

walk in there and holy shit. But I think a lot of people are wondering what that means. It's like, it's going to be sweet. I think it's going to be a pretty electric environment. And shout to the vitamins that have gotten me to this place where it's like we can do all this. Yeah and hopefully you know it's a show that people talk about for a long time and can't thank you all enough for the love on it. Now let's get the fuck out of here. March Madness cooking, NFL offseason cooking, the road to WrestleMania on fire and tomorrow we'll be back be a friend tell a friend something nice it might change

Your life we're in this thing together. Happy st. Patty's everybody Happy st. Patty's day. Enjoy the hell out of it Shout to the Irish tone and the Romans St. Patty's day, but my st. Patrick was Roman Okay, of course. Did you hear that?

Yeah, I heard it. Well, that's why we had two Italian coaches on, because we wanted to, you know. An Italian lion? Who would have thought? It's almost in a name. Substitute an A for no. You can't spell lion without Italian.

You think you ruined NASA. You should Google that story, brother. Have a great St. Patrick's Day. Unify. You killed Jesus. They would say, we were hired. All right, we appreciate you. Happy St. Patrick's Day, Unified!

Bring this thing together. Let's have a good time. Team on me, team on three. Actually, team on me, sloncha on three. One, two, three, sloncha! Goodbye! It's happening again. Bracket brain. me, Slauncha on three. One, two, three, Slauncha. Goodbye. It's happening again. Bracket Brain.

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