The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 1346 - Rest In Peace Jim Irsay, Former Nuggets Head Coach Michael Malone, Bruce Arians, Lord Stanley's Cup, Heather Dinich, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: May 22, 2025

On today's show, Pat, AJ Hawk, and the boys discuss the tragic news of Colts owner Jim Irsay’s sudden passing, and reflect on one of the most unique, giving, philanthropic humans of all-time. They also discuss the Pacers having one of if not the greatest comeback in NBA playoff history last night to steal game 1 from the Knicks in MSG in overtime, plus the Dallas Stars erasing a 3-1 lead at the start of the 3rd period to take game 1 from the Oilers in the Western Conference Finals in the NHL. Joining the progrum is former Head Coach of the Denver Nuggets, NBA Champion, and now ESPN NBA analyst, Michael Malone to chat about both the Eastern and Western Conference Finals and how he see’s both series panning out after each game 1. Next, 3x Super Bowl Champion, 2x AP NFL Coach of the Year, Bruce Arians joins the show to say a few words and help remember Jim Irsay. Later, ESPN College Football Insider, Heather Dinich joins the show to chat about the news that the College Football Playoff will be seeding teams 1-12 next year and how quickly we might get a 14 or 16 team playoff. 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, we’ll see you tomorrow. Cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello beautiful people and welcome to our humble abode the Thunderdome on this rest easy gym Thursday May 22nd 2025 this program starts now Sports are happening all around us especially here in Indianapolis, Indiana I shed some tears last night when a friend of mine was announced That he passed away and we will obviously talk more about that as the show goes on. And what the Indianapolis Colts owner, Jim Ursay, has done for me, for this program, for the show, for the city, for everything is gonna be tough

to kind of break down and chit chat about. But Jim Ursay left a legacy of compassion and give back that I think should be studied by everybody that ends up with any type of money or any type of success. He woke up every single day hoping to make the world a better place, making people happier and I know life gets in the way sometimes and I don't think he always got it right and he certainly battled his demons but God bless this man Jim Ursay in the way he wanted to treat other people especially people that he knew. If you actually got to know Jim Ursay, in the way he wanted to treat other people, especially people that he knew.

If you actually got to know Jim Ursay, you loved him. I wrote something on Twitter last night, and it took me a lot of attempts as I was watching the Indiana Pacers beat the New York Knicks in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals in Madison Square Garden with a comeback that hasn't happened in 1,414 games. As I was watching the great city of Indianapolis and a great state be represented, I was trying to talk about the greatest philanthropist in the history of this state in Jim Ursay. Finding the right words was not easy because what could you say about a man who has literally been the owner of an NFL team since he was

37? The youngest general manager in the history of the league is a 24-year-old. He had been around the game since he was a child. He basically chit-chat about those Baltimore Colts locker rooms as being like his babysitters. He grew up in the locker room,

always talked about cleaning and sweeping and hanging out and talking to the boys. There was a story that has come out that when he was 16 years old after his dad said something to the effect about the guys being bums and not representing and sawed the team down. As a 16 year old he went onto the team bus and said football is a team sport let's never forget it and cried and walked off he was a consummate team guy he loved those he was surrounded by and if he had heard about anything that needed help or he learned of any situation that could use a financial boost he was writing a check or giving money quicker than any person in the history of existence i don't know how they'll be able to track how much money he's given to people causes Build it just builds buildings here just donates buildings to the city of Indianapolis wings of hospitals

Let alone all the things that just go not talked about it has to be over a hundred million dollars And then once he realized that he was able to make other people feel good With his good fortune and with the amount of money that he had. He started buying up things that he thought people would be interested in seeing. And then he wanted to figure out how he would tour this so that people could experience these once in a lifetime things from ancient hundred year old things to the Beatles drum set that he felt obligated to buy or Elvis Presley's guitar. He wanted people to experience it, not just him. He didn't want to just lock it up in a room and say, Hey, I'm a rich guy.

I got this. He would outbid other rich people so that the world could see the things that he found interesting He toured the Jim ursay collection around this country around the world I think he did a couple European stops people got to see things that they never had the giveaways that this man Would invest time in and make imaginative and make it, you know entertaining for everybody He dressed up as Willy Wonka and put a giveaway on for a Super Bowl ring for Colts fans. He loved making other people feel good.

And I was very lucky that I got a chance to call him a friend. You know, a lot of owners kind of view their teams as business. A lot of owners view their players as transactional. A lot of the suits in the NFL might not have the most amount of respect for players, you know, because players are stupid. But Jim Ursay grew up in a locker room. So he had compassion for the players, empathy for the players, and always had the players

back. That's why every player that goes into the Hall of Fame that played for the Indianapolis Colts asks him to be the one that presents them into the Hall of Fame. We knew he had our back, we had his, he had his problems. A lot of people talk shit, but if you got to know him, he was one of the most brilliant, unique, and interesting humans to ever exist. I'll miss Jim Ersay, and you done good, buddy. You done good, man. He was awesome.

He would come on this show anytime I asked him, no matter where he was. He came on my show in 2012 I think. I was doing a show at a local bar and it was with Indy Star, the local newspaper, and it was on Twitter and it was just an idea that I had and Indy Star kind of pieced it together and we'd have like 200 people come to this bar. It was chaos always because there's people at the bar that aren't there for the show, you know Never do a show at a bar. Yeah, okay Never do a show at a bar unless you're getting the whole bar Do not do a show at a bar

Especially if there's like an audio component to it because there's gonna be drunks at that bar who have no idea that your show is Happening shows chaos every single week chaos We would have like half the bar that there'd be 100 people, 200 people there watching. It'd be an Indianapolis coach recap show that I was doing. And it was solely for Twitter. It was solely for social media.

And one of my first guests was Jim Ursay. And the reason was because he followed me on Twitter throughout the lockouts. So during the lockout time in the NFL, front office executives were barred from speaking to players and players are barred from speaking with front office and executives. I actually worked out

with the Columbus crew during that time and I thought I was gonna make my soccer dream come true. I was way too out of shape. I mean the coach told me I knew like probably seven, eight months. I'll tell you what I did not have that time. But the front office people weren't able to talk to the players but there I mean the coach told me I knew like probably seven eight months I'll tell you what I did not have that time But the front office people weren't able to talk to the players, but there was ways to get around it So like Bill Polian saw the news Thing and it was like me playing soccer and he got a message to somebody got a message to somebody that got a message To somebody that got a message to me. I was like, hey this lockouts not gonna be forever You hurt yourself playing for the Columbus crew. You would feel like a dipshit

I was like who said why are you saying I don't talk to you that often He goes that's not for me that is from you would feel like a dipshit. I was like, why are you saying I don't talk to you that often? He goes, that's not from me. That is from somebody high up. So there was like a real divide. Like we aren't on the same team right now. And Jim Erce followed me on Twitter during that time. I remember it happening because I was pretty dialed into my Twitter during that time. I would answer everybody.

I would reply to everybody. I thought it was the greatest platform because you could connect with anybody and you could kind of share yourself And you could get creative with your words and get creative with your thoughts and you could reach people and that's why I think X is so Important and I know there's a lot of shit on there But there is stuff that happens on X that's magical as well and Jim Ursay saw the same thing he loved that platform and he followed me throughout the lockouts and then when the lockouts were over we had training camp and He arrived at training camp. We up in Hanson in the end I was 280 pounds I was so fat fun I had a lot of fun during that lockout I had a lot of fun I knew I had tightened up but I was not in

my best shape and you know I'm a training camp doing my thing and Jim Ursay gets there and he he's on his golf cart and he does a beeline right over to me and he and I did not have a relationship like that after I got arrested Okay for public intoxication. Definitely allegedly swam in a canal allegedly swam to canal I was definitely publicly intoxicated and I was big moment pivotal moment in my life in the conversation I had with Jim Ursay after that in the conversations. I would have with him. He would come check on me You know, okay. How you doing? How you doing? You good? But it was always like surface level would have with him, he would come check on me, you know? Like, hey, how you doing? How you doing? You good?

But it was always like surface level conversations, good, good. And then he would get out of there. Or have a conversation with Adam Vinatieri, who we loved. He absolutely loved Adam Vinatieri as well. So I was just kind of like a part

of the conversation, you good? Yeah, I'm good. Any story? Good, good. And then he would talk to Vinatieri, obviously, he loved Vinatieri. And I was just cool. I was lucky to be,

there's pictures of me, Vinny, and Jim talking, practice, you know, everything like that. And in 2011, after the lockout, Jim came and talked to me. And it was just cool. I was lucky to be I was there's pictures of me Vinnie and Jim talking practice You know everything like that and in 2011 after the lockout Jim came to talk to me And it was our first real extended conversation and once you start listening to him Start brainstorming ideas and you get to the bottom of what he really wanted to do All he wanted to do on twitter was give away shit That is literally all he wanted to do was just give things away to people And as he was at training camp, you'd watch him just give hundreds to every person in sight.

I don't know if there was a guilt that he felt that he had everything or an obligation to give back to people. And I think that's why anytime there is a narrative about Jim outside of Indianapolis or outside of Indiana, you very rarely heard anybody here because of how much he's affected and helped literally any human he could have. He was one of the kindest people I've ever met. And when I retired, I went and talked to him before

anybody else because we had a friendship. Obviously, he's owner of the team. I'm punter of the team. It's not like we're best friends. You know, he's living a much different life than I'm living. But anytime we talk to each other, there's real conversation, real moments. And I think he genuinely liked me as a player. I don't know how many people, but I felt obligated to go talk to him and let him know that I was going to retire and I think he genuinely liked me as a player. I don't know how many people, but I felt obligated to go talk to him and let him know that I was going to retire and that I was done with this thing. And he took two hours basically just giving me game.

Giving me game. Like, hey, are you going to be able to fire somebody? And I go, excuse me? He had this vape. And he fucking spiked smoke coming out. He was good vapor. I actually told him in that conversation, hey, you ever see those people that blow owes and shit like they do the he goes word

And I text him a link and he's I think I could yeah I think I could do that if I had enough time loved his vape He said you think you could fire somebody because what you're signing up to do is run your own business And he said I don't know bar still is but I was certainly trying to learn as much as I possibly can But from what it sounds like is you're gonna be running your own business You're gonna be managing your own people are you gonna be able your own people. Are you gonna be able to fire somebody? He was like, let me tell you about the first time I had fire somebody Let me tell you about being a 37 year old owner. Let me tell you about mistakes that I've made

Let me tell you mistakes that the Beatles have made let me tell you mistakes that people from Around the world that I've gotten to meet that have run companies and because I'm in the position that I'm in I get a chance To learn and he gave me two and a half hours of just game on what I'm doing And he said on the way out that if I ever needed anything He'd be there to help me and he said I'm gonna help you succeed in this venture And if you ever want to stop or you get sick of doing it You'll have a job here for life your family for us and that was like a very comforting thing obviously to know like okay fallback

Plan I can work for the Indianapolis Colts I think like that was kind of a good mindset And I just assumed he was saying all those things because I was in his Presence and then him following up with that through this business development that we have had In his care for our business in our show He would be showing other people our show as if we were like his kids and like proud of what we did And he would send me articles that he's come across He thought I should read whether it would be a leadership

Thing a leadership thing, a business thing, the future of media thing, things that are being said about that. I would just get a text message, maybe three in the morning sometimes because who knows where the fuck he was in the entire world. Obviously has multiple planes, multiple houses, has the ability to live and do whatever the hell he wants.

But he was always checking in and he would hear something was going on with me. He would send me a motivational message. He would always come on our show, literally he would ask to was going on with me. He would send me a motivational message. He would always come on our show, literally. He would ask to come on our show. And I just feel an obligation to let the world know that you might think things about Jim Ursay

if you don't actually know him, but we lost a fucking legend in Jim Ursay. And our city will feel the effects of him not being here going forward. Our city will feel the effects of him not being here going forward. And here's Jim on our show, doing his thing, showing the world exactly who he is, which is a compassionate, brilliant, wealthy legend. Rest easy, Jim. I fucking love you, man. Arriving in beautiful fashion.

There he is. On a golf cart driven by another massive human being. Another first-ever. Wearing a suit that is only top of the line. A man who walks around and hands out hundreds to people. A man that gives away more money than any other human you've ever encountered. A man who has paid for everything I've ever done. Ladies and

gentlemen, Jim Urso. My friends call me Jim, you can call me Jimmy. Jimmy from the Coles! Lolita, I love my friend and there's nothing like this 57 year old female killer southern oracle whale is special now. I'm frustrated with flying cars because I'm obsessed with that I want a flying car. Hey, I don't want this ball. Give me a flying car I'll bid them for Elvis piano

Sometimes guys will get liquor up and go swimming in the broad ripple sometimes guys will get liquored up and go swimming in the Broad Ripple Canal there's wrecked traffic in their underwear now St. Floyd calls that a momentary lapse of reason Molita is mellow she's a Buddhist she hangs low she's cool, she's happy. But like Mars, think about this, is 250 million miles. 250 million miles. When you go, you know, it takes about anywhere from, you know, nine to 11 months to get there depending on your climate.

Are you going to fucking Mars? Jim, are you going to Mars? It sounds like you're going to Mars. I wish I was on Mars. They go, well I have these beautiful Monet paintings, but I have John Lennon's piano in the front room. What do you want to see? I want to see John Lennon's piano.

I don't know, I don't know. I put on this Willy Wonka outfit about 12 years ago, and we had a treasure hunt in Indianapolis, and the winning team at halftime was given real Super Bowl rings. You have to get them one at a time. Try to help anything in any way you can one at a time. I've shut down a lot of Girl Scout.

Hey, here's $2,000. We're going home, you know. The only thing that beats everything is love. Love every time beats hate. Every time. If you come at hate with hate, it's not going to be good. You're going to get more hate. I'm lucky to be a part of the Colts organization. Getting to know you has been a cool thing.

Just know that I think personally as somebody who is a billionaire, you're doing good with your money. You're doing good with your time. What could I say this? When you came to my office and told me your plan about retirement, I never thought we'd be sitting there and you'd be the megastar. Sorry for saying that, but it's true that you are. Your show and what you do and the entertainment you provide, you know, is David Letterman type. It's at the very top. I always knew you had that potential, but man, what you've accomplished. We're so proud of you that you're a cold alumni player. I mean, you know, you represent. I'm lucky. You helped me out a lot.

Rest in peace, man. Obviously sending nothing but positive vibes in love to his daughters, his grandkids, his, you know, son-in-law, like his loved ones as a whole, his staff, there's a great group of people that have been around him for a very long time. And I got a chance to send them messages overnight, you know, the Gormans. I mean, Scotty and Jeff have been with Jim for like 30 years Pete Ward Has been with Jim Ursay since Baltimore Let alone the training room that he has kept literally since Baltimore the equipment staff everybody. He takes care of his people

he's so loyal and I Have no idea how they're all feeling today and last night, but just know You guys all did good, man Jim had a great group of people around him and that's because he had a great eye for talent and he had a great aura Rest in peace jim. I appreciate the shit out of you, man Now I think jim ursay had a big big role in last night's indiana pacers first game win in madison square garden now The odds say that the situation they were in multiple times the game was over. New York Knicks fans outside of Madison Square Garden were saying that they were going to sweep the Pacers late in the fourth quarter. Actually let's go to down 17

with six minutes and 12 seconds left. 111.94 in the Mecca, Madison Square Garden. There's no way this Pacers team's able to do that. Uh-uh, Nam Hard, 18 foot, step back. How you doing? Keep it moving. Pascual Siakam, and then it became the Neesmith show. Aaron Neesmith, shooter out of Vandy. This dude want ape shit at the end of the fourth quarter.

Obviously Tyrese Halliburton's gonna do his thing he's gonna be a facilitator he's gonna knock down shots but Naismith goes five or six late in the fourth quarter goes absolutely unconscious that one right there from three foot beyond the arc then that one off balance bang bang how you doing keep it moving Tyrese ah game winner Jim Ursay grabs that thing from heaven throws it through the hoop and Tyrese Halliburton says Reggie you see me we just did it biggest comeback in the history of basketball there's actually a stat that shout out to between the numbs Greg Harvey, the teams were zero in 1414 in playoff games when trailing by nine plus points in the final minute of the fourth quarter. Well this Pacers team, you think to yourself, well that must have been just some anomaly

last night. That must have been some specialty. They were going to overtime, not play their best basketball, and they'd come out of Madison Square Garden with a win, a massive win. Tyrese goes for 31 and 11, double, double, 30 plus points. How you doing? Keep it moving. Niece Smith goes absolutely unconscious. The boys go bananas in Madison Square Garden. Pascoe Siakam, dog, how you doing? Keep it moving. Rick Carlisle, the style, the play that they have, maybe, just maybe, start reading the tea leaves. Because you think last night, anomaly, it certainly was.

Anytime you're O in 1,414, you would think that that is a statistical matter of fact at that point. I think that is just something that all basketball watchers would say, yeah, that makes sense. Especially in the final minute. Then you're playing a free throw game. Oh, gotta make those. You have to.

Gotta make those. When do you miss those? Well, maybe when you're tired. Maybe whenever you're worn out. Maybe when you're beat up a little bit. Maybe whenever that game that you thought was out of the weeds is all the way back into dirt, brother.

And that's what this Pacers team does. Let's go back to April 29th Shall we? Down seven. How you doing? Keep it moving Pacers Massive dub hitting big-time threes. They somehow have the capabilities to do that all the time Tyrese Halliburton makes insane plays and correct me if I'm wrong This right here is the last play that mr. Halliburton has gotten to see it live let's get that man back in an arena he

deserves to celebrate with his people not just in a bar yeah as his boy loses his mind now let's go to the Cavs he can't do it again today well this is on on May 6th, April 29th, then May 6th. We're down seven with 48 seconds left. Ah! Ah! Neesmith, give me that. Then obviously we remember the Tyrese Halliburton miss on purpose gets his own rebound. Go ahead and... Ah! Ah! Skates! Ah! Step back. We win, you lose. Big ball dance in Cleveland, Ohio. And then in the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals, it happens again. Is it potentially a skill?

Is it potentially a trait? Or is it potentially the way they play that at the end of the games, teams might be wore out and they take advantage because they're in better shape the toxic tables here at Boss Connor and that Ty Schmidt whenever the hammer down Cowboys is here and joining us now ladies and gentlemen is a man who has been fantastic on television during these conference finals He's an NBA champion head coach now seemingly television pundit. Mm-hmm speaks great. Yeah, ladies gentlemen Speaks great. Yeah, ladies gentlemen How you doing coach I'm doing well, man. Good to be on with you guys again. Hey great to see you again

Obviously this time around you are becoming a TV pundit a good one at that. You need to understand you're doing a great job Don't change for sure Well, I only got one game under my belt. So I got a lot of room for improvement. No, but don't check That's what I'm saying. Don't worry about about it don't change just be you there might be somebody there might be somebody who thinks they're in a position to give you advice because they have maybe done TV school or something like that and they're trying to be nice now granted there's some people out there that will give you great advice but me looking at you just be your resume is good your

personality is fantastic and the way you talk you make dipshits like me feel like I'm understanding what's going on. Now with that being said do I understand what's going on with this Pacers team? It feels like three times now miraculous comebacks late in the game. Is there a reason that that's happening and it is that reason potentially because Carlisle has these boys running. Do other teams potentially get worn out and the Pacers think that they can capitalize when these teams are out or what do you think it is about this Indiana

Pacer team coach? Well I'll tell you what the question I'm asking myself Pat is is this a team of destiny? You just showed all those plays that they're never out. You can see the belief they have not only in themselves but in the collective and Rick Carlisle who you've mentioned a few times won a championship in Dallas doing an outstanding job of coaching this team using his bench when I watched them play last night in game one they are relentless in everything they do go back to the very first basket they scored last night. They made the basket. Three guys picked up full court. They extend their pressure. They're trying to wear Jalen Brunson out. He came back in the game with five fouls. They wouldn't add him every time. But they're never out of a game because

they believe in themselves. And that start with Rick Carlisle. Tyrese Halliburton is putting that team on his back. And then you mentioned it, Aaron Neesmith last night, 30 points, 8 of 9 from 3. And in the fourth quarter, the Knicks, and I know, I think Tom Sibito talked about this after the game, they didn't find Aaron Neesmith. This guy was going nuclear in the garden and he hits three after three, 20 points in the fourth quarter. And you talked about it.

You're down by nine points with under a minute to go and they're able to force overtime and win the game. And I just thought about it afterwards. Is this team destined for greatness because they keep on finding improbable ways of winning games on the biggest stage in the world? team destined for greatness because they keep on finding improbable ways of winning games on the biggest stage in the world. Okay so on that note team of destiny and them finding ways and never losing belief or confidence that they can come back and win it because they've obviously done it now multiple times multiple times in the i mean in the mecca is what they call in new york

city that game was awesome incredible i mean that game was a great start to the conference finals for the NBA. Answer, answer, answer, answer, answer, pull away and then obviously you have the biggest comeback, quickest comeback in the history of the sport. I mean that is exactly what the NBA envisioned in this entire thing. But whenever you think about this Pacer team, last year they make it to the Eastern Conference Finals. Nobody really talks about them though because they get swept by the Boston Celtics. Just swept. Then then the Olympics happened Tyrese Halliburton Don't even play so that you literally don't even step foot on the court

So like dead but you get it wasn't a part of the team So there was no conversation about how great the Pacer season was last year how young of a team they were how pascal got traded In midseason there was never any chatter nationally or even locally about hey That was a hell of a Pacers year. It just kind of got swept away because of how it ended do you think having that maturity and having that experience from last year helps them and what is the direct correlation to having been there before in your eyes as somebody that's been there talking to a team well experience is the best teacher right and you talked about them being there last year and losing to the eventual champion Boston

Celtics I think continuity is really important in this business. You know, obviously the Knicks last year in the, played against Indiana. They were not healthy. They've added Carl Anthony Towns. They've added McHale Bridges where Indiana's got consistency. They've got continuity. You have a coaching staff that's been in place and won at the highest level. So you have to give them a lot of credit in terms of their approach, their belief. They went into Cleveland last round and took games one and two. They're not afraid to go into any arena in the NBA

and find a way to win a game. You watch them play and you can feel and sense the belief that they have. And that is a powerful thing. We won a championship in Denver two years ago. Our players have that same belief. We felt we could go anywhere and beat anybody anytime and that's the powerful thing and I think Rick Carlisle coaching staff and their players continue to show that and illustrate that. So I would agree Pat. I think having that continuity, having

that belief, having been there before can be a powerful thing as you try to get to the NBA finals. Okay, so obviously it looks like the Eastern Conference Finals is gonna be electrifying. And I think Tyrese even brought up that shot there from Jalen and that shot from Kat about how they were talking about, do you think your guys' style make other people get tired?

Especially this late into the season, there's 100 games or whatever people have already played and Tyrese mentioned he was like I don't know I'm not them obviously he said but Jalen normally at the end of those games knocks those shots down short a little bit short obviously was great defense there and then Kat gets this short it's like were they tired or was it just trying to get it up quick it's like I don't know what you could say because you're not that other team But in a best of seven series with the way this team runs in a way they're bought in it's like that would be it Like a hockey team. They're like not scared. Yeah, well wear you down here. You might score sweet You're running a gasser then you're coming back the other way and it feels like this year

They're healthier and more confident than they've ever been shout to the Eastern Conference finals deliver now Let's go to the Western Conference here. This Oklahoma City team, obviously they've only lost 14 games all year. SGA is officially the MVP of the NBA season. We've obviously heard you speak about Oklahoma City. We've obviously heard you speak about the MVP. People get all worked up, you know,

cause you're saying compliments to another player and another arena and another fan base in the Western Conference. That comes with the territory of being on TV. This is standard operating procedure. So I obviously hope you don't take anything into that from what people are saying. But what is it about this OKC team?

What is it about them that makes them so dangerous, so lethal and why have they been so dominant? I know Chet's big. I know SGA is an absolute dog. Harvenstein here is an absolute dog. Harvenstein here is an absolute guy. They got people all over the place and the coach people are saying is this guy's the guy. What is it about them you think that makes them so difficult as somebody that's obviously had to play against them?

Well everything you just said but the one thing that really stands out to me that separates them from everybody else is their defense. And if you want to dig deeper into that defense, it's their ability to turn you over, it's the ability to generate turnovers, and more importantly, to turn those steals and turnovers forced into points on the other end. And if you want to go back to that first game, obviously, it comes down to the ability to take care of the ball from Minnesota. If they're going to have a chance to try to get a game tonight in probably the loudest and toughest place to play in the NBA, they cannot beat themselves. And they did that in game one. Way too many turnovers. That fueled OKC's break. Minnesota

had zero fast break points. And if you're gonna play against the number one defense in a regular season, the number one defense in the playoffs, you've gotta find a way to get some easy baskets. You cannot play in in a crowd they're sitting on Anthony Edwards are sitting on Julius Randall collapsing on every time they drive the ball so they've got to trust their teammates but here's the key they need Nas Reed they need Dante DiVincenzo and they need Nikhil Alexander Walker to make shots because until they do so Julius Randall and Anthony Edwards are gonna continue to see a crowd each and every position

yeah Julius Randall won for 21 in the first half last game and then next to nothing in the second half which a lot of people are saying that's incredible coaching what they're doing and what you're just pointing out there I forgot about Caruso I should have given Caruso his love he looks awesome he feels like that's where he's supposed to be feels like a college college environment when I'm watching it, which is what I think goes to your point about the best arena in all of NBA. But let's talk about their star player. Go ahead, Con man. Yeah, coach. I'm glad Pat brought up Caruso because people are saying if Caruso was guarding

the SGA, he'd foul out in five minutes. How do you feel about the entire conversation with the foul baiting? You know, a lot of people are not too happy with the SGA and Brunson kind of style of play. But I mean, we looked at it yesterday. If you were to take away all of the free throws SGA still leading the league in score. And so how do what do you think about that entire conversation? And then also how would you coach against an SGA or a Brunson

where maybe they do get calls that other guys don't, but you still have to remain physical with them throughout the game? Well, it's definitely a challenge and people can complain all they want, but all year long, Shea was one of the top guys in the NBA in terms of free throw, tenths per game. That continues into the postseason and you've got to be a lot more disciplined. I mean, Jaden McDaniels fouled out. He can't foul out these coming games if they're going to have a chance to slow Shea down because he's their best defensive matchup.

But you've got to be disciplined. You've got to show your hands. You've got to stay down on shot fakes. You know he's going to get a whistle. There are certain guys in this league that we call foul artists. They have the ability to understand how the game is being called and and they have little tricks to make sure they're getting the call. So as a defender whether you're the primary defender on the ball or a help defender you've got to know that the referees are going to be looking for that. So be a lot more disciplined and if you're gonna

have a chance of beating them you can't put Shea on the foul line 14 times. That's way too many. They compounded mistakes in game one whether it was off of a turnover, a drive, or a pick and roll of getting called for the fouls because that allows a big key with that fellas is he goes to the foul line 14 times. That's 14 times where they're setting their defense and as I keep on mentioning their defense is elite and I'm glad you mentioned Alex Caruso because I think their bench does not get enough credit they have a really good starting five but Alex Caruso, Kason Wallace, Andrew Wiggins, Kenridge Williams

last game all come in and have a huge impact in meaningful minutes. So we're talking about the depth of Indiana I think OKC in the Western Conference very similar they can wear you down. They have a lot of depth and Deep teams this time of year are dangerous teams. Yeah, because you're somebody's gonna get injured too I mean, that's just kind of what basketball is especially in the best of seven series So being able to have somebody replace that great during, being able to have somebody get some minutes in. You know, like for Carlisle, it's obvious that he just brings some people in, and you're like, run, just let's run.

Let's run these dudes. And it's, I love the strategy, and I think all of Indiana loves it. Let's go back to the flopping and the foul artist, I think is how you described it. Great term, and we will start using it as if we created it ourselves. We will give you credit every once in a while, but just know that we will certainly say it and act like we did it and made it up ourselves.

Do you talk to refs? Like all the refs, I guess, there's only a certain amount of refs. You guys know all the refs pretty well. I think it's a pretty personal relationship between players, coaches, and referees because you're all out there and you're all a tight group. I get it. But refs know that like a lot of these replays are going to showcase that maybe there wasn't something and do you talk to the refs during before the game during the game how do those kind of go as opposing coaches with some of these calls well there's no doubt yes and the one thing that you guys should know is during the playoffs anytime I contact the league office after a game or I send clips in is rule where the league is gonna make sure they share that with the opposing coaching staff.

So they want full transparency, they want everybody to be on the same page. But I remember we were playing Golden State in the playoffs one year and they gave us the post game review and they admitted that they missed six fouls on Draymond Green in one game. And I go, well listen man, you can't miss six fouls in a game. That is just not acceptable. You have to make sure we are letting the next crew that's coming in to rep the next game, give them a feel for what's happening and how this game needs to be officiated better.

And I always give the league credit because they always strive for being transparent and helping the league out. But at the end of the day, great players like Shea, and that's what he is, like Jalen Brunson, that's what he is, had 43 points last night in a loss. They're going to get the benefit of the whistle. That's just the way it is. And the fans want to watch the best players play. They don't want to watch them on the bench.

And you just have to deal with it. And you've got to get your players to understand that and feel for how the game is being officiated. And I expect Minnesota to come out, Chris Finch is a hell of a coach. I think he'll have his group ready to play tonight. I think with the way the game is constructed, the way the rules are constructed, and that it's humans blowing the whistle and everything's happening so fast.

I think they're destined to get some wrong, which always in basketball, I think you're destined to get, just because everything can be considered a foul, like for us holding on the offensive line in football can be called all the time. It can be called all the time. So it's like, is it egregious? Is it not egregious? And then a ref just gets a little flag happy and all of a sudden happens like officiating sucks.

Okay. It's not fun. I don't know why anybody signs up for it, but we do appreciate, we do appreciate those who do it. But basketball feels like the one where it's the most like yeah and then we go an 8k super slow mo and it's like no actually not I think that's a tough job that's a tough job especially with the way they do like Tyrese had a little leg kick last night on Jalen Brunson and Jalen actually said he kicked me he kicked me and you can only see it in like from the behind angle slow motion Tyrese definitely did put his leg right into Jalen Brunson's groin and then he hits him and then

Tyrese does the thing it's like oh that's a little work right there that but if you're a ref how could you ever get it right? Brunson took Nisman's arm at one point slapped himself with it yeah foul artist baby yeah that's a foul artist okay let let's talk about the team you chit-chat about their Minnesota being prepared for it. Go ahead tone Yeah coach, obviously we talked a lot about okay scene how great they are and Edwards on the other side It feels like he's one of the young players in this league who probably doesn't give a shit How good the other team is just kind of how he's wired. He's kind of an old-school Young NBA player. How do you feel about Ant Edwards and is he you know primed to is he one of the more equipped

young players to put a team on his back and lead them to victory? There's no doubt and I've seen it unfortunately up close and personal. Game seven last year we're up 20 in our building and one of the crazier playoff series I've ever been a part of and Ant Edwards puts that team on his back in that second half and they come back and beat us. What I need to see from Anthony Edwards tonight, what the Minnesota Timberwolves need to see from Anthony Edwards tonight is aggression.

Only took 13 shots in game one and the craziest stat of that is only one of those 13 shots were in the paint. We think of Anthony Edwards, we think of dynamic athlete aggression attacking the basket. They need to find a way to get out and transition. Once again, zero fast breakpoints. Anthony Edwards in the open floor is exciting, dynamic, athletic, and we need to see more of that because you don't want to play against that set defense over and over and over again. I expect Chris Finch to get him off the ball a little bit more, let him get off catch and

shoot, pin downs, let him attack. But he is confident. He's been here before and I expect him to have a great game tonight. We talked a little earlier about Julius Randall, third quarter, zero points, only one shot after having a great first half Anthony Edwards end game one fourth quarter zero points only one shot he cannot take 13 shots tonight he's got to take 25 and for him to do that it's got to be in transition in the open court with an attack mindset. Okay and we all want to see it from Anthony Edwards. That OKC team is just like...

Yeah. Explosive. They really are. It just... 14 losses. And all year, all the conversation was, we need to be talking about OKC more. Need to be talking about OKC more. Because OKC, you know, obviously small market, how people chat about it.

Western Conference has 45 other stories. 45 other stories in the Western Conference so it's like well it's hard to just talk about OKC but all the basketball people were like OKC and then you watch them do their thing it's like this thing always you look down they're up 15 it's like oh they're very dynamic and also lock it down yeah on the defensive side yeah someone on TV yesterday said they won the you know the triple crown of defense this year. They were like first in perimeter D, first in interior D, and first in, you know, opponent's points.

They're bopping the wood. Yeah, they bop wood. Okay, let's go to the Eastern Conference. Don't say, hey, whoa, whoa, whoa, easy with the way you're thinking about that there, coach. Let's go back to the Eastern Conference. Yeah, absolutely bopping wood. Yeah, we heard you.

Ty, there's a question for you, coach. Yeah, coach, we've talked a lot about the Pacers depth and obviously Oklahoma City's depth. When you're watching that game last night, is there any way that the Knicks can withstand the pace of play and the style of the play, you know, play that the Pacers, you know, use if they're only playing seven to eight guys off the bench? Like at some point does Tibbs have to say like, hey, even though some of these guys didn't get much burned during the regular season, like we can't keep, we can't keep playing seven guys

when they're rotating 11, 12 guys out there because come game three, if they haven't got one, like they're just not gonna have anything left. Well, yeah, it's a great question. And you get to the Eastern Conference Finals and you're the New York Knick coaching staff. It's hard to just adjust and say, you know what, we're going to change our rotation now. We're going to go to a nine-man rotation.

They only played two guys off the bench last night, double figure minutes. Obviously, we all know how deep Indiana is. They're so deep that you guys realize that Miles Turner got off to a great start last night. How many minutes did Miles Turner play get off to a great start last night. How many minutes did Miles Turner play in the fourth quarter last night? Two. Right? You had guys like Ben Shepard, Obie Toppin, in the game late and that's what Rick Carlisle's done all season long. His depth is ridiculous. He trusts his bench and I learned a long time ago from my father, the greatest gift you can give a player is confidence.

And all those players know that Rick Carlisle has great confidence in them to go out there, regardless of the time, score, situation to do their job. And to answer your question, I don't think there's anything the Knicks can do to change how fast and how relentless and the pace in which the Pacers play. Because they're a great running team and unlike most other great running teams, they run after makes better than anybody else. So it was a track me. You score on them, they get that ball out of the net, in bounds and up the floor faster

than anybody I've ever seen. And then they pick up on the other end. So they're relentless in their approach. They come at you for 48 or overtime if it needs to be. Um, and I don't think there's anything that Nick Knicks can do in the middle of this series to change that. That is Indiana style of play. And they've been doing it all season long. Do you ever see a guy hit his head off the rim like four times in a two minute span, OB topping? I mean, he was, he, even on Jaylen, Jaylen had his sick make

after OB did his double pump dunk in overtime He's also fouled. Yeah, which should have been on the foul line But I think everybody was so mesmerized by him doing a double pump In a dunk taking it to the rack the weight you rate here. Hey He got fouled clearly. I clearly got fouled would have been a four point game If he would have knocked down the free throw Which we assume he would have I think Jalen before this or after this had like a little floater. Obie jumped up to swat it almost hit his head off the rim I mean Jalen pulled up over top it was like all the pieces play and that's kind of the word about the Pacers

From all the basketball people that I hear talk is like you never know who it's gonna be each night Literally every day you talk about miles Turner not having a great start and only playing two minutes in the fourth He had some time in overtime didn't go great I think he's gonna want to get that taste out of his mouth as well next game Which would be great, but he can go for 30 miles Turner can go for 30 in game two and nobody would be surprised It's fun time be a basketball fan. You're crushing it on TV. Keep going boss Hey guys, I appreciate it I'm gonna goop the wood and I'll talk to you soon. A lot of that.

Ladies and gentlemen, Coach Mike Ballou. He's not about playing defense. He's going to play defense. Because he likes to feel it. Maybe that's why he got let go, which we will certainly ask him about the next time he joins us. Was he bopping the wood too strong? The boys were like, oh we play two games. Stop bopping, Coach. We don't need you bopping the wood too strong? He might have been boys like oh, we don't we played two games Stop bopping coach. We don't need you bopping a wood so hard

Potentially he said about dream on green guys like a ram truck miss six calls Can't be missing six calls on one guy. He's out of the game guys out of the game Let alone us and everything else that happens in here guys gone just from what you missed I had four fouls already to. You guys get ten fouls? What is this? The Shane Malone is not going to be on TV very long. Because the bopping of wood comment? No, no, no, because he's going to get hired very quickly.

Yeah, but what if he likes his TV stuff so much? What if he's like, you know what, I don't mind bopping of wood down here at LA Fitness. It's much more fun bopping of wood here. Yeah, without all the pressures of having to deliver every single night. With so many eyes on you when you're bopping of wood, it is probably a little. Hey, he just wants to get in there and smack his water around a little bit by himself. Yeah, and roll that. Yeah.

I play defense, brother. That's right. More casual. That okay, see team walks it down. They could, you know, Minnesota, we all just believe in Ant. Yeah. Right? That's all I feel.

For sure. Julius Randall too, I believe, I believe in Ant though. I'm like, Ant's a guy. So that team will go, inevitably, I think. It's like, then you watch OKC, and they just like, Coach, it's just like the Pacers. It looks pretty similar. I think they play a little bit more tough defense

than the Pacers. And to his point about the Pacers, after they get scored on, they get the inbound pass quick, and they're running the other way. So it's a gasser. So even if you have success, you're going back the other way. That's a mental thing too. You can beat and they score on you. way. So it's a gasser. So even if you have success, you're going back the other way. That's a mental thing too.

You get beat and they score on you, there's no like, you just, they just get the ball, screw it. So I think that naturally potentially lends itself a little bit to like, ah, they're going to score on us at some point. We just got to get it back the other way. It's kind of a, it's an interesting contrast.

There was a highlight tape going around the internet after game one of the T-Wolf's trying to screen Caruso and they just couldn't do it. Like he just kept Going around screens going over screens going through screens like he was just a junkyard Relentless you're saying you talk about the Pacers though and like what they're doing late in the games being a skill like it's at the point Now when you talk team of destiny like every single one of those guys like in a late situation Where they have to shoot a three every single one of those guys believes they're making it.

Like that's the point they're at right now. Like their confidence, and obviously everyone we talk to, it's like, hey, confidence is the most important thing in basketball. It doesn't matter how many times you miss it. You got to go back there and have the belief that you're going to make that shot. Every single guy they have on the court,

whether it's their star players or their role players or the bench guys, like the feeling is just that they're gonna make these shots They're gonna knock them down and they do and they have been on this shot I think a fun little fact here on this shot is his foot's on the line for the two, right? He thought it was a three if his foot is back a half an inch. What's that ball doing swish? Yeah, yeah, you know like in his head. He was shooting it through so in his head All right three a little more and his muscle just all of his muscles like yeah We're shooting a three right now, and then it's like oh no actually I'm this closer

Brick straight up then it falls. It's like if he's actually a three like he clearly thought he even said he wasted it Yeah, it's over. I can't do it. I won. Yeah. Thank God. Yes. I was so scared I know I was so so scared The New York Knicks call, radio call, they say for two, they say it immediately because I think they're there and they're looking for everything. The TV call and watching at home and with his reaction I was like, we just won that game. We just won that game and Tyrese Halliburton just did a met, and Jim Hersey caught that thing and threw it straight down into the... I was like, what a night. Because Jim Hersey's last tweet was basically, good luck to the owner of the Pacers Herb,

good luck to the fans, and good luck to our city, basically. That was his last tweet. And it perfectly encompasses who Jim Hersey is. He loved this place. He was appreciative of this place, loved the people here, and he took a lot of pride in this being our city. And this team has a lot of pride in representing Indiana, too. It's very clear.

By the way Tyrese operates, by the way Miles operates, by the way Pasco is, you know, like kind of just came in and I think they've all just taken to the city. Oh yeah. And the city has taken to them. It's a beautiful thing. Speaking of this city, there was a man who had two different coaching stints here. There's a man that's known as the quarterback whisperer. There's a man that's known as one of the greatest offensive minds in the history of football. For me, I got a chance to watch him be the interim head coach for

the Indianapolis Colts and I got a chance to watch him go win a damn Super Bowl as a head coach with the greatest of all time. Ladies and gentlemen, friend of the program, Coach Bruce Arians. Yeah Coach! How you doing boss? Doing good buddy, doing good. It's a little rough day, that was a rough night for sure. Yeah, absolutely. And you and I texted this morning and last night. I shed some tears last night. I shed some tears on the show here just talking about him and I wondered

if you would potentially say some things about Jim Ursay that maybe people outside of Indiana or people that maybe don't know him have ever heard. Something that maybe they don't know about. I think you've been around the league, you've been to a lot of teams, you've been around for a long, long time. You know how teams operate. You've been and seen how other owners operate.

Jim was special and I appreciate you potentially, or I potentially appreciate you coming on and sharing some sentiments with the people. Oh you bet I mean the guy was just so special I mean I was blown away by the tweets and everything that went out by the former players. I think that just tells you what Jim was all about. This was at his birthday party a couple years ago here at Lake Econi and he invited me over. We had a great night and you know, he, he, people don't realize, you know, the game I

missed in Baltimore after Chuck came back and I got sick. First thing Jim wanted to know was my wife there. And the guy said no. And within two hours, my wife was in the hospital with me. He sent a car, he's on a plane. That plane stayed on the ground for three days waiting for me my wife was in the hospital with me. He sent a car, he sent a plane. That plane stayed on the ground for three days, waiting for me to get out of the hospital and take me back to Indianapolis.

And that's the kind of guy Jim is. Jim loves his players. He tried to mentor his players. You know, he was the second team to ever hire mentors for his players. And it just meant so much to me to see what the players' reactions were to him. You know we all called him the boss because he was just a special special dude and the most

generous man I've ever known in my life. Yes I think that is something that you know everybody assumes that people with a lot of money donate money and I think everybody does because there are certain tax exemptions and there are things that you can kind of do and I assume they're super uber wealthy people feel obligated to give money back in some sense you know there's probably a percentage on what they're willing to give up of their value or net worth or whatever they're making every year Jim didn't care about any of that actually I have no idea how his accountant did it I have no idea how his accountant would be able to keep up with everything that Jim did

and I know what those numbers nobody cares right? Oh you're rich and here's him with Chuck obviously and everything he did for coach Pagano that will never be able to be like the amount of behind the scenes stuff that Jim Ersay is doing and the amount of cancer research now at post this because he just learned about this community and was like oh I need to help this and then mental health stuff he learned about community I need to help this and oh there's some buildings downtown Indianapolis that need to be renovated and put like, oh, I need to help this. And then mental health stuff, he learned about community, I need to help this. And oh, there's some buildings downtown Indianapolis that need to be renovated and put back together. Oh, I need to help this. Oh, there's these people that I know that they, it's just like, that was every day for everything for him. There was even almost a damn

whale that was put into a bomber plane filled with water so that he could fly Takate, Lolita, out of a aquarium in Florida to the Pacific Northwest, seven hour flight seven, eight hour flight, whatever it is, wanted to fly a fucking whale with his friends, to get with its family just because he learned of Takate, this is a Buddhist way this is a cool whale man this is not how this whale is supposed to end its life so he's trying to figure out it he was gonna have to spend anything like 15 million on this plane

to turn it into an aquarium for a whale to get up in the sky and go it's like that was him with everything and I there's not not a lot of humans that ever been created that way coach Not a lot of no. No, and you know He he was he was the shoe, you know, he always talked about the shoe and you know me growing up in York, Pennsylvania the Colts were my team Johnny nice was my idol and To put on that uniform and put that shoe on as a coach meant so much to me personally. And it was a great four years. And you know, the three I had with Peyton

and the one I had with Andrew. But I love the city. I love everything that the Colts stands for. And that's because of Jim Mercer. Yeah, so now obviously the Indianapolis Colts are gonna have to figure out what's next for their organization for that family I assume there's already been plans because of how the last few

years have gone we're obviously all not blind to any of that I think last night came out of nowhere I don't think I expected that at all coach you know not at all we all knew there was things going on like we all we all I don't know I don't know who all knew what to be honest. I think they were keeping a lot of things tight I think they didn't want anybody to worry I think that's another thing jim like didn't want people to worry like so I think there was a lot more potentially going on than Any of us even the people that are maybe even closer to him than I and I don't know if you Like any of that stuff, but we all knew that but still whenever it was like jar it was like

holy shit and uh Then I immediately just started thinking about what a legacy this dude has left behind by the people that know him You know everybody to your point about the players Every player that said said the same thing every friend of his has said the same thing Every coach has said the same thing. It's like this is maybe the most giving man that has ever existed It's like he understood the position he was in and he tried to make it be a position that can make the world better. We're gonna miss the shit out of him coach. We're gonna miss the shit. Oh there's no doubt. There's no doubt. The NFL is gonna miss him because he was a true steward of the game. Historian of the game and I thought Roger Goodell said it really well today about

how much they're gonna miss him in league meetings and and because he loved the game he grew up in the game and It it was from him every single time you met him. It was all about you know, the NFL protecting the shield and protecting the shoe He um, I would get messages from people that were in his suites during games And I would shank one You know if I shanked very rare BA, you that, you can attest to that, very rare, very real, please. Very rare. Thank you, thank you.

I took a lot of pride in that, especially I knew offense coordinators and quarterbacks too. You know, if I shanked, Peyton taught me that early, I'm fucking him too, you know, cause there's a much bigger spotlight on his failed first down if I am not, you know, cause if you get a good one, it's like, ah, just football happened.

You hit a shank though, it's like, oh, offense failed, Bad punt. Now they're in there. You can really, you know, we can just keep the game rolling with no spotlight on anything bad. If there's a good punt, I would get a text during the game from the people and I would see it on my phone. Hey, can't be doing that at the gym. He's watching your punts. Okay. I guess he threw a garbage can one time because I hit a shank and I was like felt so terrible and then he comes down Afterwards into the locker room always came down the locker room afterwards always before the game After the game always wanted to be with the boys, you know never spoke You know unless he was asked to had his own chair that they had like he had his own locker basically

But it was in the middle came down before every game after every single game just wanted to be in there wanted to experience it and We won the game and I think I probably had a couple bombs afterwards Okay, you can't hit too many shanks in a row You're gonna get cut as a punter especially if you have been arrested and you tweet a lot So, you know, I had a lot of things going against me So I read that text before he got in and I go boss man Sorry about the shank and he goes yeah

But you got it back and we needed it and he knew like my net and he knew like what it led to. Like he knew, he knew ball. Like he was a ball knower, but he wasn't scared to hire people and let them do their jobs either. Like he was a great leader. Now, granted, I think that has worked against him sometimes. Like maybe somebody didn't do their job as well

and his loyalty maybe was a little bit too much, but it was all because of how he felt as everybody was a member of his family, coach. You know, like that is literally how he treated everybody. You are a member of his family. If you're on his staff, you're a player, you're a member of his family, bro. Those Thursdays, when Chuck was sick and in the hospital,

those Thursday meetings with Jim were just amazing. You know, we'd talk about Chuck every time and how he was doing. And then we would find out about, you know, what do you think about this week? And I would tell him, you know, we talk about Chuck every time and how he was doing and then we would find out about you know, what do you think about this week? And I would tell him, you know, I don't know how much of a chance we have. You know, I do remember one game and there was this one punt. All right, we're playing Jacksonville.

I think the ball's like a 32 yard line with nine seconds left. I said, bro, just kick that bitch as high as you can out of the end zone. He's I got it coach. It came down one yard in bounds and that dude started running in the back. I was going to kill you. No, no, no. You want to have a 12 yard net, brother? OK, you want to be that 12 yard net.

I got time. I got time for a 12 year. But I understand the assignment. I understand. I understand the assignment. Coach, it was great to spend time with you in the Indianapolis Colts building. I know you are held in high regards, in high respect by everybody you've ever worked with, but certainly with the Colts.

And thank you for making some time today to kind of share some thoughts on old Jimmy from the Colts. Yeah baby. We appreciate you man. Here's to my man, here's to the boss baby. Hey, cheers to you Jim. We appreciate the hell out of you. Coach Arians, you're the man.

Ladies and gentlemen, Super Bowl champion, legend, Bruce Arians, thank you. Yeah, BA. I love that, I love that. I think everybody's, everybody that I've known that has been around Jim today has had a very similar thought. We're gonna salute, we're gonna salute the big man today.

We're gonna do that. And I'm happy BA made time for that. He's so cool. Yeah. That hat still plays. Yeah. Always will. 32 yard line.

We had a great relationship. The plus 32 I assume. Yes. Yeah, it was plus 32. Yeah, I got it. I got it. Brother. Sounds good.

Brother, I can't. Come on. 12 yard net right now? that is, you might as well just. What'd you do, pooch it to the one and they caught it? Yeah, I got it. You got like a yard. I mean, it wasn't, I hit that fucker. I mean, it was very high. I was like, I get it.

I get it. I get it. But like, if this guy takes one 99 after I hit a five oh on this, like we deserve to lose. Yeah, it's on my side. We deserve to lose. Yeah, it's on my side, guys. And also like, the boys are ready. Hey, the boys, this is what we do. This is kind of fucked up. You're putting me in this situation

Okay, you could do the quarterback rollout. Yep, throw high we take a couple You know, yeah, yeah, they would decline it cuz their assholes on the other side. They know exactly what they're doing Yeah, be a and I sat next to each other whenever he came To the team and Chuck was the head coach And Chuck gets leukemia diagnosis like week four, week five, weeks I forget very early in the year of Chuck's first year so BA becomes the interim head coach and but he didn't want to act you know you didn't want to yeah tough he was like it was very tough he was probably the only guy because everybody had respect for BA already so he's probably the only guy that can handle that.

And BA and Chuck's relationship was like that. So there was no real animosity through it all, especially from Chuck. I mean, Chuck's battling through that entire thing, but I don't think there was any from Chuck's friends that maybe hadn't worked with BA before. That's a tough... Yeah. And Bruce was just perfect for it. And yeah, he sat next to me.

He knew I was from Pittsburgh. So we had a great relationship before he became the interim head coach. So he sat next to me. He knew I was from Pittsburgh. So we had a great relationship before he became the interim head coach. So he's the offensive coordinator, you know, so whenever I'm jogging out the punter, whatever, we have one where we're backed up on like the two is like, need a big one, baby, need a big one, baby. It's like, Oh, I know. Yeah, thanks, brother. Thanks, brother. It was an honor to be a part of a team that Bruce Arians led. And it was certainly an honor to be a part of an organization that Jim Ursay owned and ran. Rest in peace, Jim.

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Yeah, you know, just such great hockey. These last two nights, basketball's been incredible, but the hockey has been just as good. Figure out where the broods. Let's go to one half of the hammer. Don Cowboys, AP Tone is here. And joining us live from an attic in Ohio ladies and gentlemen a college football national champion a Super Bowl champion a Ryder Cup winner

The man who has a tree on the Ohio State campus who put it in was an uncle. Yeah, is that gentleman a Jay Hall? What's going on edge? Not too much. I thought that first off the tribute you guys put together for uh for Jim Ursa that was amazing. Yeah that whole video is crazy to see what what that guy has done. He has an impact I think that will last forever on the NFL. Well I appreciate you saying that. I think uh the Ursa family and everybody around him will appreciate you saying that. I uh yeah man I yeah. He's a character like The fact that we need more characters, I think, in the world. I think sometimes people, they get in a position like that and they're not themselves.

Jim felt very, very authentic. I didn't know him personally, but man, that dude felt like he was doing what he felt was the right thing to do. Yeah, authenticity was just something that would reign true with Jim. You know, Jim wasn't acting how he thought NFL owner was supposed to act. Jim was being Jim Ersay. Hey, I've been in this league. He was the longest tenured owner.

He's the longest tenured owner. And yet he told us that in one of our conversations with him. He said, I was going through the team photos and there was a photo that I was the only one that's still here in. And he was like, I think that's when he said, that's when I decided I was gonna start speaking up a little bit more, you know, and he started like, I think that was whenever, you know, the sale of the Washington football team kind of got initiated and some other stuff. It's like he loved the league. He loved the game. He committed his entire life to it. And he lived, you know, this dude lived. And he was never once caught not being Jim Ursay.

He made some mistakes. Made some mistakes. Life happened. And... He's a human. Great, good for him. I think he was very open with that too. About the mistakes that he made.

Which goes back to exactly what you say. And he also cherished the days, you know, that he had. And he tried to live and he tried to share everything. It's, honestly, literally could go just the amount of shit you could say about Jim Ursay he's just never ending because of what you said he wasn't a proto like he's not a prototype it's not like this is what you think somebody's supposed to act like he was a power lifter the guy in the middle just middle of his general management career in ownership career said I want

to become a power lififter and hired somebody started eating more protein and whatever to get as strong as he possibly could. Went over to Ohio won the Ohio State Championship as a powerlifter just because he wanted to prove to himself I think and he played football at SMU and I mean just an absolute legend. The music the music he gets into starts a band he buys like I mean they manage band. He buys like, I mean, the amount of shh, just. He'll always be the youngest general manager of all time. Oh yeah. 24 years old.

Forever. You're the general manager of. 24. You kidding me? 24 years old, that's when he took over, really, 24? As general manager, yeah. Then when he was 37, he became owner because his dad passed away. And then there was some sort of battle, you know, in court for who's going to get the multi,

future multi-billion dollar team. He ends up as sole owner of the team as a 37 year old. 37 year old. 24 years old, he's the general manager for the team. And his dad was, you know, there's enough stories about how his dad operated and how the world was back then and everything like that for the Colts. So he's 24 years old as general manager.

37 is sole owner. And then he's 70s, 80s is when this is all happening. So everybody you know from that time period he was friends with in new everything that was available during that time period He was potentially, you know, oh, yeah. Yeah, why not? Why not? Like not everything was a perfect He didn't bat a thousand but it's like the stories that he has the things that he's done the people he's influenced the world Has been become better because of him. It's like hell of a life, man. Hell of a life. And he was certainly unique.

That was interesting to me. So I was watching everybody's quotes that were, because I think we all felt obligated to be like, hey, we need to let the world know that we love this man. Because there has been a lot of things said outside of Indiana about Jim Ursay. And after I put mine out I went and looked at you know, the boys T. Y Hilton super emotional

That was that was called Peyton obviously Put out his that was all over everything Edwin James and him are like Edge and him were very very very tight and edge put out like a perfect edge Edge and him were very very very tight and edge put out like a perfect edge post, you know Vinny had a Reggie Vinny. Yeah, like the guys Dwight was talking about him this morning Like the guys that were you know, you knew who his guys were and I was I was lucky I think to be like the youngest One I think I was potentially the youngest one and was it because I got in trouble Yes, was it because I enjoyed Twitter he enjoyed Twitter. Yes

Was it because I did have? He enjoyed Twitter? Yes. Was it because I did have an entrepreneurial spirit that he understood? Yes. Was it because like, like the guys that I wanted to read what everybody said, you know, just kind of get their take in on their relationship with Jim? Because I think it's not the same. Like for me, my relationship with him was, I think he felt an obligation to like help me in my business venture because like that is kind of how he viewed me. For Peyton, it was, I wonder how it was for him. You know, like that's why I wanted to read,

you know, what everybody was saying. Four, four, four out of five, baby, five out of six, unique was the word that was used. And I think that's a great way to describe Jim or in the most positive way, but very unique and nobody else will live his life there would never be that would never be another Jim mercy you know never ever 250 million miles away like in the cliff he's talking about going to Mars just out of nowhere that's what I love so the moon the moon five million miles away. Wow. Mars, okay Mars, 250 million.

And then he says how long it would take to get there as if we've just gone. Nine to 11. Nine to 11. Nine to 11. I'm like, bro, you're doing some real research on this. We're here doing some real research. I don't think it's gonna happen in my lifetime.

It didn't, he was right once again. The car. I don't want this phone. I want a flying car. They say technology is going to change my life and what they told me it was going to be and they say it's your phone. Phone? I don't want a phone. I want a flying car. How about him telling us about the plans to have a team in Europe? Yeah. He was like the Concorde. What was it? Yeah, the Concorde. the Concord was supposed to be able to go supersonic Which would have made New York to London three hours four hours or something then that stopped so we had to hold up our plans I was like I feel like that was actually I feel like I was actually yeah The NFL's plans like I feel like that probably was and Jim ursay with his you know fascination

It appears with these types of things. He was probably a big part of it brother I how long does it take for Indiana to LA four hours? New York to London Concord supersonic three hours. We can have a team the whole world We can travel the whole world. He was definitely gonna buy one of those two. Oh, yeah He was gonna be supersonic in let's go down to the house dire in Puerto Rico. Yeah, let's go over here super Going supersonic over the United States over there were stories he had a helicopter here in Indiana and You would know I guess you would know, you know, cuz he lived in a community a town like, you know

Carmel which is like one of the nicest I say nicest towns in America I assume it wins the award for it every single year and he had a I think you pay for that but still amongst those who try to pay for the award karma wins Yeah, so it's a very nice part of town a lot of money because a lot of companies are headquartered here in Indianapolis Because of how easy it is to kind of get everywhere, you know It's got called the crossroads of America here because we got everything Everywhere so a lot of money in Indiana. I don't think a we got everything Everywhere so a lot of money in Indiana I don't think a lot of people know that a lot of money in Indiana

Carmel has a lot of the lot of money like that is where you know It is a lot of cops a lot of roads a lot of land a lot of castles a lot of the high school But it was viral every single year Yeah, the high school is a university like a campus like it is a very nice town Yeah, the high school is a university like a campus like it is a very nice town So Jim had massive piece of land in Carmel and he got a helicopter and they I guess they did not have rules on where You could land or take that thing off from so, you know Jim Fuck let's land that thing in the backyard. Yeah, and He was and I guess some of the neighbors got upset about it and obviously he said whoa, I'm so sorry

So then he bought land wherever it was to build a helipad and that thing and they would talk about him just going up to concerts because got upset about it and obviously he said whoa I'm so sorry so then he bought land wherever it was to build a helipad and that thing and they would talk about him just going up to concerts because the Eagles were in town or whatever and he's friends with with them and so he's like I need to go and so he just hopped in a helicopter it was like there's gym there's gym because you see like news helicopters you see you can kind of see oh that's a hospital obviously that. There's Jim going through. It's like, he was just one of the most interesting people

of all time. And it all came from a good spot, I think. I think everything came from a good perspective, which is wild because he's been, his dad had, he just never acted how you would think he was supposed to. And it was always in my eyes as somebody that came from you know

Nowhere near that class of people. I always had respect for him being able to be relatable while having a completely unrelatable life and He was special AJ. He was special. Okay, so sports which he loved in abundance We talked about the Pacers Knicks anything to add to that. I Mean a great example. I tell my kids all the time, you never, you should never give up on any game. Unfortunately, my kids fell asleep before Tyrese and the whole situation happened. But they didn't, they tried not to give up. They were very excited when they woke up. But man, you got to be this right here. Come on. I mean, Nese Smith, everything about it,

this game, this is what this is a game that we'll be watching 20 years from now, I think. Yes, I agree completely. And he said he wasted the choke. I think he got it out of the way. Yeah, exactly. He got it out of the way. It's done. A lot of people were probably thinking you were going to do it, expecting you to do it, especially with how clutch you have been.

You got a chance to do it. You still won the game. And you acknowledged that it was, oh, no, that's tough. I wasted it. And people say it would be aura farming. Great answer. Yep, great answer. Also, great New York costume out of Tyrese Halliburton last night backwards hat big jacket doing New York

I respect Tyrese in that entire thing But yeah, you're right talking about not giving up in any game Pacers are obviously the epitome of that Did you watch the hockey last night? Did you watch the hockey last night a little bit? I did Did did you get a chance to you talked about your kids falling asleep during the Pacers-Nicks game. I'll tell you what, Oilers-Stars, there was certainly nothing that would have held you on that game

in the first two periods. Carter McJesus, Dry-Sidle, and the boys in Edmonton are about to run wild on Texas hockey. Otter? More like we need the Otter guy. Oh! He couldn't see anything. Couldn't see anything. Wow these guys are about to get run off home ice. Uh-uh let's go to the third period shall we? 3-1 third period 30 seconds in. Power play carryover from the second period Miro

Heist of it Now we got a game three two You know they say a two goal lead in hockey is the most dangerous one because once you score one guess what? It's one goal game all the sides and everybody can get a little nervous Well, they did another power play two minutes later Oilers can't play hockey Legally in the third period. Mikael Granland makes it 3-3. Then two minutes later, another power play.

Edmonton, do you know the rules? Dutchie, Matty Duchuchenne scores and then inevitably once it was 4-3 it would become 5-3 as Tyler Sagan with a nasty backhand. You're talking about taking the top off the lid. I mean they did that and then they would have an empty netter at the end. Dallas Stars would inevitably win 6-3 going into the third period. It was 3-1. Let's go to Dallas Stars fan. One half of the hammer, done. Cowboys. A man has been wearing an Otter mask in public. Bubba Gumpy, you know Gumpy, you thought it was over 2, didn't you, going into the third period? You thought maybe this Dallas Stars team wasn't going to be able to keep up with them Edmonton Oilers? They were cooking us in the first two periods but this is what we've done all playoffs game seven against Colorado they're up

on us the whole game third period we start skating downhill it's kind of our MO it's kind of what we were doing and I don't know if you caught it there was some great USA chance at the end of that game there's a big dust-up at the end of that game and there was USA all night long. Scotty Scheffler in the building. This is it's Texas Hawkeys time brother. This is it brother. It's gonna be team of destiny.

USA chance to end it. I did not know. Okay. Oh yeah. Hold the phone. We're getting five on five. The Canadian people will tell us that a lot of the players on the field now

Dallas is Finn. Yeah, they're a finished finish a lot of their finished team I assume there's some Canadians on that team as well believe they have six Americans on the team. We love that We love that the United States organization Franchise is gonna win Lord Stanley. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Ladies and gentlemen without further ado Hey, I don't know if you know this, Joining us live in studio is something that was born in 1892. Wow. What?

Ladies and gentlemen, Lord Stanley! Oh, Lord! That is Lord Stanley's cup. This is what it is all about. Loro! This is what the Dallas Stars who were down 3-1 going into the third period kept fighting for. This is what the Edmonton Oilers got so nervous they just had to break the rule.

They just had to get three penalties, three consecutive times, three power plays, three penalty kills, failing. As Otter and the Dallas Stars fight back for a three goal lead in win to start off the Western Conference Finals. The Hurricanes and Panthers are about to be in quite of a fire tonight. Quite a fire with how Marshy kinda got disrespected a little bit there.

This is what it's all about. Marshy's been there. The Florida Panthers have been there Can Carolina Hurricanes? Get back in this thing Can the Edmonton Oilers play like they played in the first two periods? for all three periods for the rest of the series and Well the Pittsburgh Penguins ever get their names back on here here They're on your four. There's a lot of Pittsburgh Penguins on here.

Back to back multiple times. Stacked up one time because they had to change to a new level. So right on top of each other. It's a beautiful thing. And in this cup, legends have housed beers. Housed. So many beers in this thing. Patty Maroon thought of six or seven, I don't know.

Somewhere around there. I said thousands. Thousands of beers out of the top of this thing. Patty Maroon thought of six or seven, I don't know. Somewhere around there. I said thousands. Thousands of beers out of the top of this thing. The amount of people that have shaped hockey, shaped the sports world, shaped pop culture, have had their lips wrapped around this thing as booze gets shoveled down their gallets is endless. AJ is actually one of the booze bags

that have been a part of this. That's right, you too. Yes. I certainly have chugged a beer out here, shout to Ruppert, New Jersey Devil Stanley Cup champion. You're gonna have to go back a couple to get to that one, New Jersey Devil. For a long time too. Same with the Penguins too, you gotta go. No. Yeah, they're middle of the cup right now. They're teetering on getting evicted from the cup and not having their name on it, we need to figure that out. But AJ, whenever you see this thing, even through the screen all the way from Ohio,

your first thought is you get a little tingle in the pants, don't you? Yeah, little tingle for sure. I'm honored to have drank a couple beers out of that thing. So yeah, it's a beautiful thing. I mean, talk about history, like the amount of legends that have not only drank beers, I've just been around that thing. Think how many presidents have been around?

Is every president been around the Stanley Cup, I would imagine? Especially if they love ball. Every president ever from when the Stanley Cup was invented. Taff wasn't a big hockey guy. I think he was the only one that didn't. Howard? Yeah.

George Washington didn't love the Stanley Cup. That's a fact. George? Yeah, I heard that. He put apples in it actually. Hey, George is 100 years. Yeah, he predates the Stanley Cup by a bit. I think. I'm 100% sure you know more than me. You're the hockey guy.

I don't think Giorgio saw the fucking Lordo. Not AJ just said every president ever. Since 1992. Since the NHL. Yeah. It's a beautiful thing. One of the fun facts about Lord Stanley Cup that we like to point out every single time we're around it because it is something that they say is a fun

fact about Lord Stanley whenever you're around it Boom right here The Wanderers defeated Canora 12 to 8 May 25th 1907 That one's gonna live there forever. I have no idea how that was the one that ended up being in there But there's there's a team in there that won 12 to 8 in there. They're going to be there forever. They're the first team to understand what it's all about.

You know, I think that's why they left them in there. Yeah. And when this thing's out in the boot, it's a head turner. Oh yeah. Big time. Shiny. Greatest trophy. I mean, obviously the Lombardi is the Lombardi.

It's a world championship. Means the most. I heard some things about Lombardi, the Lombardi from the Handlers, Howie. Oh, they're talking shit on the Lombardi. Howie and Matt from the league. Howie from the Hall of Fame. Howie the Handler knows ball. Howie the Handlers from Toronto. I talked to him about the Maple Leafs, not believing enough.

He's great Canadian lad. Oh, yeah. He's had a boot pretty good. He did. He's from Toronto, I talked to him about the maple leafs, not believing enough. He's a great Canadian lad. He's had a boot pretty good. He did. He had a good boot. He knew what he was here for. I didn't like that he was talking shit on the Lombardi though. Well, they weren't talking shit on the Lombardi. And it wasn't Howie.

Howie laughed about what he learned from maybe the NHL's understanding. I think the Lombardi kind of just gets shipped, just kind of like, hey, coming in. Oh no, like a football. No, they throw it. No, yeah, but with like a delivery. With like FedEx.

Do you at least have to sign for it? That's basically what they were saying. It's like, it's a priority shipment, I guess. This thing will always have a human around it. Mikey Goodhair, he's been around a couple of times. Howie with the great accent. Yeah. Is how I'm going to talk about this guy going forward.

Right. Dog. 17 years, I believe. Damn. This thing would never be. What's he sound like? Huh? What's his accent?

What do you mean? Like unique? Can you say something, please, so we know, so we can explain? Will you act like this Howie, gentlemen, please? Howie the Handler. There. Right there. That's exactly what he sounds like. Howie gentleman, please how are the handler there say there?

That's exactly sounds like how the handler everything's kind of question I've heard a lot of boots in my day. That might be the best one. I've heard and then he got we said holy shit What do you say that again? And he basically looks at me like I'm not your puppet Yeah, but I I said is this thing in the boat? He goes everybody always makes fun of how I say a boat and he was like no that is that's how you it's he's might Be the perfect guy for the job. He is he seems like just living embodiment of hockey the way He walks even looks like he's skated his whole life. I'm sure he has yeah He was a mountaineer before there's a chance. He was on a horse. Yeah

Where was Mike though with a good hair is he all right? Yeah, I remember they do they do like nurse schedules I like that. Okay, it's like three days on three days off. Yep. Sure three days on three days off He's out in a boat before Mike. There was another guy's name is Phil Pritchard He's now the curator of the hockey hall fame in Toronto So they kind of they move up the chain until they as a corporate ladder here. That's what are they doing? How are we Handler? I assume Howie's committed to the game. He needs to be up.

It's kind of disrespectful that you said there's something higher than the Handler of the Cup. Yeah, you're right. Coming from the hockey conversation. The curator of the Hall of Fame, I think, probably considered a good one. It's not better than the keeper of the Cup. Howie the Handler would disagree. He's a nice man, too. He is a good man. He's a nice man, too. You know, he is a good man. Yeah, he's lied as they would say never leaving I'm surprised Mike's not here cuz I thought he lived inside the case with the cup

That is kind of how it Was presented to us. Yeah, correct. Cuz every time that thing was around. Yeah, he's there Was that holy hell and never take my eyes off this thing. That's basically what he said. Yeah. You guys want to touch it? You can't. Don't fucking hug it.

I think he is in there. They just fold them up and turn them off. No, no. Tim saw the inside. Oh, he did? Yeah, because we were surprised. Was there a pillow in there? Yeah, actually there was.

I sat in it. Nightlight. Okay. Yeah. How about how we just wheeling this thing around? Everywhere is it steel or um silver? Yeah, no, it's a metal pick it up. I don't think I don't think i'm allowed to pick it up I think i'm allowed to touch it. I heard that I think I just saw his head Oh, get a little comfortable. Okay, a silence pistol get a little comfortable

This is what it's all about though That's what it's all about. Yeah, it's not made out of anything that you would know. It's kind of a- Vibrative. It's a material not known to man, only to Stanley. Oneptanium. Yeah, only Stanley Cup champions know what it's built of. Well, thank you to Howie and Matt

and to Mike with the good hair. Yep. Here's Howie by the way, if you, this is how, this is the man that showed up at our Thunderdome. Say something. Thank you, Howie. Nice to meet you in our office, we. Say something. Thank you, Holly. We set up that. Thank you, Holly.

Holly's not that big compared. Like I think there was good perception. Yeah. And perspective is it you stand in front so you're bigger? Yeah. But he knows because he's always around it. The gloves. He's got eight foot prints.

Yeah. The gloves actually were a little bit of a problem for how I this morning. Put the one on, only one up past his thumb. Oh no. And went to the other one and then he tightened them up. Yep, obviously. And then he showed me what this thing. Oh no.

Oh no, what happened? Uh oh. Is Mike alive? Uh oh. Mike is alive. Okay. Mike has retired from handlings. What? What? Oh. Mike with the good hair no longer around. What do you mean? He said I'm not doing it anymore. Sick and

tired of living in this goddamn box. Like to get an apartment at least. Is he the head coach of the Manitoba Moose or something? He could be the Medicine Hot Tigers. Yeah. Maybe the Swamp Rabbits. Could be. The Bits. You know what? There he is on the the medicine hot tigers yeah maybe a swamp robins could be the bits you know what he's on the right there he is on the right he he took the tractor the last lap around that's Phil on the left to the other keeper of the car Phil is the curator now the one on the left is the curator of the hall of fame on both great hair they know there with the snap a lot of pictures yeah Lordo can't retire from this Mike

He probably has 17 billion miles flying can you mad okay? That could be traveling everywhere with that he's with Lord Oh brother. It's a good life. Who's your travel companion? Lord. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Hey, do you have an extra seat for this you do? Okay. I would like an upgrade why Lord Oh, yeah, we appreciate Mike service. We appreciate Mike service I miss you Mike. We are I'll tell you what though Howie's yeah, how he's got possessed. I know you know what He was done with Tom Cruise's done. It's kind of how I feel about Mike Oh Lord Oh, you're done with Lord Stanley. Ah Tony ice Don't worry because Mike with the good hair

One of the perks of being the keeper of the cup is it gives you good hair wait till how he comes back next year He's gonna do it in seven years brother. Yeah, but but once he's around it every single day I'm sleeping in that box. I threw my shoulder out or something He's not dead. Has Howie ever handed the cup off to the captain of the winning team? Cause I know Mike has. No, I think this is probably his first.

I bet you he's going to be on skates too. Mike liked the walk. I think he's going to be on blades. Yep. Howie! What? I think he's going to take a lap with the cup before he hands it over to the captain.

Show everybody. They announce him and he gets to hold it up over his head first before anybody else. Howie! Howie! Howie! I think Howie knew he was coming on. Howie's going to be so mad.

I'm not your fucking poppin'. Howie might be sleeping. Can we get him a microphone? Can we get him a microphone please? Is there a dress code you got to have with Lordo? He's got to have a jacket on. There he is. Howie. You should give it. You should run and go give him the my dog got out there.

Howie, you're the best. Look at Howie. Thank you, Howie. Howie. Thank you for this today. Oh, I'm happy to be here. It's always great to bring the cup around and get the publicity and everything that it deserves It's a great time of year now with the playoffs going on Nothing else like it than the Stanley Cup playoffs. I agree completely Howie. How long have you been a handler of the cup? Since 2009 should we call you how we the handler you can Since 2009 should we call you how we the handler you can Mike with the good hair has retired. I heard he has yes and Phil has gone on to be the curator of the Hall of Fame As a whole he's always been the curator

He still travels it just he chooses when he wants to travel and it's you and one other handler Are you full-time the main the main handler? During the regular season. There's probably four of us that would travel with the Cup. Then in the summer when we're traveling with the winning team we have a couple other people that will help us out and you know it's much busier every day you're traveling somewhere so. Whenever you think about the entire process this is a full 16 17 years now of you being committed to traveling with Lord Stanley Cup. Is that accurate?

And when you get presented with that potential job, is that a massive honor, I assume? Or how do you kind of view it? And when did you find out that you were potentially just going to be traveling with Lord Stanley Cup for a living? It definitely is an honor. When I was asked, I was very surprised. I started working at the Hall of Fame as a volunteer back in 2004, I guess. And I worked some part-time hours in the museum

and then all of a sudden, Phil Pritchard had asked me if I'd be interested in traveling with the Cup. So, didn't take me long to answer and I've been doing it since. I travel with other trophies too and artifact displays at different events, but the Cup is probably the main thing that I do. So your security for high value things. What are the trophies too and artifact displays at different events but the Cup is probably the main thing that I do. So your security for high value things?

What other trophies? Yeah what other stuff do you, artifacts do you try? The Kahn Smythe, the Heart Trophy, the Art Ross, everything that we have for the NHL there's like 20 or 21 other trophies so we could be various events with these trophies. Yeah and then then we have artifact displays. We have different cases that the artifacts will sit in and we can display them at different events. So there's always something to do. Okay, well we want to let you know we appreciate you coming here to Indianapolis,

Indiana. We appreciate you because we've always had Mike with the good hair. Yeah. Yeah, what's he doing now? What's Mike okay? I'm not Yeah. Yeah, what's he doing? I'm not sure. I think he just He got a little tired. He just wanted to relax a bit He I can understand he's living in a smaller town outside of Toronto now

his father lives there too, so I guess he just wanted to spend more time with him and I don't think his life is as busy as it used to be so I think he's enjoying himself. Mikey with the good hair you've done good. Do you guys do a 21 Stanley Cup salute when one of the Handlers retire? I'm sorry? A 21 Stanley Cup salute maybe like this did Mikey with the good hair get to drink out of the cup before he retired or? I'm not sure to be honest I think he kind of surprised us when he did decide to go but he put in his time for sure and you know he deserves a big hand of course for everything that he did do over the years. He did a lot of it on his own there was a lot of long days and I don't

think people really appreciate what we do do with the cup. I think you are. But it's been a lot of fun a lot of great experiences and we all love what we do do with the Cup. I think you are. But it's been a lot of fun, a lot of great experiences, and we all love what we do. I appreciate you speaking there for Mike, but also for yourself there. A lot of long days, I'm alone with the Lord standing up. We are traveling to a lot of cities, a lot of places, so we can have an eye on the greatest trophy

in all of sport. Last question from me, he just talked about the 21 beer salute, maybe out of the top for Mikey with the good hair, which we would like to see sometime. I asked you this earlier you have been because you're literally at all the celebrations, not all the celebrations but most of the celebrations the players have. So every player and every coach on every team that wins the Stanley Cup gets a day with the Stanley Cup. And you guys travel around with the Stanley Cup to these

different parties, these different events and everything like that. Yes. You have seen some wild shit, is that inaccurate? I think the fans, they kind of fascinate about some of the things we do see. I mean, they're not as crazy stuff as you might think. And everything they always ask us, what's the craziest thing you've ever seen with a cup? Well, for us, the craziest thing is like stuff that's normal. So we don't know what's considered crazy.

17 years doing this, brother. I've seen 10,000 beers get drank and deleted out of this thing. I assume that is something that all the lads want to do. Oh sure they're always drinking out of it for sure. The players will maybe put their babies in it maybe christen them. Oh no there's food eaten out of it all the time too. Poutine. Yeah, poutine is a big one, especially for the guys who eat it. You like poutine? You think poutine's good? Poutine is great. What about Timmy Horton's Double Double?

Is that good or no? Timmy Horton's Double Double is very good. Just like I fucking said it was. He can't do it because he doesn't have headphones on. There's a Canadian in the back really doing a victory lap to what you said. Smooth Cream Ool. Smooth Cream Oool, yeah. Tiger Tiger.

Oh, Tiger Pal. Do you know Smooth Cream Mool? No, I don't. I'm not a big coffee drinker, so I'm not sure. Craft Peanut. Tell him it's Craft Peanut. It's Craft Peanut. Oh, is it?

OK. Sounds interesting. Smooth Cream Mool's not even as big as Delicious. Holly. All right, Holly, we appreciate the hell out of you for bringing Lordo and thank you for walking out here. We forced you to do it basically. You're peer pressured into this. Yeah. Yeah. No problem. Thank you. You're the man, dude. We appreciate you. Don't take Lordo yet though, please. Nope. I need one of those blazers. Grab that mic. What,

the Hall of Fame? Yeah. Look at that. That pack is awesome. I think Phil can get you one of those, right? Phil is the guy that we need to ask for that. You guys need to sell some merch You know, maybe an employment first, okay. All right, we don't got time. Yeah. All right. We appreciate the hell out of you, how we are Okay, so the NFL owners meeting was yesterday and well Tuesday and Wednesday there was a vote. That's awesome Isn't it just sitting right there? So cool amazing how is it? You could tell how he he's a dog. I mean, I love how You could tell howie. He's a soldier for the cause like he is all in on that on his gig 17 years 17 I don't think he's gonna retire, you know ever I think he probably just goes down with the cup

Yep, and I respect that and I love that. I think that's what hockey, you know is expected out of that So him saying we're all surprised by mike with the good hair. I think we all are surprised by Mike with the good hair living with his dad though. I'm sure there's yeah, thanks for your service Mikey with my thank you Mike and it sounds like he went out on top So yeah, and now he's just able to go boat his day I mean think about that too is that he started as a volunteer. Yeah, and he never said sorry about it either No, he climbed his way up and now he's out in a boot with the damn Stanley Cup. Yeah, and he never said sorry about it either. No, he climbed his way up, and now he's out in a boot with the damn Stanley Cup. Yeah, and he can do a doobadoob. What?

Double-double, what is that? Two cream, two sugar? Yes, sir. They created that. Oh, the doobadoob. Demihoes. I mean, roll up the rim to win. It's phenomenal.

I don't know how I feel about Howie LeHand not knowing about Smooth Cream. Or Tiger Tiger. I was confused that he did not know the crap. I wonder if he talks to his American friends in a position of being like the GPS guy in kilometers. Oh, probably. Hey, three kilometers you're gonna make it right. I have no idea what that is.

I have no clue. Is that three football fields? Is that three miles? What is... Why are you guys using such a different thing meters about 20 meters down what is that so that's like almost a yard and a half it's like 25 and I gotta make a right in 25 yards going so having Gumpy on the maps some of my favorite times in a car I always put it on in my car if anybody's in there every time gotta put it out to speak louder than everybody else is so it's like in three kilometers make a left and I'm like

gump what the fuck is that what is that? The canadians are awesome. Are we worried that Mikey with the good hair either got sick of us or were the Panthers just so much that he was like, I can't do this. Elbow room got him. Yeah, elbow room. I've been here for three weeks straight. He saw it in the ocean. He's like, I can't do this anymore.

It's on a beach. He's from Toronto too. Oh man, the cups down on a beach. This is in a hockey town. All right. The NFL owners met yesterday and voted on new rules that were being pushed by NFL coaches and management and teams The big one was the tush push play the tush push was potentially going to be banned forever

Philadelphia Eagles obviously didn't appreciate that Laurie gave a 30 minute speech Jeff Laurie gave a 30 minute speech that was followed by Jason Kelsey who came in and I only heard what Jason Kelsey said on the New Heights podcast, but he said if I was told that I only had 80 plays and they were all going to be the tush push, I would sign up for that immediately. Now we have heard him in the past say that he's at the bottom of a car wreck in that thing. But that is being an offensive lineman as a whole, but Jason Kelsey went and lobbied,

Lori went and lobbied and inevitably it was a 22-10 vote I think to keep the tush push around. It wasn't just the tush push though with the way it was being worded this particular vote. It was basically saying he couldn't pull or push anybody on a football field. That would take away the scrums that happen late in games where a running back gets stopped then the offensive line comes picks them up there's four D linemen there's four offensive linemen or three offensive linemen and they move the running back over the first downline like six seven yards everybody goes ape shit for that because it's literally a display in a feat of strength over the other team. So I think the wording of it potentially eliminates some other plays as well that

all football people would be down with. But it was certainly an attempt to get rid of the double pushing of Jalen Hurts' ass. The Green Bay Packers were the ones that presented this. And the Philadelphia Eagles take a victory lap after it doesn't get past the band and say push on, guess who they're playing in that game? The Green Bay Packers. So that was great use of social media there great use of social media there the teams that were very loudly against the band of the tush push

where everybody you would think it would be everybody you think it would be yep it was coach Sirianni playing football John Harbaugh were playing football. John Harbaugh, we're playing football. Motor City, Dan Campbell, we're playing football. Mike Vrabel, we're playing football. Aaron Glenn, we're playing football. Basically every coach that you thought would be we're trying to take football on football was against it and then some.

So the tushbush stays AJ and congrats to Philadelphia Eagles first and nine first and eight and a half every time they get the ball brother yeah I don't have a problem with the tushbush to be honest with you like I understand when people want to argue say hey it's not a football play well yeah by the way what you just said you go along with Mercer Dan Campbell Mike Frable hardball everybody everybody. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we get it I'm just saying if I was a defender and I was trying to stop it. Yeah, it would piss me off It would be frustrating but at some point someone's gonna crack the code, right?

And they're gonna find a way to you're not gonna stop it every time but they're gonna find a way to consistently Have a way to do something about I don't know. I mean, I would assume that's the case But I just don't know because they're so good at it I don't feel like we can fan it just because they're the best at doing the Philadelphia Eagles fans and the Philadelphia Eagles as a whole Turn this into a oh, we're tougher than you say you want to ban it. Yeah angle good angle by the way Yeah, good good angle by the way because whenever you watch it, it does feel like oh, this is just a battle of wills This is a battle of strength. This is a battle of grit. Low man wins, that's what football's supposed to be.

And I think D Lyman say, it doesn't matter how low we get. They got 800 pounds of people pushing. Their ass cheek of a Jalen Hurts who squats 800 pounds in this entire thing, it's unstoppable. So you say somebody's gonna figure it out. I think there's some people in football that are worried, ah, I don't know that we can stop. I don't know if there's any way to actually stop it.

Cause on the defense, I don't think they're allowed to push back because that was banned because of field goals back in the day. So I also am a fan of not getting rid of it strictly as it becomes a toughness conversation. It's like, oh, we're tougher than you can't handle it. Okay. How come we're better than you at it? Are you, it's just an easy play.

Well, why aren't you? Cause you're not as tough as us. I'm like, oh I got a point checkmate All right, I i'm on their side for it, but it feels like something's gonna give It feels like something maybe only one number of pushers. Yeah, it's gonna be like they're gonna have to change it Eventually, maybe one pusher I guess right I could they could see that be like a negotiation if the eagles go 89 90 on this again this season And I know there's just the packers The Eagles go 89%, 90% on this again this season. And I know there's just the Packers, they're the ones that bit the bullet and said,

fuck it, we'll be the ones that'll kind of push this. There'll be more people that'd be like, all right, maybe we do gonna make it a competitive fairness thing, as opposed to just a health thing, which I think is what they're thinking. Yeah, because obviously the Packers take a bunch of heat for this and rightfully so,

because they're the ones that push forward. But I think a lot of people were saying like the league itself the league office like they're kind of the ones who want this out of it and it's just a kind of an easier situation for the Packers to be the ones do it because they don't have an owner so it's not like you know you can't point fingers at one guy but also like we were under the impression going into this everyone who was reporting around this was basically saying like yeah this is going to passed like this is gonna be a done deal And then it doesn't so I wonder if we're gonna be at this same stage next year And they're gonna be talking about it again

Or if this is kind of just gonna float off like into the into the sunset And we won't really talk about it for at least a few more years when it was the what it was the tushbush when this play On the screen right here is what we were talking about and what the rule was talking about. I think I could have gone either way on whether it was, it was banned or not. But when they changed the wording recently to the situation that you described, you know, where running backs, five, six yards downfield, he gets held up. But then, you know, two, three offensive linemen come in and you push them for a first down,

or there's many times when a guy ball carrier stumbles or whatever in an offensive lineman or a teammate holds them up and then kind of throws him for three yards or something like that. When they changed it to you're not allowed to push or pull anywhere on the field, a team or anything like that anywhere on the field. That's when I really didn't want this to go through. So if they changed language potentially to only take out this like the tush push. But only one person can push if it's within the line of scrimmage or something like that

but like downfield and stuff like that when when like Situation you talked about when like pushing for a first down and stuff like that. That's awesome. That can't leave the game Well, and also not everybody's good at it, but it's just the Eagles and the Bills who are very good at it So, you know credit to Jalen Hurts their offensive line and also credit to Josh Allen and the Bills offensive line Like I could see banning it if every single team was swinging a 90% bat and they're just getting First downs and it is a first and nine for everybody But how many times do we see it failed for the other teams that don't work on it? Like I think it's happened multiple times with teams where it's oh, they're lining up for a touch first

Let's see what they got and then they don't get it done like it is, you know a different type of NFL play But until everybody is very good at it. There should never be a play That's a little because you know, what if what if a team like the Colts they could come out with we could get good at this Yeah Anthony and Daniel Jones The Colts could be good. And Saikin, obviously, has been over there. It's a lot on the offensive line, though.

Which goes back to, so the Philadelphia Eagles are being punished because they're good at finding, and Stoutland's good at coaching offensive linemen. And they're tougher than your D linemen. It's like, to your point about, once everybody gets good at it, it's probably whenever it becomes a conversation for competitive fairness and all that, yada, yada. It's like, that was what happened with kickers

So there'd be like five six good kickers and then there was a bunch of shit kickers for a long time And they'd be missing extra points and it was still an exciting play Then kickers got like too good kickers got too good. It was just like routine This is 20 yard kick. No NFL kickers gonna miss this. This is either getting blocked or it's going in It's getting blocked one out of a thousand times and it's going through So once everybody got good at it to your point it became a this is not this is not a competitive play There's nothing in like then we need to change it. Maybe that is where we're headed maybe if everybody gets good at it and

Everybody takes advantage of it Then everybody would be like we can't just have it be first and nine for all parties here like that can't be how it is that's a very valid point and they've shown precedent with it with the kicking and that was a huge change I mean going from gigantic that was a gigantic change that the NFL doesn't love doing you know I think I think that's a very good point joining us now might be a guy who understands this play a little bit more than anybody because he's been better over the ball into his hands to start a play More times than any of us. Yeah, ladies and gentlemen. He's the founder of the Trenchies

Which is an awards Banquet for offensive lineman around the NFL He didn't get any credit now than any of the rollout of the protector of the year award He didn't get any credit. No, then any of the rollout of the protector of the year award ridiculous But I know he's excited that it's happening. Ladies and gentlemen on his birthday today What Super Bowl champion a huge? Happy birthday, buddy What's up boys? I appreciate it. No, we appreciate you spending some time out of this offseason for you and you know

retired professional athlete life that you've been living and stay at home dad life and Obviously his birthday celebration to chit chat with us and work on your tan You could be doing that right now and working on his body on if you see them Starting to look good and work on his cooking. I don't know if you see he's cooking I mean, I've watched you guys talk about my belly enough. I got to get that back in order. Jeez, Lord. I didn't have time to watch our show.

I thought you were doing golfing in celebrity events. I did see that. Yeah, I don't know if you guys saw that. I mean, happy birthday. Queer living your best life. Happy birthday, Queer. We love you, man. Training guys, putting guys in the NFL.

Got, you know, trained 13 NFL offensive linemen. Yeah, I'm just sitting around over here, you know? Okay. Sitting around. Hey, listen, you do you, brother. You live your life. Yeah, I'm just sitting around over here, you know You live your life you live your life happy birthday in shipyard we know it's active Oh, yeah, we full piss. Yeah, if we flushed it or maybe for the birthday we go flush the toilet Yeah, once a week once a week we keep that we gotta let people know Happy birthday, maybe this year we do it more often. We're talking. All right. We're talking about the tush push and Obviously, this is going to so many conversations

I think I've felt like four different ways about this play throughout the process of them potentially banning it and I think I would Have been okay either way that they went in the end if they would have banned it I would've been like, okay the way they reworded it to take away downfield drags and pushes I don't think I was a fan of because that moment of an offensive line picking up a wide receiver or running back in moving the pile for a first down is a cool moment in sports so if it was just tush push if they would have banned it I would have been okay with it if they would have made it one person allowed to push I would have been okay with it Jason Kelsey want to bat for it he's obviously the epicenter of this entire

thing what are your thoughts on the tush push and do we need to give credit to the teams that are great at this more as opposed to just trying to ban the play entirely in your eyes? Yeah I think that's been my biggest take the whole time is the fact that the Philadelphia Eagles have been the only ones that have been damn near a hundred percent on this thing and so when you look at it it is a skill like Buffalo tried to do it they get stuffed other teams have tried to do it they've gotten stuffed i mean it's not nearly as successful with all the other teams as it is with the Philadelphia Eagles so it's clearly a skill

that the Philadelphia Eagles have mastered so if one team's better than the rest at it then then they're clearly doing something right and it's clearly a skill set this isn't that this isn't a play where it's an automatic first down for everybody across the league. And if it was, I could understand it. And clearly it has been proven that not many people are getting injured during this play either. I've done a million QB sneaks.

You just kind of dive your legs and keep your feet moving. And they've found a way to make it so good. And Jalen Hurts behind has made it so good. So you can't punish them for being better than everybody else at it. First and nine for the Philadelphia Eagles continues. I think that is kind of a mindset. That should almost be like a shirt for them.

Yeah. Yeah, like that's almost like a thing for the Philadelphia Eagles. If they're up over 90% again, and nobody else is touching them, maybe the respect will be gained for their ability to pull this off more than anybody else. Go ahead, AJ. AQ, how do you propose, like how would you try to coach a team to stop this? more than anybody else. Go ahead, AJ.

AQ, how do you propose, how would you try to coach a team to stop this? What do you do? Obviously you can't let any kind of movement, what do you tell on your D-line, your linebackers? Listen, the biggest thing is you have to get off on the snap. Clearly the offense has the advantage because they know the snap count.

So they're able to anticipate that and get out on the snap. But if a defensive line can somehow get a tell and dive at the legs, cause that's what you have to do. Like the offensive linemen are doing such a good job of anticipating the snap, getting off first. And then once you create movement and you get the push from behind it's over. So you have to stop the initial movement and then have people flying up over the top.

You've been in that mode where you've seen the linebackers jump the pile and kind of get that stop. But you know, it starts with getting off on the snap. And if you can get some anticipatory tell on what the cadence is, or what the snap pounds going to be, that is going to be big. How old are you today? 39 years old boys. 39 with an anticipatory drop inch. This might be the year for Akees.

Yes, it might be. This might be the one. This really might be. Let's go. Okay, so that's when they started doing the hard count and then the Chiefs were just jumping over top and then the ref said, we told the defense that we can award a touchdown here

if they want to keep doing that. And that's because the Eagles can just add a hard count in there and keep everybody off balance. It's, they got can just add a hard count in there and keep everybody off balance. It's They got they got the league in a bind and they're way behind Everybody else is way behind and that's why Jeff went in there for 30 minutes It was like we don't like football anymore. And then Jason Kelsey comes on the back end of it and goes Vrabes You know like ball. Hmm. Dan Campbell, you don't like ball tough. Aaron Glecker? Are you not tough anymore? John Harbaugh?

Baltimore? You guys aren't. What is going on? All the teams that backed it are exactly the teams that you thought they would be. It is exactly who you thought it would be. Congrats to them. Especially the Dolphins.

It survives for, you're right. It survives for another year. And congrats to the Eagles. Now let's talk about congrats to the offense alignment as a whole. Protector of the year coming to the NFL honors show. Yeah, it is cool. It is cool. It is cool. We actually pitched what the trophy should look like and it's very similar to what your trophy looked like last year whenever we gave away the Trenchies.

I love that Dion Dawkins has pushed for this because Dion Dawkins loves the position, loves being an offensive lineman, loves life and will also be considered one of the protectors of the year every year that he plays football. I like that Andrew Whitworth got in on the push. Obviously he has very great connections at the NFL, multiple Super Bowl champ, absolute dog, one out on top. And we think that this is what it should look like. Just put the protector underneath it.

Yeah, let go. Yeah, I think we get rid of the Trenchies word there, and we put the protector. And I think they handed out the NFL honors. And Akeush, I think you should feel very proud of yourself influencing an awards or award show maybe for the offensive lineman. Pretty cool. There's no doubt about it.

I mean, listen, we've been talking for years. I'm a big believer in the offensive line. They need to be recognized. It's tough to recognize cause there is no stats, but if you watch ball and you know ball, you know how the play starts and how the play finishes. It always starts with the big boys up front. And you forgot about that. What was that? Divisional round? You know how the play starts and how the play finishes it always starts with the big boys up front and you

Forgot about that. What was that divisional round? Yeah, and then The round after that championship round as well. Yep, relax. I just said the team I said the team I still had him ranked one offensive line relax Yeah, but we said if you have a good offense line you win. He said he hated jail and he said no I blame I blamed it on the quarterback We said if you have a good offense line you win. He said he hated Jayley. And he said no. It didn't. I blamed it on the quarterback. You didn't say you hated him. You just didn't think you'd be able to make the play that

would be needed is what you said. He proved me wrong. He had a hell of a run. He had a hell of a run. Yeah. I'd say ass-beating in the Super Bowl. I mean, absolute. And they ran the ball, obviously, more than they

passed the ball throughout the season. They committed to the run game. I think a lot more people are gonna do that and speaking of that. I think the cyclality of Football is coming full circle con man has a question. Listen, listen, listen, hold on before we go any further I don't know what that word means. So you're gonna have to tell me what that context quality cyclicality There it is. Okay. It was cyclality. Yeah.

Clown. It's in there. You heard it. Don't be a fucking asshole. You heard it. First of all, no matter how it's pronounced, don't think it's a word. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. It is. Connor has a question for you though. Yeah. Hey, Q. How did you feel about all the offensive linemen going in the first round? It felt like that was kind of the trend this year in the draft, obviously led by Mike Vrabel, the Patriots and Will Campbell. But how did you feel as you saw those big dudes fly off the board where you just

juiced up for those big dudes or what was your feelings? Juiced up, rocked up, all the terms. I mean, it was fun to watch. It was fun. It was fun to watch It really was I mean listen the big boys it happens every year always take the over on offensive lineman draft in the first because It's always there's always gonna be a run as soon as some Some team makes a pick and they make a pick early at four, right? Then there has to be a run because now you're scared you're gonna miss out on that I think offensive lineman their track record of being able to play and be able to play with longevity

Has been proven more than the skill positions I think over time and so when you see that and you can find a cornerstone once one goes off the board they all start to go and in Typical fashion the Chiefs get a guy who probably was the best lineman in the draft because of an injury with the last pick of the first round I mean Josh Simmons would have picked by them at the end of the first and just, um, I think it finished with two picks on the over. I think the overall six and a half, I think it went with eight in the first round. I mean, it's a big number of offensive linemen. It was a good group. We will see how

they perform at the next level. It's always interesting to see what the transition is, but yeah, I was pumped to see that many guys go. Who drafted the best one offensive lineman you think? Kansas City Chiefs got the best lineman if he I think Josh Simmons on tape what he put on tape At Ohio State was incredible. He probably would have been the first guy I picked He tears his patellar tendon against Oregon halfway through the year and teams were questioning that but Talent wise and what he put on film. He was probably the most talented guy Probably went fourth overall had he not gotten injured. How old is he? 21 years old transfer from San Diego State comes over to Ohio State and just bald out bald out He'll be able to recover that we think from the patellar tears what we're saying

Yeah, I think I think that's a questionable injury if you're 30 31 32 But I mean at 21 he should be able to pop right back into that thing and Chiefs get themselves kind of a steal at the end of the first round. Of course they do go ahead Tom. Yeah teams were actually super surprised at how quickly he healed that he was I remember at that combine they were all like pleasantly surprised at how fast he was healed then I'm pretty sure he was medically cleared by the time the draft happened or whatever. How was the how was the Mahomes outing? Did you make any new best friends with any NFL players

at the Mahomes outing? Had a great time with Amandola and Edelman. They were a lot of fun. Oh yeah, shocker. Spent some time with Whitworth, he was great. And then Steele Lafferty, one of the best wakeboarders, I guess, in the country, had a great time with him, great golfer. Daniel's son, Lafferty Daniel's son, Steele Lafferty, one of the best wakeboarders, I guess, in the country, had a great time with him, great golfer. Daniel's son.

Lafferty Daniel's son. Steel Lafferty. Really? I believe so. Lafferty Daniels. Daniel Lafferty? One of the goats. Wow.

DUD. We saw you mingling out there. I think you represented well. How was the golf game? Did you play well? Golf game was really good. Practice round, I was driving the shit out of the ball about 310 down the middle. Surprisingly, there was a par four, par four about 375 on the green

putting I hear a ball hit into the front of the face that's old Patrick Mahomes bombing one about 365 carry into the front face of the green whoa he's a guy huh and golf obviously he's got everything else he has those two par three holes we saw at his house and he's former baseball player right like very good baseball player. He's hitting the ball 365 you're saying in Vegas? So he does he does that in the practice round. I was blown away. I was like who that whose ball was that? They're like oh that's Patrick's. He was in the group behind and then during the tournament Marty Fish drives the green. He hits it like 375 to win the long drive on that hole.

The next ball. Marty's a monster. Yeah, I'm coming for Marty someday though. And that golf. Amen. Yeah, Marty can play man. Marty can play. Yeah, I heard.

Yeah, does he come out of slot? Yeah. Can he get that thing? I don't know if you've heard. I got a new swing. I don't know if you've heard. Yeah. No, let me see it. Well, we don't fate we still fading the ball over there

Perfectly straight you see what he's doing there and JT and whoever that guy is and that guy There's Scotty that was Scotty. Okay. Yeah, I'm pulling now. Yep. I'm pulling now I'm pulling that thing coming down a slot and then bang the bank hit one. I love it I've only hit one. I love it. Nothing like an internet golf lesson internet golf lessons are the best They only make me shank the ball 400 times after I could do an internet. I told the story about the unduffable Do you remember that thing the unduffable? Do you remember the that wedge? I bought on the oh, yeah, yeah, I was sold. Yeah, Bubba Bubba He might have stole my own. I think I think it's behind that putter. Is it?

Watching the golf fix at like 3 a.m. It was considered the unduffable. I think we want the GCI Do you remember that? Yeah, I think we're at the GCI literally the next day and I took an entire chunk out of the fairway And I was like this thing lied to me and I believe you were a little negative you thought I was a little bit naive thinking that a golf club was gonna be able to fix everything about my golf problem and I'd like to let anybody know if they can figure that out. I would like to buy those clubs. Okay Okay Well, I think that thing is also a lie because I think I've tried to chip it on your putting green over there And I think I bladed it right into your office door. So not sure that thing works.

It's not a Delph, that's a blade. Sure. That's on you brother. Happy birthday, Anoosh. We appreciate you, man. Happy birthday, Anoosh. Appreciate you. Yeah, you too.

All right, we'll wrap up here on ESPN. We'll continue on YouTube Plus. No, just YouTube. YouTube Plus. Plus ESPN Plus. Disney Plus. TikTok Live, plus TikTok live period. Boom. That's where we'll be. Be a friend, tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. You have no idea what's going to happen tomorrow. Let's take advantage of today. All right. Sweet. Anytime somebody

passes away, that's like the whole, it's hard not to do that, you know? Perspective. Yeah. It normally takes pretty serious things to get real perspective for people That was crazy walking around my daughter Mackenzie Sam recovering from Surgery she had she's kicking ass to Absolute dog Sam. She's a beast what she's had to go through and just like So inspiring but a lot more time me and Mackenzie doing like, you know, one-on-one time name Mackenzie What it has been awesome I'm running around the house there. Ah

You know, and then we had this room in the house smaller room and It's like got some small steps up there It's like a secret room that was created by the previous owner for his kids to like make like it was like literally created for kids To like kind of hang out turn on some music, you know, depending on how she's feeling You know mambo number five has been getting her really good. Yeah, because she can count so one two three She feels like she's part of it there and then it has like good Bop in there and uh, like good bop in there and

There's two lights in there and she has found where the light switches and now we don't want the light on in there Okay, but there's no room. There's no windows in there So it's a little dark except for the thing in there So I've started to add my flashlight out now on her with the song playing and now she's dancing with her shadow Right in this room pretty sweet and then all of a sudden I bring in the... Yeah, oh yeah, yeah. And she goes, no! So she like starts running her shadow away from big shadow. So we're literally just running laps around this room.

10, 15 minutes and no! Running from my finger just doing this around. It was so much fun. Like just, it was so cool. And we're about to take her to bed or whatever and I opened the group text And they had been sent in the tweet or whatever and it was just like I was in like disbelief almost like it just kind of came out uh, you know, you never expect that because there was like a lot of things You know not going great, I think

for Mr. Ursay, Jim Ursay like I think we knew that we'd heard that there had been like speculation and stuff another really out there but I was just like Jim will get it because Jim's had to do it before I think like though the thought was always just like Jim will figure it out Jim will figure it out and it Jim's has the best people in the world literally helping like Jim will figure it out so whenever I see that I'm like it just like blindsided, like, holy hell, I did not expect that to happen.

I guess he is human after all. Like he is human, so this was gonna come. And then you immediately think about like his family and his crew and everything. It's just like perspective. And then holy shit, that came out. And I think there's so many, you just gotta appreciate what we have.

We just gotta appreciate the fact that we're here. You know, I think we gotta appreciate. Don't have to agree with everybody. Don't have to get along with everybody. Don't have to be happy all the time. But there should be at least a little bit of, you know what, we're still fucking alive. And it's gonna, we either treat that as one thing

or another. And I think the thing that Jim treated it like was gonna try to make it the most, he's gonna try to get back as much as possible because the position he was in and it's like we can make decisions every day, too So it won't be miserable existence or do we want to potentially try to enjoy? This finite time that we have that we have no clue when it's gonna end, you know And that always seemingly comes back to the forefront whenever something like this happens, especially to a friend or a family member So rest easy Jim mercer. We appreciate the shit out of you, man.

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An unforgettable journey is nearing its finale. Four more wins to take home the trophy. The NBA final presented by YouTube TV, begin June 5th on ABC. Wow. Sports. We just watched Howie exit the building as Lord Stanley Cup made a visit

for the first two hours of the program. And now it's on its road to wherever as we celebrate The stanley cup playoffs still happening eastern conference finals western conference finals last night And the edmonton oilers had a 3-1 lead over the dallas stars going into the third period Then the dallas stars got incredibly hot they scored three goals within the first six minutes of the third period took the lead Inevitably won six to three after an empty net it was slotted at the end 1-0 Dallas over Edmonton in the West 1-0 Florida over Carolina in the East and Tonight the Hurricanes and the Panthers

There could be some fireworks start this entire thing now. I've done some more investigating some journalism With the hockey people that's AJ Hawk. Talks to the table, see your apples, corner attachment, one half of the hammer, Cowboys, tone dicks. I've done some investigating because in my eyes, I didn't remember like an Eastern Conference final war. Right?

Full line brawl, has it ever happened? I don't think so. But that's because at this stage, it would be very dumb to do that because of penalties and power play and everything But with the way the Panthers were acting after the last game with what old buddy did to marshy which was I think deemed scumbag behavior by Bush League all Bush League stuff by all hockey people. I was like, wait a minute. There's a chance that we get the We get a sticks glove shirt soon as the puck is dropped, start this entire thing.

The Florida Panthers are gonna have to stick up for their guy, because that happening right there was clear and obvious. This guy's trying to, he's trying to weaponize the puck right now. Now granted, guys will dive into pucks. Like that is certainly what people will do. Guys get hit with pucks.

That's why you see busted grills all over the league, but dudes just blasting pucks. That's why you see busted grills all over the league, but dudes just blasting pucks into guys is like a Bush League teenager high school move. Soft. Yeah, so Marshy was like, excuse me, and he fights the guy immediately, which I think any hockey guy would. I think that was a direct happening. Pavlov's dogs, you do that thing there's gonna be an immediate fight afterwards in the NHL especially with Marchand so like I think so Marchand getting kicked out after he was mad at the refs like you guys don't know puck and then way they reacted afterwards talking about like ah you

know we have no comments it's like I wanted to know is this gonna be a five-on-five fight as soon as the puck drops tonight? And I guess a lot of people aren't expecting that. What the hell? Well, big bombs though, big hits. They're thinking though, that old buddy, his first is gonna be a, there's gonna be a- Gonna be a nail, double runs. Yeah, there's gonna be some runs.

There's gonna be, they think the Florida Panthers are, because just like I assumed, and then I changed my mind completely because situation Nobody wants to give up a penalty. Nobody wants to give up a power play Look what the power play did for the Dallas Stars last night Yeah, three of them straight in the third period three straight goals within six minutes all of a sudden the Dallas Stars now are in The lead they were down 3-1 literally six minutes ago. So the power play is a big deal, especially in the Eastern Conference finals You're so close to the Stanley Cup finals. It's like The fight I guess is not necessarily a thing we should be thinking is gonna happen to me

Damn, but it is gonna be but they're gonna take some good run The boys are gonna take some runs that I guess legally when when they're allowed like within the parameters of the rules So then the Hurricanes are gonna have to defend buddy Even though they didn't are they equipped do we know I know that I know Florida the Panthers, I know Patty Maroon, like they're a heavy team, they're gonna wear on you, they're gonna wear you out physically. Like can Carolina, can they compete with that at all? Yeah, is Carolina have any bodies that are there to protect maybe the rest of the boys? Because we've seen this in the past where a team has felt obligated to have to fight for a teammate and they were by far the beta team on the ice. There was an alpha team waiting for them on the other side and these guys just basically

sacrificed themselves for the good of the team and to be a teammate and that happened. You're asking if that's a similar situation for the Carolina Hurricanes right now with the Florida Panthers. Let's go to the back row back there. Former host of Hockey Talk and also a man from Canada. One half of the hammer, done. Cowboys, Bubba Gump, you know in the hat, Nicky Skates with the hair. Is Carolina equipped to battle the Florida Panthers or is this gonna be a bully fest here tonight potentially? To put it simply no in the sense that they don't have like a fighter who's gonna go out there and Chuck Nucks like a Tom Wilson would. They

have guys though like a Jordan Stahl, Jordan Martinuk, bigger guys like Martinuk 6'1", 210 probably, Stahls he's like 6'4", 210, 215, 220 probably. They'll battle. They're not gonna shrink from it but they're not gonna go out there and just you know throw bombs and turn it into a gong show. They're not going to shrink from it, but they're not going to go out there and just, you know, throw bombs and turn it into a gong show. They'll stick up for their guys, but I do expect some type of retaliation from Florida, you know, whether it's taking runs at Goss's beer legally or, you know, maybe a play it on the edge a little bit, you know, giving them a little extra couple little extra shots after the whistle, things like that, some face washes, getting in his grill and giving them a hard time all night. I do like that Canada sport is known for,

oh, is that right? We're gonna fight. Gumpi, you were befuddled by this entire situation yesterday. You went so far as to lie about the situation to try to make it seem like a bigger deal to others so that they would understand the way you feel about the situation. Are you still in that situation about this?

Yeah, I mean, the way Marshawn reacted tells you everything you need to know. Like he would rather be punched directly in the face than get a slap or ripped at him from the own blue line. I did see a certain section of the internet going, we're upset and mad and shocked that someone did this to Marshawn. We're now champions.

Well, exactly, I think that's why it's even more so. Yeah, it's worse. This guy has licked people's faces. Game one, dude, game one of this series. He's already in your kitchen that bad. He is all the way in there. Yeah. He's cooking in there.

Cooking bacon. That's fresh in his underwear. All right, good luck to the Hurricanes tonight. Legitimately, I think this Florida Panthers team probably get a little added motivation going into tonight to be the tougher team, which they already are. So that'll be something. And then obviously the West play tonight, Timberwolves and the Thunder. We will watch that. Big news coming out of college football. Heather Denich of ESPN joins us. Yeah, Heather.

Heather, sorry we got sidetracked there with the hockey fighting and everything. Massive breaking news from your Twitter account that we just saw. The 12-team college football playoff will now be a straight seeding model this fall, rewarding the selection committee's top four teams with the top four seeds. In a first round by multiple sources have told ESPN, the 10 FBS commissioners and Pete Bavacqua, who's the Notre Dame Athletic Director, comprised the CFP's management committee. They reached the agreement this afternoon. Okay, so we think everybody thinks this is smart. We knew that whenever they went to the 12 team playoff, they were gonna have to evolve and adapt

to make it better for the second year. Do we know they're meeting today on this? And is there any other changes coming? And thank you, Heather, for making time for us. So on set short notice. Yeah, no, thanks for having me on. They are not announcing any other changes today for 2026 and beyond. The other reason that they came to this agreement, remember, it had to

be unanimous in order to implement the change for this fall. And one of the reasons they were able to get to the unanimity is because of the financial component that was added to it. Sources told me that if you're one of the four highest ranked conference champions, even though you're not gonna get one of those top four Cs or first round buys necessarily, you're still gonna get the $8 million that Boise State and Arizona State got.

Four million for getting into the playoff and then four million for advancing to the next round for a total of eight million. So to be able to keep them financially whole was part of this deal. Okay, so I love that. And obviously that source is probably calling you with more information on how they got to it. I think everybody kind of agreed that this was the right move. I think everybody didn't seem like everybody in football, both fans, coaches, and obviously the committee felt like this was the right move after your one.

Yeah. And you know, last time we talked on the show, I told you that everybody in that room felt like this was the right thing to do for college football, but there were some hang-ups in there because there were some people in the room who wanted to tie this conversation to try to use it as some leverage for 2026 and beyond because this is a very divisive issue for the future of the college football playoff in terms of automatic qualifiers. The SEC and the Big Ten want guaranteed spots.

Well, how many do they get? Do they get four? What does that mean for the ACC and the Big 12? Those are the conversations that are going on. And there were people in the room who said, hey, if you want to do what's right for college football now, let's tie it into the big picture and make sure that we're doing the same thing for 2026 and beyond.

But they, it's divisive, Pat. We don't know how. College football seemingly divisive. Always has been, always will be, but damn it, it is a beautiful thing in its entirety. You just talked about guaranteed slots for these conferences because they want the championship games not to be held

against basically their teams. If you fight hard enough to get to the championship game it better not be held against you. They want if you make it automatically in which leads to a tones question. Yeah Heather obviously 12 teams now and then it was 14 teams was rumored to be the next one but is there any chance that we skip 14 and go directly to 16 and when could that happen? There is some consideration for 16. In part, the reason for that is to allow for more at-large teams, allow for Notre Dame, obviously, which has some protections in the future iterations of the next contract of

the college football playoff. So I would think it would be 14 or 16. It certainly seems like there's some momentum for 16. But I'm telling you, I'm not going to try to predict the automatic qualifiers because there's gonna be some pushback. There already is pushback, not only from within the room, but there could be some political pushback as well, as far as politicians, people in Congress,

all the way up to the top. We'll see what happens with that. I know the people at West Virginia aren't gonna be happy you keep slighting the Big 12 like that. Yeah. But I think the Big 12 potentially doesn't have as good of a seat at the table because West Virginia hasn't been in the conversation

for a couple years now. So once Rich Rodriguez and the boys over there put their big boy pads back on and were at the table because West Virginia hasn't been in the conversation for a couple years now. So once Rich Rodriguez and the boys over there put their big boy pads back on and were at the table, maybe the Big 12 get a little bit more respect over there as they should. Got Prime over there too. Come on. Big 12 is about to be, don't look now, okay?

Don't look now. ASU. Oh my God, Scataboo just came, what do you think he's about to do with the future? Yeah. Yeah, the SEC needs to You know, because guess who's coming That's a big 12. Not in the years. It'd be a big 10 because they're the premier conference in the yeah That's what I'm saying. It's a big 10 the SEC and then the SEC is doing this one. Guess who's coming big 12 brother Okay, don't worry though. We got the Big 10.

We got enough good eyes to be looking at the top of the mound right now though. I'll let you know that. Big 10's gonna, hey, when the Big 12 starts, especially West Virginia, especially in the middle of Big 10 country, should be in the Big 10, okay? Or the ACC.

Very, very much should be in the conversation. I guess our academia is just not high enough I've long said I'd be okay with kicking Rutgers to the curb and bringing in West Virginia. Okay, I like that I think AJ Hawk feels the same way Heather You need to get behind that because I think your voice means more than any of ours. Go ahead AJ Heather you mentioned these top four teams get eight million dollars Does it can they do whatever they want with that money or do they have to spread around to the other teams? Can you use it for NIL?

I wonder is it school by school or does can they tell the teams or the schools how they can use that? Well, just be clear. It's not the top four teams It's the four the four conference champions the conference get that money and they can use it as they will I mean think about this Notre Dame this past season because they're an independent and don't have to share it with the rest of a conference that's 20 million dollars that Notre Dame racked up for making it through the playoff to the National Championship game that's theirs so you know that's another question in terms of how they share that with the conference I'm not entirely sure how they spliced that up for those other teams in those leagues but I know that Notre Dame was able to keep every penny of that.

And what did they do with that? I think his AJ is kind of follow up. They put that into the university, the athletic department, the football team. Like who, how does that, do we know where that money goes or is it just dropped into Pete Bavac was bank account and they say Pete, you did a great job with the golf channel you did a great job with NBC Universal you're damn you're great great athletic director here at Notre Dame you just do whatever you want like where does the money go I think that's a good question AJ what is it does it build up the university does it go back to that what is do we know that answer yeah no my understanding is that it goes back into the athletic department funds whatever it is that

they make and they could use it how they how they want to use it goes back into the athletic department funds, whatever it is that they make, and they could use it, how they wanna use it in terms of the NIL and the settlement that's going down with a $20.5 million cap to the student athletes. Gosh, I mean guys, there are so many other expenses, stadium renovations, and just all kinds of other things. People hear about all these mega million dollars and forget that there are a lot of other expenses

That the athletic departments have to run to be self-efficient and sustain the other non-rev sports that they have Yeah, the non-rev sports obviously a big deal got to keep those have to keep those need sports need more sports need as many Sports as we could possibly have Also helps wherever you just got Donors that'll just give hundreds of millions of dollars. That'll help as well. Yeah, that'll help as well. And we're all trying to find that for our universities. Heather, thank you so much for joining us on Such Quick Notice.

Way to break the news and way to be on top of it. Hey man, find a quarterback for my Steelers next time I'm on. We talk about that, right? Where are you from? I was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, and I appreciate the love that you showed the Berg this year. I followed along with that, man. I was hoping there was a QB in the audience there for you, though.

Oh, yeah, everybody did. Yeah, that was a little worrisome going in there that everybody in this arena is hoping that Aaron Rodgers comes out here and says he's going to be a quarterback. And I'm really the only one and the people that are backstage to know that that is not that is not even a thought has not even been a consideration. But I think you're not the only one that's worried. But Tone said yesterday, Die Hard Steelersman, Mason Rudolph's the guy.

Well, yeah, for the first few weeks, and then as Heather knows, we got a national champion, Will Howard. He's the future. He's so tall. Listen, I love Will Howard. I think all these guys that people are talking about, Jalen Milro

Included a lot of developmental quarterbacks in this year's class Will Howard is now standing student I've heard everything great about him in terms of his worth at work ethic and his desire and him just him as a human being And you know what? I will be a Mason Rudolph fan. Why cuz he's there cuz he's won some football be a Mason Rudolph fan. Why? Because he's there, because he's won some football games. Because he's there. Yeah. I'm so proud.

Yeah, that sounds exactly like everybody else over there. Ladies and gentlemen, College Football League's I, Heather, did a job. Yeah, sir. I will be a Mason Rudolph fan, OK? If Mason Rudolph is the quarterback, I will be forced to be the fan. Because he's there. Because he's there he's the guy taking he's taking snaps. That's right. By well for Tennessee. Aaron

is around he did Joe Rogan yesterday said a lot of stuff you know a lot of important stuff. He did. He did. I think it's a hit. And yet Tony did you listen to the whole thing? Yeah they broke down a lot of stuff a lot of stuff. Okay. I want four or five hours. Yeah. What? I don't know I'm just guessing. So he didn't listen. A lot of stuff. I want four or five hours to... What? I don't know, I'm just guessing. So you didn't listen. Sounds like you lied. You lied! People died! How long was that?

That's a good question. I bet it was three. Three and a half? Man. Rogan's a long time. Rogan does a long time. Three hours and four minutes. Three hours and twelve minutes.

Oh, sorry. They cover a lot of stuff. Yes, they did. I saw. Oh. They covered a lot of stuff. Yes, they did. I saw some tweets, there's a lot of stuff. Yeah. I can't wait to listen. Good work, way to go boys. Three hours, 12 minute conversation. You know?

Oh yeah, just a lot of- With Young Jamie. Yep. Three hours. He's at a five or sixer, I think, in there. Couple times. Couple pee breaks. That's unbelievable Yeah, I'm fascinated. Yeah, let's take a break come back

Brother four hours in this Hey, just listen to it. Let us know We're listening. We're all listening. Oh, yeah AJ's a thousand percent already listened to it definitely my circle like real real shit that they are depending upon me So I'd like to be able to focus on that and other things that I've going on so I think anytime he gets to clarify himself on things you know there is a sense from folks like okay that makes more sense and then there's also the people are like don't care don't want to hear it. They do that and I think it's

Rogan too so I think that I think that's why it's a really good Sympathetic oh, yeah, I think so that level Especially a Rogan. I've thought about him a lot through this entire thing Followed and watched what he did a lot to great business great talent Obviously being able to do what he does. Could you imagine having a show that sways world's policies? I Don't think that's what he started out. I don't think when he started I don't think that's what he thought it would grow into but yeah, it's wild now I've had some I've had some vitamins sometimes, you know

And then I get on a plane all by myself and then I'll see something's blown up like something is just gigantic I think myself like He just walks into that room sits down Puts the fucking thing on and that myself like, he just walks into that room, sits down, puts the fucking thing on. And that's like, all right, who knows where we're headed today. And then there's a chance that like, in countries are changing policies because it's a lot. That is a lot of pressure that is a, I couldn't even fat feels like he handles it very, very well. And obviously he said

Massive, but it's been like that for a long time now. He's just been like it's crazy. It is a crazy thing I don't even know what goes on like when something happens during a show in the back of his mind just going like Yeah, I wonder he's like, oh, yep, that's gonna get some traction It's an interesting thing I that pressure is not something I would, plus the amount of people, I mean, the amount of death threats that I get when we just talk sports, you know? I couldn't even imagine if you like, oppose their political opinion. Support the other.

Yeah, or provided evidence against somebody else. It's like, those people get so mad. The political people, they get so fucking mad And I understand because they're saving the world in their eyes Yeah And I think what happens is they don't understand that there's a fleet other side that thinks they're saving the world, too Yeah So if you got two people that are saving the world that view the same exact thing from the complete opposite way and you both exist

Forever. I don't know if you're gonna ever nope so are you yelling at a wall kind of a bit yeah but we appreciate people doing it thank you somebody's gotta do it somebody's gotta do it we appreciate people doing it but that seems like a very unfulfilling because not there's never just you know trying to like constantly trying to win but like do you really ever win like I don't think so. I don't know No, I don't know. I feel like every once in a while There's a big win for somebody and then I'll then you scroll a little bit. It's like no actually complete opposite

It's like Jesus you guys are never gonna agree on anything. Yeah ever it ever like for us Good game happens like last night Pacers Knicks. I think everybody in sports roles. I was a good game Yeah, like Nick's fans really that was good game. Like we all had a like last night, Pacers, Knicks. I think everybody in sports world was like, that was a good game. Like Knicks fans were like, that was a good game. Like we all had a moment last night. Like all of us had a, that was awesome. Needed it here in Indianapolis too, with the loss of gym happening at the beginning of that.

So it was like, I think it was like a magical night, sports provide. And I don't know if, I didn't get a chance to, cause all the sports were happening. And look at the stars and all the stars coming back. It's like, that was a great game. I didn't get a chance to because all the sports are happening and little of the stars and stars Yeah coming back. It's like that was a great game. I didn't get chance to check out what was going on political world yesterday Yeah, they get along have a day. They did actually did they have it really? Oh, yeah watershed moment I'm sure they did it put their swords down for a second. Yeah, I like that

Yeah, about three I don't know how many parties everybody everybody feels like there is two distinct ones You know and I know that it's talked about Feels like a majority people here though feels like majority people here, but these ones real chirpy Oh, yeah, these ones are the most these ones are the most chirpy. Hey, they're lied You know cuz they're the ones that are we're for the calls. We're for the calls This is what you need and they're kind know, cause they're the ones that are, we're for the calls, we're for the calls. This is what you need to do. And they're kind of feeling like they're giving

the marching orders almost. Oh yeah. For the people that are on the outer side. The periphery. Yeah, the periphery of that thing. So the ones that are in the periphery looking outside going, what am I, how am I supposed to? What am I supposed to do?

How am I supposed to feel about this? And then the ones on the outside, we got you. Fuck them. No, it's us. And then it's like, you know what I mean? it's and then these ones are the loudest because I think they're setting the Tone for everybody and then everybody just kind of filters in here like man. That's allowed out there And then you just go is whoo, then you drift out. What's going on? Oh Come back in and then what's going on? Oh my god

You guys are never gonna you guys are never gonna agree on it. No. Feels like there's a fundamental disagreement here. You reminded me and thank you for reminding me while Aaron was on Rogan talking about change, Mason Rudolph was in the Oval Office actually instituting change. Okay.

Mason Rudolph. Was there. That's true. Mason Rudolph. Was he really? No. Last week. Mandatory goatees.

Maybe it was this week. Yep. Could you imagine Trump with a goatee? Jet black one like Good luck over there. Thank you guys for saving the world Somebody's gotta do it somebody has a lot of people have to do it I guess but I'm thankful. I'm not in that world How about whenever they were talking about Stephen A.

running for president, and he was like, you know, I'm thinking about it. He should. Yeah. I'm like, really? Definitely. Good idea. That's real life over there, brother.

Like, this is real. Obviously, sports are awesome. And people get very personal. And people get very pissed off over here. People call you terrible things in the sports world. I'm learning it's more toxic than I thought it was going to be. Sure. I'm learning it's more toxic than I thought it was gonna be. Sure.

I'm learning. Yeah. It's a little bit more talk. It is unifying. Like sports are the most unifying. Last time I saw a high five happen between two different cultures, clearly did not, but also group was next to,

and group was next to high five, celebration, hug, everybody coming together. I think sports have that. But in the sports media world sports talk world boy it gets a little toxic out there because if you if you if you don't like somebody's team you you took a shot directly at me I mean fuck I had colts fans yeah saying terrible things about me this year because I just didn't you know appreciate the way things were being handled over there by the locker room Which I still have hope for them. They're gonna turn around I so I I didn't expect how toxic it gets and how mean people can be because they get taken very personally

Which I respect which is why sports are as great as it is, but in the politics world, it's like everything is personal Like oh, yeah Everything. Yeah I guess steven a is built for it. I guess he'd be built for it. Hmm. No doubt. Yeah, but his name I told him like bro I don't know This doesn't sound like a fun time has anybody said like hey, I don't know if it's a fun time Is anybody said maybe I would assume I would assume that you don't know them. I hope so Yeah, but he you know, some people like living loves it living out there. Yeah, some people that's the way they thrive in that that energy.

You're right. We need people that do love that. Like you know, President Trump loves it. Like, all right. Yeah, I can take it on the shins. Whatever. Whatever you do to me. I am and you need people that are like that. Obviously, I think Barack Obama was similar was able to just continue to do his things. And he looked at the people that get to the top, just kind of move and move, and you just get battering rammed in the shin on everything. You just got to have no personal feelings, basically. Like, anything anybody says to me is not personal, even though it is very personal. I don't have that ability. I don't have that ability.

Even like, Outkick would dance with politics heavily, and I don't have that ability. I don't have that ability even like out kick with dance with politics heavily and I'm like man People gotta be so mad at you all the time. It's cuz they do both sides They say they're adding a balance to the way things Which I mean that is how it is though. It's just like everybody does their and it's just so I'm happy sports can hopefully provide moments of unity. You know, I do feel that the whole world's gonna feel like that someday. Yeah, in my life now, I think it's gonna happen. Everybody's gonna be rolling in the same direction. That's right. I was gonna something's gonna cause that something has to cause something has to bring us all together

What can bring us all together? Everybody's gonna go shake everybody's hands World Cup and mass destruction No, Matt mass mass destruction a huge no, we're talking World Cup brother geographical. Yeah, it's like concave Yeah, like concave. I could see Argentina and Brazil Maybe a big TST win. Yeah, that'll do it That'll do it potentially bring some people together. We'll be there. I can't wait. Yes. Yes. Yes That's a bicycle kick. We'll see a bicycle kick. We will have boots on the ground. Bingo. At TST. All of them.

Yeah, all the boots that'll be there will be on the ground. 10 toes down. That's right. You've been working on your dismantling of referees' mindsets. I got some new boots that I'm definitely not gonna use them at the tournament, but they are phenomenal They read yeah, but do you have any new sayings for these refs? Oh, I'm always fucking ready

Boots to coach this do you have red boots the boys have to go? They do have a nice red tongue on them Yes, love that. They're the Jude Ballenham's. They're brand new. They're unbelievable tongue on them. Yes. Love that. They're the Jude Ballenhams. They're brand new. They're unbelievable. Oh Jude the Jude. Especially if they got a sweet hint of red. Him and the coaches of Concave are going to be great at what they do. Oh yeah. Stack lineup in our group this year. Yeah you're going to kill it though. You're in the group of death. Rexam's up. Wow they're true. kill it though. You're in the group of death. Wrexham's up. Wow, they're cheap. I mean Atlantico. We got a good group. Who are we playing first? We got Wrexham and Bournemouth in our group. Yeah, Bournemouth's really good. They're playing, they had a professional player on their team. Yeah, the Bournemouth boys. Matt Ritchie, I don't think he'll be out there.

They have Ritchie playing? Wow, Ritchie signed a contract. He's still under contract with Portsmouth till next season, so we'll see about that. So, I don't know if TSD's in a million dollar tournament just gonna let a pro play. We're just signing pros now. Okay We want we want Lou Messi. Boom. Yeah. Hong Kong Keifa. Heard he has interest I mean he'll be out of contract pretty soon by the sounds of things. No he's gonna sign back with Inter Miami is he not? Buddy, Inter Miami has lost six to seven and they've led up 20 goals in the last six days coming to Pittsburgh Riverhounds they don't understand it's where Riverhounds got knocked out last night of the US Open Club. Is Messi playing? Yeah he's been playing every game yeah he's playing and they lost six to seven. It's not some Mickey Mouse league. It's the MLS. It's bad it's bad news right now in Miami it's not going well. It's Barcelona pal. Yeah this

ain't just some farm league pal. This is the fucking MLS. Well you know what actually it ties directly to correlates with his his uh personal security guard not being on the field. Agreed and I don't want to dive into that anymore but if the MLS tricked this whole thing off because they wouldn't fucking let a security guard on the sideline they deserve everything that's coming to them. Now with that being said MLS is a good league. Yeah it is. It's a tough league. Now with that being said, MLS is a good league. Yeah it is. It's a tough league. Lew needs to go to the Timbers. I was going to say it's just a matter of time before he kicks down Beckham's door and says like fucking treatment of Portland right now. I want to be a Timber. You think Lew Messi

was moving to Portland? I think he's certainly interested. You think he wants? He wants an MLS title yeah. Lew Messi leaves Inter Miami. He's packing this shit and going where? Back in his shit out of America Columbus crew man. Yeah, I could see him with Austin What's he? Oh, yeah? Hey, yeah, I'm gonna actually bring him in. Yeah, what about Cincinnati FC? Don't they have a brand new stadium? He could maybe want to go to Cincinnati. I think he'll eventually stay. He just seems very pissed off right now.

Well that's because the team stinks and his security guards not a lot bigger. I could see him leading the revolution. The revs of New England? Two years of shite for the revs. I don't know which country. A revolution of peace. And hope. That's a little mess he does with that left foot. Tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch tch Players are playing what what happened rain is not there Polithic not what Raina was a decision by the gaffer he doesn't want our gaffers a fucking dips Actually turns out

Turns out geo might not be yeah He showed up to the last tournament very out of shape. I mean, that's fine You know doesn't play we've been we've been acting like this guy's the Savior for the long time and he's just not but When you give a guy the moniker captain America And then he's not fucking playing in one of your marquee tournaments. Well, I'm looking at the gaffer It's a little bit. You know what the fuck you're doing pal. What's his name fucking punch punch it ponchettino Pete ponchettino out on this son of a bitch Why is it posted playing though banged up from a long season at AC Milan

He's trying to rest up and be ready for the World Cup. Okay, he's getting ready for a World Cup It's like fucking four years away It's next year boys Is it around next year? Yeah, 2026 It's close But also I don't He's got a strained hat

They gotta put this It needs to take 18 months off They gotta build this team together like I don't... He's got a strained hat. They gotta put this... They gotta build this team together. I don't love it. When's the World Cup start? Next summer. So, I'll see you there. Fuck soccer. I don't care about this year's World Cup either.

What are we gonna do? You know who we are right now to the rest of the world? We are Qatar. That's who we are right now to the rest of the world. We are Qatar that's who we are the team that gets a handout welcome in you get And we get fucked cuz we have Pete punch or whatever the hell his name is and a Captain America Who's got a hurt toe or something? He can't even play I American did land o'Donovan Buried Algeria in the ground he did and said this to the knockout stages and seemed fucking politic to any of that shit Yeah, we're Clint Dempsey. Yeah

Go fucking the bald guy Jones Michael Bradley Lexi lawless. Absolutely go Taylor. Dweller, man. Yeah, that's not his yeah Dweller man, they got great new tarps. So I like that's a Man, I think it's just a little okay Names that we remember Christian Polisic. I guess I'll just remember him as being tired the guy that's tired. Okay captain I don't like that me neither is that what it is gump she's tired yeah he's rested up from a long season in italy the cool guy tattoos

but this is this is not the fact he should be playing i get it but thank you this is the first season he's gone without getting hurt and played a full season okay so he's not hurt so he should play yeah that's what i'm saying like it is a good thing that he hasn't gotten hurt but also i without getting hurt and played a full season. Okay, so he's not hurt, so he should play. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Like, it is a good thing that he hasn't gotten hurt, but also I get he should be playing. He came on the show. I appreciate him coming on the show, taking time with us

when I was at West Virginia for the... I forgot about that. Yeah, okay. This guy is acting like he's Captain America. Meanwhile... I think we have given him the moniker Captain America I think he is super quiet. I don't know I think a lot of people did he's masking and raiding around as Captain America when reality is fucking Hawkeye

I think it was he is a sea level fucking Avenger Oh, yeah. At AC Milan all year, dude. At AC level. Best season of his career, dude. That was disrespectful to Hawkeye. OK. I'm just saying, we need our guys. He's our guy.

We need him fucking playing. We're one year out from the World Cup. We got a new gaffer. And don't we need to go right now? That's what I'm saying. The team should learn how to play together as well. Yes. Because we're going to do the same thing.

Suck. We're going to show up. We're going to go out there. And we're going to talk. And we're going to do the same thing. Suck. We're going to show up. We're going to go out there. And we're going to talk. And we're going to be playing fucking Guam in pool play and we're going to tie them. And these guys are just going to be bitching the whole time. And then it's going to be,

and then we're not going to make it out of the fucking knockout. Can't do that. I mean, it's just, I'm done. I'm done. So the problem, I think the biggest problem for us is we talk every time as if we are going to win a World Cup. That's my expectation.

So we kind of... We show we're America. Exactly. I promise. We got a big country. Lot of people. Lot of opportunity. Lot of money invested in soccer.

No matter how shitty U.S. soccer has been over the years, which it certainly is, it has been. And there's been new leadership multiple times throughout my livelihood, my life. Like we have enough... Well, our best athletes don't get to play. It's like okay cool we still have, we still have our other athletes. Like there's a lot, we have a lot of fucking, we're a massive country. How come we haven't been able to figure it out? Well we're so far behind. Okay how many hundreds of years into soccer do we have to be before we... This was sold

as the golden generation as well. That is the biggest issue. Like it was different when you had dogs going out there and doing well and overachieving. This group was sold as the golden generation and they haven't produced. Turns out they're the patent generation. We don't have any junkyard dogs. And that's just the bottom line. We're the worst generation. No, that's the sucker. We're watching. No, we're watching. That's your actually, is this your generation? My generation. No, that's the soccer we're watching. No, watching. That's your actually is this your generation? Say my generation is bones generation. It's the Wuss generation. It's the I don't think that's what it's the era of punch. And there's another word I could use there with a P but I don't want to use it. Well, we haven't seen punch coach. We

tried to speak English. It's not good. I don't know how that goes. And we've seen how his boys react to them. They don't want to play. I'm tired coach. And you know what he said? Paunch says, why don't you grab some pie? That's okay. Go ahead, be tired. He's not even gonna be there, right? He's not even traveling. Who?

Polisic? Yeah. No, he's not. Not even gonna be with the lads. See that? That's what I say. It's not right. It's not good.

He's out. Wait, Gump though, is Polisic, is he gonna sit out for the next 12 months and rest up for the World Cup? I would assume there's 15 more tournaments to play in that he's out. Wait, Gump though, is he going to sit out for the next 12 months and rest up for the World Cup? I would assume there's 15 more tournaments to play in that he's going to rest up. Yeah, he's just taking the summer off. I think he's trying to take the summer off.

If he's done until the World Cup, I'm okay with it. We need training videos though. We need Instagram. We need to know he's working. That's what they should do. All of them should take off all the time from now to the World Cup and just hey no money. Let's get together Exactly. Yeah, you know which one he don't make it play if they make it to the If they make it to the semis all of a sudden these guys are rocks on heroes, man

They could tour around like the savannah bananas just kicking the ball and like hey come see you fucking Captain America and the Avengers You know and they would actually get a crowd and then if they Instead if they lose to Guam if they lose to some it's Guam in the World Cup just so I know They might be Jeff Cobb. Might be a striker. They have called up some dogs from the MLS, though, that I think are excited to play. We ain't waiting. I don't give a fuck.

Yeah, but I think that's kind of what's been missing, dude. You need hunger. If you talk about like Jeff Cameron and Breck Shea, they were fired up every time they put on that tarp. I think they're added a lot more guys They're gonna play at the gold cup that are fired up to play for USA and they're gonna play in an American style Not gonna be flopping around but are they any good? Yeah Fired up to go in between the pipes and play for team

Where's the boy where's the real chosen one? You'd have to put down the pad. Where's the boy? Where's the real chosen one? The little kid. Cap, get from Philadelphia, the 14-year-old. Where is he at? He better be in this. Is he in this?

No, no. What are we doing? It's 15. Put his ass in there. We got your meal. Yeah, so is the ball. He's fucking 16. The rest of the world better be talking like this

when it comes to flag football in the Olympics. Yeah, I hope so. How do they understand that they got no shot? This better be the vibe, because that's how I feel. I feel like we are Sweden trying to put together a flag football team to compete with the United States when it comes to soccer. Well, I know let's get out of here. We're supposed to be a positive group, but it's hard to be positive about this soccer team. We haven't seen this dude's team though. We need to

really put when you see policies. I can see it in my head and guess what? They're all fucking tired. Just see, I see it let's see how the gold cup goes I just just wait and see how the gold cup goes if the gold cup is shit then you can say punch you've had enough are you eating but either way he's getting the world player I want a fucking play you're in popular from yesterday so much you want to hear something so much salt here's a bunny Yeah Guam was actually the first country in the entire world to be eliminated from this world They were eliminated in 2023 Yeah, JC Matteo is a fucking backlash. That's why it wasn't wasn't on the pitch. All right, let's have a great

Tomorrow watch the conference finals tonight. We'll be talking a lot about it and tomorrow We'll have a nice feel-good Friday to go into a great weekend. Be a friend, tell a friend something nice that might change your life. Rest in peace, Jim. You fucking did good, brother. Let's enjoy tonight. Team on me, team on three.

One, two, three, team. Goodbye.