The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 1498 - Steelers Head Coach Mike McCarthy, Roman Reigns, Adam Schefter, Dwight Howard, Patrick Kane, Mike Eruzione, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: January 30, 2026

On today's show Pat, AJ Hawk, and the boys discuss the Super Bowl a little more as we are now 9 days out from the Super Bowl, plus the breaking news that the Vikings have fired their General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. Pat and the boys are also joined by several great guests including new Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach, Mike McCarthy, The Tribal Chief Roman Reigns, ESPN NFL Senior Insider Adam Schefter, NBA Hall of Famer Dwight Howard, the new all-time leading point scorer in American hockey history Patrick Kane, and team captain of the Miracle on Ice Olympic hockey team Mike Eruzione. 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're off Monday and Tuesday, and will be back live from San Francisco for Super Bowl Radio Row. Cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, beautiful people, and welcome to our Humbley Bo, the Thunderdown. On this glorious Super Bowl season, Feel Good Friday, January 30th, 2012, this program begins now. Football! It is magical, we're nine days away from the Super Bowl that has the Seattle Seahawks, favored by four and a half in a battle against the New England Patriots in Santa Clara, California, as the Patriots and Mike Vrable and Drake May try to reclaim the NFL-Cube. kingdom for the New England Patriots fan base and the Seattle Seahawks,

alongside what appears to be a football defensive computer genius. Mike McDonald and Sam Donald in a resurgence of a career in which a lot of people said that he was ass can bring the Lombardi back to the Pacific Northwest, a place that is used to have in success, but didn't expect to have this type of run this early. Nobody could have. But what Sam Donald has done over the last two years is better than damn near anybody in the history of the game. What this McDonald's fellow has done is become a defensive guru.

You know, McVeigh, down there at the Los Angeles Rams got a lot of people jobs because they were offensive geniuses. They knew the X's and O's. This guy got a gig with the Seattle Seahawks after Pete Carroll was relieved of his duties. And he is the defensive guru super genius coordinator guy. That is what everybody is looking for right now if they hire a defensive coach is this guy right here. His first ever team meeting that he had at the Seattle Seahawks, first time being a head coach, he comes in and he says, all I want you guys all.

Most of this team is not going to be here. You know, it's off-season still. There's training camp. This is the first day of a brand-new regime. Who knows who's going to actually make it? Close your eyes. I want you to envision an agency championship. We're at home.

It's 30. It's raining a little bit. Shitty for them, just right for us. What happens? The exact situation. He thought it was going to happen in year one. Turns out it happens in year two, and I don't think it's slowing down.

When you have a defensive mind like that, they are going to make your day miserable for the next 10, 15 years, it feels like. And on the offensive side, Sam Donald, being welcomed in there, I think $55 million guaranteed deal. He's obviously not the highest paid quarterback in the NFL, but he's on a great deal for where he was in his career.

He might ask for more. He's got 10 years in his career as well. So if the offense is going to get taken care of and the defense is going to be greater, the Seattle Seahawks in the middle of maybe a next dynasty, and then on a flip side with Drake may be in 23, and Vrable with a chip on a shoulder after getting fired basically from the Tennessee Titans, are they going to be great for the next 10 years?

We're potentially watching a beginning of what the next decade or two could look like in the NFL. And that's why nine days from now it's such a big deal. There's going to be parts of the globe that are watching football for the first time all year. They're going to see his 23-year-old out of nowhere. What's this thing? He was up for the MVP this year. Whoa, it's crazy.

That guy with the big nose, large head to head. What is that guy? He's a head coach. Wasn't he on the other? No, yeah, he was, yeah. He's like a really good coach? Yeah. They, they... How are they doing? Yeah. Not great. Yeah. So, yeah. And then on the other side, who's that guy? I don't seen him before defense coordinator, Ravens.

Yeah, he was, like one year, maybe two years over there, then he was gone. Nobody really knew who the hell he was either. He's really... And then that guy, the other guy is supposed to suck, right? Yeah. No, yeah, he doesn't anymore, actually. 14-1 seasons, back-to-back years, like him, Tom and like Montana, I think, or something like that. Holy hell, is this a new era? It feels like it is.

But this new era could very much look like an older era. And I don't know if that's a bad thing, but I certainly know there are parts of the country that are pumped up about it. Let's go to the toxic table. That boss of Conradtie Schmidt, Conman. away from potentially being the kings of the castle yet again. How do you feel? Are you getting more nervous? I woke up this morning. I'm going to tell you this.

And I haven't made an official pick. I'm not making my official pick at this moment. I have gone both sides of the coin here on this particular game. 69% of the bets for now. We're on the Seattle Seahawks minus four and a half. We have certainly seen them buzzsaw some people and look a lot better on the offensive side of things. You know, the Patriots is underdogs in the Super Bowl. I think they feel good about that particular case. But I've been on both sides. Yeah, I can see a Seattle Seahawks winning by a least touchdown. I mean, last year was a blowout.

So who says that Super Bowl has to be a good game? And I could see you. And then I woke up this morning, Patriots plus four and a half was never more clear in my mind. Because although the Seattle Seahawks might win because they do have offensive power power. I mean, Jackson Smith and Jigba is outrageous. Kenneth Walker looks a little bit like Levi-on-Bell whenever he's playing there. Sam Darnold is playing outrageous, let alone the other weapons that they have. I think they have, yeah, you get it.

But nonetheless, I've woke up. I just feel like a four-and-a-half points game is a little bit too big for what this New England Patriots team does. I think if the history tells us about the Patriots, which it shouldn't because it's a brand new era, but has a lot of similar faces, I guess, up there, they're going to make it ugly. So like four and a half feels like a lot, even if

the Seahawks are to win it. That's where I'm at this morning. How do you feel? And have you wavered in your belief on what the game could look like for this Patriots team for you? I don't think I've wavered in my belief. I feel confident. This morning when I woke up, I texted probably 10, 15, people say, hey, Patriots are going to win this game.

This is crazy because we are talking about getting ugly and I don't know if it will get ugly. I think the Patriots offense doesn't get any respect because of the last game and how it went and kind of the maybe box scores of Drake May, but when you think about scoring 21 points on offense against the Texans defense, that

didn't happen to all year. I think it's very possible for Drake May to have kind of a master class, kind of a oh, you thought that this was because of the schedule, you think that I'm good because of the teams that I'm playing. Could you imagine? I can. I can. Against this Seattle Seahawks defense too, with the things

Now, granted, that's the thing for Sam Donald. He's going to have to deal with his New England Patriots defense. And I think some people maybe saw Stiddy have success in one drive against his New England Patriots defense and thinking themselves like, Stidham was able to have success. It was like, yeah, but what happened immediately after Stidham had success? It was like, they figured it out. Yeah.

That is the Patriots are doing what they've done in their previous dynasty, which is just figure out what the hell you're doing. And kind of, I mean, it's like a boa constrictor. That's throughout the rest of the game. That is kind of how the Patriots defense has been. And they haven't been chatted about. Texans defense talked about. Seattle Seahawks defense has been talking about.

And I think if you were to ask the quarterbacks on the other teams, they would say, hey, the Patriots defense should be talked about a little bit in this entire thing. And Sam might have a problem with that as well, which is why I think four and a half feels like too much. I just feels like, it feels like a lot of points with this Patriots defense. Yeah, no doubt about it. This will be the best defense the Seahawks have played in the playoffs, and this will be the worst defense the Patriots have played in these playoffs.

Like when you think about that kind of perspective, it does change a little. I do think the best bet would probably be the first quarter under just because Drake hasn't started out too hot. Even in the NFC or AFC championship, rather, when the weather was good, he just was a little shaky. It felt like, and that is, you know, that's a 23-year-old second-year quarterback. You kind of expect that. And then same thing for Donald. I expect the kind of Patriots plan to be very, very good for us in that Super Bowl.

Hembo's that, including the playoffs, the Seahawks and Patriots are only allowing 17.2 points per game this season. That is the lowest average entering the Super Bowl since Steelers Packers, which was. was 2009, 2009 season, 2010. And turned out to be high score. Both of those quarterbacks, you know? 21, I believe. Or something like that, 27, 21, yeah. And that was the one Aaron Rogers put right past Ryan Clark's head.

Yeah, Greg Jennings. Yep. You watch that Rogers Rome ever? I just learned to this guy this year. Oh, yeah. He's pretty good. I just learned this guy. Same.

Just found this guy. Just learned of his Rogers Realm fella at the Steelers game when he was in full uniform. Yeah, when they dapped up and met each other. Yeah, not just him. All the boys came over to him. I'm like, this guy's awesome. Showing up in full uniform to a game is obviously awesome, incredible. You want, guys an athlete.

Guy can really, guy can really spin it. Him pointing out the little tiny gestures like, hey, he does this one on that. He's like, he does do. Yeah, here is a lot of those as he throws this thing up. Shout out to Rogers' Rome. He's been a good, what's going on in Pittsburgh? What do you mean? What's going on Pittsburgh, Donner?

You guys are... One half of the hammer. Dahn. Cowboys AP tone. Any final thoughts here on the Super Bowl? Bowl. You talked about the last time these two defenses this good played in the Super Bowl. It did seemingly have a little bit higher score than people could imagine. What are the bets kind of saying about how the game is going to go right now? So Connor mentioned the first

quarter under just to get that started off there. The last 11, I believe, are averaging 6.6 points per Super Bowl game in the first quarter. And the over under for this one is 7 and a half in the first quarter. The first quarter under is traditionally a very good bet for teams are coming out, feeling each other out, don't want to make mistakes, stuff like that. The total has gone from 46 and a half to 45 and a half, even though majority of the bets are on the over, but there's, you know, words of sharp money being on the under for this game in general.

The total or the number has not moved off of four and a half. The graphic right there is shown 70% of the bets are on Seattle. It is now down to 69%. We have ticked down all week long. It started in the mid-70s on Seattle. That's just a recent thing coming off of the championship games. It's like, okay, everyone's in it on Seattle. And then you get the stats that come out.

And then a lot of money starts coming on the Patriots. And I think it will keep ticking down. As far as dogs go because the dogs are on a historic run. Since 2007, they are 11 and 7 outright. That's just winning the game. Dogs have won 11 and 7 outright. Since 2007, they are 13 and 5 against the spread. They have covered five straight have the dogs.

So the dogs are on a great. run, so I think we're going to keep seeing Patriots money coming and that number is going to come down. Okay, I like how much action comes on a Super Bowl, you know, because everybody sees it as a last opportunity to maybe go have a, some sort of something. Coin toss has been

pretty wishy-washy to me. Seems like that's your best odds. You know, when you go in and roulette, red-black feels like it's your best odds, but then obviously they got zero, double-zero, the green can hit you a little bit less than that.

go in the red-black, feels like you got a chance like a 50-50 shot at. You don't, obviously, they're going to skew it. But in that whole thing, it does feel like you got a chance to really hit that. Now, speaking of hitting that, I think Pittsburgh Steelers got it right. Yeah. Oh, yeah. We just mentioned the stat that Hembo sent in there about the two defenses, averaging 17.7 points per game or whatever. That's the lowest average entering the Super Bowl since Steelers Packers, you know, which was 15.3. Two really good defenses. One of those defenses, Green Bay Packers' defense, was actually mentioned by the man who's about to join us in a press conference when he said,

we're thought-fight defense, one of Super Bowl. So I understand how good Super Bowls are for the entirety. A man who grew up in the great city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, then we go on to become a coaching legend with stops in numerous places, coaching legends from all different generations of the NFL. He has to be the only human that has the head coaching resume that he has. And in the history of the NFL,

whenever you talk about organizations that are, storied, full of tradition, around a long time, and obviously could be considered America's teams. You would think the Dallas Cowboys, you'd think the Green Bay Packers, and then obviously you'd think of the Pittsburgh Steelers, a man who's been the head coach of the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys, and now the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Yins are a legend, Super Bowl champion, Mike McCarthy. Yeah, coach! Great to hear your voice again, Pat.

Shit, I missed you guys. Thank you for the great introduction. Hey, we miss you too. Congratulations, man. Obviously, we watched a presser where you couldn't even get a word out, okay? As you're rubbing your hands, you literally look like every Pittsburgh dad out there go, oh, bear with me here. And then you, yeah, there it is, bear with me here. And then doing the, you put them front road down.

It's kind of unfair. Like you were, I think you endeared yourself with a lot of people around Pittsburgh because obviously we have seen and experienced humans like you in the past. And that was kind of your reference point to why, when you walked in the building, it felt like home. Why do you think that you've held on this great appreciation of our home city for as long as you have? Because when AJ was with you in Green Bay, he was like, yeah, you walk into his office. He was like all Pittsburgh memorabilia, basically. And in Dallas, we assume it was the same thing.

Why do you think you have so much pride in the city of Pittsburgh? And why do you think at this moment you are the right guy to get the Steelers to where they need to be for everybody in Pittsburgh to be pumped? in celebrating that damn Lombardi, coach. I mean, Pittsburgh's who we are, Pat. I think you wear it on your sleeve the same way. You don't wear sleeves because you're always working, you know, doing biceps and shit. Yeah, thank you. I am pretty good. There you go.

There you go. But no, I think it's a big part of who we are. And it's just everywhere I go here. I mean, just to drive across the hot metal bridge to work every day. You know, and I remember, you know, Jane L. still being there as a kid and now what it's what it's turned into. But yes, I think it's like anything in life, you know, we're in an industry where you're competing to win each and every day and in who you are and where you come from is important.

And so I've always been very, very proud to be from Pittsburgh and specifically, you know, my neighborhood of Greenfield. Yeah, and we are all proud that you're from Pittsburgh as well as fellow Inzers. You getting the Steelers coaching job, though, as a Yenzer, you're. understand what that comes with. Very high expectation and very passionate fans. What was the conversation like with con, with ownership whenever you're getting interviewed for the job? And how do you, I mean, I guess everywhere you're at, there's high expectation, but how do you kind of regulate the expectation outside the building while trying to figure out what you're trying

to do inside the building? Yeah, I mean, I think it's just like anything, you know, you have to be aware. And obviously, we have a great, you know, PR department here with Bert. And so, I mean, you have the responsibility to, you know, make sure you're, you know, delivering the message of the direction of the football team. But it's my responsible responsibility to show up there every day and win. And that's just the way I've always gone about it because, you know, this is a 12-month job that you have to, you know, there's always something to do. There's always a video to watch.

There's always a conversation I have. There's always things that, you know, as far as you're planning and getting ready for the next day. at the end of the day, you're guaranteed 17 games. You know, you're guaranteed 17 games that have the opportunity to get to the tournament and hopefully playing in the game that's being played this week. So I just think the simplistic, everyday blue-collar approach

has served me well, and I obviously learned it here in Pittsburgh. Yeah, perfect for Pittsburgh. I think Jensers are pumped to hear about it. Let's talk about the team that you're going to have. You said that's Omar's job. Good play by you, by the way. I like that. And then also, I appreciate whenever you guys

were asked to talk about each other's experience with each other, I think with the Saints or whatever, you let Omar go first and you said, because if Omar says you can smack up or something like that, it feels like you two very close. Let's talk about that relationship a little bit. And then also the team going forward because a lot of people said hiring you

was basically a signal from the Steelers. It's like, hey, we're not rebuilding this thing. We are still where we are. Is that the vibe you get, the sense you get? And how does team construction go here until we kick off the next season for you? Yeah, definitely. I mean, if you look at the opportunities this year, you look at the roster.

I mean, this is not a, you know, this is not a start over, you know, opportunity at all. And I think that's clear. I mean, it's a football team that was, you know, in the playoffs last year. So it's a, to categorize it, it's a playoff roster. So, but, you know, just like anything, you got the financial, you know, realm that you're dealing with every, every year, you know, the free agents on your or your own football team. To me, that's, that's always the primary focus. So we're definitely starting to have those conversations as we continue to hire the staff. Staff is the primary focus right now because that's a lot of work.

You know, timing and time it goes into that. But yes, this is a roster I'm excited about. And, you know, we'll just, you know, once again, take it one day at a time and make sure we're ready for free agency. Make sure we're ready for the draft. And we've got a bunch of draft picks. So this will be a hell of a draft class. Drafts in Pittsburgh, too. We might be asking you to work.

I guess you could pass. I guess you could pass it up. this year. You know, last year you were great on draft analysis. I'm going to let you know. Amazing. Amazing on there. I had a great point guard. Yeah, I had a great point guard. So, yeah.

A lot of notes. He had a lot of notes. He had a lot of notes. You had a lot of notes. I was asked about that, and I was like, this most prepared guy we have had that we have worked with and got quoted Galileo. I didn't think a lot of people, you know,

would really have that in the Mike McCarthy bag before it came out here if you didn't play for a Mike McCarthy team. Now, I did mention that. Now, you mentioned in there, staff hiring, okay? It seems like some's coming together. Go ahead, Tone. Congrats, coach. First and foremost, it's awesome that this happened.

But, yeah, staff hiring, obviously, you talked about it is a huge deal. I don't think anything's official yet, but there's been names out there. Patrick Graham, James Campin, Jari Evan, Scotty Tolzeen, all those seem like they it would be awesome hires. How is the staff coming together? And what are you looking for in a staff specifically? I think the biggest thing, I mean, you have to have a level of experience and expertise as far as, you know, competing in this league.

I think that's something that I really value a lot, you know, have an opportunity to put, you know, staffs together in the past. So as you do that, but I'm also looking for, you know, some younger, you know, energetic, you know, coaches that also fit to, you know, the direction of what we're doing. So, I mean, it's hard not to hire, you know, 17 coaches, coaching staffs from Pittsburgh because, I mean, it seems like half the leagues from Pittsburgh. But, you know, so that's always a challenge. But really just making it fit together, that that's really my focus right now.

AQ Shipley, you know, I know, I think you, AQ Shipley, you know, he gets the urge guy out of shipwarned. He would have to Zoom call in. I think he's a little bit too comfortable out there in Phoenix, you know. cold as hell there in Pittsburgh. Obviously nothing. Yeah. Welcome back. Yeah.

I've never seen snow. I guess this has been a long time since this. How much? How much? How much? 10 inches. Yeah, 10 in the city. I mean, you know, a lot of side streets are just getting cleared.

Was that 94? Blizzard? When was the blizzard in Pittsburgh? 93. 93. There was one when I think, I don't know if you were a senior college or I was a senior in college, 2000. nine, eight, ten, somewhere out there.

That was a false. Yeah. They talk about 2010, I think it was one last time. I had one this big. I mean, especially with the way Pittsburgh is constructed, it's like, well, where the hell is the snow going to go? Nowhere. Yeah, there's nowhere.

Yeah, it's just all going to sit on top. Let's get warm. Let's get our, hey, let's get flame throwers out there. I think that's really the only option you have at this point. But let's talk about you dealing with Frozen Tundra in the past. Ty Schmidt, obviously, is one of your biggest fans. I think he's pumped you onto the Steelers. Yeah, I'm absolutely pumped, and I let coach know, I texted him and said, hey, you know, nothing

wrong with having to root on the Steelers in the AFC. I'm happy with doing that. But, Coach, you kind of alluded to this a little bit in your opening press conference. Last time you had a year off, you basically said, like, yeah, it was a year off, but, you know, you were doing the McCarthy project in your barn with a couple of your buddies, you know, like with the intention of, hey, I want to stay in the game, and I kind of want, I want to get another head coaching opportunity as quick as possible. Last year, with actually having a year off and joining us once a week, did you learn anything

about yourself in terms of like your philosophy or how you might change things this time around? Like, how did actually taking a year off maybe make you a better or a different coach moving forward? I think this year was clearly, you know, the appreciation, you know, for the time with family, which obviously, you know, being grateful for an incredible career that I had to the point and was very comfortable, you know, with that time with my family. So I just think the biggest thing is, you know, the appreciation about being around the people you love. And I love coaching. You know, I miss the locker room.

I miss the staff meetings. I miss game playing days on Tuesday. So all the little things that you're able to sit back and think about, you know, sit back and think about. And then to get this opportunity with the Steelers, you know, I just, you know, frankly, I felt like it was meant to be. But I would just say just appreciation for, you know, this great life, the good Lord has blessed me with it. A little perspective, huh? Give you a little perspective there whenever you step away for a little bit.

Oh, absolutely. Oh, absolutely. And, you know, it's the time that I've had with the kids has been remarkable. It's, you know, it's really the only time as a, you know, as a head coach that, you know, it's, you know, I feel like I'm a better fault. today and I definitely was a year ago. So, and that's a, and I thank you guys, because you guys kept my head in the game, you know, so I'm as able to talk football once a week with you guys, you know, break down to Thursday, night games.

So, you know, I was able to stay in and enough. But I just had great quality family time to share. We'd love to hear that. Anytime somebody's perspective has changed in a positive way where you appreciate everything more, that it seems like a good life event. And you didn't pick the games, obviously, you know, obviously we did. But if you were to, you know, it's a good life event. But if you were to, still pretty sure.

Guy pretty good. Guy was sticking with the game. Guy was sticking with the game for sure, my no ball a little bit. Okay, speaking of knowing ball, you've coached a lot of legends, a lot of legends. I mean, there's a lot of names being thrown that have been in the same, you know, building as you, that have basically built ball in this entirety. So I think that's something that it's exciting that people are learning about your history with quarterbacks. But there's certainly one that has a lot of conversation right now.

Go ahead, con man. Yeah, coach. Congrats again. you back in Pittsburgh and how much it means to you. One of the first questions you had at your press conference was about Aaron. Have you been able to talk to Aaron Rogers at all? Has there been any dialogue with him just about next year? I saw a lot of people kind of link in Aaron with James Campin, the offensive line coach that you guys are bringing in with his time from Green Bay. But has there been any more dialogue with that? Has it strictly been kind of just about

Will and Mason because they are definitely on the roster. Have you actually been able to reach out and kind of have an initial back and forth with Aaron? Yes, I've definitely, I've spoken to Aaron a number of times. But, you know, I think just like anybody that's played the game a long time, particularly at this point of their career, I mean, it's important to get away. And so that's a normal process that, you know, I think it's important for all these players to decompress and step away from the season.

And that's really the mindset that he's in. And that's really about as far as our conversations have gone as far as if he's coming back or not coming back. So I think it's important for him to do the things that he normally does just to step away and to make those decisions. But you know, you're talking about every player on the roster. I mean, obviously it's a constant as far as the communication between Omar and I. And he always has the roster board open in his office. So, you know, we're talking about these players a number of times a day. Just, you know, make sure that I'm getting familiar with them.

And, you know, we're just continue to have conversation about the direction we want to go. How do you feel about the whole building? You know, obviously, name game and everything is what it is, you know, and studying faces. And I believe we sent over at the beginning to you, I think names faces the whole thing. I think that is something that happens in some places. How is the building? Do you, is there familiar faces in that building or are you learning everything as you go right here? I mean, I'm learning everything as I go, but it's, you know, this building hasn't had any change in 19 years, you know, and it's funny because I was talking to Mike Tomlin on the phone the other day and, you know, he didn't spend, he operated out of a different office.

And I think the furniture was, you know, it's still there from Bill Cowher. So, so we, us three have had a laugh about the furniture, but so I'm getting new furniture, so that's a good gig. Because it's, it's, it's been there for decades. But no, it's awesome. It's right on the river here. I look out my window, you know, right across the rivers is where I grew up, you know, in the neighborhood of Greenfield. So it's super cool, but, yeah, learning the names.

And frankly, at night, it takes me a while to get down the hall, just looking at all the great teams from the past and so forth. And, you know, it's really, you know, you're reliving your childhood all over again. So with the six Super Bowl trophies right at the top of the steps and so forth. So super cool facility. You know, it's all football. That's awesome. I'm happy to hear that about a Yinser walking into Pittsburgh Steelers building

and just being like, holy hell, what a time. I remember where I was when this happened. Oh, my mom and dad are going to love to see this. Hey, you see this? You know, as they're walking around with you, I mean, it's like a museum you're working in. And I appreciate the fact that you changed over the couches and the furniture from Coward. There was something that, I don't know if Coach Coward told us.

He definitely told us, but I don't know how many other places he told us. I want to act like we broke the news or he told it to us specifically. But he said he left two beers from Mike Tomlin in the fridge whenever Coach Tomlin took over the job. He said, I think him and Coach Noel, I don't know if they had a relationship or not. And Bill Cowher said he wasn't like him and Tomlin, he was not dropping in on him every day. Hey, this is your team now, but he left him two I see lights, I guess, in the fridge. Was there anything left for you in the building? Or have you found anything that has been left for you yet in the building?

Well, Bill and Mike have been awesome, you know, through this experience. But I think Mike must have drank, because I'm sure Mike and I will catch up down the road here and have a couple ourselves. Okay, that's all good. That's awesome. Well, Coach, I appreciate you joining us. Congratulations on the gig. I know there was obviously some loudness outside the building in Pittsburgh before your press conference. Immediately afterwards, everybody learning who you were a little bit more?

people are like we love this guy we're happy he's back not everybody obviously is Pittsburgh you know that's gonna go but like it feels like everybody's excited and rallied man we hope you do amazing things oh thank you and hey anytime it's always great seeing the gang and we got some great swag over here and I know how much you guys like like black so we'll make sure we'll send you some so he gets it yeah hey where's a j today no age 8th night come on coach sleeping stuff yeah yeah second hour He comes in the second hour. So, yeah, he probably is sleeping a minute.

You know how he is. Snoozing all the time. You know, he's just. Hyper bear chamber. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, you're the man. Ladies of the gentleman, the head coach and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Mike McCarthy. Yeah. Coach. Good for him, man. Yeah. Unreal. Because when we went and did game day back there, and I was just walking through like the stadium in the suites.

You just see, like, pictures of your childhood. It's like, oh my God. Lloyd with the big, the... Greg Lloyd, yeah. His face mask, there was like a photo where his turn he had to this big ass. Remember those obnoxious... Oh, yeah.

That was bar? Duck face mat. Yeah, it was just like the ridiculous times. And then there's pictures like Troy, Paul and Mollu whenever he was young, you know? Because he played for a while, you know? And a lot of people saw him at the end where amazing it was. But when he was young, in Palomaloo was coming into the city first,

and he was doing this absurd shit. Just like absolutely absurd shit. It was like a young photo of him flying. You like, think to yourself, like, oh, I remember. And you got a little young Ben and there, Neil O'Donnells spending one. It's like, holy hell, Cordell Stewart's in there. It's like, whoa, I remember this entire thing. They need a little bit more Fulamata Mah follow of.

Okay. Chris was a dog. Chris was an absolute dog. Obviously, Bussie does his entire thing, Heinzworth. It's like, as you walk through, they do a good job of reminding you. Like, hey, yeah, ball here. This is kind of what we do. Same furniture from cars there or something.

That's certainly something. Drew Tomlin. He's going to get some new furniture, but it was cool to hear that he has been talking to Coach Cowher and Coach Tomlin because we've talked about multiple times this year. Like those games where all the players come back, Big Mike's going to keep that going. Like that's part of the pro of hiring someone who gets the organization and who was born and raised there. He's not going to change it where he's like, oh, yeah, you pass players can't come back. That's not how we do it here. Like that's going to still be a staple, which is something that I think is pretty cool. Yeah, I think it's very cool.

That's part of the coolness of the Pittsburgh Steelers building. What do you say about Aaron there? Hey, Aaron's doing his own thing. Is that what he's saying? He's doing his normal stuff? Yeah, just kind of a wait-in game. You know, he's doing his normal stuff. Who knows what that means?

I think if we all, we can all think of something different when it comes to Aaron doing his normal stuff in the off season. But I do think based on they're not being kind of like a finite, hey, I'm done after this year. I kind of think that he's going to come back and play for Coach Mike. Yeah, I think I just assumed, especially when, you know, and again, none of us were in there so we don't know how true. the reports came out, but like he was gutted when, you know, Tomlin got, or didn't get fired,

but when Tomlin, you know, said he was stepping down. And I think if it would have just stayed that way and it would have been a different head coach, I think it probably would have been pretty easy for him to just be like, you know what, I am done. But then when McCarthy gets hired as a head coach, I think he's probably like, you know what? Like, if there was one guy who I would maybe consider coming out of retirement to come play for, it'd be this guy. Delaying retirement. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, and Mike McCarthy and he obviously have had great success in the NFL whenever they're at the Green Bay Packers.

Different time, different era, different NFL, I would say. 98, 55 and 1 in the regular season. Eighth most wins by tandem. 9-7 in the playoffs, tied seventh most wins by a tandem. He would certainly understand what everybody would want to have happen. His offensive line coach, he loves from Green Bay. Campy. Campy just got hired.

He in New York Jets, Hard Knocks against Carolina Panthers joint practice. Aaron Rogers basically walks through the Carolina Panthers team, like right through their sideline. Wild move. He was the only Jets guy over there on a B-line directly to this guy. And then he started talking shit to him immediately. It's like, oh, these two are very close, it appears. He is now the offensive line coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

So it's like a lot of familiar faces, especially of Scotty Tolzin, who is the former backup quarterback of Aaron Rogers is potentially getting an offensive coordinator interview. He was down with Kelly Moe, down with the Saints. It's like, there's a, yeah, there's Aaron finding him in the middle. Look, that's Carolina Panthers practice. Aaron just walked his ass right into. It's like, I don't think that's normal.

No, granted, he's Aaron Rogers, so everybody in the league is like, what up, dude? Yeah. We watch you. And you're wild. I assume a lot of people are like, you're wild, man. You are, uh, because every player and coach has respect for Aaron Rogers. Like, no matter what he says or how he does,

there's a lot of people that hold a lot of things that have happened or he has said, or maybe things are narratives that have been said or built about Aaron that make them hate Aaron Rogers. You know, like there is, and Aaron Rogers certainly is Mount Rushmore quarterback in the history of the NFL, so he's going to draw a lot of attention to begin with. So whenever he's not normal, there's going to be people that think differently about him, but everybody in ball respects him and appreciates him. That's why I think anytime you hear anybody in ball talk about Aaron Rogers, they're like, if Aaron Rogers wants to come play, I think we'll give him a shot. I think we would, just because

everybody in the locker of me is like, we got Aaron Rogers as a quarterback. Like that is, and I think that was a big part of the exit interviews from my understanding with the Pittsburgh Steelers is a bunch of the OGs met with Khan and met with Rooney and everything like that on their way out. And they were asked, I guess, do you think Aaron Rogers could still play winning football? And they were all like, yeah, we think Aaron could definitely do it. And that's just like how I think the Pittsburgh Steelers building feels about Aaron. Now, how do Pittsburgh Steelers fans feel about Aaron coming back?

How does media, or Dan Rolovsky say? Oh, yeah. Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rogers would be the worst decision of all time. All time. Of all time, I think. something like that. It's like, that's a fascinating take because are you destined to potentially just finish in the same spot, which is what everybody's saying? Aaron coming back to play for the Steelers with Mike McCarthy is like, seems like the most likely outcome. Yes. It feels like the

most likely outcome. But I don't know if everybody has kind of wrapped their minds around that being an actual thing or I don't know how everybody kind of views it. Yeah. And I mean, like when things ended how they ended in Green Bay and there was a lot of congested, and discussion about him and Big Mike's relationship when Big Mike got fired and Aaron was still there and all that kind of stuff. But like after that all happened and he let like he has nothing but good things to say about that entire staff, that entire regime. So I just think it's one of those things. And who knows like, you know, the comfortability he has with that offense. Like again, you know, the last several years after he's left Green Bay, really ever since LaFluor came in,

it's kind of been like marrying what he likes to do along with whoever the new person's system. And it's kind of trying to, you know, like does it take eight weeks or however long to kind of find that sweet spot? Like he doesn't have to do that anymore. He knows exactly what Big Mike wants to do. And Big Mike knows exactly what he likes to do. Well, on that note, Big Mike, when he was talking about the Pittsburgh Steelers season with us, I think, on draft night. And then maybe not draft night because he wasn't on the team yet. Had to be maybe early weeks when Mike McCarthy was coming on or whatever.

he goes, in this game, you look at his stats, because he's big stats or he had a guy, too. A lot of people don't think that because he's Yins or whatever. He goes, you look at the numbers, like, it's going to come down to a drive in the fourth quarter. And he said, there's nobody else in football that I would want to have the ball in the fourth quarter than Aaron Rogers with a last second driver, whatever. And I think he said that because he understands Aaron. Aaron has his ability. And I think it's why people can maybe throw a lot of rocks at his stats and shit. first couple quarters, like Aaron Rogers

is very okay, like if he throws it like eight times, maybe six times. He's trying to figure out what you're doing. He is trying to understand everything that your defense is doing. That's kind of his thing. He's like a computer. So in third, fourth quarter, the reason why Big Mike McCarthy has so much faith in him,

it's like by fourth quarter, Aaron Rogers has got this defense figured out. He understands what we're doing. So anything I call, he knows what we're going to need. We're going to be able to have success. There's no way with how Aaron looked at the end of whenever they were running, good there that Mike McCarthy is going to change that mindset.

Who else is going to be better than Aaron Rogers that we're going to be able to get in here? I assume Mike McCarthy, who's always been a fan of Aaron publicly. We don't know how it ended privately, but we know publicly both men have certainly said very positive things about each other on our show and to people we know. It's like, what if they do say, hey, let's do it one more run on this thing? We both get buried kind of, you know? Hey, we both need to win another one. Doing that together?

That's a movie. That is a movie in the city of Pittsburgh, too, with Mike McCarthy doing it all. But I think Steelers fans are having a hard time buying in that the movie is going to end with a Super Bowl. Instead, it's going to end with the 13th overall pick again when it would be nice to maybe end up with the top three pick so we can get a organizational changer at the top of the, which is kind of how a Steelers fans feel. Yeah, they are they're yearning for change. After the whole time run, they are yearning for change. And then Big Mike didn't help when he said that he loves Will Howard in the press conference. So now I think a lot of Sears fans are yearning for Will Howard next season.

And it goes two ways. He's either good and he's your future or it's really, really bad. And you're set up in a good spot for the next draft where, you know, things can change a lot. But it's supposed to be a really good quarterback draft. It would be a hilarious experience to do an NFL season with Jensers. And I don't know if enough people know about Jensers. I think we have brought some spotlight to Jensers in a more national. way. And I would like say it's an incredible honor for that to happen. But Yenzers are an incredibly

passionate bunch. And boy, if they lose faith, they're good at shit talking them losing the faith in you, you know. So an entire season of Yenzer's having to ride the wave of understanding like, hey, we're trying to be bad right now. We're trying to be bad right now. Yeah, right. That would be the loudest, most miserable tried tank job in history. No matter what happens next year, if it's not a successful season, it's going to be loud for big Mike's ass. And he understands, that all he wants to do is just win ball games out of it. And you see what Liam did, you see what Vraibs did, you see what Ben Johnson did,

you see these very quick success stories for these coaches, and it's like Pittsburgh is definitely going to be, Will Hyde, Mason Rudolph, they got Diego Pavia playing quarterback. Steelers fans are going to say, it's your quarterback, win. This is what you need to do. And if not, if they end up right in the middle of the pack again, it's going to be like, Rooney, you're the dumbest, why would you even do that?

That is possible. Yes, it is. McCarthy knows all of that because his family has told him all of these things already about potentially another coach they were going to hire that is similar to him. So he knows exactly how these people, Innsers are. And I think in the fact that he still signed up for it and be like, yeah, I'm supposed to be this guy. It feels like it's set up to be that. I'm happy for him.

I hope it works out. They won a Super Bowl. That would be a fairy tale movie. It'll be a fairy tale movie if they're able to do that. Well, and I think from a fan perspective, it's easy to say that. but like when it is a city like Pittsburgh or New England or Green Bay or something like that, like when you live and die with what the team does on Sunday, like no one is okay with just punting a season.

You want to watch your team get their ass beat or get beat every single week? No, because there's no guarantee that you're going to get the next guy. Like Connor got lucky. There's a chance to Patriots go through that. They have that terrible season. And then what happens if you don't get Drake May? Or Vrabel. Yeah, or Vrabel.

It's like, okay, well, we just threw away this season. and not what? We have to throw away another one. And then you're looking at it and it's like, before you know it, you've thrown three years of your fandom away where you're watching every single game, every second of it. And it's like, you can only do that for so long where you're watching your team get their ass beat

every week. And that's why some people just decide to win all the time. Exactly. That's good. And whenever you decide to win all the time, you stay committed to everything that needs to be done. You know, obviously you're in the best shape of all time. Obviously, you're the best talker. Got to be the best looker, got to be the toughest, you know, got to be the smartest. Businessly,

got, or business wise, got to be savvy. But there's only some people in the history of mankind that are able to attain all of those things. Joining us now is a man who is somehow able to accomplish all of that and still has more to do. Ladies and gentlemen, I believe he is in tomorrow's Royal Rumble 2 p.m. Eastern on ESPN. Unlimited. Our tribal chief, the only tribal chief. What an artist. What a transition. Only you.

You know what I mean? That's why you demand. That's why they pay it. I was going to say us, and it is true. It is us, but it's about you right now. That's why they pay you the big bucks. No, we, we, we. But yes, we did go from a team punting on a season

to a man who's never punted on anything. You know, a man who takes everything serious. That is why you have climbed yourself to the top of an industry that only a few have been to the top of. You have obviously taken the top of a mountain and raised its altitude somehow to a whole other level, and now it appears as if we are on the hunt back to the top of said mountain. What does tomorrow look like for Roman rains?

Obviously, I don't know, this vision crew, you know, I don't like, I don't like what they got going on. Okay, they're already talking about being a team in there and beating the hell out of everybody. What is the plan tomorrow? I know you're smart and everybody. Are we winning this thing? and should we be confident in saying our tribal chief is back?

I didn't come all the way out here for nothing. You know what I mean? This is a long, from Miami, this is a long travel day. So, yeah, I mean, I haven't been able to pull this off in, what, over 10 years now. For the longest, I felt like I was like the gatekeeper, the runner-up guy. You know, they would spam me and try to get that big pot. for the baby face or whatever, but I don't know, this feels like me. It feels like me.

And I think there's so many different, you know, fingers and different signs pointing to this. I think we're at a place where our fans are demanding more. You know what I mean? I set us up. I put us in position, you know, to be fulfilled in the promised land, to be in a position to break records and make ungodly amount of money. And we're at that point that our fans are craving that. So, and they already know it's a proof of concept with me.

They know what they're getting with me. Man, those were a good old days, weren't they? Not too long ago, Roman. Those were good old days, weren't they? It was a good time, man, but we can't rest on the past. I mean, literally, you know what I mean? When you have a hell of a run like that, I could just sit and rest on my laurels and then just let the dump truck continue to let that money flow.

But I want to push, man. I have four sons, my daughter, you know, she's just entering adulthood. I want to continue to create a shadow, a mountain so big they'll never get out of my shadow. I want to make it tough for them because they're privileged children. You know, your children are going to be the same way. So we have to create obstacles. We have to create this adversity for them and why not do it through my success? You know what I mean?

Yeah, go talk real quick. Yeah, just say, this is what's happening in this family. This is what's possible. Okay. In this bloodline, this is the opportunity. You're going to have to work your ass off for it. Speaking of, we just showed some clips of you walking out there. Hey,

Hey, Oos. Hey, how do we feel right now? What's, where are we at? What weight wise? Because we've seen a couple different, we've seen powerhouse, and then we've seen like shredded,

little quicker, still powerhouse. But, you know, what Roman is entering the rumble tomorrow? Well, that's good. We're always strong. No matter that's just genetics. Yeah, and that's from a lot of work. That's compounded time in the gym.

So we're always strong. But yeah, we can always come in a little tighter. It just depends. This is the Royal Rumble. You know, the objective of the game is to not get thrown out. So you want to have a good low center of gravity. You got to be able to squat down and then hold on to that rope if need be.

But it's the same for me, wreck everybody to leave. The jet's going to be fired up, ready to get me up out of here. But, yeah, I mean, I've been working. We're coming off of winter break, you know what I mean? October fest right into holiday season. So, you know, we've been grinding it out, but I'm a human, you know what I mean? Football season is tough. We look all right.

We look all right. But going into mania, that's the beauty of this is we have so much time to mania. So we're just going to cruise right in and be comfortable. Okay. Where are you right now? Is that room? Jim? I assume you just live in the place where you're just only going to get greater all the time.

I assume hyperbaric chambers right over yonder. I assume, you know, we got a couple. You must have heard. We got all that down here. Yeah. They got it set up. The gym here's special. They got cold sub.

They got infrared sauna. They got Norma Texx and red light. You're missing it, man. Yeah, yeah. Riyadh's not messed around this time. But yeah, I've already been to the gym twice today. I'm going to go back later to try to grind it out before I go to bed to wear myself down. But yeah, that's what it is.

We're on three days now. Full camp type mode, you know what I mean, getting ready. So we'll bring in a solid package tomorrow night, you know, a winning package. But then that main is going to get ridiculous. What time is it over there right now? What is the time difference? It's tribal chief time Thank you. Come on now.

No, it's almost nine. It's AP time, black ceramic. That's what time it is. Obviously, keep living. Keep living. Okay, we found out via a random face time the other day about an entrant in Royal Rumble. Go ahead, con man. Yeah, my tribal chief, I acknowledge, as always.

But, yeah, Brock Lesnar being in the Rumble, that was news to us, news to you, perhaps. Is there any plans with Brock that you have? Is there possibly a you and Brock together, kind of take out the vision, take out the wise man's boys after he kind of threw you guys aside, you threw him aside. And of course, the tribal thief, I hate this guy because of what he's doing

in the word puns he's doing. Do you guys have specific plans, or do you have a specific plan with Lesnar in the Rumble tomorrow? I'm still caught up on the fact that Brock knows how to work FaceTime. I mean, you know what I mean? It's like a hello. You know what I mean?

I'm just, that's tripping me. I didn't even know he had a phone. You know what I mean? I thought it was like old school. You had to call the farm and then like the farm hand would come and then he would go to the like lead farm guy and then, you know what I mean? So I'm surprised he even works the phone. But no, there's no way I can, there's no way I can work with Brock.

I mean, he's one of my greatest rivals. I can't trust that guy. He was literally just competing with all the Vision boys and all them. And, I mean, talk about a group who just... Say it. Talk about the name. They don't know what they're doing. They don't know where they're going.

They can't see clearly at all. Vision's probably the... That's the Seth Rallens where they probably need to have a rebranding right now. But there's a lot of young talent there. You know, and they're physically impressive. Even Logan, you know what I mean? For someone who wasn't a professional athlete or, you know, D1 guy, he's a hell of an athlete. Hey, he was popping me, though, with the, he's just flexed it.

On the show. Yeah, unbelievable. Me too. He would see himself. He just flexing it up, man. I was like, what's going on here? Yeah, he was feeling it. But he's a hell of a personality.

Bronson Reed, he's confused. He should already be acknowledged. And he should just bow down to Caesar's what he should do. And align properly. He's confused. but sometimes that happens. Tsunami, sir? And then Breaker.

Yeah. Yeah. Imagine if I had that at my disposal, just, you know what I mean? Right to the top, he would go too. He would go reent to that. Yeah, we would find every type of balcony we could drop him off and kill everybody. It would be great. Yeah.

Braun Breaker, I heard that mention. Maybe one day. Maybe one day I will wield the sword of the tribal thief. Who knows? Maybe he'll be taking direction one day. But we got a lot of, we got a lot of footage to climb. We're not there yet. You mentioned Bronbreaker before I stopped you there,

and I apologize for that because, you know, the dogs are barking in Riyadh. We were watching this morning at the pre-show, Michael Cole hosted out there. Dogs are barking in Rion. Broner, Paul Heyman, has said, going to be WrestleMania, I believe, next year after that, year after that, year after that,

year after that. This is, you know, I was lucky to be there at the beginning of the entire ride. And I saw he's explosive. I mean, his spear? Yeah. Oh, his spear. Cut people in half. Oh, my God.

His spear, they're saying maybe best spear in the history of... Well, whoa. Who's saying that? I didn't say that. I was telling you what people were saying. I didn't say this. I didn't say this. If I was a young, insignificant performer, then I would take, you know, a little bit of fence.

I feel some, you know, competitive nature about that. But a finishing move is a finishing move. I'm such a different type of performer. I'm on a whole different level. We're talking about finisher. We're talking about the spirit. Bro, come on now. You're talking to Mozart here.

I create real art. It's not just about running down a ramp and flying through there and hitting somebody. But he's a great athlete, I mean, but we all are. You know what I mean? And as you get older, you've got to evolve. You got to learn all the different nuances to this game. You got to sharpen every blade in, you know, in your set. So I think Breakers got a hell of a future in front of them.

As long as he kind of stays out of my, you know, my will house of what I'm trying to do, I think he'll be all right. But he's still got a lot, you know, a long ways to go. I'd love to see him not get nervous on ESPN and, you know, get quiet on you because I think there's a lot of personality there. But, hey, it takes time, bro. I agree. I say, oh, what, I can't. I got a jab back, you know, I got to fight back, you know? We can't just let these guys.

These kids are calling us old and shit, you know what I mean? So I got to, you know what I mean, we got to come back. Don't get, don't get nervous on national television, son. You know what I mean? That was awesome. Yeah, such could still compliment. But not even national. This is a global.

This is Pat McAfee. You can't, you know what I mean. You're in Saudi Arabia right now. This is pretty crazy to us. This is a pretty crazy situation that's taking place. And we're obviously very grateful for our tribal chief making time for us. Every time you're on our show, you're electrifying. You're awesome.

And there's a reason why, you know, there's a Mount Rushmore for. There's a Mount Rushmore for. And then there's a Mount Rushmore for. that's being built, you know, on the other side, all by its damn self. And on that note, Ty has a question for you for tomorrow. Yeah, Roman, I would agree with Connor. I just real quick would like to acknowledge my tribal chief as well, if everyone here wants to do.

Yes, sir. Thank you. I'm just curious. You said, okay, so, like, there are, you know, there is some good talent in the WWE right now. But do you kind of just notice, like, hey, you know what? I think it's time. I got to come back this weekend.

make everyone kiss the ring and kind of acknowledge that like yeah you know hey the vision that's the cool new thing set ralins is on he's doing the car wash on every single channel on tv right now i've seen him 50 000 times over the last three days but is it nice everyone just rasping on the relevancy right please see me and it's the same thing because we kind of had the same conversation when we were in Vegas last year for russomania but is it do you kind of just pick and choose and people know like okay hey you guys can kind of do your thing but when i come back when the big dog comes back into town like this is my show and it will always be my show i think you know i mean there's always a mindset of that you know but to be completely honest and transparent here you know two years ago

it all changed around and and you know what i've been doing out there hasn't exactly been the same of what I've done before. And the way I look at it is I'm a generous tribal chief. I give the people plenty of time. These young talent, they say we hog all the TV time. You know what I mean? They'll complain about one thing. And then I leave an opening. I give them plenty of space to create, you know, whatever type of superstardom they want. Get over, kids. Get over. You know what I mean? And we're two years here now. And we haven't advanced. We haven't evolved. We haven't evolved. You know what I mean? We have great leadership. And Nick Con, God bless him. What a businessman. He's a genius.

But we have to be able to keep up with that creatively. And that's why people like me, people who are striving to be the very best, the greatest, the ghosts, the MJs. I just can't sit around and see mediocrisy. Not when I set it up for everybody to just slam at home. I mean, we're on Netflix for crying. Come on. We got to capitalize. We got people over here playing.

around trying to figure it out. And I got the formula. I know how to cook it up. You know what I mean? So it's been a tough couple of years for me. But at the same time, when you come off such a hell of a run, you got to kind of just pump the brakes for a second. I got five children at home. I wear, you know, we all wear those two important hats. Being a husband and a father, you got to be able to, you know, click. And I've been on the road for a long time. So I needed to be able to pull back a little bit, but I, you know, I'm fully capable. I'm only 40 years old. With all the tech and all the information we have now,

I feel like I'm 25 years old. So I'm still good to go. You know what I mean? Well, I appreciate you doing your schedule to help the other talent, not yourself. Because obviously, if you wanted to help yourself. It's a help them help me. We're all helping each other.

You know what I mean? Of course. Yeah, it's good for all parties. But like I said, you got to get the reps. Got to get the reps. And also, go ahead. Come on. Yeah.

That's the business. That's been the business. Oh, yeah. It's anytime now, you know what I mean? That's been the business. That has been the business. You know, people said it before you hit your entire thing. You know, Sina, hey, who, you know?

And then before that, it was obviously rock or Austin. Yeah, right. Austin. One of them, you know, and before that, it was, you know, hauling at whatever. And then before that, it was, you know, so it feels like that has always been this business, you know. And I would to let you know the fact that you just dropped the hole I'm 40 and I still got a lot of time left.

That's good news for the business. Yes, it is. Hey, that's good news for the business, Roman. And I like what I'm hearing out of you. It sounds like we're about to maybe go on one of these types of runs again. Is that going to be talking about in documentaries 20 years from now? Is that what we're feeling? Is that how the body feels?

Is that how the mental kind of aligns right now? Always capable. Always capable. You know what I mean? Like that's just built in. Just staying ready, you know. What else am I going to do? This is what I do.

This is my livelihood. This is how I feed my children. This is how I create the abundance. So why not stay in shape? Why not stay mentally sharp and in tune with the game? This is my family's art form. That's why it's so important to me. That's why I'm not BSing when I'm talking about representing my legacy,

furthering our story, taking our book to different levels and be able to create different chapters. and if I'm able to do it at the highest level, inspire my family members to follow my lead, can't nobody stop us, man. You know what I mean? To me, we're the first family wrestling. Nobody else can't touch us. Okay, so Young Rock, I think, exposed that even more so.

You know, when I watch Young Rock, which obviously, they hinted out with you and Dwayne, potentially in the future WrestleMania. You guys were wrestling in a living room and about to get after it, and they pause in the Rock's character looks and goes, that's for a WrestleMania kid basically said that. It was like a tease, oh, we're going to get it, we're going to go get it.

But what I learned through that and then obviously every other documentary, and then when you guys were doing the bloodline angle, they put that tree up there, why do you think the Usses have been such a great professional wrestling kind of group of people? Like, why do you think it is kind of in your guys' blood, like actually? Because if you look at the history of the entire industry, oozes throughout all of it. You know, it feels like that is kind of a, why is that? Do we know the exact, like, beginnings of it all or how we got there? I'm going to tell you right now.

Yeah, I'm going to learn you right now. We're just great athletes, first of all. I mean, that's just, you know, there's got to be, you guys might know. There's got to be some kind of Polynesian percentage for the NFL and even other sports, but especially the NFL, I think there's a, there's got to be some crazy percentage of men that make it to the NFL that are Polynesian. So the athletic size is in, we're big, so you have to, you know, that all works. But within our culture, it's surrounded around storytelling.

When you grow up on an island, you know what I mean? There's not that much to do. So you have to be able to entertain each other. You have to be able to tell stories. And that's how all, like, you know, indigenous cultures, you know, people, ancient people, that's how you keep the information is these stories and these myths. And you can't be up there in front of the fire, like, bowing it with a boring story. You've got to be able to, you know what I mean?

you got to be able to spin it. You got to be able to tell that story and be an orator. And we actually have them. You have high chiefs. You have maties and speaking chiefs within our culture. So it's built in. So I just think it's a perfect recipe of the genetics that God has given us, you know, as islanders and Polynesians, salmones.

And then just our history and our culture and the customs of our people and being on the islands and just having that communal, you know, gathering and just. just sharing these stories about our history and our ancestors. And it's all the way here in modern day. And we're just doing a weird WWA now. No, it's not weird at all. It's beautiful, actually. That was awesome to hear.

You actually born for it. Yeah. Isn't that a crazy thing? Actually born for it. And the way you tell it, it makes so much sense. Well, we'll see if tomorrow continues to add to that incredible family, Bloodline Legacy. And we'll be watching 2 p.m. Eastern on ESPN Unlimited.

Our tribal chief, fresh out of a three a day, fight. Can't. Hell yeah. Right into the Royal Rumble. We appreciate the hell out of you, man. Same, same, same, bro. Always. Thanks, man. Hey, Seahawks might be running that NFC West for like the next 10 years, bro. When you're the dynasty, one of the dynasties, you know what I mean? We got to share the wealth. And what happened? We were down for like two years and we were back in five. I'm not worried about the Niners. The culture between Lynch and Shanahan, the coach, we're killers over there. We have like 50 injuries.

still went as far as we did. We got to get that conspiracy stuff figured out, though. We need to get that power plant shut. Whatever it is, we need to shake and bake and move that stuff or get that, I don't know, something's got to happen. We need to look into this. I'll tell you, and you know this. You know this as the always aware tribal chief that you are.

The other side's going to have an argument, you know, that electric company, they are going to have an argument in this entire thing. There's no way we're going to get a good study. This study's going to take 20 years to get done. You know how that goes. A bunch of power companies out there. A whole bunch of power companies out there. Only one-niners, baby.

They got to remember that. Hey, Santa Clara. You know, we go back to San Francisco. We need to figure this out now. Support the team, the local team now. You know how it is. Yeah, let's win. Okay, Niners gang.

All right. I appreciate the hell out of you, man. Good luck tomorrow. Thank you, brother. Safe travels back to America. Our trouble chief, ladies gentlemen, Roman, Ray. Hey, Roman.

That was hilarious. Actually, our people are known storytellers. You know, because we're on an island, the only way that the history gets passed on is by telling the stories. And then you think of, like, Moana, I just watched Moana. And then you think of, like,

every other cave and stuff that kind of has stories being wrote and told for future generations. And then, like, very lucky that I've been able to go to Hawaii and you talk about, like, the way they talk, the how they talk, the stories of the history.

It's like, oh, my God, there is actual, oh, there is a reason why the Polynesian people are the best of professional wrestling. Because they are, I mean, whenever they were doing that bloodline angle and they put that tree up. So cool. Here's the history of wrestling in this one family bloodline. Now, granted, cousins, uncles, you know, the whole, not everybody's just father. His dad, uh, I believe one of the wild Samoans is, uh, Roman Raines' father passed away.

Sika. I think. Yeah, Sika. Okay, yeah. And his Sika is his father. So his dad was in the business. But then they're in the Uso brother's dad in the business. They are cousins with each other.

Grew up same street with each other. But then there's also other family members that are in there like Nia Jackson. These are all just the current people. And then you go back like every generation. It goes, yeah, it is. It's a big tree. Oh, yeah. It absolutely.

It's like, thank you for your contributions to wrestling and to our entertainment and our childhood, like legitimately. I think we saw that for the first time at the Super Bowl. You guys were doing your press conference, and we were sitting in the crowd, and then somebody slapped somebody, and that tree was up there looking so beautiful. Yeah. Did, who got slapped? The Rock got slapped?

Or the Rock did the slap? Cody. Clapped Cody, right in the mouth. Yeah. Yeah. That was pretty tense day. It was. Called him bitch, maybe.

Yeah. Do you know what Roman said there? Herman said, we've been waiting, you know? People are craving a little bit more. What a thing to say. This time of the business. Yeah, exactly. You know, that is a,

that is a couple of times. Hey, can't be getting nervous on ESPN, a little slight of a, you know, like, he said a bunch of things in there that are like very, we appreciate our tribal chief. Always. I got a chance to be there for that.

Most, a lot of that. Oh, yeah. That travel chief run? Oh, yeah. It's lonely at the top. It was awesome. What do you mean by that, brother? I mean, he's, I mean, he talked about,

he's definitely not friends with, with Seth. He's not friends with the vision. He's not friends with Brock. When you get in there with 30 other men, maybe women, I don't know. We watched 2000. China. Rest in peace. She was in there. Yeah, she got a couple of...

It's going to be lonely in there, potentially. Royal Rumble should be exciting tomorrow. I mean, Roman feels like he's trying to win this thing, you know? Oh, yeah. And also, the way he talked about the vision, you know, I don't know. Maybe they got something in their back pocket. What?

He was complimentary. wasn't he? I don't know, yeah. He didn't talk down as much as I thought. And maybe the tribal thief might get thieved. Stolen. Something I think about. Hour two will be on the other side this break. Be a friend, tell her friend something nice. It might change your life. We'll see you on the other side.

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Hello, beautiful people, and welcome back to our humble abode, the Thunderdome. On this Super Bowl season, Feel Good Friday, January 30th, 2026, hour two of the program, begins now. Football! It's magical. There's some breaking news out of the football world. We need to discuss it. It's not just me. Obviously, the toxic tables here at Boston Conner

and at Ty Schmidt. One half of the Hammer. Down. Cowboys AP Tone is here. And a man joining us live from Manatekin, Ohio is a college football national champion, Super Bowl champion, Ryder Cup winner, AJ Hall. Yeah, Ray. Good to see you, brother. How's life? Doing great. Big Mike was awesome on here.

So appreciate him doing that. Yeah, Big Mike was awesome. I'm thankful he took his time. Happy here. And Roman Rain, sorry. Travel Chief was unbelievable. Thank you for acknowledging. Obviously, Big Royal Rumble tomorrow. 2 p.m. Eastern on ESPN. Unlimited.

Okay. News happened in the NFL while we were talking to our tribal chief who looked to win the Royal Rumble tomorrow on ESPN Unlimited. General manager for the Minnesota Vikings, Quasi Adofa Mensa has been fired. Joining us now, the man that broke the news, senior NFL insider for ESPN, Adam Schafter. Sheffter, good to see you. Hope the kitchen's doing well. Okay, tell me about the Quasi Adofa Mensa firing. this feels late in the cycle. What do they do from here? How'd they get to this point? Well, it is late in the cycle. It's an unusual time to fire somebody when he had been in Mobile at the Senior Bowl all week long, working for the Vikings, and then you come back to Chile, Minnesota, and deliver the news just a short time ago, minutes ago, that you are firing

Quasi Adolph-Menzha. Now, let me say this, that I think one of the things that people, talked about in the league all during the year was the tension that existed within the Vikings organization. And there were people who said, someone just texted me this morning, they go, I told you it was ugly in Minnesota. And there was all sorts of talk. People didn't like people. People didn't get along. Tension. I remember speaking to our Vikings reporter, Kevin Seepard about it a few weeks ago, we had thought that there was a transfer of some power from the front office to the coaching staff, that the coaching staff had been given more power. The point is, Pat, there's a lot to this. There's a lot that's going to come out on this particular situation. But the way it was

set up was not working for people. And the Vikings made the decision to fire. Now, they have inserted their longtime executive vice president, Rob Brzynski, into the role, the the leadership role, he will lead the team through the draft. So that tells you that they're not in any rush to go hire some new general manager right now. Rob Brzezensky will lead the team. And then after the draft, they will do a search for a new general manager. Okay, it sounds like Kevin O'Connell's doing the leading of the team feels like if that is what you are kind of talking about the power going. And if you need to answer that, certainly answer that.

If it's any more information or breaking news, we appreciate you. Obviously, joining us here with little to no warning. It sounded like somebody wasn't happy that maybe JJ McCarthy had to be the quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings. I don't want to just like point to one thing, but because there was reports that maybe Aaron Rogers would go to the Minnesota Vikings. And then there was rumblings. Maybe coach was like, yes, just like any player or coach in the NFL would naturally do normally is like Aaron Rogers can potentially be, especially if the coach is a quarterback. I could really make some magic. There was allegedly interest there.

And then ultimately a decision was made to go with J.J. McCarthy, and let alone Sam Darnold. interest had to be there. Now we're going to go with J.J. McCarthy. Sam Darno now obviously in the Super Bowl. Is that where it kind of begins and ends? I don't want to kind of... Look, here's the deal. When you have the quarterback situation that they did this past year, where Daniel Jones was in the building and Sam Darno was in the building, and they leave, clearly there are going to be questions that are asked and blame that's assigned. Now, I'm not telling you that this was a crazy adult fundamental mental mental mental mental mental the decision or Kevin O'Con, I don't know exactly how it came on. I do remember, I do remember that

they wanted and tried to keep Sam Darnold. They made an offer to him. And it just so happened that the market was such that there was more money out there and a team that wanted him even more than Minnesota, which he drafted J.J. McCarthy. Daniel Jones, they also attempted to resign. They tried to resign both those guys. And it wasn't happening. happening at that moment. So they wanted to keep both, but they also had a commitment to JJ McCarthy. They drafted in the first round. And that's an organizational decision. I don't know, you know, who drafted him over the other one, but they all signed off on it, I think, obviously. And they, I know that they definitely worked to keep Donald and Jones and both wanted

and were willing to leave. Yeah. And you and I know what that means when a team wants to keep somebody or they don't want to keep somebody or they're interested but not actually, you know, Sam Donald's deal is not that huge of a deal whenever it comes to quarterback deals that he took to go to Seattle. Now, I did hear they took less money to go to Indianapolis. Now, granted, that was only like $10 million. So whenever you talk about what the deals could be with Minnesota offering, not that I want to just continue to pit, was that, go ahead. I think Minnesota offered, I think Minnesota was offering Sam Donald way less than Seattle. Seattle was about $35 million a year. And, and,

If I guarantee you, I think. Minister of keeping way less. Exactly, which goes back to what I was asking you about, like, yeah, we want you. Right. Well, here's the deal. People, yeah, teams offers always speak volume. That's what you're saying. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

It's not about the money, but it's always about the money. Yes, yes, it is, yeah. It says to you how much we're prioritizing you. The money says how much we want you. So for the Vikings, yeah, we want you. We want you to the two to 20 to 20 to. $25 million a year or whatever it is, right? Yeah.

Oh, Seattle, they want you $35 million a year. So Seattle wants you more than Minnesota. Yeah. That's the deal. Yeah, that's how business works in professional sports, at least. Now, granted, there are guys that make decisions to do stuff, and allegedly Daniel Jones took less money here to come to Indianapolis because of the opportunity, potentially.

It worked out for us great. I didn't even think about Daniel Jones because how long he's been injured. Having to see Sam Donald in the Super Bowl after what are you, won 14 games or whatever with you guys a year before that. Let alone, Daniel Jones liked the number one in it. I forgot about that. Oh, yeah. That's the next year, too.

Yeah. Well. Yeah. Break that news, Schefter. Daniel Jones coming back. It's going to be the number one quarterback in the league. And the Vikings let him out. Maybe that's why Quasi is currently not the Minnesota Vikings general manager,

but I'm sure there was other decisions that were making as well. Quickly before we let you go. Other conversation. Miles Garrett. I've been watching the Monkin introduction over there in Cleveland. There's people just getting coffee in the back. as if they're shooting tires, Shane Gillis's show, as he walks into the building.

Everybody else has these massive shots of people walking in the building, the entire building, you know, the whole thing. Oh, yeah. Doing the entire thing. Munkin walks in there, dress casual. Love what he's doing there.

Jeans with a loose dress shirt and the sport coat. I'm here to be a professional bum, a ball guy. Okay, obviously. Walks in front desk. Oh, Ms. made him check in. They didn't. Hey, sorry I didn't bring the bench.

There's people just getting coffee in the bag. people just walking around him, yep, no big deal. New head coaches here. Every other building we've seen, everybody there clapping for the person. And then obviously got Miles Garrett, post on his IG story. What's going on in Cleveland? And what do we expect the future to look like up there for the Browns? Because I like to think their fans are a good fan base in the NFL.

But it just feels like there's always shit happening around Brownie, the Elf. What are your thoughts on the Cleveland Browns and how it's kind of rolled out and what we should look for? Well, here's the deal. Todd Monkin is a very good football coach. He really is. I got no problems at all with hiring Todd Monkin. The phone's just going nuts. I got no issues with Tom Mocken. The issue is that you plugged one dam or one leak and you created another. Like you wanted to build up the offense and so you brought in somebody that knows offense and Todd Mocken, a football coach. And now you're going to probably wind up losing Jop. Jim Schwartz. So now your defense suffers. And I think they felt like our defense is so good that if we can just get somebody to elevate the offense, then we'll be in good position and good shape. So they got Todd Mockett. He's going to do that. But now, I know Jim Schwartz has got two years left on his contract, but we're talking about how money shows you certain appreciation in whatever business. And it's the same thing in any business. If you don't get the job that you

applied for, the promotion that you wanted, and it went to somebody else, you're not going to feel great about staying with that particular company, right? So now it's up to those two sides to figure out how they're going to go on and probably break up. I know the Browns want Jim Schwartz back, but Jim Schwartz doesn't want to be back. So how's that going to end up? Hasolm's done this before. Hasolm's done this before. Hey, you don't like me? Go talk to Andrew. I'm not even taking a meeting with you. Andrew, what's he need? Monique, give him the most. Make him the highest paid coordinator in the NFL. The guy in Houston

does not want to come to Cleveland, no matter what we offer him. Oh, yeah? What's an offer? Yeah, make them the most of all time. And it goes in there. You can easily do that with Schwartz right now. I'm sure there is somebody that knows what coordinators are worth. What is an average coordinator salary in the NFL right now? Pretty high, I would assume or no.

I'll say this, that the coaching salaries this season, this offseason have spiked. And they've gone up quite a bit. And it speaks to, number one, how important the coaches are. And number two, how desperate the teams are to have them. Like, Tennessee hires Robert Sala, and they're planning around having Brian Dayball, and then they might lose Brian DeBall, but they get him, so they're relieved.

The Ravens are going to hire Jesse Minter, and they'd like to go get Joe Brady as their offensive coordinator, and then Joe Brady gets a head coaching job. The Giants hired John Harbaugh, and they love that. He's a great coach. and he's going to bring Todd Mocken, but Todd Mocking gets the Browns take coaching job. So it's great to hire a defensive or special teams coach, a great leader.

Look in the Super Bowl this year, Mike McDonald and Mike Vrable, two defensive-minded coaches. But if you don't have a planning, you lose your guy on the offensive side, or you're an offensive guy and you lose your defensive guy, oh, no. It's some issues.

See, Brable had it perfect because Josh McDaniels had been a head coach and nobody was going to hire a coach, and he lived in Foxborough. It was teed up. With Mike McDonald's, he fired last year, his offensive coordinator, and hired Clint Kubiak, who now is going to be a head coach in the league after this Super Bowl. So if you have the right guy, it looks great. But if you don't and you lose your guy, now you scramble.

Sounds like you're saying, hey, Harbaugh, who's going to go? Who's behind Noor number two? I'm excited to find out who it is as well. No, no, no, no. They'll find somebody, but it wasn't who they plan because that guy's the head coach in Cleveland now. Who's Kubiak getting, which job? Well, he's going to get the Raiders or he's going to get the Cardinals job. Okay, so he's definitely getting one of those jobs.

He's definitely getting one of those jobs. Okay. All right. That's awesome. Thank you, Schaeffer. We appreciate your man. You're the best. Thank you, guys.

Please, General. I'm a chef, hey, that's breaking news. The first pick of the third pick. Yeah. It's up to you, bud. And the other team, no coach. Phoenix, Vegas. What do you want to do? How do you want to live?

That was, I mean, huge news there out of Minnesota. And it sounded like as he was talking, it was like, there was a power transfer to the coaches. There was disagreements in the building. It's like, so that normally is a case of, we don't think you did the right stuff with the players. Whose job is that? It's that job. Or that. That's why alignment is such a big deal.

But boy, if it gets out of line, I think cutting is the right move. Because if two guys or a girl and a guy, the cases in the future. If they are not on the same page, they're working against each other, trying to prove that they are the right one so they can stick around. So cutting it off, if that is the case, is the right play, I think personally. And it feels like they're empowering Kevin O'Connell here. That's what it feels like. I mean, the timing, just the timing seems very weird to get rid of your GM right now, January 30th is when he's at the senior bowl.

That makes you think like, okay, this has been an ongoing thing for a long time. And then they they just finally pulled the trigger now, which is kind of a, just a weird time, I think. Well, the narrative kind of started going from, because we talked about Kevin O'Connell, like, hey, this guy can win with any quarterback. It doesn't matter who he gets in there. And then the Darnold stuff happens, and we see what happens with JJ this year. And it started to become kind of like, well, are we sure KOC knows what he's doing too? So I wonder if that was part of like a, hey, no, I wanted Darnold. And this guy said he'd get it done. And he lowballed him. And then Donald decided to go to Seattle. So many different thoughts. And Schaeffer said, we're going to hear a lot about this.

You know, because Quasey's team is certainly going to want. people to understand where he's coming from you know that is certainly a part of this entire gig just like that electric company over there in sanford santa claire they're going to have their side yeah they will all they're going to have their they're going to have their things are you think they're going to want to move that entire power you think they're going to shut that down no no way i'm worried about that over there they're not shutting that they got a great argument who tell you that much the electrical company yeah we start to see their game plan we started to see their game plan and i'm tell you what it's going to be a, it's going to be a dog fight.

It's going to be an absolute dog fight, but we understand what they're saying. I just don't think that's necessarily great for, you know, any of it. If you're, Niners are an older team, too. Oh, yeah. We don't need. They see them, they're still training. They're getting back after it right now. Like they are.

Which is part of the conversation, the electrical company has. We'll talk to a few of them next week. Can't wait to hear their thoughts on it all. Joining us now, speaking in next week, is a man who's going to be a captain of a team in a celebrity sweat flag football game. He'll be taking on Cuevo at Cal Memorial Field on Cal Cal Berkeley's campus. His team, we assume, going to win. Because this guy, you look at his resume, people have forgot. I don't think people have put enough respect on this man's name. To read off out all his accolades, it would literally take 10 minutes at this point.

I think all of us kind of forgot because we don't talk about it nearly enough. This man, they called him Superman. Obviously this man, D.H. 12. This man is a Taiwan beer leopard legend, an NBA icon and hall of famer. Ladies and gentlemen, Dwight Howard. Yeah, Dwight. How are you, dude? Taiwan beer leopards is crazy.

Thank you for the team, Taiwan. Shout out. Oh, man. Is that the team? We tried to do some journalism. That's the actual team, right? The beer leopards? When I played, they were just a Taiwan leopard.

and then the next year they combined with two teams and became the Taiwan beer lepers, which was cool. That's when boogie played with them. Okay, so you're just a leopards legend. We will have to strike that from the record. It's a Taiwan leopard legend. That's 100% on me.

But before we talk to you about what you have going on next week, which is sweet, raising money for local food bank and other stuff and also providing tickets for military and first responders, what you guys are doing is awesome. I think it's a 26th annual flag football game. We're doing with Celebrity Sweat. This is the graphic we made with all your accolades. I don't think it gets talked about nearly enough,

and I'm only saying that because I sports stooge on a regular basis forgot about a lot of this shit. You had a run in the NBA that was obviously phenomenal. So we appreciate the fact that not only are you back, you know, with your podcast, back doing shit, but also like potentially getting some flowers. We appreciate your time, man. Thank you for joining us. Thank you so much.

I really appreciate you. and that's amazing, man. Thank you. I'm really honored, you know, just to receive flowers. A lot of times, you know, people get flowers when they're not here and they can actually be present to receive those flowers. Take it in. Take it in right now.

Man, just I am. Thank you, man. It really means a lot, man, just to be on the show to actually hear you, which you were just reading off about, you know, my resume as a basketball. player, you know, it's just crazy that, you know, I spent my whole life wanting to become one of the greatest players ever. And, you know, as a kid, I had to dream and actually to fulfill it, you know, it's just amazing and just so, so humbled and thankful for you. And just this is an awesome opportunity to play against Cuevo and the Super Bowl. I know it's not basketball, but, you know,

this is going to be a lot of fun, you know, help be out there with the first responders and the people who serve our country, who we triple salute, and just always giving back at something that I enjoy doing. Hell yeah, Dwight. Well, we appreciate you doing that, good for society. And yeah, man, all the things that you dreamt about only came to fruition because you had to have worked your ass off. Okay, so that's what I was that's what we respect here. We know how hard it is to make it and everything. A lot of people want to do it. Obviously, your six foot 10 had a little bit of an advantage maybe over me. I was working my ass off on throwing it up and then hitting it off the backboard. And then, you know, I'm trying my best.

I don't think I ever got it, Dwight. I don't think I ever got it. But it's okay. What you're doing now is what your purpose is for this season and life. Hell yeah, Dwight. Hell yeah. Thank you, man. Okay, let's talk about next week a little bit.

What is this? It's a flag football game. Are you quarterback coaching? How is it kind of go? I know we got some names already in the game. It's a 26th annual. What do you have going on? And what is your plans here to get a dub?

Well, I just really want to get out there and have a great time. enjoy the moment, you know, if I'm the quarterback, if I'm the wild receiver, if I'm coaching, whatever it may be, I just want to go out there and have a great time, you know, to celebrate the 60th Super Bowl. So this is a big year. I just turned 40. My dad just turned 70 and we get to go see the 60 of Super Bowl. And I also be a part of the whole weekend festivity. So I'm just so grateful. had a wonderful career and I can't wait to go out there and put on a good show. Is Diplo on your team or the other team? Do you know who's on the team?

Diplo is on my team. Okay, yeah, we need Dipload. Doug Flutie is on your team or the other team? Doug Flutie is on the other team. Oh, no! Quo! Quayva, that's a good draft pick by way. I know I love Doug Flutie.

Oh, my God. He left me too. Man, yeah. But. I think we're going to have Jesus. I think Jesus is coming. Jesus? Nazareth?

Yeah, Jesus is coming to play on the team. That's great. Holy shit. On that note, Cal Memorial Stadium, Thursday, February 5th, 7 to 9 p.m. You have no idea who's going to be on these rosters. There's a chance. Anybody's there. Anybody will be there.

Cueva versus Dwight Howard. Okay, let's talk a little bit about basketball. How do you feel about the current state of the way the game is being played? Obviously, in basketball, you hear a lot of old heads talking. Feels like you guys view it much more like a fraternity because there's not as many people that make it to the NBA than maybe some other sports. Feels like there's a lot of distaste

for maybe the modern stage of basketball. What are your kind of thoughts on where we land right now with NBA hoops? I can understand both sides, you know. As a member of the Hall of Fame and playing basketball my whole life, being this fraternity of basketball, you know, it's a successful. certain standard and level of play that we would love to see.

But we also understand that times are changing. We have to adapt and be able to change with the times as well. But the best thing we could do is the retired players, the players that are no longer, you know, playing at a high level is give back, you know, go back into the communities, go back and teach and, you know, really get the fundamentals of the game and also help the parents. You know, I think every parent wants to see their kid be that next super-sup. star in the NBA or whatever sport it is, but they might not understand how hard it really takes to get there, the amount of work that the parents have to put in, the kid have to put in.

And it takes a lot. And it's so much harder for these kids, I think, now to be able to, you know, get into a sport or, you know, get into the working field because of technology. So it's a lot that us as players can really do to give back. But, you know, with basketball, I love it. I think The game is entertaining. These young kids are getting better and better. And I only want to see the best on these kids. Cooper Flagg, you know, 40 points. 49.

49. And rebounds as a 49. You know, that's amazing to see. I know how hard it is to play at this level. And I'm so proud of the young kid for just, and Jason Kidd for taking a chance and putting him at the point guard position at a young age and just letting him learn a game. And he's doing such a great job.

And I'm really proud of his growing. and this effort that he's playing with. Keep it up, young fella, keep it up. Oh, yeah. I love to hear that. Thank you for doing it. Any other players that you just want to shout out randomly, definitely do that throughout the rest of this whole conversation. Anytime. Oh, man, Tyrese, he is killing it. Wimby is my favorite player now.

Okay, so what would you do there? Because what, he's a foot taller than you, right? Man, he's a foot taller to me. I'm just had to get him three hard foul. Hey, go sit Joe Biggs on the beach. bit somewhere, man. But I love what he's doing, man. The fact that he's using his height and his, he's just going to be, I think he has

ability to be one of the best players all time. Once he learned how to really dominate the paint and then when they try to stop that and put a smaller guard on them, just shoot over the top like KD does. And I think he has the right mentality. He's locked in. He's focused on being one of the greatest, his summer. I think last summer training with more. Monks, you know, going with KG, all the stuff he's doing.

You can tell, like, he's in it to be one of the greatest, you know. So I think the game is in good hands when you got players. Oh, my God. Like, Wimby, man, they really love what they do, you know, him, Yokic, all these guys, man, what they're doing with the game of basketball. This guy's unguarded. I mean, he's unbelievable. He seems like never misses. Joel.

Hallie. And that's so smart now, you know, you know, and not saying that we weren't. smart, but they figured out like it's like they've seen what we did and they've added on to it with this new age. Evolution, brother. That's just evolution of sport. That's why like judging one era to the next is kind of impossible. You can't do that.

I hate doing that. And I tell people comparison is a thief of joy. You know, when you're trying to compare this era to the next, you're taking out the joy in the life of basketball by doing that. These kids grew up watching a lot of us play. Like, it's their time. Like, let's give them their props and help. them when we can, but let's not put them down, man.

We need more positivity, especially from the Nimo to O'Heads. Hell yeah, Dwight. Hall of Fame are talking right there. Go ahead, AJ. Yeah, Dwight, you mentioned Jason Kidd, obviously a great player and a great coach now. We've got JJ Redick in L.A. Are we going to see more players you think transition from playing to coaching like we already become head coaches?

I know NFL. We see Mike Brable. We see all these guys that were great players becoming great coaches. Is that going to be a trend? Do you think that's going to, you know, going to be an uptick as we look forward? And I would love to see that because we want to keep the name of basketball going. You know, it's such a, the game and what it's done for me and a lot of players around the world, the inspiration, the gratitude that we have for what we want to have in the best hands.

And, you know, I think a guy like Rondo would be an amazing coach because he was an amazing point guard. you know, these guys would be amazing coaches. So, you know, I really do believe it's time for, you know, these players to come back and give back to the game because I believe the era that, you know, I played in, the Kobe era, KG, that Tim Duncan, Duane Wade, Dirt and Whiskey. That's like the best era of basketball.

Like it was really like the golden age. It was everybody. And it was an interesting matchup every night, even though it wasn't like no, they would say name brand centers back when I was playing. But I'm fighting against four or five centers every single night. And you got dirt and whiskey. You got KG out there.

You know, you got Duane Wade. You got some of the greatest guards ever. Kobe Bryant, you know, LeBron James in his prime. Like, it was an amazing time for basketball. It certainly was. And if you guys are going to continue to get back and give back, I mean, we just saw Rondo's eighth grade son. Yeah.

It's amazing. Unbelievable. He's in eighth grade. Yes. That was outrageous. Is that, that's not, that's very,

I don't know the basketball community well enough. I know, like you got drafted out of high school. I assume whenever you were in seventh, eighth grade, they probably said like, hey, this guy probably going to the NBA. I think that happens in basketball more.

He's dominating varsity in eighth grade. Is that normal? That feels abnormal. Is that, I feel like it's, it's because it's Rondo. And what he, the knowledge that he has for the game,

he's putting it right in his son, like every, single day. His son was there. When we won the championship, you go back and you look at the footage of Rondo on the floor with his son. His son is taking in all that wisdom and knowledge and understanding from one of the greatest point guards ever now. And he's dumb in high school basketball with calm, with ease. And he's only going to get better. So just imagine in four years what he's going to be like. He might be able to get drafted out 11 grades. Whoa, whoa. Whoa. Greatest people to be. Speaking of getting drafted out of 11th grade, there's a chance you could still. Go ahead, Ty.

Yeah, Dwight, I'm just curious. I doubt you have many regrets about your basketball career because you've fared very well. But we hear a lot about NIL now and how guys maybe stay a year longer or whatever the case may be because they're making millions and millions of dollars. Do you think if that would have been in place when you came out of high school, that would have been something you considered? or do you remember what like the thought process was behind when you decided to go straight from high school to the NBA? I wanted to go number one. I didn't think about nothing else but going number one in the draft. Being the number one player trying to be become the greatest, one of the greatest basketball players ever. That's my only mindset, my only goal.

I truthfully never even looked at the money aspect of it until once I got to the NBA, it was about the business and basketball. I just solely looked at it as, man, I want to. to be one of those greats. I want to be like the Shacks, the Will Chambers, the Karimms. I want to be like those guys when I'm done playing. So that was just my mindset. I didn't think about college because I felt like college was a place for me to really understand or figure out what to do with my life. And at this point right here, I already knew what I wanted, already knew where I wanted to be. It was only going to be me, the gym, and hard work,

you know, how much I was going to put it in to get there. the high school to the NBA days created so many legends just absolutely man oh yeah one of them oh goats obviously in that conversation go ahead Connor yeah Dwight just to kind of emphasize what Pat said as a Celtics fan I will never forget the Dwight Howard Hito Turkleu Jamir Nelson Mike Petrus I mean those teams were legendary and those teams also went on to play Kobe Bryant in the finals how grateful are you for that time you know to go up against Kobe while also being a teammate of him with Team USA.

And what do you kind of think of when you think of that time with the magic just because you will always be a legend, especially for the magic, let alone the Team USA run as well? That was such an amazing time with the magic. I truly hate how everything ended, you know, but my time with the magic was just what it was magical, going to the finals at 22, playing against one of your favorite players all time, Kobe Bryant, you know, having a chance to win a championship going against LeBron, you know, playing against the Boston Celtics, the big three, you know, all those great memories to have in, in that city beautiful Orlando. It was such an amazing time. And I'm just grateful that,

you know, I was able to see what I saw at a young age, you know, going to the finals, you know, bringing the city together, you know, seeing how powerful and strong basketball is. is it was a unforgettable time in Orlando. Anybody that you played against, like, obviously, Kobe and all those greats you talk about, are you just trying to pick brains? Like, how did you kind of operate whenever you were playing a watch? Because I think Jay Will, Duke Jay Will, he told a story about how when Kobe came and played the Chicago Bulls, he thought he got to the gym early and Kobe was already there.

Was there a lot of those moments? like how many of those types of situations happen for you? Straight out of high school, right into the NBA is a crazy thing, but I assume there can be development whenever you see, because that's like a formidable year. So whenever you see it. Yeah, it was just so much going on.

Like, like imagine 18, you're just finishing high school. You just graduating, going to the prom, you know. You get your, you know, all that stuff is just happening. And then you drafted, number one, to an NBA team. Your whole life changes. like everything happens so fast. Like it's hard to even remember a lot of these moments. Like, man, 18 year old Dwight, like, what was I doing?

What was I thinking? Like, things were happening so fast. Like, in one mind, I'm like, man, I just want to play basketball. Like, I want to be like Kobe or, you know, Shack and how they're just, their names are in the rafters, you know. And people, like, I'm at 18 thinking like, wow, like this is, this is crazy. I'm actually living this dream. And, you know, I wasn't really thinking of the magnitude of what all this stuff meant

until I got a lot older in my career. And, you know, now I'm not playing. It's like, man, like, that was a time. I'm looking at pictures of my house of my teammates in Orlando. I was looking at a picture last night of our Olympic team. And just the team that we had, like, man, that was a, the redeemed team was incredible. Yeah, you've got a great run, brother. And you can continue that if you want to go back to Orlando and have good times.

With the new rules, you could actually, I think, go play for UCF still. Oh, yeah. No. Yeah, you go play for a reason. I don't think you got to do class either. No, you don't. I think you're just kind of going. No, okay.

I think you're just underneath, brother. That's it. I think that's all you're going. No. They got Palo. They got Sugs. Orlando got a pretty good team. So I can come and watch a help.

and, you know, any way I can. But as far as playing, it's the young fellas time. All right. Well, listen, that's kind of the issue, though. He's like the... Sports got an interesting thing going on in college right now. We got an interesting thing going on with, like, how the whole business is working. I just want to let you know, if you start feeling froggy, you could, I think, go back to college right now.

No, sir. Now, if you do, if you do, if you do, you can make... I go back to coach. Maybe a March Madness run, Dwight. Maybe a March Madness run. No class. They're paying. They'll give you a new, they'll give you, I don't know.

I don't know if they're a little two box money. Hey, can we talk about what's going on here? What is this? That's like, uh, that looks like a, a, uh, this is, uh, one of my favorite crystals. I just like to wear crystals. It's just some nice little, uh, artwork, you know, to wear. It's also good for the soul, right?

Is it not? How long have you been into the, the crystals? Uh, forever, you know, as a kid, I used to always go find rocks. and to keep and look at and stuff like that. And as I got older, it became into nice crystals and stuff like that. I have them all around my house, rose cords, crystal cords. Yes, a whole bunch of different ones. So, yeah, I'm big into it.

All right, it looks awesome. It looks really cool. Thank you so much. Yeah, because on top of the hoodie with the big-ass chain. Yeah, he's also seven feet. So crystal is about, what, 10? That's me a fool. Yeah, that's a huge crystal.

Yeah, that's a sword. They got a crystal sword on his chest. Yeah, all right, sick. All right, I'm happy you wore that. Thank you for doing that. Hey, you're the man. Good luck in your flag football game. Thank you so much.

You guys, I would love to come in and actually get on the show, you know, live, you know, and in person, you know. So, you know, let me know when I can come on. So let me tell you, can we show you what we do to the rims here, you know? He can put that right off the wall. He'll take those right off the wall. So the one on the right side there, eight feet. We're having a good time on that one. We're Dwight Howard on that one.

Okay, we are Dwight Howard on that one. And then the one on the left there at 10 feet, can you, do you still anything with basketball? Do we shoot? Do we do anything? Yeah, I do. I train up with my son. I work out.

I'm still jumping and dunking. So, you know, I just did a couple of 360s the other day. Damn. Windmills. But, uh... Don't run March back. What are we talking about? I didn't know.

No, no, I'm good. Oh, man, that was 19-year-old Dwight. Howard. Okay, so as we're running these clips, Tone has a question for you actually about it. Yeah, Dwight, I do. As we're watching you do it there, and then Blake and Zach Levine, it felt like after you guys were done doing

the dunk contest, and I say this with a heavy heart, that the dunk contest may have died. Is there any way to save the dunk contest, do you think? Well, I think people just got to stop comparing what happened in the old dunk contest and just allow people to try new

things. It's so hard to be creative. with dumps because you don't get that much time. And it's very different, you know, actually doing the dunk contest and being in the gym, dunk in the basketball. You know, you don't have, you don't have no like juice. You got to bring your own energy. You got to entertain the crowd.

And I think the era of people that, you know, I've dunked with, we were good entertainers. And that's what made the dunk contest so fun. We was willing to get out there and, you know, not worry about embarrassing ourselves, but have a great time. and enjoy the fans and enjoy the moment. Like, this is something that we all grew up watching

this is a duck contest and wanting to have moments like this. So when I got an opportunity to get out there, I'm like, man, yeah, I'm gonna put on the cape. I'll put on the jersey, the tight jersey. I jump over, I get a bigger rim, whatever, because I want people to see how much of, you know, for me, basketball is how I express my art, you know, how I express who I am.

So, you know, this is a part of my art, you know, it's ducking the basketball, in different ways jumping as high as I can. So, you know, I enjoyed it, man. I had so much fun doing it. And I remember doing the last dunks and tribute to Kobe and stuff like that for the last dunk contest. But that was so much fun, man.

Yeah, yeah. It was so much fun. And once again, all glory day type stuff here. I appreciate you saying, like, obviously, let's not be comparing them to everything that has happened in the past, incredible moment there, obviously. But you saying, yeah, crazy. Yeah, crazy. Let's not compare to the past dunk.

but it's also, I appreciate you acknowledging, like, we had, like, personalities, you know, like, we, uh, we wanted it to be awesome. You know, like there is, there's a little bit of that, too, that is potentially needed, and maybe a generation will show up and it's like, hey, let's make this. I think it will. Content, right? I think it will. I think it's show up.

I think it will, you know, and I think also, like, more people are, like, seeing the tricks of learning how to dunk and be able to jump higher. So now these athletes that are coming up, they're going to want to get into the dunk contest because they're like, man, nobody's doing it. So when I get a chance to get up into the NBA or become a content creator, I'm going to jump into the dunk contest

and see what I can do. So hopefully they should add in some content creators this year because I know a couple that could really jump that would actually make the dunk contest go crazy, like NBA versus the world dunk contest. No, they don't want that. Hey, they got that little white. There's that little white guy.

No. He does triple axles. Jordan Kilganon. This guy... Jordan Kilganon. He's unbelievable. Then they got a guy named T. Currie. He's a young guy that he got a 51-inch bird.

He was trying to say MJ had a 51-inch burt. But he actually does have a 50-1-0. Whoa. Not to mention like Shams. I believe Shams. He does. I see him jump up and before he dunked the ball. He tied his shoe.

Then put the ball between his legs and dunked it. That's Sean. Sharm Sharoni did that? No. No, no, no. No, I've seen a video as John's doing that, too. We don't know. We have no idea.

He's in the All-Star games. If he can do that, he needs to stop report and then go play basketball and do something. That's crazy. Hey, we appreciate you. We don't know if you're already out there, but safe travels to California. We're going to try to make you so much.

We don't do anything, Super Bowl week. We kind of find where we hang, and we just kind of hang there and do our thing. But Thursday, February 5th, 7 to 9. I mean, sounds like it's going to be a great time. You know? Everybody, come on. All right, we will.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's Dwight Howard. Yeah, Dwight. With Amex Platinum, you have access to over 1,400 airport lounges worldwide. So your experience before takeoff is a taste of what's to come. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. I was guilty of multiple skin care crimes. Two counts of sleeping in makeup, one count of using disposable wipes.

I knew my routine had to change. So I switched to Garnier-Missler water. It gently cleanses, perfectly removes makeup, and provides 24-hour hydration. Clear away the evidence with the number one Missler water worldwide by Garnier. We had personalities, too, so... Yeah. Good point. What's the problem, though. They are comparing to those old dunk contests, which is like, okay, how do we top this?

That was a great time for the dunk contest. Well, comparing is the thief of joy. He did. Say that. Words are spells. Well, they're spelled. Within spells. Who said that?

Another lover of crystals. Yeah, it was fascinating. And it felt like he had a real meta, you know, Flood State vibe in that whole thing. Him playing for the Taiwan leopards and us thinking they were already the beer leopards was missed by him. Didn't realize they merged teams because the beer team is one of our favorites as well. Yeah, the beers? Yeah, yeah, the beers. The Milwaukee beers?

Yeah, yeah. Well, also a great team. I think it was the... Who they combined with, yeah. Taipei Bears, beers, excuse me, I forget. We'll be joined by the all-time leading point-hiver in U.S. hockey history here in a matter of moments, I would assume. We ran a little bit behind there with our first conversation with Schaefter as a general manager of the Minnesota Vikings was fired in the middle of of our program as we're talking to our tribal chief

Royal Rumble tomorrow 2 p.m. Eastern on ESPN. Unlimited. Is that the name? Yes. Yeah. ESPN Plus unlimited. Okay, so ESPN. So it's... You have to have ESPN Plus, and then there are two kind of subcategories. There's whatever the basic one is,

and then unlimited is the all-encompassing all you can eat. And then there's another one. And then there's another one which is like... Hold on. Hold on. Let's not get super duper. Okay. So, tomorrow for a roll rumble, I need to be looking for ESPN plus unlimited. Okay, and then they're super duper unlimited right underneath it.

Yeah, and that's where I think you're allowed to check into the rumble. Do yourselves a favor. Okay. Do it tonight. Yes, that's a smart idea. Yeah, this is, I did one time Sunday ticket, didn't sign up until about two minutes before kickoff. What a terrible decision that was.

This will feel like that tomorrow, 2 p.m. on ESPN plus. Unlimited. Joining us now is a man who is unlimited powers on the ice. Okay. Unlimited. Whenever you talk about hockey, normally, you know, in the old days, you'd have to immediately mention kale. You know, because Canada is hockey town. Now, the NHL, where is most of the teams?

Where's best of success? Where's the Stanley Cup's at? Okay. Thank you. We'll have that conversation later. And oh, yeah, we got curling from you a couple years back, too. Don't let us do that again. Hamilton might go ahead and do that, but Canada obviously created an incredible sport in this hockey. And U.S. has become a dominant force. It is not easy to become a great hockey player. It's a lot of early hours on the ice. Ice time is obviously incredibly expensive. It's incredibly hard. The cardiovascular plus the physical toll that it takes on your body is impossible.

So for anybody to remain committed to that, they would have to be super discipline and X out a lot of things that could potentially distract them, especially in the modern United States of America. Well, we have the guy. Ladies and gentlemen, fresh off of breaking the record for the most points ever scored in the NHL by an American player. Absolute living legend,

three-time Stanley Cup champion. Patrick King. Oh, what's going on, Bob? How's the Mitzpaw? How to Mitz, pal? Talking Canadian, though. That's more of a Canadian accent than hockey accent, I think.

Yeah, well, I just kind of tie it all together, you know, with hockey. I apologize. Congratulations, dude. That's a huge. deal. Yeah. Huge deal.

Thanks, I appreciate it. Thanks for taking the time to have me. No problem. Thank you for taking the time to join us. Madonna, Mike, obviously, stud, living legend, he sent a message to you. And then we got the information that obviously you looked up to him as a kid coming

up in USA hockey. What does last night mean to you? Obviously, it was on the horizon. And I assume you understood that at some point you were going to get this. But then when the moment actually happens, how do you kind of feel on the ice there? I think the biggest feeling. is almost relief, right? Just to kind of get it done and over with and move on a little bit.

I feel like there's a lot of attention on it, especially coming into the season and just kind of doing it and being able to get it out of the way and move on is a good feeling. So listen, it's a special night. I mean, I had Amanda, my son and my parents there to kind of, you know, cheer me on and be there for the moment. It was special to obviously share the moment with my teammates, but also with them. Great for hockey as well, brother, especially in the United States of America with this, you know, rivalry with Canada, obviously always existing.

But now it feels like at a fever's pitch, how do we feel about the state of USA hockey right now as you become lead USA hockey man of all time? You know what? I think it's really in a great spot. I think you look at the Four Nations last year, what that team did. brought a lot of excitement to the game, especially in the United States and, you know, now going into the Olympics, pretty much a similar team going back there and have a chance to win the best on best. So I'll be cheering them on. There's some great young American hockey players that are doing some special things in the game. And definitely be cheering them on. Obviously, we have a great one here in Detroit and Dylan Larkin, who lives and breeze USA hockey. And he's been a Hold on. Hold on, Kano. Hold on, Kano.

I should have known this. I just assumed the guy who has the most fucking points in the history of American hockey players that he would be on the fucking team. I just somebody just told me that that was, are you not, you said you'll be looking, what happened? What are we doing here?

What is going on? You're not on, okay. You know, that's bullshit. I don't like that at all, Kano. I don't like that at all, Kano.

I'm sorry. Must be opting out. Yeah, exactly. They do have a good team going over. So I'll be cheering them on. Listen, I didn't have the greatest start of the year and would have been great to be there, but I'd definitely be cheering them on this year.

The future of America's in good hands, you say. Legend American hockey player. Go ahead, AJ. Yeah, you mentioned all these young players that are in the league right now. I guess when you first came up in the league, did you ever find yourself? Like, who were some of those older guys

that maybe you grew up watching where you look around and you find yourself on the ice with some of these legends that you grew up watching. Are there any guys like that you can remember? Yeah, for sure. Mike Madano was a big one. He's a guy that I watched a lot when I was younger, kind of had a great flair for the game.

His speed and skill was something I always admired, especially at his size. You know, he's around 6-3 or 6-4. Chris Chelyos, I think he's probably the greatest American of all time when you had it all up, playing until he's 46, 47 years old. He's really become a great friend. And obviously have really gotten to know him, you know,

just from my Chicago days and being in Chicago. Jeremy Roanick had a great career. I grew up in Buffalo. Pat Lafonteen was a great player. So those are some of the Americans that I really looked up to. Oh, Charlie, great to hear his name. Great to hear old Charlie. Yeah, that's what we call him, right?

Cano. He's the best man He's such a great guy Honestly He's one of the best humans in the world And anytime I do something Or anything like that He's the first to reach out

So I've really developed a good friendship With him and One of the best guys in the world The hockey culture is an incredible one Every time we learn about a new hockey player We love them and we respect them Mostly because it's not easy at all. The sport is damn near impossible.

Leland, you're on ice, moving at like 20, 30 miles an hour. But the amount of work to build your body up to get to the point to make it is impossible. And it starts at a young age. Go ahead, Ty. Yeah, Kainer, it seems like in this day and age, every time there is a draft, whoever gets picked first overall, it's all this guy's the, he's the next one, he's the next great hope or, you know, whatever the case may be. You were kind of in that same model being the first overall pick. Like, when it comes to this record, was there a point in your?

your career, maybe, I mean, probably not when you were younger, but when it kind of all clicked into place, you're like, holy shit, this actually is something that is attainable. And I could potentially be the, you know, the greatest point getter in American history. Yeah, I mean, it's hard to say, right, when, when that moment comes, I don't know. I feel like for me, like, as a young player, you're just trying to become the best player you can, you know, obviously as an offensive guy, you're always trying to put up numbers. and score goals, score points, create chances, things like that.

But I don't think it was ever really like a thought until maybe the past year or two where there was some more attention on it and people started mentioning it to me that maybe this is something that could be, you know, attainable. Then you start thinking about it a little bit and how cool it would be to actually accomplish, especially, you know,

you look at all the amazing American hockey players that have played the game and all of a sudden, you know, here you are at the top of the list. It's a little bit surreal and humbling in a lot of ways too. Speaking of humbling, it feels like your culture is that way. And I mentioned it there before. He asked about the point in your professional career when you thought this was possible. But was I accurate in describing like your childhood as hockey player?

You guys are like all in. We're talking moving. We're doing this, right? From a very young age. Is that an accurate depiction of how you kind of came about it as well? Yeah, for sure. I mean, you know, for me, when I was younger, I just, I love people. playing hockey, right? That was my child. That's what I love to do. So, you know, I was on the ice all the time.

You know, maybe 350 days a year. I loved playing summer hockey. I loved going up to, I grew up in Buffalo, so tournaments in Toronto and Canada were some of the best tournaments you could play against competition. That maybe was a little bit better than, you know, what you were playing against in the States. So it was always fun to do that. And then, you know, I moved away my freshman year high school to try and, you know, become a better hockey player. I actually moved to Detroit when I was a freshman in high school and decided to play here for a year, then a couple of years with the U.S. program in Ann Arbor,

and then, you know, another year in London, Ontario. So my four years of high school were, you know, all away from home. So definitely some sacrifices had to be made, but you look back on them, it was definitely, you know, all worth it. You hockey people are awesome. Legitimately, you hockey people are awesome.

Yeah, I moved away. from home freshman year high school. I'm going off the fucking camp. Are you ever coming back? Hopefully not. Actually, I'm going to go to Canada before I come back home. I'll see you a couple different times. That's every hockey story it feels like.

It's so much commitment, literally. But I think they know who's going to be somebody, right, early? Is that not in hockey as well? You know what? I feel like it's hard to say, right? I mean, some of the best players I played against, you know, 14, 15 years old, never made it or made it and never really had a great career. I think it's about opportunity, too. You have to make the right decisions. You have to make the most of, you know, kind of your

opportunity in certain situations. You know, I didn't think I was the best player at my age level growing up, especially at that age. But you get some opportunity. You play in good situations. You continue to develop. And, you know, all of a sudden you're, you know, looking at yourself being being drafted as a as a first round pick or first overall and then you get even more opportunity because you're going to a team that that needs some help right so uh you know i look back on it i'm definitely grateful for a lot of the situations i was in that i was able to uh you know excel in yeah i think you did great well ahead in the weekend we'll see a wednesday here on esPN we're still live though cano still live cano okay no zamboni yet okay we are still live action here

All right, we're on YouTube, TikTok Live X, I believe, ESPN Plus, Disney Plus, and even ESPN Plus. Unlimited. Hey, so when did you get the dangles, huh? When do we get the sticky mitts? You know, when do we start? When we start saucing, you know, because I, you know, I got pretty good. When did that start happening? As a child, you used, that thing was glued to the stick?

Yeah, as a kid, you know, actually, actually funny story. I used to always carry around a stick in, like, one of those little little. orange hockey balls and going into hotels, I'd stick handle going up the stairs or I'd stick handle going into the rink. And we were actually, we were playing in London. And my dad would actually carry the bag, my hockey bag, into the rink so I could stick candle and just like work on my hands or whatever. And we were playing in London. Had a bunch of people come down. The bus was leaving. And I was saying, you know, my highs and goodbyes to, you know, family and friends that were there. So my dad took my bag to go out to the bus and someone shouted out.

Look, the old man still carrying the bag for him. So we kind of look back to see who it was, but I never really put a face to the situation. But that's just kind of what I was doing as a kid, just always stick handling, always had a sticking ball. And not just because I was like trying to work on my hands or anything, but just because that's what I love to do, you know. so. It's crazy how you can be obsessed with something that you just enjoy doing.

Yeah. Like there is. What's that book? What's that book? Outliers. The Outliers. Have you ever heard of the book The Outliers? I haven't.

It basically goes to the stories of all these people who are at the top of their fields and how like a happenstance in their life certainly led them to that. Like I think Bill Gates or something like that. Yeah, he grew up next to the first supercomputer ever in the United States and Washington. So he obviously was privy to that information before anybody. for Patrick Kane who would be growing up in Buffalo. And having an obsession with hockey. Yes.

Like that could certainly help. Oh, yeah. And you can just go across the bridge here and go play against some Canadians. And when you come back, your dad's going to be known for carrying your bag. Everybody else has to everybody. Because the little Cano is obsessed with just dangles. This guy's triple deaking everything he sees whenever he's walking in the buildings. That's awesome.

That's a beautiful thing. Yeah. We used to go to Sabres games. And on the way in, we'd buy like one of those little mini sticks. And we'd see some like garings. garbage or like like napkins on the ground and we'd uh we'd make a ball out of it and like i'd go running up and down the hallway at six seven years old like stick handling in and out of people like putting it through their legs they're probably like what's this what's this kid doing with that no they say that's that's cano again it's fucking cano put it home cano that little goddamn

cano never stops geez louise that's what they say and uh they said that man would go on to a Lord Stanley's friend multiple times, the all-time leading United States score in the history of hockey. We talk about you hoisting Lordo. Go ahead, Conman. Yeah, K&O, obviously three Stanley Cups. Is there one that stands out as a Boston Bruins fan, the one where you snatch the soul out of New England

and Bruins fans everywhere does for me, but also, you know, you score an overtime game winner to win the Stanley Cup. That's basically what you dream of when you're, you know, as a kid in those arenas. but is there one you look back on just thinking of the team or the moments that kind of seems more special than maybe the others? Yeah, I mean, I don't know if one is more special than the others. They're all special in their own way. Like you said, 2010 was an overtime goal.

2013 was, you know, the Bruins were up to 1 and we scored 2 and 17 seconds to take game 6 and win that one. And then, you know, 2015 was our first one at home. That was special just kind of spending it in the locker room after your home locker room and just kind of having a never-ending party there was, I think memories will never forget. But yeah, I definitely think they're all special in their own way. All right. Hey, last question for you. I would like you to get this one right.

And I know you're going to feel obligated to say the wrong answer. Okay? Yeah. because what's on your head right now. Taron Diggs from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has a question for you. Yeah, Patty, obviously you're playing in Detroit now. You've played in Chicago. You grew up in Buffalo.

You've obviously played in the barn in Boston. You've played Pittsburgh a lot. Pittsburgh a lot. Where is Hockey Town USA? We have this debate around here quite a bit. Where, in your opinion, Pittsburgh is Hockey Town USA? Is that what you would say? No, there's only one hockey town at Detroit.

That's, I mean, that's the name, that's the name that's given here in Detroit is the hockey town. That's the logo on the center ice, right? Oh, fuck. There's only one hockey. That's what I'm talking about, Kater. I need you to say that to these boys because everyone's for getting around here. I will say this. I will say this.

The person that set up this conversation, they're in their email. It's, there is a reference to it in name of email for opportunity. Like, it is, it's like everything they, I didn't know that. That came through. I'm like, shit, I have to be incredibly disrespect for whatever. What I'm saying, Pittsburgh is Hockey Town. I mean, that is wildly disrespectful every time I say. If you Google, where is Hockey Town?

Detroit, Michigan shows up there. Okay, yeah, AI certainly getting everything right. We won't dive into that. That is a Red Wings. That is a Red Wings fan there, Foxy. He has a question for you, actually, Kahn. Yeah, Kanner. First and foremost, thank you for your service to Hockey Town. growing up in Michigan in the 90s,

2000s, Detroit Red Wing hockey was absolutely everything. Everyone in the state of Michigan was playing hockey at a young age. And now, as you can see, some people are forgetting what Hockey Town really means to the NHL. And it's been, I think, 10 years since we've made the playoffs, which is this year you guys are having an awesome season. So hopefully that drought ends. But can you just talk about Hockey Town and why it's such a special place to play hockey, Yeah. You know, obviously I came from Chicago, being in Chicago a lot of years and big rivalry between the Red Wings and the Blackhawks. And I guess for me, I never really knew how I was going to be accepted at first. And honestly, the fans and the organization has been incredible. Really is just welcomed me with open arms. And it's been an amazing place to play. I mean, playing at Little Caesar's Arena. the support we get every night from the fans and how loud the building is.

It's just, it feels like you're playing in the playoffs every night here. So, listen, I think it's hockey town for a reason. And like you said, we haven't been in the playoffs for a while. So in a good spot right now and excited to get back there and do some damage. Is it, it's a pizza or pizza pizza pizza? Pizza, pizza. I just check that, check that for that. Way to go.

Cainole. Hey, we appreciate you, man. Congrats on the accolade, another of many throughout your entire career. Thanks for what you're doing for USA Hockey. And good luck to Hockey Town. Good luck to Hockey Town. Thanks for having me, boys. Appreciate it. Hey, next time I'll show off my mitts, you know, with the top bits, do the whole thing. Hey, Kano, sound good.

Yeah, all right. I'd love to see him. I'd love to see him. Patrick, Kay, K, we appreciate you. Hey, Kano. Sure sound Canadian there, pal. I mean, only people to call him Cano, I think, in his life, probably. That is interesting.

No. Hockey. No way. He's been, every time you hear it's cane. They all say caner, but you go, hey, can't all. Caino. Yeah, yeah. I just, you know, anytime he throw an oil on there.

Yeah, it works. Because you can showcase the Canadian oil. That's hockey, baby. Yeah, that is hockey. That's all hockey. Hock hole doesn't know. Hawk Ocker. Hockle.

Yeah. We do both. I was going to say, I try to throw in a hoggle every time. Yeah, he did. Hockey has the best inside their community shit. No, I have a doubt. Their lingo is top tier. Top tier.

Yeah, and I don't know if it's just Canadians. Like, I think Canadians potentially just have top tier lingo. And it's because I think they're all locked in their houses. Yeah. Because it's so cold for so long. So got to be funny. Got to be entertaining. Got to come up with ways to say things.

Yeah, the Canadians bring the lingo. The United States brings the moxie. And then, like, the Russians. bring like the party. You know, that's kind of how the culture gets formed. I think that is probably a pretty accurate depiction of how it all goes. Swedes bring the skill. You know, you could argue the Finns bring the goalies.

And you know what America brings? What's that? Gold. Gold medals. And the B is. Do you believe in miracles? Yes. How could you not?

Especially whenever Team USA hockey did what it did. Whatever you hear somebody so perfectly phrase something, it's a moment etched in sports history. And then there's documentaries about the behind the scenes. And it's clear that a pizan was certainly one of the most pivotal pieces and one of the greatest runs in the history of sports. Ladies and gentlemen,

there's a documentary that is out today on Netflix called Miracle, The Boys of 80, the gold medalist captain for the Miracle on Ice out of Winthrop, Massachusetts. Mike Arousia. Yeah. How you doing? Hi, guys.

How's it going? Hey, Paizan, how's it going? Thank you for joining us. We appreciate you. No better person to join us on this Feel Good Friday as we head into a massive weekend kicking off Super Bowl week. So we appreciate you taking time out of your life. How has it been reliving the glory, if you will, with this new documentary?

I assume it's a nice trip of nostalgia, a little trip down memory lane. How was it and how has it been? Well, I'm looking forward to seeing it. I haven't seen the final version. I'm going to see it tonight. I got 60 family friends and relatives going to go to the golf club down the street from where I live. And we're going to sit at the bar and we're going to watch the video. And everybody's going to remember what it was like 47 years ago.

I'm excited about it. Okay. So you haven't seen it yet, but the process of the making of it, a lot of reliving, a lot of storytelling. What kind of was it for you? It was great. A bunch of us went back to Lake Placid, although many of us have been there off and on over the years. but to go back with your teammates to sit in the locker room and just kind of reminisce what it was like

in this quaint little place in Lake Placet. I mean, it's hard for people to believe that if you ever go to Lake Placet, if you go to that arena, it's hard to think that they had in Olympic games there. But whenever we go back, I call it Pleasantville. It's like going back in time. It's a special place, and we're excited about, you know, seeing how they put this whole documentary together.

I have seen bits and pieces, but have not seen. seen the final version, so I'm excited about that. And I think people are going to enjoy it. I think the way this country is going now, we could use in 1980, so maybe it'd be nice for everybody to look back on a great moment. Hell yes. Also, with the Olympics around the corner, I think sports do have an incredible way of bringing people together. Couldn't be a more perfect time for the Winter Olympics, just a few weeks out. You said it feels like you're going back in time. Let's go back in time. In that locker room, after the huge win, obviously, you guys can't hear what Al Michaels is saying with a miracle call. And it's a must

much more what like unless you have a phone in the kitchen i don't know how you contacted people did you guys know the gravity of the situation there because that wasn't even in the finals but did you know the gravity of what your team was going to be in in the moment no clue whatsoever um we knew people in lake placid were excited i knew my family and friends at home were excited but no clue that the world and the country was watching the way they were and i mean remember now there were only three tv stations then there was no twitter or facebook or instagram and all this crazy stuff that everybody deals with today. We were in a little place in Lake Placid playing a hockey game.

And it wasn't until after we beat Finland, which people forget about because if we don't beat Finland, you and I aren't having this conversation right now. And we beat Finland and we go to the White House on Monday. And the streets were lined with people, four or five rows deep, waving American flags, people singing the Star Spangled Banner. It was like, oh my God, you people watched. It was just incredible. and people will come up to me today, depending on how old they are.

They remember where they were when Kennedy got assassinated. They remember where I were when the challenger blew up. They remember where they were on 9-11. And they'll always say, I remember where I was when we won. And I always go, we, I didn't know you were on the team. But that's what that moment was. It wasn't Boston. It wasn't Chicago.

And I've said this, and I'll say this the day I die, other than being a police officer or firefighter, someone in the military who protects our country, there's no greater feeling than putting on a USA jersey because you're not playing for a Super Bowl, you're not playing for a Stanley Cup, you're playing for an Olympic gold medal, and you put their USA jersey on,

it's pretty special and pretty amazing. And when we accomplished what we did and saw how much joy it brought to a nation, makes it even that much more special. Who do you play for, man? You know, that's the... It's a very few people who get to be Olympic athletes.

And when you are, it's something you should cherish honor. Yeah, hell yeah. And you guys certainly did that and we're still obviously talking about it and we'll talk about it for the rest of time. And documentaries obviously are a nice reminder to people that maybe haven't heard the story that there is great inspiration and optimism right around the corner and sports certainly can provide that. Go ahead, AJ.

Yeah, your head coach, Herb Brooks. I know a lot of people are aware of your whole story through the movie miracle that came out. I don't know what year did come out. But can you talk about your head coach, like what he was like back then? I know there's always a big thing of you guys bonded together to go against him almost, like the whole how he was a hard driving coach. What was he like? Did the movie do a good job representing him?

I'm sure we'll get to see in the documentary tonight. He's a lot friendlier in the movie. They softened him up in the movie. But you know, and preaching to you guys, you know sports as well as I do. That's how coaches coached in the 70s. My high school football coach, my college hockey coach, they demanded a lot out of you.

They challenged you all the time. Herb was maybe a little more demanding and a little more challenging, but there's a way he was going to coach this particular team, and this is the way it's going to be, and he stayed true to form right till the end. When we won the gold medal, he didn't come out in the ice and celebrate with us. If he did, it would have been, oh, now you want to be our friend. Now you want to be close to us.

He let us enjoy the moment, and he made a decision to coach that team the way he did, partly because there were 12 guys on the team from Minnesota, nine that played under him at the University of Minnesota and as a player trying up for the team wondering, are they going to pick any Eastern guys? Because normally Eastern coach, Eastern players, Western coach, Western players. And clearly the best team was put together

and all the Minnesota kids on that team were not only good people, great players. So he made a decision that it was going to be us against him. And as he said throughout the year, there's a method to my madness. And we understood that's the way it was going to be. I mean, two-hour practice, you can yell and scream at me all you want. After practice, I'm going to go have a few beers with the guys and come back to practice the next day. But two of the qualities that Herb had, and I say this all the time about coaches,

if you don't trust your coach, you're in trouble. And if you don't respect your coach, you're in trouble. We trusted Herb, we respected Herb. And if this is the way he was going to coach our team, then we're going to deal with it and we're going to play. And look, again, at the success of our team, you know, doing something that nobody Nobody in the world thought we could win a medal, let alone win the whole thing. But he believed in us and we understood what he was doing. That's the way it was going to be.

The power of team, beautiful thing. And obviously you talk about Eastern guys and Western guys, Midwest guys. You are Eastern guy. Incredible Eastern Italian, by the way. We love that around here. Gratzi. And I don't know if you know this, but the NFL is back to being an Eastern League. I guess.

Boston, Connor, has a question for you. Yeah, Rizzo, absolute honor. But Pat just mentioned it, the Patriots. You can see the helmet. I know you are a diehard Pat's fan as well. How do you feel about Mike Vrable, Drake May, nine days to the Super Bowl? And do you feel good about the team?

And also, you know, I assume you also needed some tease and peas for Bill Belichick not being a first ballot hall of fame or that affected us all individually. That to me is probably the one of the most embarrassing sporting moments I've ever been around. And I follow sports quite a bit. Obviously, being in Boston and the Patriots and the Celtics, and when I was a kid, the Celtics were winning championships after championships.

And back in the 70s, 80s, rather, I used to travel with the team when Raymond Berry was the coach, Steve Grogan, Steve Nelson, Tim Fox, all those guys. I was at the Super Bowl when they got beat up by the Bears, but I was on the sidelines during a lot of NFL games when those guys were playing. So I've got a great love for the New England Patriots, obviously, in sports. And I think you can't get a better collection right now with Mike Grable and May. I think they're perfect marriage together. I love the way Grable coaches.

He seems like the guy, I want to play for him. And Drake May, at 22 years old or whatever, and he looks like he's 12, you know, what he's doing is pretty exciting. So obviously in New England, we're happy again that the Patriots are back in the limelight. but I think it's going to be a hard game. I think Seattle's awfully good, but the Patriots all year, nobody's giving them credit. They say they have the easiest schedule

with all this and all that, but hey, they're still professional football players. I don't care how easy the schedule is. They're still pretty talented players that they're playing against. And they're playing extremely well right now, and I'm excited about the opportunity for them, and hopefully good things can happen.

You're speaking literally from Conner's break? I mean, I just knew Rizzo New Ball. There's never a question about it, but even hearing it. And I mean, you talk about all the time, too, like people in New England and Massachusetts, they just know football better than the layman. Granted gold medalist superstar,

legendary Michael Rizzioni. Of course, you know his football. But, I mean, that was, yeah, that was music to my ears, Rizzo. Thank you. All right, Riz, Paiz on. Obviously, we're going to have to gas up your fucking city for the next 20 years.

It sounds like, okay, Riz, yeah. We're all pumped about it, but it does feel like Vrabo and Drake are the perfect combo. And they can do this for another 20 years if they really want to be. to. So good for you guys up there and your fans. Now let's talk about hockey,

becoming very, very relevant to the entire world very soon with this Olympics. Go ahead, Tone. Yeah, Mike, with this Olympics. Obviously, your team was all amateurs for that Olympics and now professionals are playing in the Olympics. Do you like that the NHL players are playing in the Olympics or did you prefer like it was back in the day

when it was all amateurs with you? No, well, it was never all amateurs because the Soviets and the Swedes and the Finns and the Czechs were professional players playing professional hockey over in their country. That's why it's a miracle you see. The amateurs were usually just the United States and Canada. I was at the beginning curious how they would play against each other.

You know, if I'm playing for the penguins and I'm on the U.S. Olympic team and I'm playing against one of my penguin teammates who's playing for Canada, am I going to hit them? Am I going to go after them? And when I talk to the players, they said absolutely. You know, you separate your differences after the games are over and you go back to being on the team that you're playing on. So when I knew that and I saw that, it was like, yeah, let the best players in the world

play. And they are so good. They are so talented. At that four nations tournament, if you saw any of it, you saw the Kachuk brothers drop the gloves at the beginning. Immediately. They're playing for their country. And Sidney Crosby said the same things. I heard Sidney said when you put the crest on, it's a whole different ballgame. And when you see that and you're going to see it in the Olympic games, they're going to go after each other. They're going to compete. I wish the Soviets were playing in it because I still like to see the best teams in the world play. The Soviets aren't there. And that's because their country's all messed up. But Unfortunately, the athletes are suffering because of that.

But having said that, this is the best U.S. team we've ever put on the ice. This is the most talented, the deepest. I thought they were going to win in the Four Nations tournament. But you see how important a goaltender can be. Binnington was spectacular. And Canada's loaded. You know, you've got Macar. You've got maybe the best player I've seen ever close to it.

I can't take Mr. Lemuel and Mr. Gretzky out of the equation. But Cona McDavid's pretty damn good. So I think Canada's loaded. I think our goaltending might be a little better, but clearly I think this is the best team that we've put on the ice for the Olympic Games. And when I was at the Four Nations, I had the pleasure of being the honorary captain,

and I told the players, it says, do me a favor and win a gold medal, so people will leave us alone, and it's over. They can carry the torch. My grandkids need their heroes, and hopefully it'll be this team, and I'll be in Milan,

and I'm excited about this team and what they can do. Happy you'll be there. You should be at everything going forward for everybody at all times. But Ty had a question about that last statement he made there, actually. Yeah, Mike, I did want to ask you about that because I think it was kind of tongue and cheek, you know, about, hey, stop bothering us, you know, like we need the new blood to kind of create some new heroes. Do you think in this day and age when these guys, you know, and granted, they're not making the kind of money that, you know, NBA players, NFL, MLB players are? But do you think that that is still, like if we were to win a gold medal,

do you think that that kind of does, I don't want to say, it's not going to diminish what you guys did, but do you think that will kind of put you guys in your place in history? And then people will kind of start to talk about this new iteration of U.S. hockey. And it won't be so much, hey, it's unbelievable. Like, we're never going to see another miracle on ice, but we'll kind of have our new regime, I guess, of hockey in the United States. Well, I think it'll be a testament to how far the game is gone, how far it's come, how good our players are today.

And I'm just going to add a little side note, too, you should see how good our women are and how talented the ladies are and how much better women's hockey is today than it was. But the men's hockey program and where they go, if they win a gold medal, it'll be a showcase of how far U.S. hockey has come. I think in 1980 we might have opened the door. Today's players have knocked it down. And if they win a gold medal, it's not going to change one damn thing that we did. What we did is what we did. What we did will never be, it'll never happen again because you'll never see a bunch of college kids play against NHL players or pros and win. So let's take that out of the equation right there. And the state of the country at the time, maybe a little similar now. But, but, you know, at that time in 1980, you remember who's going to be the president? There were gas lines, inflation, the hostages had been taken, the threat of a cold war, Soviets invaded Afghanistan. There were so many things around politically. And we were playing the Soviets. We're not playing the Soviets in this Olympic Games.

So I think that whole side of the end of what we did in 80, you'll never, ever see again. And this is their moment. This is their team to do what they need to do. It's not going to change our team and our history and our story because what we did, you'll never see again. But for hockey, it would be a great tribute to the American players that are playing the game. And there, you know, my grandkids are going to look up to these players. They'll have their heroes.

and, you know, want to play in the NHL because of what they're seeing out there and what these country is doing. So we're going to rally around it and hopefully they can win. But if it does happen and they do win, good for them. Let them have their day. Hell yeah, Reyes. Hell yeah, Reyes. I love that speech you just gave for the boys.

You know, it's like, hey, a lot of things happen in the world. You know, sports have the ability. You know, America winning would be great right now, especially with what we have in, Chuck Kaching last night. You know, he's all the way back. It feels like the boys are ready to go. I did not know Caino, Patrick Cainole was not on the team. That is a surprise.

We're learning that in real time while I'm talking to him. That was obviously a mistake by me. But I like our team. I like what we're doing. And I like the idea of you potentially giving us a speech as we send into the greatest weekend of all time. Can you do that with us? We always end the show with a team on me, team on three type thing.

Would you mind being a part of that with us, Cap? I'm ready. Okay, so we will be off Monday and Tuesday. We will be back on Wednesday, live from Radio Row in San Francisco with guests through the roof. A hilarious situation will occur probably two, three times an hour. A ridiculous situation will occur probably four or five times an hour. Radio Row is insane.

We'll be celebrating the year that was for Ball. And we hope you have the greatest weekend of all time because next week. And, you know, the future is an amazing. thing. Be your friend tell friend something nice if I change your life. We're in this thing together. Team on me. Anything to say to the to the team here, Riz? Thanks for having me on team. And if you believe in something and you're willing to work hard, you will accomplish it. And that's what our hockey team's going to do in Milan. Hell yeah, Riz. Yeah. Hell yeah. Team on three. Have an incredible weekend.

One, two, three. Team. Goodbye.