The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 1527 - Adam Schefter, Paul Skenes, Quentin Richardson, Mike Greenberg, & Bret Michaels

Episode Date: April 2, 2026

On today’s show, Pat and the boys chat about Kirk Cousins officially signing with the Las Vegas Raiders to potentially be their starting Quarterback, the news that the Cowboys and Ravens will be playing in Brazil, all the different news still floating around from the league meetings, updates after the first week or so of the MLB season, and much more. They are also joined by a series of incredible guests including ESPN NFL Senior Insider, Adam Schefter, 2025 NL Cy Young winner, Paul Skenes, 13 year NBA veteran and 2005 NBA 3-Point champion, Quentin Richardson, 2x Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer and host of Get Up!, Mike Greenberg, and lastly the lead singer of Poison and one of the biggest rock stars on the planet, Bret Michaels. Make sure to subscribe to youtube.com/thepatmcafeeshow or watch on ESPN (12-2 EDT), ESPN’s Youtube (12-3 EDT), or ESPN+. We appreciate the hell out of all of you. We’ll see you tomorrow, cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, beautiful people, and welcome to our humble abode, the Thunderdome, on this here we go. Thursday. This sports program begins now. Sport! Are the greatest, and today we'll be celebrating damn near all of them. We have a guest from the baseball world, Paul Skins will be joining us. We have a guest from the basketball world, Quentin Richardson, would join us. We have a broadcast sports show.

so we'll have somebody from all those Hall of Fame Mike Greenberg will be joining us. Nice. Now people haven't seen Mike Greenberg on this show in a long time. Greenie is different on this show than he is on all the other shows. I would like to say that we get a much more free open version of Greenberg. He'll always come in here with things that he's been wanting to say,

but on Get Up doesn't feel as if he can say, you know, his point guard on Get Up to the experts. Nobody wants to hear my thoughts. We have him on here. He has his thoughts. That's right. And we love hearing Greenie's thoughts. classic old school sports fan guy. And he is obsessed with it, which is why we respect him so much.

Going on 30 years has never won an Emmy. Crazy. That tracks. Has never won a sports Emmy. Okay? And does not care. That has zero cares at all about. Can I wait to chat with him?

And then obviously all roads. Okay. All roads are leading right to Brett Michael's appoint. Hell. Yeah. He'll be joining us at about one. 140, 145, 150-ish there towards the end of the second hour on ESPN as we continue into digital. Brett Michael is from Butler, Pennsylvania, which is obviously Western Petsbetti, which is obviously Pittsburgh.

He'd go on to have a smashing singing career with poison, and then as an independent artist as well. Brett Michaels, obviously, every rose has its thorn, six songs in the top ten, and he's a yinzer legend. Okay? He found love and a bus. I don't know. I'm not sure if they're still together, but he is going to be performed. performing at the NFL draft that was announced this morning. Him, Wiz Khalifa, and Cambram. Boom. Wow. So, free concert, free draft, free fun, free football stuff

happening in Pittsburgh, starting in April on the 23rd. Yes. That's the Thursday. Yep. We're going to be there. Cannot wait to get out there. Wisn't wait to get out there. Whiz Khalifa on the stage? Always good. He is a I don't want to say a magician,

but he's a guy who sounds, exactly like what it sounds like in Spotify. We have seen him a couple different times be at a level of good time that you think to yourself, there's no way that guy is going to be able to go and nail, you know, every single word. This guy's, Wiz is unbelievable. He's one of the most talented people I've ever seen.

And now you see him, he's in super. Oh, yeah, he's Jack. Absolutely Jack. And he's like, you know, he's going to. Yeah, he's going to be, he's going to walk out on a stage of kill it. So Brett and Wiz on Friday, Kane Brown, I believe. on Saturday, free concert, free football shit all weekend. For the draft in Pittsburgh, we cannot wait to get out there.

I mean, today's huge day because Shephyr will be joining us in about two minutes as well. The Tox of Tables here at Boston Connor at Ty Schmidt. Do the Red Sox play the Yankees? Is this like something that's happening right now? No, I wish because we probably give it to them pretty good. Sox are one in five, so we're... As you guys are the worst than all MLB. We are tied.

And what does that mean? That's like being the worst team in the preseason of the NFL. It does not matter. Real baseball starts in April. Some would even say, It starts in May. So we're not worried right now. By the way, I'm wearing a Roman Anthony shirt, okay?

It's the Roman era. It might as well be the Roman Empire. He was one for one with the home run. Is that good? I'm pretty sure it is. One for one? I didn't know you could do that. Finally, someone says...

You got Dero coaching that team up there? We're not playing the Roman Anthony? Please, if Dero was coaching that team, we'd be more worried about the warm-ups than we are about the actual baseball. That's why we're going to turn this thing around. Dero would have that team at least four and two. Not true. We know that's not true.

Dero was operating. We're celebrating on restrictions from the MLB teams that nobody else was allowed to know about because MLB teams look like assholes. I were only allowed to do a certain amount of this, certain amount of that. Only want to talk so many words of certain guys because MLB didn't want him to say as much. This guy couldn't motivate all that he wanted to motivate,

and you're here saying that you could be worse than one in five? I don't think so. You guys are worse in a league? Dero could motivate because he was calling him McHuya, okay, every other day to give the boys to pop-bo's speech. Not good enough, it seems. Unfortunately. They won when McCuia thought.

Okay, yeah. Do they win it all? No, so it really does. Let's celebrate silver around here and then see what start happening, okay? You guys are dying to be a silver right now, one in five. You're worse than all of MLB. We'd go 0 and 162 than win a silver. That's how much we want the gold.

And I'm not worried about the socks, okay? We finally are getting back to Femway. We haven't been home yet. All right, so sue us. We had a slow start. We had to play in Houston and in Cincinnati, two of the grittiest clubs out there. Yeah, I think we're going to be just fine,

especially the Roman Anteathe at the helm, okay? I'm sure they're thankful to hear your optimism. because 1 in 5 is tough. It's a football. Okay? It's a football. We might as well be 0 in a quarter of a game if this is football. We're not even hitting our stride.

We're going to get hot at the right time, not when nobody cares. How are the Yankees' ass? Are we good? No, Yankees are 5 and 1, and their rotation has the lowest R.A. In like the history of baseball through this many games. So I agree with Connor. You know, at this point in the season,

you're not really going to, you know, be jumping over hoops or anything like that. But when you have a historically great pitching staff in a league that's been around for, I don't know, almost 150 years. Garrett Cole's not even there yet. Yeah, and three of your guys are actually hurt right now, not playing. You're feeling pretty good. So, yeah, you know, the Yankees are going to be just fine.

How's Judgy doing? We get nuts? Not great, but that's the, you know, that's the... We're not getting hit still? Well, Judge, he's got two dingers, so he's not, you know, but he doesn't look like, you know, mid-June, Judgeie. How's Jaschism doing? We love him.

He's had a little bit of a slow start. What? Everybody we know? What is going on of it? No, no, you know, it's okay. They just got done playing in Seattle. Holy shit out there. It's rainy.

You know, just, you're not ready. And like the Red Sox, they haven't been home yet. They got the home opener at Yankee Stadium tomorrow. But there's a difference. Five-on-one. Yeah, we're five-in-one. That's different. They're one and five.

They got real pitchers. All our pitchers are bringing us spaghetti and meatballs. It is the most frustrating thing I've ever watched. You guys are throwing BP out there? It is absurd. Isn't that a big part of baseball? Big part of baseball. So, yeah, maybe we'll be worried in a little bit of a later date.

You guys are last place? I've been told end of April is where I should really start getting pissed. Right now, it's temporary. All right. We'll hold that conversation about the Roman Empire, even though we love Roman Anthony. And we hope he gets maybe sent to a team that's 500 or better. Maybe he goes to one half of the hammer. Dahn Cowboys team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, Home Opener tomorrow, big deal.

Paul Skeins will be joining us in 14 minutes. They're currently three and three. Baseball, though, very difficult to kind of figure out what's going on this early, and especially whenever it comes to gambling. Yeah, yes, gambling, like when you're gambling with these and you're looking at, at the starting pitchers. You have to look at spring training stats and what they did in spring training. Then you have to decide to spring training matter. Were they even trying in spring training? And then now we're getting into the second starts for these guys that started their

opener. So you can look at the stats on how they pitched in their first game. That's hard. I mean, some of the best players in baseball right now are 0 for like 19. Some of the best bats are just really, really struggling right now. Early in the season, it is hard. We've talked about this during the WBC. Like this, like Harper came on and said like, yes, I wish this was June in July when I'm actually seeing things and like we're back into the groove of thing. So it's just really, really hard to do that. Okay, well, we won't be bet on baseball or darts. I'll tell you that. What we won't bet on is we think that I don't care that there's one in Manchester today. It's not just one. It's nine, okay? This is the most important.

This is basically November football. So let's make sure we're kind of locked in on Manchester. A huge one for Johnny Clayton, by the way. Go, Johnny, go, go, go. Has to go back to the winner circle. I have decided with the mirror that I will not put another. dollar on the way these guys operate. Until today. Nope. Yeah, 2 o'clock, we kick off. We're gonna need you on Littler. We're gonna need you on Go-Go-Go-Go-Go-Go. Joining us now, ladies and

a man who's thinking the same way I am, these dart players, just by looking at them, I can tell, not reliable, okay? Those guys are going to have up days and don days. That is bollocks. Huh? That is bollocks, my friend, okay? Last, well, tell me what happened at night fucking eight, Johnny Clayton,

Johnny Rock, guy with God, comes out and just gets absolutely stomped. They're up and down, they're hit or miss. Luke Littler even can't find a triple 20, can't find a 180. You would think with the glitz and a glamour that they have there, some of them would just choose to lock in, you know? I'm going to lock in, actually.

I'm going to try to eat healthy. I'm going to do exercises for my eyes. I'm going to maybe work out a little bit so that I can remain a consistent throat. Like try to master, master, master this thing. But then all of them say, this is what got us to the Dorts Den. so not going to change anything.

And I guess I can respect that. But none of them are in shape. Yeah. So it's hard for me to depend on them because I know they're not even really dependent on themselves. Those guys have never got up to an alarm clock before in their life. Very obvious. They get up at the dark clock.

That alarm clock goes off. They're like, who's that? That is not theirs. You know what I mean? No, I see. Let's move along. Let's go to a guy that has an alarm for everything. Little has an alarm.

And it rings when he's down 5-0 and he comes back to and six. Okay. And you can see Littler with his shirt off, too. You know, he's a Greek god. Okay. Well, if that is the case, I will only bet on him. It's like golf when you have a big gut, okay?

We're all thinking of one guy, all right, and when you lose a bunch of weight and you lose your golf swing because you know exactly where your arms are supposed to go because you got a big gut and then you lose it. You can't have that. They're not resting their elbows on their guts like some fifth grade teacher with a book. They know exactly. Let's move on.

I'm done with it. We're done with it. I'm pulling. Maybe I'm back in. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now as a man who has 11 straight, I forget the number, maybe 11 straight, I guess the guy that's joining us doesn't have this, but news about a guy who has 11 straight fully guaranteed contracts in the NFL, I believe is the number.

I forget what the actual number, maybe 5, 6, whatever it is. Fully guaranteed contracts is the only thing that this guy really has done since the first time he got franchise tagged. Kirk Cousins is now a quarterback for the Las Vegas Raiders. Kirk Cousin signed a deal where he'll be getting $8.7 million. from the Falcons next year. $1.3 million from the Las Vegas Raiders. And then he'll have a $10 million signing bonus in the 2027 year that activates on like the third day.

So it's basically a one year, $20 million in total money going to Kirk Cousin. 1.3 million this season against the salary cap roster for the Raiders for him. And then the Falcons are still on the hook. And then the $10 million in the future so you can pay me Vet Min now and I don't have to be on the roster next year. Just brilliant stuff.

The man who broke the news. The man is going to tell us a little bit more about this and why this is perfect for Fernando Mendoza. Kirk Cousins, Kurt Cignetti, I'm not saying they're saying people, but we can kind of have a similar conversation there. And Fernando and Kirk Cousins feels like that could be a very good tag team for the Raiders who have spent a lot of money on this particular offseason to make their team better. Joining us now, Senior NFL insider for ESPN and Michigan man, Adam Schefter. Yeah, Shephti. Do you have anything to say about darts or would you like to get directly into Kirk Cousins becoming a raider? and how long do we know this was going to be happening for?

Well, it had been talked about that he could wind up there, and him and Clint Kubiak worked together for three years in Minnesota. They were together there, and obviously the Raiders prioritized it because they're paying the guy a $10 million roster bonus that's guaranteed on the third day of the league year in 2027. They're going to pay him another $1.3 million this year, the veteran minimum, and the Falcons are paying $8.7.

So it gets him up to $20 million this year. So when you're being paid $20 million, that tells you the team wants you and the Raiders did want him. And I think he, I think he's got a realistic chance to be the opening day starter. That's what the Raiders were looking for. They're looking for somebody to take the pressure of Fernando Mendoza, that they don't have to rush him along, that they can take their time, whether he's ready in week one, four, 16, whenever. They've got Kirk cousins to man the fort until Mendoza's ready. And by getting this deal done, again, Kirk knows the system that Clint Kubiak has. Clint knows Kirk

very well. Two men join forces, and he's the favorite to start an opening day now. Yeah, mentality is all seemingly aligned with this group. Coach Kubiak, obviously fresh out of a Super Bowl championship with Sam Darno. No stranger to veteran quarterbacks kind of having a second chance at life, especially

with Kirk there in Minnesota. Here's him talking about successful rookie quarterbacks in his eyes from the league meetings. I think in a perfect world that he's watching a mature adult, you know, go and run an offense and run the team. But, you know, the situation is you might have that player.

You might not. You might not have that veteran to show him the way. So he might come in and have to play immediately. But you'd rather him learn before he gets in the game. You don't always get to pick. It just doesn't work out the exact way you wanted to. But at the end of the day, you want to make sure that you're bringing in an individual drafting a guy that, you know, is mature enough to handle hamilton.

some adversity, whether it's him starting the first game or him starting the first game year two. All right, so obviously that's head coach, GM, SpyTec obviously in on this as well. I assume they knew at that point when he was speaking that that was probably going to happen. Ownership obviously has to be involved. Has Tom Brady been involved in any of these decisions that have been taking place in a way the roster is being reshaped this particular off season? Because Tom Brady obviously behind Drew Bledsoe and you go, Aaron Rogers behind Brett, you can go through the history. Patrick Mahomes behind Alex Smith. You can go through the history of the history of.

of football. Now, Peyton Manning was started rookie year thrown right into the fire. You can do your things. There's certainly been success stories through that particular way. But watching an older guy play football is certainly something Tom Brady watched with Drew and probably used it as a source of information that you can never get as a college

player and something that he probably thinks a lot of guys that played immediately didn't get a chance to experience. You think Tom's a part of this shit as well? How much do you think he has kind of been a part of shaping what the Raiders have been doing going forward? I think I'll look at it in the reverse way. I'm not going to tell you how much he's been a part of it, because I don't know the exact answer, but I can tell you this,

none of this surprises Tom Brady. Absolutely none of it. Like, he is in on all of it. So how much he contributes to the decision? I can't say that. I don't know. But I guarantee you that he didn't see the tweet today that the Raiders were signing Kirk Cousins and go, wow, I didn't know that. Wow, that surprised me. So he's in on all these things. And Tom's a competitor. He wants that team to win very badly and he offers his input however much that matters and factors into the decisions that they make. I would assume that his input should matter. I mean, but if you look at some of the moves they may, we need a good defense. You need to get this guy center. Okay, let's get him some quarterbacking kind of lean on. It feels like Tom would be a good person to ask questions about having

a rookie quarterback become a successful quarterback. You would assume. Now granted, he was pick what, $199 or something like that? And then Fernando is going to be number one overall. But man, if Fernando has long-term success out there and they're able to build a winner and it's directly after Tom Brady becomes an owner there, shit, he's going to flex that. Yeah. He's going to flex that hard. And then people are going to tell them, you got your ass kicked by flag football players, though. Let's never forget that. Let's never, let's never forget that. So there's always going to be a humbling factor that's going to go in there. Congrats to the Raiders. We feel like this is a good move. Can we ask you about a couple other NFL things happening around the world?

Okay, Brazil, let's go. This is back-to-back of years now? We're in Brazil. Is this just going to become an annual thing? Ravens take on the Cowboys, Week 3. we're being told. We don't know which day of the week it'll be on. Maybe Schaefter knows a little bit more information. Brazil getting into rotation. Germany's in a rotation. England's in a rotation. We believe Ireland's going to get back into the rotation. Australia now has a game. It feels like coming out of league meetings, a lot of people that are talking and like, hey, international and flag is a big deal. International and flag is a big deal. Brazil is just the newest one for that, Shefti, and what else should we be expecting? Well, it can't be on Friday night due to the 1961 sports broadcasting act that we've already covered on this show in depth the last time. that we were on, right? So I don't know exactly when they're going to play that. And I don't know if

you set it up such that one of these teams, both these teams have a buy the next week. Usually we start buys in week four or so. I don't know how that's going to work with Brasilia. I don't know the timing. You're right about the emphasis on international and flag football. Like, the emphasis that the league has put on flag football is huge. That is a big deal to the NFL. You're going to keep hearing more and more about flag football. And you're going to hear about these international national matchups that are going to be everywhere this year. I mean, and it's just going to continue to grow. And as we get towards the next CBA, despite the fact that the NFLPA is protesting about

the 18 games, I think none of us are going to be surprised if and when the league gets to that, and then if and when there's an international package, and if and when every team then is playing one international game per year, like, again, is this something the players what? No. Is this something the players are going to be paid to do over time? I would put my money on that. Yes.

What about the second by week conversation? I wonder how that's going to go. I wonder how that's going to go. I guess it's happened before and it was not good. Fans of teams don't like that there's two off weeks throughout an entire season. And that's an interesting thing because I think the players will say, well, if you want us to survive, you're going to have to give us, we're going to have to get some sort of break. Maybe it just becomes a new norm, but if there's a second by week and an added game,

obviously you do the math, that's two more weeks of prime time stuff. The money could go absurd, which also goes back to the Kirk Cousins point. the salary cap lifted 20 million this year. Remember? It was way over what projections were. I wonder what it's going to be next year. The 10 million that the Raiders are putting into next year, they're like 10 million.

We can get rid of 10 million. Broncos got rid of 80. Dolphins are about to get rid of 100. 10 million that we just packaged next year. We can kind of get rid of that. Who knows what the salary cap's going to go up and to the right for. Rookie QB contract, too. They'll have Mendoza for these next five years with the option,

so it gives you that flexibility. That was a genius deal. by them. I really like that they were able to tell Kirk he's going to get $20 million, but really we're only paying you $1.3 million to league men. That's a brilliant deal. But on that note, with the international games and everything else that's happening, whatever days of the week, we had games on Friday last year. Yeah, so I guess to Schefter's like kind of point about it, the whole entire act, last year and the year before, I believe it was before the start of the high school football season.

And that's all right. Labor Day. I forgot about the Labor Day thing. the Labor Day thing. Okay. Go ahead. Are you going to say something? I was going to call up the Sports Broadcasting Act to redo the rules. I just want to make sure that we're always adhering to the rules, Pat.

How much you like to adhere to rules. Hey, man. Hey, listen, if you want to guide us in the right way at any time, go ahead and feel free to do it. Now, if I don't think it is important enough to care about, I will certainly let you know. Some Broadcasting Act feels like in this particular profession, we should try to pay a little bit of respect to.

Thank you, 1966. Thank you. Good job. Hell yeah, we appreciate that. Okay, let's talk about some turmoil, shall we, a little bit of why is this always happening from Ty to you, Chef? Yeah, Chefty, you know, we've talked about this a bunch really over the last several years. It seems like right around this time or right around the season starting. Everyone's got an issue with Jalen Hertz, whether it's, you know, the team thinks he's the problem.

Anonymous sources are coming right after the league meetings, basically putting all the blame on him. There's still the AJ Brown stuff going around. What do you read into all this stuff, not only with Jalen Hertz, what you're hearing about, AJ Brown? And also, why is this just constantly what's coming out of the locker room in Philadelphia? I mean, look, the year ended in disappointment, so people are going to be digging in. And that's a very intense media market, so people want answers. And Jalen Hertz's body language was not always great last year.

so I guess people are looking for more explanations. Look, again, I look at it like this. The guy's done a lot of things right. Like, he did win a Super Bowl two seasons ago, right? Where he could have won MVP of that particular... Did he win MVP? No, he didn't win MVP in that game. Super Bowl MVP.

Yeah, he did. He did. Okay, he was Super Bowl MVP. Okay, excuse me, I stand corrected. He was a Super Bowl MVP two years ago. Leads him to the victory. Could have won another Super Bowl. Played well enough.

has been doing this at a time where if we look at his offensive coordinators, he'll have Sean Mangon this year. He had Kevin Petulowal last year, Kellynne Moore in 24, Brian Johnson 23, Shane Steik in 22, Shane Steik and Nick Siriani, 21, Doug Peterson in 20, different offensive coordinator every year, different offense. Like, I know he's not the quarterback that everybody wants,

but how about the fact that he's done a lot of things that no other quarterbacks have done with a number of offensive coordinators? could it be different? Could it be perfect? Are there questions this year about what it might be like if Sean Manu wants them to line up under center, which he hasn't done great, which he's resisted to do in the past? Yeah, okay, there's a lot of questions, but we're still, I think,

taking apart a guy that's had a lot of success in this league. I don't quite get it. It happens a lot, though. It feels like it's always happening. What we were saying yesterday is it seems like people are way too comfortable talking about bad about the franchise quarterback. Now, you can read that a couple different ways. Are they way too comfortable because they know everybody else feels the same way they feel? So they're like, hell, I'll be the one that anonymously says it, I guess, which I hate,

even though you've made a living off it. I understand that. I don't really love anonymous sources killing somebody in the same building that they're working for, especially whenever that one guy and what he does on the field helps everybody else's resume out a lot in everything. So I don't love the anonymous source. This guy's the worst, even though... I'm not using anonymous sources to attack and malign somebody's character, Pat. True. Yeah, you're breaking news.

You're saying, yes, yes, yes. I got it. Yes. That's what I'm saying. Okay, so there is a separation. So you probably heard me say this yesterday or somebody said this before where it's like, hey, anonymous sources

in sports are crazy. I get like anonymous sources in politics and shit because people can die. Okay, and like, sure. Think the world's going to happen. But in like sports,

nobody's going to be dying from anonymous sources. I don't think. I mean, I would assume not. So whenever like it's an anonymous source in a building killing somebody,

that's what you're saying. Like, hey, let's make sure we separate the two from news breaks. I don't love that. That made, me, just speaking me,

makes me, easy. We're using anonymous sources to talk about somebody's character or if they want to go on the record and say, I think this guy's a jerk. Hey, we'll quote you. No problem. But it's hard in my mind. Yes. I don't think it's really fair to have anonymous sources questioning somebody's character. Now, if there are a lot of people and you want to write a new story saying there are multiple people that believe this guy's a jerk, you know, he's rub people the wrong and give a specific example. okay, I mean, there are examples in ways of which you can do it. But to quote somebody, like, this guy's a joke, I don't know.

I just don't, I don't love it. There's been places, and once again, my name's on the show, so I can only speak from my perspective of things, which people get really mad about, but it's like legit. There's things, articles written about me, where they get an anonymous source. And I'm like, I know who you just want to to get that. Like, you did that on purpose.

Like, this is a clear, I know who said that. So you might as well just write who, said that in the entire thing. I think that's what's really amplified it. It's like, okay, so you're just going to say, you can't say who I am, but then just make up a bunch of stuff out of context that isn't true. It's like, that's disgusting, I think. I don't think that

is how it's supposed to be. But on that note, we've amplified it. We all have, and it's because it's huge news. It's a Super Bowl MVP. Like you said, and it happens every single year. This is the 10th time we've heard this type of stuff about Jalen Hertz. Hopefully they get figured out

over there. Okay, last question. As we have, a Cy Young Legend on deck. Good baseball reference. Let's go down to Dallas Cowboys. Go ahead, Tone. Yes, Shepty. Jerry Jones talked a lot at the owner's meetings, but one of those things was George Pickens

and his contract. What's the latest situation with the Cowboys Star Wide Receiver? Do you think there will be a contract extension? And if not, will George show up to training camp? I know that's a long way, way. I'm skeptical that there'll be an extension. It's early. It's April 2nd.

but George Pickens is not allowed to be in that building unless he signs the franchise tender. He's not going to sign that franchise tender without there being a long-term deal. I don't see a long-term deal coming into focus until right before the deadline, which would be the middle of July, which tells you that there's a real probability that George Pickens will not be there for the off-season program. Now, if the two sides can figure out a long-term deal that I think is going to be very difficult, then that's great and good for both sides. they both get what they want. But if they can't, and I think it's more likely than not that they won't,

now there's the possibility that we won't see George Pickens, who knows when, in the summer. He could come in a week late, two weeks late, right before the start of the season. He's under no obligation. He won't be fine for missing camp because he hasn't signed anything if they don't get a long-term deal done and he hasn't signed that franchise tender. And so I just think it's set up right now to be a very tricky challenging situation for both sides. What would be a fair, long-term contract for George Pickens? I think the two sides would have differing ideas. He's not going to be there in the off-season program.

He's not starting the franchise tender. CD Lambs 34, average a year. Other wide receivers are getting more. What's the number? It's a tricky deal to do. Yeah, but Jerry said he's got long-term plans for Mr. Pickens. He's got long-term plans. He does.

That's fine. Let me know when the deal. Maybe he gets a little bit of natural gas down there, a little honey hole. Yeah. You know, maybe George Pickens gets a tiny shovel to potentially go dig down into the honey hole that he has found at natural gases. That's right below his feet right now as we speak. Glorio. Glorial.

Yeah, you'd like that. So glory hole, I believe, is oil, okay? I believe the glory hole is oil. I'm not hurt and sure. Natural gas, I believe there is. It's a bit of a honey. Honeyhole, honey pot. We're talking two different natural resources here that you can make billions and billions off of.

Not everybody loves that. Not everybody loves that. I'll tell you, I think it's a pretty big talking point right now. Certainly. I think it is. It sounds like we got a lot on this land from what I've been understanding. Cody Campbell down there in Texas Tech, he's got a lot of shovels, man. Every time I text him, ask him where I need to start fucking digging, he never gives me an answer.

But maybe one day. I appreciate you, Chefty. You know, you know, before we go, you know the uniforms, Pat. You didn't ask about the Falcons. Clean, new look for Atlanta. Very sharp, very cool looking. We got, yeah.

Oh, yeah, see, here it is. 100,000. Hold on. Can we go back? We go back. We please turn that up. Did he write it or is he reading voice every thing? Turn it up.

I once had a dream. Yes. My eyes with new, fresh vision like nothing before. The John Robinson touched me. I said, I could see in what felt like four dimensions in time was one of them explored. I could now see everything. Unbounded from the ground, I was let loose.

The higher I sawed, the more free I became. The sky was all mine and I was the same. I am the fastest animal on the planet. To naked eyes are blurred. Swipes of red, white, silver and black would occur without alert. Pray, we have no time to pray. In this dream, my body was a falcon, but my mind was still mine. I could recognize my city and nest from miles away in detail without trying.

All dreams feel real, of course, but this one was different still. A bouncing word I heard upon waking even now gives me chills. Atlanta, Atlanta, Atlanta, Atlanta, until no sound. I could still see everything as it is and was. Now I'm flying on the ground. A new red rush. Oh, yeah. That was Andre 3000?

Really? What group was he in? Was he the black eyed piece? All right. Ladies and gentlemen! So good. Just say it with me. Uh-huh. Push that force.

Everybody moved to the back of the bus. Do you want to run and run with... Excuse me? We need a type of... Yeah, I don't want to say it, Schaefter. Outcast is the answer there. Him and Big... Outcast.

Outcast. Yeah, they're in high school, just like Little Wayne at the time. They're in high school dropping bangers. Rosa Parks. You can go all the way back through. Quimini, I believe. They're one of the first.

DMX, Rough Rogers Anthem. Bang. Dan, dan, dan, dan, dan. That's the first thing I saw. That got me into rap, and then Outcast was the next. quick. What's that? You have breaking news? And also, and also, congratulations are in order to Josh Allen and Haley Steinfeld.

That's right. Us clapping, cut you out. You definitely gave important piece of information out there at the end. What you say, do we know any more info or we just want to send our love and health and everything to the lovely superstar? Baby girl, that's all we know right now. Good for them. Congratulations. Josh, girl dad's awesome. You're going to enjoy the hell out of it. Congrats to both of them. You're the man, ladies gentlemen. I'm Schaefter. Black-Eyed Peas, Andre 3,000. Yikes.

Come on. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, who we made weight way too long, is a man who's fresh off, his first dub of the MLB season. Saw a young winner, a man who at one point was here in Indianapolis, pitching for the Indians, selling out the entire downtown area.

Then he made his move over to Pittsburgh, became an instant legend. This LSU national champions, a stallion, a stud, the future of baseball, and he's on the bump for the pirates. Ladies and gentlemen, Yeah, Skiddle! How are you going, Sam?

How's it going, Phil? Hey, great hat. Honestly, I love what you're doing there. I don't know. That Steeler McBeam. Yeah, I know. Steelers got a mascot, and that was what they came up with. And at the beginning, it was kind of mocked and ridiculed,

but now it's kind of just become a thing. I love that you love Pittsburgh as much as you do, Paul. Can we talk about that a little bit? Pirates, notoriously ass. We've been spending money, though, now. And I think you are one of the main drivers of it all, because of your talent and the optimism, from the entire city behind it.

How do you feel this year about the team? I saw you guys watch that social media video where it's Pittsburgh people talking about the Pirates winning, and it does feel as if you guys want to win for Pittsburgh. How is that to start the season here, and how do you feel at this exact moment six games in? Yeah, it's been great. You know, I had a lost the series in New York,

and then came back and won the series in Cincinnati and, you know, coming back home at a 500 record and fired up to, you know, have the home open tomorrow. It's going to be a fun year. Okay, let's talk about that New York. We don't want to go backwards, okay? Spaceships don't come equipped with rearview mirrors. They dip.

Shout out, by the way, to Andre 3000, who is not a part of the Black IPs. You knew that. I know that you knew that. Shephardt just embarrassed himself. But we don't need to go in the back. That New York game, okay? That New York game. You just got to eliminate that immediate?

Like, how do you go about processing that type of show? That had to be the first time, long time that you've ever experienced. Maybe ever. Maybe your whole life. Like, how do you process that and move on and then come out with your best shit the next game like you did? Yeah, just got to see it for what it is. You know, it's never as bad as it seems. It's never as good as it seems.

So just watching the game, you know, understanding what went wrong, what went well. And that's every game. You know, you treat it the same as every game. It's just a lot shorter that you can, you know, a lot fewer pitches. that you can look through after a game like that, which makes it a little bit easier. It's nothing crazy. Just got to get back into the routine

and remember what makes you good. I think you didn't have that many pitches yesterday either. It feels like we're on pace maybe to pick up a couple games. You know, pick up a couple games. Maybe all the way in October. Maybe all the way into October. And there's a new tradition. There's a new tradition that has certainly captivated the stars.

It is certainly captivated the universe. And it is certainly taking over Tone Diggs' life, who's obviously you're a massive fan of the pirates. We're hoisting things now, bud. Yeah, we are skeins. And it's a phenomenon. It's taking over the entire internet. Actually, I wanted to throw to the video

so the people, if they don't know that, can understand what hoisting the cone means. Billy, what made you the official cone bearer over here in the dugout? Well, Jake made sure that it was in the dugout. And if we're going to have a cone in here, you know, someone's got to lift it up. It's not going to hoist itself.

So just kept it next to me in the dugout. And anytime something good happened, hoisted it up. And a lot of good stuff happened with it. So got raised a lot yesterday. And again, it goes with the welders mask or welders helmet, whatever you want to call it. So they work well together. And we're looking forward to a lot more air time for this thing. Yeah, shout out SportsNet, Sportsnet, Pittsburgh, and Hannah-Mere.

was doing the interview there. And then Billy Cook was the one talking and Jake Mangum was the one who brought the cone into the locker room. How did how did this come? Are you ever going to hoist the cone or is it strictly Billy Cook's job? What's the life of the cone like in the dugout right now? Yeah, well, the cone, the life of the cone, it's been getting used a lot recently. So got to keep that gone.

I don't know. You know, there are probably going to be a number of people that hoist the cone this year. He was a few times. Ward is, you know, he looked like he was at Hogwarts there. Nice. I don't know the story on the cone. To be honest, I do know there was a shirt that came out in the offseason that said hoist the cone. And nobody knew what it meant.

So we got a traffic cone before, I think, before the Tuesday game in Cincinnati. And, yeah, what the heck does hoist the cone? There's a there's probably a player's parking spot in Cincinnati that was after Mangor brought it in. He probably just stole it from a parking lot somewhere. But we got it. And it's made its way back to Pittsburgh. And things have been happening.

And we all wonder what Fanatics was thinking at the time. We said, wow, just another blatant air by Fanatics when it comes to merch. fanatics were saying was just wait yeah okay this is a pre-sale right now yeah what you're getting at is about what you're to look at you said matt who brought in the cone who was the one that decided that the shirt needed to come to the dugout and the dugout now is at a point where we're only winning games i see you not really giving it much attention there maybe you need to start focusing on the cone a little bit more as it walks by you show your respect but you are saying it did start from the t-shirt that was completely wrong that was telling the future and now it has

captivated the boys a little bit i feel like that's what i saw with the w bcc Every dugout routine becomes like a part of the team, whether it's a hand signal, whenever somebody gets on base to it all, we think the cone's going to survive? The cone's going to survive the year, or are we one rut away from cone getting dropped back off in a parking lot? I don't know baseball culture well enough. How long is this thing going to last? Forever?

I really hope so. You know, the dugout stuff, in my experience, it happens organically. It's not something you force. So the cones here, I think it's here, to stay. We'll see. Hopefully it lasts all the way into October, you know, a deep way into the season. All right. Why don't you have cleats on the ground in there for us? Keep us updated on how that cone's going to do.

But I think when you're hoisting as high as you guys are, we're going to be seeing that thing. And the welders mask right next to it. Sweet. I mean, we're talking grit. We're talking blue collar. We're talking why not get a win? We're talking youngest player in long time, maybe ever, to be playing baseball at that level. Go ahead, Ty.

Yeah, Paul. This is nothing new for the Pirates. is kind of what they do, you know, not great, get a really good guy, draft him. He plays young. And then, you know, five, six years down the road, he ends up getting traded to the Yankees or, you know, something like that. That's not happening with Paul. We're in a new buckles right now. I agree, which is why I was going to say.

Connor Griffin is getting called up. He's making his debut on Friday. You guys, I mean, obviously cut from similar cloth in terms of being a, hey, can't miss prospect. This guy is going to be unbelievable. How much of him have you seen? We've seen his stats throughout, you know, his entire minor league ramp up to this point. It's just ridiculous if you extrapolate it over a full MLB season. How much of him have you seen and how excited are you to watch him make his debut on Friday?

Yeah, I'm fired up. You know, if Bucco fans needed anything else to get excited about for the home opener, that, you know, they got it. So it's great. You know, he's a super mature. He's 19 right now. you would never know it talking to him. The most mature 19-year-old you're ever going to meet in your life.

And the play speaks for itself, but, you know, the way he conducts himself in the locker room and off the field, it's cool to see. So he's going to bring an energy and, you know, obviously a skill set to Pittsburgh, but, you know, that's exciting. From Mississippi, too, right? From Mississippi. Yeah. Him and Megham actually went to the same. high school, I believe. Oh, so he's got some cone ties.

Okay, I'm pretty excited. He's going to be up there pretty comfortable. What is life for a 19-year-old going to be like in MLB? You guys are traveling a lot, obviously, right? And then he got a lot of life. Like, he's just built for it because he's played baseball his whole life. Like, how do you kind of get used to being a rock star? And by rock star, I mean, I mean, yeah, very popular, very famous, but also on road a lot.

Like, that's something that we just assume he's good at? Is that something we just assumed you were good at? too? It's tough. I mean, it's, you know, I'm sure you guys know the life just being on the road and traveling to different places and, you know, competing, going to unfamiliar places and staying in weird hotels and new stadiums and that kind of thing. It's something like, it's going to be an adjustment for him. He's done it in the minor leagues and it's probably harder in the minor leagues taking bus trips rather than flying and you have better hotels in the big leagues.

But he's going to be fine. It's just some adjustments that you have to make. You'll learn, you know, sleeping, eating, just little stuff like that that people probably don't think about that, you know, you learn a lot about pretty quickly once you get called up. Yeah, I wouldn't be able to do what you go.

I don't think I'd be able to just discipline, food, food discipline, on road. very tired. Obviously, team is supplying a lot, but just that one aspect of your life, wherever you don't really know what the right move is or have something that you can just definitely go and get. Pillows. Oh, God. Hotel pillows, especially for your big ass head. Look at that. Look at that. Loghead this guy's got. I couldn't even imagine. You've got to put, you putting towels underneath the pillows? I travel with, with pillows. Smart. There it is. That's probably a baseball thing, I assume.

lot of baseball guys traveling pillows? I think a lot of guys do it, yeah. That's a good move, yeah. Because our biggest complaint is always. These pillows. Beds are fun. These pillows, yeah, the beds, whatever. You know, you're going to be laying on something.

Pillow is always bad. I like the baseball's got to travel and pillow brigade. I like, I like you. You guys just walking in with those things flopping out of you. I like everything about that. Shout to you, by the way. Love what you've done since the beginning of your career with the Gary Seneese Foundation.

Obviously, we have matched alongside of you. This year we're shooting for 150,000. Can you tell a little bit more about this and why you've remained committed to give them back to great United States Americans? Yeah, it's the Gary Seneese Foundation. You know, this is my third year with them. They do great work. Veterans and first responders, just supporting them in any way they can. I've got, you know, they've let me ride in a fire truck now, which is pretty cool.

and, you know, I got to honk the horn and all that. Wow. Pretty cool. They do a week at Disney World every year for veterans and first responders one week for veterans, one week for veterans, one week for first responders, and it's their families. It's pretty heavy. I went down there for a couple days in the offseason, and a lot of women and children. You know what I mean? There's not very many men there that are in a lot of single moms, single dads.

It's pretty heavy just with fallen veterans, fallen first responders, and they just do a week of healing for them at Disney World, among other things. But they just do a lot of good work, and it's an honor to partner with them again. Yeah, being a tag team partner for Gold Star families, certainly a beautiful thing. Happy to hear that the Gary Seneese Foundation is continuing to help out the families of those who serve our great country, both here locally and abroad. Shout out to everybody. We've matched with you last year. You're going per strikeout, right? Are we doing that again? Yes, sir. Okay, what do we do? Remind me, remind me what we're doing. We've matched

first two years, but remind me what we're doing. Whenever you get ponche, when you get a ponche, okay, what are we doing? We're donating per strife. We're donating per break out how much? $100. How about you and me this year? We go $500. I like it. Let's do it. All right, check, shake, shake, shake, shake.

Yeah, check on it. Yeah, yeah. It's so big. Massif. Never want to do that in real life because that's so big. Touch your elbow. Yeah. Speaking of, all right, on that note, last question for you here comes from Connor.

Yeah, Skino, your two starts into the ABS era in the MLB. It feels as though it has been a huge success. Do you have a conversation with your catcher about it? we saw the splits. Catchers are the most successful when it comes to challenges. Pitchers, okay, batters, okay. How has that been so far? Would you say, and do you think it is something that is going to, you know, in general,

help the game a lot? Yeah, I think it's definitely going to help the game. I don't, I think in my two starts, I don't think I've had anyone challenge. I haven't, so I'm never going to challenge. There's, because, you know, as a pitcher, you think everything's a strong. You get emotional and, you know, when you get emotional, that doesn't help you. So I'll let my catchers challenge for me. I don't think there have been any hitters that have challenged against me, but it's great.

You know, it's being accurate. It's, is it a strike or is it a ball? And now there's an answer for that. and so it's cool. It's been fun to watch. It's, you know, it's definitely affected the games. You're a previous catcher, we all know, and we asked you this question,

like the last time you're on the show or maybe two times ago when you're on the show, and you said, I hope ABS never gets in majors. That's what you said. And you talked about the respect you have for umpires and respect for catchers and framing and how, like, that's the part of baseball is the little thing. It felt inevitable that this was going to come.

Have you changed your stance? Are you okay with it now, especially with what you've seen happen because there's been some magical moments of catchers just dunking on umpires right in front of their face and hey and then another bolt i don't think so brother hi three straight and now we're talking about some of these umps are getting caught out for everything and not even looking at the bases it feels like potentially much better for the sport because it does add an extra element of electricity but also potentially exposing not great officiating at the same time.

I know all those things are potentially why you weren't for it a couple years back. What are your thoughts now knowing that it is just a reality of baseball for the rest of your career, which is going to go for a long time? Yeah, when we talked when I was in Indy, the experience that I had, you know, I was a lot closer to college back then and high school back then that I was to the big leagues, like just because I had never experienced the big leagues. And so, you know, selfishly at the time, it was like, well, there are a lot more balls that get called strikes than strikes to get called balls. And so now I want to say last year I had more pitches in the zone get called balls against me than pitches that were balls that got called strikes.

So now I'm all for it. switch my stance on it. I'm all for it. It's great. I'll tell you what, the data has certainly opened my eyes. Maybe I am a little bit better than those umpires. Maybe the umps aren't better than me at this entire thing.

That is, uh, it's provided incredible excitement. I mean, it won a game last night. It won a game last night for Baltimore. Yeah. I mean, it was a walk-off ABS. Bolt catcher says, I don't think so, Jack. That was. That was where we were aiming, fella, is what he says.

The hump, the hump goes, we're going to take a look at this thing. Let's go ahead. Oh, for 20,000 of us, let's look at this in real time. Was I right? I wasn't. Damn it. Game over. Strike three.

Like, it is an added element of excitement. Can't take too long either. I like how efficient it is. Yeah. Because if it took too long, then people complained about baseball games being long. I think it's great. And if it's going to continue to make you a better pitcher, brother, let's run that up. We appreciate you for joining us.

Good luck the rest of the way. Appreciate it. I was good to talk. All right. We're going to come see you on a road somewhere. Hell, yeah. I'm going to see you on a road somewhere. I'm going to see him in Chicago next week.

Oh, yeah, against Cubbies. Yeah. Are you going to, you ever think about doing that maybe with the pitch clock? Start real early, so a guy has to lock in. Hold that thing. 10 seconds. Balance point. Is that what this is called?

Bang. Hit the balance point. Hold it. And then he doesn't know when you're coming. And then once he looks like he's lost interest, now we're doing it. They do it in penalty kicks and like breakaways. Have you thought about this?

And is it allowed? It is allowed. I don't think anybody's done it for 10 seconds. That seems like a little bit more than time. See? I'll think about it. I can't guarantee that I'm going to do it. But I'll give it some thought.

Well, don't just drop it in a game. Obviously work on the off season. Nobody's done 10 seconds, you said? Which makes me, or the war, Shenzu, rest in peace. Nobody's ever done it before. You just sit there. Imagine a reaction from the crowd to, oh, when's he going to go? When's he going to go?

You know, and then, but why am I? Something about just trying to get better. That's all we're trying to do. Ladies and gentlemen, Cy Young winner, Gary Seney's Foundation donor, and a man who's going to save the Pittsburgh Pirates and City of Pittsburgh, Paul Skeen. Thank you, buddy. Yes, kid, oh. I don't think he's going to do it.

He might. I don't think he's going to do it. Let's pivot from MLB and obviously giving back to Great Americans, and let's talk about the NBA on its incredible run. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now. a 13-year NBA event, a member of the knuckleheads podcast, front of the program, Quentin Rich's saying. Yeah, thank you, Rich.

What do you think? You think Paul should maybe try that? I've never seen that, but you might be on to something. I don't know. See, I didn't know if it's legal. Oh, yeah. I mean, imagine if you're a knuckleball or Angie do that. So your body's knuckling while you kind of go in. Let's talk basketball.

Is that legal? Is that illegal? Is that illegal? Is that illegal? Luca, immediately with Stock Lakers, everybody's going to love this. Me, National Dufus, doesn't pay attention to the NBA, especially because the Pacers go from game seven of the finals to a lottery. Is Tyrese Halliburton the most valuable player this year?

Something to think about. Now, let's go to the Los Angeles Lakers. Luca, he's lost 38 pounds, I'm being told, and he is playing his best basketball. Is he going to be able to lead the Lakers to a title? Like, what's the reality of that particular situation? I know Wemby and SGA are certainly battling for the MVP in OKC, and San Antonio are outrageous. I understand that.

But is the LA hype real at this point? And is it only real because we're talking about how terrible of a trade it was for the Mavericks? Like how should we actually judge this Lakers team? It should it be in comparison to what the Mavericks became after trading them or in the reality of this year in the NBA? No, I would, I mean, in the reality of the NBA, I would, I mean, right at this point, you know, everybody's kind of concluded that the Lakers won that trade, that Lucas should have never been traded. this is just his first full season, you know, as a Laker, getting the fulls off season coming in the training camp, knowing this is his new home.

I think the Lakers absolutely have a chance to win the championship with Luke after him. I mean, it doesn't have to mean this going to be this year. But I think, yeah, they got time to work. And, I mean, he's showing that he's got, he's got way more in the tank than I guess Dallas or anybody thought he did. But, I mean, this is a superstar we're watching. And he's dead smack in the middle of his prime. And he's giving everybody buckets right now.

J.J. Reddick becomes the second Lakers coach, I think, to win back-to-back 50 games seasons, him and Phil. Shout out, J.J. Shout out J. Red. You know what I'm saying? That's my former teammate. Shout out, shout out, shout out J. Red. That's big time. Hey, that is big time, especially because he was just a podcast who was getting interviewed with LeBron James. It's why he got the job. Other people should have gotten the job. He is now a certified good NBA coach. Are we allowed to say that? Is that what people would describe J.J. Redick as? What else can you call him? His record says, so, I mean, the numbers are the numbers. They don't

lie, I think he's doing a hell of a job considering all of the circumstances and a huge change in the middle of everything, getting Luca and acquiring him. And I think he's been, him and the whole coaching staff, they've been amazing at trying to, you know, flip things and flop things around to get this team in position to be their best.

And I mean, right now they're sitting at number three. And like you said, this is his second back-to-back 50-winning season. I mean, that's a good coach in my book. Yeah, I would say, and I'm happy for him. Former player, former media member, having success in L.A. doing his thing. and also he was catching a lot of heat early. And he has not changed in the way he talks to anybody.

So I respect and appreciate that. Good luck to the Lakers. Let's move to NA. Sorry, NBA championship conversation. Go ahead, Tom. Yeah, you were speaking of great coaches, Joe Mazzul is the all-time leader in win percentage. No big deal.

It feels as though the Boston Celtics are once again back. Jason Tatum, triple double Jalen Brown, 43 points. Can you just explain to me, first of all, how someone can even do that in Tatum and how impressive that is from a basketball standpoint. And then the other part of the question, how is it not automatically going to be Celtics versus Spurs in the NBA finals? So what Tatum is doing from a basketball player standpoint is incredible in my eyes.

To be back this quick from that type of injury and then to be back in this type of a form as quick as he's gotten to this, like being able to put up these numbers and play these minutes and looked as good doing it. I expected him like, yeah, when he said he was coming back, I expected him to be back and, you know, kind of working his way back into getting to somewhat of a full stream. But he came back already far ahead of what I thought he could have been and he's far exceeded what I thought he could be doing.

I mean, the numbers, the rebounds and assists are crazy right now. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like he's coming in and he's getting double, double after double, he's seeing double teams, he's passing the ball well, And all of the talk about him and J.B. They should please silence that yet again. They said it all the way up until they won the championship. Then they wanted to rekindle that situation with this.

And they've shown that they play together, you know, basically Tatum's whole career and J.B. only played one year without him. And, you know, last night he still went and got 43 while JT put up all those crazy numbers. So, I mean, that shouldn't even be a conversation about whether they could play together and whose team it is. They both superstars and they both are leaders of the team. That's just what it is.

Double, double against a double team. Jalen Brown, Jason Natham, they're the troubled team. They seem to be a real problem. And the fact that they're able to win as much as they were without Tatum, okay, because we're watching without Tyrese here in Indiana. Actually, we're not. I haven't really seen much. I've seen easy, easy, easy.

I've not let my eyes see it. I'm not letting my eyes see it. Because my last Pacer's experience was the best. Kidding me, game winners in the finals? having so much fun. I mean, Tyrese. Game six? Think about the Madison Square Garden. Remember, that one didn't even game winner. I was going to overtime. That thing showed up to the clouds. Jim Hersey caught that thing and just, yeah, Madison Square Garden. Did the whole Reggie Miller. I mean, we had a lot of time. Now we're in a lottery. Now we're in a lottery.

The fact that the Celtics have been able to continue to be great without Tatum that entire time goes to your exact point about them not even, you know, hey, this is just an incredible duo that is unbelievable at basketball. And Joe Mazzula might be an actual psycho when it comes to the entire sport. Oh, yeah. Yeah, he was playing war noises, I believe, during training camp to get the boys ready. That's what Luca Garza said, like, oh, okay, it's different up here. His explosions and gunfire. Well, the coaches versus media game.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. You know, where it used to be just like a fun, ha-ha, let's have a good tell. With it, 89-0-80-0 or something like that. It's like, they're just a different. He's so young, too. I mean, so young in the game. Took over a great spot. Good for the Celtics and obviously the Spurs as well.

Speaking of the Spurs, Tone has a question for you, Q, Rich. Yeah, I do, Q, Rich. The Spurs and SGA and OKC, one and two seed, very, very fascinating in the West right now. I believe the Spurs are four and one against OKC on the season. What are your thoughts on that matchup in the West going into the playoffs? And then also the potential MVP between Wemby and SGA. Right now, right now I have SGA as my MVP. I think everything that Wimby is doing is definitely unbelievable.

And think about this year, I feel like you got four or five guys that could be MVP in any other year. Like, Joker hasn't gotten a lot of talk, but he's still averaging a triple double. He just became official. He's going to average a triple double for the season, and he's leading the league in rebounds and assists. That's crazy. What Wimby is doing is crazy. What Luca is doing is crazy. If Kade doesn't get hurt, he would be in the conversation where Jalen Brown has been able to do.

has been crazy. He would be in the conversation. So it's like, it's, it's one of those crazy years. But for me, I think what SGA has been able to do putting together his fourth straight year, averaging over 30, you know what I'm saying, joining the class with MJ, breaking will's record. The last time he ain't scored

20 points was December of 2024. I think he's showing that he's a dominant force. Not that these other guys aren't, but you have to couple that with the winning aspect. He has the best team in the NBA coming off a championship. and they ain't letting off the gas.

So I still think it's his MVP and it's his time right now. You're the man, Q Rich. Thank you for taking time with us. We can't wait to continue to chat with you and is SGA gonna do it again? No. This guy never misses.

But Wemby, he's everywhere. You're the best. That's QRigg. Hey, Q Rich. Wembe was asked to give three bullet points on why he should be MVP. His first one was defense, right? His half to get.

Yeah. Just. I think I'm pretty good at that. He's a search. Everywhere. Oh, I would say. on the other side. We got Mike Greenberg, Brett Michaels, be a friend to all for and stuff nice. Might change your life.

From 30 for 30 podcasts. Brian Padda, senior defensive lineman from Miami, gunned down. The key to this case, it's Brian. A hour before he died, he was on the phone. This might be a hit. You want the truth. They just want a conviction being placed under arrest. We had a killer amongst us. Murder at the U. Listen now.

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we'll have Brett Michaels in this hour. Wow. Also, Mike Greenberg, we're incredibly lucky that we get a chance to do this for a living. Sports are the greatest thing of all the time. They continue to deliver, even though football isn't happening right now. And meaningful, baseball is happening every day

for 162 days. It doesn't happen. The Crown basketball tournament is doing it for us. Yeah, it matters. You only got a couple opportunities to win Duckron, and Duckron was certainly within reach for two teams that played last night. Yeah. Oklahoma beats Colorado, Baylor beats Minnesota.

Now tonight we find out if Stanford or the West Virginia Mountaineers will go on to take on to Toronto Blue Jays. I feel like they're probably going to beat Rutgers. I think I did get at one point pick all four of the teams on the left side of the bracket to win each game. So I don't think I had it. I don't think I had a certain pick, but at one point I knew Oklahoma was going to win and Baylor was going to win. And then on the right side, West Virginia is about to get it done and the Blue J's going to get it done. So that's happening in night. Meaningful stuff.

We got Final Four this weekend. We got golf that's only going to continue to get stronger. We got NFL news that's only going to continue to cook. This morning, Kirk Cousins was signed to the Las Vegas Raiders. He is a man who's going to be taught, I'm sorry, brought in to teach Fernando Mendoza how to be an NFL quarterback, the things to do on the field, off the field, in the meetings, in the locker rooms, whenever you're taking the boys out. Now, we think Kirk and Fernando will be a good, good duo, good tag team in there. We think him and Kurt Signetti have a similar, you know, we're all kind of in the same football nerd atmosphere, it feels like.

So we're pumped for them. We're pumped for the Raiders. And Kirk Cousins, once again, gets another guaranteed contract in a form of about $20 million, $8.7 million coming from the Falcons, 1.3 coming from the Raiders this year, and then a $10 million roster bonus three days into the 2027 season, but nobody's expecting him to actually play for that team. They'll just have to pay him that amount of money at that particular time. So the Raiders basically kicked a $10 million roster spot to next year. They'll throw it in the trash because the salary cap probably only going to go up and to the right. They're paying him league men. He's

going to mentor Fernando feels like a smart move for the Raiders if Kirk Cousins can play football good there were some times last year we saw him play football he was not good there was sometimes we seen him last year play football he was good you take him back to the times in which he was in the Vikings offense with Kubiak as his coordinator he was very good so we assume he'll have success we assume he'll be good Kirk Cousins and we assume this will be great for Fernando and the Raiders going forward now when Kubiak coach Kirk Cousins Hembo says good things happen good things You know what else happened? He got like $130 million guaranteed from the Falcons. He moves on from there. He's with the Raiders. Toxic tables here at Boston Connor, at Ty Schmidt.

You gave me a side eye after I said, the NFL is always delivering, especially with news. Kirk Cousins being the last thing we need to talk about. It wasn't about the NFL. It's just you listed off a bunch of sports that are going on and you seemingly left out one, very, very particular one that everyone's pretty freaking hyped up about. So I watched this one last night that you're talking about, I do believe. I don't think so. This guy's dropping straws. through, it was in the middle of like an arena.

Okay. And there was a circle, a circle that had a bunch of sensors on it. And then he had to lift the straw to different height. And he was competing against others to see who could get to the highest and drop the straw like that through the circle. It was intense. Did he do it? The one that I saw was the winner.

He dropped it from about yay high. Is that on ABC? I thought. It has a win too, like that old trash game on your phone. Greg game. That's what you're talking about because that would be a sport. How about the one where there's like a big tire in the middle? Yeah.

And then there's two dudes wrestling. I love that one. Sure. With Mr. Jack? Not a tugger war. Mr. Jack did you used to do that in elementary school. Shout to Holiday Park. They tore that place down.

That was a shame that they did that. That was our elementary school. Now, these two guys are wrestling, and one of them is trying to get the other one into the, into the tie. Oh, okay. Is that what you're talking about? No, but I know. Are you talking about the real American freestyle wrestler, wrestling where, uh, uh, kale, He's doing interviews, guys are cutting promos and Tristan Worf's.

NFL lineman hops up on the stage and says, I'll wrestle this guy, sure. And then all of a sudden the buccaneers people are like, is this, is this a, are we watching WW, what's going on here? Because that's actually some good shit. Oh yeah. I like that amateur wrestlers are now potentially getting a professional platform because there wasn't really anywhere to go. Kurt Engel, a lot of amateur wrestling people got mad at Kurt Engel for getting into professional

wrestling. But it was like, what else am I? What do you want me to do? MMA, I guess at the time was a little bit smaller. He would go on to become one of the greatest WW people of all time, but I remember amateur wrestling people being mad at him. If they could take amateur wrestling and make it a professional league, that would be dope, especially as somebody who's from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,

where we got a lot of wrestlers around us, a lot of call for here. Is that what you're talking about? No, that's not what I'm talking about. But I know eight guys who would be top of the table in every single one of those sports you just mentioned, especially wrestling, because how strong their hands and forearms are. what are you talking about I'm talking about the freaking

Premier League the premier soccer's not happening the premierest of Premier League's darts darts we're not going to last hour let's matchup go down the matchups go go we basically have four Super Bowls

kicking off at 2 o'clock and yeah sure you might look at the headshots and say there's no way that guy can jog a mile there's no way that guy's last meal wasn't under 4,000 Guess what, man. That's what Darts is all about.

Okay, so yeah, you can judge them by how they look. But won't you judge them by how they throw? I'm judging them by how they act. Not by how they look. Exactly. Okay. Exactly. Uh-huh.

That's how they act. This is how they act. A lot of this. A lot of this. A lot of fish on. A lot of that. They do have a lot of my. Some of them do have moxie.

Okay. Yeah, 180s. Fish on. Finish it on a bowl. Do you know what that's all about? He feels like you don't respect exactly what it is all about. It is all about it. I want these darters to deliver for the adult culture that you are describing there.

But I'm worried that these darters are only think about darting when they're darting. We need them to start focusing on darting when they're not dartton. I can't be having guys pulling their triceps after one 180. It looks like they're potentially going to have a heart attack with over kind of stimulation whenever some things start. They start, ah, they look redder than me. These guys are rudder than me somehow. Yeah. And then I'm supposed to think that they have enough oxygen in their brain

to go stand up, have enough balance and deliver me a triple 20, triple 20, triple 20. I just want one of them to focus on it. I just would like one of them to say, I could be good at this. You can't be a pro athlete and have gout. It just doesn't work out. That's what I'm saying. There's a lot of pro-asset. Oh, yeah, exactly. All the king, so sorry

we got eight kings up there. Who's the last, who's the last player? Who's the last NFL player? Who's the last NBA player? Who's the last MLB player to play through ground? I don't know. I don't think there ever has been more. It's crazy to think, oh, Foxy agrees with you.

Shut up, Foxy. Joining us now. Joining us now is a man who probably has a good opinion on this. I would assume so. Listen, I'll watch for the entertainment. I don't know how they're playing all that music. I don't know how that's working. I do appreciate their interest.

Johnny Be Good. Johnny Be Good actually wrote in his will, Chuck Barry. He said, look, the only song this song is available for is Johnny Clayton. And not to mention, see his favorite athlete, Stephen Frickin' Bunting, the bullet. All right. I just want these guys to just see us. I want these guys to focus on what they're doing, especially if I'm back from across the pond on them. All they are is focused, man.

So they're so focused. They're sucking down McChiccichens and McDonald's like there's no tomorrow. I don't know if they have that over there. I know DeBone does. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who might have an opinion on this. I assume he's been to an event. He's been covering sports for society, basically, for 30 years now. Zero time!

Emmy Award winner! Host of GetUp, who celebrated eight years today. Ladies a gentleman, Mike Greenberg. Yay, Greenberg. How are you doing, Grady? I'm doing great. It is a pleasure to be back on, but no one is happier about it, as you know, that my wife, Stacey, I think I mentioned this to you.

When I ran into you in Phoenix the other day, she just said to me, like two weeks ago, she said to me, how come he haven't been on Mac if he's show in a while? And I said, I don't know, maybe he's mad at me about something. And she gives me a look. And she goes, what did you do? So I'm telling you right now, no questions asked. She was on your side.

Okay, okay, good. We'd like to hear that. Shout out of Miss Stacy. We certainly appreciate the hell out of that. And we're never mad at you, Greenie. Never could be. Around you, there were some questions, but we just decided to stay away as opposed to dive.

and we should have done more of that. We know you're very busy and we're appreciative of your time. Getting a chance to catch up with him at the league meetings coming out of a workout. Let me tell you, Greenie and like kind of gym leisure. Yep.

Yeah. Jack. He's in shape right now. Greeny, you're in great shape right now. And I'll say this. Also, I don't want to get, you know, too complimentary here this quick because we're only a couple minutes in this thing.

Skin was glowing. Hair was strong. Perfect. I mean, hair was very strong in there. Covering sports 30 years. Good beard. Yeah. Fastball was reaching triple digits.

It was too. I mean, we were picking things apart. Oh, no, let's not do that. Reasonable takes on everything. And then also some questions. It was a great time the other day. Thank you for spending it with us. We genuinely appreciate you every time. Well, it's always great to see you guys.

It had been much too long. We caught up on a variety of things. I think I told you about the way the encounter began, which is that after I finished working out, there was just one little bathroom off to the side of the gym. And I was going to go in there just to wash my hands because I was going down to have breakfast. but it was occupied, so I'm waiting outside, and I hear from inside a toilet flush, and the door

opens, and it's Connor. And so we greet each other amiably, and he says, I'm going to go down there. Our meeting is over there. I said, all right, I'll be there in a little while. And then I thought about it, and I said, I'm not going in there. I'm not going to go and wash my hands in there. There seemed very little chance that I was going to emerge from that room cleaner than I was when I went in. so I went and found a different bathroom. So that was the beginning of our encounter on Tuesday. Yeah, a little morning dump on the pond, man.

Yeah, little of you know, I smeared poop on your back, bitch. That's all to you. There's a chance that that was on your seat in the room as well. We appreciate the fact that you trusted the room more than Connor's bathroom. On that note, a wonderful image walking out of a bathroom that early in the morning being Connor. And then Connor with a quick, boom, right to you.

And then moving. Wonderful way to start the day. Obviously, we're celebrating the NFL out there, and that's what the league meetings are as a whole, kind of what the future looks like. How do you feel about this Kirk Cousins thing with the Raiders? I think the deal, I don't know if you've seen the way the deal has been put together, genius here. It's a genius deal by the Raiders. They're paying league men, and then next year they owe a $10 million bonus, but they'll just kick that off the side. And then obviously the 8.7 coming from the Falcons on the offset language, which feels like a smart deal from the Raiders.

I like it. How do you feel about it, Greenie, out there? great about it. I just learned about that, about the particulars of the deal as I was waiting to come on when you were talking about it. And I completely agree with you that this is, it's a, when you look at the way the deal is structured, there's no losing scenario. It's a no lose deal for the Raiders. And most importantly, I have a philosophy that far more young quarterbacks in the NFL are ruined than are developed. And the Raiders are a team that has gotten almost everything wrong it feels like for such a long time. And now, just in this little moment here,

it feels like they've become the team that gets everything right. I loved everything that they did during this offseason, particularly signing Tyler Lindelbaum. I love the way they're making aggressive moves to put something together around their young quarterback. The hiring of Clint Kubiak is an absolutely outstanding one. He's one of those guys in that line of offensive-minded coaches who are going to be, are going to give you as good a chance as you can have of developing a quarterback. I liked that they were trading Max Crosby, obviously the way that turned out. I don't blame on them, but to continue to put more and more pieces around him. And then most significantly, I love now that they're not forcing him to be the guy, not just starting week one, but starting like July 15th or whatever day they all show up at training camp.

You don't want to have everything be on his shoulders, no matter how pro-ready he is. And I think Mendoza is as pro-ready as you can be for a rookie quarterback. I have always believed that getting a veteran in there to mentor him is an outstanding move. Cousins is a perfect one, the combination of Cousins and Tom Brady being in the organization, I don't know how much better Fernando Matoza could have it than he has it right now. Yeah, and on that note about Kirk Cousins, his personality feels like one that is going to gel well with Fernando, and Fernando is going to gel well with Kirk Cousins. And Fernando is not a guy who will feel like threatened by this.

And I don't think Kirk will either. Kirk's been in this situation before. From the human side, let alone just on the field side of him being comfortable with the offense and being able to tell Fernando what he needs to be looking. for in the offense in which the head coach is going to have for the entirety of his career. The human aspect really works, too, I think, Greenie, which I think is a huge deal. Absolutely. Sheffty made a great point about this this morning when this story broke.

It happened while we were on, and I hadn't thought of it this way. Kirk Cousins did not choose to go to Atlanta with Michael Pennix there. Kirk Cousins went to Atlanta believing he was going to be the starting quarterback, no questions asked, and then they blindside him by taking Pennix, and he winds up in a role where he's part starter, part mentor, and because he is such a consummate pro, and I think from what everyone says, such a good guy, he'd probably handle it as well as that situation can be handled. He's coming to this situation with his eyes wide open. Everyone knows this eventually becomes Fernando Mendoza's team.

And Kirk Cousins, I have to believe, would have had other opportunities in other places, so he's choosing this willingly. He understands that part of his job, maybe the most important part of his job, is to help Fernando Mendoza get ready. So he's doing that of his own accord, which means, I think by definition, he's comfortable with it. Fernando will be visiting the Raiders next Tuesday.

Shefti just broke while Greeny was giving that answer. Chefty's on top of him, man. Always. Oh, man. Tough to have combos with in real life. Or about music. All the combo. Yeah, he thought Andre 3,000 was a part of the black-eyed peas,

which was certainly... Which... No, I'm not asking... How about it is? that's closer than I would have thought Shepty would get. Andre 3,000 is from Outcast, and that is infinitely closer

than I would have guessed Shifty would be. He went forth, though. He did go for it. He went forth, though. And we didn't expect him to go for it, but then he said, that's Andre 3000 there? I was like, all right, okay, let's go ahead and dive in a little bit.

Sheffty. He's a weapon, dude. He is, okay, let's talk about him being a weapon and kind of just like a massive piece of the NFL's universe. The newsbreakers are a massive piece of the NFL universe. Obviously, it's a job that pays very well, but it also provides a lot of conversation to grow the league as a whole. I think the NFL is great at that.

I'd assume you think the same exact thing. Now, Brazil just got announced for another game. Germany's getting annual games. England's getting annual games. Australia is getting Rams Niners. That's a huge game that is happening down there. And then coming out of league meetings, I guess, a big initiative was like international, international, international.

What are your thoughts on the growth of the NFL over to last? 30 years because it does feel like there may be nowhere near their peak of just printing money. Seems like it's only going to keep going. Greeny, do you agree or no? Yes, for sure. Bob Kraft said it the other day, and this is what's going to happen, ultimately, and I don't know exactly how soon, every team will play 18 games, and every team will play one international game every season. So there won't be any advantage or disadvantage, and you just do the math, and if there were 32 teams, that means they will be 16 international games per season, and they will move them all over the place. The NFL has been printing money.

They are essentially an ATM, and they are almost exclusively a domestic product. If you think about the other sports that we consider to be our sports, I mean, baseball is enormous in Japan and has grown in other places, but it is ridiculously popular in Japan. The basketball, and in part because of the dream team and other things, basketball is a massive international sport. It's enormous through Europe. It's enormous through Asia. It's a enormous through the entire continent of Africa. Most of these sports have hockey has enormous following in Eastern Europe and other places like that. Pro football is basically popular in this country and maybe a little bit in Canada and increasingly in Mexico. There are

billions of people that are not yet part of their audience that they are going to cultivate. So I don't know how quickly that will happen, but I don't think there's any obvious reason to think the world won't fall as in love with this sport as we have because it's just so incredibly captivating. So I would say there will come a time when pro football will be as popular internationally as basketball is, let's say. I don't know how long that will take probably not five years, but probably not 50 either. So something in the neighborhood of 10 to 15 years from now, I think the league will have grown that much more. Now, the question becomes, will those other countries have their own leagues? Right. And in the NBA, there are professional

basketball leagues all through Europe and all over the place. Japanese baseball, I've asked many people who are over there, they say Japanese baseball is a step above AAA baseball. That's how high quality the baseball is. Will there be NFL? Hockey, a lot of international leagues as well, yeah, a lot of them. Absolutely. Almost all of these sports have international leagues.

So will all those people just become NFL fans or will all of a sudden pro football spring up in all of these other places? I don't know the answers to those, but I think there are. What I'm trying to say is there are tens of billions of dollars left on the table right now globally by pro football, and they will go get it. And I think that's why flag football is so important to your last point right there. World baseball classic, you just watch what it did being a global thing. The Olympics, whenever teams are in sports were able to play, in that particular thing, you get a unifying feel from all these different countries for said sport. I mean, the amount of people that became hockey fans in America because the boys and the girls won, it's like, hey, we like that.

if football could have that in 10 years from now, that would be insane. But I think flag football would be the only way in. Because I think the pads and the helmet and everything that it takes to kind of get into tackle football, it's like the flags can actually be dropped at parks and like at fields and like, hey, put these on. And then once they start watching, I assume the NFL is going to do a great job with the videos and commercials. And I assume the social and digital and how to play flag football. But it's like that's much more accessible for people, I think, that don't really know the game. I think it's, let alone the women's flag football that can still,

there is so much. It feels like we're just, we're not even near what football could be. And we are grateful for that. Oh, yeah. Yes, we are, Greenie. Yes, we are for that. I got to tell you, my son and his buddy were over. So 22, 23-year-old guys.

And I'm watching college basketball, you know, it was the first weekend of the NCAA tournament. And they were dying to watch the flag football, whatever this is. Two weeks ago when all those guys did Logan Paul and all the NFL, guys played against the flag football players. So I will admit that I would not have turned it on otherwise. But we wound up watching the whole thing.

And I will tell you, I was endlessly entertained. I thought it was outstanding entertainment. I thought seeing the NFL guys trying to figure out how to handle it, Luke Keekely got a penalty on literally every play because it just kept hitting people. Brady through the best pass of the day. Tom Brady right now would be the starting quarterback on at least seven teams in the NFL. and I think when he said he was only kidding about coming back, I don't buy that for a minute.

I think he actually is, or at least did give some serious thought to coming back, and why wouldn't he? He would be better than the starting quarterback on a lot of NFL teams. All of that said, I was endlessly entertained by the flag football, and I would watch it again. If they were flag football to watch, I would continue watching it. Yeah, I love Tom Brady got to showcase a little bit of the past time. Now, his team would only score that one.

That was it. There was not a lot of other highlights. as Team USA, the actual flag footballers, dominated the NFL guys. But yeah, Tom Brady showcased and he still got it. He said that the owners weren't specifically impressed

with the idea of an owner playing in the league as well. What side are you on? Obviously, as we're going into a negotiation, that's probably going to be a part of it all. But the flag footballers that we have for Team USA, I think we're going to be winning every world championship. Oh, yeah.

I don't know. I don't know how long it's going to take other countries to figure this one out. How about that move? Huh? That was the one running full speed. Pee, you're banging a boom, boom, bang. And they couldn't, you just couldn't.

And then Luke Kinkley just, to hell with this. To hell with this guy. And Jalen Ramsey, the same thing. So I'm not 100% sure if flag football to tackle football will be 100% for these international people that we get in. But the more people in the ecosystem, the better. And I'm excited for the game to continue to grow. Okay, the boys have a couple other sports questions, if that's okay, especially in the time they're in right now. I know you know nothing about the sport of baseball.

We're kind of the baseball people at ESPN. now, but Ty has a question for you. Yeah, Greenie, I actually do view you as somewhat of a baseball historian, and this might be a little bit, you know, overreactionary because it has just happened. But listen, the pitch clock was huge, cutting games down, so we're not spending three and a half to four hours, you know, when you're watching every single game like I am. But do you think it's possible that ABS is the best development in the history of baseball?

I mean, early on, we're only six games. We're only six games. We're only six games in. We got games ending on this. It has added just such a flare and an excitement to really every game, and it doesn't matter when it's coming, whether it's the third inning or the ninth or whatever part it is. It has just been a rousing success so far.

Yes, I agree. And I would quickly say that the people who run Major League Baseball are always criticized and sometimes very much deserve to be, and never given any credit for some of the progressive moves that they make against the will of all of the traditionalists who sit out there and never want to stop telling you how much better the game was in the 60s. So they deserve a lot of credit for incorporating the pitch clock, again, against a lot of people's will, and now incorporating ABS, which I have been screaming for forever. First and foremost, the idea that umpires' mistakes or officiating mistakes are just human nature and a part of the charm of the sport has always been ridiculous. As I wrote in a book in 2010, Mike and I did a book, and we said the human element in sports sucks.

It's the reason that we have deodorant. It's the reason we don't walk around smelling bad all the time because we can do something about it. So why in the world wouldn't we use technology now that we can overturn terrible calls? I agree with you, the way they do, the ABS, which has shown sort of the, there's like this drama, this dramatic build. For those of you who watch tennis, you've seen the exact same thing. when they show you it's in, it's out, whatever it is, you build to that moment. Yes. Is it the greatest change or invention in the history of the sport?

I'd have to give that a little thought. I mean, there was a time when they lowered the mound. There was a time when there's the dead ball era. There have been some pretty significant changes in the history of the sport. But in recent memory, I think the two that you mentioned, the pitch clock and the ABS have made it more watchable. See, that's the thing. All other sports make changes in order to become more watchable. and baseball and baseball fans and baseball traditionalists

have always been hesitant to accept that. And that has never made any sense to me. So while I don't know if I'll say it's the greatest move they've ever made, I think it has been a rousing success and will continue to be. You go back to the NHL work stoppage. I believe Gary Betman changed some rules to make it more watchable hockey because he was getting too. It got rid of kind of the goon.

The goon kind of got out, but they said it made it better. The NFL has been very, very aggressive. and how do we make this more fan-friendly thing with the rules changes. MLB doing that with the pitch clock, I loved it. I loved everything about it. I hated the whole pat-down hand-check spider tech thing that they have in there. Like Mason Miller the other day comes out to corn. That entrance was incredible.

Pittsburgh Kid, by the way, whenever you're talking. And, yeah, Pittsburgh Kid. He's throwing 104. He comes out for that entire thing. It's a big entrance. Old buddy comes out with the horns. Evan Diaz. In L.A.

They come out to that band. And then, oh, dramatic entrance. and then who do they meet and think the ump giving him a full pat down it's like that can't be the end of him coming out here okay can we at least wait until he throws a couple pitchers to do that like how do we make that but I didn't like that that's like yeah

welcome to the show and it's the um I need your hands I need your hat I need your belt I see your fucking glove I need everything you got like that that was just a weird thing to them to do but it feels like that was a massive apologize for the pun here sticking point for baseball as a whole

and pitchers is that accurate because they're sticking to this, it feels like, in the most ridiculous time just to showcase that they're doing it, they are doing it. This is a real thing. Why is this such a real thing? And why don't they all just use it? How they do it is one thing. That they are doing it

is the right thing. You're trying to increase, you're trying to increase the offense in the sport. So I'm older than any of you guys. I remember a time when everything wasn't a strikeout, when they didn't, when they weren't bringing in guys who were throwing 104 in every inning. So

the offense as the game went on and as the pitchers arms wore down, it was more exciting to watch because you would see base hits and you would see guys getting on. And if you give pitchers unfair advantages, you allow them to violate the rule, either the spirit of the rule or in this case, the actual rule, in ways that benefit, it would be like changing rules in pro football to benefit the defense. If you'll notice, Oh, we don't want that. 50 rule changes in pro football in the last 30 years, every single one of them is intended to create more offense. You want more things to gamble

on. You want more things for fantasy. You want more things that are going to bring more people to the game and more people into the tent. So you can quibble with how they're going about doing it. I won't disagree with you there. But that they are doing it so that pitchers cannot have an unfair advantage, I actually think it's the right thing to do.

I did kind of quibble there a little bit if I had to say so myself, but I appreciate you laying out why we wouldn't want that as a society. So go ahead and pat him down it. I want big... You mentioned a lot of different errors there in development. science, human science was a big era for baseball as well. I remember that one. We all did. We all watched that.

Then rules obviously go, everybody can't be just take. We can't be 280-pound baboons every day. That just is not a healthy thing. You can't be 5'8, sir, and come back at 6'4. That is not how this can actually go from a health perspective. But if we're getting, I mean, it's natural. Humans see big, oh, like we will pay attention to that. I also think the stars performing is a big deal.

This show hey guy, can you tell me a little bit about this? This dude, I think he's driven to be a pitcher and to prove that he's an MLB pitcher and everything like that. I think that's his natural mentality after we got to talk to him a little bit. I'm not saying other people haven't found that out, but my feeling I have to talk to him is like, oh, this guy wants to be viewed as a pitcher. Like he would like to be viewed as a good pitcher. So it seems like he's going to do that this year while also raking for the Dodgers. You as baseball historian baseball lover, can you try to explain this for me to explain it a little bit better,

like the pat down that the umps did? 9-1-1, where is the emergency? It's the middle of the night, in a small town on the Jersey shore. Someone reports an abandoned car on a bridge. A search gets underway for the missing driver, 19-year-old Sarah Stern. Is it a missing person? Is it a suicide?

At this point, nobody knows. Old friendships, buried cash, and a sinister plot that was once pitched as a movie plays out in real life. I'm Jiu Chang from 2020 and ABC Audio. Listen now to Bridge of Lies, wherever you get your podcasts. He's the best player that ever lived. I don't think that's, I don't think that's an exaggeration at this point.

He is someone who, if he were to pitch every five days, would right now probably be the betting favorite to win the Say Young. So if you think about it, we've seen pitchers win the Say Young and the MVP in the past. Not frequently, but it happens. Most of the time, voters will not vote for the pitcher as the MVP, because they'll say he has his own award. And I've never actually agreed with that, but let's even say that is the case. Pitchers have their own award. It's the Siong award. And position players have their own award. It's the MVP award. He could legitimately win both. He is in arguably the best offensive player in the game, and he is on the short list of the best

pitchers in the game. That's never happened before. Certainly a hundred years ago and beyond that, pitchers would also bat. And Babe Ruth is the most famous example of a guy who was a great hitter and a great pitcher. But never, and to this extent, never over this prolonged period of time, by the time he was hitting more home runs than entire teams were in the late 1920s, he was no longer pitching. To be as dominant a starting pitcher as there is in the sport and the best offensive player in the sport at the same time has literally never happened.

or if it has, it not only hasn't happened in this century, it didn't happen in the previous century. So I don't think it's an exaggeration right now to say he is the best player that ever lived. The goat, okay. Happy to see that we're a part of that. And I hope he's on, because he's already been on the mound

for a World Baseball Classic Championship, right? He's already been on the mound in the ninth inning for that. Got the dub. It'd be sick to see him, game seven, kind of handling that thing. And then also, why not? Yeah, or walk on. Why not? And then on the flip side,

doing the other thing. He's special and he seems to be so locked in, especially with everything that's happened around him, Greenie. Like that's all just like a blip obviously in his past and his recent history that we have kind of learned of this sensation, the greatest of all time you call it. But there's been a lot of shit.

There's been a lot of shit here. And when you got to focus on a tiny little baseball, I don't know how he's been I mean, that's an incredible and then there's two streaks happening right now that are just like outrageous. Longest on-base streak. in MLB at 36 games.

Oh, yeah, longest scoreless inning pitching streak in MLB, 22 and two-thirds. And what if, I mean, Bruce just asked this question as he reminded me of this tweet from MLB, is, what if this just goes forever? Well, if this never ends. What if that number goes to 180 games? And this guy just continues,

there's a chance that can happen. Good. Show, hey, we'll follow along with all of it. Okay, let's pivot away from baseball. Even though we've fallen in love this year, I don't know if you've witnessed this. We've done the baseball this year. I don't know how long it's going to last, but we've been doing it.

Because the sport is better. I mean, it's more exciting to watch for the reasons that we've just outlined. It is more exciting to watch a baseball game than it was seven or eight years ago, and I think it's only going to continue to go in that direction. Yeah, I'm a simple thing. You make it better, I'll go that way. I think I'm probably a good little thermometer, you know. How's this guy feel?

He's a dumb dipshit that, you know, that is probably a good idea. Baseball? Good right now. what else good? College hoops. And it's different. It feels like, go ahead, con, man. Yeah, Greenie, I feel like the Final Four has a lot of juice. I believe we got a HEMBO stat earlier. This is the first time both games are under two or three points spreads. Yeah, here it is two points, rather. How do you feel about this weekend? Arizona, Michigan, feels like a dream matchup for the Final Four. Then near National Championship matchup. And then Yukon, Illinois. The Yukon finish was incredible. And Illinois is kind of slowly

dominated a lot of teams on their road to the final four. What do you kind of expect out of Saturday and then inevitably Monday? Illinois is really big. So I watch a lot of Big Ten. I went to a Big Ten school. So I watched the Big Ten all year. Illinois is really big. My instinct is to say that I think they win that game.

But after what I saw Connecticut do on Sunday, you just can't bet against them because that was one of the most remarkable things I've ever seen. This play, this moment that you're showing. going right now. I think now that we've had some time, we did the show on Monday morning and we were almost wall to wall with it. But then I had a couple of days that I was traveling and thinking

I think it is, I think it goes with the single, among the most dramatic moments in the history of the sport. Like those one shining moment montages, all that stuff that you see. It goes with Leitner. It goes with Chris Jenkins. It goes with Lorenzo Charles. I think it's that significant when you

consider who it was against, when you considered it was in the elite eight. And I think it has to go right in the group with the greatest moments in the history of the tournament and of the sport. So I wouldn't bet against Connecticut, but I think Illinois is the better team and I think they win. Michigan, Arizona is like, I heard Charles Barkley say that's Ali Frazier. They've been overwhelmingly the two best teams.

That game Michigan played on Sunday was over in the first 10 minutes against Tennessee. They're ridiculously good. but I think Arizona has been better and I think the single best player on the court is ACOF. So if I had to bet on it right now, I think I would bet that I would bet Arizona, Illinois, wind up playing for the championship on Monday night and I would bet Arizona.

I think they've been the best team in the tournament. I think there were moments all year where they looked like the best team and I think in the end they are the best team. Yeah, Arizona's outrageous. Obviously have knocked off some big names in their run in this. Co-Apeed who committed on our show to Arizona, has football family in this entire thing.

He's been special, man. Yeah. He's breaking freshman records all over the place. I can go back to that Yukon, the shot you're talking about being in the pantheon of March Magical Moments, March Madness Magical Moments. He's freshman from Indiana, sends his team back to Indianapolis, which is where he's from, basically, right here. I mean, there's just so many storylines around all the different games.

March Madness's numbers are up immensely. I don't know if you saw that, Greenie. We're touching like 19 million for some of these games. Obviously, sports are fantastic, but these types of things are back and good for society. And the elite eight's good, final four is good. These guys got the mentality they want to win at all. Pete Thammo just reported that Dan Hurley was quoted as saying in his press conference today, we came here for rings, no watches.

Okay. Love it. Good to know. I guess you get watches for the final four. Oh, I did not know. Yeah, so probably asked them about the gift bag, potentially how that whole thing went. We would like to be perfectly clear. We did not hear his actual quote.

We are just strictly making up the context around Pete Thammel's quote that he is given here. But they certainly asked him about how nice that watch was and how many watches he's got. And Barr came right out of his mouth. He's insane. Is this how insane in a good way? He loves. He's passionate. He loves his team.

This man is a maniac. Is this college basketball, like, since the beginning of time? Because Bob Knight, obviously, we remember that. I got a chance to watch Coach Huggins. I mean, he was an intense guy. Coach K, obviously, pretty animated over there. It feels like college hoops has a lot of passion, a lot of pageantry, a lot of emotion, and a lot of head coaches that are kind of the staples of the sports who are very charismatic,

I would say, in its entirety. Is this how it's always been greeny and what are your thoughts on it? Yes. Well, because players have always come and go and the coaches of the constants, the coaches have largely always been the biggest stars in collegiate basketball in particular. You know, even the greatest players in college basketball historically would only play three or four years, whereas the coaches are there forever. So when you think back to UCLA, yes, if you know about it, you would think of Alcindor and Walton. But the reality is you think of it as John Wooden's run.

You think of Coach K and Duke. You think of those eras because the players come and go and the coaches remain the same. Michigan State basketball is Tom is though at this point more than it's Magic Johnson. the one thing there with Hurley. So I had him on get-up on Monday morning, and I really regret that I had not seen this moment at that point. I don't know why I didn't see it. I don't know when that video went viral.

I raced right out of the studio on Monday morning at 10 o'clock and raced to the airport to fly to Phoenix. So it wasn't until I got to Phoenix. I landed whatever time, you know, six, seven hours later that I saw this. And so I so regret that I did not ask Hurley. what the hell is going on there? Because, I mean, I never, Bob Knight, I never saw him do that. I never saw any coach, no matter how intense they are.

I have no idea what that moment is about. I know they've both downplayed it, and obviously there was no outcome. But can you imagine if the official were to call a tech thing there, and the outcome of this game actually turns on that? So I don't know what in the world he is doing there, but that's something I've never seen a coach to. According to our source, says close to the situation. They're telling us that he couldn't hear what the ref was saying.

The ref was trying to tell him something. He couldn't hear what he was saying. So he leaned in. And then he has a very good relationship with said ref because we know he does have relationships with the refs. So it just kind of, that's how it all came to be. I think that's why both the ref and he downplayed it. And I think a lot of Coach Kay, I think immediately said, like, thankful that the ref did not decide to make that about it.

Like, it was interesting how everybody a part of it spoke about it. And then all of us outside were like, that's an insane thing to happen in real time as outside the bubble. But Coach Kay, I think he said, like, in there, you know, like, there's just a little bit different. And they were talking to each other. He was saying something to him. Nonetheless, insane storyline of this entire.

I don't know. Well, the court I saw from Dan Hurley, and I don't know if he was kidding, is he said that he thought the ref was. coming in for a chest bump. And I'm thinking to myself, the ref is not supposed to chest bump. The coach Pretty cool moment, though. After the game or at any point. Can you imagine

if that had actually happened if the ref had come running over? Hey, coach, what a moment. I'm thrilled a bit on the court. Let's check bump. Like, that's not something that an official does either. So it's just a weird looking moment in the basketball game. And again, I am so regretful that I

hadn't seen it, so I didn't get a chance to ask Curley about it on Monday. That would have been so sick. Are they tapping each other off in that rest of what? Could you imagine a fool? Hate me, Hurley. That's not what happened. Yeah, that would be so cool.

Then he goes to the next ref. Next ref comes in it. The whole line. Oh, that would be amazing. I thought there was a chance before we reach out to our source that he was potentially like maybe thinking that that ref wanted Duke to win. And like was maybe some calls at him going, what now? We win.

bitch. And then that not being, like, because you can definitely believe that that's what he was doing there. And then they said, no, great relationship, trying to hear what he was saying. And then him saying, Jess, I mean, I think he does just say stuff, though. Oh, yeah. I think that is a part of the game up there. The boys love him, though. I mean, old buddy Mons had made the shot said he's his role model.

He's his mentor. He's everything. And he does yell at him. He gets after it. It feels like that's how you win in college hoops. And we're excited to watch this final four this weekend in beautiful Indianapolis, Indiana. I think they're going to do battle out there. Let's go back to the NFL here.

Tone has a question for you. Yeah, Greenie, earlier in this conversation, you talked about NFL teams ruining young quarterbacks. I'm glad you brought up the Jets, so I didn't have to do it. And you're also a big fan of the draft. Oh, 30 minutes ago. Yeah, I remembered it. I wrote it down.

You obviously host the draft. You host a draft podcast, first draft with Mel and Field. So I wanted to bring up, I saw on Get Up this morning, you guys did an alternating mock draft, where you showed alternating mock draft, where Ty Simpson was taken 33rd to the Jets. do you think Jets fans would be mad about that with all the draft picks they have in 27 and the quarterback class that is supposed to be coming out in 2027 or do you think

Jets fans would be okay with that early in the second round? I think Jets fans would be okay with that. I think that there is some logic. I think it was Tim Asselbeck who said today. There is some logic to packaging the Jets have the 33rd pick and the 44th pick to packaging those and moving up and taking him somewhere in the first round. If that's what they decide. If they identify Ty Simpson as a guy they believe can turn into a great player, and as you guys well know, there are very mixed opinions on him.

Everything historically about him, there was trouble. So I told you this the other day, McAfee, but for those who have not heard, I think this is an important point. One year, when I was still hosting Mike and Mike, the draft was in Chicago, and I got on a plane to fly from Hartford to Chicago, and I happened to be seated just randomly next to Bill Pollian, who I used to call the Frank Lloyd Wright of. the NFL because he was the architect of all those great teams. And I really I grew to know him and really, really like him a lot when he was at ESPN. And he kept... Oh, no. Drafted me

to a bill point, just so I get that in before, Grinney went after it, and he lost his, sir. Oh, geez. Your connection is on our side, isn't it? It's the big apple. It says our connections on stay. He was just about to tell us everything. Yeah, he told me... He was giving us the key to life. He's on the inside,

too. I'll never forget. there. Okay, Greeny, you're blurry, but the message still remains. I'm blurry, but I'm back. Yes, you are. Let's hope that this works. I think my signal is good. I hope that everything is good and that you guys can hear me. So Pollyan said to me,

he said to me, you don't draft the outliers. You don't do it because everyone will point to the one success story of the guy who didn't have the 40 time and didn't measure the way you want him to. But what they don't show you is the 15 guys who failed. So you don't draft

the outliers. So Ty does not check any of the boxes. Fifteen starts. He's only six foot one. He doesn't have a cannon for an arm. There are all of these things he doesn't have that would suggest that there is risk involved. Now,

I'm not an evaluator. I'm just an aggregator of what people say. There are a lot of people who know a lot about quarterbacks, Dan Orlovsky, Jordan Rogers, and many others who are super high on him. If the Jets are high on him, then it might make some sense to package their two-toes, trade into the back-end

of round one, A, to make sure you get him and no one beats you to him, but secondly, maybe more importantly, to get that fifth year, because if he's going to be a developmental player, then you want one more year of him being tied to your organization before you make a decision. With regard to next year's class, I will just say this. If I could, if I could tell you how many times I heard people identify this year's class, 2026, as the year that was going to be loaded with quarterback. We're going to have Garrett Nussmeyer and we're going to have Drew Aller and we're going to have Cade

Clubnick and we're going to have all of these and it's going to be loaded. There's going to be five first round quarterbacks in 2026 and now we're sitting here fighting over whether or not Ty Simpson makes it too. So I would not count on all of those things working out next year the way everyone anticipates. You

don't sit around and wait. There's only one Archmanning. If you identify the quarterback and you like him, you take them. Well, we'll see if Arch Manning, the next year of Texas, Sark came out and said that they feel different this year. They're going to go on a run. And we believe towards the tail end, Arch was, he's a bad manning out there.

He was a bad manning out there. So maybe he'll go next year. Dante Moore also, going back to Oregon for another year. Sellers. I mean, there's a lot of return back to college and say, hey, let's maybe get a little bit better before we head up to the NFL. And let's also make millions of dollars in modern college sports before we do that. Greenie, we can't thank you enough

for taking time out of your life to chitch out with us, brother. Guys, it's been much too long. Don't be a stranger. Let me see you. We'll be in Pittsburgh. So if you have time for me, I would love to come by. I'll be there starting Tuesday night for the draft. So I assume you guys will be there all week or something close to it. So if you have time for me, I'd love to come about. Yeah, definitely. We will certainly be out there.

We will see you Tuesday or Wednesday whenever we get out there. We can't wait to watch you crush it on the first night of draft. And I want to let you know, Greenie, if you want to hang around, for about a minute and a half or so? Yeah. Yeah? Greenie, I got good news for you. I'm just eyeballing you from afar.

You and your family. I know that there's some people that you hold in very high regard without ever having to really ask you how you feel about the person. You don't understand what I'm saying? Sure. So, you know, in Pittsburgh, during the draft, Friday night, a man, a yinzer, a lady, will be performing a free concert alongside Wiz Khalifa.

Who? What? Ladies of Jim, joining us now, a man who's going to get a motivational speech from Mike Greenberg, as soon as he shows his face on this show, to have a great performance whenever he performs at the draft in Pittsburgh on April 24th, ladies and gentlemen, Brett Michaels, the point. Yeah! Hey, Brett! Hey, Brett!

You're going to see you, Brett. How you doing? You got me fired up. I'm ready to get in there right now and start this concert. Yes, he is. Hey, Graney, why don't you let Brett know what type of thing he needs to bring to this draft? The draft's only gotten bigger and bigger. The draft is now a spectacle.

The draft is coming to Pittsburgh where Brett is from. It's going to be the biggest and best of all time. Greeny, let him know what he needs to be thinking about as he takes a stage for the NFL draft. I'm telling you right now, Brett, first of all, it's a pleasure to talk to you. I've been a fan for decades. And I will tell you that having this is, this will be my sixth year on the draft. The draft has become like the Super Bowl. This is no smaller a gig.

I want you to approach this as though this is like playing halftime at the Super Bowl. There's no difference. There's nothing smaller about it. The audience is enormous. There will be more people there in Pittsburgh live watching you than are actually in the stadium when the Super Bowl game is being played. Yes, I consider this the biggest. Go out there and consider this. The biggest gig you've ever had in your entire life and just destroy it on that Thursday night.

Well, good. Yeah, Greenie! I'm going. I'm going. He's ready. He's ready. Ladies and gentlemen, that's Mike Greenberg.

Thank you, Gary. Wait, I just got to say, I'm a fan also. Oh, shit. We hung up on him. I'm fired up right now, Pat.

I'm fired up. Brett, he didn't hear that. We hung up on. No, he's still there. Hey, did you hear? He's a big fan of yours, too. I'm still here.

Yes, I did. That makes my day. Thank you. I'm a football fanatic. I'm going to see you there. We're going to talk life football. I said many times. that sports, football, especially, music saved my diabetic life and gave me inspiration.

You just got me fired up. It's ridiculous. I got chills. I'm fired up. Me too. Me too. A little pop to you out here. A little pop to you.

Hey, Grinney. Look, I'm not making that up. It's the yins are in me. I'm bringing to downtown everything. Oh, I like that. I like that. You're killing it and that. And Grinney, one time with us, please.

Every rose has its song. Now that, yeah, yeah. Thank you. That's my Greenberg. All right. I want to tell you all, it's going to be, I'm so fired up, Wiz and I are going to bring it and I, we have a title for it. We're going to have the black and yellow, nothing but a good time and nothing but a good draft.

All killer hits, no filler. Okay, so that's the title. Hold on. We got to go back to, okay. It was a little long. Okay, but we got it. Hold on. I didn't know I was going to have to take it.

Okay, so it's the black and yellow. Black and yellow, nothing but a good time, nothing but a good draft. All bangers, no filler. Is that what it? All killer hits, no filler. All killer, no filler. Okay, black and yellow, nothing but a good time. Nothing but a good time.

But a good time. Oh, you're getting me. Look at me. Yeah, good. Okay, Brett, let's talk about this. Honestly, genuinely, you are. are Butler, PA, Pittsburgh man. And you've obviously went on to have immense success. Obviously, every yins are proud to see another yinser have great success. You love the Steelers. I think you

have been very adamant and open about how much you love sports and appreciate the Steelers. I assume this was a massive call whenever you're asked to perform at the draft for the city of Pittsburgh that will never get a Super Bowl. This draft is the Super Bowl. So this is massive football event in Pittsburgh. I assume you were very, very elated whenever you got the call for this, Brett. Is that accurate? beyond accurate. First of all, on a very sincere note, I want to say this. When I got the call about doing this, I was talking with everyone about it. I'm a 100% guy. As you as a fellow Jinser, we're 100% guys. And I just want to say, it was like a bucket list dream come true.

Besides, I also told him, you don't ask me to come up and perform at this on Friday night. I said, I'm going to take gaff tape and gaff tape myself to the podium. So one way and the other, I'm going to be there. I've had duct tape all ready to go. I was going in. I was going in. I like that. If you were to taped yourself there and Roger Godell had to come out and stand at your podium for every single draft pick, that would certainly be a great way to get a part of the Pittsburgh draft. You and Wiz are going to be performing together? How's this go? So here's how, me and Wiz, right? We got together. We met at Jay Glazer. We were throwing a party. We were raising a big charity event for the fires.

happened and long story super short we went there I was jamming I brought up some stuff with some friends of mine and we were on tour I said let's just grab the band went over and played acoustically for a lot of people whiz and I started just singing songs doing stuff together and it became that's where it all kind of started right there and we said we're going to take this to the draft okay so are you singing together you're doing your own your song his song together songs here's what we're going to do the way I feel we're designing a set together and I get to say this to whiz and his team and Will and everybody also from Pittsburgh and our team we everyone is getting along unbelievably great everyone's like here's how

the stage could look where are we going to put the DJ the double drums and then we're going to match the setup and I think the way we'll do it when we hit that stage do a couple of ours couple of theirs and then come together and do one big grand finale and or throw it into the middle of the two and just mash it up but nothing nothing but hits from both of them yeah all killer no filler baby it's uh black and yellow nothing but a good time nothing but a good draft