The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 1550 - Overreaction Monday with Adam Schefter, Shams Charania, Kevin Pritchard, Ryan Smith, Cameron Wagner, PK Subban

Episode Date: May 11, 2026

On today's show, Pat, Darius Butler, AJ Hawk and the boys recap the weekend of NBA & NHL Playoffs, preview the NFL schedule release, the PGA Championship and more. At the top of the show, we are joined by ESPN’s Senior NFL Insider Adam Schefter to tell us what we can expect from the NFL schedule releases this week, clarity on the Steelers & Aaron Rodgers situation, the Steelers agreeing to a four-year extension with K Chris Boswell, and more. After Schefty, ESPN’s Senior NBA Insider Shams Charania drops in for a drive by to break the news that Victor Wembanyama will not face additional discipline from the league for elbowing Naz Reid, an update on Giannis’ future, and more. Right after Shams we are joined by Pacers President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard to discuss the Pacers falling out of the top 4 in the NBA lottery and losing their draft pick as part of their trade for Ivica Zubac from the Clippers, how he feels about the Pacers going into next season, and more. Also in the first hour we are joined by the Owner of the Utah Jazz & Mammoth, Ryan Smith, to talk about the lottery going well for the Utah Jazz after they landed the second pick, how he works with GM Danny Ainge, how difficult it is to referee the NBA, his new practice facilites & entertainment district, and more. At the start of the second hour, we are joined by 6’7 OT Cameron Wagner who announced his commitment to Dan Lanning’s Oregon Ducks. Right after Cameron, 13 year NHL Veteran and Olympic gold medalist PK Subban joins the program to chat about him completing his $10 million dollar donation to the Montreal Children’s Hospital, the domination so far by the Carolina Hurricanes, the environment for Montreal Canadiens’ home games, what makes the Wild’s Quinn Hughes so special, how the Wild can beat the Colorado Avalanche, and more. We wrap things up with the Pat McAfee Show’s golf authority, Mark Schlabach who helps us preview the PGA Championship in Philadelphia. Make sure to subscribe to youtube.com/thepatmcafeeshow or watch on ESPN (12-2 EDT), ESPN’s Youtube (12-3 EDT), or ESPN+. We will be back tomorrow LIVE from the ThunderDome. Cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, beautiful people. And welcome to our humble abode, the thunder dome, on this massive, overreaction Monday, May 11, 2026. This program begins now. Sports! Are the absolute greatest, and I'll tell you what, we are packed to the gills today with sports conversation. Obviously, the NBA and NHL playoffs continued through the weekend.

We have a sweep in the NBA and a sweep in the NHL. Are the tops of the divisions too high in each sport? or was there just a couple ass beatings that needed to happen as we try to figure out the electricity of the rest of the NBA and NHL playoffs? We'll chit-chat about it all. We have Adam Schaeffer joining us here in a matter of a few moments to chitchat about a lot of NFL news that is happening around the globe. The NFL schedule will be released this upcoming Thursday, and we got stories to tell. We got things to overanalyze. We got conversations that mean absolutely nothing at this exact moment that are certainly going to take place around who's going where, when.

Sunday night football has been announced for week one. Cowboys at Giant. Who could have expected the Cowboys or the Giants to be in night one, week one of Sunday night football. Obviously, you're trying to get your marquee games in there. The schedule maker for the NFL is a real talent, okay? And I think obviously with the addition of AI and multiple different ways, there's this Claude guy out there now. Oh, yeah, he's the one. Claude's doing his thing.

He's expensive, though. But they're saying worth it. I'm here $100 a month. You're buying Claude a drink. That's what they're saying you're doing. That's expensive trick. But anyways, Claude, and then you got the GPT, and then you got the GROC cycle.

You got all of these, I assume they're helping the schedule-making wizard. Remember last year, we had an incredible slate. There was bangers every single week. Two years ago, there was like a drought during primetime. Because when you're trying to project who should play in primetime, it's like, what's the biggest storyline coming out of this weekend? You can never, ever attest for injuries that could occur, or maybe teams just being ass out of nowhere.

So trying to project who's playing when is obviously, a tough task, but they've seemed to do it very well, which is why the NFL's ratings are up and to the right. Got some people saying, aren't a little too much? Some people saying, oh, they're going off of what I own? A broadcast channel?

They're going somewhere else. Don't like that. I don't like it either, actually. And it's kickoff. A bunch of bullshit, says the president. The NFL has become such a successful league, and now there's calls into questions on how they're operating at such a massive profit.

This is what sports can become, is what every other league is thinking whenever you look at the NFL. This sport is obviously the greatest on earth, but it's worldwide development and talent and evolution of the rules to get it to where it is, is why everything is combined, everything, draft, everything, schedule release, everything. The NFL is special, and we're lucky to be a tiny little piece of it, but we'll talk to Schaefter. Then we got Sean Charani. There's a lot of news coming out of the NBA. GEOMB. Yeah. Yeah. That guy's a problem.

That's a nine-year NFL vet. Darius Jane Butler everything. What do you mean? Problem. I mean, that was vicious. It was a vicious elbow. Gotta love it.

I think Wembe said, you know what? I'm done with it. Okay, I'm not getting free. You know, boom. That's tough.

Imagine a 7 foot five elbow. Very pointy. I mean, that thing's very pointy, but also think about, you know, whenever you're trying to do leverage, I mean,

that's a long, that's a long way, away from the body, perfectly positioned. I mean, I think that thing could have extendo on he's got like an extendo elbow yeah that he just kind of dropped on old eight reeds face there now there was a video from previously in the series where these two individuals certainly had a maybe a yeah

playoff basketball oh okay so maybe maybe wendy goes home thinks about that a little bit because i'm done with us and then playoff basketball you're talking about a seven-foot-four young buck who is certainly a rising superstar certainly an icon and everything like that but in the officiating his eyes I don't think they've figured out how to officiate him yet because he is both a combination of 7 foot 4, but he's also fluid and smooth. But he's certainly a dog, and he would like people to remind him of that

because whenever he's getting beat up every game, at some point, you know, I know he wasn't hung out with the monks. Sure, yes. And I knew he played chess over there in Paris and in New York and everything like that. He also worked out with Kevin Garnett, right? Yeah. And there was a potential thought that Kevin Garnett has seen some of this stuff.

Senator Texas said, hey, how much more? How much more are we letting them do this? And then maybe, you know, Wembe dug deep into who he is, which is an absolute dog. This guy's unique. I don't think I could have expected the type of person he is. He's one with the universe. Talks about it. I'm in this universe.

I do this entire thing. Hang on. He's elbowing people in the face. He's crossing people up at 7 foot 4. He's dropping jumpers. He's in the paint. This guy's dishing. He's moving.

This guy's a chef. He didn't even know what ejected was. Yeah. I'm ejected. You're ejected. Who's? Who? I'm ejected?

Me? It was early in the game. What that me? Anthony Edwards would just go absolutely bonkers. The NBA has its future in the West right here in front of our eyes. Wemby, very young, Ant Man, very young, and we're watching them duel in the biggest way. In prime time, the NBA playoffs are spectacular,

and Wembe is something I don't think we've ever seen before, DeBoo. Absolutely not. We might not see him next game. What? You like that. Oh, come on. You like that. You're talking about hanging out with K.G.

He served his game. This guy's been hanging out with Metalworld Peace. I haven't seen a bow like that since him. That was a throwback for real. Real for real. Six-game suspension there for META, I believe, is what that was. That was an accident. Yeah, and I was soon META had some history leading up to that.

Wendy has no prior experience in this particular world, which I think is why it was probably so important to him. I think he had to do a, hey, I can't just sit here and take this anymore. Now, obviously, it's a, oh. So that is a bit of a wind-down. Much different. Yeah, but he was jogging away. Was it? He was jogging away.

The toxic tables here at Boston Corner and one half of the hammer, died. Cowell's a baby. He's telling. I mean, yeah. And James Harden, by the way, still doing it, still cooking it. Is this a good way to respond to all the chatter about your game? What chatter? Law on the Internet.

Keeps it moving. Big perk had to go out there and say, you know, maybe it was me. You know, carry on. Maybe because of what I said about him, it motivated him to have his best game. Donovan Mitchell also goes crazy, and the Cavaliers are back in this series. And then if you go stay in the East, New York Knicks sweep the 60s. I mean, just absolutely dominated the Philadelphia 76 or so much, though, that obviously we saw the song and dance with Jalen Brunson last year, the guy doesn't miss.

Okay, the guy that he just doesn't miss. I don't know how it's possible, how somebody like him is just able to go everywhere and play in the same exact. He plays the same way. Doesn't look like he's faster than everybody. Definitely not bigger than everybody. But he has a better body control seemingly than everybody, and he makes every single shot. And he never blinks this guy. And I don't think this thing just comes out all the time.

It's a sick celebration. He's a wrestling fan as well. And then Deuce McBride out of West Virginia, he goes crazy. They were 2017 Golden State Warriors in the first quarter. They were historic. It was an unbelievable ass beating to put that game away in Philadelphia. And I'll tell you what, Knicks fans were there, okay, in Philadelphia. And they took that entire city over.

So Joelle Embed, obviously afterwards came out and said that he was happy that he was healthy and viewed it as a successful year and everything like that. Now they're questioning his legacy. They're saying Philadelphia maybe not even a sport town anymore, says Josh Hart, who's a hilarious individual. It's just this guy left his mom. some others a masker. I left my mom to go down with the ship here.

Sad. It was full chaos over there. Josh Hart said what? What's that? About Philly? Not a sports town anymore. Didn't he winning that of here? Yeah.

I think a lot of people are wondering what the hell's going on. And then Jalen Brunson's story with Little Will and his dad is all coming out about how close Philadelphia is to all this stuff. So it's like Joel Embed in that Sixers team was an incredible ride, a fun ride this year. And seeing Joel be back and be healthy was cool. Even Paul George had his moments of awesome. Maxi was fashion. everybody on the court at certain different times. But them losing in this fashion

is certainly going to call into a lot of questions. And boy, people are saying, Philadelphia doesn't believe in this team? Does the team believe in the team? And what's the future look like in Philadelphia? I'm a trust process until you can anymore. But process has been a long one. Been a long one.

And the Knicks might be going this year. Okay, let's pivot away from the NBA. Let's go to the NFL. Joining us live from another commercial shoot, Superstar, legend, senior NFL insider, Adam Schefter. Yay, Jeffty. What's going on, man?

How are the acting chops going? You think you're nailing your lines and stuff like that? I'm about to go make my acting debut upstairs here, me and Deadpool, me and Deadpool together. Yes, I can't wait for that interaction. Are you speaking or just tweeting? You know, I don't even know yet. Honestly, like, I was just going to do. I have no idea. Chefty. Whatever he tells me to do, I do, Pat. Okay, I respect that, but you should at least have a little bit of a heads up of what he might be.

Come on, Chefty, we need the lines. My wife. My wife was always like, why don't you know more about this? I'm like, I don't know more. You know, like on Friday, I'm doing a talk down with the Michigan people. She's like, what do you do? I'm like, I don't know. I don't know. Whatever.

Just tell me what you need done. I'll get it done. Yeah, I respect that. But for the good of being respectful to the acting biz, okay, in the acting biz, let's at least know what our three entrances are when we're in there. Okay, how we're entering, what we're doing when we're in there and then how we're exiting, three different first that you're in there. Okay. Well, done. These are all the things that you need to think about, obviously.

And you should obviously take complete direction from somebody that is on set that's supposed to do that. whether that's director or Sylvester Stallone has an idea. You certainly listen to him. I know a little tiny bit about the acting world, knowing that, just tiny, I'm actually saying that. It has been so fun to learn about it. Peter Berg let me in his movie. That was obviously incredible.

And then getting a chance to watch Sylvester Stallone be an absolute beast with Tulsa King. I shot a couple of those things. Just know your lines a little shit. For the good of everybody else that's there. Come on. For the good at Deadpool. So Deadpool doesn't have to wait around

so you don't look like the asshole. You know what I mean? You're in their world. Ryan Reynolds is a professional. You're in their world. Shephti. Okay, don't disrespect our on that note, welcome back to our world, brother. Hey, NFL is awesome.

The NFL's awesome. It's good to be in our world. It is good to be in our world. Okay, so the schedule release obviously coming out Thursday. This has become a massive deal. We know the international teams that are going to be playing. We know a couple of the games. What do you think is the big news that could potentially drop out of these international games? Well, first of all, they'll release the international games Wednesday morning on Good Morning Football.

So there's nine of them right now. You know where everybody's playing at this point in town. We already know some of the matchups with the Rams and the Niners early on, the Cowboys and the Ravens early on. You know what happens this week, I know the schedule release is Thursday night, 8 o'clock, ESPN,

all those things. But what happens is every day, there seems to be another element of the schedule that comes out. Like today, they say the opening Sunday night game of the year is the Dallas Cowboys at the New York Giants. So the Dallas Cowboys once again are in primetime,

Once again, it's against the New York Giants, September 13th, Sunday night, John Harbaugh's NFL head coaching debut. And so there's the first essentially announcement this week of all the games that are going to be played. And there'll be more on Wednesday we'll get the international games. There'll be other news and information that comes out during the week. And by the time it's Thursday night, it feels like most of the information has kind of been let out by them. But we'll see how it works out. and I always think the opener, the Wednesday night opener this year in Seattle is always a big deal. It feels like that game is going to be either the Chicago Bears or the New England Patriots.

My guest today, and it's a guess, would be the Bears in Seattle on that Wednesday night game before we get to the 3rd and Rams 49ers game. Okay, I hope that's the case. All the games are going to be sweet. Thanksgiving Eve is fantastic. I know you have a limited kind of block here in your schedule. don't want you to disrespect anybody, so let's move to some other prevalent NFL conversations. Go ahead, Ton Diggs.

Jeffey, I can't believe I have to ask you this. So there's reports last week that Aaron was coming to visit the Steelers to talk about some things and maybe, you know, sign a contract. And then there was reports that he wasn't in Pittsburgh. Then there was reports that he was in Pittsburgh, but he wasn't going to facility. Only his agent was going facility. There's reports that he came to collect his moon rocks or play golf.

I'm not sure. He didn't leave his moon rocks in Pittsburgh. He wasn't coming to collect anything, bud. Maybe golf, though. I heard a lot of conversation. A lot of the locals, Jensers, are kind of looking at Bigfoot, it feels like, is what Tone's trying to say.

Yeah, and I can't believe we're all, us as Jensers just can't believe that we're here again. What's the latest, Shephty? Well, I can say this. The report initially came out last week on, I think it was Thursday, that Aaron Rogers was going to be in town and at the Steelers facility visiting.

If I remember correctly, the report, Thursday or Friday night. Well, the weekend, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday have come and gone. Aaron Rogers was not at the facility once. The Steelers have a voluntary off-season workout program that begins one week from today. I'm going to guess. I know last year, Rogers didn't show up with the Steelers until June. But if he's going to resign, I don't know why that wouldn't be done at some point in the next week. But I will say this, that when the report surfaced last week,

that he was back in town visiting the Steelers, whatever it was. Nobody, nobody in the organization knew about it. And his agent didn't know about it. So there are a couple of people, in fact, they said flat out just not true. So with Aaron Rogers, you never really know exactly what's right and what's not. But I've always felt like that May 18th date was a date that should be circled for him to come back. I still think the chances are that he comes back. I think most people believe he'll be back. He always could choose mine. He could always go the other way. I don't think anything's changed. It's the same situation we've had all along other than for the fact that there was that report that surfaced last week that said certain things were going to

happen last week. He can still spin it. You watch his eye. Yeah. He can still spin it. I know you Jensers are sick of having to wait around. We're the Pittsburgh Steelers. We got to wait for They just got to tell us whether or not he wants to play for us. And then they hear, oh, he's coming back to sign. Then they're told, no, he's actually coming back not to sign. Just kind of play golf and hang out. Well, maybe he just wants to be back in the city. Maybe he wants to feel a little bit before May 18th,

before he has to get back to the building to go to work. Maybe he just wants to kind of re-baptize himself at the waters of Pittsburgh and kind of live his life. But maybe he wasn't there at all. And maybe he's literally off the grid somewhere, trying to figure out what the hell he wants to do with his life, who what, he has committed, what, 20-some years to the NFL, let alone 30 some years to the game as a whole.

So, you know, I think it is a deep thinking person who has to make a deep decision about what his future is. And for me, I think I would have liked to have heard that he's playing with Mike McCarthy again in Pittsburgh. But we do a daily sports show. Yes, we do. He lives his life. So I think our expectations versus his are a little bit different.

And we'll see if Schefter's right about the May 18th deadline. But boy, him and Mike McCarthy didn't breath into it. Oh, a little firing. Michael, hey, calm dog. I like to see it. Drew Aller, how I see him. Drew Aller, he's going through quarterback camp right now. Like that Mark.

Working, baby. I don't love how the ball, the tip of the nose goes down, but I'm not quarterback whisper. That would be Mike McCarthy in this entire thing. People are saying he looks like he's moving and saying. It's like he's going through a drill right now that he's just learning with Michael McCarthy. This is all practice.

Whenever we start judging practice film, we got to really check ourselves because people could be working on something. People could be learning something. Like, for me, there was a couple days where I was changing my drop, which would be a drastic move, but the process from going from first drop to last drop is certainly going to be one where there's going to be a lot of shanks.

And there was somebody that, like, who did I put it out, I looked like ass. It's like, I got to work here, though. I'm trying to get back. Guys are trying to work. Let's remember that. Okay, and if you're a linebacker for the Indianapolis coach, you look fine.

Keep going. You look fast. You look fast. Okay. Let's talk about another or more free agents alongside Aaron, are you breaking news right now? Yeah, we're going to have to news here. in a matter of moment, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. What is it? Check your spelling. Yeah, check your spelling. Period. Good photo usage as well. Every once in a while, we like seeing what photo you decided to go with. Is it a cheeky, happy one, or is it a little bit more of an angry one? Is it focused?

You know, all those things. What are you, type, fast? What is this, Shepty? Yeah. What's your words per minute, too? Let's chat about it. Not great so far. Yeah. Hold on. Give me one second, Pat. Hold on one second. Oh, no.

AJ Brown There's a big one. No. Okay, not a big one. A lot of words, though. That's a lot of words. Yeah, I mean, well, you're also taking his time. Sweet-ass time.

I mean, don't you worry about anything else going on. Maybe somebody else breaking the news. A lot of words. Probably a guy who's playing in a league a long time. Okay, maybe. Maybe. Maybe it was an agent who sent him the information. So he's like, let's gas up both agent and player a little bit here, a little scratch.

my back, he scratch yours type situation. Who was it? What was it? Okay, we'll post it as we say, basically. I mean, we do without the picture because I don't have time to get the picture for you. What the hell you've been doing this entire time? Hold on. I'm getting a format, writing it up, getting a formatted. The Steelers have reamed with Cricker kicker Chris Boswell on a four-year,

$28 million. Wow. Have that boss? The Wizard of Bonds. ties him with Brandon Aubrey as the highest speed kicker in the NFL. Okay, Boz has been in the NFL for 11? Brandon Aubrey's been in the NFL for four years. 2015, I believe, was Boz's first year.

Okay, so that's 11 years. Aubrey was, what, fourth year? Yeah. Fifth year? Yeah. First deal up. So third, fourth year, whatever it is. Brandon Aubrey has obviously been incredible.

So much fun to watch, obviously, as a ball kicking person myself, I enjoy watching. I enjoy watching him do his job. Him getting paid what he got paid certainly made Boswell probably excited as these negotiations were taking place because Boz has missed like three kicks in like 10 years. And when he misses a kick, it's big news. Whenever a kicker gets to the point where when he misses, it is the headline, it is the conversation. It's like, that's a really good kicker. If Vinotary was to miss a kick, it would be like out of Venetary's losing it.

He missed a kick, you know? Justin Tucker got like that for a while. Boz is like that, especially in Pittsburgh. And in Pittsburgh, it's not an easy time to kick in. The people are ready for you to not be the kicker anymore if you're missing kicks very loudly because they played high school football. So you're just a kicker, even though you're in the NFL. I was 13 with people, bud.

Gay linebacker came off the edge. You ever hear of Nate Hartong? Yeah. Go ahead and cover strike to him. Yeah, so I don't need a kicker missing kicks. Get out there and make a kick. It's also the weather. The AFC North sucks.

Congrats the boss getting a deal. He wanted one last year. I don't think you got anything. Okay. On that note, last question for you as you break news in the middle of Conville and are an actor, go ahead, Convin. Yes, after David and Joku went to the Chargers,

kind of one of those lingering free agents that everybody, you know, was a fan of, but would probably sign closer to camp. Are we going to start seeing those types of guys, Depot Samuel, Keenan Allen, I mentioned, those types of players start to sign here and come off the board, or when should we expect that? Well, you're starting to see that.

You see Joom Jennings get done last week. You see David and Joku get done this week. Obviously, Mike Dan assigns with Buffalo earlier today. Amir Abdul. Like, guys are filling out their roster. And these are the guys that didn't get the long-term deals that they wanted. So now they're going

for the best one-year deals, putting themselves in situations that they think they can shine this year, and they'll once again become a free agent next year. And I just think that there'll be a slow trickle of these types of moves with these types of players up until the time training camp

begins. There's a reason these guys are out there. They're very good. They've been, they've had excellent careers, but obviously it didn't work out for the type of long-term deal that they wanted in the heart of freak. All right. We appreciate the hell out of you, Shafty. Good luck out there. Let's remember our lines. Let's learn what we've got to do so we don't disrespect, you know, the camera people that are there.

Sure. The script folks. Well, all I know is, all I know is I'm going to get smacked around here by Deadpool a little bit. That's all I know. Have you worked on any good cells? You know what your face? Have you thought of any of that? Okay. Yeah, I like that. You know, I should have been, I should have been learning some of the stuff from you and the WWE guys.

So I could have been ready for this, right? What are you to learn? You just naturally reacting to WWU one day you'll get it. Ladies and gentlemen, that's senior, Adam Schafter. What the hell was that about? I think he's a pretty big company.

He's with Deadpool? Yeah, that's a big one. Yeah. I think you should have at least a little bit of a clue on what you're doing when you walk into that. You know how much money is probably being spent on that of Deadpool? Is it got to be shifty? Is it actually Ryan,

Reynolds underneath the mask because they could really stick anybody in there. Well, I thought about that when that DJ craze started happening. DJs with the super duper head things. Marshmallow. I was like, man, yeah, I thought DJ marshmallow is a genius. Hey, bud, you could do eight gigs a night. Yeah, he had to do that. Had to have.

Hey, you know what we're playing. The hits. Boom, boom, boom, go in there. There's a chance that that is taking place with Deadpool. But obviously, if Disney's involved here, Schefter should know what the hell he's doing. On that note, he knows what he's talking about whenever it comes to ball. I know there was a quick conversation that we had last week

whenever he was down at the Michigan Illuminati event that was taking place where they were raising money to buy a better roster for the Michigan Wolverines. I'm not blaming them. Everybody's doing it. I think the Michigan one potentially has the biggest bank account involved in all of it. J.J. McCarthy was down there. Then we saw J.J. McCarthy at the wild game. Then we see J.J. McCarthy's conversations and we think to ourselves, is J.J. McCarthy going to be able to figure out how to be an NFL quarterback or is Kyler going to be the guy? Or is Kyler going to be the guy?

He had an interesting take on it. He said, I think it's a competition. Like Schaefter was obviously 10 feet away from J.J. McCarthy as he was speaking about it. But I do believe they think that this is going to be a true comp. And J.J. McCarthy is seemingly one over the boys up there. Okay, Minnesota, they like him, seemingly. It's like, can he be an NFL quarterback? And then, Kyler Murray, it's like, we've seen so much greatness out of him.

Can he be an NFL quarterback? If you were able to put JJ's movie-like character leadership, okay, into... And height. Okay. No, Kyle's good. You don't need to do that. Okay. No, I mean, that was fair.

That was fair. Very fair. Okay, we'll take his height and, like, the way he allegedly is like a movie character type leader of a quarterback, like everything he says is straight out of a movie of how a good quarterback would play. If you were able to kind maybe and Kyler's at a stage of his career with his hometown team that he are his childhood team and his childhood dreams or whatever, I think it's going to be a good quarterback room. But I think that's Kyler's team just from football's sake. But maybe JJ's won him over too damn much

behind the scenes. He's going to get another great off the time. We'll see all that all the other all the other shit is great but you got to be able to you got to be able to sling that that pill out there. You got to be able to throw the football down in and down out. We know Kyle can do it. Like you said, all of the other things, the intangibles. He is with KOC, has some great weapons around them, should have a good offensive line if they are healthy. So all the pieces are there. But if you're the Vikings, you've already made that investments, you know, a decent investment in your first round quarterback's his third year. So it's a big year for him. And then the one year investment for Kyle. So can he turn things around and maybe

be that guy for the next four, five, six years? We'll continue to talk about all things NFL because the NFL carries all things. Yep. Yes, it does. All day every day. And we are very lucky that we get a chance to chat about it. We love all sports, obviously, and the NHL playoffs have been spectacular. Don't look now. There was two teams on a collision course for the championship for the Stanley Cup. They were both undefeated in the playoffs, not even having a loss in a Best of Seven series.

4-0-2-0. Were they both going to go 40-40-40-t until they run into each other in somebody's going to have to lose. Well, Colorado Avalanche, lose to the Minnesota Wild. Quinn Hughes, absolutely filthy goal in this entire thing. And the Carolina Hurricanes remain the only team that is able to go back-to-back sweeps in the NHL playoffs. They are special. That is a special team.

And now let's go to the west side of this entire division. There was something that happened this weekend that it made me start a whole new segment. If you're not an NHO fan and you don't have a team, I would just encourage you just to turn it on and figure out who you like. So many incredible environments. So many magical moments happening on. And a lot of the guys that you're seeing on the ice, like, they might have broken everything. Yep.

You have no idea because they don't have to tell anybody. Most of the guys on the ice are willing to fight anybody at any time, even if you're 5'8- and a 6-foot-4 guy comes over to you. It's a great group of absolute legends on the ice. And the sport itself creates these environments that are outrageous that literally made me say, man, you know, I wish I was there. I had some phymo like a mug. Did you see the Canadians? Oh, yeah.

This weekend. Watch. This is what sports can create that nobody else on earth can create. He steps into the arena to be seen by nearly 21,000. Straightest standing and screaming and going bananas. And, you know, there was a conversation about all these young hockey lads. They don't feel the home ice advantage or the away.

It'd be hard to go into an actual flaming buzzsaw up there in Montreal. And I would never say, I wanted to go in Canada. Ever. Ever. Never? When I was in high school, I was a young lad. I used to drive up to Canada all the time. It was so much.

Oh, my God, it was so much. Don't tell that to Gumbs. Yeah, well, Gumbs hates Toronto. That's because he's from left Canada. I've never been to left Canada, but I've certainly been to Niagara Falls plenty of times. Actually loved going to Canada. Now, you know,

I've read some things about me from a lot of Canadians. So I just think to myself, maybe not where I want to head to at this exact time of my life. Then I saw this with my daughter. McKenzie and I were watching this. She was glued to the screen. I'm like, yes, girl, yeah.

This is what sports is all about. What a magical moment of city, obviously, community, coming around and saying, lads, we're going to help you today. Get a huge win. Absolutely huge win at home against his Buffalo Sabres team who has the exact same thing

happening in their barn back in Buffalo. The NHL playoffs are creating magical environments, and I think that's a part of it, just like college football. College football, the pageantry in the environment is what separates it from the NFL. The NFL quality of football, the good players, the players, so much better than college football. I mean, you get it. It is a better quality of sport.

But the sport that is being played on college football stadiums, very good in the environment that is surrounding it, impeccable. It is our best representation of fans whenever the hooligans of soccer from Europe like to represent. hockey provides the exact same shit, especially in the playoffs. Montreal on display. Buffalo on display. Minnesota on display. Carolina down there with the... Oh, yeah.

The boys cranking the iron. I mean, it's a special night whenever. It's a special time when you turn it on and it can, like, feel it through the screen. Yeah, even Anaheim out there in California. But last night was by far the best one. This would be the top of the list when it comes the entire thing. And yeah, right here, them kind of honoring Hakib Dobesh. Yeah, the goalie goes crazy.

They get a standing ovation multiple times. He is rookie goalie, formerly of Ohio State, okay? Formerly of Ohio State up there in Montreal doing his thing as rookie year. Thank you to the NHL playoffs. Let's go back to the NBA. Joining us now, I think with some breaking news, ladies and gentlemen, senior NBA, insider for ESPN, Shams Sharana. Yay, Shams, how you doing?

Sorry, we made you watch the Montreal experience. It was certainly fantastic. What's going on in your world as you urgently, words per minute, tweet like you're Adam Schaefter in the game? Yes. We have news. I'm going to actually say it while I'm on with you guys. Thank you.

There will be no further discipline for Victor Wenyama after he elbowed Nasreid in the face in Minnesota on Sunday night. He was ejected for this play. Multiple sources tell me, though, that there's not going to be a suspension. No fine. He will be playing in game five as, you know, I am going to try to get this out. You guys to have reactions right now. Yeah, let your Twitter pop off. off office. Thank you for directing us on how to respond here, Sean. I appreciate you in the middle of your flow right now. This is a big deal because we had seen elbows in the past, more specifically, MetaWorld Pieces, elbow to the head. That was pretty aggressive, got a six-game suspension. So there was suspension for a potential elbow-to-jaw situation precedent for it all. He gets none because this first time he's been involved in any of this. I think Wembe sets a tone for people. Like, hey, I'm about sick of the way. I'm getting treated not only to people who's going to play against, but also I think the

league as a whole, fans as a whole. And this is great news for me as a fan of basketball to be able to watch him play as soon as game. As a fan. We have to, one more thing to just keep in mind. He was the objective for this play. So he basically already missed, you know, a significant part of this game. And unlike Ron Artesse, aka Meta World piece from before, there is not a history of

these types of plays for Wembe. Okay, we appreciate the hell out of that. Wemby, can't wait to watch you back on the court. Him saying, I'm ejected. What is that me? Early in the game, obviously, that provides an opportunity for Ant Man to go absolutely crazy on Mother's Day. Loved everything about Anthony Edwards in a way he leads his team, the way he plays basketball, the way he answers questions, the way he's been authentic to himself throughout this entire time.

And he's leading a state and a team and a franchise in a special way. Wembe not playing. Is that a big deal? Of course. That's not Amman's fault. Hey, no. Jonah Lowe's in the head, because I'm going to take this thing over. He goes bananas and that's special stuff out of the NBA.

All right, Shams, we appreciate the hell out of you, man. You're the best, Shams. Oh, we draft. Let's talk about draft really quickly. NBA draft, obviously, a massive ordeal. Are you going to ask me about Yonis real quick or no? You can ask me about Yonis real quick? You tell me.

Is there something about Yonis? We do have some news on Yannis. I'll say this. I'll try to make it as shorten as possible. sources tell me the Milwaukee Bucks are fully open for business on trades and offers around Yonazza Dukpo as we enter the NBA draft combine this week. And we're six weeks away from the NBA draft itself. Buck's owner, Jimmy Hasam, said just last week that there will be a conclusion to this saga. It's been a 12-month ordeal for all of us.

But Jimmy Hasam said there will be a conclusion to this that will either. result in him signing a long-term extension or a trade. But the conversation, any conversation that the bucks are going to have with Yonzo DiCompo, for my understanding it's going to be a very simple one. Do you want to stay here long-term and commit long-term in June? The answer from all accounts is going to be no. And at that point, the question is going to be, where does Yonis want to go? Where does you want to play for and commit long-term?

Because he's got just one guaranteed year left on his deal. You guys know this, especially in the NBA. That gives a player of this caliber a ton of leverage, a ton of sway on where he ends up. John Horst, the Bucks General Manager, has done everything. I'm talking about everything the last 10 years to try to put together a winner around Yannis. They've traded for Drew Holiday, all of their traffic. They've traded a bunch of assets away for Damien Lillard. They stretched, they did the largest stretch and waive of a player in NBA history

when they stretched Damian Lillard's $113 million contract. They put that on their books for the next five years, and then they went out and signed Miles Turner to $108 million deal. They did that all to try to win around Janus. The reality has been setting in, though, for the bucks. And now they're going to do their best to work with Janus over the next several weeks. And there's going to be a bunch of teams. Miami, Golden State, the Lakers, the Timberwolves, the Cavaliers,

a bunch of teams playing in the playoffs right now, teams that are out of it. and we'll see over the next six weeks, as Jimmy Haslam said, what happens with Janus? Okay, I appreciate you still on the Janus beat, you know, as the Greek freak speaks through sources, his team, the team. I don't know who all leaks information, but I do appreciate that it's certainly... I'll do it. I'll do it. Source.

From all angles, they've got to get that figured out, obviously. And Jimmy Hasam of the Cleveland Browns and also the University of Tennessee Volunteers, I do believe. He said he wants it done by the draft. When is the draft? The draft is June 23rd and June 24th. All right. We got some draft lottery conversations to have because I'll tell you what, I don't like it.

Ladies and gentlemen, that senior insight. I was there. I was there last night. Let me give you a quick rundown. The Wizards, the number one overall pick. You know, they've been rebuilding. They get the number one overall pick. The two big stories, though, from the draft lottery.

The Pacers, they dropped out of the top four, meaning that their top four protective pick went to the clipper. The other big story, the Utah Jazz, getting right back to the top of the draft lottery. They slid the last couple of years. They ended up with the number two pick. Okay, we appreciate that, Shams. You're the man, ladies and gentlemen, senior insider Shams. Yes, Sean.

Joining us now, the president of basketball for one of the teams that slipped out of the protected top four picks. Ladies and gentlemen from the Pacers, Kevin Pritcher. Yay, Kevin. I don't, Kevin. Thank you, guys. Thank you. Thank you for joining us. Obviously, I appreciate the fact.

fact that you're from Bloomington, Indiana. Who, who, who, who's. Just an hour south here. I went to University of Kansas, played me NBA, earned your stripes through general management in minor leagues and then for Portland, and then you end up back here in your home state of Indiana. I want to let you know we appreciate the hell out of you. And I'm saying we as somebody that has adopted this state as my home. On that note, the hell happened, Kevin.

Okay, so Sean said that the big news, some of the big news, is you guys falling out the top four protected pick. But I think I also learned like if it was 10 and below, it was also protected. It was basically only a few picks. There's no way that you thought this could have been the outcome, or is this what you thought the entire time could potentially happen to the Indiana Pacers who get no luck seemingly ever in the draft lottery? No.

We knew that there was a chance we could lose this. I mean, that was a big part of the negotiation. And we would have loved to have kept the pick. But, you know, I think context is a big factor. And, you know, making to the Eastern Conference Finals two years ago, making it to the finals a year ago, we knew that we had a whole, we had a great group of guys, a core that we wanted to protect, and we didn't want to trade. And so that left us with really our draft picks to go get a center. And, you know, we had looked all over the NBA. lot of discussions and Zoo was a guy that just kept coming back and feeling great for us and

you have to take these risks there's you know about five years ago's we were looking at kind of who we were and I didn't feel like we were taking enough risks and so we made a big trade for Tyrese we made a big trade for Siakum and And we felt like we were one piece away from being in that contenders, you know, conversation. And so we felt like Zhu was the right risk. We love him. He was texting with me last night. So we're excited about this team.

All-MBA defensive player, Zoot, by the way, straight out of the clippers. Now, also, I believe the first four picks of this particular draft are all big men. I believe five was going to be a guard. Potentially, you don't need guard at this point. You end up losing five. At least you still get a center, which was the piece that you wanted. We lose Ben Matherin, too, who's a massive piece, I think, to our run and can get hot. But it feels like, from all conversations that I've had around your building, which I know you probably don't love because I'm getting into a microphone.

But Tyrese loves the team. Tyrese loves, what am I calling him to? Zub, Zub. Zub. Zub. Zoo. Yeah. Zoo.

Zoo, like a zoo downtown of Indianapolis, Zoo. That's right. Zubilation. Okay. We're going to we're going to a zoo there. But I think Tyrese really likes the team. And I think you've come out saying you really like the team as well, although obviously if you get a little bit of luck in that draft lottery,

a first four pick would have been fantastic to the roster as well. How do you feel about where you're at with the team, the build? And what is next for you as you continue to move forward to try to piece together another championship run? Well, when you look at the trade, like, you know, we haven't had a move up in any draft for 37 years. And so I felt like maybe we would get a little lucky this draft. And getting the pick, those first four players we felt like were really special. There are other special players in this draft, but you look at our starters, Tyrese, Drew, Aaron, Siakum, and now Zoo, with this core, we think we're right back to where we were.

And it was a risk and we were willing to do it. But I couldn't go through this year and think that we didn't have that center, that final piece that could get us to a championship or competing in the east at the highest level. And so we just felt like we had to do it. Okay. I respect the move. I appreciate the move. Obviously, whenever you're sitting in the seat that you sit in, there's going to be shots to the shins for everything that happens. and there's certainly been some noise.

Debutt has a question for you. Yeah, Kevin, after the lottery, you kind of showed some, I guess, transparency, honesty. Set the stage for us. Take us back to yesterday 4.32 p.m. when you fire off that tweet on X. What was the mindset? Were you potting?

Were you boozing? What was going on? You were putting on. That's a good question. I was sitting next to Chad Buchanan, and we looked at each other during the draft lottery. and I go, man, this feels like game seven again.

And it really did. And, you know, I'm not sorry about doing the trade. I felt like that was the right trade at the right time. What I felt for is Mr. Simon, like 37 years in the draft or, you know, 37 years and not moving up once. It's just tough. And I felt like we were doing little luck. And you, again, you have to take risk a few years. years ago, we weren't taking enough risk and making those Tyrese trades and Siakum trades

and Aaron Neesmith, you know, you have to take the appropriate risk in this business. And there's something else that's changed in the NBA and that, you know, free agency isn't really free agency. Teams re-sign and keep their best players. So now you have the draft or you have trade. Draft is risky business. It can be great business, and there are drafts that are better, and this draft looks like it's going to be a terrific draft. But we couldn't have done this trade if last year we didn't trade our pick into this year.

So we used that asset, and we got zoo. But, you know, trading is the way you get players now, and you have to take some shots, and, you know, hopefully this one works out. We think it will. We love Zoo. I mean, we love Zoo. We love what he's about. He's tough. I remember seeing a game when we played the Clippers.

He had 30 points and 29 rebounds. He just kicked our bus. And sometimes you want to get elite talent, but you also want to get true fits, and he's a true fit for us. So we'll see. The story hasn't been told yet, you know. We'll see. But the other thing to note is this.

So where do we stand today, right? Like that's the most important thing. Where do we stand today? we've got a starting five that we feel good about. We have a bench that's improving and T.J. McConnell and Obey and Huff and those guys have some serious experience now. And we have five of our next six years drafts.

We're not one of those teams that threw five or six picks into the future. We now have five of the next six. So we still have the ways to improve the team over the next few years. I can't wait to watch your work. I appreciate you. Thank you for standing on your.

decision and your moves while obviously the kitchen got hot and I appreciate the fact that you felt the pressure of like a game seven to win that lottery and then you're bummed out you're bummed out you want to let everybody know I saw the video of the kid in the living room dropping and collapsing I feel the same way here but let's go to work you're the man who thank you thank you for having me guys ladies and gentlemen that's kevin pritcher yeah kevin you know the pacers never had the number one pick but they had it once traded away they also never had a number one pick play for them either Who who could have drafted. The trade stunk.

That's the real story. Excuse me. Number one overall picks matter, brother. Let's look around the playoffs. Oh, I don't know. Ant-Man. Cade Cunningham. Wemmbi.

Sure. Carl Anthony Tons. LeBron James. LeBron James. LeBron James. These are all number one overall picks. You know, it does matter whatever that happens. And to Kevin Pritchard's point, we kind of heard what he was saying where, like, hey, building these teams is this.

It's either trade, which the players are basically in control of nowadays. or it's you get lucky and hit in the draft and you happen to get a pick that is in the pool of elite players. Joining us now is a guy who got fined this year at one point. Yeah, he did. Because he was trying to maybe sweeten the lottery pot to move up in the draft. Ladies and gentlemen, the man who owns the Utah Jazz and the number two overall pick in this year's NBA draft, Mr. Ryan Smith. Yeah, Ryan. What's up, dude?

What's up, boys? Hey, congratulations on the number two overall pick. We like this, right? This is good because I... Yeah, there's no... There's no question. Anytime you move up in the draft, I just heard Kevin, like, you know, I, first of all, I empathized for him because I felt that three times sitting in that room.

That feeling sucks. Yeah. It sucks. And it's hard for the fan base. It's hard for the season. And look, we, after three tries, we're on the other side of it. So it felt pretty good. I like that.

Your luck is slightly different. than Simon's 37 years, never hitting it. Year four here, you get a chance to move up to number two. The big conversation is AJ out there at BYU, obviously. He's not going to be a Utah jazz player because he's the clear cut number one. But then there's maybe a little bit of a conversation. Hold on now. Number two overall pick with something else.

He's quite a little package to maybe move up just one spot with Washington. The rumors already starting, especially with the ties to the number one overall pick in the state that you love and have developed so much. What are your thoughts on it all? And where do we sit as of this particular day with your thoughts on what can happen with the number two overall pick? Yeah, I mean, so first of all,

I've hired a pretty good team here that works with Danny Aange and Austin. And, you know, they've got a pretty good track record of how they handle the lottery. And there's a lot of time between now and then to see how things go. I think our ultimate goal is to build a championship. and it'd be irresponsible if everything wasn't on the table to do that.

And that's kind of our job. As an owner myself, you know, it's a real interesting thing because I want to be involved, but Danny's also made a living off over-involved owners, right? And so I always try to sit back and say, hey, look, these guys are here. We haven't even gotten together yet. They're all in Chicago. I'm heading there. and like we'll sit down and like we'll go through it.

But the good news is I think that if you look at the the bottom half of this or the top half of this draft, it's pretty incredible. And you know, you're looking out and you're saying, hey, there could be, you know, a few, you know, seven to ten time all stars. Well, congratulations to your team hitting this and moving up in the draft.

And the Utah Jazz seemingly being on the up and up because it wasn't too long ago where you were getting fined for being asked. Yeah. On purpose. They said this guy's team. team two ass at the wrong times. They got to be trying to lose.

You benefit from this, and we talked to you after the season about the fine, and you talked about like, oh, I created this. What are we even talking about in this entire thing? But certainly a problem, I hope it gets addressed. Now you said in that conversation as well, you're at a point where you're out of that. You feel good about what you kind of had to go through here the last few years is you try to find a winner out there and you trust Danny Aange's vision. You still feel like that right now, and how good of a payoff is it that the number two overall pick

is kind of the final piece of the pie maybe. Yeah, you know, my comment to you guys was just, you know, it's rebuilding. We're all rebuilding in the NBA. And I think if you look at Washington, if you look at Chicago, if you look at Memphis, you know, right or wrong, these are rebuilding teams that, you know, depending on how long each of them have been in that, have a chance to kind of get out of that. And I think we're one of those. And so, you know, the league is talk to all of us. The cool thing I've always said about this league is we make changes. you know, I don't want to be a part of organization that it's, hey, it was done this way in 1980,

we're doing it this way going forward. The world's change, media's changed, television change, the players have changed. So it's like, hey, how do we adopt and go forward? And I think that all the right discussions are happening. I personally thought the lottery obviously was good yesterday. But I thought more than that, I thought the right teams, for the most part, were able to do it. super empathetic of Brooklyn and, you know, Sacramento, have kind of been down there for a little bit,

and I've been there. Like, it's a hard feeling, and you're kind of looking there, like, how do I get out of this in a little bit of a way? So I think that with some rules and some protections and how we deal with the unprotected picks or protected picks and, you know, some of these things, like, we could really be on the right track,

because, I mean, it is made for television. You know, that video you were talking about with the Indiana kid, like the amount of videos I've seen of Utah fans, like every pick to the point where, you know, someone flips over Sacramento that's purple as well. And like my son's like whole world, he started screaming and then it was like, no, that was another team. And we're not cheering. But everyone is following along on the edge of their seat. It's insane. And, you know, you can see Kiante. Guante didn't show one ounce of, you know, emotion one way or another.

He's just sitting there like this, and it was like, it was good vibes. So, you know, I think we got to the point. Locked in at number two, Wizards end up with the number one overall pick, you know, or maybe not. You know, maybe there's a trade beforehand. All-ups is all in table. You never know what's going to happen. But sitting at number two currently could be very interesting.

Go ahead, Connor. Yeah, right. Some of my favorite theories on the Internet revolve around who the jazz are going to take and coming in at number one is, Carlos Boozer is going to make you take his son. Is that something that you have to kind of make him leave the room when you're talking about boosers? I just read his scouting report on all the players.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Booz already texted me this morning. Let's go. Like, you know, Booz is a pro. He understands this. And, you know, he's raised a couple great kids. Like, they've, you know, these kids are winners.

and they've shown who they are. And he's got to be pretty proud right now as apparent, no matter how it shakes out. And like I said, there's a lot of, there's a lot of pasture between here and the lotteries we've seen before. I mean, you look back to Danny in the past with having the number one pick in Boston with Markell Fultz and Jason Tatum.

You look at how this goes. A lot of stuff will shake out. And I think our job, and I think everyone's job, is to try to be as open as you can as you go through this. I mean, and good. And good.

Yeah, yeah, be good for sure. But also, let's be very transparent with what's possible here. And you're sitting in a great position, Ryan, and we think you've earned it and you deserve it because you took a lot of heat. I appreciate that, guys. And before we pivot to the other league that you're also involved with, last question here about NBA, pretty topical. Go ahead, Debo. Yeah, obviously, NFL and they got sorted out with their rest. But it's been a lot of conversation about the refereeing in one of your leagues as far as, you know, flopping and all these different types of things.

How do you feel about the status of the referees in your league? And do you guys have some plans to talk about some things this offseason? Yeah, it's hard, especially with replays and everything. I mean, I thought the crew last night with the Wimbe Amma, like, they made a tough call. And I think it was obviously the right call. Like, it's hard to be a ref. It's getting super physical, as you can see. I mean, first of all, like, I watch every game.

Like, I'm a Hoops fan. And through and through, like, it was, you know, these games are awesome. Awesome. Like that game was an awesome game last night. How about Ann Edwards turning that thing on, too, immediately afterwards on Mother's Day, shouting out his mom who's passed, his grandma was passed from draft night. He was actually sitting on his couch in Atlanta with pictures of his mom and his grandma next to him alongside the rest of his family.

And then on Mother's Day to just absolutely go crazy what, like 14 days after hyper-extending his dean and getting a bone bruise. It's like Wemby obviously showcasing a side. out of them that we didn't know he had. Wow, seven foot four monk hanging out guys and an absolute dog as well. It's like your league's filled with special stories, man, very special story. Yeah, and these guys are smart and they're athletic and, you know, the coaches are smart and the data and the analytics, like, it's, it's just you've got to keep tweaking it and keep evolving and, you know, there'll be a lot of meetings, but, you know, we, you know, it's

stuff to go through any NBA game where you're like, okay, everyone got it right. Like, the players don't get it right. The rest don't get it right all the time. but I think, you know, I'll just be honest, one of the things I do love about the NBA is the amount of replay that we can go back and look at times on these critical calls. Like, you know, there are other leagues where a game's decided by something that wasn't accurate, you know, and I think that's where we're trying to, trying to work a little bit. Are you talking about VAR and soccer? No, that's right call. That's right call. VAR.

Come on, you guys. Hey, it's soccer and it's basketball. You can, hey, it's dealer's choice on where you want to go with that. Like, it is, it is like, like, there's some where I think in the, in the NBA, it gets down to the last couple minutes, like they can just say, hey, we're going to go look at it. And, you know, also, with size of court, with size of court and in arena, can get cameras basically on everything. And I appreciate that you guys are humble enough in the refs over there who've been around forever.

I like, I like the brothers. Yeah, Tony. You're like, I'm in the league longer than you. I'll get you. I'm a little bit more part of this. then you need to watch your actions. It's also weird. When you're not involved with it, it's always, like, different.

But then, like, if that's our team and we're on the court, you're going to see me, like, going a totally different direction here. Yeah, do as I say, honestly. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's honestly, like, I think that's how everyone is. Like, you're in the draft room. It's hell. It's broken.

Like, you move off. It's like, oh. That's great. This thing's rigged. This ain't not supposed to go. You move up to two. I like the way we're doing this. I kind of dog it's human nature.

There's just so much on the line for everybody, and you try to remove yourself and take a step back. And, you know, watching some of the guys in the draft room last night, knowing what that feels like, I'm trying to be like, okay, wait, as we go into the rule changes and everything else, like, how do we not just pick something that's, you know, current or, you know, you're fighting your last battle?

It's got to be like, okay, what's out there? because of the end of the day, we all own 3% of the league. And that's how you got to look at, as opposed to just, hey, we own the Utah Jazz or the Knicks or we're over here. It's like there is a time to push the NBA. You got to pitch that. You got to pitch that Salt Lake City, Utah owner, for sure. This has been about it since the beginning of time with leagues, okay?

Cities in the middle of the country looking at the coastal elitist teams. Hey, are we a league here? Or are we equal? There's Jerry Jones's stories from the beginning of the collective bargaining agreements and how the Cowboys are viewed versus everybody else. Wait, so you're telling me my team's going to be funded. Everybody's team. Excuse me? We need

you. If you want a league to happen, we kind of need you. I'll think on it. I will think on it. Well, I'm going to sign this side deal here though. I'm going to sign this side deal here. I've got to do it. Quarterbacks for doing it with players. I mean, it happens everywhere. Now, let's go to another league that you are obviously in and having quick success. And I assume falling in love with as we come up on a hard out. Go ahead, tone. Yeah, right. Obviously, the momentum with the mammoth

after this season is incredible. first playoffs took the Knights to six and we're leading in a lot of those games. It was an incredible series, very, very fun to watch. So what was your kind of takeaway after your first experience in the playoffs with the mammoth and moving forward in the NHL and how that's going? Well, so first of all, it was insane. Like I think we're proud of the guys, what they've done in two years. You know, they weren't, and I think all of us thought that, you know, that was a very close

series and could have gone either way. having two of the games going to overtime where we were both leading and specifically the one in Vegas where we were up and they tied it with 52 seconds left or whatever it was. Like I think some of our questions were answered is like, okay, what do our guys have? I think they had like nine or nine or something Olympic, you know, medalists or Olympic players. And here we are like on kind of the opposite side of that. So there are a lot further in the journey than we are. But, you know, I think if you look at our future,

You look where we're headed. But more than that, more than that, like the way in invigorated our state and the entire community, it was special. Like it was something that I just can't even describe, like just everyone coming around for hockey, those playoff games building up to the playoff games. It was pretty epic. I'll tell you what, your bra culture up there in Utah, up there in a mountain, you know, is spectacular and unique, I think, to you, especially in ownership of two leagues. in United States of America in 2026 where the amount of capital that you have to have to have a professional sports team is outrageous.

We want to let you know, we're proud of you, buddy. We're proud of you. Oh, yeah, Ryan. And you're talking about you're just getting started. Well, that's why you said you reinvigorated, the state of Utah. It's like, that has been your mission since the beginning of this entire thing.

I know you're a BYU guy, but you are trying for the entire state of Utah to kind of be put on the map in a bigger way for sports and what the fans are. And we got pictures of the shit that you're building out there, the SEC sports complex. and I got a chance to go see.

Gumpy was out there whenever we did college game day. We got a chance to see kind of progress. That's our new hoops practice facility that should be done at the kind of to start 27. So next year you'll see that hockey's on the left are corporate offices and everything we're running in the middle. And then the hoops side, this is a view from our court with those mountains there. You know, our goal was kind of to bring this thing a little closer to the mountains. something that we can authentically own that's different. And, you know, it's the version of kind of all of our guys touching grass every day where they can be there and kind of have this wellness moment every time they come in.

And that's, you know, every state's got authentically owned something. And I think most people come to Utah to kind of get away and have that. We've got to bring that into our sports and kind of combine that. So we're making a big effort to kind of show our highlights here and why people want to be here. I mean, I saw pictures of Connor McDavid in southern Utah this weekend. Like, the NHL guys are vacationing here. Like, this should be something that our guys are like kind of being able to take in. And historically, everything's been downtown.

So we're moving a little bit south with the practice facilities right up against the mountains. And, like, that views healing. That's like what we love. That's what people do when they want to go get away. And so we got to embrace that and own it for the people who live here. Yeah, certainly, absolutely. Congratulations. of you on that kind of being the va we got a chance you bought a mall by the way you pull that back up

that was a mall he buys he buys a mall turns nordstrom into the jazz good idea turns jackey penny into the mammoth turns uh target sacks fifth into the whole thing yeah that that's literally what they did bro we got we got some more stuff coming announced this week we're just going to keep building on to this and you know i think it's a it's no different than the thunder dome boys well a little different little bit you got escalated You got a food court. Yeah, you got a parking for 10,000. Corn dog on a stick between practice.

Yeah, exactly. And also, I think there's a medical facility he's got in there. Like they're building up a medical facility over there. Got the Zammoth. Yeah, like the Zamboni. The Zammoth is there. The Zambuth is obviously there. And then also downtown Salt Lake, you're also investing in,

which I would like us to showcase. The Delta Center, obviously, you have to flip into a full NHL arena. You're in a middle of renovations. That should be done. You're spending so much money. You're building an entertainment, or helping build an entertainment district downtown for a guy to put on his state in this big of a way, I think is admirable. I want to let you know it's inspiring what you're doing over there, brother.

I hope you understand that while you're getting shot in the shins, whatever your teams don't win championship. Hey, we got to take a little bit of shrapnel, but like at the end of the day, I've always, I've always had a sin. Tune out the noise and play the long game. And the long game here is like, we've got a chance to really highlight. I mean, what you're looking at now is going to be ground zero for the 2034 Olympics. which we want absolutely, absolutely everybody out there. I mean, this is going to be insane. That's what we're going to be for the Winter Classic this year for hockey.

Ooh. Like, are you getting? I mean, we start on Thursday on New Year's Eve. We're going to do a concert at the Delta Center or something that night. It's going to be an all-weekend party. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, come ski. Like, we're hosting in Utah. So I think if you look at, you know, it's the easiest place to get in and out of.

I mean, it's the only place with seven ski resorts within 20, 25 minutes, and it's almost like two different climates right next to each other with Salt Lake. And it's pretty sweet. So we're just trying to be a little more accommodating. I think every generation needs to carry their weight on how they help with city building. You can't skip generations because when you put the people in, stuff starts to go a little down, just like the wear and tear. And so it's our turn.

It's our generation to come do it. there's not an economic booster that is sports, that is like sports that is available for any city and state. I haven't found one. You know, what sports does to bring the community together, to boost the economy, to change cities, it's 10x what a Nordstrom can do on a mall. It's incredible.

And so I think what we're trying to do is just ride that wave and we're just blessed that we have. I mean, I'm not saying this. Like, we have the most amazing people in Utah. And they're all here for a reason. A lot of people have moved in. A lot of people have grown up here. But the people are nice.

It's the way that you think it really could be in America. And I love every ounce of that. And we're not perfect. We're not perfect as a state. But I choose to live here because, you know, there's nothing you can do out of Utah. I love everything about it. Our goal with boobs is winning a championship. Yeah, and hockey. You keep selling it like this, though. We're all going to move and ruin it for you.

On that note, we appreciate the hell. We can't wait to see you. Thanks, Ryan Smith. We're back on the other side. What a pitch for the steady Utah. I believe them. We'll see you there. Hey, sports fans, the ESPN app has all of ESPN all in one place. The ESPN app is your home to thousands of live events, ESPN shows, and originals across every ESPN network in service. And now you can check if you already have. have ESPN unlimited as part of your TV package for no additional calls. Visit activate.espn.com to learn how to access your account or sign up, then start streaming

in the ESPN app. It's all the ESPN all in one place. Sign up or activate now. Sports are the greatest. We're so incredibly lucky that we get a chance to chat about it. The toxic table is here at Boston Connor and one half of the Hammer. Cowboys AP tone. Ty Schmidt, we love you.

Back. Bob, Todd. Buds, human buds right now. Oh yeah. Buds is what Navy folks have to go through to become a Navy seal. Obviously, there's different special forces, boot camps that take place. Buds has become very famous because the amount of documentaries and what a nightmare it would be to have to get through. Law water, law swimming, all lost sleep, all that type of stuff.

Human buds is the first couple weeks after a new baby is born. There's a lot of sleep and there's a lot of panic. There's a lot of anxiety. there's a lot of paying attention. There's a lot of heightened senses. And that's for a... We would just like to let Ty and his bride, though, and his entire family.

Congratulations. Hell yeah, Schmitt. Can't wait to meet. Ladies and gentlemen, nine, your NFL vet, there you, Jay Butler. Thank you, Mr. Ballard. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us live from Manatekin, Ohio

is a college football national champion, Super Bowl, writer cup winner. Ladies and gentlemen, AJ Hall. Yeah, Hawley. Lockner, how you doing, Paul? I'm doing great. Ryan Smith has me wanting to learn how to ski and check out Salt Lake City, though.

What a sell for the whole city and the whole state. Yeah, it was quite a pitch. I'll tell you, there's three-minute break that we have to take. We moved it from 57 to 102 because I did want to showcase what he's building out there and what is possible because of sport because of how much he feels like he needs to take care of his home city and his home state. And through sport is how he's trying to do it. I wanted to showcase that a little bit. So we go ahead and push the three-minute back, a break back into 102 Eastern or whatever.

That three minutes involved a lot of... Oh, yeah. Am I moving in Utah? Am I? Am I? Imagine a back-jointed. And then I thought about the show. Those mountains? Sure.

And then there's an NBA team. There's an NHL team there. Okay. Do they got a U.S. Super duper NFL team? What's that? See Bill in the studio? I think we can find room in the mall. They don't have a U.S.

Super duper team, but then you also think about the Olympic training that goes. Oh, my God. And then seven resorts within 20 minutes. I don't know anything about skiing, but I know you've got to drive a long-ass way normally to get up to those mountains.

Salt Lake nice? We think, yeah. They drink a lot of. die, no boozing out there. No doubles. Yeah, can't get a, can't get a double. That is, wait, what? I think there's, I think there's booze out.

In the state? From my understanding, there's booze. I have boozed out there. I'm just saying, that's kind of a thought. But nonetheless, beautiful place he certainly made to pitch. Let's move forward. On this particular program, we are incredibly lucky that we get a chance to be a part of some massive days for some future, absolute legends and studs.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's time for another commitment. I'm talking into playing some big games. Who's going where next? Well, ladies and gentlemen, joining us now. Look at the highlights, by the way, of what we've been. Pretty good. Yeah, that's crazy. I almost dropped a tear there.

Carl Pete's going to get drafted this year. He's in that video. Yeah, certainly. Yeah. I almost got like pretty, as I was watching the highlights, I almost got like a tear to my eye. Like, I'm proud of these lads. Hopefully they view us as their oint as they go through their professional football careers.

We're so incredibly lucky to be a part of. of one more here today. Let's go to St. Joseph Ogden High School in Illinois, the home of the Spartans, and six foot seven, 300 plus pounds, left tackle. Ladies and gentlemen, Cameron Wagner. Yeah, Cameron. So what's up?

How are you guys? Hey, Cameron, I love that you have a microphone. I got sent a picture of the auditorium. From my understanding, the Spartans have shown up out there. Good to see you all. Good to see you all out there. Can they hear us? Yeah, they didn't hear anything.

Okay, good. I didn't know if they said hello. I thought we had some Illinois politeness issues going on. They don't have a mic. Okay, okay, got it. Okay. Cameron, we're so lucky and pumped to be a part of this day for you. You're six foot seven, 300 plus pounds.

And I don't know if they're sitting next to you or if everybody's standing next to you right now. Did you know you were going to be a monster? And how long have we been working on the past set? And what has this recruiting process been like for you? I mean, yeah, I've been playing football since kindergarten. and my dad told me all through the way. And just ever since day one, I was always offensive alignment. So I just love it.

We love watching your highlights. OK, some of them, you know, are you guys shooting highlights? Do you guys shoot your games from a helicopter? Because, you know, you are here. We have to zoom in on a few. You're driving guys that are on the ball right across from you, 20 yards down the field. And you're such a gigantic human.

You can't even see them on the other side of there. Obviously smothering an incredible talent. And obviously, there's been some schools across this country that would like you to come play for them. Cameron, I would love for you to take this moment alongside your family and friends there and let the world know what's next for you. Yeah, absolutely. I want to thank, first of all my parents and everybody's got me along with it. It's been all the coaches out of here today and everybody in this auditorium. That's great. I have my whole school here. So I'm sure thanking for everybody. And with that being said,

that's three to four years, I've been committing to. University of Oregon. Okay. Cameron, as we, uh, we, uh, we, uh, we, uh, Congrats, dude. Yeah. That's amazing. That is unbelievable. Obviously, you're from Illinois. You commit to Eugene.

It is absolutely glorious out there. Can you tell us quickly why Oregon and what you're expecting when you get out there? I didn't hear evening you just said. I honestly didn't hear it. Okay. Well, on that note, why Oregon? And then congratulations and enjoy the hell out of today. A lot of hard work won into it from a lot of people.

I mean, yeah. So there's a million reasons to Oregon, honestly. Just when I go out there, it's, I just feel the most cunt when I have the conference, Coach Terry and Coach Lending, that they can develop me in a great NFL player and a great man off the field as well. And I just think that when I go out there with Avery Michael and stuff like that and Gus was here, the other O-line commits in their room, I think we're going to measure the well together and be a great all-at-line unit. Hell yeah, brother. If you need any tips, I got to go kick stuff, you know, right here.

Right here, you know, if you need it, Cameron. On that note, good luck. Congratulations, the entire family. And shout out to the Spartans, producing the next stud of the Oregon Ducks football team. Ladies and gentlemen, that's Cameron. Yeah, Cameron. I like the auditorium packed up. Yeah, that place showing up.

I like that they were the ones cutting the camera over there that was like maybe a high school TV production that cut the camera to the audience. I appreciate them doing that. Then they got scared to death. Nobody told us to do that. It flipped right back to Cameron, right, in that entire thing. So respect to whoever was on the board. on the board over there. We got a text that was like,

hey, the athletic director and the principal would like to clear out and have like the whole school basically show up if you could tell us what time you'd want to do this. So the ability to be able to pull that off and be appreciated that much by your school while being an offensive lineman, congrats to him.

Dan Lannning pulls in a six foot seven dude from the middle of America to go to Oregon. Yeah, his myths around that mic. Like you could tell how big that motherfucker, excuse me, was. but just from it from his hands holding that microphone yeah is this one where he goes all the way down the finish yeah yeah look at that plays over guys been tackled for three minutes that's a great play he's laughing that entire time I assume that it appears to be his style uh Dan landing gets another you know

it's kind of become a trend here feels like on this particular program only a few different you know schools getting selected we've had Texas we've had Oregon we've had Miami we've had Ohio State. As some Notre Dame. As some other day. You remember, and I just, as this conversation, I should have remembered it earlier, we had a left tackle commit to Oregon on the show before. He was 6-7-350. I believe his name was Emmanuel E. Nacho, and I believe he's going to be a freshman there this year and potentially start. So I believe our last 6-7-300-plus tackles that have committed on the show have both gone to Oregon in this scenario. I love everything about that. There is more college news happening. Obviously interesting situation brewing for one of the nation's best

running backs. I got a video from Pete Tham will explain again. Missouri tailback of Maude Hardy is in stable condition in a hospital today in Mississippi after a gunshot wound that required surgery. I've been told by sources that the injury is certainly serious but is not considered career threatening. There is no timeline according to Missouri of Hardy's return from this injury. But there is a general expectation that this is not a career-threatening injury. And while certainly serious, I've been told Hardy is alert and he is up and about. And there is an expectation that he will eventually return to the field.

As for details on the shooting, there's a lot of ambiguity around that right now. And there has been no formal police statement as of yet saying what happened in the incident. All right. Well, done, Pete. Thank you, Pete. Thank you, to that beat. Breaking that all down. I literally asked him.

I said, hey, what's the Ahmaud Hardy situation? What does everybody know? And he said, let me get back to you. You want me on the show? I was like, you can just send a video if you don't have time because I think he's in the middle of running to a couple different college football events, literally today. So him setting that.

Obviously, anytime somebody gets shot, it's incredibly scary. Had surgery, is stable. Return. He didn't say this year or just return to football as a whole. But hopefully he returns as soon as possible. That's a hell of a football player out there from Missouri. Yeah, he's unbelievable. In the last two years, he's had 3,000 rushing up.

yards and 29 touchdowns. That's just, that's just in the last two years. He was at one point, I don't care remember if he finished last season as leading rest of the FBS, but he was definitely for the majority of the season. One of the best running backs in college football going to be drafted is one of the best running backs in college football. So hopefully he does come back this year and everything is okay. There was some other big college news too over the weekend.

We had University of Miami, Christopher flipped five-star Dante Wright. I saw that. Highest rated corner in the University of Miami's history. to commit there. Wow. Where's he from? He's from L.A. Long Beach Polly, I believe.

So five-star, I think, like six, two, one-70. Unbelievable get for Chris the ball down there, Miami. Hayes Fawcett's on top of it all. Always. Cam Wagner's direct, by the way, Cam Wagner, direct text to us, didn't have full team. That's sweet. Yeah.

Yeah. I respect that. Oh, a lot. Definitely. I very much respect that. He sent the text to me. He was like, do you guys, do you guys mind if I have Hayes Fawcett put out a graphic that I'll be announcing on your show.

And I'm like, no, no problem at all, actually. Shout to Hayes Fawcett becoming that. Yes, yes. Like that was. Every time. You know what I mean? So that's an incredible hustle, especially in the high school signing NIL phase that we're in right now. Hayes and on three kind of on top of it on a regular basis.

But yeah, obviously what Cristobal has been able to do down there in Miami to create the U to be the U again. Yeah, and then whenever you're getting the highest rated person, that's like somebody going to Ohio State or BAM or somebody for, I mean, hopefully he plans out, obviously, but that's a great, great gift for Chris. I wonder where that Miami-2020 class ranks now. It's got to be top two, three at this point. Yeah, who's always in the top? Well, I think we're going to see a few schools every year.

And I think Oregon's going to be one of them. No doubt. I think Ohio State's going to be one of them, okay? Obviously, I know the SEC is going to represent Kirby Smart, who we have nothing but faith in is going to be fantastic. Lane Kiffin down there at LSU, is he going to go crazy? How about Golding down there in Ole Miss? He's going to continue to be spectacular.

I think there's going to be a lot of incredible storylines, And the reason why I'm most excited, because we've passed the halfway point. We're on the back nine. Yes, we are. To the next college football season. This was from Saturday or Sunday. I retweeted it, obviously. Sunday.

Okay, this is just yesterday. So we are currently 110 days away from college football. Shout to CFB Kings on X for using the West Virginia Mountaineer Stadium saying, hey, we're halfway home. So congrats to all of us, AJ. We're almost back to big time college football. Yeah, congrats to us, I guess. It is kind of telling that he puts this, the West Virginia pick with this. You think he was fishing for a retreat from me?

Yeah, is it possible? It's possible. Not a bad play by this. Not a bad play by CFB Kings. No, I don't know if the college football world really thinks like I'm in it, you know, from like a social standpoint, actually. I think that's the standpoint that does. I don't know about anything else.

People with brains do. Yeah, exactly. What other reason with West Virginia being there? I mean, let's be serious. It's West Virginia. West Virginia. Maybe they wanted to highlight they're one of the,

what was it, like, nine powerful schools that didn't have a draft pick? Maybe they just wanted to throw... Oh, you know what? You know why? Maybe people are putting... Because I think West Virginia's

kind of up right now. People are showing Pat White highlights his past weekend. This guy's way ahead of his time. I saw Owen Schmidt running through some of his face once again. He has a book out about being an absolute badass.

I believe it's something about... I don't know if the beer truck is in the name of the book, but it's certainly worthy of watching that entire thing. Rich Rodriguez, he does have great beers over there. Rich Rodriguez dominated. And, oh, yeah.

Do you remember Noel Devine? Yeah. His highlights hit the internet as well. And everybody said, oh, my God, I forget about this guy. And then a bunch of people who know ball followed up with saying, you should see his high school highlight real. I think West Virginia's kind of up right now. Who's got the college ball crown, by the way?

You're talking about in hoops? Yeah. You're talking about winning in March a tournament. Yeah. The West Virginia Mountaineer. So kind of up and to the right for the mountaineers. And oh, yeah, we turned down the $30 million loan thing at 10, 12%. So we aren't desperate for nothing over there.

Nuelo Devine, absolute stud. Tavon Austin, his highlight. Legend. I'm studs. I mean, Gino's still playing. He threw, like, did he score 80 points in the orange ball? I forget what it was. Oh, yeah, spinning.

Against Clemson and then, let alone against Texas. It's like, West Virginia has a chance to be fan. You know what? Fuck it. I'm picking him the winning, Natty. Join us now. What? Ladies you gentlemen.

Oh, not. What? Why not? I thought you're saying, I'm not. I think he said that. Aren't you taking Yukon? No, I don't think anybody's doing that. Join us now, ladies and gentlemen,

he's a man who is a staple of the hockey community now. And this past weekend got a chance for somebody else to say, hey, this guy's doing good things up here in Montreal as well. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now. A guy who played in the NHL for 13 years, he's won Olympic gold, and just completed a 10 million. dollar donation to the Montreal's Children's Hospital.

Guy who has the best costumes on air right now. Yep. Sorry, outfits on air right now. P.K. Sub-K. Yay. Yeah, outfits. Outfits, not costume. Yes.

No, they're kind of costume. Yeah, kind of a little bit of a costume out there. P.K. Suban talking hockey. We appreciate it. Congrats on getting recognized from others about the work that you were doing without us knowing about this. idea that you were 5 million, 6 million, 7 million, 8 million, 9 million, whatever million in for the Montreal Children's Hospital. Very cool of you to do this. And can you tell

the story behind this? Allegedly you made a pledge that you would do this like years ago. And then completing that obviously is something that many people would just opt out of doing, especially if they move out of town, out of town, out of mind. Continuing to stay on it, I think is admirable. And I'd love to hear a little bit more from you. Yeah. And I'll try to put it all in a nutshell for you, Pat. How it kind of came about. was playing in Montreal when I started my career. The winters were brutal around Christmas, and we'd always get like one or two days,

sometimes three days, but most of the time it was one or two days to go home. And going to Toronto was easy as an hour flight, but the weather was so bad. As a rookie and a young guy, you just never want to be late or be stranded. So I would stay in Montreal. I stayed in Montreal the first two or three years of my career over Christmas.

And on Christmas Eve, I just didn't go to any of my teammates' houses, not because they didn't invite me, guys invited me. But, you know, I always had this thing, like, at Christmas time, Thanksgiving, you want to be with your family, you know? I don't mind. I know there's other people I can go, but everybody wants to be with their family. So instead of doing that, I started going to the hospital with the media relations at Montreal

and just giving toys to the kids on Christmas Eve. It's, you know, my parents, my dad's a principal, both of my sisters are teachers, my sister's ex-husband's a teacher. So a lot of educators in our family. We work with kids. So it was just a natural instinct for me to want to help. And through that relationship, when I signed my contract, the hospital came down the highway, down the 401 to Toronto,

and presented me with this opportunity to do something special. They're like, you know, we think that this could be something that fits you. And I looked at my mom, my dad, and they're like, hey, listen, if this is something you want to do, we support you. And I did it. You know, why? Why 10 million, though? Like, why do that?

And I think that the 10 million wasn't my idea, right? It was they presented it to me the way that I could help over hundreds of thousands of families, millions of families. Once they started talking about those numbers, I'm like, wait, like what? Like that many families and people I can help? And they're like, yeah. And, you know, so I was all in at that point with my family support. But my grandmother passed away from cancer at 59. So when I started my junior career as a part of Live Strong, you know, with Nike.

And then I had this experience with this boy, Alex Shapiro, who was 11 years old. Martin Ross, my old minor hockey coach coached him. I got to meet this kid who ended up having leukemia who passed away. And through those two experiences, I just decided to dive in a little bit more and not want to spread myself all over the place. Just do something that was closer to home for me. And this was that. And it wasn't easy. You know, getting traded two years into my contract did not make it easy.

Going through a pandemic didn't make it easy. But the reality is, is like no one donates more money to my charity than me a year. I write the biggest check every year and I have since it started. And I'm very, very proud of it because it wasn't always easy, but happy that I was able to help. Oh, yeah, P.K. It all started with P.K. Subanta Claus. Oh, obviously it becomes, you know, $10 million in donation. to a children's hospital that probably has had some groundbreaking research through

maybe some sort of kid cancer, leukemia stuff that could affect our kids and the future as a whole. So I appreciate you doing that. You know, everybody talks about how much money somebody's been made. It happens with me a lot, and I'm just, you know, I understand the thought because I was probably like this before as well. But anytime somebody who is successful gives money, everybody's like, it's a tax write off. Like I give $100,000. to a college kid who just made a kick. Like, yeah, it's a tax right off. It's like, yeah, the government's going to give me my money.

Yeah, okay, for Henry Sistler down in Georgia. And they're like, well, you got a lot of money, the percentages, whatever you're giving away. It's like, why doesn't everybody do with that? Like, I think you and I and AJ as well, in all the boys, like there is an obligation to give back because we've been given so much and are so incredibly lucky,

especially with where you come from. So I have nothing by respect for the people that actually follow through and do it because anybody could do it. You know, that's kind of what everybody says. is like, well, you have so much money you can do it. It's like, well, why doesn't everybody do it? They don't.

So I appreciate the fact that you do it. And hopefully you will inspire others to continue to do the same thing. And yeah, we love that, PK. Good for you, man. Let's go, BK. Thanks, Pat. Let's go, boys. Yeah, you know what?

It's a lifetime partnership too, Pat. Like, I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to be on the board of the foundation. I have plans to do other things. But, you know, I think right now for P. For P.K.'s helping hand, my foundation team probably deserves a little bit of break, you know, for the hustle and grind, but we're not going anywhere. We're going to, we're going to be heavily invested in Montreal and some other places as well. So I'm looking

forward to it. All right. Shout to you continue to do great things. Let's talk about greatness now. Hurricanes are a problem. Thought maybe the avalanche were also going to go ahead and go undefeated series to series. And maybe these two are going to collide for the cup in the end. To Goliaths who haven't faced any adversity throughout the playoffs could potentially fighting for it all. But instead, Avalance lose. Quinn Hughes is outrageous. Okay. I don't think I've watched enough of him playing hockey to truly understand his greatness. They introduced, obviously, to the Hughes family

during the U.S. Olympics, and obviously I knew he existed, but he's an absolutely filthy player. The Minnesota Wilde get a big-time win. Avalanche suffered their first loss at a playoffs, and in the East, the hurricanes just smack everybody around. So what is our thoughts on the hurricanes having an easy road? Are they going to lose their rhythm and maybe their jive over the line?

long layoff of two quick sweeps, P.K.? Listen, there's no question that Ottawa and Philly aren't the top and the cream of the crop when it comes to the league, but it doesn't really matter. You're still in the playoffs, and we've seen enough upsets over the years and over the history of the game to give teams credit when they get the job done. You still have to go out and execute. And let's be honest, watching Carolina, they have not let their foot off the gas at all. Like, good luck finding any flaws in their game right now.

and they're going to be rested. You know, for me, the difference is with Carolina is Carolina's been able to apply pressure to every team that they've played like an insane amount like no one has ever seen. And Ottawa can't handle it and Philly definitely couldn't handle it. But the question is going to remain that when Carolina does play a team that can't handle their pressure, that isn't going to be in their zone, you know, trying to break out pucks for three minutes and four minutes, that can actually make two or three passes on the power play and beat their pressure and create scoring chances, does that slow them down a little bit?

And you know what? The reality is, is we can talk about shoulda, what is all we want? They're doing it right now, and no teams are able to do it. So when we look at the east, though, we have Buffalo and we got Montreal, which one of those two teams

could potentially put enough pressure on Carolina Hurricanes? And to me, that team is the Montreal Canadiens with the way that they play. Their power plays clicking at an insane rate. Like, that's a team that I would like to see. And obviously I'm a fan of Montreal, but I would love to see those two teams go at it. Because I think that that would be the best conference final. But make no doubt about it.

Buffalo is a great team. They have to get better, though. They still look young in certain situations. They have to get mature and get physical and get their head wrapped around, respecting Montreal in the game that they're bringing, like Lindy Ruff said. Okay. I love that. Lindy said that. On that note,

let's continue to talk about that particular series in the East. Love what I saw on TV. Go ahead, Tone. Yeah, P.K., I think it was last week when Darius asked you about playing in tough barns and environments, and you said these young guys, they have no idea. And then we, today showed the entrance for

Montreal this weekend. It was awesome. It was insane. The light show, the crowd, all of the chanting. Like, it was, what is it like to play in that building? And as a Sabres player, Like how, like, does that affect, are you still sure that it doesn't affect them?

Well, you know what? That's a great question. For me, I told Mestis yesterday in Bucci when we were sitting just watching the game before, and it's like it's insane because I said, every person in that building is wearing a jersey. Like, there's no one wearing street clothes in that building. Everyone's got a jersey on.

And I don't remember a game where I ever came out and my legs felt like cement. Like, you can't. It's not an option. The energy in that place, is so high, like on a Tuesday night, you're not coming out of the gate slow. And to me, if you love the game and you love what you do,

like that's the, when you step on that ice, you feel so light. The hair on the back of your neck stands up. Like, it's almost like time is standing still. That's how loud it is. It's just, it's incredible to be a part of that. And that energy is like, it's definitely something that's intoxicating, but it's synergetic, you know.

like you can feel it as a visiting team you got two options and you got to give buffalo credit they score what 53 seconds into the game like but but but Montreal's nuts it didn't even matter like two minutes after that they're screaming again and the energy's back in so it's a religion there they don't stop you have to be persistent as the visiting team and and the biggest issue is the sound like when it's loud in there and you're calling for bucks remember that as the visiting team you're trying to talk through pressure you're hearing a thing out there So it can be a really, really difficult atmosphere to play in for both for both teams, to be honest. Dolbesh gets two standing ovations with 247 here left in the third.

And then at the very end as well as he's getting interviewed, rookie out of the Ohio State a couple years back. AJ obviously knew that. He was very proud. Oh, yeah. Speaking of AJ, AJ, they do your favorite chant up there. AJ loves the chant. Oleg, Oleg, Oleg, Oleg, Oleg, Oleg. Pull it.

Hold it. Hey, and P. I'm going to doing the Tatum again. Hey, dude, let's go.

Hey, Tizzy. All right, let's go to the West, shall we? Because obviously, we thought the Avalanche were going to potentially

be doing what the Cranes did. But then that looks different. Now, go ahead, D. Yeah, Avalanche still betting favorites to come out of the West. But after that commanding win, Minnesota on Saturday,

got a big matchup tonight. Do you think they can tie this series and potentially win the series? That's Minnesota Wow. I think they can potentially tie it. Win it? That's going to be a different conversation because if Middleton's going to be in your top four defense. And once again, Middleton, I love his game and what he brings.

We know this in hockey. You need all different types of players. So I'd never put a guy down because of his skill set. But missing Brodine on that back end, which, you know, I don't think he's going to be back. if they don't get that depth back, it's going to make it really, really difficult for them to last. Listen, Colorado's a team well coached with experience,

but inside of that, those individual players are smart enough to know where your weaknesses are. They're going to take advantage of them. So if you have somebody playing above and beyond, Cadry, McCar, Landisog, McKinnon, Nichol, Natus, those guys are getting together before the draw

and they know where the puck is going. So, you know, between him and Yole, Erickson, those are two huge, losses and I gotta be honest, if they lose this series, we couldn't potentially think that they would end up beating Colorado missing those two players. Like I don't care, Quinn Hughes is gonna have to pull some serious rabbits out of a hat. He does though, doesn't he? Isn't that kind of like Quinn Hughes hockey, it feels like?

Yes. Hey, by the way, I said he's my playoff MVP as much as, as good as Kail McCart. Kiel McCarr might go down as the best, greatest defenseman to ever play the game when it's all said and done. He's not there now. Mr. Bobbiore. No, he's that good, guys. He's that good.

Like, you have to look at him as a defenseman. Prototypically today, everybody would build a defenseman like Kilmacar. There's not one person who would build him any different. But Quinn Hughes is a special player. And no one has been even close to Kilmacar. He's right there. And this playoffs, to me, he's got to be in the conversation for MVP Kahn-Smife.

He is in that conversation. He's one of the best drivers, if not the best driver right now in the game. Gating wise, no one can touch them. So I'm with you on Quinn Hughes. I'm on the Quinn Hughes train, big time. Okay, conversation. I think I heard. So combination.

And I heard, yeah, it was convasia. The, um, I heard a boat earlier a little bit as well. I heard a boot a couple times. Kind of, kind of a mix with Yamon. Yeah, defense. Bomba, Klaz, VK. Respect, general.

Okay. Respect. Yeah, okay. Respect. Yeah. Shot us. What a movie. I felt like I was Jamaican for,

like a two-month period. Sure. I watched that movie. I really thought I was. Good movie. I was down in there. I really was. And, uh...

Yo, Rump with me? Yeah. You gotta watch belly. Belly. You gotta watch Belly. Bally's a great movie. DMS recipes, obviously. Uh,

what a run he had. Remember whenever he played for two million people? Yeah. Unbelievable. What the Tim's on? Yeah. The old one strap. Yeah.

Crazy. I just got a new motorcycle. Okay? My wife got me a motorcycle for my birthday. I just picked it up yesterday. Uh, this weekend. Whenever we went up there, I saw a Kawasaki, like, street bike. And I, like, stood there. Maybe that's the choice.

And I turned on DMX's Rough Rodgers Anthem. I headed in my back, and I just looked at it. I was like, this would be the childhood draft video dream if I was just walk out of here with this thing. Because it was like same price. So it was like very easy. Like could have exchanged it or whatever. Just bang and boom. Maybe next time. I can't do that. I'm at a stage of life. I can not be doing that. I, you know what I mean? I would agree. I can't ride a motorcycle. I don't know.

I don't think so. Hey, up there in Canada, you guys need to not ride motorcycles. Hey, listen, I've seen a motorcycle on a fucking red light. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know if anybody's seen this. Have you seen this, P.K.? No, I have not seen it.

No, and you're not catching me on a motorcycle. Don't show this. BMW tire left. Fear for motorcycle. That thing, boom. Obviously, Guy gets sent. We hope he's okay. He's a lot.

No. Bike is on the red light. That thing. did a front flip. It's hanging on there like a gymnast. Where's the dude? He's down on a road down here. He did survive. Oh, no. But the bike did he really? Yeah, he did survive. Obviously,

that's why we're running it. But on that note, the bikes ends up on the red light up there. Tees and peas to all parties. That is nightmare for motorcycle rider, obviously. Anytime you're on the road, you have to kind of drive for everybody else whenever you're on two wheels. But that was obviously an incredible photo to find and then be like,

oh, no, this is real life. I thought it was some marketing ploy, you know? Up there? Insane that that took place. What the hell? Yeah, happy everybody's okay. P.K., don't be getting on a bike. You don't know how to ride.

No. Okay? No, man. No, dude. Yeah. I'm good. Yeah. That's insane.

Yeah, it's crazy. Absolutely crazy. I hope everybody remains okay through riding season. It just got nice here in Indiana and in the Midwest. So a lot of people on the road. Let's keep our eyes out for bikers as well. Yeah. Okay.

And everybody that's on bikes, I've been riding since like 2009. Okay, as soon as I got out from underneath my parents. house because my mom said not under my roof you can not do it I had a scooter in in college okay I get a motorcycle as soon as I get to the Indianapolis Colts I've been riding ever since then to the riders be safe but also you got to drive for other people you are I am like the I want the softest motorcycle rider I'm like just cruising out there this one's got no windshield no radio stripped down no bags India motorcycle just out this week sick oh it's you in the road it is the

greatest I'm a walk I'm not a, I'm just a walker. So we gotta give a heads up to the walkers too. Yeah, you do. Man, walking in New York City, like I'm dodging scooters. I'm dodging, I'm dodging a lot of things on the sidewalk, but the scooters and the poop, you know, yeah. Yeah, it's too much.

So watch out for the walkers too. Yeah, let's look out for each other out here this spring, summer. Yeah. Hey, let's have the best ever. Yeah, let's do that. I'm happy we're doing it. Okay, let's look ahead to tonight's NHL action. Go ahead, AJ.

Yeah, obviously, Abbs traveling two minutes soon. take on the wild. Do you think they find a way to even this up? But I guess what are you what are you looking for from the abs? We thought they were untouchable and now Minnesota and Quinn Hughes comes out and beats them 5-1 on Saturday night. Like what are you looking for tonight? Oh, they got to pound their D.

Like it's got to be Yeah, they do. And like listen, I'm saying get in, bang on them all night. Like I'm being honest. Puck's in the corner. It should be an assault because for me they're depleted. They're asking a lot of Quinn Hughes in favor to be

the ice, you gotta make them come 200 feet. You can't have those guys flying around. You gotta deplete them. Yeah. Come 200 feet. Yeah, that'd be a record. Beat the hell out of that D. Like it, like it stole something. This, complete them. Just kept going. Get everything out. Just kept going. It just kept going. Two hundred feet. Oh my God. Coming two hundred feet. Geez. Hey, boys, I'm dead serious. They got to get in on the defense. Because if Minnesota's coming out of their zone and they're breaking pucks up and coming out with speed, Quinn Hughes, it's a make your own Sunday.

You can't have that happen. Colorado has the depth. They're going to pin them in and hem them in. You've got to wear those guys down. And I think that's how Minnesota's going to lose this series if they lose it. It's just Quinn Hughes and Faber and those guys running out of gas. But listen, anything can happen.

They win tonight. If Minnesota can find a way to tie this thing up, anything's possible. But I just think Colorado's too deep. think those guys are playing at too high of a level. And Kyle McCar just is playing at another level as well. The beating that he's taken in this series while still finding ways to produce is shows why he's so great.

So it's a must-watch game tonight. You can't miss this one. Fresh off a pause parade, P.K. Says tonight is must-watch just like every night has been for the NHL. And, Connor, if I'm not mistaken, this is the last week of games every night, right? Possibly. I might be wrong with her because conference finals, but there is a chance that we do have a double-up night one night

and then we don't go on the next. Okay, so NBA and NHL have obviously been delivering. The NHL has been showing up, not just on the ice, but also in pools. Yeah, P.K., Nathan McKinnon, is he the next Michael Phelps? Or what's the deal with? Are you guys all flip-flopping around in pools? You know, Nate's an absolute unit. I don't know what he's doing, but he's doing every five seconds he's doing something

to get some type of edge. And he did hear about him swimming in the pool. But this is what I'm trying to tell you. You guys are asking me about whether I think Minnesota, like, Nathan McKinnon's getting a sweat on a day off. This is a workout. Like, he's not in there. Like, I don't look, this is not in Vegas, right?

He's not in the pool in Vegas having a drink. He's getting a workout in. Like, he's an insane shape. And you can see it on the ice. Like, he never gets tired, this guy. So, you know, I'm just amazed by him and McCar and the shape that those two keep themselves in, but I have absolutely no idea what he's doing in that pool. Yeah.

I don't know what he's doing. Yeah, it could be just fluttering around, activate the quads, you know, kind of a smooth operation. He can do whatever he wants. I'm going to be honest with you. If Nathan, he can do whatever he wants the way that he's played over the past five or six years. He's one of the best players in the world. So probably going to be a consmite guy when it's all said and done here again. As, you know, we all have come to realize in professional sports with documentaries and stories being told,

we know that people do things to keep themselves in shape. You know, we do that. Nathan McKinnon swims with flippy floppy. Yeah. Okay, that's just something. Does it. He does individual. Now, listen, I'll tell you what, I put those things on.

It's hard to get your feet in there. Yeah, you know, it's hard to get your foot in there. It's a real sticky situation. Once you think fold that over there, it is a cool feeling, kind of flopping around. You know what I mean? Kind of doing that. And then you get in there and you feel that first kick and it's like, holy shit. Am I a mermaid right now?

Exactly. And you, I kind of feel like you're floating. It felt like he was kind of fighting. his own urge to go ahead and you know dolphin that thing because he was going real slow right there. I don't know what he was doing but I like floppers every once in a while. Yeah

Pat, so you've used those those flippers before like you're comfortable with them. I swam with the sharks down the Bahamas. So I had it on it. I was in the tank with him where it happened. I've never seen him in a pool in a pool. Yeah, hotel pool. I mean, he's trapped. I can

I can swim in any water that doesn't have a current. So the reason why I brought that up is my question is if I put those flippers on in in waters with would I have more confidence swimming like would it make me that much better of a swimmer? Oh, you're going to feel like you've got a rocket on your, I mean, it's, you feel the water across your face. It feels like you've got a jet engine back here. Wow.

There's a reason these mermaids have been doing the dolphins and, you know, basically fish, you know, fish in water, all gregators, crocodiles. I mean, they all. Okay. Keep up. So let me give that a try. I'm going to give that a try. Yeah, because I'm not the greatest swimmer.

Me neither. Yeah, I hit a current. I could be in trouble, so I got to have something in my back pocket. Maybe I'll just try out those flippers. Try them in the pool first. They're big, though. They're very big. You'd have to travel with those with a really big bag.

Because with how thick the rubber is, you can't just fold it in half. It's a gun bag. Exactly. Yeah. You're going to have to check those in. On land for me. Or ice. You're the man.

We appreciate the hell out of you, brother. Really good performance. Thanks, boys. Really good performance. Thanks, Pat. Thanks, boys. Ladies, you have, P.K. Super good.

Yeah, P.K. Hold on, P.K. Come back. Peket, you still there? I'm still here. What is this? Is this happening in Canada all the time? Shaved ice with mustard?

Obviously, super. I saw Anna do that. There's like millions of people. I don't know. What is that? Mid-game snack in the day. Shaved ice, no flavor with mustard? Absolutely not.

I know absolutely nothing about that. I would love to ask Anna on what she's got going. on. I've never heard anything like that before. All right. I think it's healthy, right? Mustard has like zero calories or whatever. Is it healthy? Is this healthy? Is this like a healthy kick thing that's been going around? From my understanding and AJ would know more about this than I would.

I believe mustard is like the bodybuilders like secret sauce because it has flavor but it has no calories I think and no carbs. I've heard that. I believe in it. So this is potentially a super healthy. If you aren't cool enough for mustard, slushies, just say so. Okay. So it's not just a healthy thing. It's also a cool thing, I guess. Okay, good to know. I'll think what? I'm ketchup slushy.

I'll go in there on a ketchup and mustard slushy. We should try it. Oh, mayonnaise may be in there as well. Oh, mayo slushy. Oh, my, huh. Do I really need more mustard? What's that? How much are you?

I'm not a big mustard. I'm a ketchup guy. I'm not a mustard guy. Sure. Like, I could do, I could do shaved dice with ketchup. Like, I'd try that. I just would never try mustard with shaved dice. That's just the tomato juice.

Disgusting, too. No, we know ketchup. Heinz ketchup, all in the ketchup. Catch up here. Mustard, Heinz, mustard comes down in here next. I don't know. mayonnaise right there above mustard, if I had to say. Mayanage right there.

Franks. Up there. Frank. I'll put Franks and Heinz together. Kachat sauce. Chicken, noggies. Sweet baby race. Hey.

You a barbecue guy? You like barbecue? Oh. Wow. That was an explosion right there. Watch barbecue. Anytime. anywhere ribs chicken steak with anything barbecue brisket i'm down all all in what's the fried tips

is that what they're called the beef tips yep i didn't i'm in a barbecue growing up i was not a big barbecue meat guy you come out here in the middle of america they got they got this shit cooking top tier yeah they got it all everywhere whatever you need however you like it you're the man we appreciate it ladies and gentlemen p k saban hey pk okay great moment out of hockey this weekend just the way their refs operate verse every other league is astounding. Right now he's telling Mike Matheson to beat it. He wants to do his announcement.

There, you heard it. Not right now. After him? After, yeah. I'm asking you to go away, not right now. After, yeah. I also like that the ref definitely knew he turned on his mic for that. Hey, listen, that's what we got to deal with in the middle of this thing. And how about how shival.

He went after, though? Yeah. You're right. Thank you. All right. And then just sit back and wait, let you do your thing. Now? Okay, I'd like to come back in there.

We like the way the NHL officiates. We like their officials, I think. And the way Gary Bettman described it is you find, you know, minor hockey, minor league hockey guys or guys that used to play. And then they have a system that gets up there. They're all very comfortable, obviously, with the sport, because they have to be able to skate well. But I just like the way they operate and manage the game, AJ.

They have relationships that feels like that. I'm sure the players get to know these guys over the course of the season if they're playing the league 10, 12, 15 years, too. It's all about relationships. You know, like some of the best NFL refs are guys that kind of, they're not sitting there sucking up to the players, but they have relationships with them and you can kind of go back and forth

throughout the course of a game. Yeah, I appreciate too the way they balance it all, you know? Like, hey, can't give one side too many here. Even if they're acting like assholes, we gotta light it up a little bit. Because a power play is obviously very significant. I know that in the NBA and in basketball,

like into the free throw line, direct points. So it's hard to take some refs serious whenever they're calling everything to get points. You know, that's why we all question shit whenever it starts happening. in hockey though a power play huge yeah that is that is the game huge getting a power play is the game in a nutshell and if you get too many you're going to lose and if the refs are calling shit on you it's out so i like the way the refs kind of keep it balance because we got a great game going all right now yeah and they

do kind of like the makeup call thing sometimes it seems had to get one on you yeah sometimes they know when either they've missed something or they got something wrong and then they kind of pay it back or pay it forward rather for the other team let a lot of saving fights whenever the right time to save them. Yeah. You know, like they'll... The feel for it. I mean, the whole playoffs started with a fight with Stahl versus Kachuk,

captain on captain, and just having that moment kind of kick off the playoffs as a whole. Yeah, because the refs are about to, you know, drop the puck, okay? Whatever. And Kachuk and Stahl, look at each other and go, we don't this. No ref has any clue that that's happening. So they drop the puck, and then all of a sudden there's probably a what? Turn around, sit. Oh, good for hockey lads.

The reps just kind of back up and then whenever they fall. Okay, all right, all right. Let's go to our separate benches. It's a good feel. I think the NFL reps are going to get to that with this new CBA. I think we have a good system going because obviously familiarity with the refs whenever they're going to spring ball or they're going to OTAs or going to training. Because we would have what, one ref crew that will come through training camp, NFL refs.

We would have college reps, high school refs, maybe out of town refs that are traveling in for some bigger colleges, conferences that or outside of Indianapolis, but it was mostly local refs that ref elsewhere that aren't in the NFL ref in our practices. What did you normally do, AJ? Yeah, Green Bay had a group of like legendary local reps that had been doing it for a long time. You could talk to them. They'd tell you

stories about the old guys that used to be there. But yeah, they were local guys that, like a lot of them were retired reps that had been reps in high school and, you know, colleges around the area. I think that's a big deal getting the actual NFL refs in there. Oh, yeah. Because if they're going to go and... They've come in for like three days for us, basically, I feel like. Yeah. The real refs.

throw guys. Yeah, during training camp. And they would come in, Gene Stereator, one of the good speaking ass refs would walk up there and go, hey, this year, here's what the league wants us to crack down on. It's not easy for us. Yeah, if you can help us. Yep. What was it not emphasis? Yeah, they changed. Energy or something. They tried to change the phrasing, so it wasn't branded in a way. It was in my head emphasis. I don't know what they were actually saying, but. Well, that was what it actually was at the beginning. And then all of a sudden, those rules started getting called too much. like we need to dial back the branding of this so that we don't emphasize this entire thing.

But the refs would come to like a two-day period and you would see every coach would talk to every ref, every player would have an interaction with the NFL ref. The refs would say something. It's like if we get them on tour during the off season to meet more players, I think that's a good thing. I think everybody kind of seeing the same picture is a good thing. I think naturally the respect for each other will go up.

So I'm happy that the new CBA has that because I think the NHL has that. And I think they're the best officiated league in the world. Yeah, and then maybe there's a little consistency where you're not looking forward to, you know, hey, this crew calls a lot of holdings on corners or they don't call holdings on corners. Like as long as there's some sort of continuity

between every single crew, and then it's not like, hey, why was last week this a pass interference but now this week, it's not like, I even think that is so important, just having kind of just some similarities in calls. All right, let's move away from the NFL and their officials and the NHL and their officials. Let's go to the official voice for us.

of golf. Hell yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, he's go dogs, and he's boots on a grind, PGA Championship. A man who was not willing to give up his pass

to Augusta to talk to us. So he went across the street into a grocery store behind a dumpster. Ladies and gentlemen, our friend, Mark Slawball. Yay,

come on. Guys. How are you doing? Pat, that was good. I went to Live D.C. last week, so one major to the next. Hell yeah. How was it?

I heard John Rahman in an albatross. Nobody saw it. Right here. Right here. There it is. Great video from back, two hundred yards away. Okay. Wait, that didn't make the broadcast? No, yeah.

Legion 13 got it. I was traveling. All right, Legion 13 got it. No, look, everybody was pros. I did catch one of the range. You got support guys giving me a little bit of a stink out, Pat. But other than that, other than that, it was a good week. They were all gentlemen.

Bryson was great. Ron was great. There's good people over there, and I've decided I'm going to take better tact with Liv and give them a chance here as they try to fund $5 billion. Okay, they've gone through $5 billion already. It doesn't mean that they need $5 billion. They're certainly going to need some funding. And if we're able to watch them, I think that would be good. Foxy found himself watching on Fox. Nice job. There's basically good. I couldn't believe it. We have all this drama, and everyone's wondering, where do you find Liv? I can't watch Live. It's on CW. It's on Nickelodeon. It's on Disney Channel. It's everywhere. We can't

find it. And then finally this weekend, it's on the main Fox channel. Not finally. It's been on for the last two years. He's having fun of attention. But they seemingly are doing better than we thought they were going to be when we thought they was going to be a total collapse at the time. Maybe they're able to survive. But the PGA had two turns. Brooks Kepka seemingly having to earn his stripes to get back. Early morning tea time and Myrtle Beach performed well, not at the elevated event. We had three golf tournaments going this weekend. A lot of golf happening in this upcoming weekend, obviously. we have a massive one in the PGA Championship.

You're down there right now. Scotty Sheffler's been training allegedly for the last couple weeks to defend his PGA Championship title. What should we know going into the weekend, Mark? Right now, it's a soft course. The rough's only about three and a half inches long. There's some more rain expected maybe Wednesday and Thursday. I think it's going to be a grip-it-and-rip-it type of course.

If those conditions stay, that means Rory McRoe, I think, would have a good shot. He didn't have to clean up the short game a little bit. He wasn't very good around the green at the Truist championship this past weekend. Scottie's going to be there again trying to defend his championship. Zander Schaughtley, Chris Goddraub, New Jersey guys, another guy that rips it. How about the guy that won in Charlotte, Christopher Wrighttown, a guy from Norway? You know, I talked to you a while back about Maverick McNeely being the last guy out here who needs money.

This guy needs no money. His grandfather founded basically the Buckees of Norway, minus the brisket and the beef jerky. It's worth $9 billion. This guy, his family? His grandfather, yeah. Wow. I mean, it literally is like the 7-Eleven or Buckees of Norway. Okay.

And his sister's a pop star over Norway as well. Nice. Okay. The writing family crushing it. I would like to let Christopher know that we appreciate and respect the fact that he could have his golf cleats up, but instead he's worked his ass off to become an elite golfer. He looked phenomenal this weekend. I didn't know much about him.

He has a great resume, I guess, overseas, a DP, and then some other tournaments that he's won over there. Him coming here and getting introduced to the world in an elevated event, the week before a PGA championship was certainly a fun ride. Now I know he's worth billions of dollars. So the fact that he has the mental toughness to fight through being a lazy fatso, and especially with if it's a buckies over there, who knows what the food could be. Oh, my God.

Gas station food over there. I mean, I've been to like, so I can imagine. Michelin Star. Yeah, what is it? Is they, you know, pork roast? They got like tequitos, but they're made out of gold. Yeah, bingo. Tequitos made out of gold.

Basically. Norwegian tequitos made out of gold. Yeah, it's like sushi. Sounds like you guys have never been there. No, I feel like you guys are kind of making this up right now. S-cargo. Mark, what are they eating over there at the Buckees of Norway? I would have, I wouldn't know either, but I would have

it's a hell of a lot healthier than what we find in the U.S. and the bucky. I don't know that. Watch it. There's a fat American right there. He wants all the preservatives and shit in their food. I went to Australia for 11 days, Mark. And this is called, you understand this is a little filling here because we got a hardout

in 30 seconds or whatever. So we want to get to our next conversation with you after that hard out because we want the world to know that this continues digitally. Okay. The Sports Center will take you from here on ESPN. But I went to Australia for 11 days. I eat their food. I never felt better.

I'd never felt better. I come back to America, I started eating food. Obviously, I start shitting my pants again, doing the entire runaround. And then I'm called a loser for digging into the conspiracies. Just know the Bucky's in Norway, I know they got Funnions, and this guy's been living off them for a long time. Nailed it.

Okay. All right, let's move along. Now we move. Let's continue this conversation about the PGA championship. Grip it and Rip it. Is Schaeffler going to be a guy that's going to be able to figure it out? And obviously, Rory, skipping a couple of events to prepare for the Masters as the reigning chance.

camp for a few weeks was the topic of discussion going in there and he voted pretty well. With Scotty Sheffler defending his PGA championship being on the course for a few weeks, how does that affect him? Is this always something that he has done? Yeah, I mean, he's probably experimented with a lot of different ways of doing it. You know, he'll show up the week before in the past, didn't work, take a couple of weeks off. It worked. You know, these guys, all these guys are, I wouldn't call them superstitious, but they're going to finagle with it a little bit to come up with the best plan of action.

He's always going to be in the mix. You know, he was runner-up three events in a row. Wasn't his A game. It still finished second at the Masters, as we discussed. But, you know, he does well on these courses with wide fairways, spins it as well as anybody. If he can get a wedge in his hand, I like his chances this week.

All right, I can't wait to watch it unfold. If Schifler's name is on the leaderboard, everybody will watch. You know, the truest leaderboard, okay? I'm not going to say it, but I don't fucking know anybody. You know, Ricky Fowler goes on a run. I'm like, pumped for him. Yeah. I was super pumped for Ricky.

I'm like, holy hell. I didn't know we're still doing this. He's kind of going to, the new fits goes on his run. Alex. It felt like it was a nice introduction or a reintroduction to a lot of golfers, and it's an elevated event. Scotty missed the elevated. I thought the elevated events were supposed to be like the ones,

the BGA. we're putting out there. And then having a PGA championship a week after the elevated event, how's that come to be? Because, you know, I thought that was supposed to kind of fill time like a snack in between meal. And it was after the Masters last time. That was the whole thing. There was an elevated event.

They like keeping a momentum these days. Yeah. Why do we choose this particular weekend? Because I didn't like not seeing Sheffler on an elevated event on the potential leaderboard on Sunday because he's always lurking. Always lurking out there. Yeah, I don't. They're going to double the number of signature events going forward, possibly.

You know, back when these first started and direct reaction to the threat of live, it was mandatory guys showed up. Rory skipped that one after the Masters when he blew that late lead and got fined for it. Now, you know, you just show up when you want to show up. But they got to figure it out. This one, look, the PGA championship is a great event. The PGA of America is a great organization. It's clearly the number four major at this point. They used to play back in August in the PGA tour.

wanted to take over August for the FedEx Cup playoffs. The PGA Championship doesn't want to compete with the Olympics every four years. But this one, you know, after back-to-back elevated events, it's just it clearly doesn't have the same buildup as the other ones. Yeah, I'm excited to watch it, obviously. Anytime the big names are playing, you're going to watch, especially if they're on the leaderboard. Just this past weekend, I was so fascinated that it felt like a showcase of new

or maybe still around as opposed to the names that we know this weekend will be different. You talked about, obviously, the live guys in the conversations in the past. We've obviously heard your opinions on it all. We think some of these elevated events have potentially been booked against live events as well. You know, John Rahm hits an amortost. How about an elevated event, though, right over here that not all the PGA guys actually get to play in? I like the way the business has been going. You've obviously been on top of all of it.

Go ahead, Tone. Yeah, Mark, your scoop, your talks with Bryson, your article last week on Bryson made a ton of news. with obviously coming off the Live in the PIF situation and him talking about, you know, doing YouTube and potentially, you know, having egos with the PJ tour that it made, there was a, there was a lot of golf talk on the internet last week because of you and Bryson. Well, job well done. What do you think eventually happens with Bryson? Like does, does he have a contract that's through 2029 like Rom with Liv? Do you think he'll just do YouTube and then just play majors? What's your feeling after after talking to Bryson? Yeah, I've always found Bryce. to be interesting as hell and fascinating, but he tends to talk a little bit too much at times. Some of the things he said about the PGA tour struggling as well, and they're laying people off and they're cutting events and all this. I mean, that's not the time and place to say it when you

may have to try to come back to the PGA tour. But look, he has his feelings and his opinions. He might be the only guy on earth that thinks the pressures are worth 400 million. You know, and he said, look, these teams are worth $200 million, and I'm not even talking about my team. But none of those teams have been sold and talking, to be honest, we're talking to some of the guys on Live on background. They don't know that the team, the team competition is the way to go in the future. You know, they spent $5 billion dollars trying to figure out if it worked,

and it hadn't really worked. So we'll see what happens. But they've dug in. I mean, Scott O'Neill, the CEO. he thinks the value in the league is in the teams. And it's the one thing they do differently than anybody else. But I think some guys over there would just like to tee up and play golf. They do that.

You know, an opportunity to do that. Every single way, shotgun start as well. Okay, so you know that. Again, to get through the rounds quicker, you're not always going to end on 18. Not every course was designed for you to finish the way that you're supposed to finish. Okay. It's a shotgun start like a scramble would, like a charity golf scramble.

It's fun. It's golf. but louder. But it does feel like new CEO has new ideas, right? And I feel like there is newer ideas potentially to evolve and to make it survive. He has to say that he thinks it can survive, obviously, because he's been tasked with making it survive. If they get a couple, you know, TV deals now that Saudi Arabia is not associated with it, a new TV deal potentially get into the content game, I think they have to become big time YouTube creators

if they want to continue to go there. Maybe they survive instead of Mark's dreams and fantasy. of them collapsing. Somebody mentioned to me that Scott O'Neill convinced Philadelphia fans to buy 76ers tickets when they were tanking and won nine games in a season, so maybe he can get this done. Okay, all right.

Connor has a question for you. Yeah, Mark, one of our guys, Ty, is out right now, and I have to ask for him because his favorite golfer is back this weekend in Philly. Michael Block, baby. He is here. He is playing again. What are the chances that you kind of just lock in on him, maybe follow Blocky this upcoming week?

It feels like we haven't had a star like Locky in quite some time. What should we be expecting from Blocky? And why is his story so special, especially this weekend in Philly? I mean, I was hoping we had a two o'clock hard out because he was about to tee off in his practice around at 205. And he was definitely the guy, the first guy I wanted to see boots on the ground. Mark. No, I mean, look, the guy did a hell of a job in Rochester. I mean, he stole the show.

I mean, he was the biggest story of the week. Brooks won, but Block won the week. And, you know, he got an ace playing in the final round with Rory. But like I said, you know, he just, he flew a little bit close to the sun and got a little big-headed. And some people don't like it. Look, he's one of those guys. You either love him or you hate him. I love him.

It's kind of like Lane Kiffin. You either love the guy or you hate him. Lane Kippen Blok. I mean, give him, give him credit. I mean, he keeps getting back in the damn thing. How does that work? So all the PGA pros that are like the professionals at these golf courses across the country, they're called the, is it the PGA pros?

Yeah, right? Yeah. I don't know they feel you. A professional championship. They had the one they had out in Bandon, there was a couple weeks ago out in Oregon. PGA club pros. It's all the club pros from around the country play against each other. And then if you are top, whatever.

Top 20, top 20, I believe, yeah. You get into the PGA. championship so this is blocky's what 10th major is that what the video so we want i don't know whatever the case this is he's come into our world this way is he good enough to make like if he why yeah exactly why isn't he like i don't know enough and it sounds like you're probably going to give a very condescending hilarious answer like if i was to ask tie schmidt why this is the case but he he scores in the top 20 regularly now at this point in this particular golf tournament plays in Is there that big of a, I guess there's that vast of a difference between the top golfers in the world versus maybe people that can just qualify in these other tournaments?

Yeah. Well, I mean, he said it. I mean, if he could hit the ball 20 yards further, he'd be better than Rory or be as good as Rory. There it is. But, you know, you got to spin it, you know, a short game. And it's, I mean, there is such a razor's edge difference between these guys out here. And they're the best 200 players in the world. And there's a bunch of them over at Lyft, too.

I'll admit that. But, yeah, it's a pretty big difference. It's a pretty big difference. Hey, Mark, we appreciate you, buddy. Okay, we appreciate you. We need you to give us something that maybe we can find a crown on, though, please. Yeah, but it has a question for you. Yeah, we're trying to get this.

Crown is getting away from us. Who's your best bet? Now we have the list up here. A lot of household names on this list, including Blocky. Anybody that's not on this list, that would be the best bet this weekend. Yeah, I'm terrible at picking, guys. But you said it's going to be in rip? I'd go with Rory.

I'd go with Rory. I mean, look, the best story, what would be the best story this week? Blocky! Michael Block, plus five. Other than... Easily. I mean, I would definitely ride with that. I mean, Rom or DeCampo winning this thing?

Yeah, that would be the best story of Liv guy, actually. Yeah, he's a live guy. He's been at a lot of their live pro ams throughout the years, open supporter. Got helped get him into the game. Yeah, absolutely. I came into the game when Liv kind of came into the guy. I love competition. and it made the PGA better, I think.

And I just like watching these pros, and that's why I'm a love this weekend when all of them are actually playing against each other. And on that note, Mark, live made PGA better. We will say that, okay? Gambling on things, I think, has made spectators' life better. Winning on bets would make everybody's life much better.

And when you say, I don't, I'm not good at these things or whatever, we're coming to you for answers. Come on. Okay. So whenever you start doing these types of things, okay, we need a little bit more confidence. Because now I have no confidence in what you said. But you should be good at these things because of what you said earlier.

You said it's going to be a grip-it-and-ri-a-whip-a-wrepet. I mean, look, Scott, yeah, Scotty, Rory, Cam Young blast the hell out of it. A four-putted the first toll yesterday, I believe. He kind of took him out of it. He'll be there in the mix. Ludwig Oberg, another long hitter. I need a sleeper, sneak on my fantasy team.

Yeah, I got a five-piece. I've got a 10,000 or something. What's the winning score going to be, Mark? How low are they going to go? What do you think wins it? 13, 14. 15 maybe. Right where it should be.

I did see our guy, Sergio, in D.C., by the way. He didn't stop again. He never stops. Ballin. I saw him. I thought about this, Pat. There's a direct correlation between Sergio and Harvey Updike. Remember him?

The guy who killed the trees at Auburn? Yep. Harvey and I, Harvey and I got to know each other pretty well before he passed away. and, you know, he killed, he killed the most famous trees in Alabama. Sergio killed the most coveted side on earth at Augusta National. A little dramatic comparison, I think, but I do appreciate it. Yeah, yeah. But it is Augusta.

It is Augusta. And Harvey called me one time. It was a 205 number on a Saturday, Friday, Sunday night before the SEC championship game. Georgia and Alabama were getting ready to play again. There was a 205 area code. I figured it was Kirby Smart or somebody called from the Alabama. offices and I answered it and he said mark i said yeah he goes this harvey updike remember me i said harvey where are you at he said i'm at the alabama state mental hospital in tuscaloosa they're evaluating me

he said i get one phone call a week i said why in the hell are you calling me then he said what are alabama's chance of saturday night in the son he had too much he had too much bama and him and sergey's just got a little too much anger at him i guess roll todd go sergey all the time respect harvey updike I love the pat. Hey, we're 110 days away from college football. Yes, we are. 110 days. Thank God.

Thank God. Thank God. Thank God. Thank God is right. You're the man. We appreciate you. Enjoy this weekend. Be nice to live, guys.

Oh, I'm going to go walk with them right now. And Blocky. And Blocky. And Blocky. Have a good week, fellas. Mark, Mark. Since we had Blockis off.

I love that guy. I felt obligated. $500,000. Yeah, I felt obligated. to go look since that famous PGA championship he has missed his last 10 cuts since that he's due how many

were PGA changes he's fucking do that's right yeah it sounds like to win the entire thing why not plus 500,000 no that was 50 no 500 thousand 500 dollars and rip it

throw a few bucks on them how do you get to that number we got to do it because he's blocking for those that don't know that's a hundred dollars to win $500,000. I'm doing it. I bet. Fucky. I'll tell you. You can't be betting at all.

Not gambling advice. Yeah, this is not just, listen, you got to do what you have to do, that the amount that you want to do it when you're legally of age, okay? This is to be a benefit in an add-on to watching sports, getting a chance of kind of benefit from whenever you think is going to happen, happens. Plus 500,000. You're rarely going to see it.

You're rarely going to see that on a professional sports book. This is something that a friend would give to somebody. Hey, me doing some absurd feat. What are odds on that? Friend says back, uh, plus 200, 300, uh, plus 500. I don't know, fucking plus a million. That's kind of what this is. We got to see what has happened.

Somebody's had that kind of odds. There's 20, there's 26 guys. There's 26 guys at plus 500,000. So he's not the only one. Okay. That's basically like, and that's, my boy where the fat guy wins the marathon who drinks chocolate milk

but I think those weren't even plus 500,000 knots. Yeah, see, it's hard to get to those. What was Jamie Valdi to win the EPO back in the day? I think it might have been around those odds. That comes out tomorrow. Yeah. Jamie Varty documentary untold. Jamie Vardy.

That when Luster City, when Lester won the EPL was like. VARTY party guys alleged. Yeah. Yeah, Leszor, me and AJ have been talking about this guy. Back in the good old days, yeah. I still play. I mean, when this happens. Yeah, they were, so 5,000 to 1, which would be, or no, that'd be 50.

John Daly won in 1991 is like the ninth alternate. I bet if he had odds on that back then, it was plus 500K. Well, they said he was walking down with a gas station cup that was beers while he's walking down a fairway. It was here in Indiana. Wasn't really? Yeah, I mean, talk about it. Yeah, like, I just saw another clip recently about that. He came in, he won the whole tournament.

He wasn't even, he was like, legit. They had to go through eight alternates that weren't there. He's like, yeah, I'll drive over. Is that a stick? Yes. Has to be. Crooked stick. Crooked stick there is.

Crooked stick, which is incredible golf course here in Indianapolis, hosts a lot of events. I played there once. Super nice. Super nice place. But that turned into quite a daily party. They were following him. It was like out of a movie whenever because he was ninth alternate or whatever the

ninth, tenth, whatever the alternate was. He was not supposed to be there, drove there just so happened out of clubs in a back. Like Happy Gilmore shows up, blast the ball. Absolutely blast the ball. Starts building up his fan base here. in Indiana. People start showing up at the tournament just to watch him. It turned into like a happy Gilmore situation for John Daly and he was

actually drinking beers down the fairway as he's walking there having a time of his life. Swinging that thing all the way here as hard as he can at every single shot and just pure and it's like that's an incredible story. He was a thousand to one or higher

that's what ESPN said. It was 1,000 to 1 or higher because a 1 is insane. Yeah. 5,000 to 1 is insane. That's what I could believe. That's the number we got. Plus 50,000 is outrageous. Plus 500,000.

26 golfers alongside Blocky that have those odds. Is there any other golfer that we've ever heard of that's there? How about him? A man is able to blade it out of the sand, hit it off a structure, and have that thing bounce back in the sand trap, still finish top 10. Yeah. That guy's mentally tougher than I think most. Sun Jays actually plus 14,000 this week.

Francis We Met comes to mind. He probably was plus 500. hundred thousand. Did you just pick him on your fantasy team? No, I just thought of him because I was just thinking of like the most ridiculous story. And he was an amateur that won, I think the U.S. Open. I don't know. It was a movie and Shaila Bluff was a golfer and he won the U.S. Open as an amateur. And he couldn't even get paid once he won it because he was an amateur.

He was probably about plus 500,000 to win. All right. Well, good luck to all parties as they try to win the PJ championship. Obviously, it is going to be spectacular. Sticking in the golf world. I saw a sunset flip bomb in the TGL arena. What? What?

Fairway to hell. Darby Island, AEW world champion taken on Pock. Pock, obviously one of the most electrifying wrestlers in the history. Darby Allen, a man who's climbed Mount Everest, now the champion, buried MJF and also Buh! Shit. When you say Pock, is that who, like, from Generation X? No, no, not X-Poc. Okay.

This is Pock. He's had many names, and boom! Four tables, Darby Allen, that's a champion. It's a hell of a bunch. Getting tossed around, TGL. And I think every match that Garby's a part of, he has at least one of those. He's got a little hearty in him, if you will.

But obviously a spectacular concept, a great idea, fair way to hell. And it was executed. Boom! That sand does not budge! You know, just getting that down to trousers. Great idea. Getting it down to trousers is obviously spectacular.

Pock and fly, I have not seen this highlight here, but he is incredible in the sky. Yeah. Shedding Star. Oh, face to a table. That's just good business. Oh, my God, he didn't expect it. Oh, yeah, he was a ring.

That was my first clip that I saw that there was a ring. I did not know there was a ring there as well. Yeah, it was a great setup. You know, ECW used to travel around a little bit until it found its theater. Obviously, there's gyms and things across the country that have hosted a lot of indie events. For them to have that concept and then to execute it and for it to look as sick as it looked. I love it. What else can we do in there?

We can do other stuff in that TGL space too now. Concert for sure, right? That's definitely a concert. you put that stage right there where the ring is. Now you've got the entire thing. You could probably fill in on the thing. Absolutely. Nice little, they got their own little sphere thing going on with a little golf touch. Many Cosm.

I don't mind it. Cosm's outrageous. Speaking of outrageous today, we had Schaefter, Shams, Kevin Pritchard, Ryan Smith, Cameron Wagner, committing to Oregon. Congrats to him. P.K. Suban and Mark Schlaubach. And, oh yeah, running back, Breeze Hall has finally received a deal from the New York Jets. Three years, 45.75 million, 15.25 per year, done by agent, Nicole Lynn of Clutch Sports.

Still bringing. There you go. Nicole Lynn, absolute beast negotiator. Clutch sports, obviously, Rich Paul's agency, LeBron James friend and former Jersey seller out of his garage and out of his trunk of his car. Yeah. Now owns an agency that is representing Breeze Hall and getting him 15 million plus a year. other running backs are getting paid, other players at the Jets were getting paid. Obviously, massive turnover at the Jets have happened. Breece Hall has had to kind of just sit there, sit back, be patient. Now he's getting over $15 million a year.

Good for him, AJ. Yeah, good for him. I hope we keep hearing people talk about this Jets team. That's not going to be good this year, but going to be good the following year, right? Like, that's what they keep saying. Why not? Why can't they be solid this year? I think they could.

Probably quarterback. Well, Gino Smith, obviously, last year, was the most unlucky quarterback in the history of the NFL. pass that he was throwing seemingly got intercepted somehow. I don't like it at all. Somehow the last two years he's led the league interception. Remember last year of Seattle? What that was? Remember what that was? You're right.

He just gets to the Red Zone. He's like, I've got interception. Red zone turnover. Yeah, but the New York Jets, obviously a massive turnover. Him at Breece Hall on the backfield, going to have to respect the run game. Garrett Wilson, Omar Cooper, A. D. Mitchell, we like all three of those guys. And obviously, Sidique the Freak and Mason Taylor of the Taylor bloodline is certainly

a lot of weapons on the offensive side. Aaron Glenn, we assume his defense won't be asked. How many picks did they have last year? Zero. What? Interceptions? That might have been a plus $500,000 going into the season to not have an interception. They have a bunch of deep.

It's crazy. You know what I couldn't tell you. I wonder if anyone, has anyone studied that? Like, if there are any tips that they didn't get or like how close to they have a bunch that they were close to? We'll get HEMBO on that. Zero. Yeah. They were crazy.

Really just getting pissed on all year. I don't think they have many drops. I think they're just letting touchdowns. They lost by like 40 a game the last five weeks. Frank Reich. offensive coordinator. He has had success as an offense coordinator in the past. Obviously, multiple stops have not worked out. But I think his ability to relate to the quarterback. I heard him speak about Gino Smith in a presser, and he just, he got a two-minute promo on Gino Smith.

But how much you like him coming out of West Virginia? What he's seen from his game. Remember, he's done the same for Carson Wentz. He's done the same for every quarterback that he's ever coached. He goes to bat for his guys. He likes his guys. Does like his guy. Frank Wright likes his guys. Maybe he belts back this year. Yeah, maybe. Maybe he does. They wrote him off again. And Frank Wright continues to step in the batters box. And Gino, he still is yet the right back. Yeah, he still is yet the right back.

Don't sleep on Kade Klubnick now. What's that? He's on that team as well. Don't sleep on him now. No, I agree. He had the potential, I guess, to be. He had the height. Still does.

Athletic is shit. Athletic is shit. Can spin it. If he can figure out where it's going, that's easy. Put a couple lasers on you. Sure. Figure that whole. Test easy.

Has the aura? Easy. Has the aura, has the hype, has been around the hype for a long time. Any of these guys can go on to be great. We've seen that. Pick one to Mr. Orolvin. Anybody can go on to have a career. And I hope they all figure it out.

Speaking of figuring it out, Caitlin Clark became the fastest player in WNBA history to reach a thousand points, 250 rebounds, 250s, accomplishing the feat in just 54 games surpassing Diana to Rossi's previous mark of 62 games. Congratulations, Caitlin. That's huge. Caitlin and the fever hosted the Dallas squad this weekend to tip off the WNBA season as a whole. So many superstars on the court.

Caitlin Clark, Sophie, Aaliyah Boston, Raven, and Kelsey Mitchell is inevitable on our team. She is so good. I think she's Ohio State. If I recall correctly, she's so good at hoops. She's like now second all-time scorer for the Indiana fever. So hopefully she continues to go. then Caitlin Clark would go on that night to become the first WMBA player to walk out with Morgan Wallin and his second night at Lucas Oil Stadium,

sold out two stadiums. Obviously, there are some people who had their thoughts and opinions. I'll say that Caitlin Clark continues to represent the WMBA in front of a lot of people who maybe have never or haven't watched the WMBA game. I think more eyes on the sport is better. And the Saturday start between Dallas and Indiana became a three-point game. It was electrifying and page buckets. down in Dallas, they can run.

They were a phenomenal squad. It feels like WNBA had a pretty good little weekend to kick this whole thing out. Yeah, they had a great opening weekend. You talked about this game. I believe this was the highest scoring game for WNBA in history, 107, 104. A bunch of stars, you mentioned the stars out there. Last four, number one overall picks were in this game. AZ Fudd, she didn't play much.

Only three points, but Paige Buckets. Hit a little too small celebration on the couple of the gals. She's an absolute weapon, 20 points on 80% shooting. And then a Notre Dame legend, Arrique Ogunbo-Wale, she had a great game as well, over 50% from the field. Odyssey Sims, their starting point guard. She was a dog on both ends of the court defensively and offensively. So that was a great game, great start to the season. Obviously, in Indiana with the biggest face of the league, Kate LaCardt, taking out of Dallas.

They should be good this year. Some other news around the WNBA. Okay, we're doing the WMSA. Absolutely. Let's go. Las Vegas Aces. They got their rings. Asia did.

They got their asses kick night one against Phoenix. But their second game, they bounced back against L.A. in dominating fashion, had a big time win. Obviously, with one of the goats, Asia Wilson being the leader, Jackie Young as well, had a great game. And then Kennedy Carter kind of made her way back into the NBA, 22 points off the bench. Great start for the Vegas. I mean, they'll be right there at the end. Once again, great team, great roster stack.

Once again, then you talk about attendance and the WNBA kind of just being up and to the right. Portland they had their opening night and broke the record over 19,000 fans in the building when they faced Chicago sky. So that's a great start. Then it's scoring. Scoring overall is up in the WNB way. WNB obviously is early, but I believe averaging like over 87 points for each team, which is great for the W. Congratulations to the W on the hot start. 87.4 points for game through the first two days. That's the highest average scoring in the first two days in a regular season. The league history, obviously a brand new deal, brand new CBA, brand new faces, brand new excitement. That W tipped off this weekend. McKenzie, my daughter,

yeah, in here, grab a little basketball, okay, because she goes, let's go at dad work. Okay, that's her new thing. Love that. Let's go to dad work. And it's such a close. Yeah, I would too. I would too if I was in. Yeah, we come in. Yeah, so we come over here, you know, we've been here every single night, basically, and she'll grab basketball, and then she'll just look at the hoop. And I'll be like, are, do you? All right, and I lift her up and she throws it and it just hits the bottom of the rim or it hits like the backboard or whatever. And I'm like, all right, she goes down. Then she wants to run down to the other side.

She'll pick up a ball, put in this net over here. She like dunks it in there. It's like, hey, let's work on these handles too as we get out there. It would like her to be multi-sport athlete. But the WMBA, seemingly with the prices or the amount of money that they're paying their athletes, like that could be a trailblazing groundbreaking women professional sports league. You know, like that is something that everybody else could try to follow behind. And for a lot of us, we all have daughters who I will force her into sports. Okay, I know there's a lot of people that tell me you can't force can live their life.

It's like, well, I think sports is life lessons, you know, so she is definitely going to be playing sports. I mean, that is no questions asked. She's going to be in team sport. And it's like with what the WNBA is doing. And then what, Brittany Mahomes, just some endowment for the Kansas City current that is happening, the professional women soccer league. Obviously, the volleyball league, that's right here with the Indian night that's happening.

The hockey league up and the... It's like sports growing is good for all this. Flag football. Flag football. How many states, I think, is now... 36, I want to say? It's like, this is good. More sports, the better, AJ.

That's what I think in our society. Certainly in a time where it's pretty crazy out there, it feels like. And think about when you see like all these, like the WMBA, then paying them more money, making them like, you know, the fact that they're able to establish themselves and become bigger and bigger. And also, it's only going to feed itself because young girls are watching that and more of them are playing to becoming better players. Like, you know how good people can shoot young kids these days? Like Steph Curry changed the game back in the day.

But young guys and girls are third grade shooting lights out and making eight threes in the game when you're in the third grade. I'm like, okay, yeah, like the future does look bright for these sports. How is your daughter? Your daughter, we're talking. She loves it. Yeah, we're talking heavy defense, right? We're hands on. She plays basketball in lacrosse.

Basketball is definitely like her love. Yeah, she's obsessed with basketball. How old? Freshman. How tall? She's like 5'10. Oh, that's good start. Hawk is the last name.

Think about Hawk across the world. Oh, yeah. And even like off the court for women, it's gone, because I go to these volleyball tournaments every weekend, every other weekend and whatever, and you see all the shoes that all the young girls wearing. They're wearing the Asia Wilson or the Sabrina shoes and all these different. My daughter's high school team all wore the Asia Wilson's.

That was her team shoe. So that's six. That's something. You know, you see George's or you see LeBron's, you know, Grant Hills, you know, whoever, Scotty, whoever has the hot shoes, Charles Barkley, T-Mex, whoever has the hot shoes. So that's big for these, you know, women or men off the court. So just seeing that and seeing, like you said, force your,

I'm a big proponent of forcing your kids play sports. This is so much shit you have to deal with, so much adversity you have to deal with. Hey, don't look at me. Get out there and figure it out. You know what I'm not telling your coach shit. Your coach handles that. You go out there and deal with your teammates. Whatever.

Hey, I'm hurting. I'm doing this. get up and go figure it out. I think it pays huge dividends down the line. And you got to remember, like, Caitlin knows that that is a big deal. Like, she, there's money that she's been offered a good play in the league.

She's like, I would like to leave the W better than when I got. Like, they all seemingly have the same mindset. Like, we would like to build this particular league. We would like to build sport. I think Skyler said something about the attendance in Portland and was like, hey, like, they're kind of taking it as, like, a duty almost to serve women's sports.

And for that, we appreciate you. Oh, yeah. Good luck. A lot of games. A lot of games. Don't love that the fever lost to opener. But I do appreciate the fact. Good squad.

Sold out arena, too, packed out. The city of Indianapolis has been very appreciative of what Caitlin is. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's always sold out. Not just Caitlin. Obviously, her teammates are fantastic, but Caitlin was the draw. But she's pulling up from everywhere.

Yes. Mm-hmm. It's like, what the fuck. She's from Iowa. She's from right over there. Very relatable. And then Alia Boston gets Kelsey Mitchell goes crazy. Sophie Cunningham, we'll fight you.

Lexi, right? Lexi. Lexi Hall. Raven's the rookie that we have, too. Hey, to win some games. It's the first game. Okay. Well, said, Tony. Did they win or did they lose? I'll tell you what, Paige, fun to watch.

Hey, hey, they're a fun. Good player. Fun hooper to watch. I watched that whole game. I watched that whole game. Literally, it was her missing a couple of those down, down at the end. Free throws? Yeah.

I thought to myself, oh no, such a good game. And they drew up a great play, too, to get Kelsey their look. Caitlin coming, double team. Boom, lefty. But, you know, it happened. She wearing Halley's?

She was. She wearing the Hibisca. Yes. Yeah, who? Kelsey. Yeah, look sweet. In front of Tyrese, who was obviously in the building.

He's done her. People saying he looks fat. You guys need to understand that when he's sitting down wearing a hoodie, you want him. He's great. Great shape. They're still saying that?

Yeah. Still. Side angle at the fever game, kind of caught him with a little bit of a... His beard's still out there. He said he's... He's 30 pounds heavier than he was when he was playing. Like, that isn't...

That's not a mystery. But he does feel as if he... Gained muscle. Start body of people. I talked to him this weekend. He was... Dumbel bench. Dumbel benching.

So I'm like, okay, Tyrese. Getting for the little big body. Yeah. Well, I think he's thinking about the Wembee. stuff, you know. I think he's thinking about doing the one, like, hey. He's getting Jack. Yeah, Tyree's hell of Jack. It looks good. He looks good there. He does.

The shingles thing is crazy. How long it's been happening. Like, honestly, he if it hasn't been, if it wasn't him, I don't know how other people would handle it. Tyrese has this, like, constant, optimistic, confident, blind, faith, forward, think.

Like, that is literally how he is all the time. I think a lot of it has to do with his dad. His dad is the exact same way. And his been telling him his whole life like, hey, this is how we are. This is what we're doing. This is everything. But it's like this shingles thing has been a nuisance for a long time. We're going on like three, four months of this thing. Like I didn't know that was possible. So he's still not out of? No. No. He was sitting here, right? He didn't give it to any of you guys. Let's not think about it. In the back. Great work.

All right, boys. All right, boys. Great show today. We appreciate you all so much. AJ, you're the man. We'll see you guys tomorrow. I'll be live from the NFL office system. Let's go. Oh. Yeah. You know, there's some conversations that potentially happen, and none of it happens without all of you. We're just trying to be an additive to sports,

and we can't thank you. Enough for allowing us to do this for a living. If it wasn't for you, we'd never be able to do this. So the fact that you let us do it we're eternally grateful for. Be a friend, tell a friend, something nice. Might change your life. We're in this thing together. Team on me.

Team on three. One, two, three. Goodbye