The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 229 - Boston Red Sox Icon Kevin Youkilis, Hall of Famer Brian Urlacher, & Brooklyn Nets Point Guard Spencer Dinwiddie Stop By For A Great Conversation
Episode Date: July 23, 2020Today’s show is highlighted by three incredible conversations. First, Pat is joined by 2x World Series Champion, 3x All-Star, Gold Glove Winner, member of the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame, and friend... of the show, Kevin Youkilis. Pat and Youk chat about baseball finally being back as the Yanks and Nats and Giants and Dodgers both kick off the MLB season tomorrow. They discuss who Youk thinks will come out hot, if he thinks Astros hitters are going to need to be worried about getting thrown at, what he’s heard about the MLB testing policy, and why this Opening Day is particularly tough for him (2:33-23:07). Next, Hall of Famer, 8x Pro Bowler, 5x All-Pro, 2005 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, 2000 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, member of the NFL 2000s All-Decade Team, one of the “Top 100 Bears of All Time,” former Middle Linebacker, Brian Urlacher joins the program. Pat and Brian chat about his current different business endeavors including being in an ownership group attempting to buy the New York Mets, his hair transplant company, RESTORE, what he’s been up to since he retired, his thoughts on Chicago acquiring Nick Foles after saying the job was Trubisky’s, his thoughts on the Packers drafting Aaron Rodgers’ replacement, who the toughest person he had to tackle was, and how he thinks playing linebacker has changed in the NFL since he was in the league (24:11-49:01). Lastly, is former Colorado Buffaloes basketball star, 38th overall pick of the 2014 NBA Draft, and current Point Guard for the Brooklyn Nets, Spencer Dinwiddie joins the show. Pat and Spencer chat about what he has heard about how things are in the bubble, how disappointed he isn’t down there with the Nets after testing positive for COVID-19, what made Brooklyn so alluring for guys like Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, his kickstarter campaign to raise money and let his fans potentially pick where he plays next, and who he thinks is going to have an advantage in the bubble, the younger players, or the vets (50:35-1:09:22). Don’t forget to send in a picture of where you’re listening to the show with the hashtag #ThisIsWhereImAtPat for the chance to win some free merch, and be sure to check out tonight’s livestream watch along of Yankees/Nationals on youtube.com/thepatmcafeeshow. We appreciate you for rocking with us. Come and laugh with us, cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Hello, it is Thursday, July 23rd.
Some good conversations for you today.
I think you will enjoy.
Legends stop by.
Hey, I can't thank you enough for allowing this show to penetrate your ear holes.
You can choose, okay, a lot of other things to listen to.
And the fact that you allow us to do so, we are eternally grateful.
On a little personal news, my lady and I got our marriage license yesterday.
Okay.
Forever is a long time, but whenever it's with Sam, it's going to be a good time.
We're getting married.
Actually getting married.
That was a real thing.
I had to take our passport in.
Had to go to the city council or whatever, the courthouse.
Had to go through a metal detector.
Obviously had to have a mask on.
I think there were some people potentially reporting
either for probation or jail that were in line with us.
We went up there though, signed it away,
had to raise our right hand and say that we weren't related.
This sounds ridiculous, but it's true.
We had to say out loud that we are not second cousins or closer.
And I appreciate that that question was asked by the courthouse
to get our marriage license.
I do appreciate that.
There was five questions.
But the one that really stuck out to me is,
are you second cousins or closer?
Yes or no?
No.
Okay, raise your right hand and say that you have not lied.
You swear to God, right motherfucking hell,
you two aren't cousins?
All right, you can get married.
Take the first big step. I mean, I guess getting engaged would be the first big step which we did
then you have a wedding which we were originally supposed to do but it got delayed due to
covid then another one then it got delayed then it got delayed so sam has planned like four weddings
at this point with bridget the wedding planner who has been
a savior in this whole thing my lady is an angel she's worked very hard and our wedding's coming
up here soon we got our marriage license here we go and we are not second cousins shout out to us
getting married and not being related oh fuck let's have have a show. If you like this show, by the way, please tell a friend.
If you don't like this show, just act like it never happened.
All right, let's get to it.
Big baseball show, obviously.
Big baseball show.
As you know, I was a starting right fielder for a professional baseball team
that went on to come in second
place in the league that they were in good baseball team so i am professional baseball
player hosting a sports talk show and we're one day before opening day of the mlb season
which nobody thought was going to happen a 60 game sprint to see who's going to be the winner
of the piece of metal at the end of this entire thing.
Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now is a two-time, two-time piece of metal winner from the MLB.
You.
You.
Kevin.
Eucalyptus.
Let's go, you.
You.
You.
You. Good morning. Good morning, fellas, how you doing?
Hey, great, how are you? By the way, fan favorite over at the office, the Loma Brewing Company here and also the Loma Coffee Company, I hope business is booming over there
Things are good, people are enjoying the outdoor patio and social distancing and having a
good time so we're happy uh as can be right now but long road ahead with this winter man it's
gonna be tough but we'll get through it hey keep swinging bro you see what i did there was the
baseball reference let's talk about or keep or keep taking let's talk about baseball coming back we'll dive into um your thoughts on
who you think is going to do well whether it's the batters or pitchers now that you've got a
chance to see some stuff let's talk about what happened last night with jorge lopez in the
houston astros okay espn they got me okay they got me so they posted that yeah okay you know what i'm
gonna say they got me they said uh they posted
that jorge lopez being basically back-to-back batters altave and bregman i believe of the
astros and they set it up in a fashion and i i mean it was for me they set it up for me to react
the way i did and i was like oh oh so the houston astros thought that these pitchers forgot about
what happened with the garbage can banging and anything. Was I completely wrong in thinking that that was payback,
or was those just two bad pitches that just so happened to hit the batter?
Yeah, they're definitely bad pitches that ran on the batter.
Al Tuve, you know, Al Tuve, I look back and I saw the same thing.
I saw somebody post that, and I went back, and the ball just ran.
I mean, as a hitter, you saw him, like, he went to go commit to the the pitch and it just ran on his hands. I mean, I probably got hit by half my pitches like
that, but it's, uh, you know, it's, it's a part of the game. And I mean, these guys now though,
the, you're going to see the amount of hit by pitches has gone through the roof. If anybody
goes and looks at the stats, you can see hit by pitches have been going up and up and up every
single year. You know, guys are trying to throw harder.
And when you try to throw harder, I mean, it's only there's only a select few guys
that can throw high velocity and spot their pitches.
So it's just it's just going to happen all the time as this new school baseball is throw
as hard as you can try to spin the ball as hard as you can, which we've seen that is
great in a lot of ways.
But it's about being efficient.
And these guys are having a hard time being efficient
and hitting the strike zone.
Okay, so when I stepped into the batter's box for the first time in my life
just a couple years ago, I stepped into the batter's box
against a pitcher that was drafted by the…
Brewers, I believe.
Brewers, whatever, okay?
And I was like, hey, a baseball is very hard.
Is this guy going to just hit the hell out of me with one of these baseballs?
And I was told by everybody, like, no, no, he knows where it's going.
That guy knows where it's going.
You're in a good spot.
And I was like, okay.
And I was actually told, like, you'd be much worse if it was a pitcher that wasn't drafted or something.
You'd be much more scared because these guys, they have such control over the ball.
Has it become something that batters have to think about when they step in there?
they have such control over the ball.
Has it become something that batters have to think about when they step in there?
Like,
Hey,
we have to be a little bit more alert nowadays because of the chance of the
insane pitches that they're going for.
There's also a chance I could get beamed right in the face here.
Yeah.
I mean,
that's always the risk you take every time you step in the batter's boxes,
there's a,
there's a chance that you can get smoked and that's part of it though.
It's a,
you,
you have to,
you have to clear your mind with it though,
because if you think you're going to get hit, of course,
you're going to give away the outside part of the plate because you're looking in, right?
Rowan Gardner, for instance.
Rowan Gardner.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
Yeah.
You're going to give it up.
Yeah.
I get it.
And that's the key to it all is you have to get over that fear.
There's two things that separate why guys move on to baseball
and why they don't, or, or a couple of things.
But,
uh,
the main one is,
you know,
guys always say I couldn't hit the curve ball or I was scared of the ball.
And that's just,
that's just how your mentality has to be is you can't be scared.
You got to go in there.
You got to take the bat and you got to just hope you don't get worn out in
spots that really hurt.
But that's why guys are also wearing so much guards.
You know,
I,
I hear all these old guys that played the game.
They're like, oh, why are these guys wearing all that?
I'm like, because these guys are throwing 95 plus and they have no idea where they're
going.
You got to wear something.
You know, you got to put something on your body.
So I never get mad at guys who are wearing a bunch of gear because, like I said, the
hit by pitches.
I mean, we go off statistical analysis all the time.
It's there.
It's factual.
You know, guys are getting smoked more. So the Astros players aren't thinking about that because they're thinking about
that every time anyways it's like at the point that we're in in baseball like they understand
that that's just a potential thought there's not like an astros team meeting where they're like
all right boys we've got this new helmet thing we're gonna wear this year we got these new rib
cage protectors that we could potentially need just for the astros this year that's a thought
for everybody anyways with the way baseball is yeah i mean if i was for the Astros this year. That's a thought for everybody anyways, with the way baseball is.
Yeah. I mean, if I was on the Astros right now,
I'd probably get some Cavalier.
But you know, it's, it's hard. I mean, these guys are definitely,
they got, they got a bullseye on their back, but you know,
with the way baseball is going to crack down on it, they'll,
they'll probably keep guys in line, but there there's going to be, you know, there's going to be some outlaws. There's going to be some outlaw pitchers that don't care and they is going to crack down on it, they'll probably keep guys in line. But there's going to be some outlaws.
There's going to be some outlaw pitchers that don't care,
and they're going to beam them.
So, yeah, it's a tough situation to be in.
But, like I say, you put yourself into those situations in life.
Hey, you make the bed, Uke.
You do.
You do.
You're sleeping it.
But to sleep in it, you've got to unmake the bed.
So that statement never really made sense.
But we will move forward.
We will move forward and not talk about tomorrow.
Prime time action in baseball.
You've got the Yankees and Nationals and the Giants and the Dodgers.
Big baseball.
What have you been watching via the spring training 2.0 that's in the middle of summer?
And what should we be expecting?
Are pitchers going to struggle?
Are batters going to struggle? what are your initial thoughts here just
watching the clips i assume that you've been watching as the rest of the world has been
yeah you just kind of never know right like going into a season you know it's just going to be a
mix of bag of who's who's doing well there's gonna be struggling you know there's gonna be
pitchers that struggle out the gate there's to be hitters that struggle out the gate.
I think the whole thing with this season, right,
there's 30 men on the roster right now.
Two weeks later it goes to 28, then it goes down to 26.
Everything is going to revolve around the bullpen.
Whoever has the most depth in the bullpen will have the most success overall
going forward because in the early on, managers can really, really dissect
and understand that they can put guys in. And if a guy's struggling, hey, this is 60-game season.
I can't let this guy go as far as I can. I'm going to have to take this guy out.
With that being said, though, the middle, the first two weeks are not going to be,
they're going to be very crucial in a lot of ways, but it's that four weeks in between.
Because if you carry that four weeks after the first two weeks and you get really, really hot, you just ride it out for those next six weeks.
The problem is, though, when some of these young guys are going to be – or these veteran guys.
You face these young pitchers that you've never seen before.
So sometimes it takes a couple times getting through that in order to understand that pitcher.
Well, you might not get to face that pitcher again.
getting through that in order to understand that pitcher.
Well, you might not get to face that pitcher again.
So some of these young players might have some instantaneous success because there are really good scouting reports on them,
but there's not enough information with the eye tests where you step in the box
and you get a feel of what they're throwing.
So I think this is going to be a fascinating 60-game season
that we're going to see ups and downs from many different type players
from young to old.
Me and Chipper Jones think the Tampa Bay Rays are going to have a good run.
That's what we think.
We think Tampa Bay is going to have a good run.
That's a great, that's a great pick.
I mean, you know, the hard part is, is, you know, you got the Red Sox,
you know, lineup they have to face and you got the Yankees lineup.
And it's, it's, it's a, it's a big, it's, it's a big division there,
but the Rays have all the pitching.
And if you have the bullpen pitching and you have a lot of arms and depth,
you're going to give yourself a really good chance because 60 games is nothing.
I mean, you know, hopefully guys can stay healthy through that,
but you're also going to have to be prepared for those guys that try to go overboard.
And, you know, they might get some tweaks and stuff like that, too,
by trying to do too much.
Will you stick around through the commercial break on YouTube?
For sure.
We have to get to a break for radio because our first segment went 32 minutes long.
This is the Pat McAfee Show.
We'll see you on the other side.
What's so funny, Euclid?
You got a fucking problem?
I just love how you're getting paid by YouTube.
That is a factual statement.
Hey, YouTube's pretty cool.
What do you think?
Is there going to be, with no fans,
what are we going to learn about baseball?
Is there a lot more talking than we think?
Are we going to be able to hear that?
How do you think that is going to affect the culture of the game, basically,
the environment of the game?
Do you think that changes anything?
That actually, I didn't even think about that till now you probably will have more hot mics yes uh
because the fans are going to be out and some you're definitely going to hear some stuff that
which is uh you know it's it it's a good thing uh i think that you know the hardest ones is spitting
the rule i read about spitting i mean i didn't
even dip like you know you guys thought i did for all these years no no not me not me that was ty
schmidt that thought that that was that guy still can't believe it it's all good yeah like i said i
maybe smoked a couple heaters
don't tell my kids i. I've told my kids. There they are.
But, you know, I think that's the hardest rule because it's, like, natural.
Like, you get in the box, you know, you do your thing,
and you got something out, you spit it out.
Now it's on national TV and everyone's going to be telling you that you gave everyone COVID even though you don't even have it.
You know, so that's going to be the wild part about it, I think,
the spitting rule.
How are they testing?
Do you know how they're testing?
I don't think we've heard from the MLB how they're testing.
Have we?
Not really.
Didn't they spit it to you like 14 times?
Every other day?
From what I've heard is they're doing it every other day.
But some of these guys aren't even getting their tests back.
I know Sean Doolittle talked about that.
But I don't know.
It's pretty wild.
I'd say every other – like the NFL just had to roll out an entire thing like day one we're
testing day two we got nothing day three we're testing if you get two negatives in those two
tests then you can come on day five for the first day of training if you don't like the entire
testing uh regimen for everybody's been saying but the mlb we haven't really heard much about it
haven't really heard much about it at all and they're the ones that are traveling city to city the nfl is watching the mlb like with like all right
y'all motherfuckers need to pull this off all right we need you guys to pull this off legit
yeah you guys get out you get all the uh the wrinkles out for us and we'll just uh you know
feed off on you and just move on but yeah i think football's i think football's in harder trouble
because as you know i mean you played football i mean, you played football. I mean, you've got way more dudes.
And how are you – you've got to corral them all in.
I mean, they're young.
They're 22 to, you know, 30 years old.
And they're prime.
And, hey, no one wants to sit around in your prime.
Just not allowed to do anything.
I think it's –
Yeah.
Eric Ebron put out a tweet last night that said,
I'm preparing to leave my family for six months.
I was like, damn, who said – are they leaving –
they're going like just to training camp for the entire season
i didn't hear that and then i saw that tweet and i was like damn i haven't heard that from anybody
who knows the mlb is big for the nfl though i can't wait to watch the debut digs what you got
mr euclid's you the red sox had a chance to pay Mookie Betts,
and now it's coming out this morning that he's potentially going to get
a 10-year extension with the Dodgers for $350 to $400 million.
You think the Red Sox should have paid him?
That's a really good question because I think he was offered
a really high price with the Red Sox from the people within my little circle.
He was offered a very, very high value price.
I think similar to that.
I could be wrong on that.
I don't know specifically.
But two years back, he was offered a very lucrative deal somewhere in that number.
It could have been $300 million.
I don't know.
But he was offered
a long-term deal that had very
high value to him and I think he was going to
take his chances. Now he might be taking
a step back knowing that there's probably not a lot of
suitors that can do that and
what not better than go with the Dodgers
who have tons of money and
let's be honest, even if you didn't get that number you
hit, you can make that money off the field in Hollywood
any day of the week.
I didn't know Hollywood just tossed out money like that over there.
Good for them.
Maybe Boston needs to pick it up a little bit with the sponsorships over there.
Maybe you guys should care about your players a little bit more in Boston
like they do in Hollywood.
Nah.
Nah.
But Boston, they paid us very good off the field, let me tell you.
Vinny used to tell me stories.
Oh, my God.
Yeah.
I mean, I still get offers today, and I'm washed up to go me stories. Oh my God. Yeah. I mean, I
still get offers today and I'm washed
up to go do stuff.
No!
You're not washed up!
Let's talk about the money here. These massive
deals that the MLB has that we just got a
taste of in the NFL with Patrick Mahomes.
Now they're already talking about
losing $60 million potentially on a salary
cap next year for the nfl have you
heard anything about how they're going to figure out the mlb deals with the guaranteed lost revenue
that's going to happen from playing without like how is that going to all get restructured and is
that all to be negotiated or have they already figured that out in your idea in your eyes
they'll be all right all those owners will be all right you know, this is their second profession or second ownership of a
company. I mean, these guys own more things than you can even imagine these ownership groups. So
I always look at, and I would say it's, you know how it is. It's hard to explain this, but
you know, the, the players and their wages and salaries have been paid less than 50% of revenue
for some time now it's, it's, you know, so the money is there. You know, some of these people bought in at like $100 million.
Now they're valued at $2 billion.
So I look at it as, yeah, from a business standpoint, owning a business,
yeah, the books don't look good this year, but don't worry.
Those books will look really good in the next five years.
But are the players going to get their money?
That's what I didn't ever want to stick up for the owners, by the way.
That was not what I meant to do.
Moving forward, I think, hopefully,
with all this COVID thing and going out and all that,
everything will be back to normal eventually.
The hard part is,
though, we have a collective bargaining agreement
this offseason.
Who knows?
After this round of going through this COVID thing
was very rough, as
someone that really, truly loves the game of baseball.
I've
always said the minute
it turned into a business for me was the day
I lost the love of the
game in a certain way.
It's hard to explain it until
you go through it. A lot of us professional
athletes that have gone through it are just like,
I just love playing this game. I love being around
my teammates. I love winning. I love competing.
And the money is just a byproduct of my stats and success,
and I get paid in that same realm as other players
that have the same stats as me.
So I think that's the hardest part in all this,
and hopefully the Players Association and Major League Baseball
sees the long-term goals in this whole thing.
They need to figure out the blackout restrictions with TV.
They need to figure out the little things that keep the game moving along
for this younger generation that is going away.
They don't care.
I don't care if you're pimping home runs or showing more emotion.
They don't care.
Manfred's the guy, though, Uke.
Manfred is the guy to kind of forge the ship through the river, Uke.
That is definitely the case.
What's up, Diggs? Yeah, you know, forge the ship through the river, Uke. That is definitely the case. What's up, Diggs?
Yeah, you got a question about the Blue Jays,
that now they're going to be playing in PNC Park.
How happy do you think they are that they're going to be in a MLB stadium
for the entire year versus a minor league stadium in Buffalo
or wherever they were rumored to potentially be?
And if they win Pittsburgh, they'll become Pittsburgh's team.
Yep.
Well, finally, Pittsburgh's got some really, really good players.
Oh, no. All right Pittsburgh's team. Yep. Well, finally, Pittsburgh's got some really, really good players.
Oh, no.
All right, you.
Jeez.
Yeah, you know, every chance I get, that's for my boy Sean Case in Pittsburgh.
The mayor.
Love that guy.
That guy's the best.
But, yeah, no, it's what an interesting ride they're going to have, right? But the good part is, though, customs.
They're not going to have to go in and out of customs
for the whole entire year.
So those players are actually benefiting now
of not having to deal with all the crap on the backside
of going through customs and dealing with that on travel.
So they'll have to live in a hotel?
Are all the other players living with their families
during the season?
And then the Toronto guys are just in a hotel room?
Pittsburgh?
I've been in a few hotels in Pittsburgh.
I'm not 100% sure they're going to love that.
Well, you know, we stay at that one.
Was it Four Seasons or something right downtown?
No, it's not Four Seasons.
There's a Fairmont downtown that's very nice.
It's really nice.
It's got a glass lobby.
We'll be back hour two.
And the Premianti Brothers is about a block away, so it's all good.
It's all good.
It's Premianti's.
Okay, Premianti's. I mean, you kind of disrespect it. i don't even know how to pronounce it it's got french fries and coleslaw if you do
recall you yeah uh we just went right through the radio heart out there you know i mean just like
super professional radio show you got a chance to see it firsthand here i appreciate you sticking
on with us man you're the best oh thank you yeah it's uh this is firsthand here. I appreciate you sticking on with us, man. You're the best.
Oh, thank you.
Yeah.
This is, yeah, like I told you earlier in a tweet,
this is a opening day is going to be a tough day for me.
I lost my father 11 days ago, and my dad was the biggest baseball nut, biggest baseball fan.
So, yeah, I mean, this baseball season couldn't happen at a better time
for me personally and my family,
and we're just going to be cheering on a great season.
Hope everyone stays, you know,
healthy and,
and yeah,
it's going to be,
yeah,
I'm cheering up already.
Cause opening day,
my dad used to take us out of school.
I'll never forget that.
I don't know if your dad ever did that,
but go the first like three hours of school.
And then dad like would take us out and take us down to the Reds game.
So those memories will last a lifetime.
And I'm just super proud that,
you know,
I get to share those memories and cheer on some more baseball this year.
Hell yeah.
Let's celebrate your dad tomorrow.
A little bit.
That's beautiful.
The thought of your old man coming down.
Oh, they got a doctor's appointment.
All right.
Get the hell out.
That's absolutely.
They knew exactly where we were going to because we're in all Reds gear.
And, you know, they knew exactly.
And it was great.
Well, your dad did good, sir.
Your dad did good. You're a hell of a gentleman. And we appreciate you every time you come and you know, they knew exactly. And it was great. Well, your dad did good, sir. Your dad did good.
You're a hell of a gentleman and we appreciate you.
Every time you come on here,
sorry for your loss.
Obviously worst part of this whole life thing is the death thing,
but man,
celebrating somebody that you love can be really cool.
And I think opening day is a beautiful,
beautiful time to do so.
We appreciate you coming on.
You.
Thank you guys.
Appreciate it.
And yeah,
baseball's back,
baby. Hey, did your dad, did they screen you, guys. Appreciate it. Yeah, baseball's back, baby.
Hey, did your dad, did they screen Uke for your dad everywhere he went?
You know what?
They should have because my dad was more legendary than I'll ever be in life.
And he was there all the time, though.
They went to so many games.
And the greatest pride of my father was the Uke chance
and just seeing the Uke-less name on the back of a jersey.
Yeah. Because we're all related. We're all related.
It's a great family story.
And my dad just from my kids wearing it and T-ball all the way up till seeing
me on the back of the, you know, the away Red Sox Jersey, not the home one,
but the away one, he loves seeing that Euclid's name.
And I'm very fortunate to have my number retired and name put out at UC and
high school and
and it's there forever so it's pretty cool that we've we've uh put that Euclid's name on the map
but my dad was the key to it all well he was definitely the key Andrew in the Red Sox Hall
of Fame that'll be forever Euclid's family will reign supreme for a long time ladies and gentlemen
two-time two-time World Series champ son of a legend kevin euclid
see you appreciate you man all right guys thank you
cool dude beast cool cool dude all-time redsock 11 days ago his dad passed away tomorrow's probably
going to be quite a wave of emotion for him for sure i can't thank him enough for coming on and
i mean what a good guy and the beer is very good by the way oh yeah
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Let's talk about the NFL.
Let's talk about NFL legends.
Let's talk about somebody who was bald, now has an incredible head of hair.
He's on 4,000 billboards.
He was a punt returner in college, and he became one of the most
hellacious linebackers in NFL history, ladies and gentlemen,
from New Mexico State, Brian Erleck.
Yeah, Brian!
You just said New Mexico State, Pat.
Oh, it's not New Mexico State.
It's New Mexico.
No, it's just New Mexico.
Well, I'm happy you didn't hang up.
That is.
Wow.
Well, I'm not on here for long.
Wow, come on, man.
Dang. That's 100% on me not on here for long. Wow. Come on, man. Dang.
That's 100% on me.
New Mexico gets no
love either.
So here's me trying to
give love to New
Mexico and instead I
give it to New
Mexico.
And you don't.
And you just smack me
in the face, basically.
No, no.
I would never do that
to you, Brian.
I would never smack you
in the face.
I would never.
No, but you just did,
though.
No, no, no.
No, no, no, no.
No, no.
It was somebody else.
It's okay, man.
It happens to me all
the time.
People give no respect to my alma mater,
the University of New Mexico.
Let's go.
That's what we've been talking about.
We've been talking about Tanem all week.
You know what I mean?
The University of New Mexico.
We've talked about the.
That's right.
Yeah, the University of New Mexico.
They created not only a man who was a safety punt returner,
freak athlete that became one of the greatest middle linebackers
in the history of the sport, but they also created what seems to be an incredible
businessman it just a couple weeks ago it came out that you were potentially a part of the
investment group that's buying the mets is that an accurate statement i know a bunch of really
cool people i'll tell you that much are really smart and rich people how about that i uh you
know i know mike ripoli pretty well mike used to own Vitamin Water back in the day.
I was a part of Vitamin Water.
My financial advisor is really intertwined with Rapoli, Vinny Viola,
and he knows Alex and Jennifer as well.
So I was fortunate to be under his tutelage for all this stuff.
You ran on Vitamin Water with 50 Cent back in the day?
You guys had a Vitamin Water.
Try it!
That thing went for like $200 million or something, it four billion they sold for oh yeah you're living
good 200 oh no i wasn't an owner i was like a uh a guy like you know they put them on commercials
and stuff i wasn't an owner come on don't start putting me up there with all these other people
i was an endorser how about that, how about this hair company in Chicago?
Because we drove through Chicago.
Oh!
Wow!
I had to get up,
took my son to football practice,
came back and did this for you,
so I haven't really brushed it yet.
But it's there, man.
It's crazy.
It is.
Are you a part owner of that company
or what, or just endorser?
Yeah, Restore.
Yeah, so it's called Restore, man.
You know, I want to say four or five years ago, they came they came at me and were like hey would you like to get your hair
done i was like oh i like being bald it's just that's my look you know and they're like well
if you get the procedure done it's not that big of a deal you know you don't have any scars if you
don't like it you can still shave your head i was like i'll try it of course i get the procedure
done i'm like my wife's like you look pretty kids are like, yeah, it's not bad.
I was driving through a Chick-fil-A drive-thru.
The girl was like, you look really young.
I was like, oh, I'm keeping it.
But they're awesome, man.
It's amazing to me how many people care about their hair. Because I didn't really care until I got mine done.
But it's pretty crazy how many men care about losing their hair.
And if their hair thins,
they,
uh,
they don't like that.
It's a lot.
By the way,
there's like seven in our office right now that I believe every time we drive
by the billboard with your hair,
your head on there,
everybody's like,
need to get that done stat.
It's not that bad of a process,
huh?
No,
you have a nice set of hair,
by the way,
you got some sweet locks up there,
bro.
Thank you.
Just checking that out,
man.
Hey,
look at the fade too
before i didn't have hair and i have but i used to have a nice little tight fade too on the side my hair like on top was like can you see it was like this long nine inches like brock lesnar
brock lesnar up there you had that brock lesnar cut his might have been longer than mine actually
mine was super short man because it was you know on the front there it was kind of had the divots going already when i was young so i uh
i got you don't have yours is good man i know but they always say like your your mom's dad's
the hair which doesn't make sense because then brothers would always have the same hair
but i do my grandpa had a full head of hair and i got nothing when'd you go on my mom's side
when'd you go bald why'd i go bald when When? When? When? Oh, so I think they're having hair. 22
or 23. I started getting those divots. And then, you know, you
get made fun of in the locker room, you just you just let it
go. Yeah, I started shaving my head. It was much easier that
way.
Now, can we talk about the transition from being the best
athlete on the field at like a smaller position to being the
best athlete on the field at a linebacker position.
Now, I'm sure you've answered this question a thousand times,
but with the way football is right now,
speed at the linebacker position as opposed to back when you were playing
when it was a big ground and pound,
I feel like now would have been a time where you potentially,
not that you obviously one of the greatest of all time,
but I feel like now the game is more set up for what you would have really captured.
Is that wrong in thinking that?
They throw the ball so much now.
Everything is geared toward throwing the ball over the field.
It's just a different – I don't feel like the running game is a big deal anymore.
It is, obviously, but you can get the same thing out of the running game
as those short passes, and teams are and teams are, teams are utilizing that,
but yeah,
the linebackers,
I feel like they're smaller now they're faster.
I was fortunate because I was bigger and I could run,
you know,
could,
it's just,
and now all the guys are fast.
You know,
all you guys,
there's six,
one,
six feet,
two 2225.
I was two,
I played at two 55 my last five years.
So I'll still be bigger,
but I still could run for a while there in the middle of my career.
I could still run a little bit.
So if you could move and cover some ground in this league,
and the thing that helped me in pass coverage was my height.
I was tall in the middle of the field, so in cover two,
they had to elevate the ball, which helped the safeties converge
on some of those deep passes.
But my height and my speed, I was fortunate to be able to have both.
You're a freak athlete, obviously. was no you still are you still are from the university of new mexico really you don't do anything anymore you just kind of sit around
all i do is ride my mountain bike and i got and i ride my road bike uh i played softball a couple
years ago and this little league out here in a. Popped my hamstring running to first base.
But I was safe. Way to go.
I just don't want to, you know, I'm worried
about popping an Achilles or something. I get so nervous
at 42 now, so I just don't
want to get hurt. I want to be able to ride my bike and not
get fat and eat whatever I want to
and that's it. And hang out with my kids.
I don't think you're ever going to get fat. I believe that's probably
an Urlacher trait, but I like the fact that you're
trying to. I like food a lot.
Me too, man.
So the more I eat, the more I ride my bike.
That's all there is to it.
Did you see T.O. at 46 run a 4-4 yesterday against Tyreek Hill?
Was that at the combine?
Was that an official 4-4?
Who had that thought?
I asked that same question.
I watched the video.
There's one guy who has a stopwatch, okay?
And he goes, Tyreek just ran a 4.37,
and then he said T.O. was in a 4.4 range or whatever.
It was like, then the headlines were like,
okay, T.O. stayed with Tyreek Hill, though, by the way,
which is still insane to think of.
But yeah, that guy right back there.
Five yards behind him.
Yeah, but it's still, I mean, 40-yard race, I guess,
five yards isn't that close.
He's in the same shot, though,
and that one guy, you're going to see him.
He came up.
He got it with his hand, and we know he has a trusted timer,
that guy in the back right there.
Gotcha.
Okay.
I mean, look at his body.
He looks the same as he has this whole career.
You know, what's terrible?
He's been retired for eight, nine years now.
He looks the same.
Who's somebody you played against that you were like,
hey, this person might give me
a problem athletically,
or did that never happen?
No, obviously it happened.
There were some great players in the NFL.
You look at, I think,
the guys I matched up with
were tight ends and running backs
for the most part,
but Ron Kowski became in the league,
but luckily he was in the AFC.
You know, big guy, 6'6", 2",
whatever he was.
Hey, what makes him so good?
Because he got rated a 95 on Madden
after retiring for a year, and
everybody lost their mind. They were like, this guy...
When he came out on the field, he was a game
changer, right? 95 right now
or 95 back in the day? Right now, he's a 95.
He's more than Aaron Rodgers.
Yeah, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Obviously, you don't think that's good.
I don't play Madden. My son plays it.
Him and my daughter tell me the ratings and the scores
and all this junk, how it works.
I don't really understand it.
But, wow, that seems pretty high for a guy who took it.
Maybe they're expecting him to be more healthy and faster
because he took a year off.
What makes him so dominant, though?
Just his size, his catch radius.
He's strong as hell.
Just – and I think – the thing I like about him is he loves football.
The dude gets out there, you can see how much he loves the game of football when he's on the field he's having a good time
uh but just his catch radius his strength and it's amazing how good is the catches he makes like down
his ankles or whatever the ball he catches everything it's not really how good his hands are
he doesn't look like a guy to have great hands but he has tremendous hands he's like a nimble clydesdale it makes no sense
yeah um you know jimmy graham wasn't for a while there was tough as well uh nfc guy but you know there was never a time i was like oh man i'm really outmatched here i better i better uh get
some help because i if you think that way you probably beat from the beginning yeah i agree
i would think that every time i lined up against somebody and that's probably why i was in middle
linebacker right you know what I mean?
Well, you're a great punter and kickoff guy.
Look at you.
You're the best ever.
The University of New Mexico legend.
The University.
Sorry, I didn't put that on there.
And look at you now.
Look how big.
I always see, like, your Insta chat stuff.
Like, your arms are all big.
Come on.
You're hitting the golf ball with no shoes on, 379 yards.
Hey, I look pretty good right now.
I honestly do. It's unbelievable.
I agree. You got the holy shorts on
so you fit in with everybody like the kids.
It's nice.
The holy jeans shorts. Everyone's wearing the
holy jeans shorts now. It's cool.
Fashion, okay? Fashion.
My son started wearing
those. My son's 15 now. He's wearing
the... He's got to be like everybody else and wear the cool stuff.
Yeah.
Well, I'm happy one person in the family's got a little fashion sense.
The Chicago Bears team you love, obviously team that I think you've rekindled with, which
is good news and everything.
I don't know if there's ever a beef or anything like that, but they are in the middle of an
interesting situation right now.
Right.
Going into what is a prove it year for a lot of people people i think it's a prove-it year for nagy i think it's
a prove-it year for potentially mitchell trubisky and maybe even pace i mean there's a potential
full operation happening there just two years ago one of the best teams in the nfc last year
obviously problematic what are your thoughts going into obviously the drama about around a quarterback
battle which i've never seen before i've never seen like two legit starters before i have to battle in camp how do
you feel about going into the bear season what are your thoughts on it i was confused so you know
after a season or a month after season um pace was like mitchell's our guy he's our guy we drafted
number two overall we're gonna ride with him you know we we uh we took a step back last season blah
blah blah but he's our guy and like three
weeks later they went and drafted uh they traded for false i was like what the hell i thought i
thought maybe they're just gonna have a really high price backup that's what i thought they're
just gonna have a guy just in case mitchell gets hurt or something doesn't work out we're gonna
have super high price backup and now they're saying that they're both gonna battle for the
job um i get it no uh nick false has some good credentials you know he came as a good backup
there for philly that one year.
I don't know.
Their defense is good every single year.
Every year. Their defense,
Khalil, obviously, they got some
Hakeem Hicks, Eddie Jackson back there,
Kyle Fuller, big name players.
I just don't
understand the trade
for Nick Foles. I like the guy. Nothing against him.
Nothing whatsoever.
If you talk about keeping a guy quarterback,
after you traded up to get him at number two,
probably didn't have to, but you did, and then you trade for a guy.
It was confusing to me.
And Ryan Pace is a smart guy.
Don't get me wrong.
He's a smart guy.
He knows what he's doing.
And I know Foles played in Kansas City under Coach Nagy.
So I get that as well.
So I just – I think if you're going to say
you're going to stick with a guy, stick with him.
Listen, I don't know your relationship with Mitch.
I don't know Mitch that well.
He obviously did not play well last year,
but to bring in a high-priced guy like that
and then say it's an open competition,
the state of mind that Trubisky has to be in is so,
I couldn't even fathom, in the locker room as well now.
So now the locker room's in a situation where,
and I brought this up to the boys earlier,
and they found it fascinating, like a defense, like the defense, okay?
Let's say there's some corners that are boys with Mitchell Trubisky, okay?
And they accidentally make or slip or something on a foals play in practice.
There's a lot of things that are going to go into this entire thing. I mean, there's a lot of things that are going to go into this entire i mean there's a lot of feelings that are going to go into not knowing your quarterback's
a big deal that is a big deal i think in the nfl that is not being talked about all that stuff you
just said i don't think about that stuff um i think mitch his mindset is going to be i'm the
guy i think that just after talking to him and seeing his interviews and what he's done his
whole career he's's confident in himself.
He believes in his ability.
Two years ago, he had a great season.
Great.
They ran the ball well.
Last year, he took a step back,
but I don't think that's all his fault.
Their offensive line was banged up.
Name one of his receivers besides Allen Robinson
that did something.
He had no tight ends.
They're running back Montgomery I really like.
I think he'll be better this year.
He'll get some more carries.
But if they're healthy up front,
I think it's going to help everyone, not just him. If Foles is the guy, think he'll be better this year. He'll get some more carries. But if they're healthy up front, I think it's going to help everyone,
not just him.
If Foles is the guy,
Foles would be better as well.
But if they stay healthy up front,
that's where it starts for me
on the offensive side of football.
You like Trubisky a lot, huh?
I do.
Not so much for what he's done on the field,
just the way he handles himself.
I played for 21 different quarterbacks in Chicago.
What?
21 different starting quarterbacks in different quarterbacks in Chicago. What? Yeah.
21 different starting quarterbacks in my 13 years in Chicago.
So when you have a guy who walks to the mic after a game when they win,
and all he talks about is the offensive line, the defense, the coaching,
the running backs, the receivers, I respect that.
When he walks to the mic after a loser and says, I have to play better,
I didn't do a good enough job,
never says anyone else has always his fault when they lose.
I respect the shit out of that. So when a guy guy does that i have a lot of respect for him so
it's hard for me to just give up on him um because of one bad season i respect that a lot right i
just wanted to hear your opinion on a guy that you played against a lot in aaron rogers can you
believe that the green bay packers are forcing him out right now they're just forcing him out right now. They're just forcing him out. Hey, get the hell out of here, Aaron.
Don't care about you.
Give him the boot.
When I saw that draft pick, nice quad.
You got some big quads, too.
Thank you.
Come on, Aaron.
Anyway, back to Aaron.
I was shocked at that draft pick.
But you look at, they did the same thing to Brett.
They drafted Aaron in the first round.
Brett still played, what, three more years before Aaron got in there.
So, and it's worked out for Aaron pretty well.
So, what is he, 36, 37 now?
Yeah, 36.
He's getting up.
Doesn't look like he's slowing down, though, to me.
I mean, he still gets it done.
He still puts the ball in.
The thing that's amazing about Aaron to me, he doesn't turn the football over.
He gets all the pressure. He doesn't have great – I deck. The thing that's amazing about Aaron to me, he doesn't turn the football over. He gets all the pressure.
He doesn't have great – he has good receivers.
Don't get me wrong.
He has Devontae and a couple other guys.
But you look at every year, it's usually all on him.
He does not turn the football over.
He doesn't make bad decisions.
What are your thoughts on – obviously in Chicago,
this is a little bit of a sore subject,
but Patrick Mahomes just signs for half a billion dollars.
Yes, deserved it.
Deserved.
I agree 100%.
This is a baseball contract for the first time in the NFL.
I like seeing guys that get paid who deserve the money,
and that dude earned it, deserves it.
He is a badass.
I'm a huge fan of his.
That offense seems unstoppable.
I mean, granted, they struggled early.
They struggled early against a couple teams,
and there was a lot of people.
We talked to Rex Ryan yesterday about it,
and I said, how do you stop that Chiefs offense?
And he said, well, if I'm a coordinator,
I'm thinking about potentially playing sick like
that week i'm potentially trying to get out of it but a lot of people started chiming in because
the colts beat them last year and other teams beat them last year but that was the beginning
of the season and patrick patrick mahomes even came out and said like i didn't even understand
what a defense was doing until about halfway through the season last year so they're only
going to get better that when you have that when have that many weapons, what the hell do you do, Brian?
I know what we would do on defense is play cover two.
That's all we did.
You know, when we had a good offense like that,
Peyton or Tom Brady or Drew Brees, Aaron, we played cover two.
And, you know, we would give up three, four, five yards of power
to get up and check down every once in a while to his for a long run.
But we just played like the band, but don't break.
And, you know, when we had a chance to blitz,
we would if we had a favorable down distance.
But, man, we just played cover two.
And for the most part, we were pretty successful doing that.
We just didn't – teams aren't patient enough to keep doing the dink and dunk.
They get mad.
They want to take a shot.
And that's when they get to second and 11, third and 12, you know,
get them in a bad situation and get off the field.
So I think we were very patient with our cover two.
We just kept playing it.
I didn't always like it, but Lovey was always patient with us
and calling cover two.
And we always got pressure with four guys.
We didn't have to blitz to get pressure.
We had good enough guys up front to get pressure with four.
The Kansas City Chiefs offensive line is very good.
They're going to have to keep them together.
Really good.
In two years, they got a lot of guys going up that are going to be
a lot of money, and nobody knows how they have any of this money that they have that they're paying everybody.
So that'll be something that Andy Reid and Vito have to figure out.
Cover two, though, for people that don't understand,
you're basically just keeping everything in front of you.
Don't let anybody over top.
You got it, man.
Just have your safeties played deep.
Keep your middle linebacker down the middle of the field,
and hopefully get pressure at four, but keep everyone in front of you.
If you have corners, they can get your hand.
Like we had Charles Tillman, Tim Jennings, Nathan Baxter.
We had some good corners when I was there
that could get their hands on the receivers.
We trusted them, and they also
supported the run as well. That's what people don't give
Charles Tillman credit for. That dude would come
up and hit you in the running game as well.
Tim Jennings was a gunner for me at the
Colts. He was there with you, right?
Yeah, he was a gunner for us. In practice,
he was dominating a corner. They would never
put him in. Then he goes to Chicago and makes like three Pro Bowls or whatever.
He had like 10 picks one year.
Yes, I think he did.
If I was a receiver, I would hate that.
He's so annoying.
You know, he's only like 5'9", 5'10".
Yeah, great gunner too.
He just gets up in your grill.
He's so feisty and mean.
He was a really, really good corner for us for what, four or five years there.
But he won the Super Bowl with you guys, right?
Yeah, before I got there.
Thanks, man. Did he get there that year? Was it Hunter hunter smith yeah it was hunter the punter he's a country
musician now he's a super bowl champion yeah i did yeah we lost to drew brees our locker nick
has a question right sorry oh now you want to change the subject yeah yeah my misfortunes
go ahead nick ryan who was the hardest player you've ever faced to tackle,
and why was it Jerome Bettis?
What did he say?
Why did I get run over by Jerome Bettis?
No, that's not what he said.
He did not slap you in the face like that.
He did ask why Jerome Bettis was so hard to tackle,
other than him being 290 pounds, I think, at one point.
Oh, I thought he said who was the hardest player you had to tackle.
Yeah, he did.
He did.
Oh, Ricky Williams.
Wow. So Ricky's
5'10", 240,
runs a 4'3", a 4'4", 40.
I'm 6'4". I can't get under Ricky.
So Ricky, to me, always was...
I mean, he had, I think, 190 or
200 against us on Monday night in Miami.
He had, like, 150 my rookie year when he was
with the Saints. But he was...
And I had some good games against him as well.
But Ricky was a beast, man.
He was – you know, at that size and that speed and that weight,
I wasn't going to get under him.
We had some good collisions.
But his chin – his helmet always ended up right here under my chin.
Too tall, man.
But, Nick, Jerome, freaking 280, 275.
Nimble.
Go figure.
That's why my wife's hard to tackle. He won a Super Bowl, obviously, in his hometown there. Shit, what? Freaking 280, 275. Nimble. Go figure.
That's why my wife's hard to tackle.
He won a Super Bowl, obviously, in his hometown there to send it out.
Last season.
Yeah, that's dream life. They beat us that year.
So, you know, they beat us in week like 11 or 12,
and they never lost another game.
They ran the table there from there out.
Well, the city of Pittsburgh thanks you then, for sure.
Oh, yeah.
I got ran over that game
by Jerome as well.
Oh, there's a picture
of me holding Jerome
falling on my back.
Guess what?
He's not the only guy
that ran me over.
Hey, you're going to get got.
You just got to get yours
more than you get got.
Yeah, I tried to give out
more than I took.
But yeah, I got juked.
I got ran over.
I got a lot of bad things
happening.
Yeah, but whenever you're in the game,
things like that are going to happen.
Do you ever,
do you remember any positive things that you've done?
Do you remember any like big,
like any collisions?
For instance,
I tackled Trenton Holiday on Sunday Night Football.
I'm reminded of it every single day.
That is a moment in football that I will obviously never forget.
There's the photo of her.
Oh,
there's,
thank you.
Is Nick the guy? No no that's actually a kid from
chicago named zito uh he's the one that put that up there and he's a portillo's hoodie on right
there he loves you dead to me we're not gonna go there we're not gonna go there. We're not gonna go there. But I do like that you're wearing Portillo's hoodie.
That means a lot.
Oh, jeez.
I don't know.
You guys went crazy.
He's gonna retire.
Dude, he loves you.
He loves you.
I was just messing with you.
No, no, no.
I'll tell you the truth.
He's dead to you.
I'm messing with you.
No, no.
He's dead to you.
Never, Brian.
Never.
I didn't know him in the first place.
All right.
Well.
You can just go back to bed.
He was going to use your standing up to show your,
your shorts and how you have the cuts in them.
No,
I keep standing up.
No,
I got ADD.
Actually,
when the show started,
I had a mobile microphone back here.
Oh,
nice.
Hey,
thank you.
Oh,
wow.
You look like the dude from A Star is Born.
Tell me something, girl.
I love that song.
It's a good song.
Bradley Cooper wrote that.
Son of a bitch is an actor and all of a sudden comes out with a full album
that's maybe the best album.
That's like one of my top five favorite movies.
By the way, I like the Mr. T Starter set, too.
It looks good.
Got the chain around the neck.
It's good.
And the watch.
Look at this.
Oh, wow.
Wow, look at you. You are pro styling and profiling
out. What's that? What? Oh,
jet.
Yeah, son of a gun. I don't have
alligator shoes on but we do have
to get not yet. I don't I got
fat feet. I don't fit in those
things. You should wear shoes
anyway. Do you use a no-shoes guy.
Golfing, I'm a no-shoes guy
because I like to feel Mother Earth
before I hack the shit out of her.
You know what I mean?
You got a nice golf.
You crush it, dude.
Is that why you're so much bigger
because you're trying to do the DeChambeau thing
with the golf?
Is that what you're doing?
Hey, any other sport,
a lot of people would ask a lot of questions
about what he did this offseason.
No comment.
That's pretty good.
You're right.
You're right.
I mean, 40 pounds or something like that.
He goes from 34 to 1.
Well, he's on his diet, what he eats, and what he has to intake every day to keep his.
Is he 250, 245?
Yeah, massive.
Nine protein shakes a day.
Did you have anything like that?
Did you have any like, were you like a super strict dieter food, food, everything, everything, Dr. Peppers,
Big Macs, Chipotle, Chick-fil-A, Sonic, all that stuff. I love it. During season. Yeah,
no problem. While you're Oh, yeah. Um, well, during season, I was a little better. I would eat, you know, Olive Garden and stuff like that.
We ate two meals at the facility, so when I got a chance to eat other stuff,
I enjoyed that opportunity.
Oh, my God.
Yeah.
This guy is just a freak, 6'4", all over the place.
Beast.
Hold on. During season, you can eat that because you burn the calories.
Now, Pat, I don't quite eat the same as I used to.
Yeah, but you told us at the very beginning of this conversation
you're literally trying to get fat right now.
I'm not trying to get fat.
I'm trying to not get fat.
But you're trying to eat everything.
That's why you get on the mountain bike.
Got it.
Yeah, I'm trying to offset my eating with the mountain biking.
Are you in a desert?
Don't switch my words, dude.
I am in a desert.
We live in Arizona.
We live outside of Phoenix in Chandler.
Do you live near Cliff Kingsbury's house?
I don't know.
Does he live in Arizona?
Does he live here?
Did you see his house?
Is that coach for the Cardinals?
Yeah.
I don't know where he lives.
His house on draft night.
He's got a drug lord.
Yeah.
You should try to find that house.
There's plenty of those houses out here.
We live, you know who lives in my neighborhood is McNabb.
How is he?
Good dude?
I've never got to meet Donovan McNabb.
Yeah, he's good.
I like him.
I've never seen him, but I like him.
He's always happy.
I'll tell you that much.
Guy's a happy-go-lucky dude.
Always smiling.
He's got that deep voice.
Always talking.
He's a good dude.
So are you.
Ladies and gentlemen.
Oh, thanks, man. Absolute talking. He's a good dude. So are you. Ladies and gentlemen. Oh, thanks, man.
Absolute legend.
Great hair on the guy.
Terrible fashion sense.
One more time.
We're going to mess the hair up there.
Wow.
Ladies and gentlemen, Brian Urlacher.
Yeah, Brian!
You're the best, dude.
If you could tell Zito to go fuck himself again,
we'd really appreciate that.
No, who's that?
I don't even know who that is.
Let's go, baby.
I don't know who you are.
Oh, jeez.
That's great.
That's even better.
I'm playing.
Okay.
I'm messing with you.
You're my guy.
Go Bears.
Oh, Bear time.
Oh, jeez.
Ladies and gentlemen, Brian Urlacher.
See you, Brian.
What a legend.
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Down in Orlando, there is a bubble and the NBA players are living down there. They're shotgunning
beers, they're fishing, they're golfing, and they're
playing a lot of basketball. There's a lot of testing happening. There's a lot of good things
happening in the NBA. A man who is not down there because he tested positive for COVID prior,
and doctors told him he shouldn't go down there, but he wishes he was down there.
From the Brooklyn Nets, legend Spencer Danerick.
Thank you for having me. Thank you for having me.
Thank you for having me.
How's it going, Spencer?
I can't thank you enough for joining us, brother.
Oh, no, it's all good, man.
I'm soon.
When you reached out, I was honored.
Well, the honor's all mine.
Can't wait to chat with you.
Let's talk about your situation and why you're not down there in the bubble.
Because it did make a little bit of news, I think, last the week before that you tested positive for covet 19 are you okay and
do you still have covet 19 uh no i'm good um okay there we go there we go there we go thank you
thank you um yeah it was an up and down process i had you know fever for like four days straight
and then you know flu-like symptoms for another, shoot, what,
two weeks almost or something like that.
So it was weird.
And, you know, my tests were positive and negative, but I'm good now.
And excuse like what looks like sweat.
I actually just got out of the shower.
We appreciate that.
If you're getting out of workout, also would be respected as well.
When the conversation was to go down to the bubble
and all of that conversation was happening, down to the bubble and all that conversation was happening
and negotiation between the NBA and the MBPA,
I assume that was right in the middle
of you having the coronavirus.
Is that proper timing or did that happen before then?
No, no, no.
So it was already solidified.
And then I went back to New York to practice
and that's where I caught it.
So I actually like when I was in San Antonio
for most of quarantine, then I flew back to New York, started practicing.
I got in like three practices or something like that, three, four practices and then caught it.
And, you know, that's when the time I kind of started. And it coincided, obviously, with the whole ramp up to play all those things with them flying to Orlando.
And so then, you know, you're talking about two weeks, three weeks really,
laying in the bed almost, missing the flight,
would have had to fly down there, probably commercial,
you know, quarantine for 10 more days.
So now you're looking at 30-something days out of, you know,
in the bed not doing nothing and then trying to play basically the next three days after that or something.
And so the doctors are just like, you know, it doesn't make that much sense.
Yeah, because also I believe Kyrie's's not playing kd's not playing the i don't want to
say that the brooklyn nets don't have their best foot forward but it seems like almost behind the
eight ball at this point to go down there i wonder if that also played into the decision like hey
kairi's not going to be playing you are going to be out 30 days you getting back into shape is
probably going to take long enough anyways for the thing to even be done feels like a smart decision but when it was
reported the initial report was that you were opting to sit out and then it came out like no
this was a doctor decision and now that we hear it laid out it's like obviously this was the smartest
decision that you could have made yeah yeah no exactly exactly uh this this wasn't me uh you know
catching this hand up i'm out you, I wanted to be with my team,
I wanted to be with the guys.
I also can't be selfish and jeopardize the whole NBA bubble.
We all know what this means for the league as a whole.
If I show up and then everybody starts catching it,
and you blame me for the whole NBA crash,
I don't want to eat much of that at all.
It felt like during the negotiation and return to play
between the NBA and return to play between the nba and the mbpa there was a real
spirit of cooperation of wanting to make this happen and then obviously kairi dwight in the
middle of social injustices a lot of conversations happen on whether or not it should happen or not
was there ever a time where a majority of nba players thought that this bubble was potentially not going to happen?
I would say I think NBA players as a whole were just uncertain until the actual ink was dry,
pretty much. I think the numbers were probably split down the line for most of the time and fluctuated back and forth because we have an executive committee that does a great job,
but we don't always understand every single piece of everything that's going on.
And so that's kind of how it works.
I think Kyrie had a very valid point in keeping the focus where it needs to be, which is very true.
I think the NBA has a very valid point that they feel like added exposure can be a benefit to the movement.
So it depends on how you view it um and and what
side you sit on with that but obviously we're returning to play and i know at the core of
everything we love the sport you know i mean we and we love to play so you know i think uh being
pure in that intention and then also uh championing the cause that you feel is right so have you been
talking to your teammates that are down there and what has been the overall reaction because we only
see you know shots in there we only see, you know, shots in there.
We only see like the terrible first meal and then people come out like, no, it's actually not that bad.
Then we see the big ass bass that the L.A. Clippers are pulling out of ponds everywhere.
Then you see the Pelicans golfing and then you hear about the snitch line.
You only hear like bits and pieces.
Yeah. Are you talking to people down there and how is the overall reception to the bubble that is down there?
Yeah. No, I'm definitely talking to my teammates.
The overall reception, the consensus for the first night's food was definitely bad.
Overall, though, it's actually been really good.
They kind of call it like an AU tournament type of vibe.
Everybody's playing AU, bonding with your teammates, bonding with your brothers, being on there, having the activities blocked off and people being able
to be normal people is another thing that
I've heard. You've got guys
not walking around with five security
guards like they would during Summer League
in Vegas. They're just kind of walking around.
The biggest star
down to the most
regular person in
the NBA is just walking around and commingling
and making it one big brotherhood. I think it's a good thing. I think it's going to be good for the NBA is just walking around and commingling and making it one big brotherhood.
So I think it's a good thing.
Yeah, I think it's going to be good for the NBA as a whole.
It's like, hey, let's go to camp.
Let's go to camp here.
We're all going to be sequestered.
Are you kind of bummed that you're not down there?
Yeah, a little bit.
You know, this is definitely history.
I think it's a great bonding experience.
I think guys are having fun right now.
So, you know, you do have a little bit of FOMO in a sense.
But, you know, overall, the greatest honor that I have is being a dad.
And so being able to spend a little bit more time with my son is big for me.
And that's the way I kind of balance the two in my mind.
How old are you?
Not how old are you.
How tall are you, Spencer?
6'5", with no shoes, 6'6", basketball height.
Because whenever you said the guys are allowed to be normal humans down there like that's a real thing anthony costanzo
was a teammate of mine he was six foot seven he's just this monster man anytime he walks into any
room every human just stares at him right let alone in the nba where you stare people and then
you know who they are their quality of life has to not be that fantastic just lock it down i would assume
getting out and being able to just be normal amongst a bunch of giants and celebrity people
is probably quite a good thing for a lot of people down there i don't even think yeah no i can
imagine this it's got to be great you know we get very very brief moments when uh that's kind of the
life that we live so typically speaking like said, we walk down the street,
and even if you're not a great NBA player, but you're 6'9",
they go, whoo, I think I'm seeing something.
You get that a lot.
Let's talk about your GoFundMe Bitcoin pick where I'm headed to next.
Racket, what came of that?
You're on contract, I think, for the next couple years still but the you have what you do on the internet I very much love like I love the way you
operate on the internet no problem whenever you thought of that idea and got it moving what was
the reaction from people and will you do that in a couple years whenever you are a free agent and
willing to move somewhere potentially um first I'd like to say thank you because you're an inspiration in terms of betting on yourself.
And I've done similar type of things.
And that's kind of the ethos of the GoFundMe thing, too.
Part of it was a little bit outrageous, right?
Like I set the number really high so we wouldn't get it.
And it would end up being a charity donation.
But the concept of fan engagement and governance, governance you know how cool would it be to involve your fans on decisions that you go through
you know and it could be as small as hey uh you know i'm between these two colorways of shoes
tonight um you guys get to choose but it could be as big as you know i have these three offers
on the table which team do you guys like the most?
It was a little bit facetious because I said, y'all can pick any team in the world and I'll go there for just a million dollars. Like, no, that'd be cap circumvention. You can't do some
of that. But if I have three firm offers on the table and like, you know, I'm talking to the
teams, whatever my decision-making process is, it's my decision-making process. I'm not
circumventing the cap. I'm not signing there for less.
It's them putting in a regular offer and me being a free agent.
And, you know, some people interact with Nike or they interact with Adidas or they interact with their agent or they interact with whoever.
And I'm saying, well, my fans are what the fans are what gives this whole ecosystem the power anyway.
Amen.
Why can't I just say, hey, fans, I have these three offers.
You know what I mean? You can't choose my money because you know the teams do that but if i'm really at a loss and i'm really split down the middle and
i'm like hey like what should we do well choose which city that would be legendary that would be
absolutely imagine that poll to our show our show every sports show that we talk about like all
right well we are currently 23 hours
into spencer dinwiddie's twitter poll he's down to it seems a two-team race at the moment that
would be amazing i think it's brilliant by the way and i think your fans which are your community
will get your back for the long haul for that which matters more than anybody else could fathom
exactly oh exactly man you you i think you're gonna do the bitcoin thing too are
you in the game are you in a bit bitcoin game yeah no i'm into the blockchain space in general
um this is probably something we should talk about offline
go ahead spencer how happy are you and the organization for like for next i know the
season's still going on now but for next season when katie's going to be there and Kyrie's going to be there
and you're going to have a full team
and can really see what the Brooklyn Nets can be.
You guys are going to be a problem, dude.
A problem.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, I've said this once and I'll say it again.
KD is a top two scorer of all time.
You know what I'm saying?
Just depending upon how you look at it.
You know, you could say Kareem
because of the longevity and the amount of points,
but in terms of versatility of scoring, whether it be inside, outside, mid-range,
all that stuff, like KD's the best scorer of all time.
Having that type of person and that type of talent on your team
and, you know, being your best player and then, oh, wait,
the second best player is, you know, probably got the best handles of all time
and has one of the most clutch shots, you know, in NBA history
and, you know, famous for Uncle Drew and all that stuff.
I mean, there's just a lot of talent.
You know, Karris had a 51-point game this year.
You know, I mean, we got DJ who's been a perennial, you know,
all-defensive player in the league.
Each year he's played a lot.
And also he was the number one lob catcher this season.
You know, then we have Jared Allen come off the bench
and he was the number three lob catcher this season and one of the then we have Jared Allen come off the bench, and he was the number three lob catcher this season
and one of the best shot blockers.
So, you know, the talent is there.
You know, we have to coalesce, come together, and, you know,
do some special things so the unit as a whole can be successful.
But, man, like, those guys' talent are off the charts,
and it's a pleasure to be able to play with them.
Oh, and I forgot, Joe Harris is the best three-point shooter
that's not on Golden State.
to play with him oh and i forgot joe harris is the best three-point shooter that's not on golden state that hey they changed the game over there in golden state they changed the game completely
then when kd goes over there and he wears shirts that say three-point layup i mean it's like okay
here's a guy that pulls up from half court and it's like a finger roll for him it's almost cheating
nobody thought he was going to pick the brooklyn nets what is it about brooklyn that has kind of accrued this team now and potentially goes for a run that is a cool
part of new york obviously but that team has not been one for a long time that people got hyped
about and when kd picked there and when kairi picked there it was like kind of an interesting
move yeah i mean um when looking at the new york landscape which, you know, people kind of say is where they were leaning,
the state of the Knicks is kind of in flux.
You know, they've got what they've got going on over there and haven't necessarily been the most successful.
But the Knicks brand is extremely strong and they deserve credit in their own right there.
But in terms of the Nets, we made the playoffs.
We have a solid foundation.
We have a good, talented core group of guys.
I think they saw it as something where, you something where they come in and lead that group.
It could be special. You know what I'm saying?
And instead of coming in and then having to form an entire team, an entire situation, an entire organization around them,
it felt like there was a solid foundation.
And so them driving that ship would get us, you know, we'll know pun intended,
but to a ship.
Oh,
I get it because you're talking about Ford in the river,
forging the river and then taking that ship all the way.
I got it.
You're talking to the guys that are down in the bubble and I don't want you to have to pick a team that's going to win.
Cause you think the Brooklyn nets are going to win obviously.
Cause you're a good teammate,
but what do you think,
who will benefit from this bubble type atmosphere?
Will it be the older players who are better at handling distractions,
or will it be the younger guys who might be, you know, used to
and closer to the AAU things where they've been away from their families
and kind of locked away from it?
Who do you think it's going to benefit more for?
No, I think the older players.
I think the break gave a lot of people time to get healthy.
I think the other underrated part about this is there's no travel and travel is very taxing.
It takes a toll. So, you know, for older players, they're not going to have to focus.
Well, they're still going to focus on recovery, but they're not going to be as worn down as beaten up because they're walking back to their hotel room instead of getting on a plane and flying four hours and going here and going there and not getting sleep.
So I think it definitely benefits the older players.
You know, with that being said, obviously I want the Nets to win.
I think Milwaukee's going to continue to be formidable.
Obviously Giannis is dominant.
I think the Clippers are going to do their thing.
I think, you know, you can never really bet against LeBron.
But missing Avery Bradley, missing Rajon Rondo is definitely going to be a pain point for them
in terms of guarding
opposing dominant guards so if they get like a dame lewitt or you know somebody like that in the
first round it could be a little dicey i'm not gonna say that like you know portland would
definitively win but it could get a little dicey for for the legs if they face like a dominant
guard like that let's talk about yannis in the east man he feels like something that i've never seen before from an athlete it just he's a and he's gotten better too like as
it's gone you see him actually getting better what has it been like to kind of watch him play
and kind of uh see his dominance kind of take over i think uh everybody has a uh a different
play style obviously it's almost like a signature or a fingerprint his is very much about
imposing his will and so I think once his body kind of caught up to his mentality that's why you
see such you know dominance from him because that's how he's wired it seems like you know if
he can dunk on you once he wants to dunk on you 10 times some players are it's enough for them
just dunk once or maybe like I'll dunk on you again but for Giannis it's like I will not stop
I will continue to go so that's what you know in my mind makes him so dominant because like i said his body caught
up now he's you know muscular and all that other stuff and and in fast and now you see what you see
he is he really is i mean now listen i'm just saying that because his name is actually the
greek freak and watching his body just become what it was.
And we got a chance to watch him play against Vince Carter down in Atlanta this year.
And when he got on the court, it was just a different animal.
And then when Vince got on the court, by the way, the buzz of the entire arena was lifted.
He had a couple fadeaways in some people's face.
He obviously retires.
But watching Giannis in person, I was like, damn, this human is just a different level.
Spencer, with all these young marquee recruits now going straight into the G League,
do you think if that would have been an option for guys your age
that a lot more guys would have done that instead of going to college?
For sure.
For sure.
I mean, you've got to look at it.
The reason why a lot of guys didn't follow the Brandon Jennings route
because he really kind of was the pioneer is because the overseas life is not necessarily conducive to young people.
You know, you hear oftentimes like older vet guys like really enjoy it and they get established and, you know, they get their kids in school.
But young guys, you're trying to figure out life.
So you go from trying to figure out life.
You're 18 in America and you're really trying to, you know, grow.
Now you're trying to figure out life you're 18 in in america and you're really trying to you know grow now you're trying to figure out italy and in that culture and you know so it's they're already on
a rocky kind of surface um to to go there it doesn't necessarily enhance your chance of success
all the time unless you're truly special whereas i feel like the d league is very much training
wheels for the nba and you get to stay at home, especially with it being like a select team.
That means they're going to have, you know, they're going to call these kids in a sense.
I mean, they're going to get the white glove treatment that normal D League players don't get.
Because I was in the D League for a hot second.
And it's not always the most fun thing.
But when you're experiencing as a quasi-NBA player, you get a completely different level of treatment.
And I think if those stars keep going there, there's going to be TV rights,
which is going to be more money, which means the high schoolers are already
getting $500,000 allegedly without shoe deals and everything else.
So that money is only going to go up.
It probably will be a lot more of a – I mean, I would do it.
If I was 6'4", 6'5", you know, just like five, six more inches here,
and I had handles and I could jump over everybody.
I would go straight there and get my money as soon as possible.
Why not?
I mean, I think, like, really where this scales to, it's going to be a real JV system.
Like, if the NBA is smart and they are, Adam Silver's a great leader and commissioner,
you make it like a JV team.
You give every team a one-to-one.
You know, they come and they have the same exact schedule we do.
It's just that they play at 2 o'clock,
and tickets to go to those games may be, you know, $5, $10,
you know, right after school.
And then we play at 8 o'clock.
And so, bang, bang, you get both.
And so now it's not hard to scout.
You know, you get people wanting to stay.
They're going to get the same type of treatment.
Maybe they are still two to a room and we're one to a room.
And so there's different perks.
And they might only be making $100,000 versus some of us making $5,000, $10,000, $20,000, whatever it is.
But if you make it like that, people will want to stay and be in the system.
Hey, that's incredibly intelligent there.
I hope that happens because I would love that.
It's like a team's coming in town,
an entire system's coming to town to play.
You'd want to watch that.
Spencer, I am so thankful for this conversation.
I hope we have you back.
Appreciate you, man.
Anytime. Let me know.
Ladies and gentlemen, Brooklyn Nets stud,
Spencer Dinwiddie.
Thank you, man.
All right, that's the show.
Hope you enjoyed it.
Erlacher-Baronzito is going to be something we will talk about
for a long, long, long time.
Spencer Dinwiddie, absolutely incredible human.
And Euclid, what a dude, man.
Baseball starts tonight.
We'll be doing a watch-along at youtube.com forward slash the Pat McAfee show
for the Yankees-Nationals game.
Come watch with us while we watch baseball.
Do I know a lot about baseball?
I mean, I played professionally, so obviously.
But we'll be having special guests join us.
It should be a very fun night, and we can't wait to chat with you.
You're the greatest. Thank you all so much for listening we're back manana be a friend tell a friend ty schmidt please play some independent music សូវាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប� Thank you. so Thank you. ស្រូវាប់ពីប្រូវាប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប� Thank you. Thank you. Take it down Take it down
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