The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 418 - The Pens Are Back, Pacers Win Big, Ohtani Is An Alien, Jeff Passan, Corey Graves, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: May 19, 2021

On today's show, Pat and the boys chat about the Penguins being all the way back after a hard fought 2-1 victory last night over the Islanders, the Pacers beating the hell out of the Charlotte Hornets in the first play-in game, plus the unwritten rules of baseball being put into question after Tony La Russa got pissed about one of his players hitting a 3-0 homer in the 9th inning up by 12 runs, and if Shohei Ohtani is the greatest baseball player of all-time. Joining the program is ESPN MLB Insider and friend of the program, Jeff "The Jett" Passan to chat about people being pissed about the unwritten rules of baseball, and how the game is changing, he weighs in on the Ohtani debate, chats about which teams might be aggressive near the trade deadline, and who he thinks is going to win the World Series (21:55-39:59). Later, joining Pat and AJ Hawk to chat about last night's Penguins game in which he was in attendance is WWE Monday Night Raw broadcaster and friend of the program, Corey Graves to chat about the Penguins, his career in the WWE and how his new gig on Monday Night Raw is going, if he's going to be a WWE lifer, what the craziest moment of his career thus far has been, and if he ever has the itch to get back in the ring (1:03:44-1:34:26). Make sure you subscribe to youtube.com/thepatmcafeeshow and listen every day on Mad Dog Radio, Sirius XM Channel 82. We appreciate you all for listening, come and laugh with us, cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

hello it is wednesday may 19th big show hey big show today jet passing hey how you doing welcome back pal good to chat with you cory graves aj hawk there's some news breaking wow let's have a wednesday if you enjoy this thing by the end of it please be a friend tell a friend if not just act like it never happened let's get to it ty and the pittsburgh penguins are back uh yesterday i got real excited i had a boy in the back. There's the Pens fans. Evan Fox, which literally broke things in the office yesterday on Hammer Don when he decided to make his foxy lock as a Pittsburgh Penguin bet.

I had a boy, Jay. I had a boy, Jay. Jay's all excited about the Pens last night as well. Jay doesn't know what he did. Me neither, Jay. But I do know that the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the dog shit out of the New York Islanders last night. And when I say beat the dog shit out of them, I mean we got to win. Okay?

We got to win. We got beat up physically in that game. I'm going to be honest. Whoa. Okay, but I do like that our team, our entire team, Sidney Crosby included, have become a bunch of little pests. Like, hey, we are not scared. There was a guy named Tanev on our team.

Did I know he existed before just a few nights ago? Maybe not. But I do know, fucking love the guy. He flies around. He's causing a bunch of shit, getting into fights, called somebody a coward, and told them to go fuck themselves last night. I love this team. I like what's going on.

And Tristan Jari, the goalie, that, you know, in game one, forgot how to stop pucks, which means he forgot how to play goalie, which means he forgot how to do what he gets paid to do completely. He gives up four little cake, five cake ones we lose. I thought this guy was dead. Mark Madden came on the show and said, in a team sport, it is hard to blame one person for a loss. But Tristan Jari was the only reason the

Penguins lost game one in the playoffs in a hockey town, by the way, in Pittsburgh. I assume Tristan Jari had to look in that locker room. I've been there before where you let down your entire team. You let down your teammates. You go in there. You say, hey, listen, I am so sorry. There's emotions. You feel terrible. You can't sleep. You hear and see what everybody's saying about you. Tristan Jari, just two nights later, after getting buried, I bet you he would have wanted to play the next night if he could have. He came out, stopped 37-38. Fucking welcome back.

Tristan's a stud. That takes some type of mental toughness that I'm not sure a lot of humans that have walked through this earth have. That is very difficult to do, especially for the goalie position. But here we are. The Pittsburgh Penguins are going to win in five. We all knew this all along. Sidney Crosby proved yet again he's the greatest hockey player of all time.

He didn't score. His line didn't maybe produce as much as I wish they would have because there was a bet for him to score and the Pens to win. The Pens did win. He didn't score. Okay, his line didn't maybe produce as much as I wish they would have because there was a bet for him to score and the Pens to win. The Pens did win. He didn't score. That would have cashed in for all of us at a plus 300 payday. How you doing? Three times the money. He didn't score.

I don't know why he wasn't on the penalty kill at the very end of the whole game there when they had a two-man advantage because I think he could have stole one maybe with the empty net because they had an empty net at three minutes and 30 left because they were losing or whatever. But at one point in the game last night, Sidney fucking Crosby jumped over Tristan Jari, who had a great game. Welcome back, Tristan. Welcome back.

Jumps over Tristan Jari, takes his stick and blocks a fucking little snapshot. It wasn't just like a lob. It was going in. He blocks it. Now, if you watch the replay close enough, you would say to yourself, there's a chance

that that was Sidney Crosby that blocked it. It was written off as it hit the post. It was written off as the puck hit the post and it went out there. There was no real fuss

made about it by the NHL, which proves yet again the NHL has fucked Sidney Crosby since the day he came in to the league. He should have been on national television every single night. The world should know who Sidney Crosby is. Sidney Crosby was touted as the LeBron James of hockey when he came into the NHL and has lived up to the hype perfectly, just like LeBron has,

by the way. LeBron know off the court shit. He's actually been a leader, a mentor. He's won. He's made a massive amounts of money. There's people that hate him. That's going to happen. Sidney Crosby, same damn thing, by the way. Just in the hockey world, nobody knows he exists except for in these hockey counts. Last night, he jumps over a goalie, saves a goal. They win by one. Nothing is said by the NHL. Sidney Crosby deserves more respect. So do the Penguins. A team that also might go on a run, the Boston Bruins.

NHL playoffs are here. I forgot how exciting of a time this is. So last night, obviously, Marc-Andre Fleury ended the entire night of hockey with a dub and trying to score. Oh, yeah. Okay, I think he might have been reminded of the $100,000 agreement we have made if he scores this season. Now, Fando put a bet up at plus $25,000 or something like that for him to score during the season. That doesn't account. Does that include playoffs?

I don't know. I don't think so. I don't think so because I do believe that one has disappeared from my pending bets or current bets or whatever. So if he was to just hold out all season knowing that there was a chance I was going to make like $25,000 of this off of a bet or whatever, and he's like, let's wait for him to not be able to win any of this back. Let's wait for the playoffs. Wow. I absolutely love him even more.

But I love the NHL playoffs. I completely forgot about it. And I thought we were in a dead period we are not at all especially when the Penguins are winning America loves that isn't that right at Boston yeah I don't know if America loves Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania last night I got a lot of tweets from people never watch hockey in my life watching the Penguins tonight with you guys go Penns go Penns yeah but those same people are going to say the same thing about the Bruins tonight when we win four 4-0, that correct score that you had for the Pens last night, that's going to be the Bruins' score tonight, and we're waiting for Pittsburgh in the second round.

We're going to crush you guys. No, you're not. Okay, that's not going to happen, but I do like the fact that that could happen. Oh, yeah. And I think that is why hockey is such a wonderful thing. Last night also playing games for basketball in the NBA. The Pacers are super boost in Indiana. A lot of people told me it was going to be impossible to win.

You had LaMelo Ball coming into town from Charlotte with the Hornets. Everybody on the Pacers team was questionable or injured. It came out via a tweet long after we all locked in the Pacers to win because this is Indiana in May. That's what happens in Indiana in May. People win things. So I knew the playing game was going to be a winner. Okay, I got a little question because I didn't know any of the players on the team.

All right. Of course. I don't know any of these guys. I have never met them. I hope to. Hey, new team, COVID, can't see them, didn't go. You know, the whole thing. I don't have any clue who any of these guys are.

Brand new team out here, by the way. I knew T.J. McConnell was on team. He's super yinzer. Gritty, tough guy. Yeah. He's going to play well. Little I know, the Foxy, the jacked Foxy guy. Yeah.

The taller. Sabonis. Sabonis. Better basketball player, but nowhere near the creative genius that is Evan Foxy. Cooler beard, though. Yeah. Who? Sabonis.

Sabonis. Just because the body and the face it's on? I just think probably because the body and the face. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I see. We're going to be able to judge each individual. I think the beard, actually. Foxy's got a pretty good beard.

I need a lineup, too. This doesn't look good right now. His is faded in. He's self-handicapping. That's right. You don't even know what you're doing right now, dude, but you're doing it. Anyways, that guy won. Ham.

And he was on, like, questionable, I think, before the game. He won crazy. Pacers win. It was really nice to get a couple big wins over there on Fando. Sportsbook, anytime we can rake money from them. We love it, which is why we have to, in good faith, tell you to watch Hammered Down every day, 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, youtube.com forward slash hammered down, D-A-H-N. Yesterday there was a fight over how passionate the NHL playoffs are.

Foxy chose to bet on the Penguins. And everybody who listens to this show knows that Foxy is documented one of the worst gamblers in the history of gambling. Yeah, bar none. But since he's so bad at gambling, it's actually good because you know, to hashtag fade Foxy. So me as friend of Foxy and you know, I'm boss. So like to keep motivated, you know, inspired and happy and things like that. As the entire world was telling him how big of a piece of shit he was for all of his picks going wrong,

and as the entire world was turning against Foxy and hashtag fade Foxy was trending in different states around the country at one point during the fall season, I stayed on Foxy's side, okay? I said, Foxy, I don't believe in curses. I think your next pick's your best pick, pal. Now, whenever he went 5 and 25 or 7 and 20, people forget those are expensive days.

Oh, yeah. I lost tens of thousands of dollars because of the Foxy train that I was on that was running me right into loss after loss, but everybody else was making money, and I felt like, hey, Foxy, I'm an ally. You know what I mean? I'm an ally.

Right, of course. Supporting. And Foxy experienced that with me, you know, because he would actually come up to me, I am so sorry we're losing. I am sorry. You have to stop doing what you're doing. You were the only one.

I was the only person. So yesterday, when he decides to come out of his cave to get back into the locks game, he comes flying. You know, it's the fucking Pittsburgh Penguins. They're the best. I'm like, I wasn't even in the room. I was on a call outside. I hear this whole thing.

There's a commotion immediately from the Pittsburgh guys. Remember, Foxy joined the Steelers week 12. They lost every game after that once he became a Steelers fan because that's how the Foxy train is. That's why hashtag fade Foxy is so goddamn good because of how bad he is. That's right. So when he decided to come out of his terrible pick hibernation and fucking pop out of the cave like Jesus, of his terrible pick hibernation and pop out of the cave like jesus sit his ass down on this seat right here and proclaim the pittsburgh penguins as his most recent lock i hung up on somebody i walked in here and i just asked him why like why why i thought we had a good thing

i've this kid foxy he's a now, but he has grown from a kid. He has sitting, sitting, seated at tables with billionaires. He has heard conversations about things that he should never have been privy to. I shouldn't have been privy to the conversations I was in. Foxy definitely shouldn't have been in the conversations I was in. He's walked into rooms that humans only dream of walking in. And I think it's a great, he's earned it, by the way. He's absolutely earned it.

But he's gotten to do a lot of cool things. For him just to come swinging his nuts out of that cave, that hibernation, and just rub them all over the only team that he knows that I absolutely love, was absolutely uncalled for and it actually started you know a series of chaos kind of through Connor lost his plant

Connor picked up I didn't even know he had a plant by the way if you're watching or listening that's not bad it stunk that's what I'm saying you two need to come on so Nick grabs his plant slams it on the ground The pot shatters It was a cacti

By the way It was a cactus And that thing shatters So now Connor Is not in the room He's now dragged in He wants the penguins To lose too

So he's kind of happy About what Foxy did But what happened With the fucking cactus Is now a heartbreaker Yeah personal They got into an actual scrap Patches with grub

Yeah Right here Gumpy's face Was in between two men That were kind of Fighting with each other Heartbreaker. Personal. They got into an actual scrap. Punches were thrown right here. Gumpy's face was in between two men that were kind of fighting with each other. And then you leave and the Pens win. So, Foxy, maybe the Foxy train is a hot one. That was big. That was big. Foxy's back.

I'm still sore from those punches Nick was throwing. He was not messing around at all. He was not. Yeah. Like you were. That's because you fake like that plant. I don't fake. I actually love plants. fake like that plant. I don't actually love that plant.

I love that plant. I've kept it on here. That's why he was throwing actual punches. That's actual love for the penguins and it's your bullshit,

fake ass like for that plant. Hey, if I didn't like it, I wouldn't have came in here and put my body on the line. Did you even know that that plant was here?

You know, I hadn't seen it in a while, to be honest. I kind of forgot about it. I didn't even know it was here either. It's never left. It's been there the whole time. It's a staple of this desk. It was, excuse me, a staple of this desk.

And now I've got to go back out and find a new cactus. And I don't want to do that. Yeah, but there's a lot of staples to my desk. Exactly. If one of them was slammed, I'm not fighting somebody over it. You were fake fighting. He was actually fighting. If someone came in here and smashed that Bob Ross little thing,

you don't think you'd come in here and be rip shit about it? You're right. Nobody would do that to the Bob Ross thing, though. Your plant did look like a piece of shit. Yeah, Bob Ross is awesome. No one would even think about doing that. I didn't even want to fight Conor. I just had to imagine he was foxy as I was pounding his face in.

Good scrap, boy. Good scrap. It's hard to listen to you for about 48 hours talk about the Pittsburgh Penguins and then not pick the Pittsburgh Penguins. Especially on Sunday. You were so sad and I just sat there. Monday

you came in hot. I'm like, there's no chance that they lose again. So I had to make it my lock. I'm sitting there. Lots going on. WrestleMania. Backlash is on in a few hours there's a lot of humans moving around okay i'm seeing a lot of things i'm watching that goddamn game on my phone cory graves by the way who will be joining us in uh i think like an hour and 20 minutes he was at the game last night he was watching it on his phone he was in the middle

of much more important things than than me for sure you know because he's you know much higher up at the wwe when it comes to everything intelligence skill level and handsomeness everything basically connections knowledge every you know basically everything right so he's you hear both of us whenever so you hear like random yells through the thunderdome and then as soon as that game's over I think you see him just put it in his pocket and just do his thing and me I'm just sitting there Foxy comes over with a camera right in my face and goes what happened and I'm like

get the hey fuck you Foxy get out of here now is not the time but Tristan Jari let him down now we're back I'm excited to be here I can't believe you tried to ruin the Pittsburgh Penguins dominance which is inevitable right to Lord Stanley's Cup where they're going to be drinking brew haws on the south side of Pittsburgh, where they will keep their head on a swivel once again.

And lucky for the Bruins, Fox, he's never won two bets in a row, and he already told me he's taking the caps tonight. Okay, awesome. That's great news. I'm not going to bet alongside of him there. Let's move along to some things that are happening. We have a guest joining us in about eight minutes. People are going to be pumped as back, I think. At Ty Schmidt.

Now, I did purposely leave you kind of out of that conversation for one reason and one reason alone. I don't know if you saw last night while the play-in games were happening in the NBA. Shout-out to the Pacers. Congrats. Shout-out to the Celtics. Yeah, they scored 150 points. Good defense on that Hornets team.

Lamello wanted to get to the offseason. He's passed. Somebody on the Pacers, and once again, we don't know any of their names aside from T.J. McConnell, and now Doug McDermott. Sabonis. There's a couple now that I'm big fans of, and I'm very thankful that they played their work.

Somebody on the team was actually running back after a possession, after scoring, and screaming, get these bomb-ass off of this court. And the Hornets just had to eat that. See, I never understood how and I guess this happens in numerous sports, but it seemed like they mailed it in.

It seemed like they mailed it in. I'm not a super NBA savant, but it seemed like they mailed it in. I'm not a super NBA savant, but it seemed like they mailed it in a little bit. Oh, yeah. And you could see how the easy trend would be like, oh, LaMelo's looking to get back to L.A. He's looking for the offseason. He's going to go do awesome. I assume the content he's going to make is about to be next level.

I mean, he's going. That's what everybody thinks. But I don't know if that's how you'd want to go into your offseason. I never understood how that would be how you want to go. And also, there's no way that's what LaMelo was doing, because he knows that in the playoffs, that's where NBA players get famous. Yeah. Because everything's on primetime TV.

Those are the moments that are talked about forever. It's not really, and this sounds bad, but to watch the Penguins, it's difficult during a regular season because they're not on out here ever. But playoffs, everything's national TV. It's like's like okay here we go consider the nba is the same damn thing it feels like if you are looking to you know continue dominance of the world both on the court and digital wise it feels like you would want to be in the primetime games but maybe it's like our team stinks we ain't never gonna go anywhere how are we gonna lose four straight we lose one how do we get out of here who knows and maybe he did try, our team stinks. We ain't ever going to go anywhere. How are we going to lose four straight? We lose one. How do we get out of here? Who knows?

And maybe he did try and they just stunk and the Pacers was that good. Maybe we should have been fans for a long time. But while that was happening, the NHL happened and Pens are back. There was also another thing that happened in sports world, Ty. Yeah. Shohei Ohtani hit another home run last night. Wow. Okay, so yesterday I was

attacked, okay, by the baseball community. Here's a perfect example of people that don't know baseball versus people that do know baseball. I assume they were talking about me as the do not know baseball because these people did have a few thousand, and they had a baseball podcast, and they loved baseball. So I kind of got the hint that they were not on my side

of Otani being the best baseball player of all time. And Ty was speaking for the baseball community is what they were. They were thankful that there was a cooler head in the room is what they were saying. So everybody was attacking me for saying, he hasn't even completed a full season yet. He's nowhere near 700 home runs, which I guess is what, Babe Ruth? Does Babe Ruth have 700?

Yeah, he did a lot. Was Babe Ruth a pitcher? I mean, early in his career, yeah. For the Sox. Yeah. Was he good? Dominant. Yeah.

Really? Very good. And then he moved to outfield. Right. Which is potentially going to happen to Shohei Ohtani. Kind of what he's doing right now, yeah. So we're watching the next Babe Ruth live in person, okay? And these motherfuckers are telling me that I have no idea what I'm talking about

or anything like that. He's going to finish his season. He's going to lead the league in homers. And now that Mike Trout's out, okay, he's going to get the better athletic trainers. You know what I mean? I mean, he's got the MVP, allegedly, in his... Wait till that team becomes Ohtani's team. Now, I love Mike Trout.

This is not a shot at Mike Trout, but boy, there was a lot of shots at me for my takes on Ohtani when Mike Trout was on the team about Mike Trout. So I'm not going to bury Mike Trout to put up Ohtani. But now Ohtani's got an entire organization on his back, which is exactly the type of player he is. He pitches. He hits. He'll fucking give you water if you need it. This is the the type of player he is. He pitches, he hits, he'll fucking give you water if you need it.

This is the best baseball player of all time. After last night's home run, in this consistent dominance we have had here, since him getting Tommy on, only makes him better, by the way. Rookie of the year. It only gets better. Yeah. Stronger arm. Yeah, your arm gets faster. Everything gets stronger. More vulnerable, too. No, no, no, no,

no, no, no. I'm not saying that's going to happen. Ben Roethlisberger, Tom Young came back and won 11 straight games or whatever, but a different sport, obviously. We might be only seeing him get better and better and better. I hope so. What if that continues to go? What about all these freezing cold takes from the baseball community that said, like, whoa, whoa, whoa, this guy ain't going to make it.

He's not going to survive. Are you guys scared at all? Or is this like a Floyd Mayweather, Conor McGregor situation where Floyd knew Conor wasn't going to be able to get into the deep end? Is that what you guys are thinking? No, I don't think so.

I mean, you can't deny his talent, obviously. Most talented player of all time. He could be, potentially. Whoa, whoa, so I need to reword my shit then. He's the most talented baseball player of all time? I mean, yeah, you can put on like, on one hand, you know, I mean, he's pretty much the only guy you want to go into Babe Ruth who can, you know, pitch, and he's still throwing 100 miles an hour.

I mean, you know, like, he's been dominant, but he hasn't pitched very many games. He has, you know, he's got the injury history, like, and now he's really going to have to put the team on his back. So, like, if he does ascend in the end. What does that mean? So, Mike Trout got hurt last night. He'll be out for a bit.

So now for those of us that maybe we know baseball inside and out, and we have to potentially explain it to somebody who doesn't. What does that mean that Mike Trout is now out? Isn't it just pitcher versus batter, batter versus pitcher, and he's the batter and he is the pitcher? Why does it matter with what Mike Trout is doing? I mean, yeah. Guys are still going to make mistakes, and he'll the batter and he is the pitcher why does it matter with what mike trout is doing i mean yeah you know like guys are still going to make mistakes and he'll still hit the home runs because he's stronger than hell obviously i mean he's he's unbelievable

at the plate too but like trout kind of protects him a little bit he's by far the best hitter in their lineup now so like pitchers are going to start to like pitch around him a little bit he's not going to see as many good pitches. I mean, we'll see. Why is that? So, for instance, with Trout in the lineup, everybody's scared to death of him. So Mike Trout doesn't see any clean pitches. Other people might, though.

Why is that? Just because you know who's doing the damage in the lineup. You can go right at some guys because you don't know. But a guy like Trout, he's not going to see as many good pitches. People are going to be okay walking him, because if you do kind of go after him and try to get him, I mean, shit, you see what Otani does. He hits it fucking 800 feet.

And you can't do that to four guys. Exactly. You can't do that. You've got to kind of pick and choose who you can strategically go after. So Mike Trout being there was almost like another wide receiver that was taking away the coverage that they could potentially throw bingo oh Connie doesn't care I mean throw throw that thing uh you know paint whatever corner you want to paint he's coming out with a bigger brush I think to your point like at some point you should just like he should just play either outfield or

like you know he's DHing right now because pitching if he's only throwing like five innings like that they're just I mean they're just burning him out like he can't be dominant enough to make that big of an impact if he's playing every single day hitting and like playing in the outfield like he might hit 800 home runs joining us now is a man who is considered the voice of baseball for a generation yep okay this guy had quite a come up i mean on espn big time i mean very quickly he came in with the hair he came in with the knowledge he was able to explain a sport that has lost its luster completely in a fashion that was insightful and entertaining i enjoyed my conversations with him i can't wait to chat with him about this whole thing because I've been entrenched in battle with the baseball community

over Shohei Ohtani. Ladies and gentlemen, ESPN's Jet Pass. Yeah! What up, Jet? It is so good to be back and to hear those absolutely awful takes about Shohei Ohtani playing one position. What the hell are you talking about? He's got a 210 ERA pitching.

He's leading baseball in home runs. Let him do both. Let him play. Let him play. Let him play. That's fine. Let him play. Let him play.

Let him play. Hey, you know, when he needs Tommy John again and he fucking ruins it, you know, come back and then be chanting, let him play. Let when he needs Tommy John again and he fucking ruins it, come back and then be chance and let him play. You can take this Tommy John and shove it where the sun don't shine. Get out of here with that. I think he was talking about, you know, ass.

I think he was too. Hey, Jet, can we talk about this? Because, you know, I have played professionally. You've seen my thing on that one website that is legit. Yeah, you were great I have played professionally. You've seen my thing on that one website that is legit. Yeah, you were great. But aside from that, growing up in Pittsburgh, that city is not just pumping out massive baseball fans.

Okay, the Pittsburgh Pirates are not a team that is, you know, in the city. I want to be like that. You know, it's not really, especially with the Penguins around and the Steelers around. It's just there are fans of the Pirates, but you get it. So there's an unwritten rule thing I would like to talk to you about with Tony La Russa burying his own player or whatever. We will talk about that at some point, the unwritten rules.

I don't really understand that. But I think the part that I'm confused by, and it feels like you might be on my side here, has anybody fucking done what this guy is doing right now? And why is it not being talked about as, like, the greatest thing to ever happen to baseball is this guy? Is it now and why why is it not being talked about as like the greatest thing to ever happen to baseball is this guy is it because their team stinks and how does their team stink if the favorite for the mvp mike trout is on the team and this guy is on the team why do they stink

how do they stink and is this the greatest thing to ever happen to baseball and will there be more you think okay let's try and go bit by bit here. This has been done. The last guy to do it was somebody named Babe Ruth. I think you've probably heard of him. We talk about him. So it's been 100 years since we've seen somebody who's been as good on both sides of the baseball. The next Babe Ruth.

I was trying, you know, I know this is a football audience mainly on this show. So I was trying to come up with the best possible comparison for what Shohei Otani is doing. I think I got a good one, actually. OK, imagine you had a player who is Justin Herbert, except he can also rush on the defensive side of the ball like TJ Watt or TJ Watt who can play quarterback like Justin Herbert and the reason that I'm making those comparisons the closest thing to a dominant pitcher to me is a quarterback if you're a starting pitcher you have control of the game you have the ability to take over a game just like a quarterback does. And Shohei Otani, even though he hasn't been pitching deep into games, even though he hasn't been going,

you know, more than once a week on the mound, the fact is he's still out there. And when he's out there, he's got all the potential in the world. And he looks really good right now. That was Justin Herbert last year. When it comes to TJ tj watt i wanted to look at a guy who wasn't one-dimensional necessarily but has power has the ability to change the game with one hit to come off the edge to crush a quarterback to cause a fumble to zone blitz and drop back and make a pick that's what otani does his home runs his power is not unparalleled in baseball but it's right up there so if you can imagine having a franchise type quarterback who also plays defensive end or a defensive end who's also an elite quarterback that's what otani is doing

right now and that's why it is so incredible and should be a bigger story than it is. So he's the greatest baseball player of all time? No. And here's why. How well? Come on, Jet. Jet, you just said he was. You literally just said he's the next Babe Ruth. Is the Bambino not the greatest player of all time? This is the next one.

He's younger. He hits the ball further. He throws the ball faster. He is, Pat. And the reason that Babe Ruth is the greatest of all time is because he did it for more than a month and a half. Oh, come on. Listen, I want to crown him.

I know you want to crown him. I'm not crowning him yet. Is there any chances last? Is there any chances last? Because it feels like, so to make a, because there are boxing fans that listen to this show yeah to make a boxing comparison you know i had to think about this oh yeah it would be like uh what the baseball fans are saying to me so when conor mcgregor uh signed up for boxing okay against floyd mayweather

at that point i was a massive conor mcgregor fan. I'm like, this dude is it. I mean, he cuts promos, he wins, he gets it, he understands the business, like he's Ric Flair in fighting. I mean, this guy is absolutely incredible. So if he was signing up to go box, I had faith. I'm like, alright, he's not putting himself out there to get beat.

So I put a rather large bet on him to beat Floyd Mayweather in boxing. Just like what the baseball community has done to me here recently about this show, Hey Otani. The boxing community came after me heavy. And they're basically like, you're an idiot. You're an absolute idiot. Waste of your money. Send me that money instead of doing what you're doing right there.

You're so dumb. He'll never be able to last. He'll never be able to last. And then like the first round comes out, he looks good. Second round, third round, fourth round, fifth round. I'm like, these motherfuckers don't know Conor. Conor's different. Seventh round, eighth round, ninth round.

It's like, hey, these motherfuckers don't know Conor. He is different. And then all of a sudden, it happened. He was absolutely dead. And Floyd has been doing this his entire life. It was like, I don't know how Conor got to that level of fitness to make it that far. Nobody thought he was going to make it that far. But he was able to.

And then Floyd just beat the hell out of him. It was like, okay, this is the game we're playing here. It feels like that's what baseball people are saying to me. It feels like that's what you just said to me as well. There's no chance he's going to be able to continue this long term. No, no, no, no, no, no. I'm not saying that. It's hard. It is really hard. And the reason we know it's hard, Pat, is because there have been players who have had two way talent like this before,

who have tried and just have not been able to do it. This is the closest the players come to being a genuine two way player, like I said, in a a century and so it is a difficult thing to maintain but i actually have faith that he's going to do it right now i think it's taken a few years remember the shoham tani story we have to rewind a little bit and it's incredible what he did he had to play in japan for like four more years and he could have come to the United States and been paid 200, 250, $300 million. Instead, he said,

I want to challenge myself at 23, go to the best league in the world. And I'm going to get paid $2.3 million for it. He took 1% of what he was worth for the opportunity to come here and try and do this. And it's taken a few years. It has taken a Tommy John surgery, but I think he's in that place right now where he is comfortable. He is fit. and try and do this. And it's taken a few years. It has taken a Tommy John surgery.

But I think he's in that place right now where he is comfortable, he is fit, and he can actually do this and sustain it. And I don't know if it's going to be a 10-year thing, but sustain it for a few years and show the world what he can be. Sign me up. French, thank you. Atta boy. Let's get to some old-timers talking baseball. Can we do that?

Tony La Russa comes up. I appreciate your take on Otani, by the way. I will take it as if it's my thoughts, and that will kind of be how I view it going forward. It's going to be hard, but he could do it. Now let's talk about 3-0 pitches, position player pitching, throwing a 48-mile-an-hour meatball, and a rookie in the MLB goes ahead and says,

oh, they keep track of stats, don't they? They keep track of how many home runs I'm going to have. I don't care if we're up 45 to nothing. If somebody's going to throw me the lob from rookie of the year, I'm going to eat that thing. He takes it yard how you doing we hit a home run ninth inning it was over the game's over 3-0 not the pitcher i think it's awesome i'll go get it that's what people are watching anyways they're not watching for 48

mile an hour strikes all right so i think that's disrespectful to the fucking game if that was to happen but now tony larusa his his, comes out and said he made a mistake. There will be a consequence. He has to endure here within our family. The fact that he's a rookie and excited helps explain why he was just clueless, but now he's got a clue. He says, Tony, this comes after they pitch behind him in the next game to kind of the baseball center warning.

Trevor Byer, power hour, comes out and says, if you don't like this happening, pitch better. Dear hitters, if you had a 3-0 homer off me, I would not consider it a crime. Dear people who are still mad about a hitter hitting, kindly get out of the game. Can't believe we're still talking about 3-0 swings. If you don't like it, managers or pitchers, just be better. This is the highest paid pitcher in baseball, I believe, at this point. He has really been at the forefront of saying, hey, all these stigma, picture, overreaction, drama shit is done.

It's a thing of the past. Jet, your thoughts on this and Tony La Russa feeling like he had to answer. The most interesting part of Tony La Russa's comments to me, beyond calling his player clueless, beyond calling his player clueless, which is something you generally don't do publicly, was after the game when he talked about sportsmanship. And he talked about respecting the game. When I watch baseball, I see sportsmanship as trying your hardest at all times.

see sportsmanship as trying your hardest at all times and i see respecting the game as not bowing down to a 47 mile per hour pitch i see sportsmanship like tony larusa is talking about it for nine-year-olds if nine-year-olds don't want to run up the score on each other, that is A-OK. If big league players who are making millions of dollars want to go out and try and ply their craft in the most amazing way possible, let them do it. You want to talk about disrespecting the game, Pat? How about putting a guy, a big old fit boy catcher out there throwing 47 miles an hour your mean mercedes is sitting there looking like the guy from rookie of the year who's just licking his lips at the ball floating in the air only he hit it 420 feet and oh you're saying to call your mean mercedes by the way, a rookie, I think technically he is.

This is disrespectful to a guy who at 28 years old has been grinding his entire career for this moment. I didn't know that. extraordinarily popular figure down in the Dominican Republic because he too is a thick boy who loves hitting tanks and running slow around the bases and just loving it. Look at that. Look at that body. Yeah. Yeah. He's big. He was a absolute, by the way, makes it even better that he's just a, he is a tank and that ball just comes floating in. It looked like beat. It looked like a home run derby BP and he hit hit it exactly how yeah it was awesome it was absolutely awesome yeah ty what do you have jet do you see uh a lot like any teams being really aggressive around the trade deadline this year because the yankees uh have kind of stunk so far and you know like i

hope otani continues to play well and everything uh the Yankees can offer him $500 million in a couple years. But is there any teams out there now that COVID's kind of done that are going to be really aggressive at the trade deadline? I think the problem right now is there aren't any great teams in baseball. I thought the Dodgers were going to be that team, and they've had some injuries and they may need to go out and get help. There aren't any great teams right now. There aren't a whole lot of bad teams either.

How about the Pirates? Pirates aren't bad? I mean, the Pirates have been better than you thought they were going to be. Right, Pat? I have no idea. Were they? Are they? How were they?

I mean, they're not good. Oh, see. So they're the one. They're see. So they're the one. They're the one. They're the anomaly. They are the outlier. There's a lot in the middle of the range there, you're saying? There's no real hot yet?

And so trying to figure out which teams are going to sell, I think everyone wants to buy at this point. But we also have to remember, playoffs aren't expanded this year. So there are only five teams from each league making it, and those playoff spots are going to be very hotly contested. And considering that, in all likelihood, the playoffs are going to expand in the future, this is the last year where you're going to have a small field to go through and fewer potential opponents to trip you up.

Hey, real quick, so you're trying to display your range there with the choice of, you've changed your display a little bit. I want to let you know, we do appreciate that. You go Wu-Tang, obviously, then Rage Against the Machine. Then you got the Pink Floyd over there to the far right.

You just want to let people, you're down for whatever. Hey, I'm down for whatever. If it's good, it's good. Listen, music is a beautiful thing. And whether it is instrumental, like the good, the bad, and the ugly right there, or it's back in the 60s and 70s, Band of Gypsies,

or it's some radio head over my shoulder. I pointed at the wrong one. What am I doing? I'm just tripping all over. Have you been on TV? We haven't seen you on TV. We saw your – In fact, Pat, actually, this audience would be perfect.

We're trying something new. We're doing a new show every day called Baseball Tonight Extra where we're going to be talking. We talked about Mercedes yesterday. We're talking about Otani today. Where at? It's going to be on the ESPN YouTube channel, so please check it out. It's good stuff.

Okay, let's go. Congratulations, Jeff. That's good news. I don't know if there's a lot of people that can go on the YouTube and talk about baseball and succeed, though, you know? Like, I think you're a guy that could. If anyone can do it. You're the guy, Jet.

You're the guy. It is tough, dude. The sport is, and I think Trevor understands that. I think old buddy just hit a bomb on a, because that should have been hilarious. Like, everybody should have laughed about that. Like, you, come on. I mean, you know what I mean? Like bomb on a because that should have been hilarious like everybody should have laughed about that like you come on i mean you know what i mean like i feel like that should have been funny as opposed to like that's not our game here's here's the thing

it was until the 76 year old hardo went old school and that was you know that was the concern when tony larissa got hired like is he going to be able to relate to players today? Players today want to swing 3-0. Players today want to run slowly around the bases, pimp their home runs, take selfies, do whatever they can, bat flip. It doesn't

matter. The game done changed, and you've got to change with it or go away. For the survival of the game though it's changing you know like it is a very new world at the end of the day i understand baseball is a sport but we are in a content entertainment world everything is content if you have the best content people are going to watch it our content for some reason very below average people watch it we appreciate those people but the nfl the games are normally fucking good.

That's why, like, everything is good. The content is seen by a lot of people. It's all content at the end of the day because you don't have the sport or the league without money. And I think drawing eyes to a sport that is losing them is nothing bad. Like, I don't think it's a bad thing. But, once again, I'm not a 76-year-old Tony La Russa. I'm not that guy. Hey, speaking of content before i go your doc was great you uh and you have been crushing it on smackdown oh thanks dude that's been fun oh yeah it's awesome it's so it's so cool to see you there i'm like my friend is on smackdown and he's the announcer and i love it yeah yeah friend

my friend my friend, my friend. We're friends. You know what? Jet, we're friends. We're friends. We better be. We're friends. I hope so.

Jet, pass in. Me. Buds. Pass. Hey. Yeah, yeah. If we were in your town over there in Ohio, I think we would say, hey, you know what, Jet? Why don't you come out and see us?

Come to the house. Jet, we're friends. I mean, would say, hey, you know what, Jet, why don't you come out and see us? Come to the house. We're friends. I mean, would you? Yeah. Mostly because we'd probably be bored with, like, at least to see you. You know, it'd be nice to meet you in person. Yeah, we're friends.

All right, Connor, go ahead. Yeah, Jet, who's going to win the World Series, and why is it the Boston Red Sox? Los Angeles Dodgers, and because it's not. Oh! Whoa! Aristotle! I don't know much what just happened. Jet, we appreciate you, man. Los Angeles Dodgers and Because It's Not. Oh! Whoa! Whoa! Aristotle!

That's pretty much what just happened. Jet, we appreciate you, man. That talk was awesome. It was 30 for 30, I believe, or whatever. What was it? E60. E60. It's okay, though.

Okay. You can plug the other one. No, E60. Yours was awesome. It was really cool to watch. We watched it down in Tampa as a team, man. Really well done. Can't thank you enough for what you're doing for uh baseball can't wait to watch the show baseball tonight extra on youtube uh jet

pass and talking about the baseball just like he just got done here ladies and gentlemen jet pass people go through many changes as we get older, isn't that right? Oh, yeah. For men, one of the less fortunate changes is that testosterone production begins to naturally decrease in the body. Did you know this, AJ? I am aware. For most men, it begins around the age of 30, and testosterone production declines by roughly 1% per year. My God. So if you live to 130, you ain't got shit left.

No. Minus 30. Well, if it starts around 30, this is one of those questions on a test where it begins around 30. And the testosterone production declines by roughly 1% per year. So does it start at zero or does it start at 30?

That's the thing. This is where they can get you. It's one of them damn word problems. This is one of those rounds where you're like, oh, wait a minute. Which, can I ask a follow-up? Anyways, I was good at those tests because I always viewed it as me versus the fucking teacher. That's right.

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When you go to GetRoman.com forward slash USA, get $15 off your first order plus free two-day shipping. That's GetRoman, G-E-T-R-O-M-A-N.com forward slash USA. That's good news. Let's try that stuff. Okay. I've beenN.com forward slash USA. That's good news. Let's try that stuff. Okay. I've been looking for that type of stuff. That's good news.

That's what I want. Now we know. Hey, Roman. Thank you, Roman. Thank you, Roman. Thank you, Roman. Joining us, college football national champion, Super Bowl champion from the Ohio State, ladies and gentlemen, AJ Hart.

AJ, I did something for you, dude. What's that? I booked Corey Graves on the show. He'll be in 22 minutes. You get a chance to talk to him. Good. I'd love to talk to him and figure out how he pieced together putting some commentary in during that zombie match.

He deserves a sports Emmy for that. We should put that in for your consideration, right? I'm not 100% sure if the sports Emmys deal with that or the actual Emmys. Yeah, true. That might be live event of the year. Maybe both. Should be both, I think, because it's live action.

I don't think he knew what the fuck was going on, so he's calling something kind of blind while making something, you know. What's that thing? That's at least getting an espy from Russell Wilson. I would hope so. Oh, yeah. I would hope so. I would hope so.

That's the pinnacle. He was at the Penguins game last night, though. He also a diehard Penguins fan. So he was in the building getting a chance to chat with him about that, all things happening in his world and what's going on in his life. He is hysterical.

And he's also the coolest looking dude of all time. can we put up that graphic look at this photo now jet it kind of sucks for jet passing he had to be right next to this guy look at this photo of this fucking guy look at that dude that's out of a movie geez yeah he looks like a movie poster he deserves an oscar for just how he looks every day in his life he should play a vampire in a movie for sure. What does that mean? He's got that look. Vampires are always super cool. Kind of mysterious looking.

Hey, what was that movie? It had a wolf and shit that Taylor got. Twilight. Yeah. That thing took over when I was in high school. I never watched it, but I was always confused about how the ladies wanted to fuck a wolf. He hasn't been in much recently since then. Well, he is about to be in Kevin James' Sean Payton movie on

Netflix. He's playing Drew Brees. I think he'll probably be playing an opposing coach or maybe a father of a child. This is documenting the season where he went and coached his kid to a football championship, right? When he was suspended from the plate game.

He is part of the Sandler crew now. He is. I think Rob Schneider's Drew Brees. Kevin James is? No, Kevin James has always been part of the Sandler crew. Taylor Lautner is now the new blood of the Sandler crew, if you will. Did he really? Yeah.

Ridiculous six. Congratulations. He's 15. Very good ball. He needs to get 100 movies. Sandler only does numbers. Congrats to Taylor Lautner. That movie's going to suck.

Whoa. Whoa. Shut up. What the hell was that? I mean, you know it. Who's making Happy Madison? Sandman's not in it. Sandman's not in this one.

You can't just leave. He's all in his brain power playing pickup basketball and running this Deflategate Sean Payton Netflix documentary situation. I love the Sandman. No, you don't. No, yes the Sandman. No, you don't. Yes, I do. No, you don't. Yes, I do.

Shut it. But even the Sandman's looking at this thing and saying, man, that's going to be a steaming pile of shit. I'll just put, you know, I'll just, hey, fuck, I'll give him a couple bucks. Kevin James can have fun doing it. Hey, Rob. Yeah, let's bring in Rob Schneider. He probably needs a job.

Is that why he was wearing a polo while playing pickup the other day? Could have a hell of a fit. He's got no worries. It's a good, what do you call it, sweat catcher for him. That's why he wears it. Sweat catcher. The polo? It's a sweat catch.

Yep. I like that. So it's a sweat polo? Yeah. Did you ever do any sports in a polo? This is why you know this thing? Well, I think a lot of soccer players did back in the day. Oh, yeah.

That was the soccer sweat catcher. But it wasn't like the polo material. 100% caught. Yeah. Anyways, that movie's going to be awesome. Let's assume Sandler

gets his way into that movie and none of us will know it and surprise him. He might be the water boy. Oh.

Imagine if he comes over. Easter egg. H2O. Bobby Boucher. Bobby Boucher didn't die or anything he can come back right now he's thriving actually i think he was set to live forever maybe but maybe bobby boucher should become a player coach you know that should be the next one get another little bobby out there

little water boy he's the coach you know maybe think about it sam man will think of a good idea um aj there's a couple of things yeah exactly, exactly. There's a couple of things happening in the NFL world that I'm excited to get your opinion on. John Lynch comes out and says he has always been very upfront with Jimmy G through this whole thing. He also went into the interview and kind of talked about the entire relationship. John Lynch, who's the general manager of the San Francisco 49ers, the same man that traded for Jimmy G out of New England while New England was potentially imploding on top of itself because Tom Brady and Jimmy G were in there. Jimmy G gets traded over to the Niners.

Kyle Shanahan teaches him the offense a few weeks. He comes in. Their team stunk. They won all the games. A lot of promise going into the next season because the team was incredibly talented. Now they have a quarterback. He gets hurt like week three or something like that they stink he comes back they go to the fucking super bowl yep okay here we go we're living john lynch is happy high life when he's playing we're winning when he was out there one season or not last season comes

in uh after the super bowl gets hurt they stink again john lynch said i had to tell jimmy like the issue here is when you're not on the field, we stink. Okay. When you're on the field, we're good. You'll have a chance to compete for this job. You could be the long-term guy, by the way, John Lynch told Jimmy allegedly via this entire conversation. But he promised him like, we're going to keep you on the team, even though everybody's saying you're traded, you're owed 21 million or something like that. This is a very cool thing to see, though, because this is one of those situations that could get very ugly, very quick, very public,

and instead it feels like John and Jimmy have had a pretty good way of handling the whole thing. Well, John Lynch, I think even if Jimmy doesn't agree with their decision and what they're doing and where the team is moving, he has to respect the fact if he truly is this up front with him and let's him know. And we know Kyle Shanahan even said in his press conference, like, hey, we told Jimmy it's his health. That's the biggest issue, not really his play.

So if he can stay healthy, he has a chance. But John Lynch, I mean, he's a Hall of Fame player. He gets it. So you'd understand it's probably one of the harder things to do with the job. I would imagine when you're the GM, you have to make these tough decisions. It's a tough one. It gets me. I think I'm going to have a stroke.

No, don't let it get you. That one will get me too. There's been a lot of words that have been getting me lately. Don't worry about it. Just go ahead. Oh, I'm good. Yeah, but I'm just saying. John Lynch gets it.

And so I'm sure coaches he respected were up front with him. Even if you disagree, I'm sure you've come across guys like that, right? Well, that's what I was about to say. I don't like this person. I don't agree, but I respect the fact of how they're coming at me. And they're always consistent, right? I think that is something you hear every player talk about, no matter what the coach is, because there's a lot of different ways to win.

There's a lot of different ways to do a lot of things. You can be a full asshole and we have no fun, and that's a way to motivate and drive your players, and you feel like that's the best. And it's not necessarily the most fun to be in that locker room but if it gets results it gets results and there's the you know we're having fun that type of coach there's always different ways to do it but if you ask any player what they like about a coach there's always be the same person always be consistent always tell me the truth and i assume when john lynch was given this job he was like this is what i'm gonna be i'm gonna be transparent i'm gonna be consistent i'm always gonna tell the

truth and i assume whenever you're making that decision before getting the actual job in those positions that you just talked about in those decisions decisions decisions you have to make i assume it all the plan sounds good but then when you get in there it's like man this guy's whole dream is about to get fucking killed i can't we think you stink no can't say that we uh we got a better player oh it's a numbers thing it's a numbers thing we are so sorry we'll bring you back we'll keep you in the fold it sounds like john lynch has been able to keep his word basically if this is what i want to do i'd like to be up front i'd like to be consistent and i think that's why you're seeing

results out there now covet beat them last year They got kicked out of their city and their quarterback got hurt and they had other injuries. That's another, yet again, they're primed to almost do what they did a couple of years ago, which was come out of nowhere with a very fucking good team. You would think in Jimmy G, if he is there and he does start the season with a healthy Bosa, George Kittle, not banged up. I mean, they have plenty of talent on that team, so they could be somebody that's pretty scary to look at. And Trey Lance.

Look out. Jeez. Look out. He could be really good. Yes, he could. I mean, he definitely has the tools to be. Can he be that good that early? Can he come in like Justin Herbert early on and do that?

Kyle, they lost a bunch of games, though, because I don't know they couldn't manage a game at all. But Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch, we just talked glowingly about both of them, right? Everybody thinks very highly of both of them, right? Their football brains and everything? Okay, where are we going?

They felt so fucking good about this guy. They traded two first-rounders or whatever to get all the way up there they were like we got to go get this guy nobody's going to get that we think they had trey lance in mind when they made the trade do you think that trey lance was the guy shanahan has come out and said it was now that actually yeah he would obviously say that it's like i would too and he may have been i'm not saying he didn't i'm just saying i wonder how all in they were like if if they were 100% sure, this is why we're doing this, to go get this guy. Yeah, because if you listen to a couple of his lead-up quotes,

Kyle Shanahan said, we had three guys we knew were good. So if we got to three, we were good. Then we found out there was five. And that kind of, you know, went into the thing. So it's like, okay, we were trying to read that whole thing. And then post-drafting Trey Lance, right, which to your point, they said when we traded up and everybody thought we were going to get Mac Jones or whatever, we didn't have that in mind at all

the entire time we were with Trey Lance, which is good, by the way, an organization supporting the player they just brought in there, unlike fucking Tony La Russa telling his wife he was clueless after hitting a bomb whenever it was 3-0 in the count late in the game they were going to win. That's why baseball is stupid, Ty. Shohei Ohtani, best player of all time. Unwritten rules still exist.

If somebody needs to erase the unwritten rules from the unwritten rule book. I'm right there with you. There's no need to be hiring a 76-year-old manager for one of the best teams in baseball. Tony LaRusso is probably boozed up when he said it. One of his best pitchers came out and said, Tony's wrong. Trevor Bauer, power hour, representing young baseball, said, Tony's wrong. We want to do this type of stuff.

If you're going to hit a homer on a 48-mile-an-hour pitch, you do what you got to do out there. The Hammerdown boys, by the way, riding a heater still. We appreciate you guys. You guys have been watching a lot of baseball way riding a heater still you guys have been watching a lot of baseball feels like you guys have become bigger baseball fans than you maybe were before baseball season because you're making a lot of money off of baseball baseball is awesome this year though last year was mickey mouse it stunk this year it's awesome okay let's go with um what

change uh baseball they they're making money They're fucking raking in money. That's the only difference is that every night they're raking in money. That is. No, 60-game season last year was Mickey Mouse. Yeah, the season last year was just Mickey Mouse. Yeah, and you guys lost all your bets last year. This year they are winning every night. They are winning.

What did you do last night, Diggs? 3-0. 3-0 in baseball? And what did you do? 4-0. And that's why baseball is better. Nothing changed except for their fan door counts. So it's not better to watch

now compared to last year. It's much better to watch for these guys and everybody else that's betting alongside them that watch Hammer Don at 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. I ride with them, by the way. I actually have somebody if I can't watch a show, text me every pick they made and I just put them in there. I can't watch the games, though.

These guys are watching the games because it has to, like, you know, information for future bets. Fucking baseball is awesome this year. It has to. You guys are going 9-0 every night on it. I would assume it's a beautiful thing. And, by the way, you can join them whenever you watch it, 4 p.m. Eastern, youtube.com forward slash hammer.

Don, that's D-A-H-N. We have repercussions from yesterday's events. There's a reason we're wearing these hats. New sheriffs in town, okay? You guys aren't letting it just get reckless in the show anymore? No, we're going to weigh some heavy fines. It's about time. There was a brawl in the studio yesterday.

Did you hear about this? A full fight broke out because of Fox. I heard a little bit, but was it real? Yeah. What the fuck are you talking about? I don't see any black eyes or anything. There's a broken pot. His back is bruised.

His kidney and spleen, I think, were potentially damaged. Body shots only in the office. We have a rule. Body shots only. Yeah, he can't be punching each other in the face. We're on camera every day. Lost a tooth. That's good.

Hey, grab your neck brace then. Does somebody probably need it, I'm guessing? No, no head shots. There's nothing in there. Maybe a back brace. My neck is sore. Does somebody probably need it, I'm guessing? No head shots. There's nothing in there. Maybe a back brace. My neck is sore. The cactus needs it, though. Hey, Hawk, you better watch it next time you come around here, too.

Nick's handing out ass beatings, dude. He's handing them out. They're not fun. Nick, you're right. I am very scared. Speaking of ass beatings, the internet. I don't want to fight anybody. Trust me.

Me neither. The internet did its thing. I actually yelled at them for not having a socially distant conflict immediately after. At least put your mask on to fight, right? Well, you know, there's different rules, I guess, depending upon who's how deep into, you know... We all got the ouchie, dude. It's fine. Yeah, it depends on who's allowed to do what, you know.

But I'm still... I want to let them know. I want to let you guys know. It depends on who's allowed to do what, you know. But I'm still, I want to let them know. I want to let you guys know. Just like Mayor Hogg said here of Indianapolis, we will be the last place on earth to put the socially distant rules to the past in this office.

That's right. Because people will not talk about this because we are just sports stooges. We had a couple COVID cases in the office during the quarantine. And since we are so socially distant and actually had real rules in here, we were able to confine it without sending anybody. We didn't miss a day. Nope. They went home.

They kept their COVID that they got elsewhere. They come back afterwards. Nobody else had it. We were getting tested every week. I mean, boys, I'm proud of you. But at the end of this thing, just because Evan Fox decides to ruin the Penguins, it's not time to just go spit COVID all over each other. I didn't come in here looking for a fight.

My plant got destroyed, and I had to come in and defend my plant. Good teammate. Nick did it. Good teammate. You're like Aston Reese. Good teammate. That's right. He knew he was going to get his ass beat last night, and he went in there and grabbed a collar or two.

Connor got to experience what the south side was like. Yeah, bingo. Out of nowhere. Bent over, ass beat. That's literally what happened. Survived. Let's talk about another ass beating that happened. The internet did that to a guy named Anthony this morning

over there in Ohio. I don't know if you saw this, AJ. This kid did not deserve how this whole thing set up. If they would have just put the quotes and then just his name, I think people would have been like, Anthony, come on, dude. And it would have been, the fact that they put the picture and said, hey, this kid said this, the internet was like, ain't that some shit? Not today.

This younger generation looks like they're in their teens. Anthony Treesh just started watching football. Has no idea what Randy Moss was able to do. The Minnesota Vikings, while the internet's cooking on tone. Cooking on tone, Treesh. The Minnesota Vikings go, just a reminder for those who forgot who might have the name Anthony fucking

Treesh. The 40 plus yard reception highlight reel for Randy Moss. 10 minutes long. This thing is a never ending one, Anthony Treesh. The 40-plus yard reception highlight reel for Randy Moss, 10 minutes long. This thing is a never-ending one, Anthony Treesh. The internet turned on Treesh, and I want to let him know, we don't like the way PFF did kind of get you thrown into the buzzsaw here.

But I do respect what PFF does bring to the football world, so I'm kind of torn on this whole thing. Tone's probably got a long 24 hours if I had to guess. This is a dream for Tone. It puts him out there on the map. What do you mean? Don't you want to say things that get picked up? That's exactly what he said.

The whole internet telling you you're dumb? Nobody wants to take it on the shins all day. I mean, some people might. Maybe now people will come back to try to call him a stooge and he's going to start dropping real insight. Well, Tone did flip his stance. Fandel asked, because Fandel got involved Fandle got involved. Yeah, I had to.

Fandle got involved. Would you rather have everybody, the entire sports internet got involved on this thing because Randy Moss, beloved by everybody, I think. Fans, players, coaches, Joe Buck, everybody loves Randy Moss.

So whenever you know, he kind of gets left out of a conversation that he is the guy of, immediately it's going to get after him. I think this was a one-sided affair. Fandel goes, who are you taking in a prime? Randy Moss or Tyreek Hill? Anthony goes, and I like this, Moss, dude.

What are we even talking about? I like what Tone did, a little bit of an answer, but goddamn PFF sent him out there. PFF. PFF grabbed him like that baseball last night that that catcher had and floated that thing 48 miles an hour. And Ohtani was the internet sitting in the – and although old buddy who's a rookie took that thing 428 or whatever, the internet Ohtani'd that thing, and it went 670, 700 yards.

Yeah, yards, 2,100 feet. 21,000 feet, I'm so sorry. That's how far I went. Wow, look at you. What's that, dude? Read this tweet. Had the pleasure of meeting Pat and guys at the Fantasy Factory pre-COVID. One of the nicest guys I've ever met, but I stand by the take. Tony Creech.

J-Squared. Still taking moms. But he doesn't stand by which take. You didn't know he came into the Fantasy Factory and hung out? PFF brought some, they came to Indianapolis for the combine. They brought us some swag. Very nice of them. Mike, the guy who was on The Bachelor, we had known him out here. He worked with us for a couple weeks, and then he went back to Ohio.

He's a very smart guy, very handsome guy. He stopped by. I do not remember meeting Tone Treasher. That's on me, Tone. I mean, he was definitely here. There were like six guys from PFF that were here. Very nice, those guys. I mean, you said you're one of the nicest guys he's ever met,

so that's good for you. You don't even remember meeting him, but you were very nice to him. Yeah, AJ, that's all to you. You just punch people in the mouth every time you meet them. Get over here. I'm saying with the way you've been speaking meeting him, but you were very nice to him. Yeah, AJ, that's all to you. You just punch people in the mouth every time you move. I'm saying with the way you've been speaking of him, I can see you being very rude to this kid. Whoa!

I feel like I've defended him. I feel like I've defended him. I said he did his job. He's out there. We're talking about it. He absolutely did his job. AJ, you meet new people you go get the fuck out what do you do what do you do how does that it's good no I try to be very nice to everybody I don't remember meeting this nah he says you were also

I you know what now I think about I do remember I should this hand right over here yeah it was outside. He said he met you outside. No. No. No. It happened inside. In the fancy factory. Yeah.

Shout out Rob. They gave us hoodies, dude. Come on. They did give us hoodies. Fan hats. Yeah. Cut the sleeves off immediately upon getting it. Let's go to a break, AJ.

Figure it out in the middle of this thing, will you? Jesus. Come on. Come on, AJ. Did you ever meet Trish? Trish? I do not believe I have met Trish.

AJ would have spit on him. Probably. Hey, you two got that Ohio jaw, though. I got that Ohio. Trish is probably eating a punch before fighting. Just eating it, by the way. Arr! Arr! Looks like he's flexing, maybe.

No, I think that we did go to his Twitter account. It is a defined jawline. Yeah, he does have a very great jawline. I mean, he looks like he's 13, 14 years old. He changed his photo, I guess, says Zito. The internet. This is what I'm talking about. All pub is good pub, right?

No, he changed his photo because I assume the internet was very rude. When I say 21,000 feet, that's what the internet has to be. You mean it. I mean that. Especially with Randy, like a character like Randy Moss. I mean, everybody loves him.

So that means everybody is going to have to, you fucking idiot. And he works for PFF, which people already have like a, I mean, this was a sprinkle of a little, you know, big L on top. What the fuck do you got? We interrupt the show to tell you that everyone wants to see their lawn thrive this spring. And you can do that with your own custom lawn care plan from Sunday.

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What the hell's going on here? I need to figure something out. And I realized I love my Sunday lawn care. It was super easy to set up and it's even easier to use. And you can do the same. All you need to do is go to getsunday.com, put in your home address and their free lawn analysis tool will take care of the rest, all just in seconds. Sunday uses soil and climate data to create a tailored nutrient plan so you get all the stuff your lawn needs and nothing it doesn't.

And Sunday is made with ingredients that you can actually pronounce, like seaweed, iron, and molasses, so you can grow better and feel better about it. Let Sunday take the guesswork out of growing a greener, more beautiful lawn this spring. Visit getsunday.com slash pat to get $20 off your custom lawn plan at checkout. That's $20 off your custom plan at getsunday.com slash pat. Back to the show. slash pat back to the show aj hawk is joining us wow yeah aj what you did to zach wilson's mom earlier is such a beautiful tribute to her with that moment of silence i very much appreciate that the internet has appreciated that as well pal well i mean yeah it came and went so fast didn't it she all of a sudden i see she's

has these very strong opinions one way or the other, I feel like, and then people jump on her, and then all of a sudden you see, what, her thing went private. Yeah, and Zach had to unfollow his own mom. Oh, not easy to do. Yeah, he had to unfollow her, and then she said, fuck, you don't need your own, make it private. She didn't say that probably because they are probably super non-cursing people or whatever, but that's a situation we will keep an eye on, especially as he, you know, becomes a superstar in the shadows of New York City.

Speaking of in the shadows of New York City, joining us right now is a man who saw an RV absolutely decimated in the shadows of New York City. A man who has been there, done that with every single event and situation in sports entertainment and wrestling. Ladies and gentlemen, the commentator for Monday Night Raw, host of After the Bell, and the coolest looking dude walking this earth, ladies and gentlemen, Corey Gray. Yeah! Corey! Thank you for that kind introduction, Mr. McAfee.

And of all the things that I've seen you do in your career and all your accomplishments, you guys wrecking that RV was far and away the most impressive thing. Allegedly. Allegedly. I would like to let you know, I was not a part of that. I cannot take any credit, but that was 100% Zito's fault. No, that was yellow shirts. Yeah, it was 100% Zito's fault. No, that was Yellow's shirt.

It was Yellow's shirt. Where was the Yellow's shirt after it happened? They disappeared because it was their fault obviously. Because they were guilty. Or because they had to shut down that lane because there was a hidden rush to MetLife. But anyways, that's another story for another day. Pittsburgh Penguins were back. We're about to sweep the Islanders in five.

You were in the building last night, 9,500 strong. You were one of them. Your lady was the other. How was it? How are we feeling? Let's go. Can I just tell you it was as amazing as I had hoped and then some. I was a little skeptical because I've been to Penguins playoff hockey games before,

and I've said many times it's the best sports atmosphere I've ever been in. That place is rocking. I was a little concerned it was going to be a little lackluster. But last night, man, PPG Paints Arena was on fire. The crowd was live and loud. And it just felt good to be normal, to be able to be there and support the team. Because God knows, you know, the Penguins and Pirates have the worst television sports contract in history. Whereas I live downtown in the city of Pittsburgh,

but because I do not possess cable, I can't actually watch the Penguins on TV, so I just walk up the street to the arena. Smart, smart, smart. But yeah, it was awesome. The energy was there. It felt as close to normal as anything I've been a part of in the last year plus.

What about the play? Did it feel different watching them? Like, I know it's playoff game, 9500. Did it get loud? I'm sure it seems loud, but compared to what it was before. Yeah, I mean, anything that was made by human beings last night would have seemed loud in comparison to piped-in crowd noise via TV. But they were passing out the towels, the rally towels,

you know, Penguins' terrible towel-ish things. Those things were going all night. Everybody, that sphere was – it felt like Penguins' playoff hockey. Here we go. Is Brent Michaels there, Corey? He might have been. I have no idea. You had to have the mask on.

Everyone had to be masked up. So, he might have been sitting right beside me. I don't know. What, you have a couple of booze? Do you have a couple of beers out there? What do you guys do? If you wanted to take your mask down, you had to be consuming something. I may or may not have had a few Icy Lights,

which they serve in oil cans now that are as big as my thigh. Like a Foster's? Like a Foster's? Not quite Foster's oil can big, but they're like 24, maybe even bigger, giant cans of icy light. So it's a win.

Yeah, I wish I was there. Your pictures were awesome. We got a win. Did they show the highlight of Sidney Crosby saving that snapshot with the back of his stick in the building at all? Because they didn't show it on TV. He saved the game. Greatest player of all time. Of course they didn't show it on TV. He saved the game. Greatest player of all time.

Of course they didn't replay it. He stopped that, Corey. You know what? Now that you say it, I don't think they did replay it even in the building. Everyone was amazed when it happened, but there were quite a few calls that the refs last night weren't getting any love from the Yinzers. There were quite a few non-calls that raised the ire of PPG Paints Arena. Well, there's a lot of Yenzers that have been sitting in their houses, okay,

drinking those oil things of icy light, waiting to get back into PPG Paints Arena. And I assume you heard a lot of, shoot, skate. Oh, nobody had missed a beat. Everyone was coaching. There were 9,500 coaches in the arena as well. But it was nobody had missed a beat everyone was coaching there were 9 500 coaches in the arena as well uh but it was it was cool man just to just to be and to feel that electricity again and be around people and when a goal was scored to be able to turn around and high five a stranger pat god it was the most exciting thing that i've done in a year and a half. Now, you called a zombie match on Sunday. Yeah.

What is wrong with that? Notwithstanding the zombie match. Okay. That was an experience. You were in the building for it, but I luckily got to offer the soundtrack to one of the most memorable matches in WWE history. AJ thinks you deserve an Emmy for that. AJ texted me.

WWE history. AJ thinks you deserve an Emmy for that. AJ texted me. Hawk was kind enough and impressed by the fact that I avoided the iceberg long enough that he actually sent me a very nice text saying that he appreciated my skills, which I still have never gotten a text like that from you, Pat, even though you stole my seat.

That's a lie! I know, I know. I text that every week. I do feel like, man, I'll tell you what, getting this job, getting the, because the conversation was, hey, we want to do some stuff. And I told you this. And I feel like literally through the entire process I was talking to you through it. It wasn't until like very late.

It was like, okay, SmackDown commentary. And I'm like, oh, so it's me and Corey? No, actually, you have to move Corey because there's a new I was like oh I don't want anybody to think that I'm replacing and then I started thinking they won't Corey's so good they won't think I'm replacing but then I'm like oh Corey's going to fucking hate me there was a lot of those

there was a lot of those moments and I wasn't going to tell I feel like it was the right decision made I could have told you I think like a day before they told you but there was like they felt as if like hey we should be the ones to tell him first and then i was like okay sounds good and immediately upon that me sending you a message i thought you were gonna fucking hate not that you don't already but i thought you were gonna be so mad i was so worried about it because you are and you and cole were so good as a wrestling fan so good together

you are so incredible so the fact that that's, so good together. You are so incredible. So the fact that that's how it had to go, I was just, I was bummed about it. But I am incredibly pumped to be in the same profession as you at the same time, you know? Well, if anybody's going to fill my shoes, I'm happy that it's going to be you. You're doing a hell of a job thus far. And think of all the benefits that I have. I get to work for an extra hour every week. And my girlfriend's on a different show now.

Yeah, yeah, that's. I'm to work for an extra hour every week, and my girlfriend's on a different show now. I'm just winning all over the place. Yeah, and I, by the way, that's what went through my entire head when I was like, oh, this guy's going to hate me. I started thinking about it. I'm happy you don't. Now, let's dive into you a little bit here, Corey. Can we peel back the onion?

Let's go. I'm like an ogre. I've got many layers. Aside from that zombies match, whenever you think about most ridiculous moment in your WWE life, what is it? Oh, my God. That's tough. It could be out of the building, too. Like, for instance, Ric Flair walked over WrestleMania Backlash and started talking to me, gave me his number and everything,

and I was like, this is out of control that fucking Ricick flair's here is there anything like like okay yeah it's impossible for me because i have been privy to so many ridiculous outlandish experiences as being part of this and touring the world and there are probably a lot of things that i've seen that i never should have in my life but i will give you a perfect instance of that it actually happened this sunday immediately following wrestlemania backlash when i got back to the hotel okay i uh had a few beverages with a few hall of hall of famers and we you know caught up and and just chopped it up for a little bit but it was as i was going back to my hotel room that i had this bizarre interaction push the button i'm waiting for the elevator and the elevator door opens and who of all people is standing on the elevator before me but john stamos uncle jesse uncle jesse was

standing in the middle dead center of the open doors he was flanked by a couple other people who i later gone on to find out from my friend who was standing beside me were the Beach Boys. But see, what happened was when the elevator opened, my brain and my eyes went into portrait mode, like on your cell phone, where all I could see was Stamos. And I'm pretty sure I heard angels, and I was just in this state of disbelief. But it didn't end there. So I realized that John Stamos is standing in front of me, and I looked to my friend Jason, and I go, dude, that's John Stamos.

And Stamos heard me. Oh, okay. He goes, yeah, it is. And then he replies, where's the Iron Sheik? Okay, good reference. You know, timely from Stamos. Now, mind you, I am now staring at, like, the coolest person from my childhood. You know, everybody grew up watching Uncle Jesse.

This is surreal in and of itself. But the fact that he made a wrestling reference to me just raised more questions because I went, does Stamos recognize me? Does he watch our show? Because, like, of all the random references he could have made, he would have had to have known a wrestling reference to me, right? It wasn't like there was anybody else with me. I don't want to break this news to you, and AJ has a question for you,

but I'm about 100% sure if Stamos is rocking around with the fucking Beach Boys, they told them upon checking in, Oh, the WWE's here. And he saw your throat, too. Stamos is rocking around with the fucking Beach Boys, they told them upon checking in, oh, the WWE's here. And he saw your throat, too. He had to assume something. Thank you for bursting my bubble, Pat. I need that from time to time. No, no, no, no, no, no.

He knew it. By the way, he probably looked at you and said, oh, this is the coolest looking dude of all time. I assume he is with, just like to AJ's point, I assume he is with the WWE here. Kick, save, and a beauty. Thank you. When Jari stinks, we're going to call McAfee. Yeah, I can say that.

The glove side still stinks. Sorry about that. AJ, go ahead. Corey, so, you know, I told you or you said earlier, I texted you because I watched you and I talked to Pat, too, about this. I think what you guys do is almost impossible. I can't imagine being in your seat. But it got me thinking, like, have you ever done any other sports? Like, would you do

a football game? I think once people get over the initial reaction of your Adam's apple tat, when you do your standup at the beginning, you'll be all right. I think that the trick is you knowing enough about anything to feel confident speaking about it. Like I'm a pretty professional BS-er. I can talk my way into or out of most situations. So I don't think I would embarrass myself too badly. I've considered, the fan in me, I would love to call a baseball game. It's slow-paced, but that to me just seems like the dream job. As exciting as my job is, to sit there for nine innings and just chat

and basically be like Bob Euchre in Major League, that's like a dream come true. That would be a dream come true. So I've considered it and I'm always open to opportunities and experiments. But right now I think kind of the reason I've been able to succeed like I have in WWE is I've grown up obsessed with it. It's like, yeah, I've played other sports. I've been into other things and had hobbies and passions,

but wrestling has been my life. Don't you have to be that way? To do your job, Corey, don't you need to be that way? To do it at a high level for any sustained period of time, it's almost a prerequisite. That's not to say that everybody has to know it and be obsessed with it from day one, but once you're in the fire, you have to learn to enjoy the heat

and really thrive. Otherwise, it's not going to last very long the business and i've my respect for you has only grown since doing the gig right where and i think i've talked to you and i've talked to other people that have done it before and i think if you've done it you know where i'm fucking up a lot more than where the fans do right Right. So it's like I feel like are you kidding me? The fans know everything we do wrong, even when we do it right. Yeah, you're right. The fans are very passionate and loyal, by the way. Every business is looking for that type of fan. So like that is something that WWE has and sports entertainment has in abundance.

And wrestling has obviously a very loyal group. I just watched Nick fucking Gage's gauges, uh, dark side of the ring. Actually. Yeah. Those fans going crazy for this. It's like the wrestling fans are just an insane bunch and they are very active, but there's been a couple of compliments I've gotten from people that are like wrestling fans, like super like people I respect or whatever. And I'm like, ah, if you've done commentary, you know, I fucked up like 7,000 things there. Like there is, I feel like I'm, I'm trying, I'm, I'm learning, right. And I'm like, ah, if you've done commentary, you know, I fucked up like 7,000 things there. Like there is, I feel like I'm, I'm trying, I'm, I'm learning, right. But I'm nowhere near it. But my respect for you has grown so much in this entire thing. Have you felt like a real pressure? Cause for me, I think I've been in the ring. Okay. Only a couple of times,

but I've been in the ring. So my fanhood can mix with that a little bit. Although I don't know as much as others that have been in there. I know a little bit more than people, that a little bit although I don't know as much as others that have been in there I know a little bit more than people probably a little bit on the outside who've always been fans and even I can get caught up like I have no idea what I should be saying right now I have no clue what's going on like this is how do I not fuck this up you going over to Raw right with Adnan who had never wrestled before he had you know he'd been in a lot of other sports obviously baseball I think he does some hockey stuff there's there's boxing stuff I think he's a very accomplished guy but he you know you had to feel immense pressure going over did you feel like pressure like okay I'm gonna have to probably at some point you and Byron there's a chance that he this guy could fall

off a cliff and I'm gonna have to save him like. And Cole has done that to me, by the way. Did you know that when he went over there? Yes, to answer your question in short form. But I would say pressure isn't the right way to describe it. I would say, if anything, it's helped my confidence because I've always been working with Michael Cole. And to your point, you cannot fail with Michael Cole. He's the best of all time at what he does and the most underappreciated mind that we deal with on a regular basis.

So you've always got Cole as your safety net. I find myself in a different role as a bit of a safety net now. But it has allowed me over the past month or so to kind of go, I learned a lot more from Cole than I even realized at the time. kind of go i learned a lot more from cole than i even realized at the time so if maybe we're in a spot where adnan's unfamiliar or byron's unfamiliar i can now lean on what i've learned working with cole and go oh no boom this needs to be done here and it's not so much uh a pressure as it is like okay i got this i think i feel more confident now than i did even the last you know at wrestlemania last time i called SmackDown stuff. Are you a lifer with the WWE and the whole wrestling business?

I mean, at this point, I think it's a positive goal to be. I mean, I don't think there's anything wrong with having that. I mean, this place, as crazy as it can make all of us, and Pat is learning firsthand, no two days are the same everyone's wilder than the last but the the atmosphere and once you're in here and you know how to navigate everything and earn the respect of your peers there's nowhere else i would rather be it's been really cool to it is right it's been really cool like really paul hayman will come up to me after every single show you know and obviously i've heard the rumors of paul hayman It is, right? incredibly gifted promo incredible like the greatest maybe of all time like we're talking

mount rushmore promo so like as a fan i think he i think he i don't know i feel him coming over and talk to me after every single time that was like dope like i was like this is so cool and he was giving me like genuine like hey think about this think about this and obviously with cole but then roman like i get a chance to talk to like roman and everybody's like and everybody's like real cool it's really awesome the mindset of like hey we gotta put this show on now with that being said i have been pulled into a couple conversations like hey sit down let's teach you how some things operate around it like i got a couple like hey because i would ask like a why is insert like why is this happening or whatever it's like sit down let me uh you have time you have 15 20 yeah okay here we go and it's

just like it's been really cool to kind of catch up and uh i assume i assume that the raw team is exactly like that as well over there is there any big differences between the two or is it pretty similar it's i mean the business is the business. You know what I mean? Everyone's got their own sort of outlook on it. I've been around this place long enough that it was more of a reunion than meeting new faces going back to Raw. And it is cool to me to have somebody come up to me at first day. And I'll say his name.

Sheamus came up to me my first night back on Raw. And he said, hey, man, for what it's worth we're excited to have you back and just to you know this business in this place yeah we don't put each other over it's always it's always negative it's never like hey you did a great job you always hear the negative things that you do so to walk into the locker room and have somebody the caliber of a shame to say hey man we're excited to have you back here because it helps the product um that that's all i need once in a while you know know what I mean? That keeps me going is that little bit of validation from the guys saying, like, hey, you may not be the focal point of the show,

but when the dressing is right, the whole meal is better. You know what I mean? That's good. That's a pretty good one. What about with Vince McMahon? We always try to talk to Pat, like, hey, what's Vince saying in your ear? What's going on? Over the years, has your relationship changed and like grown with Vince?

Absolutely. The first few times you hear it, I've heard Pat actually refer to it as the voice of God. And it's very apropos because it's got that, that gravelly bassy voice. And it's like, it just stops the world when you hear it. But I've been working with Vince for long enough now that I like to think nine times out of 10, as brilliant of a mind as he is, I'm at least sort of on the train of where his thoughts are. I'm in the neighborhood.

I may not be exactly where he wants to be, but I've worked with him long enough and I know how he likes things and that more often than not, I can avoid catastrophe before we even get close to it. Just because I go, OK, he's going to want me to explain this or tell this is important and it might get missed or overlooked. So, yeah, it's definitely our relationships evolved, but I wouldn't change it for the world, man. I love doing it.

Man beats. It was one of the reasons why when it was like, hey, the conversation, I didn't know if I was going to get back in the ring. I didn't know if I was going to have another run. I didn't know what was going to happen, what the idea was. And then when they were like commentator for SmackDown, my literal first thought was, well, fuck, is Corey fired? It's always a possibility. No, it's not, though, at point, because of how goddamn good you are.

But that was my first thought. And then my second thought was like, I know from following a business, like Vince likes talking to his commentators, like Vince, he was once a commentator. It's his work. It's his show.

The commentators are describing the show, setting the tone of the show. So he is very invested in that. And I thought to myself, I'm getting a chance to have a billionaire. One of the greatest minds in the history of the show so he is very invested in that and i thought to myself i'm getting a chance to have a billionaire one of the greatest minds in the history of entertainment and business spill his brain through his fucking mouth and directly into my ear like i want to be a part of that and everybody's like it's going to be terrible you're gonna he's gonna you're gonna hate him or whatever it's like i i think i have a respect for vincent man when he comes in there like to your point i

hadn't thought ahead but when he says I'm like oh I know why he wants me like I understand like the why of what he wants to say as opposed to like you know what I mean like I feel like that's a big part of it and that's what it is you're playing a guessing game trying to think of what he is trying to see or what he wants to see and you have to remember Pat we're basically the last line of defense from what's going on in his brain, his vision for his company, for his empire that he built. He sees things happening a certain way. And if they're not happening the way that he wants to see them,

or he feels as though something needs to be tweaked or changed, you and me and Cole and Adnan and Byron are the last group of people. We're the last defense for him to say, oh, no, make sure they understand this. Make sure the fans at home. So there's a lot of times where we'll say something or you'll hear him tell you something that might not even make sense to you in the moment, but you're going, okay, he sees where this is supposed to be going. He knows.

I don't. We think we do, but that's why when it comes in it's not like he doesn't trust us or he doesn't it's we're the last panic button for him to go oh okay pat say this okay we saved it or or now you know if something goes wrong or awry on the show or in the ring to be able to think on the fly and pivot and get us back to where we need to go on track. That's all. We're the last line of defense for his vision. That's awesome to think about.

That is going to be my mindset going forward. I've enjoyed it, but you hear people from the past tell horror stories. They're like, oh, Pat, you're still new. You'll have a day where you go, I might get fired in the middle of the show. It's not a matter of if. It's a matter of when. But you have to realize it's never personal. Like I said, it's all business because his vision is on the line, and we're the last ones able to protect it.

What's it look like, though, like hearing how involved he is? I know Triple H has a huge role now. What's it look like whenever Vince isn't there? Listen, Vince is the sports entertainment industry. He's never going to die either. That's true. That's also true. He might outlive all of us. I hope there's like a Krang contraption

from Ninja Turtles where Vince's brain just lives in a robot or something. I think it would be absolutely awesome. Imagine that thing coming in a year. But Vince has changed and molded the business into his vision and there will be changes as any business any major corporation if something changes if the ceo you know leaves or or you know for whatever reason there's a change at the top

of the mountain but his impact in the way vince does things it has been proven to work so i think the majority of aspects of the business will remain true because it works there'll be things will get tweaked things will get changed oh i like this color better maybe monday night raw won't be red anymore maybe it'll be purple but it's still going to be what it is you know what i mean because wwe as a brand is getting up there in the in the conversations with marvel and disney as far as the amount of content and the amount of lives it's impacted and, and all of that sort of importance. And Vince's stamp is on every bit of it. Nothing has gone out without him signing off on it or putting his stamp on

it. So yeah, I mean, if in the event he does ever decide to leave us, I think things will be more, more true than people think. We are talking to Corey Graves, who's been in WWE, how long, decade now, more than a decade?

I signed in 2011 as a wrestler to FCW, yeah, so this will be 10 years in about October, I think, which is crazy. You've done everything, by the way, from in the ring to commentating to incredible storytelling to hosting of shows to getting drunk at Penguins games and winning them. I wasn't drunk. I was just imbibing.

Yeah, you're vibed. Hey, you're imbibed. And also, you want to be able to breathe the air a little bit, breathe the ice. You take the mask down, go ahead and have a cocktail. You got to do what you got to do. But you get it. Did you say purple because Plum? Is that why?

Because Plum's fucking the best, dude. The greatest of all time. He and I went to schools six minutes from each other. Really? Yeah, yeah. In Pittsburgh. Ours is obviously the better one. A couple of our teachers have been arrested for doing things you're not supposed to do.

And I assume the testing scores are not as high at our school as they are at their school. But we are still better than where Corey comes from. All I know, Pat, my only reference is that in, I believe, my junior year of high school, Gateway received the Blue Ribbon School of Excellence. And I don't think Plum's ever had that. No, no, no. We never will either, I don't think. I don't think it's coming down the pipeline either.

But that's what makes us over there, Corey. Go ahead, Connor. Yeah, Corey, obviously, you're a world-class commentator. Has there been any thought to get back in the ring going forward? That's an itch that will never not need to be scratched in some capacity. You and Adnan, maybe a tag team, you and Adnan as a team. Oh, there's me and Cole! You can't just turn it off, man.

I mean, you can even ask Pat. You get in front of the crowds and doing what you do and love to do. That part of me will always need attention. But I've been able to focus on any number of other things to kind of satiate my thirst, my passion for wrestling. You can always never say never. You got forced into commentating, didn't you, way back? It kind of happened. I wasn't forced into it. It't you way back it kind of happened i wasn't

forced into it it was more of an opportunity provided to me but yeah i got it was wrestlemania 30 the day before wrestlemania 30 and uh that was the last time i was in a ring competing and then uh yeah the whole retirement thing happened and cole of all people michael cole said hey why don't you give commentary a shot as a literally a shot in the dark going okay you can't wrestle anymore try anything to to you know keep employment and lucky for me i landed on my feet yeah i'd say and michael cole probably knew that by the way when he was like ah this guy massive smart ass seems to be quick he's from pittsburgh he probably gets he's been in the business a long time hey incredibly handsome looking goddamn guy hey why don't you come over here and just start talking all of a sudden?

And Michael Cole is like, we got a guy. We got a guy. We got a guy. We got a guy. That's awesome. Go ahead, Ty. Corey, I assume you don't have time with Raw every Monday, but why the hell haven't you been the main character in a WWE film yet?

What are we doing? That's a great question. You know, I'm going to talk to somebody about that. You should. I've been in a WWE film as myself. I played a role in the main event on Netflix, which is a lovely family movie. It was a

fun experience. I agree. I think I need to be a leading man at some point. Tell him you want to redo the Marine. The next one. Miz got that ACL. He's not going to be able to do it. Was that the one with Courtney Cox's husband? David Arquette? Yeah. Was that the one with Courtney Cox's husband? David Arquette? Yeah.

Was that the movie? What about him? That wasn't the movie, right? You weren't in that one. Ready to Rumble. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ready to Rumble with Oliver Platt. Oliver Platt, yeah.

AJ, it's funny you bring up David Arquette because he was actually a part of Nick fucking Gage's Dark Side of the Ring. David Arquette, massive wrestling fan, was WCW champion for a little bit back in the day was hated by all wrestling fans because of it it was a promotional thing he wanted to prove himself as a tough guy wrestler so he got into a death match with nick fucking gage who that's all he did uh and they had dinner the night before they talked to each other hey we're gonna go out there

we're gonna do this nick said that he asked him like 10 times like hey i'm gonna hey this is not fit like hey we're gonna bleed tomorrow this is gonna hurt tomorrow and david arquette's like yeah i want it i want it or whatever and then uh nick gage brought out a pizza cutter a pizza thing and just sliced his forehead open and then his lips in front of everybody and then at that moment i guess it all changed quickly and i don't know if david's life has ever been the same since, to be honest with you. Did you do that type of shit? Did you do death matches? I did one tour with a company called Big Japan, which is known for death matches.

And I did two, two death match weapon type. One was in Currican Hall in Japan, where I was run over by a man in a wheelchair. Find some pictures. I was hit by another man with a child. Head or feet? Yeah, yeah. The guy swung a child at me. Head or feet?

What hit you? Oh, the child's feet. Okay, so it was held by the head. Like a local flugger basically yeah those things are insane and obviously i'd known these existed uh we had you know hardcore trampoline matches in plum i mean there was a lot of that stuff going on ecw way back in the day it was insane we talked about paul heyman and all this stuff these death matches though i did not know the extent of what they were until i saw that dark side of the ring there's people dying like like like death like actually it's insane and they go out there and

they cut promos and then they just kill each other and it's like yeah that's awesome i've never i've never crossed the threshold into the world of light tubes that i drew the line at like thumb tacks i've done the thumb tack you know but but the light tubes a little little further than i've i've gone and i don't foresee that happening behind a commentary table so hey just a quick question i know everybody on earth and we're gonna let you go here soon i know you probably got shit to do and all that stuff but um whenever um have you met your uh father paul van dale oh have I ever? Yes. I'm a big fan. Paul Van Dale. Wait until, I'm going to put, I didn't know this guy existed.

Okay? He did an interview with WWE. I got a chance to hear it. I forgot. I did not know that Carmelo is a second generation wrestler. Okay? I did not know that. Paul Van Dale.

PVD is a legend out of Boston, I guess. Oh, nice. I got to hear this guy talk. He is a lightning rod. How is he not in the Hall of Fame, that guy? He's in the human being Hall of Fame. I look forward to weekends and holidays that we get to hang out with one another because he is an endless source of entertainment.

A great, great dude. But, yeah, he carved the path that's uh miss money in the bank moonwalk now so hey the moonwalk's still there uh so are you though cory you're the absolute best we appreciate you man my pleasure man you guys got my number anytime go hey go pens huh let's go yes sir let's go pen hey we're gonna swing a pens in five cory pens in five c Corey. Pens in five, Corey Graves, ladies and gentlemen. Yeah, Corey! Can't thank you enough for choosing to listen to the show. The fact you allow us to penetrate your ear holes every single day, we can't thank you enough.

A lot happened today, okay? That means big show tomorrow. Big guests tomorrow. Big conversation tomorrow. Maybe. I'm not 100% sure, to be honest with you. But since you lasted this long, you're a pretty diehard fan.

Know tomorrow we're bringing the heat. All right? Bring your fucking heat. Ty, please play some independent music and repel these people into a beautiful Wednesday. We'll see you manana. Cheers. Oh, oh, oh សូវាប់បានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបា Oh, oh, oh I'm not a bad boy, I'm not a bad boy សូវាប់ពីបានប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្� I'm not a fool Ooh, oh, oh