The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 486 - UNTOLD: Crime & Penalties Recap, Lions TE T.J. Hockenson, Stanley Cup Champion & Danbury Trashers Legend Mike Rupp, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: September 1, 2021

On today's show, Pat and the boys chat about last night's episode of Hard Knocks and why it seems like Hard Knocks is losing it's fastball with all these other teams releasing a bunch of content on their social medias that gives us inside looks at the teams daily, Pat gives his take on the JK Scott/Corey Bojorquez situation and why so many people's reaction to the situation shows how misguided they are, and lastly, Pat and the boys chat about the Netflix documentary UNTOLD: Crime & Penalties, and why it might be the greatest documentary of all-time. Joining Pat and AJ Hawk is Pro Bowler, 8th pick of the 2019 NFL Draft, TE for the Detroit Lions, T.J. Hockenson, to chat about his thoughts on Dan Campbell and what he's been like after the coaching staff was overhauled, his relationship with Matthew Stafford and how things are different now with Jared Goff, what Dan Campbell is like on the practice field, what he took from TE U, and why Iowa has become a TE factory (38:05-59:24). Later, after chatting about some of the different roster decisions made around the NFL, Pat and AJ welcome 14 year NHL veteran, Stanley Cup Champion, and member of the Danbury Trashers from the aforementioned UNTOLD: Crime & Penalties doc, Mike Rupp. Pat, Rupper, and AJ chat about all the crazy things surrounding the Danbury Trashers while he was on the team, if he noticed anything odd going on while he was there, he tells some hilarious stories from his time in Danbury, if he likes the direction the NHL is heading, and how different things were in the league when there were several "heavyweights" on each team (1:15:30-1:42:24). 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, September 1st, the month of NFL football kicking off. It's great to be here. I'm on day nine of my COVID confinement, feeling fantastic. Cannot wait to get back in the studio with the boys who have a fantastic show today. Ruppert joins us fresh out of the documentary Untold Crimes and Penalties. The Danbury Trashers is a hell of a story that involves mob bosses and John Cena. I mean, everything you could think of to make a great documentary. Mike Rupp, Stanley Cup champion, stops by to chat with us, as does TJ Hawkinson of the Detroit Lions. I mean, today's an average day, I think. I think today you're going to say not a bad show.

And if you do say that by the end of it, please be a friend. Tell a friend. If not, just act like it never fucking happened. All right, let's get to it. We are in September, and that means one thing and one thing alone. There are 11 other months, and some other months have NFL football. What September means, though, is that NFL football is about to be propelled into our lives. NFL football is about to take over the entire world. NFL football is eight days away and the fact that it's September should make us all

excited for everything that's in store for us as sports fans. I'm at my house, but the toxic table is in the studio downtown Indianapolis. Just yesterday at Boston, Connor learned that the Mac Jones era has officially begun in New England. Ty Schmidt is looking for another season of the Green Bay Packers having success after an offseason riddled with drama and controversy? At Tone Diggs, the COVID Cowboys hat is fitting a little bit tighter because his brain is so big. From the heater he's been on gambling and hammered down. It's a beautiful day, September 1st. And I'm so thankful that you all are here at Boston Conner, 24 hours removed from learning, that Mac Jones.

Who? Mac Jones. Who? Mac Jones will be your starter this particular season at Boston Connor. Has the high and the buzz of the basic body having young quarterback being your guy for the next 10 to 15 years maybe, has that worn off or are you still riding high? Absolutely not, Pat. You said it's been

24 hours you might as well have been 24 minutes because i still feel as though i'm having an out-of-body experience realizing that the patriots dynasty is back on seven to nine one year i felt like a billionaire who lost all my money overnight with one football season now all of a sudden we're back it feels as though you know brady is is decades away from being removed from the Patriots, and it's the Mac Jones era, baby. We are flying high, and we will continue to fly high, especially when we start the season 10 and up. Okay, so I asked the people on the Internet, both on my Instagram,

in which I'm 3,000 away from a million on there. Here we go. No big deal. I mean, I think that! Woo! No big deal. I mean, I think that's kind of a big deal for the people that love Instagram. It's a milestone. Absolutely. If you didn't use dude so much, too,

you'd be at like 1-5 by now, probably. I don't know exactly what that means. What does that mean? I believe your dude comments were being... Oh! If I remember correctly. Yeah, I probably would have been there a, uh, if I remember correctly. Yeah, I probably would have been there a couple of days ago,

I guess if the NFL or dude and, uh, got me eliminated from their comment section, but I don't do the Instagram that much strictly because I'm more of a writer than a photographer. So Twitter has always been my weapon of choice. I've always enjoyed it. I've always dived into it a bit more.

I've invested more into it. I spend a lot of time on it, but Instagram has become a place that I've enjoyed. The filters have made me look more attractive. I think that's maybe why I'm near a million, but all of you guys, incredible electricity has obviously helped us everywhere. At Ty Schmidt, before we dive into the greatest documentary I've seen, I think, we dive into the greatest documentary i've seen i think okay untold crimes and penalties about the danbury trashers in the galante family that i don't know how i didn't know this family exists or this team existed cfo phil by the way would have been a perfect trasher okay he should have been a danbury trasher i'm not sure that we knew this existed but if during the time we did know

i would have been doing everything in my power to drive cfo phil maynes asked the danbury to become a member of that goon squad that beat the shit out of everybody underneath the mob boss jimmy galante and his son aj galante who did a fantastic job building a team that is not going to get talked about enough they broke some rules they gave bonuses because they cared about their players more than anybody else. And before we dive into that, Ty, I want to ask you, Hard Knocks stunk this year. It did. Why is that?

I watched Hard Knocks this morning. I missed it last night. We should have been hyping that up a little bit. But are we at the time now with all the teams doing their own basic Hard Knocks and kind of getting to see all this content that we never were able to see before when hard knocks was introduced we never really got to see the behind closed doors the team meetings the the relationships and everything like that do you think hard knocks is a victim of circumstance now that everybody has the access and ability to see

how every building operates because i watched it and i don't know if this is the last episode or not i watched it this morning and it was incredibly underwhelming in my eyes don't you think ty yeah for sure i think there there's one more episode but i think a big part of it is the that you i mean if you want to find stuff and like inside looks at your team you can just go to the team website or twitter instagram like you can find that stuff but i think there still was like, you're not hearing, you're not hearing coaches and players and guys you don't really know, like drop F bombs and see them being like super competitive on the field.

And that's what I feel like hard knocks used to have that. Like the production quality was so good. And, but it seems like really since like Rex Ryan was on there and he just blew up big time, like they've been so selective with the editing. Like I, we, we get such a small glimpse of Mike McCarthy and Jerry Jones and like these figures who we really,

really want to get to know more. That's not just the bullshit media facade that they have to put on all the time, but it just always goes back to, I mean, we, we get six or seven guys who probably aren't going to make the team. And I think at this point, it's just like, I'm just not,

especially if you're not a Cowboys fan, like I'm not invested in those stories or those guys in any way, shape or form. I want to hear Mike McCarthy in a meeting room, you know, dropping 30 F bombs about why he's pissed off about certain things. It's just what they choose to show because we know they film all week too. So what they choose to show has just been very interesting the last few years. Yeah, I think so.

And Ty is our resident film and everything critic. Oh, yeah. You went to school for that, didn't you? Yeah, yep. Yeah, to judge and, you know, I don't want to say belittle, but basically call into question decisions that are made by these people who have these monster budgets to create content. And I think hard knocks for me was always an incredible inside look in the facilities that

I wasn't able to play at. Right. So I wanted to see how the Cincinnati Bengals. Okay. I still remember it like it was yesterday. If you go to training camp with the Cincinnati Bengals every single day at dawn, they ring that alarm or whatever, and everybody has to be up. And I'm like, okay, happy I'm not a fucking Bengal. And then it goes through the entire building and everything like that and how they operate. I think that is what Hard Knocks has always been.

But in this world of content now, it's like I feel like we learn more via Twitter accounts from teams than we do from Hard Knocks. And hell of a run, though, by Hard Knocks. Yeah, good work. We appreciate you, Hard Knocks, for everything you've done. It seems like you have lost your fastball completely. But we did appreciate the time you were on the mound allowing us to watch things that we were never able to see before.

And now social media has just completely cocked you pretty much. I mean, that is kind of what has happened to Hard Knocks. But Mike McCarthy in that dress shirt last night, whenever he started dancing in there, you boys thought I just had coaching stuff. I love that. His little motivational speech

for the last, hey, fly around. It's always good to hear little yinzer in there. Jerry Jones at the end selling Whataburger after Whataburger has already become a sponsor. Hey, tell him how many times I send you to go give me selling Whataburger After Whataburger has already become a sponsor Hey tell him how many times I send you to go give me fucking Whataburger And that assistant on the spot there Is like okay

This is a Whataburger representative They have paid a certain amount of money And Jerry has obviously sent me Five times I make him a week To go get Whataburger And I like it the original. I don't even like it warmed up, Jerry said.

Just listening to Jerry sell Whataburger on how appreciative he was of their sponsorship, watching why he is a business mogul was fucking amazing to me. By the way, that was during the credits. Yes, exactly. Put that son of a bitch in the middle of it. I want 20 minutes of Jerry Jones selling fucking water to a well. I want to see Jerry Jones selling ice to an Inuit. That's what I want to see.

I don't get to see that ever. And I think that's where Hard Knocks potentially miss. We got one more week, though. Maybe they'll be able to make that happen. Zito, you said you have something to say. What's going on, bud? I think that was a make-up just for McDonald's in that second episode, the first episode, because I think they were so pissed off that that line not adding anything like the salt.

That's how I took that. Yeah. Oh, I like it. Original. Exactly. Yeah. I don't like it warm. I don't like it.

I don't need to dump fucking what? Five. How many? Tell him. Tell him. How many – tell him. Tell him. How many milligrams of sodium do I have to put on that big time?

Two bottles, three bottles. We saw it in the first Hard Knocks episode. Yeah, that might be the case. I did enjoy that McDonald's McGriddle in the first episode, but Whataburger is who we – five times a week. Yeah, easy. At Tone Diggs, the Pittsburgh Steelers, burgers who we five times five times a week at tone digs um the pittsburgh steelers nobody's talking about their team really after the um the cuts have been made feels like everything's under control over there a little bit worried with how quiet everything's been out of steelers camp the

only thing we've really heard is juju doing a milk crate challenge and potentially upsetting everybody in pittsburgh but no real conversation about a lot of these teams after uh they had to get down to 53 boss yeah the uh the local media is mostly talking about how two rookies might possibly be starting on the o-line so that is still the number one concern going into the season uh but they did cut long time long snapper of the Steelers and signed Christian Kuntz who is a former Duquesne Duke. So it was a great day to be a Duke yesterday, getting him on the team. I saw you Instagram story that.

Oh, yeah. And I tried to tell you yesterday, like, let's not celebrate yet. I know. I thought about that as you – like, an hour after I posted, I was like, fuck. Like, I shouldn't have done that. Yeah, literally as I was looking at your congratulations to this guy on Instagram I had typed up a response to you that was like all right let's not fucking celebrate too soon here but it is a great day to be at Duke normally

if they're going to keep a long snapper uh after training camp that is a position that they're not just going to sub out because there's a lot of obvious, you know, ebbs and flows and chemistry that needs to happen there. Speaking of, let's talk about the big storyline coming out of yesterday, the 53-man rosters being created around the NFL. Not just Matt Jones, that was obviously the big story, but the internet went banana land because the Detroit Lions currently have zero kickers on the roster and basically zero wide receivers on the roster. Motor City, Dan Campbell released both their kickers, Randy Bullock and Zane Gonzalez, leaving them without one currently on the roster,

tweets Adam Schefter and everybody else around the internet football world. I think this is a fascinating thing because the world sees no kicker on the roster. And you hear Motor City Dan Campbell say, we're going to gnaw kneecaps and change the way things are done. So you have to think to yourself, is Motor City Dan Campbell thinking about just going at it with zero kickers? Is he thinking about changing the game completely? Are we just going for it? Are we going for two? Are we not kicking any field goals? Or does Motor City Dan Campbell know that he's been around the NFL long enough that there's going to be some good kickers that are probably released from other teams,

and he's going to take his cards, he's going to put all five down and say, I need five new ones. Seems like in this team-building process for Motor City Dan Campbell, he wants to get it right by his way, how he does things, new culture being set in there. Don't love it for Bullock or Zane Gonzalez, but Money Badger, Michael Badgley's already been released. There'll probably be a couple other big names that have been released that'll get into Lions uniforms soon.

And if they make kicks, they'll stay. If not, they'll leave. But I did hear that there was a chance he was thinking about dipping back into the past. Is that right, Coach? MCDC, I heard you were thinking about maybe going back into the past to Is that right, Coach? MCDC, I heard you were thinking about maybe going back into the past to save Detroit. Is that happening? I'd do anything I could to get fucking Jason Hansen back, man.

I love that guy so much. And that's the thing, man, is if he's got to be tough, we've got to put him out at the end or linebacker. I know Hansen will get the job done, man. Hansen was the kicker for the Lions for 45 years, saw zero playoff games. Oh, yeah. Yikes. One of our best players of all time.

Never. And the fascinating thing about it is I have the utmost respect for Hanson. He ran 45 yards for every kickoff. I had to act like him a couple times whenever we were playing the Lions. It was exhausting. I don't know how he was able to do what he was able to do for so long, make so many kicks. But you have to question, like, none of his kicks mattered.

Nope. Literally none of them mattered. Like, he made a lot of kicks, which is all you can really ask for. Like, make kicks, make kicks, and you're only as good as the team that you're on and blah, blah, blah. But that's why what Adam Vinatieri was able to do for so long was so fucking impressive, because literally every kick was potentially deciding home field advantage through the playoffs,

maybe a wild card. This in the game, that was something that was crazy to me in Hansen's career. Who knows who they'll pick up there, but there's a lot of guys that are going to end up on the market, and we all know the kicking game. All you got to do is hope that somebody gets into your building and gets hot. That's what, obviously, MCDC's hoping for. Pat, do you think that there's a chance that him cutting those two guys,

like one of them might have been good enough, but there's a chance that he was so pissed at this fucking show because of Ty that he said, fuck it, This is not for the brand. I'm cutting both kickers. We'll bring in someone later just to send a message. Quit doing that goddamn impersonation. Yeah, well, I don't know if he's attacking the show. Okay, I think he probably appreciates the MCDC impersonation that we have because there is a lot of other ones out there that aren't necessarily fantastic.

That'll only continue to grow a lot of people. I mean, everybody's doing MCDC now. You know what I mean? And it's only going to continue. I am, yeah. I've been drinking and eating too much because I feel like I'm out of the woods. I'm hopping right back into the world

and have a little indigestion. But if this team ends up winning, the MCDC impersonations are only going to pick up. Now, it's going to be tough to win with no wide receivers and no kickers, but there's still another week and a half before the game has to be figured out. These rosters are going to continue to evolve. Let's go to another roster decision that was made in the kicking department. The Green Bay Packers have parted ways with J.K. Scott,

much to the delight, I assume, of Ty Schmidt, who has said that J.K. Scott, although he's appreciated his time as a Green Bay Packer, has not necessarily been the most consistent punter. He's been great sometimes. He's been awful in other situations. And punting, the difference between good and great is consistency. Now, Corey Bohorquez, who is an absolute bomber, is on the team, and I'm excited to see how it pans out. Never want a bad punter or kicker to be the reason why

your team won't make it. It seems like there was a couple situations where J.K. could have performed better in the big situations. Corey Bohorquez, formerly of the Bills, was in training camp with the Rams against Hecker, is now a member of the Packers, and I believe they traded another draft pick for him? Yeah, it was that and a sixth-round pick, I think, for a seventh-round pick in return. So this automatically led to Green Bay Packers' stooges to say, well, they wasted a draft pick on a punter. You should never do that because J.K. Scott didn't work out.

And they wasted another one on Corey Bohork because Goody's got no idea what he's doing. Now, Goody has no idea what he's doing for other reasons in my eyes. But let's not get crazy. Just because J.K. Scott didn't work out, acting as if it's a waste to draft somebody that you think could be a game changer at the punting position. Just because you don't fully understand football

and understand the field position is normally the second tell on who won the game. And having a punter is an absolute weapon for you, especially if you're a championship team. I was drafted. Did that work out? Some say early, no, but in the end it did. Kevin Huber, who's still at the Bengals, was drafted. He's an absolute baller. Morstead was with the Saints for 10 years. He was drafted. was drafted. He's an absolute baller. Morstead was with the Saints for 10 years. He was drafted. That's just my draft class. So just because J.K. Scott didn't work out, let's not start throwing fucking bullshit slander on drafting a punter being a terrible, god-awful decision. There's been a lot of undrafted free agent punters and kickers that have had a lot of success, but there's a lot of guys that have been drafted that have had immense success as well.

Look at Janikowski and Leckler. Those are two of the best players that the Raiders have ever had. Everybody said they reached too high for them, but if you're good for 15 years, who gives a fuck? There's a lot of first-round quarterbacks that don't work out. Should you stop drafting quarterbacks in the first round because 80% to 90% of them won't end up on the same team that they were drafted five, six years later? No. So I'm tired of the bullshit slander on the entire punting position because J.K. Scott didn't work out with the Packers.

I hope Corey Borquez does, but if he doesn't, they might have to make another move and sign somebody else because punting is a position that matters in professional fucking football. I'm tired of having to explain that. Well, and I've been said, Aaron Rodgers, a quarterback. He can make up for a lot of things. He just needs a punter not to fuck it up. So I'm upset about people saying it was a waste. It was a waste. It was a waste. Maybe JK didn't work out, but there's a lot of other punters in the past that have done many great things for their teams with being a sixth round, seventh round, fourth round draft pick. You're just a shooting you're literally throwing a dart in the fifth sixth seventh round you have a guess of where

the bullseye is you have a pretty but that's all luck on if anybody hits and everybody's saying you don't draft punters and stuff because of this i just want to smack them right in the fucking mouth and say you don't know football it is awesome that you have no idea what the fuck you're talking about. You just showed that to everybody that just read your shit right there. Well, and to your point, like, I mean, I assume that it was a little bit tougher to, I mean, they went out and traded for Bajorquez. So I'm guessing they like really weren't happy with JK Scott,

but that's, that's all in the consistency. You've talked about it a bunch. Like he has a massive leg. When he's good, he is good, but because he was a fifth-round pick, I'm sure they had a little... It was probably tougher to let go of him than to just be like, all right, whatever. He had to have done something in the preseason. He clearly wasn't wasn't good enough otherwise he would still be the punter yeah and it's just i just hate the bashing of like i was picked 222 i don't know ended up becoming the punter of the decade had some onside kicks to myself made some tackles i feel like i was a relatively good teammate is that a bad pick by the fucking indianapolis

colts where they could have picked up i don't't know, a ninth string offensive lineman at the same pick. Like I just, I'm a little bit perturbed by people in their reaction. Goody stinks. I'm never going to say he doesn't stink, but this is not a reason why. Green Bay, Lambeau is not an easy place to punt at all. Hopefully, Bajorquez, who's used to Buffalo and his bomb balls, is the guy up there. But if he's not, I don't think they should stop searching for somebody that can be consistently great for them because that's a big deal, especially for a team that's going to go late into the playoffs.

The Lions have signed a kicker. Field Yates is reporting that the Lions have their kicker. That is not accurate either. If the Lions have their kicker is implying that this is who is going to be their kicker for the season. Austin Seibert out of University of Oklahoma, who was drafted, I think, to Cleveland and did not work out in Cleveland. For whatever reason, I have no idea. Big ball, missed some kicks, made some kicks. He has a massive leg, was a kicker and a punter in college.

He's a great athlete from Ohio. So, you know, he's used to pneumonia in the winter. He's going to be a tough guy. He's an Ohio guy. I'm happy for Austin, happy for the Lions. But stating that that's their kicker would imply that that means they're going to stick with him regardless. That is not the case at all. MCDC knows this guy misses a couple kicks.

We'll move on to our next one. Austin knows that as well because he's already been through the gamut a couple times. But congrats to the Lions now officially having a kicker on the roster. Does this matter as much just because of what you just said? Like if he comes into practice and misses kicks, you can just, all right, see you later. Now let's bring in Bagley.

And you just kind of have like a damn near a list that you can just go down until you get your guy. Yeah, Badgley. Okay. Excuse me. Yeah, have a little respect for the money badger. Yeah, that badger. go down until you get your guy? Yeah, Badgley. Okay. Excuse me. Yeah, have a little respect for the money, Badger. Yeah, Badger. That's what I said, right?

I said the Badger? We don't want another Jinder Mahal situation over here. Hey, look, Jinder, I wanted to bash him, and I did that. I don't want to bash Badger. Excuse me, Michael. I apologize. Yeah, there'll be a crew of like five to six guys that'll literally go work out each week at every team yeah and they're just hoping to get in there you find their spot

find a groove and keep it moving that's all mcdc's open like hey let's hope this guy comes in here and he has his swing well i was hoping mcdc would give you a call, Pat. Oh. Bro, listen. Although I do have the antibodies now. Unicorn. Legs feeling pretty good, I bet. I'm playing for Bishop Sycamore. Hell yeah. Okay, if I play for anybody, I'm playing for Bishop Sycamore.

Because I want those high school kids to realize, you know, it's the fucking grown men high school football team. You know what I mean? These balls are coming down from a lot higher than most of those high school kids. And that's what that Bishop Sycamore squad can do. You know, they can humble those children. And that's something that's not being talked about.

You know, everybody's like, hey, listen, these adults are literally assaulting children with helmets on, on the field. It's like, yeah, yeah, yeah. But what about some of these arrogant fucking kids and how they need to be humbled by a 35 year old who was a dropout and terrible at football you know what i mean yeah it tackles with his helmet completely down they were showing some highlights of some of those fat ass sycamore kids what grown men i guess yeah they were spearing high school kids and then celebrating about it it's, yo, what type of fucking weirdo?

What goof? OK, celebrating spearing a high school child as an adult. And I guess that's what they do in Ohio. And I mean, I don't want to bring up T-Bone, but T-Bone was pretty happy about spearing a couple of fifth and sixth graders on the ice. I don't know. I'm just saying maybe it's pretty invigorating. Who knows? Now that the world's opening back up,

so many new thrills are on the horizon. Okay. And whether you've been in a relationship for years or just getting started, we're excited to get back out there and meet new people. Hell yeah. When the moment comes... Let's not come too quick.

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due to Hurricane Ida coming through New Orleans. We hope everybody is okay, obviously. T's and P's on a quick recovery. This sounds like an absolute nightmare. The Saints will play down there. Gunther Kuntz was asked about it. He said he was informed this morning that the week one will be in Jacksonville. I don't think we had a whole lot to say in this, says Gunther Kuntz.

Good self-awareness. And then says, would have loved to have it here, though. That would have been nice. An extra home game, obviously, would have been fantastic. And said they're in Jacksonville. The thought was maybe in Dallas, then maybe in Houston. They're practicing at TCU. They'll play in Jacksonville, obviously making it do however they can.

The Saints have a lot of drama, a lot of things, a lot of adversity. Now they're playing in Jacksonville against the Packers. Your thoughts, A.J. Hawk? Well, at least competitively, this is good for the Packers. I mean, there are some players, if you think about it, on both sides, if you're the Packers, you're going to an away game. There's guys in the NFL that haven't played with a crowd noise, with legit crowds yet, if you were a rookie last year during COVID.

So I think for an opposing offense, and if you haven't had to face that, yeah, of course you work on it in practice and everything. It'd be their first time in a game really not being able to hear themselves, especially on third downs down in the dome. You know how loud it gets down there. Yeah, who dat? Who dat? Who dat said it would be them Saints?

Those Cajuns get drunk and lose their mind inside of that Caesars Sportsbook Superdome. I mean, that is a very difficult place to play. Whenever they get back in there, hopefully it'll be the same exact environment and everything, and maybe they'll make the trip to Jacksonville. How long is that drive? Do we have any idea how far that drive is? I'll look it up.

You think they're driving to Jacksonville? What's that, buddy? Fans. You think the Saints are going to drive there? Where are they right now again? TCU? Yeah, that, buddy? Fans. You think the Saints are going to drive there? Where are they right now again? TCU? I'm talking about fans. I'm talking about fans just because the Saints fans are a weapon.

They're an actual weapon. And I assume that they get first crack at tickets in Jacksonville? Yeah, if you already have a ticket to the opener, you probably just can use that already for the – Eight and a half hours. Eight and a half hours. But a lot of them were displaced, though, and had to evacuate. True. Are you really going to be able to drive to a game eight and a half hours. Eight and a half hours. But I mean, a lot of them were displaced, though, and had to evacuate. Are you really going to be able to drive to a game eight and a half hours away?

Let's assume there's buses. I don't know. Saints fans, they will find a way. That means Saints fans will find a way. They are a great fan base. Big, big shout out, by the way, to Urban Meyer and the Cons. Shout out. And hey, you can use our stadium.

Now, it makes sense, schedule, logistic-wise, that Jacksonville doesn't need their stadium or whatever. And I think there's only two home games in the first seven weeks for the Saints. Is that accurate? I believe so, yeah. So this is one of those things where the team's going to have to deal with it while you're trying to build the team. You're on the road, training in TCU,

playing elsewhere. It's not easy to win a game in the NFL, let alone whenever you have to deal with all that. But there's a much bigger picture here with Hurricane Ida. I hope everybody's okay. Joe Hayden. Go ahead. Hold on. What time is TJ coming on? 5 or later?

I don't know. Zito. 15, I believe. To what? 2.15. Okay, perfect. Can't wait to chat with him, but I'm sorry. Did you want to talk to TJ? You were setting up your Joe Hayden. I was going to, you were good. You were setting up Joe Hayden. I was going to say something else. But, yeah, I know Joe Hayden.

Don't the Steelers say, though, they don't negotiate during the season? Isn't this kind of normal for them? But even though TJ hasn't signed yet. Everybody says that they don't negotiate until they have to negotiate. You know, like every single situation is different. And I think that is something that just needs to be understood okay not everybody's going to be treated the same there's going to be situations that happen where you maybe even as a business leverage standpoint

with another player oh we don't talk during the season but then a year later you say oh joe hayden just negotiated a deal in the middle of season well that's because it's fucking joe hayden you're not joe hayden and tj watt and So who knows how this whole thing will work out, but it feels as if Joe Hayden is very loud right now saying that there is no conversation that is going to happen. I'm going to hit free agency. This is my last year as a Pittsburgh Steeler. At Tone Diggs, Adam Schefter says,

after approaching the Steelers about an extension to finish his career in Pittsburgh, Pro Bowl cornerback Joe Hayden has decided to play on his contract and test free agency market in 2022 when the cap is expected to increase significantly per his agent Drew Rosenhaus. So that's pretty good information straight to Schefter from Rosenhaus it sounds like. Diggs, your thoughts on this thing? There's a lot of contracts. Whenever you're a good team, there's a lot of money that has to go around. The Steelers might end up losing a couple of their key parts. You think that's going to be the case or are they going to get it figured out over there?

I think it's okay. I think it makes sense for both sides here to let Joe go to free agency and test the market and potentially see what he's going to get as a 33-year-old corner. They want to pay TJ and Minka first, so they want to see how much money they're going to have going into next season when they do have a bunch of cap space and the caps going up um i love joe hayden you guys know 33 years old as a corner in the nfl i think the steelers are doing an okay thing here for him to go to free agency and see what he can

get and if not he wants to come back that's fine too joe hayden said to us last week or two weeks ago when i'm no longer a guy that they can put on the outside, I'll be done. So Joe Hayden believes he's still got a lot of time left. Another contract is obviously a beautiful thing, especially as a corner at the age of 33. Hopefully they'll be able to get that figured out. I was told the T.J. Watt deal was going to be done last week. Yeah.

I'd be shocked. I'd be shocked if it doesn't get done before this season. It's going to get done. Yeah, but the only thing that's telling you that is the same shit that told us it was gonna be done last week right digs no i they're not gonna let him get out they're not gonna let him go into free agency or they're gonna he's gonna get signed yeah they can franchise tag him still i mean there's a way that they could keep him around if they get the deal done with them though that's a pretty good stamp of not

that the steelers have to prove this to anybody, but hey, you perform, we'll take care of you, which is what every team is hoping to look like whenever they're talking to free agents and everything like that. Joe Hayden being this open about it, though. You think Joe's pissed at the Steelers right now, AJ? I think so. I mean, he talks about how much he liked Tomlin when he was on the show with us and everything that they're doing there, and he's still playing at a high level.

But you can't completely write him off from being on the Steelers. He could easily go out there, check out free agency, see what it has to offer, realize, okay, there's not the situations I thought out there, and come back to the Steelers. They can still step up to the plate if they have some cap room once it goes up next year and say, hey, we can give you a two- or three-year deal.

We can give you what you want or at least close to what you want. That's a year from now, and we have to talk about it because there ain't shit to talk about. Yeah. Well, I think it was Diggs. Diggs brought up, too, that since he's got there, the Steelers have gotten back up into the top ten. And obviously the sum is greater than a single guy on defense,

but I'm sure he uses that as a bargaining chip and takes a lot of pride in that. It's like, hey, we've been back to the Steelers' defense of the past since I got here every year, and I've done nothing but continue to perform for you guys. And Minka and TJ are going to reap the benefits of that before anybody else, it seems like, right? Yeah.

As soon as Minka gets there, he becomes defensive MVP conversation fresh out of Miami or whatever, and he starts dominating. He got into a fight with Chase Claypool. Was it yesterday or two days ago? Two days ago, I believe. Boys are fired up over there. Is there any video or even still shots of this one? No. We have no videos

of any of these fights. It feels like the videos are done. These teams know what they're doing, shutting these videos down, don't they? It's smart, by the way, for future reference. I think that you should let nothing out. You think our commissioner, Pat, wants guys Smart, by the way, for future reference. I think that you should let nothing out. Well, the NFL, think about it.

You think our commissioner, Pat, wants guys punching each other in the head, sometimes bare fist on helmets, when all we do is talk about safety and player safety, and they say, like, oh, we can't play in pads anymore. Why are you guys punching each other in the head every other day in training camp? Yeah, and why are you allowing joint training camps?

Why are you even allowing that? Because it seems like those are just a recipe for a brawl. They're the Danbury Trashers. Yeah. Joint training camps are the Trashers. That's exactly right. Hey, remember a couple years ago when LeFleur came into Green Bay? I don't know what team it was they had a joint practice with.

Aaron had some public comments afterwards. I believe the first play of the scrimmage, the first play of team they did, their tight end got blasted over the middle and got hurt and kind of started a little brawl already. Yeah, I mean, I don't know how it isn't a brawl every single time. And it has become that, by the way, every single time. I wonder how long those joint training camp practices, because you've got teams fighting each other

because they're sick of running into each other. You've got Minka and Chase Claypool, two very important pieces of the Steelers fighting each other. That's what football is. There's a chance that when you run your face into people or somebody feels a little disrespected with a shot, like, oh, my career could be changed, my livelihood could be changed, there's a chance a fight comes.

Whenever you start adding in the other team, and I don't want to take a step backwards because we're past training camp, but I still don't know how joint training camp practices don't end in a brawl every single time. Let's move on. Fitz Magic is officially the starting quarterback for the Washington football team. I saw that this was actual news. We didn't know.

Was it really a competition? I mean, Heineke got a pretty nice little contract, and Heineke balls. Actually, today was due to the eight-yard touchdown run he had against the Bucs. That play came back into the timeline, and I'll tell you what, when I saw him diving that ball to the pylon, it was hard not to think, well, maybe Heineke, he could do it. But, yeah, to your your point it was always assumed fitzmagic was going to be the guy over there well heineke got a nice contract but uh so did fitz

yes he did much bigger actually that's that's an awesome thing that always gets left out of those conversations they paid heineke what they pay him for if they don't want him to be the guy what's like did they pay fucking fits more or not yeah they did okay so they want him to be the guy more and he's fits magic and he's Fitzmagic, and he's basically an adult version of Heineke? Okay, so you don't think that's going to be the way it is? I just love whenever some of this shit gets wrote. Did not see this one coming.

It's like, we didn't? I thought that was pretty much a... It would be big news if we found out Ryan Fitzpatrick was not the starter in Washington. That would be news lot it would be big news if we found out ryan fitzpatrick was not the starter in washington that would be news that would be huge news and fitzmagic told us what beggars can't be choosers he'll go fucking wherever he ended up on a great team in washington that squad could go on quite a run over there in the nfc east which has massive question marks uh the ravens have converted 6..5 million of Ronnie Stanley's salary into a signing bonus to create $5.2 million.

Offensive lineman Ronnie Stanley's base salary, $6.5 million of it was moved into a signing bonus, creating $5.2 million in cap space for 2021. Mike Evans and the Buccaneers did this just yesterday. I think whatever you're trying to piece together, your roster, you're realizing we might have to bring in somebody from outside who might be worth a little bit more money as opposed to just the bare minimum that we were able to get by with, creating more room for the roster. This is smart. This is the future. Everybody's going to be doing this. This just

seems the inevitable that there's going to be salary cap gymnastics done every single year from this point forward. Well, I mean, this has kind of been going on for a while, hasn't it? I guess it just happens more often now, and it's higher profile. I guess it's bigger money being moved around. So is that why it's talked about more? Or was this always happening? People didn't talk about it as much? What is it?

I don't think it was happening. I think Tom Brady did it with the Patriots for a long time. But everybody said, oh, Tom Brady, what a hero. Instead of getting $20 million in salaries. Didn't Big Ben do it too? Last year. That was this year. That was not in the past.

Tom Brady was doing it in New England, though. Has been for a long time. They're always like, oh, he's taking a pay cut to remain there. He's taking a pay cut to remain there, and it wasn't really a pay cut as much as it was of transferring money and moving the money. Now teams have seen not only

that work, but they're doing it with a lot of different players, the way they're setting up their contracts. It feels like it's only a matter of time before everybody's doing this. And this feels like the future. Mike Greenberg down there in Tampa feels like he is the future of how NFL teams are going to be put together and created. They're going to have to do a lot of movement and salary cap gymnastic to make sure they can fit all their superstar players.

Joining us now is a superstar player. We thought maybe he was going to be the kicker for the Lions just yesterday, but now they've signed Austin Siebert. Ladies and gentlemen, Pro Bowl tight end legend for the Detroit Lions, TJ Hawkins. Yeah! What's up, y'all? Hey, I want to let you know I'm a big fan of the way you operate, pal. Feels like you're like one of these hippie, feel-good ass-kickers on the field.

It's a beautiful thing, TJ. I appreciate that. I like to portray that for sure. It feels like MCDC is a pretty similar character to you. Do you and him get along pretty well? I assume that he's much deeper and has more depth to him than what everybody assumes and imagines from his kneecap-biting press conference. That's my guy. He's got a lot of energy. He's always on the field.

He's got a knee sleeve on right now. I think that's his swag that he's been rolling with. But, you know, you've got to give him a little shit with that. But he's a good dude. He knows his stuff. He's got us going in the right direction, you know, and pushing us every day, honestly. So it's been fun.

Have you noticed a change? Because obviously a lot of the coaches have played in the league, so it's a lot of players that are over there coaching, trying to change the culture completely. I mean, buying into Detroit. Has it been very obvious that MCDC and the boys are trying to change the building in a positive fashion? Or has it been like, yeah, a lot more chatter outside the building

than actually inside of it? No, it's honestly been a complete 180 in that sense. A lot of the coaches are players players like you said uh old players you know that have have played in the league had success in the league and won won in this league you know so it's it's really cool to like actually look at your your coach your position coach or you know your head guy and be like he he knows what it's like to be in a three-point stance he knows what it's like to be in the backfield. You know, he knows what it's like to break a tackle and do this kind of stuff. And they know the grind.

They know how to work. They know how to operate. And just kind of the energy that they bring into the building every day. You know, it's kind of like a player. And it honestly has been a lot of fun just to be able to learn from those guys because they've been in that position. And I think that's I think that's been, you know, the biggest one 80, you know, from, from years past. So.

TJ, I know you've been dealing with a shoulder injury during this training camp, but what a practice has been like. I remember when Dan Campbell got named interim head coach in Miami, they were doing Oklahoma drill like day one, like has rules are a little bit different rule. They change the rules and everything. But have you seen like the intensity step up? Oh, yeah.

No. Coach Campbell puts us in a lot of positions. You know, he'll put us one-on-one. He'll bring the whole team together and be like, all right, let's see this guy and this guy go against each other one-on-one. Who's going to win? You know, and it's kind of been cool because, you know, linemen, they don't really ever get to see us run routes or they don't ever, you know, really get to see different things. So they're sitting off in their little, you know,

corner or whatever. And it's like, Hey, Hawk, you go with the safety. Um, all right, cool. You know, and then they'll come up to you and they, they, they just get to see the route and they get to see what you, what you do. Um, and it's kind of it's actually cool to you know to to be in that situation puts a little pressure on them um but yeah no we've been tackling we've been doing a lot of live drills um it's it's been really good for us honestly though uh but yeah the intensity definitely uh goes up for sure you're young you're young but you're you're so good that automatic leadership just follows that type of thing, especially with the turnover in the coaching staff and the culture and everything like that. Has MCDC told you, like, I'll tell you what, man, you need to be, like,

has he had that conversation with you about being a leader, or is that just something naturally that you've done, or have you shied away from that? Is that, like, how do you feel about ownership in the locker room especially because you're one of the guys you're one of the only guys i think that most fans would be like hey we got a fucking guy tight end do you feel that pressure or to be a leader or is it just something that naturally is happening i mean i think i don't think you can really uh in my head you can't really force leadership you know i think a lot of the guys will follow you if they want to follow you and if they don't they don't you know and I think um I'm I'm a guy that like I like to show how to do it rather than you know tell people um so I'll go out go out on the field I'll handle

my business um you know do what you know do what I do play as play as I you know try to win routes try to win my one-on-ones um and i just try not to take a day off you know i guess that's my biggest thing and i think a lot of the guys you know respect that and they see that rather than you know telling them what to do and then doing the opposite you know i think that's that always rubs people the wrong way and um you know i coach campbell he comes up to me and tells me hey let's have's have a day today. Or, hey, let's do this today. And I kind of take that to heart. I like to be the guy that shows how to do it rather than talk about it.

Because I think a lot of the plays, you can talk a big game, but you can't always show it. So I guess that's the biggest thing. I think a great way to ruin a culture is empowering people that aren't leaders into leadership positions like i think that is a great way in the entire locker room knows to be like okay this guy fucking stinks why is it you know what i mean like that that is a real thing so i like the fact that mcdc isn't trying to be like i need players they're leaders man like i have because that's going to naturally figure itself out, I think. I think that's naturally going to figure itself out.

You're a guy, though, that everybody's going to look up to for the rest of your career because of how fucking good you are. So I appreciate the fact that you're a blue-collar guy. I guess out of Iowa, you should expect nothing different. We have a massive Lions fan on this show, one of the only national shows that has a Lions fan on it. Foxy, couldn't wait to chat with you. Go ahead, Fox. Yeah, TJ, I just want to know what it was like, you know, when Matthew Stafford left the building. It seemed like from day one, you guys were on the same exact page.

So I'm just curious, you know, how it was when he left the building and also how it is now with Jared Goff in there and how different it is. Well, I appreciate the fact that you're a Lions fan. Well, I appreciate the fact that you're a Lions fan. Let's go. Yep, let's go. But, you know, Staff was my guy. I love having him as a quarterback, a smart player, probably one of the best football minds that I've been around.

Just kind of knew how to mess with defenses, knew how to see different things, and knew where the ball was going to go pre-snap you know like it was it was very impressive in that sense um you know so when he left the building in January obviously that was tough just because it was my guy but when I got with with JG and I like through with JG I was excited I mean JG's been such a good dude in this locker room he's played I mean in a Super Bowl he's he's played in those situations and that's what he wants to get to that's what he wants to get the city to and you know he pushes me every day he's talking to me about hey this situation this is this and he. And the way he talks to me is like, hey, that's a big play for that guy, but not for you.

That's routine. And it's like, oh, shit, all right. Like, I like that. You know, like, yeah, you're right. That is routine. Rather than putting that pressure on you, he's like, nah, you do that. You know? And so, like, that friendship that we have, like, off the field

and, like, knowing that that's my dog my dog and like I'll go to war with him um it's a cool concept to have you know he's he's a little younger so he's more my age we got some stuff in common and um you know just just off the field um you know I love just being around JG so um you know that transition it was obviously staff had been here for 10 years. So that was tough. But, you know, being able to turn the page and have a guy like JG come in really made it a lot easier, I guess I would say. A lot of turnover up there. And you're going to be one of the staples.

Y'all hearing shit or what? Y'all hearing shit or what? I had no idea we're cutting down fucking trees in my yard. Sorry, Hawk. I'm in day nine of my COVID confinement. I'm allowed out into the wild tomorrow. I had no idea that that was scheduled today. I do not.

You do not deserve that. I apologize. But let's get back into this conversation because it's a good one. Whenever you do the tight end U and you get a chance to kind of like chat with the guys, and I'm not assuming that you guys weren't already friends. Kittle, obviously, Iowa, and he's way up there, Travis Kelsey. But is there anything you learned this offseason from chatting with the other tight ends that you think like made you excited? Because you're already an elite player.

There's probably some things that only experience can kind of teach you and make you even mold you into an even better player. With the tight end you, T-E-U, was there anything you took out of that that made you much better, you think? Or is it just mindset business stuff that happened down there? I mean, I think I learned how to drink a little better but no i'm kidding honestly that was a lot of fun uh you know those dudes you get to see those guys and like actually you know you don't you're not around them as much off the field you know you get it you know who they are you know who zach versus you know who

trev is kelsey is you know who who all these dudes are that make plays on Sundays, but you don't know what they're like off the field, and you don't know how they operate. You don't know how they think. And so just being in that sense and, like, being with those guys and understanding why they run a route the way they run this route or how they see this coverage the way they see it was, you know, and, and during the day we worked, you know, like we, we went out on the field, we ran routes, um, you know, uh, they, they were showing us choice routes. They were

showing us team routes. Kelsey was showing us how to run a seven stop, you know, like stuff like that. And it was, it was cool to understand their emotions understand why they do things um but then it was also cool just to be with them off the field you know like understand their personality and kind of like mold in that sense because you know now i'll you know we play uh whoever and and i'll read them after the game like they're my friend rather than you know they're a tight end you know they're another tight end and it's a it's a close-knit group in that sense anyway and then when you actually get to know the person and know who they are um it just made it that much better so you know we'll be trading jerseys a lot this year and doing all that um so i'm excited for that but

hey dj what happens though let's say you're playing you're playing one of these teams where you were at there one of their tight ends was with you there, and a couple of your safeties come up to your linebackers, hey, man, what's this guy do? What kind of routes is he running? You just said how they're showing you run seams and all these different routes. What do you tell them?

Like, I don't know, man. The guy wouldn't tell me anything. He didn't show me anything either. What do you say? I mean, it's a close-knit group in that sense. You know, I'll try to shy away from that. Come and watch the film. I'll try to give tidbits if i got them but i mean i can't i they don't tell us everything either you know they weren't telling us our thorns and outs and all their secrets to what they do but um you know like tidbits and

stuff like they're still you know travis travis kelsey you're still not gonna be able to stop so i mean like i'll try to give you as much as i can but good luck george i mean he's another, you're still not going to be able to stop. I'll try to give you as much as I can, but good luck. George, he's another guy. You're not going to be able to stop. I'll try to give you something, but I don't know. You're going to have a tough time. The tight end position, though, has grown into the most important position almost on an offense.

If you've got a guy, you've got a guy. The business side of it is real. You know, like, hey, we block just like this tackle that's next to us that's making six million more a year than we are. And we catch and run routes like that wide receiver that's on the other side of us. And they're making six to seven million more dollars a year than I am. At your young age, with how good you are, business-wise, do you think at all, have you even got into the business thing of this whole thing or you just i'm i'm playful i play football teach me the football have you even thought about the business side of everything i mean i'll be thinking about it here

in the next couple years uh but you know i think i think right now um i haven't really thought about it as much you know with george going through his whole contract and me being down living down in nashville and kind of seeing that aspect, it is kind of crazy to think that we get paid less than a tackle and less than a wide out when we do both. We have to know there's checks where I'm making checks now, or there's a safety down the box and I'm yelling a different play. And it's just like, so they put a lot on us as tight ends to be able to run around, to be able to block. And then you have to know the whole offense. You know, you have to know motions.

You have to know formations. You have to know, you know, you have to be able to decipher stuff. And with me and a lot of the tight ends in the league, you know, they switch us from Y to F to Z to, you know, whatever it is. And so we have to know the whole concept as well as the quarter, you know. And so it's one of those things where, yeah, I mean, they need to start paying us a little better, you know. And I think there's nothing short of that.

Hey, good for you, by the way. You're going to be able to hopefully reap the benefits of a couple other guys going to the same battle for you. So you're going to look like the hero in there. Yeah, I've been saying it. It's all done. I'm getting more money. Last question for me, and then I think a couple of the boys back in the studio

have a question for you, Hawk. And we can't thank you enough for your time here. Happy to hear you made the team, by the way. Yeah, we are. Don't celebrate too early. Hey, we all know there's going to be a lot of roster movement there. Is Dan Campbell just playing Metallica all day, every day in the building? Who has the Ox score?

I mean, it's Screamo all day long. I mean, it is. No, I don't think they give him the Ox. I've walked upstairs, though, and you can hear it coming out of his office. Is he around? Are they in the locker room? He loves that stuff. Are they in the locker loves that he does what's that are they are the coaches in the locker room a lot of former players like what is the what is the environment is it like hey we're all in this together and these guys are just making decisions or is there like because it's hard sometimes for

players to go be coaches and be like hey Hey, I got to separate myself from this because sometimes the gift of a player being a coach is he understands and relates to the player a lot more, but a lot of other coaches be like, Hey, you can't fucking do that anymore. Is there been a much different relationship with the coaches and the players you've seen with this coaching staff coming in? I mean, no, I mean with me, you know, like it's, it's been, it's been good just because, you know, you get, you get to talk to them about their, their time, you know, like, it's been good just because, you know, you get to talk to them about their time, you know, like I said.

And so, like, coach will come through the locker room, you know, some guys will come through the locker room. I wouldn't say they hang out in there, you know, but, you know, they're in there and they'll talk to us like they would anybody else. And that's kind of the nice part is there's no really secrets. Nobody really, you know, has any hidden agenda or anything you know like they're very straightforward with you they tell you what they want they tell you how you're doing um they tell you hey you should have won that route you know and that's that's kind of

that's kind of the nice part about things is is is they're they're letting you guys us run it as players and it's been honestly it's been really good. I'm super excited for the rest of the year. I hope you guys win games up there. I hope. Hey, listen. Man, if you guys win, those MCDC press conferences are going to be fucking unbelievable for us. I'm pulling so hard for it.

At Boston Corner. Go ahead, Hawk. I'm pulling so hard for it. At Boston Conner, go ahead, pal. Yeah, TJ, has there ever been a time in the locker room during this offseason where you guys come in and you're like, holy shit, it looks like MCDC might have gotten eight coffees today instead of the two normal that he does, or does he just always bring the juice no matter what? Douche, douche.

Oh, yeah, there's been a couple times. You know, he gets a little riled up in the mornings. Those 8.30 meetings, he's a lot more wired than everybody else, and I love it. He brings in the energy. He did an installed meeting the other day, and he was wired. You could tell he had his eight coffees for sure. Has he said anything absurd behind closed doors that you can say that maybe we haven't all heard yet?

You know, the knee cap, godging and biting was obviously the big thing. But I have learned in my life dealing with these deep thinking meatheads, which I have. There is some very profound things that get kind of missed because the delivery is so ridiculous. Has there been anything that MCDC has said to you, you're like, God damn, that's very fucking profound, sir. I don't know about that. You know, I think he's pretty open with you guys. I think everything he says to us, he says to you guys.

I mean, he's pretty straightforward with y'all. So I don't think he's hiding back. I mean, who he shows is who he is. But, I mean, I'm sure there's been a couple things that have got me, but I can't think of them off the top of my head. But, man, I mean, he's dang straightforward with you guys, which I like. Hey, TJ, last thing for me, not even a question, just something I want you to ask Dan Campbell.

At some point during this year after a big win, go up and ask him about General Bobby Carpenter, if he has any stories with Bobby Carpenter. I'm curious as to where the truth lies in these stories. You could tuck that away if you need to use it someday. I'm staying with the band. Staying with the band, man.

Allegedly, he stayed with the band the night before Mother's Day, says Bob Carpenter while he was blowing through a Marlboro Red. He made that statement and it just built the MCTC even more to me. Ty Schmidt, go ahead, pal. TJ, I'm also a University of Iowa alumnus.

So first and foremost, go Hawks, baby. That's right. I've always said, like really since Dallas Clark, it feels like Iowa has kind of become tight end U with U, Fant, Kittle, CJ Fedorowicz, a bunch of guys who have been drafted in the NFL. What is it about Iowa that gets you guys ready for the league? Because I was looking back, like I remember all your touchdowns, but you look at your stats and it's like, shit, I mean, he only had 30 receptions.

Like they weren't using you like you get used in the NFL. So what is it about Iowa that gets all you guys ready for the league? I mean, I think the biggest thing is, you know, they're a pro-style offense, you know, so they kind of teach us protections. They teach us route concepts. You know, they teach us how to block. And I think the biggest thing with Iowa is just the culture that they have. You know, I mean, I think they come in and they're like, hey,

you're going to have to work hard to play here. You know, like there's no sense of it. So when you get to the league, you just understand the amount of work that you have to work hard to play here. You know, like there's no sense of it. So when you get to the league, you just understand the amount of work that you have to do. You know, when I was there with Coach Doyle and he was one of those guys that always like, he was always pushing you. He was always telling you, you know,

how to make it to the league. The little tip is like, what you got to do with your body. You have to stay in extra. You have to watch film. You have to do all this other stuff. And I think that was, you know, that helped me a ton just coming to the league and understanding that, hey, this is going to be work and it's not easy, you know. And, you know, some places they work and then they go to school

and they don't ever come back to the facility. And at Iowa, you worked in the morning, you went to school, and then you came back at night and worked hard. So, you know, I think that's kind of the biggest thing. West Virginia, we didn't do much school, but we worked. We worked. I believe that. I believe that.

Where are you from originally? I'm from Iowa. Small town. Small town. Sheridan, Iowa. Hell yeah. Really? I don't know.

Fact check me, but I think when I was there, it was like 3,800, maybe 4,200 people in that town. Jeez. Zero top lights. Did you play quarterback at high school? What did you do? Did you play? There's no way they only had you at tight end in that tiny-ass little bum-fuck town. They split me out.

I was more of a wide receiver, but I played safety too. Woo! You ever kick a ball? What's that? You ever kick a ball over there? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I was a big punter.

I did field goals every once in a while, but I don't know. Like you said, we didn't have a kicker there for a second, so I was thinking maybe I could show off my leg a little bit. The internet, every move MCDC makes, you're going to question it with no kickers on the roster. I mean, we all thought maybe he was done with kicking. Maybe he was just changing the game. You know, we're not going to.

Two points only. Every time. We got a tight end, this big son of a bitch from some corn town in the middle of Iowa. Let's just throw him a goddamn ball. I can't. Thank you enough for joining us, TJ. Good luck this season.

Thank you for your time. We appreciate the hell out of you, man. I appreciate you guys. Have a good one, man. Hey, good luck up there. Hey, go pride. Go be a part of that pride up there. One pride, baby.

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Toxic Table is back in studio downtown Indianapolis. I'm still at my house day nine in COVID captivity. I am free manana. I cannot wait. Free at last. Free at last. Oh, fuck COVID. I'll be free at last.

Tomorrow, I cannot wait. At Tone Diggs, the COVID cowboy also in studio. We got Mike Rupp, the Rupp-er, Stanley Cup champion and also a member of the Danbury Trashers joining us in about 10 to 15 minutes. And in Ohio, in an attic, former member of the Bishop Sycamore

football team, an incredible college football national champion and Super Bowl champion, ladies and gentlemen A.J. Hawk. What's up guys? You see me? I do not see you because Zito has to juggle about 45 different things.

I have a shot just strictly on the toxic table while I'm speaking. I don't have the live thing because in case Ty or Connor have something to say, I like to keep eyes on them. So if it looks weird when I'm on a single shot, it's because I have no idea what you guys are looking at. I'm looking

at other things. AJ Hawk, great to see you. You look fantastic, pal. How's it going, man? I heard you a little bit earlier in the show pubbing this documentary. I guess I need to see it now with how much you're talking about it, but you may have raised the expectations too high.

No. Nuh-uh. No. Listen, Netflix is paying us shit. They're not paying us anything. Okay, Netflix, I have zero relationships over there. They love, I assume, people that are much more professional than us. I have never heard anything from the people at Netflix.

I know nothing about Netflix. I have watched a lot of Netflix shit. There are things on this show I think I'm pretty real about. Like, hey, that stunk. That was too long. This needs to stop. What are we doing? We're wasting fucking time here. This, hey, this Untold Crime and Penalties here, I watched the Pacer one as well. Fucking awesome.

Ooh, yeah. This one about the Danbury Trashers, AJ, is right up your fucking... I mean, you would love this thing. We got mob bosses. We got fucking hockey. We got 17-year-olds that are fresh out of Ohio and Pittsburgh, it looks like, the way they're dressed. I mean, I guess Connecticut and Jersey, same type of thing.

This documentary is incredible. We'll be talking to Mike Rupp, the Rupp-er, Stanley Cup champion, member of the Trashers, in about 15 minutes. I'm happy you watched it, AJ. I have not seen it yet. I will definitely watch it, but I hate to tell you, Old Ruppers is from Cleveland. He's another Ohio guy, so it'll be interesting to see what his perspective was on everything. That makes a lot of sense, by the way.

Yeah. Does it? Yeah, it does. Just like Bishop Sycamore being in Ohio's school, it makes sense after watching last night that Old Ruppers, and you'll love this, there's like a There's a Gumpy in the show Yeah big time

What does that mean exactly Trying to figure out the proper words Without offending anybody to describe There's a guy named Winger No no no There's a Gumpy The guy talks He's Gumpy

But he just so happens to be a goon on the ice With AQ Yeah he's like AQ and Gumpy but he's just so happens to be a goon on the ice with aq yeah he's like aq and gumpy we're kind of put together for one person it's this documentary is unbelievable can't wait to chat with mike about that in about 10 minutes uh any big news in the nfl world that you saw that kind of piqued your eye aj hawk that we should talk about here i mean everyone still seems to be talking about cam newton i saw i little bit of Greeny, our guy, this morning on Get Up, and I think Warshlawski, he made a good point kind of talking about if your backup is unvaccinated and your starter is vaccinated,

if your starter gets COVID, that whole situation, then you lose your starter and your backup. Yeah, there's a million different scenarios you could lay out, but who knows what's going to happen with Cam Newton. I don't know where he's going to go. I think that's the best part of the NFL. Everything is a conversation because it's the biggest league on earth in the vaccination and the penalties that the nfl has put into place for being not

penalties by the way i'm sorry the protocols that are put into place for the safety of everybody absolutely by the nfl are definitely something that these players and teams have to think about. Like, Urban Meyer's getting investigated by the NFLPA for discriminating against players that aren't vaccinated allegedly because he said something about blah, blah, blah, and Bill Belichick's come out and answered. If you didn't expect teams to be created with the thought of vaccination status as one of the determiners of who makes team who doesn't make the team with all these protocols that are being put in place i think you're a fucking idiot you

know i mean like the reason of course it's a business be who you can afford to be okay that is the nfl to a t be who you can afford to be if you're the starting quarterback and you're paid 100 million dollars and you don't want to be vaccinated because of however you feel, the team is going to dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge around that to keep you and everything else. If you're the bottom half of the roster though, and there's a decision to be made on

whether or not, hey, our teams can be much better without unvaccinated players, which is the protocols are being put into place basically to say that. Guys are going to get cut because of that like that that is just something that has to be understood and i appreciate the nflpa saying no you can't do that and go into bat for and everything like that but this is pretty obvious i think immediately upon these protocols being put in place that these are going to be used and decisions being made i thought personally i guess everyone

probably assumed yeah this they will look at this when they're trying to to make their final rosters and you're trying to make their final rosters and you're trying to sign free agents, whoever it may be. But I'm sure they probably thought, like, no one's going to talk about it really, though, can they? And the PA is doing their job. They have to do this. But I don't think any – do you think anything comes of it, them investigating Urban? The PA fucking stinks.

We all agree with that. But I guess I do appreciate that they are looking into it. Because once you look into Urban, though, you're going to have to look into every other decision that's made for everybody that gets cut that isn't vaccinated. And then it's like, how do you determine whether or not that was the sole reason why somebody made the team or not made the team? And it's not going to be the sole reason, though.

That's what even Urban said. It's never going to be the sole reason someone's going to get cut, but it's definitely going to play. It's going to be a factor. And when you're talking about those bubble guys, too, that, hey, we don't know. You may be active this week, not active that. There's a lot of guys that kind of sit on that line where they don't know going into each game if they're going to be active.

They're going to be playing or they're going to be one of the guys that doesn't get to dress come game day, too. It all plays into it. So for people to be surprised that it was a factor, I mean, that's just naive, I think. Well, people are pissed about it. Yep. Because it gives them a reason to be pissed off. But I'm happy for us to get through this time and get to the fucking regular season, which is what September means.

September means regular season's starting. And before we talk to Ruppert, you know, the Danbury Trashers and Stanley Cup champion, I had an interesting conversation last night, AJ. I actually called you to talk to you about it. You didn't answer. Wow. I called CFO Phil to talk to you about it. You didn't answer. Wow. Called CFO Phil to talk to him about it.

He didn't answer. Jeez, what the hell? You called, like, right at, yeah, between, like, 730 and 9-something. It's, you know, it's the danger zone in our house. That's when you try to get people to bed and try to get everything situated. So that's probably, I think, when you called. Yeah, I understand that, but I work. You know, like like 7 30 to 9 is work time you know what i mean 7 30 to 9 is 4 30 la time you know i mean there's still meetings happening there's still conversations what do you want to

tell me by the way that's the difference between me and hey listen heavy is the head pal you know what i mean heavy is the fucking head not just the one with the massive jawline, but he who wears the crown, you know, and makes the decisions has to have these meetings into the night, whatever. You know, other people are potentially putting babies to bed and shit. Okay? And that's why they, you know, we all have to exist. You know, we all have to exist. Yeah.

There's room for all of us, man. There's room for all of us. So what happened? So the conversation I had yesterday, and this is not a sports conversation, so I apologize to everybody, but I'm in the middle of a monopoly money type conversation with a lot of people. We all know where we're at right now. For the farmers that had their farmland before tobacco became a thing. They had all this farmland before tobacco became a thing okay they had all this farmland it was perfectly soiled and aerated and they had their seeds and then tobacco came in and the farmers were like holy shit did

we just hit a bazillion dollars okay oh my god we just so happen to have the land that is perfect for this new thing that's about to take over the world. That's kind of where we're at with the sports gambling world. Because I own 100% of this company. We're very lucky to have an incredible platform with people that watch our show because we're the fucking dumbest group of humans on earth. And they just so happen to be

probably the demo that sports gambling folks are looking to maybe make a move into. So we are the farmers that are just sitting on this land as tobacco is coming in. Like, you are the luckiest human on earth. You know, I fucking do know that. But also, what that means for you

is much different than what that means for me. You know, because I enjoy freedom. I don't really like listening to many people. I will tell you to go fuck yourself. I don't care how much money you give me. So there's a lot, you know, that has gone into this whole thing. Yesterday, I was told that it's going to be tough to believe our numbers. Ah.

I was told. But they believe other people that buy their numbers and buy subscribers and all of a sudden have. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. By the way, this is because zero VCs behind us. Okay. Zero big, I mean, CFO Phil, I guess, is our big executive.

Hey, whoever's asking, whoever you're talking to, though, if they say it's going to be tough to believe or trust your numbers, they're stupid because how do you trust anybody's numbers then if you can't believe yours that are legit? Everybody's full of shit about their fucking numbers, which is, by the way way why i don't talk about numbers because i think you sound like an absolute idiot and those are on the internet no especially when there's a draft night and there's 137 500 people watching us and then i

see what your shitty ass show's doing okay so like it is it is tough for me to get into that game and i don't like doing that i don't like being the one that just goes out and makes up fake numbers or rigs the system by doing anything else that could potentially spike our numbers and make them look a lot better than they actually are, which a lot of companies do. And I never knock anybody's hustle because, hey, you go get your money. You know what I mean? You go get your money. But now I'm realizing that there may be, hey, this is reality. Okay. I don't like it, but I was told like, hey, your numbers are going to be tough to believe because where they're at so i gotta figure out how we do that i think we gotta run an arena and we just gotta sell the fucking thing out you know i mean i think that's like a pretty

easy way to just be like how does this fucking look yeah take this yes so that's what i was calling you last night for was like where should we do do this? Do we do this in Columbus, for instance? Do we do this in Indiana? Do we do it in Texas? Do we do it in California? I think we should have one big festival that we could potentially go. Does this look fucking fake, pal? How do we go about doing this?

And I'm not a big live show guy. I don't like hustling money out of our supporters, by the way. I could have done an NFT thing. Everybody, you need to do NFT. You could just I don't like taking money from people. I don't like hustling money out of our supporters, by the way. I could have done an NFT thing. Everybody, you need to do NFT. I don't like taking money from people. I don't enjoy it. If you spend time with us, I appreciate it. It feels like we should have a festival of some sort to make sure we can showcase

to people that these are actual humans watching our show as opposed to the bullshit that you guys believe is actual money. I am in. I'm on board all the way. If you're doing a live show is not taking money for people that's giving people something that they can come to and you're not forcing anyone to come if they want to buy tickets and show up that's on them so it's not like you're you're giving people a service i think so don't you think indy would be the natural spot though for the first indy would be the place i mean but

this fucking state i talked to the arena guy down here they talked to me like i was some fucking stooge they were talking to me like I was some fucking stooge. They were talking to me like the fucking, like these people last night were talking to me, basically. You know what I mean? So I wanted to smack them in the mouth real quick. Is Phil going to call in that? Have Phil call in, really throw his weight around. I'll call in.

Connor. Connor, what are you going to do? You're going to call the guy that runs the arena who basically spit in my face? Oh, I'm not going to call him. I'm going to put a suit on and I'm going to knock on his front fucking door. guy that runs the uh the arena who basically spit in my face oh i'm not gonna call him i'm gonna put a suit on and i'm gonna knock on his front fucking door no see i don't know where we should do it at but i think we have to do something like i think we have to do something yeah i don't know there's other venues other than just that one lucas oil i don't know that's a big deal that's a big deal

but if we we would have to we would have to like make it a thing though. You know what I mean? Like we'd have to make it a thing, like a destination thing. Like, Hey, we need everybody here. This is,

this is a situation where my integrity is being called into question. Basically. That's by the way, I feel like I'm a mature adult now. Cause as soon as that was said to me, I didn't tell him to go fuck themselves. I don't believe your numbers. I didn't say back,

you know, I just was like, Oh, okay. I can understand where that's a little bit of an issue. Hung up the phone and said, these motherfuckers. Yeah.

So that is, you know what I mean? That is kind of where I was at last night, calling, hoping for some advice, you know, a sounding board, but obviously you don't work all day.

Like I do. CFO Phil also was in the middle of some things. So didn't get a chance to do that. Did a lot of brainstorming on the dry erase board last night. A lot of, Oh, fuck this person for sure. And then we got to do that whole thing.

Well, that's where my life is. And, uh, I'm happy. I'm coming out of COVID feeling better, but these are the bullshit conversations I got to be a part of and put on my suit,

you know and go oh valid point you're so fucking smart you fucking asshole so that's where we're at aj and i wanted to talk to you about it thankful we got to have this conversation live on air in front of everybody let's assume that we are going to do a live show though that feels like the thing we're going to do have to yep i'm in because like if we do a theater everybody can do a theater right well no actually i don't think that's the case you've already proved many times that like hey guess what if we do a theater we're gonna sell out the theater very quickly two minutes yeah going out five of them so arena the people that watch and listen to the show are the fucking best i hope you know

that so much so that you guys are being called into question as being real humans now. And by the way, it doesn't make any sense to me, pal, why people watch and listen. But joining us now is a man that I got to watch and listen to last night in the greatest documentary I've ever seen. Stanley Cup champ, member of the Danbury Trashers. Ladies and gentlemen, Ruppert from Cleveland, Ohio. Mike Ruppert. Yeah! Ruppert! What's up, guys?ert from Cleveland, Ohio. Mike Ruppert. Yeah! Ruppert!

What's up, guys? Glad to be on here. Listen to you guys all the time. Hey, am I allowed to call you Ruppert? Absolutely, yeah. I sent you a DM, Ruppert, and I thought maybe a little bit too comfortable. You know what I mean? No, no, no, it's good.

I know when people don't know me, they say Rupp. They say Rupp. People that know me, they say Rupp. They say Rupp. People that know me, it's Ruppers, so we'll keep it that. Okay, Ruppers, I appreciate that. Thank you for watching. I did see you followed along. I have no idea why, just like anybody else. We're going to call it into question on whether or not anybody watches us. So it's nice to hear that fucking Stanley Cup champ, Dan Barry,

trasher player, Mike Rupp, does watch. fucking Stanley Cup champ, Danbury Trasher player. Mike Rupp does watch. That doc, how often did you think about the Danbury Trashers before you filmed that doc? Did you look back on that time in your life and say that was the most insane time forever? This needs to be a documentary. I didn't even know it existed.

What a time for you, I bet, to be alive, Ruppert. Yeah, no, it was nuts because, you know, one of the things as far as the timeline of it, so I played in their first season, right, and in their second season, and after that season, that was the last season when things kind of went down. I was not on the team then, but I had some buddies, you know. That was some of the greatest. I mean, I have such great memories of playing there. We all got treated like gold.

And it was great because us guys would go out after a game. We'd have some beers and just shooting stories and experiences, right? Things that we were seeing and experiencing. It was incredible. And those guys I stayed in contact with. And they would tell me some of these things that were happening. And then it kind of just went for for a real long time and i think it was espn magazine a number of years ago came out and they wanted to do a story about it

but i didn't really know anybody else that was contributing to it so i'm like no i'm i'm good like you know i was i'm just gonna keep playing hockey and whatever so um when we found out that the galante family was going to be involved in this and aj was, yeah, I'm like, yeah, let's do it. And I thought they did a hell of a job, man. I thought it was really fun. I learned a lot watching it as well, but it was a crazy, crazy time there in Denver. So let's talk about the smart decision you made not to talk about a mafia situation without, you know, a heads up or an okay from the mafia.

That's smart. Ruppert, that's a very smart thing. And AJ is's big fan of yours he has not seen the doc yet he's gonna watch it tonight so he might sound a little ignorant to this entire thing but um whenever i was growing up in pittsburgh okay we have too many italians all right i have friends uh too many fucking too many italians where i was growing up at the julio maroto but whenever you would walk into a situation, me as a kid, there was a couple times I'd walk in and I'm like, Oh, okay, so there's some shit going on here.

Okay, like there was a bathroom maybe that I was in during a wedding for one of my friends. I was like, okay, probably not supposed to be in a stall hearing what's going on here. Did you guys know that there was potential full-on mafia stuff going on around you? Did you get the sense like, hey, this feels like something much larger is happening? Or did you guys just say this is the coolest experience of all time? There's this guy who wants us to fight people. He's paying us bonuses in cash. His kid is a fucking legend.

They're giving us everything we want. Or was there conversations like, it feels like there's something maybe happening here that's bigger than what we can see did that happen we i mean we're there to play hockey that's that's what we knew the hockey was surely different i mean we're out there and i think one of the things you notice is you'd sit there and you had you know um aj and and jimmy his father were up in there in their box for games and guys would say say, hey, Rupert, wait till you see this. During the games, we had such a tough team. I mean, there was guys that I could talk to you guys for hours about the build of this team, and AJ did an unbelievable job with it

as far as put together a really good team, but a tough team. I mean, we had guys, we had players who, for the fans that are watching that aren't hockey fans per se there's like a an underground fight club in the minor leagues over the years and we had those guys and they all had nicknames there was there was brad the wingnut uh um oh yeah winger yeah yeah and uh then we had um the Animal by Alois. We had John Nasty Marasty. The Nigerian Nightmare. We had Roman, the Nigerian Nightmare, Nader.

I mean, these are real things. And if you talk to anybody that's played the game, it's like this minor league, heavyweight, underground, like, following for these guys. and what would end up happening is when things would go against our team or teams would come in and they do something i one of the stories was excuse me you know steve levy with the espn and barry melrose they owned uh the adirondack team and these games were all the games were getting out of control and i guess barry made a comment once and i talked talked to Barry about this

because I've worked with him since, and we just laugh about it over beer. It's great. But he made a comment like, you know, this team's being run by Tony Soprano. Jimmy Galante didn't like that, you know. And so what he ended up saying, he was very clear, we're going to let this guy know every time we play that we're not – you're not going to talk about us like that. So what ended up happening is

I didn't play every game so my setup was I only had to play 10 games to play in the playoffs so I was living at home in western PA and I would just come in and play games and that was kind of part of it too. I'd come in and they'd be like, yeah, we're going to give you a car. What do you want, the Escalade or you want the Ferrari?

I'm like, I'll take the Escalade. It's February. And then you can go to the Ferrari store in Connecticut. So anyways, I end up going in there, whatever. So we would have this stretch where, you know, you just, they, we would play these, you know, I didn't see everything, I guess is my point. So when we would sit there and we'd go out and we'd have some beers and we were talking,

guys would just be like, oh, my gosh, hey, man, listen to this. Last road trip, we were driving and all of a sudden we're on the bus. It's the minor leagues. You're on the bus, right? And all of a sudden you hear the lights go on and they're just picking up some dude at a truck stop. And guys are, like, waking up and they're, like, looking. And they're like, is that Frank that frank by lois the animal and they're just picking up these guys guys didn't know and they're just they suit them up for one game and those guys would go and they play they get two three fights get kicked out sometimes they get expelled from the league and

all in all and uh it was crazy i mean it, it was a modern slap shot what we were seeing. It was nuts. Did the owners have more emphasis on winning games or putting on a product like this, having big tough guys go in there and fight? Like, could you tell what they wanted? Yeah, I mean, so what they would do is, and these guys would say it too, is they would sit there. They clearly wanted us to be, and that's a real thing in old school hockey, right?

Like back in the 70s, and you got the Broad Street Bullies, and that was a real thing. And today's hockey, it isn't so much. There's some level of it, intimidation and stuff like that, but it's not to the level that it used to be. Well, this was kind of like the first time in a long time it was that. So they wanted that, but they also, you know, this was the lockout year in the

nhl so you had nhl players that didn't have a place to play so guys are going to europe to play guys who are finding these different areas and that's how i came across danbury they're giving me an opportunity to come in where i could stay at home practice on my own at home and come and play a few games i'm like yeah this is great i get to move a little bit and stay fresh so i can come back next season and be ready that i played a little bit and um so anyways that trickle down effect you had NHL players playing in the American Hockey League you had American Hockey League quality players they're getting pushed down to the East Coast League and then you're having like East Coast quality hockey players getting pushed down the United Hockey League so the league was actually really good at that time it was it was

probably more like a a league up right because Because they had the trickle-down effect. So they had a lot of goal scorers on that team as well, but they were certainly tough. And I think one of the biggest things, one of my favorite parts is some of the tough guys on other teams. Because again, this is in 2004, 2005, where you have tough guys.

Teams will have one guy, one heavyweight, two heavyweights. I swear to God, guys, we had fucking eight. And that was not even including the guys we might pick up on the truck stop on the way to the game. They haven't played hockey in four years, and they were coming to play their one game. They've been retired.

And so what would happen is, like, you know, I play against a guy maybe in the Ontario hockey league in junior hockey and I play against these guys that were tough guys they're intimidating they were bullies out there maybe they gave me some wax over the years and they were tougher than me maybe I didn't you know fight those guys now all of a sudden we're in warm-ups and they're stretching at the red line and I've got eight teammates over my shoulders that are drooling they're looking up at Jimmy to see they want to earn their paycheck and go fight this guy and now the guy won't even make eye contact with us I'm like hey what's up buddy like a little different now huh and like

these these tough guys they I felt bad for them because they were there and they had a job to do but they the appetite was never going to be full because we had about eight times more tough guys on our team. The UHL commissioner is a big part of this documentary. And whenever he was early in the doc, and there's a little bit of a baby face turn for him. I don't want to spoil anything. But early, he was talking to AJ or whatever. He's like, hey, listen, two fights, three fights is fine. Eight fights in one game. Two fights, three fights is fine Eight fights in one game

These things AJ, first game In the Danbury Trashers arena First game for this team's existence Winger, the guy he's talking about This guy, legend He's Gumpy and AQ Shipley Put into one person, by the way

I love this guy He said literally, Jimmy Galante In the doc, you'll see this Before the thing starts calls him on a cell phone somebody gives him a cell phone this is as like the national anthem's happening or whatever and he answers it and he looks up at jimmy and jimmy's like hey as soon as this puck's dropped fucking go ahead and let it eat kid so this is the first game of the season first game of the franchise's existence they are already getting into beef with this commissioner because

the commissioner knows all hell's about to break loose and before there is Even a touch of the puck with a stick There's already two brawls happening for this trashers team in the way It was displayed in the dock was just beautiful it watching it back for you Rup it had to feel good that Jimmy told his kid Hey, get me a fucking goal scorer, and then walks out, and his first thought was like, Mike fucking Rupp. I need Mike Rupp on the team. That had to feel pretty good that a mafia family's first thought

whenever they were supposed to, as opposed to you spite people, was you. That had to feel pretty good. Well, you know, it's funny because, obviously, I wasn't a big goal scorer in the NHL. But you've got to think, but at that time. But you got to think, though, that's kind of the coolness. And you mentioned it before. Like, everything's crazy.

It blows your mind how things line up, things that come out. I mean, the thing I was learning from the documentary, even I don't want to tip everything else, is like one of the wiretaps was on the mascot, Scrappy. You know what I mean? So the mascot is kind of how they got – it's just nuts. I mean, you can't make this stuff up. But, you know, I think that that's the crazy part is this.

So A.J. was a New Jersey Devils fan, right? So he was at Game 7 in 2003 Stanley Cup Finals. And that was, you know, the best game of my life. And so he saw that. So in his head, it was etched that I'm a big game player. I'll take it because I wasn't, you know, for the rest of my career, pretty much. But, you know, yeah, it was it felt good. I once I got one story I wanted to share with you guys real quick. This is what's hilarious. It didn't it didn't make it in the doc there. I mean, like I said, there's so many hockey stories we could tell for hours. But so I had

to, like I i said get in 10 games to qualify for the playoff roster so i would look on the schedule and i'd be like all right i'm gonna go a week like a weekend on a weekend off so i would fly to wherever they were and and i'd meet the team so there's a stretch where there's three games three nights friday saturday sunday three games and it was up in michigan so i'm like oh this is a good way i could bang out three games real quick so i went up there and the next week was when the team was having the first game against the Adirondack team. Remember, that's the Barry Melrose, Steve Levy team. They called him, you know, he's being run by Tony Soprano or kind of they felt poking fun at

them. And that was a weekend I was not scheduled to play. So we're traveling after the one game across Michigan. It's probably 1 in the morning. I'm sleeping on the bus, right? So I got my head against the window, my head's back on the seat. The player behind me is leaning forward on his cell phone. So he's talking, like, basically in my ear, but he's trying to be quiet. Now I'm hearing one side of the conversation, and I'm hearing he says,

which ends up being this wagner kid who was a guy who was banned from some leagues and he hasn't played hockey in a few years i knew that about him but he's like all i hear is wag he goes wags we got this game against barry melrose's team he's been talking a lot of shit we're gonna send a message can you play can you play next weekend and i hear him i hear him and and i he goes listen man i don't give a shit i know you're i know you're running the hunting cabin he's out in western canada he goes they don't give a fuck if you can skate they don't care they want you to come in here you got to come in here and you got it you got it we got to send a message and i'm hearing this conversation i'm like what is going on right now so the next week, I'm getting ready to go, and I say to the boys before I leave,

I go, hey, let me know what happens next weekend. My phone's blowing up, and it starts a brawl. This Wagner is on the ice. He climbs in the other team's bench, grabs the coach by his suit, and starts fighting. He gets banned from life. That was the stuff I talked to Barry about. Like, it was crazy, man.

It's crazy, crazy hockey. It's stuff you wouldn't believe if you heard. I love it. I love everything about it. I love hockey. I am the hockey aficionado, but we have a guy that hosts a hockey podcast called That's Hockey Talk. Nick Marotta, a big fan of yours. Rupert, go ahead.

Frank? Rupert, you talked about these guys and the fighting in the minor leagues in the circuit and everything but you were no slots yourself man you threw some fists in your time and you were a part of a lot of rivalries there's a famous clip of you calling jody shelby no tough guy himself pretty irrelevant when you were two were on the ice together uh did this ever happen like when you were in the league in the nhl where you got a message from a coach or an owner to go out there and send the message to another player with your fists and then also a second part sorry

this is long-winded I know you're from Cleveland we saw you wearing a Steelers hat yeah how did that happen yeah that's a tough one man I wasn't very happy about that clip but uh we'll get to that in a second um yeah you know you never you never got asked to you never were put in a position where hey i i want you to go over the boards and fight you just you you had to know certain circumstances and there's there's a lot of things it's kind of like a chess match of things how how hockey fights kind of develop and how they present themselves in some situations you get put in you just know you you know, right? If there's a guy who ran your, you know, he was running your skilled guy,

then he's out for a shift, and my line's not up, some other line's up, but they ask me to go play left wing on that line, and I'm lined up. You don't have to say anything. I kind of know. You're sending me out there to go talk with this guy. So, no, it was never, you know, I mean, obviously what happened there in Danbury and the old school hockey, it's fun, it's crazy. That's not hockey now, you know, and it's not like that.

I think that's what makes the mystique of it all is that it's insane. It's old school. What are your thoughts on that changing? Because I think it was what, Rangers Capitals that big hit happened, and then everybody in hockey knew, like, hey, we're taking a trip back in time with hockey here.

These are the unwritten rules. You can't do what you've got to do. And the Rangers, I think, knew they were going to get their fucking asses beat, but they had to go fight for their teammate the night before. This was this past season. But it feels like hockey is at the stage where they're trying to eliminate the goons, the fighting as much as possible, even though it's such a storied part of the history of hockey.

What are your thoughts on it? It's smart, you think? It's better for the game? Or do you think hockey is one of the only sports where you're allowed to fight and you're supposed to fight, and that's something we should take a little bit more sanctity in? It's tough because now I think you guys well know in football and hockey with these head injuries, it's tough to say that it's a good thing. Right. But it's a fabric of the game. And every time I dropped the gloves, I knew I was signing up for it. I knew the risks that were involved. And, you know, the game has certainly changed a lot and the problem that that i see and that i have is it's almost this it's like i don't know how to we always try to we're always getting arguments about this the game first of all has never been in a healthier place i think than it is now the skill is through the roof we still

have big hits we still have some fights um those are all those are all good things so i i love where the game's at right now uh the one thing i will say, though, is there's rats in hockey, right? So there's the guys that aren't going to stand up for their actions, and they're going to run around. And think about it this way. We all know and we talk about Sidney Crosby all the time. Sidney Crosby's on the other team, right? And you're a player that's trying to make an impact and make a team

and make a career out of this. Why aren't you going to run Sidney Crosby? Well, a lot of times it's like you don't because you respect them and you should but then a lot of other times you know because there's going to be a consequence to that and does that weed everybody out no but it weeds out a lot of people who are going to be a little more brave to hide behind the rules if there was no fighting you understand what I'm saying so when there was tough guys out there I knew if it was a skilled guy if I was if I was finishing my hit or going to finish a hard hit,

I knew I was probably going to have to answer to it. And if I didn't answer to it, there's always going to be a situation, and guys have long memories where we might play them three months from now, and when I least expect it, someone's going to jump me. And I thought it weeded out a lot of other shenanigans that didn't necessarily have to be there. I mean, we're skating around with a weapon in our hand, man. You know?

Like, we're allowed to whack each other with a stick. Like, fighting is a good deterrent for some guys. And if you've got the guts to go out there and still do it, then you're going to have to stand up for yourself. So I think there's a place in the game for it. You know, I think it's certainly irrelevant in the game, but man, I love it. I love where the game's at right now. Rupert, I live in Columbus, so

I've seen a decent amount of Columbus Blue Jackets games. I know their head coach, Tortorella, just signed with ESPN, and there's all kinds of YouTube clips of Torts online going off on the media and all different kinds of stuff. Are those kind of coaches, those old school coaches, are they still around? Or do you think they're going to eventually phase them out?

Or are we going to continue to have this kind of – these colorful characters, I guess, in hockey? It's tough. I think that now in sports in general, there's – not all athletes can handle that type of coach, you know. And I thought John Tortorella, I had him in New York. He was one of the best coaches I had. He gets everything out of every player. Does that mean you like him all the time? No, Torts and I have had some, you know, fuck you matches in his office, but he likes that.

You know, he thinks that that brings you closer as a group. It's, I got nothing but respect for him and what he brings because he squeezes the players. And I know as a role player, I wasn't a superstar in the league. I knew that everything that was being asked of me is being asked of our superstars too. And that feels good, right, to know that there's accountability around there. But, yeah, torts is a piece of work. And, you know, he would sit there all the time. I remember there's kind of in the hockey world a famous brawl with uh

when i was at the rangers and we were playing against the devils in 2012 and that's a big rivalry and uh the game was starting and the home team has to submit the starting the starting lineup right and there was riffraff happened all year when we had our match up in uh so torts comes walking in the room and he usually writes up who's the starting lineup on their team and tells us who's starting for us and he just comes in and he's just motherfucking kicking garbage cans this this bullshit this bullshit this is bullshit and we're like what's going on so he writes up they are starting like a bunch of tough guys on their team and then he's like i don't want to do it.

I got no choice. He goes, we had Marion Gabrick, who's like a superstar, right? And he goes, I got no choice. I got to respond. What do you want me to do, put Gabby out there? He's like kind of shitting on Gabby. And we're like laughing. And he goes, I don't know what to do.

He goes, Presti, Brandon Prest. He goes, Presti, you play right wing, Rupp or left wing. He goes, Stu Bickle, play center. Stu Bickle's a defenseman. That'd be like equivalent to like, you know, putting like your linemen out and playing receiver for a play. And so he says that, and he's like, I don't know. I'm sorry, guys.

I don't want to put you in harm's way, but I got to do this. Walks out, slams the door. So then all of us three come up, and he's like, I don't know. I'm sorry, guys. I don't want to put you in harm's way, but I got to do this. Walks out, slams the door. So then all of us three come up, and we're like, how do we want to handle this? And, you know, that's Stu Bickle, the defenseman, goes, I don't – how do I take a draw? Like, I've never taken a face-off. I'm like, Stu, you're not out here to win the fucking face-off. You know what I mean? Like, we're out there to respond with what they're going to do.

And we started and had a three-on-three brawl at MSG. And still to this day, I've never been in a louder arena in my life than at that moment. So, yes, time has changed. This type of stuff's gone. That's why this documentary and that type of hockey, it's fun to revisit and go back to. It's changed. But one thing's for certain. Everybody, and there is a big niche for it in hockey,

there's a lot of fans who get on their feet. Everybody gets on their feet when there's a fight in the NHL arena. Yes, not everybody. I guess there are people on the Internet that don't get happy about it. But, man, that gladiator feel, knowing like, hey, you just did something you weren't supposed to do pal and when you get out onto the ice again it feels like one of our guys is gonna fucking murder you for it and it's like that comeuppance is so i thought it was just a cool part of hockey i was lucky to grow up

in pittsburgh obviously hockey time so i i just it's crazy the way the game has changed but obviously it's for the betterment of everybody's health. But there's just something to, you know, like society taking care of their own problems. And that's kind of what hockey was. You know, hockey was always like, hey, we'll handle it. And then the refs, you know, with the, hey, I have to get one early on this team because a make-up call, like that's just a part of it.

Like hockey has so many cool unwritten rules that inevitably we'll all get exposed because that's the world we live in now. Our boss in Connor's got a question for you, and then we'll let you go. Rupert, we can't thank you enough for your time. Go ahead, Connor. Yeah, Rupert, you said you only played 10 games from the regular season before the playoffs, but was T-Bone the greatest equipment manager that you ever had, and did he do the most to help you guys win?

A lot of that stuff was new to me, too. I didn't know he was stealing goalie pads and i didn't know he was stealing opposing teams equipment and stuff like that cut i knew he was cutting off the hot water but he was he was funny that guy would come in there he was a clown like just be saying crazy stuff and he you know but the the thing that was there and and again we i was there to play hockey these guys were there to play hockey we would joke around about oh my gosh like what are we doing here we're like we're just starting brawls every night it was fun uh you know it's not an appetite for everybody but everybody's

having fun so we'd sit there and we'd like joke around but the the camaraderie that we had i mean you see it there and and i don't again i don't want to tip it but you saw at the end of the documentary i won't give it all but pat you've seen it that's a i don't want to tip it, but you saw it at the end of the documentary. I won't skip it all. But, Pat, you've seen it. I don't care who you are, that's a moving moment. Like, right? Like, they, you know, the owner of the team had the back of the player, and the player had the back of the owner. And there's just something to it, you know?

And you can put everything else aside. T-Bone was that, too. He'd come in, he'd be bear-hugging hugging you giving you a shot you know and you guys have been in rooms you know how that is that camaraderie it's it's irreplaceable you get on the bus or you get on the plane or after the game you're all sitting around you know i got two plugs up my nose because i got punched in the nose and someone's got a shiner we're all ice bagging it up telling stories about the situations those teams grow closer and those teams i think have a great chance of winning eventually that camaraderie is the x factor that you can't measure, and great teams are looking

for it. It looks like A.J. Galante and Dad Galante were able just to be able to create that in such a quick time. It's unbelievable. It's definitely illegal because of the amount of money they're paying everybody, I guess, but I fucking loved it. I love you too, man. Thank you so much for coming on. We need you on more if that's possible. Yeah, anytime. Anytime, guys. I love you too, man. Thank you so much for coming on. We need you on more if that's possible. Yeah, anytime. Anytime, guys. I love watching what you guys are doing. And AJ, man, big Ohio State fan. So great meeting you as well.

Hey, O-H. Yeah, I-O. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, wait. I didn't talk about my Steelers hat. I'm going to tell you that real quick because I wasn't happy about that. I'm sorry, Pat.

I'm a Browns fan. I'm a Browns fan. I'm a Browns fan through and through. What ended up happening, though, is the Browns, we haven't had much to root for, right? I've always been a casual Steelers fan in the meantime, but anytime they were head-to-head, it was always the Browns. My buddies all in Cleveland are like,

that's bullshit, man. What are you talking about? When I was playing in Pittsburgh, though, for example, the Steelers were playing the Browns, you know, in Hinesfield. I went to a tailgate. I wore my Peyton Hillish jersey when I was playing for the Penguins. And I go to this tailgate and I start getting some food.

And I start hearing, who let this asshole in? Everyone started, like, trying to fight me. And I'm, like, sitting there. I'm looking. I'm like, hey, man, I'm just getting some food, you know and uh then all of a sudden someone's like whoa you play for the pens don't you and i'm like yeah like mike ropp and like and then oh i'm like oh i'm cool now you guys are gonna beat my ass about two seconds ago you know so i've always represented cleveland but i i when i don't have anything to root for i was rooting for the pittsburgh steelers so take that as you want i know know that that doesn't make sense to many.

Browns fans aren't going to like you. They won't. But hey, this year the Browns will do something special. They'll forgive me. I don't think they'll ever forget. Ladies and gentlemen, Stanley Cox, member of the Danbury Trashers, Mike Rupp. Thank you, Mike Rupp. Thank you.

Mike Rupp. Thank you, Mike Rupp. Ty, go ahead and play some independent music and propel these people into a beautiful September 1st evening. Football season's right around the bend. There's a little bit of fall in the air. I can smell things my wife can't, so maybe I'm just taking advantage of it with this little bit of a tickle of football that i can smell outside it's a great day to have a great day i can't thank you enough for allowing us to penetrate your ear holes be a friend tell a friend if you'd like if not just act like this never happened hashtag in a pod squad we're continuing to give away some merch and we'll see you manana. Do your thing, Ty. Here we go. សូវាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប� Thank you. សូវាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រូវនប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប�ាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប� Thank you.