The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 568 - No Thursday Night Football Thursday, Stefon Diggs, Ian Rapoport, Mike Rupp, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: December 30, 2021

On today's show, Pat, AJ Hawk, and the boys chat about the different bowl games as bowl season is in full swing, and look at some of the favorites for Coach of the Year, MVP, and more and a quick look ahead to this weekend's games. Joining the program to chat about everything going on around the NFL as we move into week 17, what the new Covid protocols mean for players testing positive and updates on different guys coming back from Covid this weekend, if Carson Wentz is going to be able to play, who's going to punt for the Packers, his thoughts on whether or not this will be Big Ben's last year, and more (13:44-41:17). Next, 2x Pro Bowler, All-Pro, WR for the Buffalo Bills, Stefon Diggs joins Pat and AJ to chat about the season thus far, how last weekend's win over the Patriots gave them some momentum, his relationship with Josh Allen, how often he talks to his brother, and more (43:21-53:39). Later, Stanley Cup Champion, #9 overall pick of the 1998 NHL Draft, co-host of That's Hockey Talk, The Rupper, Mike Rupp joins Pat and AJ to give us an update about the NHL season, when these games are supposed to start continuing, what it's like having so many different cultures in the locker room, he tells some incredible stories about his time in the NHL, and who's going to win the Stanley Cup (1:26:59-1:52:37). 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 There Is No Thursday Night Football Thursday, December 30th, 2021. Can't thank you enough for allowing us to be a part of your day today. We got Stefan Diggs stopping by out of the Buffalo Bills. We got Ruppert, Mike Rupp, Stanley Cup champion, host of That's Hockey Talk, stopping by for some incredible laughs and stories. Ian Rappaport was on the show today. AJ Hawk, all the boys. Let's have a Thursday.

Bowl season's happening. Week 17's around the corner. 2022, new year, new me. Holy hell, what a time to be alive. Hope this show makes your life a little bit better. If it does, please be a friend, tell a friend. If not, just act like it never happened. Let's get to it.

There's no Thursday night football tonight, although we are entrenched in the middle of college bowl season, which tone digs will break down for us in just a few moments. Oklahoma said to Oregon, welcome to Big 12 football, pal. All right. West Virginia would have done the same, obviously. We lost to Minnesota there. I think it was the guaranteed rate bowl. There it is.

No, it turned into that. It almost turned into a boat race bowl. West Virginia did do it. Anyways, we're in the middle of college bowl season. Tom Diggs has an entire breakdown. What we should look forward to. What we should bet on. There's actually a game right now happening. The Duke's Mayo Bowl between North Carolina and South Carolina in Carolina.

Losing coach has to get dumped. No, winning coach. Winning coach gets mayonnaise dumped on top of the head. So it's either Mack or the young Beamer. So there's a lot to talk about in the college football world. In the NFL world, we're heading into Week 17. And although there's a lot of records to be broken and there's some things that we never thought would be touched

that are currently potentially in reach for some players to get records and talk about all that, we are still days away and maybe even a week away from knowing what the fuck's going to happen in the NFL. Because of the old uncle COVID outbreak, because the teams have showed up and then not shown up the next week, we have no clue what the entire playoff picture is going to look like. Joining us in about 10 minutes will be Ian Rappaport, telling us what we should look into, what could potentially happen, what do we need to know before this vital Week 17 weekend. Now, we obviously all wish you a very happy New Year.

Happy New Year. I believe we were planning on being off tomorrow, but we were off two days last week, so why would we ever do that? I think we should do a lead-up to kickoff of the semifinals for the college football show tomorrow. Probably around 1 to 3-ish we'll be live, I think. And we'll get some college football experts who know a lot more than us on there, and we'll celebrate the new year tomorrow.

But I think there's a lot to be thankful for. And today should be an absolute celebration. Stefan Diggs will join us in the third hour. Can't wait to chat with him about telling you, you, you, and you. The fuck out of here. Oh, Merry Christmas? Oh. Shut the fuck up.

Suck. No. You said S- No, no, no. He didn't. He didn't say that. He didn't. But has that been cleared up?

Has that been cleared up yet? He said it was just accusations, obviously. He said, Pat, you're going to get me in some serious trouble with these allegations. Okay, and I have never. I did apologize. That's on me. I thought there would be more of a conversation about it. Don't know if he addressed it.

But not only that, what a monumental win for this Buffalo Bills team in New England. We will miss Boston Connor for another day. You will soon, Connor. Peace and peace, Connor. Connor is currently roaming around his apartment, which is not large. It is basically just like a little square. It's like the size of this stage here somehow in Indianapolis. It's a New York apartment in Indianapolis.

He's just roaming around, walking in circles with the homie-homie right now. Hopefully he'll be able to test. Now, we miss you, Connor. We miss you, Connor. Real shame Connor's not going to be here for the Stefan Diggs conversation in the third hour. I'm excited for that. Why has it been so perfect, it seems like, with Josh Allen?

You two seem to be peanut butter jelly. How you doing? Keep it moving after leaving Minnesota. Absolute superstar, an incredible team poised to make a run in the playoffs. Can't wait to chat with him. She'll be a lot of fun. Ty Schmidt is here. A lot of conversation about Aaron Rodgers future floating around in the sports media

world this morning because he said it's going to be a quick decision to the media and his press conference. I believe he said it's not going to be lingering around I think that he feels like he has to address that because of what happened last offseason right where he didn't talk for three months because I don't think anybody knew what was going to happen in that situation Aaron is in sole control of what could potentially happen after this season he said he wants to make it quick what does that mean whenever you hear that is that him just being in being here now you think and i ask him too about his future and he gives me an answer about how you know that day will come

and every day i'm thinking about it it's a it's always lingering around there but every book he's basically given us has been about being in the moment enjoying right now right now right now i he's accruing and accumulating information, I assume, as he goes to make his decision. But when you hear something like that, do you think the decision's already been made by Aaron Rodgers? Or do you think there's still a lot to potentially happen as a Green Bay Packers owner? Maybe not completely, but I think he has a sense of what he wants to do. But they're throwing out retirement. And I know he alluded to that, but we've talked about this ad nauseum. If this guy wins two MVPs in a row, arguably playing maybe the best football of his career,

if he wins the Super Bowl or goes deep in the playoffs, he's not retiring. That's not going to happen. I can't see any scenario where he's not playing football next year. I've kind of said all along, I think if the Packers win the Super Bowl, I think he's going to stay in Green Bay. I really do. And, I mean, I don't know. At this point, anything with him, you know everyone's going to be talking about it. Everyone's going to have a take on it.

But it really is kind of like a be here now because, you know, shit. And last year at this time, you were feeling like they were going to go to the Super Bowl too but couldn't get over the hump again. It really does feel like this team's better. They're primed to make a Super Bowl run. So think if you're a Packers fan I mean I'm just trying to enjoy it yeah I think you should and I think he's trying to do the exact same well also I think he has an idea of what he wants to do for sure the idea that like oh I don't know I'll just decide you know when the season's over like I think that's BS but I don't know I've been

17 years Mount Rushmore quarterback cerebral cerebral, incredibly thoughtful, about to win back-to-back MVPs. They're going to be forced to give it to me, basically. Yeah, I'll decide. It'll be a quick process. I'll decide in the future. Yeah. It's awesome.

I think he also enjoys the hell out of it. Oh, yeah. For sure. For sure. Them? Yeah. Oh, my God. Of course.

Not only them. I've seen a lot of the internet also reacts to every word he says. Right. All right. I've been in traction. And also Dr. Drew, big Dr. Drew show. Big Dr. Drew show. A lot of you ain't a fucking doctor, Dr. Drew.

I don't know how he sits through that, especially with how much time he had to spend reading. Think about how much time that guy spent, high anxiety, taking all those goddamn tests. I mean, he had eight different certificates of medical whatever, and he just every day has to sit there and just go i have been wrong before yes i am an actual doctor and every night you're not fuck you you don't know anything about anything but it has been a wild ride here alongside aaron rogers in the off season i cannot wait to see a cook-up but that team is playing the best ball of anybody right now you guys lost your punter, though, COVID-less.

Corey Bohorquez. Hell of a player. He is a hell of a player. He's kind of played like shit the last couple weeks. It's cold! It's Lambeau! It's December! Holiday season. It's supposed to be the coldest game of the year at Lambeau. I'm hoping the Packers aren't going

to need to be punting very much. The Minnesota Vikings. On Sunday night football. Sunday night football. This could be like the stamp on the, yeah, I think I'll just win the MVP now. So I don't want to, I mean, the show is named after me, and I have to speak from my perspective on things. But, you know, I know Coach Mo really well up there.

Yeah. Really well. I know, I assume everybody up there is rather familiar of who I am. I think we have a lot of friends in that locker room. Punter goes down with COVID. Nobody reaches out to me. Nobody reaches out to me. But I think to myself, if I wanted, could I go do that on Sunday night if I wanted to?

You know, because I have the antibodies now. Right? Last year, there was a situation similar. Superl caliber team loses punter kicker, friends of mine, a lot of friends of mine in the organization send, Hey, do you have the antibodies or not? It's like, I don't know. Like get an antibodies test. If you have antibodies, you don't have to sit through the five day, seven day-day quarantine thing, the protocols. If you have the antibodies, you could get in here tomorrow as long as you test negative.

And we just lost our punter and our kicker to the COVID list. You could go through one game, right? You could do one game right now? And I had to, like, actually think to myself, could I, do I want to go back out there, put on film that there would have been a lot that happened between the Colts and the Bucs and everything like that if that would have had to take place.

And it wasn't direct. It was like a whole thing. But there's a lot of my friends down there. It's a lot of my friends down there. Just like kind of similar situation there in Green Bay. And I didn't have the antibodies. But I believe that morning, whenever I was in here telling everybody, I think we made the decision I was going to go do that.

If you had the antibodies, yes. Yes, I was going to go do that. If you had the antibodies, yes. Yes, I was going to go. No brainer. And I had never, and I would have had to punt and kick, by the way. It would have been awesome. Hadn't kicked the ball a long time since then. Who knows how it would have gone if I would have had the antibodies and it would have got figured out, which would have been a much higher conversation than me that would have had to take place

and more people would have had to get involved that weren't involved in those conversations, like actual people would have had to do that. There would have been a lot that would have to take place. But I wouldn't even have to do anything anyways because they got suck up opinion back by the game. I would have been in the jumpsuit on the sideline while I was doing a lot of this. And then I'm in a boat parade.

You know what I mean? Then I'm in a boat parade. That would have potentially happened. Nobody would know my name probably. I would have been there for four days. I assume I would have introduced myself. But if that would have happened, that would have been there for four days i assume i would introduce myself but if that would have happened that would have been hilarious and last year after that whole thing as we were reminiscing on him like i should be a fucking super bowl champion right like i could have been if i if we would have handled covet worse i'd have been a super bowl champion so now with this situation popping back up and and once again, this is nobody reaching out.

This is me just being like a guy who used to kick balls, a little bit of a, ah, is this something I could do? I thought about it, and I literally stood up from the couch, and I tweaked my hamstring. So I don't know if that was my body making my decision for me. Like, my hammy, my knee knee my legs is like what are what are we even lambo it's going to be windy and cold as fuck oh yeah you have not actually kicked a football and tried to do it nine ten months at this point and you would just go into a team that is trying to get home field advantage like what a selfish like that is the entire conversation i had with myself i sat back down and i was like okay i wonder who they're going

to get to punt then there that is a big position yeah especially on sunday night football with how windy and cold it's going to be and how special teams has been for the green bay packers that could be a problem but just like normal i'd assume the offense and the defense will just kind of do their thing here we go we'll go win this game yeah it's kind of the same thing as always like you just hope that that isn't the reason that they potentially lose a game like the offense and like the way the defense has been playing i mean they they gave up a bunch of rushing yards but you know they had four turnovers like i think they can do enough to kind of mask the other areas but i mean we'll see that is a big deal and i don't know how many guys are used to kicking in, you know, negative 20 degree wind chills.

If guys are available right now, right. You know, week 17, if guys are, people got hurt, people came in, people got cut, people came in week 17. If somebody is available right now, especially with how Lambeau is now, now let's not even get into the holding for Mason Crosby situation. Anyways, I wouldn't have been able to do it. Roger hold. Anyways, I wouldn't have been able to do it anyways i wouldn't have been able to do it with the uh the fan door deal inevitably i think that would have been a bit of a conflict

of interest somehow well also you weren't sucking covet through a straw but you have been sucking down some ice cold dopes lately whoa not me i wouldn't miss any games i wouldn't miss it that's right i i don't know what they would have done, but I did think about that as well. Once again, this is all happening while I'm sitting down drinking one of those cans. And I'm seeing it, and I'm like, well, is there a chance? Once again, this is going to sound arrogant, but it's real. And I know other people that host shows say things like, oh, people ask me to do this, and people ask me to do this.

I've been asked by numerous teams through the last couple years, do I want to come back and do anything. Numerous times because I have a lot of friends around the league and we all see the kicking punting situation. We all see what happens in some teams. So I get a lot of people that ask. This is the first one where nobody asked and I was like,

what's that all about? Did I fucking lose it? Then I start sitting there and I start thinking about the whole thing and then I mean immediately upon standing up from the couch, it was like – just shot down the leg. It was like, oh, so we're all making this decision. I don't think the dope would have mattered, Nick. Maybe they just thought, oh, we saw the deal that Pat just got from FanDuel.

I don't think he needs to be kicking balls right now. Oh, God. But if that team wins, this could be – This could be two years here where. Get you one of these. Get you one of these. Hey. I think I'd put it on a pinky, by the way.

I think this pinky ring would no longer exist. I think I would get it on a pinky. You know, can't ever wear it, but when I do wear it, think about how hilarious that's going to be. Pretty good. A lot of Hauser families. You know what I mean? Just jumping.

Joining us now, a man who has all the inside information on maybe who's going to punt for the Packers and everything else going around the NFL, Mr. Ian Rapoport. Insider for the NFL and the NFL Network and host of the weekly wrap-up with Rap Sheet and Friends, us being the friends. Ian, Corey Bohorquez, potentially out for the Green Bay Packers, which is what we were just speaking of. We'll get to all the other headlines around the NFL

that you might know information. Who's going to go kick for them up there? Is that going to be the Scottish Hammer? Is Jamie Gillen going to punt up there? Who's going to punt for them if Bojo can't go-go on Sunday Night Football? Yeah, I don't know. I don't know.

You fucking stink. It's a punter. You know, I mean, it's like, not saying anything, like, my favorite TV host is a punter. Well, I would say was a punter. Or whatever. This isn't a TV. Whatever medium this is. So I do appreciate punters once they exit the nfl when they're in the nfl

just kind of like you go out there you do your thing sometimes you get blocked and everyone's like oh my god and then that's kind of you just go back to the sideline all righty and every single punter in the league could dunk on you in every single facet of life and that's not for us right now to chat about and if you get any inside information on who's going to be punting for the packers yeah it's a pretty big deal because special teams up there... I mean, they may not even punt this week. Sometimes they don't even

punt. So that's always the thing about being a punter, you know. Hey, no offense, Pat, but I want to see you out there. I'm like, hey, me neither, dude. I'd like to win, but this is football, and it's the NFL. There's a chance we're going to have to kick a ball. And if you have somebody who's good, can help you out. If you have somebody bad, can fuck you over.

Let's get to speaking of being fucked over. A lot of people who maybe had to do the 10-day thing, that were non-vaccinated, that got COVID, very pissed off about the five-day thing. Darius Leonard all the way back. Carson Wentz, is he going to be able to be back by game time, you think? Is that kind of the projection and expectation here for Carson? You know, that is the projection for Carson. Let's talk about him specifically first. You know, usually we've been talking about for two years,

two seasons now, guys being cleared off the COVID list and, you know, might they be cleared? What's the test going to show? Timing is kind of right right it's always been kind of a what-if situation and it's really not like that anymore i mean based on the cdc regulations in the nfl and the nflpa adopting those and kind of morphing them to what it needs to be for the nfl it's really no longer like does carson wentz get cleared like his five days are going to be up on sunday morning i guess assuming he's not horribly sick like your symptoms don't even have to go away they just have to have decreased and you have to get cleared by a doctor so like yeah we're gonna see carson he doesn't need a negative test like we are going to see him on sunday so it's just five days hey they're away for five

days or so they're good is that just non-vaccinated players? What about vaccinated players? If they end up testing positive, do they have to test negative to get out, or their symptoms just have to go down? If you're vaccinated, the benefit that you have is you can get out before five days. So, like, if you're unvaccinated, it is five days, and then you can be cleared. If you are vaccinated, then you could be cleared let's say on the fourth day so it's like a small how you test other stuff like test out test out you can test out yes so if they can't produce a negative if the vaccinated person can't produce a negative test which by the way i couldn't

produce a negative test for 11 days and i was vaccinated and had it but I didn't have symptoms for like five, six days. And at that point in time, we had no idea what the world was. What made them make this decision? So vaccinated players can test out with a negative in four days. Non-vaccinated players just have to do a five-day sentence. And if their symptoms go down, which is going to naturally happen with any sickness, right? I mean, it's going to go down. I mean, unless it lasts longer than five days where they're just embattled which would be a good on good luck to you if that's the case

so basically that's the new standard and are they only going to test on mondays and tuesdays uh there's going to be the spot testing which i believe is earlier in the week and might not always be monday but i believe it's early in the week so figure monday or tuesday which would mean theoretically you'd be able to be cleared for Sunday. And then the other people who get tested are people who have symptoms, which, you know, I know there are some people doubting how many players would say, like, I have symptoms. There's been a lot. A lot of, like, real dudes who would prefer not to infect their whole team more than they already had.

And then there's people who are close contacts vaccinated or not there's people who want to be there's a lot of people getting tested um but yeah after five days like that's that's basically it um and it's unbelievable how many people have it i mean in the country in the world in the nfl like it's unbelievable at some point i'm like i don't know how soon it's going to be figured it'll be soon like at some point you reach a thing where like everyone's had it so it should be going and then you could do the we beat covid celebration again well listen we've been doing a little bit too much of that around here and we did a lot of do you think that's why it came back don't you think we did we gave bulletin board material you think we gave

bulletin board material just like you we gave bulletin board material? You don't think COVID's reading that? I know what they're saying publicly, but you don't think COVID's reading that and being like, okay. Listen, a couple of quick things because this can tie together. And COVID understands this a lot better than you guys. So you guys, and not all of you, not you specifically, but reporters now have started taking shit talk in the game

or at the game and acting as if it's bulletin board material. Right. I just heard Josh Allen say they're confused about who the fuck I am around here. It's like, well, he's in the stadium. It's still in the game. And then Aaron Rodgers, do you think him saying that he owns somebody after scoring a touchdown is bulletin board material?

It's like, are we going to dissect everything that has been said on a field and act like that's bulletin board material in the state in the sphere of competition in the arena of competition and act like that's not normal covet understood okay that we were in the middle of a fucking battle covet understood that there was a little bit of and i'm a celebratory guy people have seen me i punted good punts i remember i was excited so covet knew me covid understood i don't think they put it on their bulletin board material i don't think this is a michael jordan utah jazz coach walking through the restaurant oh that's all i needed i don't think covid's treating us like that at all i hope not if it is we got a lot of explaining

i'm kind of with you by the way, in that when someone says something on the – like there's microphones everywhere now. I feel like we have more as fans and people who like football, we have more access to sound and everything than ever before. So like, you know, Stefan Diggs saying some things to fans, I don't know what it was. Could have been anything really. I mean, I kind of do think I know what it was, but was could have been anything really i mean i kind of do think i know

what it was but it could be anything theoretically um you know like it's okay that we hear that i don't think that gives anyone anything like you know it's to me it has to be more of like a premeditated not in the moment yes outside the arena in a microphone you want it out there like like i think in the competition you can't judge it and i think all these reporters that are reporting these things are only exposing themselves for literally never playing a sport in their life i think i think that is that is something on the field there are things that you say it's actually the same thing when you see like a like a head coach and like a quarterback into an argument people like oh i'm like

a player talk back to his coach. That happened 65 times a game. It also, you know, when Allen and Payne threw on each other on the sideline, obviously you never wanted to get to that point. Ever, ever, ever. But also, that has happened before in the

NFL. It will happen again in the NFL. And it's just, what do we know? What don't we know? What should we expect? What shouldn't we expect? Maybe it was because we danced and celebrated COVID being over that it has stuck around in the fashion that it has. If you look at, and this is research that was told

to me by somebody that was on the show, maybe you actually. It might have been you. South Africa had what? A five-week run with Omicron? I did break that on this show. Yeah, it was South African medical history news that Ian Rappaport broke. The Omicron ran wild for five, six weeks

or something like that. Then they saw a fall off on that. Do we know how far we are into this in our country, which is much bigger, much more spread out, a lot more people? Are we in the same? I mean, I don't even want to get into the chart we in the same? I mean, I don't even want to get into the chart, the flattening, I don't even want to get into that whole thing, but are we in

the same trajectory? Have you followed up with your research? I would say I've, I spend my life following up on research. Do you want to hear something really sad? This is pathetic, but every night before I go to bed, I always read the Washington Post before I go to bed, which is weird, I'm sure, but whatever. I always check the COVID graphs that they always have on the front page. And the graphs are now going like this. It's literally like this, which is just like where South Africa was probably like three weeks ago. So you think, I mean, the amount of people who have it, we set a record yesterday, figured that's like a third of the people actually have it because so many people are taking home tests now.

So at some point it's going to go like this. So just based on my scientific calculations, and again, I'm not a scientist for a doctor, I would say mid-January it's going to probably be doing this. We beat COVID! We beat COVID! We know it! We know it! We knew it!

Now listen, we've got to kneel the ball out here, okay? We've got to kneel the ball out here. We've got to take care of our business. Mid-January, though, right before Super Bowl. Is that COVID calling you? Was that COVID calling you right there? No, that was my wife telling me that our boys who are, let's just say, at home for an extended period of time, as of right now,

aren't eating lunch. So I'll be eating lunch with them after I redo this. I don't want to... The homie homie came through the house right there? Oh, no. I mean, look, it's the whole world. It's the whole world. Oh, no, it's teasing...

Dude, hey, we hope you're okay. The whole Rapport family. We don't want the whole Rappaport family know Is that breaking news right now? Is it? I mean, I hadn't seen it Here's an insider With insider information

On what's going on inside his house Ian Rappaport I don't want to break the news, but Ian Rappaport and his family are currently testing positive for... It's all the crime. Oh, no, we hope you're okay. I wouldn't say currently, previously. Well, there's some members currently, some members previously.

Well, Dr. Drew told us, and there's going to be people that immediately upon me saying Dr. Drew told us, get very upset that I even said that. But allegedly, Dr. Drew has said, and he upset that I even said that, but allegedly Dr. Drew has said, and he's, he's not a real doctor is what people say. Ian, I actually asked him yesterday. Is he not? Well, I, I, I. Should I have known that? Well, I thought he was a doctor. Then I read the internet.

I was like, maybe this guy isn't a doctor. Maybe we didn't do the right thing for the show. Bring a doctor on, ask him, Hey, are you a fucking, first question. Are you a fucking doctor? And he said, yeah, people shit on me all the time but he said that uh he has a doctor he was a doctor by the way eight degrees or something like that but he gets dunked on every day i think on the internet i don't know how dr drew does it mental toughness incredible good on him he said once you're testing positive for it though here's all his degrees he is a doctor okay he is a doctor we

had to we checked because this program cannot be known for misinformation especially fake doctors okay i can't have that but um unless it's dr joe rogan anyways he said once you test positive for this the virality in his recent his opinion uh the virality of the omnicron once you test test positive for it, it's almost no longer contagious. So I think they don't even really know how to test for this particular variant without crazy it's been running. And we're also in the middle, and I don't want to compare, it's nowhere near the same as the two things I'm about to say. But over here, where we have four seasons at in middle America, it's also cold and flu season. So everybody who's potentially feeling something

has a thought, oh shit, I have this. Probably more people getting tested than ever, right? If I had to get probably more people getting tested than ever. By a lot, I'm sure. So we have these numbers going. And I don't, does the NFL want to continue to adjust these protocols? Are they just going to wait for the CDC or other people to do it? Because going from 10 days to five days, not having to test negative is massive.

Having to test me earlier in the week from IQVIA, by the way. It's not IQVIA. I had some very smart person tell me, hey, I have a friend who used to work at IQVIA, by the way. That's how they pronounce it, whatever the case. $51.8 billion. Pretty good. Pretty good.

They're a pretty big deal. They're the ones spot testing the people I get or deciding who's getting spot tested. If they're doing it early in the week, it's a five-day sentence. This is the NFL and the NFLPA figuring this out And that if they're doing it early in the week, it's five day sentence. This is the NFL and the NFL PA figuring this out. And then they're only going to adapt as a CDC adapts. Or you think they're going to continue to do their own research?

I think the way it's been, it basically all of it, right. It's like they have a team of doctors. Dr. Alan Sills has been leading and working with the NFL PA as the science changes. And as the weirdest thing of all of this is like the virus has changed.

And so what was true last year might not necessarily be true this year. Like one of the obviously main things, as we've discussed, is that Omicron generally, especially among vaccinated people, does not have severe, serious symptoms. It has not had the hospitalization. It has not had the deaths. It is different from last year. And so the NFL and the NFLPA have adjusted to that. You know, I don't know if we're going to see continued adjustments. I would imagine teams will stay in the masked inside, enhanced protocols,

no eating together. I would imagine they'd stay with that through the playoffs just because it's not that hard. It's wear a mask. It's not that hard and keeps everyone a little safer. I'll be also curious, next year, are we still going to be doing this? Are we still going to be testing? I have a million questions, but as always with COVID, I don't even know what's going to happen next week.

Was that like a New Year joke? Was that like a three days from now thing? No, I mean like next season. Are we still going to be doing this next season? I have no idea what the landscape should be like next season. Hey, I might be in my own world, which I am, and I apologize to everybody if this sounds ignorant. I don't think anybody I'm speaking to thinks this thing has lasted much longer.

I mean, maybe I'm wrong. Next season? This thing is still going to be getting us? Is that real? Is that what you're hearing, Ian? What's that? Next season? I mean, I have no idea.

I thought this was going to be over like four times ago. I've celebrated at least two different times that it was over, and it clearly is not. Well, we've done seven, eight nights. It was Ian's fault. You're dancing on a grave. You're a journalist. I'm in the fight with you.

In private. In private. They've seen journalist. I'm in the fight with you. In private. In private. They've seen it. COVID knows everything. Please do not put that in the universe. Please do not put the next season us still battling. That's a long time from now. Let's hope we're out of there.

Let's move along to some other football stuff. Ben Roethlisberger basically says he's retiring after this season without saying it, inviting former teammates and family to come watch what could be potentially his last game at Heinz on Monday Night Football against the Cleveland Browns. I mean, just an absolutely storybook-style ending. The team obviously wishes they had a much better record this season and could do these things differently. Zito and Diggs made this graphic.

All right, thank you, 7-7. People call him 7? Yeah. Oh, All right, thank you, 7. Do people call him 7? Yeah. Oh, wow. Ian. Oh, wow. In sports, he wears the number 7, Ian. This is just natural to call him 7, you know what I mean?

What are you hearing about that? Does everybody in the building already kind of know that this was going to happen? Was this the case? Yeah. Yeah, I think when they did the contract and he accepted the pay cut, I think everyone knew this would be it. And, you know, Ben is he's he's awesome and he's got a million lives. And in a weird way, like I will kind of miss him.

He's been on the injury report, I think, every day over the last two decades. He has been very upfront with his injuries, very open. And as someone who covers a lot of injuries, I've done a lot of injury reporting on Ben Roethlisberger. He also says what he thinks uh and you know i think the way he came into the league the troubles he faced were massive and have been covered very well by people before i really started this but he seems to have turned into someone who treats people with a lot of respect and does it the right way seems like um and he's been a great quarterback. And I think for the Steelers, there's a lot of reasons why they have been consistently good every year. I mean, they're not even really that good this year, and they're still pretty good,

and they still have a chance at the playoffs. Like, he's been amazing. I would say next year, my guess is they go after a veteran so they don't have to restart because they have so much there already, so much infrastructure. Like, that is such a desirable place for a veteran quarterback to go, I think. Yeah, Pittsburgh used to be the place I would vacation in the offseason. Obviously, that's where you want to go to. You know, it kind of toughens you up as soon as you land there.

Ain't that right, Foxy? 100%. I love that place. See, Foxy's from Detroit, which everybody says is a gritty city. You land in Pittsburgh, you go, oh, this place birthed grit, basically. This is the home of the nation. Yeah, this is the father of the

entire country. You're welcome for the steel that built your cities that are definitely gritty and rust spout and blue collar. But the reason why it's called rust spout is because rust ends up on what? Steel. Steel. Well, not stainless. Well, we didn't create that. I mean,

that was probably created somewhere in a hill. I like Pittsburgh. What's that, buddy? I like Pittsburgh. You're fucking right you do, Ian. Yeah, Ian, what do you say? What does that even mean? Is that a surprise? Yes, you like Pittsburgh. Obviously, you like Pittsburgh. No, I mean, I don't know if we've talked about this. My two favorite things about Pittsburgh. One, you get to drive through mountains,burgh obviously no i mean i don't know if we've talked about this two my two favorite things about pittsburgh one you get to drive through mountains which is very cool yeah

you don't get to do that in a lot of i wish we had more lanes i mean in those mountains it would have been a little bit better forethought there early if they would have made a couple more mountains are what they are i mean so and then the other thing is the way they have i mean we talked about this i'm sure but like the way they do sandwiches i just so appreciate you just take everything you just put it on a sandwich and then the sandwich is basically the whole city is based around the sandwich it's it's genius i just i respect it so much okay the sandwich was created because of the steel mill workers didn't have enough time to have lunch because they were birthing america so they put the entire lunch

on the one sandwich so you're saying the city revolves around the sandwich you're close you're just missing one chapter the sandwich was created because say it say it you created the city or the world steel mills you would never get it okay play tennis Play tennis somewhere, please. Jesus, Luis. Thank you, Steelworkers. Thank you. Thank you, Pittsburgh. Steelworkers. Great job. Let's move around here.

Baker Mayfield's wife posts on Instagram again about how negative everybody is to her husband, which I would assume is not cool at all to be a significant other of a high-profile athlete or person. You have to see and hear things about somebody you love and care for deeply. You see them whenever they're not on the field or not at practice or not on the internet, when they're icing their bodies or not being able to move. You care deeply about this person. So whenever people start saying things, which is what the internet is, you can take it personal. Is there any future conversations over there in Cleveland with Baker? Is that already cooking? Is that happening? How do you see that playing out? I haven't heard any future conversations with Baker. Playing out is a good way of describing

it because that's kind of what it's been. I mean, this year was supposed to be a played out year. They didn't have any discussions on a new contract before the year. I think everybody was on the same page with like, let's see what happens. And I hate i hate to say this but like i'm not even sure how much we learned this year you know like he's been really good at times he's been not as good he's playing with a torn labrum so like how do we even judge what kind of player he is when he's so injured and has been injured in a variety of different ways right so i mean he's tough as hell which is great and i think teammates really like him which is great but on the field like i could make an argument either way so we'll see what happens in the offseason but like i'm not sure we've learned

anything and like i'm not we'll see what they end up doing but i wouldn't even be surprised if they say you know what let's just play it out again okay because they picked up that fifth year option right so they have that available they could potentially would they have to trade him or cut him how would that work out if he was if they were to move on from baker they wouldn't have to they wouldn't have to cut him if let's say they were going to move on like somebody would trade for baker mayfield because you know i i happen to think he's pretty good not everybody everybody thinks that. But he is a starting quarterback in the NFL. Somebody will trade for a starting quarterback. You should never have to cut any starting quarterback.

Someone will trade for him. So the reason why I asked that following what you said about the Steelers getting a veteran quarterback, is Baker Mayfield potentially going to be a Pittsburgh Steeler? A lot of people are saying, you know, in Pittsburgh they're saying Aaron Rodgers. How you doing, Aaron? Come on in. Mr. Rodgers' neighborhood. Come on back. are saying, you know, in Pittsburgh, they're saying Aaron Rodgers. How you doing, Aaron? Come on in. Mr. Rodgers' neighborhood.

Come on back. You know, we love that whole thing. Russell Wilson's going to be on the move, potentially. I saw Minnesota Vikings fans saying, don't let Kirk Cousins get to move over. He's a veteran quarterback that could end up there.

Deshaun Watson, I guess, depending upon what happens. Mariota, is he going to be out there? Mitchell Trubisky, is that all the names? Is there any other? Nick Foles, what's Nick Foles doing? What is Nick Foles up to? What are these names you're naming here?

Not just for the Steelers, but for the quarterback market. Baker does make the most sense for the Steelers, really, if you think about it. Yeah, but if you're going to trade him in the division, you'd have to think he's terrible, and I don't think they do that. It'd have to be like Donovan McNabb. I think when he gets traded in the division, everyone's like, this is going to be good. That's why Donovan McNabb is so cold-shouldered towards everybody.

Did you hear that? Donovan McNabb chilling at his house right now. Chilling, having a great time. And all of a sudden sudden ian's like if they tread you within the division that means they think you are absolutely trash as a player and a human just like and then he even says his name i mean that is wild ian that is unbelievable you don't like that time now he had a lot of great super bowl and he had some great moments a lot of title games but at that time i think it was clear it was are those all the quarterbacks though that are going to be in the market you think for uh these teams that are

definitely going to be needing a quarterback and there's no college quarterbacks coming out well i mean you know look at the teams who could potentially trade for quarterbacks like i mean we could just go through all of them let's say like las vegas raiders right i think derrick carr is going to stay but if they have a new coach who wants to start new, could he be on the move? The Giants are one of the rumored spots for maybe Russell Wilson. Okay, well, let's say that's a possibility that Daniel Jones would go. I mean, it could be.

Denver, Carolina. Oh, let's do this. Let's do this. Giants, you just mentioned there. Denver, Carolina, Pittsburgh, maybe Cleveland, San Francisco. Are they going to move on from Jimmy G and go to Trey Lance? Jimmy G is probably going to be available, yep. There's a lot of places that are going to need a quarterback.

So what are they? Are they all just going to shuffle spots? Is that what's going to happen? Who's going to be left out? This is like when Jameis ended up having to take a million-dollar deal with New Orleans because Tom Brady was available, Phil Rivers was available, Drew Brees was available.

It feels like there's a lot of quarterbacks that I don't know if – you know, I don't – And it adds to it this year, there doesn't seem to be a lot in the draft who people think are NFL ready. Like, we'll see. Who knows what they're going to become, but it's not like you're going to say, like, all right, this guy's our day one starter. So to me, there's really only two options.

It could be like this past year where everyone thinks everyone's going everywhere and we just get a couple moves or everyone could literally go everywhere. And our entire offseason would be where are all the different quarterbacks moving around, which let's just say you're someone who would like to have good, fun topics on a television-slash-internet show. It would be good for you.

It would be great, man. This is numerous times that we've gone in these offseasons with big hopes, and I think it's because we're young in the game. We're like, oh, my God, this is going to happen. We're waiting until four. We'll wait until four. We will wait until four, and then nothing happens. It's like this stinks, dude.

Is this how it's always going to be? But it feels like owners are getting a little bit more antsy about having success. So maybe they'll continue to pick up. Go ahead, Tom. And more willing to move. More willing to trade. By far. Yeah, I think so, too.

It's starting to become that. And although some people are, don't make this the NBA! I think it's great for the fans and definitely for us. Go ahead, Tom. Why not? Ian, we've all seen the video of Lamar Jackson limping around on that miscolored grass yesterday. There's no way he plays, right?

It's bluegrass, dude. Come on. Yeah. My wife is from Mississippi. She knows a lot about grass. We had a whole conversation about this yesterday, how it's dormant. We don't need to go through it. Anyway, I saw the video, too.

My wife's from Mississippi. I don't know if it was alarming, but it was definitely noteworthy that he is. Grass? But he's a starting quarterback who's on the field on a Wednesday for a game that his team has to win. To me, this feels like he's going to play. I mean, we'll see what happens, see if he's back today. That's a big thing, too.

But almost always this season, when a starting quarterback has been on the field on a Wednesday, he has played. I'm sure he's not going to be 100%, you know that if like humanly possible he is going to want to be out there guys i wrap sheet with all the news of jacksonville starting to move forward on their new coaching search uh are most of these teams going to just wait until black monday or do you anticipate this upcoming weekend a couple more of these like kind of lame duck coaches to get shit canned what's going on there i uh i kind of feel like everyone's gonna wait you know like there was this new rule that we all spent so much time on talking about you can interview guys

before the season and jacksonville still setting up stuff so it is theoretically possible um that they interview guys but i'm not sure why they would you know i'm just thinking because like let's say you're jackson you interview Byron Lefkowitz and he squeezes you in for 45 minutes between game planning for whoever they play this week. Is that really worth it? Wouldn't you rather get through the season, wait, spend three hours with him, and do a real interview? So I don't know how many people actually take advantage of this new rule.

And you look around the league, Chicago kind of is what it is. But there's other places that have questions, like let's say Minnesota. They could make the playoffs or they could not. And that might decide what they do. So there's some, there's a bunch of situations that I think really do need to play out. Ian, we can't thank you enough for joining us, pal. I appreciate you every single week. I'm excited to see how this entire season works.

There's so many teams in play. Who knows who could go on a run? You're talking about Derek Carr maybe being done in Las Vegas because they have to maybe turn the whole thing around. Well, they make the playoffs. They make the playoffs. What if they make the playoffs? I mean, there is gloom and doom that could potentially become penthouse life

for all teams basically at this point. But there's no man. It's Versace. Let's go. Hey, how's your family? How's your family? We can't thank you enough. Thanks for battling through COVID to do this.

Ladies and gentlemen, Ian Rappaport. And that's me! 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 when the moment comes let's not come too quick oh here we go that is not what they had in their copy.

Okay. They should. That was, I think they're going in a different direction. So let's go back a sentence or two. Okay. Okay. When the moment comes, you want to be ready. Hell yeah.

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An absolute stud. A man I can't wait to chat with in the middle of his Thursday. We can't thank him enough for his time. And I want to remind you guys, you, you, you, and you, shut the fuck up when this man is speaking. An absolute superstar, Stephon Dill. Yeah! Hey, man, what up, dude?

What's up, boys? How y'all doing? Hey, we're great. Now, hey, thank you for coming on the middle of your Thursday. I know we sent in a request a little bit late here. You making time for us. We're very, very thankful for. You told them Merry Christmas. Have you been on the record to clear up what you potentially told

those four mass holes in the front row? I actually had a quick talk with my mom after the game. She actually had some good words for me to see what I said if I was embarrassing her on TV. And I said, Mom, I was doing my best Oprah Winfrey impression. You know how she said, you get a car, you get a car, you get a car. There we go. And there's a lot of people there.

And the way the audio was, you know, it's kind of – I think only the U's really made it through somehow very clear. And it sounded like U, but it's Boston too. You never know. It's that new technology. The new technology, you can't trust it. They'll make up anything. Hey, what a win for you guys.

And I know you have a game this weekend against the Falcons, and we're getting ready for playoff football. And this has been something that this team has been kind of building towards, not only all season, but the last few years. It's been awesome to watch you guys go. Going into Foxborough and getting a win like that, and obviously we're on Thursday, looking back is crazy. But that's something I assume you guys expected at this point

because of all the work you've put in and the team that you had. And did it feel like a big weight lifted off your shoulder? Or is that just like kind of how you guys are whenever you win games? No, I was more so seeing our quarterback play at a high level and, you know, making plays and seeing Isaiah McKenzie step up with some guys being down. It was like one of those wins that hopefully it gave us that momentum that we needed. You know, we needed to get in a row. We needed to stack needed to stack some wins and you know we really wanted to do that so uh as far as i had a first game when we knew we didn't play our best football like including myself i was just like you know i want another shot at i want another shot and of course we played them like a week or two later so i was like this it'll come back around nice hey how long in your time in buffalo

did it take until you realized like hey, hey, this dude is special? Like, Josh Allen, his arm strength, everything he can do. Like, you're always available, and you always seem to find a way to come back to the ball, and he loves to find you. Did you learn that early on, like, day one? Yeah, we had, like, a throwing session in Miami, like, early on. That's when I first had met him, and I was like, damn, he got a strong arm. But it wasn't until, like, game one, game two, when I saw him running around and throwing, liming off of him and still completing passes.

I was like, damn, this kid can actually hoop. Like, he can ball. I might have found a special one. So I was extremely excited. But that's when I really knew after the first couple games. Stephon, I should have done a little bit more research. Where are you from originally? I'm from Maryland.

Maryland. OK, so you're from Maryland. and Josh Allen is from this part. Over there. Yeah. Montana. Is he in Montana? No, upstate California. Yeah, whatever the case is.

You guys, have you gelled immediately? Because there's the handshakes. Because I think whenever you went to Buffalo, right, myself included, and all of us watching the whole thing happen, it was like, what the hell happened? Then we had Bean on the show, general manager, and he was like, as soon as I found out basically that Stefan was potentially available, I wanted to make a play immediately.

Is that kind of why you felt so welcomed in Buffalo? Because the head, the top guy wanted you. And then you and Josh just seemed to click immediately? Was that a friendship thing that you just kind of noticed immediately upon getting in Buffalo? It was different? It kind of seemed like, you know, I was wanted. You know, it was a place that, you know, it was a family environment. It was a good environment.

It was a healthy environment, and I was wanted, and I felt loved off the rip, especially from the quarterback position. You know, I didn't really know Josh that well, but we played video games. We did that whole thing. Usually, that type of shit is sometimes fake. In our situation, it wasn't fake at all. I genuinely, to this day,

I say that's my brother for a reason because he embraced me. He didn't listen to anything that Naysayer said or anybody said about me. He said, I'm going to go in with an open mind and let him show me who he is. We've we've been we've been rocking ever since we talked to poyer we're very lucky to get a chance to chat with him and he is such a good chip on the shoulder guy like yeah i mean he how is the locker room how's the chemistry over there it feels like looking at your team it would be a blast to be a member of the buffalo bills yeah

it's a it's a lot of fun especially you, we talk a lot of shit over here, especially coming from the safety position. You know, those two light skin, those two light skin guys can play over there. I make fun of them all the time. I'm fit and soft, but I got a lot of respect for them, especially J-Po. He's one of those guys that play with a chip on their shoulder. And I feel like that's kind of what this team is made of as well. Like a lot of guys late, late round or like doubted and that kind of thing. And everybody used to having their back against the wall. So, you know, it's a good makeup. Jeez, what about the fans there?

Are they what you expected? Did they exceed your expectations? We know jumping through tables, build-os on the field. What has it been compared to what you thought it may be? Has there been build-os on the field? We have not had boots on the ground. Has a build-o made its way onto the field this year? I haven't.

I heard about that. I heard about that actually happening. I haven't seen any. Play it off. But I think they're on the way. They probably are on the way. Look, wait. Watch out for COVID on those things.

You know what I mean? Especially Omnicron. Oh, my God. Omnicron would be all over those. But anyways, I'm sorry. Go back to Bills Mafia. That's all. No, they're, I mean mean they're the best fans i've

ever uh encountered i only had two fan bases but i mean you know fans around the league but uh bills mafia is definitely probably you can ask anybody that's played here they're probably the craziest fans you'll ever have they be in the cold you know last year we had clinched the playoffs and i figured i figured it was at least 10 000 people waiting for us at the airport you driving through their beating on your car just to be happy to make it to the playoffs so uh we're thankful we're thankful more thankful for them because you know they push us in the right spot especially on game day uh digs family best ball skills in the history of the nfl i mean that's it's it's an argument there you know i haven't seen too many brothers with with with these good of hands it's really my brother's hands but you

know mine's mine's only worked on a couple days of the week. No, I saw a commercial. What is it? Remember, it was right after the miracle. You caught something. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, shit.

This guy can really catch. You know what I mean? That was... Hey, all right. Go ahead, Nick. Stevon, do you and your brother talk during the season or is it just all business

all the time? And have you guys thought about, you know, maybe meeting up in the Super Bowl? No, we talk every day. I'm not allowed to even say it's all business because we talk literally. He'll call me every day. He'll talk to me

before the game, right after the game. We talk pretty much every day. That's my brother. There's nothing abnormal about it. It's not all business. We joke. We laugh. We're pretty serious. I'm in competition right now. I told him I'm trying to have more touchdown that he has picks.

You know, I think one is harder than the other, but I'm not going to say which one it is. But we definitely had a relationship, though, that we are tight knit. He seems to be a magnet for the ball. I mean, it is in some of the catches he's making are similar to some of the catches that you may not better. I mean, the humbleness there. the catches he's making are similar to some of the catches that you made. Not better, though. I mean, the humbleness there. Apples and oranges, right? Yeah.

And that's your brother. That is actually your brother, Aiden, though. Is that the coolest kid of all time? I feel like he needs his own TV show ASAP. Yes. He's got some reality TV. I think he can have a reality TV show, especially, you know, Dallas over here is a lot of fun. I need to get down there.

Last couple questions here. We know you're in the middle of your day. We appreciate you. Whenever you think about Cole Beasley's rapping, does he have the team listen to that before he releases that? Are you a part of the... He always

gives us a sneak peek typically before like before he drops something he let us know he tried to see if we if we mess with it or not and i'll be like this i'll give him my honest opinion but cole can really rap though like you see a lot of guys that you know it's a lot of athletes i think they can rap but he's one of those guys that actually can rap yeah we think he's actually really and also i mean he put a diss track on covid yeah and he doesn't play any games he doesn't play any games. He doesn't play any games. No.

He goes in there ready for a step on. Yeah. So be careful. Be careful. Just be careful. No, I'm on his side. In the rap game. Hold on.

I don't agree with everything. Hold on. I forget myself. No, no. In the rapping. I'm talking about in the rapping. Geez, I'm talking about the talent. Woo!

Going into this time of football, this time of year, you know, everybody talks about the cold weather, and the weather in Buffalo is insane. And the way your team is built is a high-flying, Josh Allen's making throws, you're making catches. Do you hear that noise that was coming, and is that a part of the thing you were talking about, having a big game and Josh having a big game

and shutting everybody up? Is that kind of what you guys are referring to, saying you guys are built not for the Buffalo weather or for the long haul, the way you're like a high-flying offense almost? Do you guys hear that? Is that something you do here and there? I mean, we hear it a lot. I mean, this whole year has been one of those years that we haven't had that much good weather. We've had rain games.

Damn near every time we played, it was raining. Damn near every time we had some type of elements. Like, we played the Patriots first time. It was 60 miles per hour wind. I've never been a part of anything like that. But, you know, our offense has just got to find a way to win. Like, we got the quarterback that can make every throw. Like, he had a hell of a throw when we played the Patriots the first time.

And I dropped it. I just couldn't find it. I'm like, damn, our quarterback's doing everything right. We just got to help him out. And the elements, damn sure. You can say they don't play a part, but I remember last year the Ravens had to come and play us, and that was tough for them, too. One, it was cold.

Two, it was windy. And we're used to it. So, you know, hopefully we got some of the competitive edge. Yeah, I mean, it's windy, snowy with a chance of bell doves. That is a tough, it's going, snowy, with a chance of bill does. That is a tough, it's going to be a tough out up there. Enjoy the rest of your afternoon. Good luck the rest of the way,

and thank you for making some time here on this Thursday. Thanks, fellas. I appreciate y'all. Yeah, you too, man. Ladies and gentlemen, Stephon Diggs. Thank you. Joining us now is a man we're all so excited to see. The best jawline in all of sports, college football national champion, Super Bowl champion, Ryder Cup champion, COVID champion. Ladies and gentlemen, A.J. Hall.

Let's go, Centerville. Yeah. That's right. What's going on? I hear it's a big college football day, huh? We're talking too much college football right now because there's no Thursday night football Thursday, December 30th, 2021 right now. We're experiencing it. But Luke Fickle's boys have a massive opportunity tomorrow,

AJ. I know you and Luke text on a daily basis. You probably spoke to the Bearcats this week about winning a massive game like you did your freshman year as a national champion for the Ohio State. Have you reached out to every single one of the Bearcats individually and said, State. I mean, have you reached out to every single one of the Bearcats individually and said, you're representing Ohio tomorrow. Our Ohio State didn't get the job done. Cincinnati did. Go ahead and wear this state with

pride. Go ahead and represent Luke Fickle in that linebacker room in which he was firstly assistant coach in Ohio State and what he represents tomorrow. Have you sent that message to every Bearcat on the roster, AJ? Yeah, pretty much that exact thing. I got the whole contact list of the squad from Luke, and he said,

here you go, have at it. Please bug my guys at all times of the night. Okay, so let's start talking about the guys that are on that team. What is your favorite part of that Bearcat squad, and who on that defense do you think really needs to step up and make a big play tomorrow? What, am I calling the game? Am I supposed to give you the right to choose?

Oh, this guy doesn't even know who's on the team. This guy doesn't even know who's on the team. Come on. What about number 52, right? He was the guy. What's his name? Yeah, Keith Lee. The Bearcat.

Yeah. I saw that guy wrestle, actually. Incredible athlete. Incredible athlete. He's not playing for the Bearcats. I thought that. I think he's like. The Bearcat. I think he's like 30 or something like that. I do believe. He looks good for 30. He's not playing for the Bearcats. I thought – I think he's like – The Bearcat.

I think he's like 30 or something like that, I do believe. He looks good for 30. He looks great. I miss him. I miss him around. But you've got to think about Cook down there, nose tackle. He's going to have to eat, you know, that Alabama offensive line. Good job, Zeke.

And on the offensive – What's that? What did you say? Nothing. Take your earpieces out and tell me. I will. I Nothing. Take your earpieces out and tell me the rest of it. I will. I will. Take my earpieces out.

Kobe Bryant. I don't think he's given up a touchdown his entire career at corner. He's got incredible length in how quick he is and how agile he is. And he's actually changing his number from seven to eight to honor his namesake, Kobe Bryant. See, I mean, so this is what we're talking about. We don't live in the – when the linebacker pace starts flying around out there,

everybody knows, hey, they go as he goes on the defensive side of the ball. But what we're saying is you should know a little bit more. Isn't Luke Fickle like your actual friend? He has a massive, massive day ahead of him tomorrow, representing for so many schools. And I know that can't be his messaging to the team, but I hope he does acknowledge how cool it is that that team is even in there. And we just didn't cover 13 and a half.

Oh, I think he absolutely knows and is very excited. I reached out to him earlier when they got into the playoffs to tell him how excited I was for him. But Luke, you've met and talked to Luke. You probably know even from the little bit you talked to him. I've even asked him before a couple years ago. was like hey do you ever uh you ever like enjoy it you ever smile and say like this is cool what i'm doing here because he's like changed since that and he's just so like humble and he's like come on yeah you know miss i got so many boneheads i gotta deal with every day like he just he's always working i

think right now he's definitely excited but he's is laser focused. Hey, born and raised in Ohio, Luke Fickle? Yeah, three-time state champ, wrestler in high school. Yeah, around the Columbus area. Yeah, he's a monster. Oh, this guy's super Ohio, dude. Of course. He's still pissed. He got second place, second or third place his freshman year in wrestling.

Like, it still haunts him. Was he heavyweight? What was his weight division? He's a big guy, isn't he? Yeah, he's in really good shape. He started out at 135 or something, like super young or super little. He eventually won heavyweight his senior year. I think after meeting Luke Fickle, it makes a lot more sense now

that I'm being informed that he's the face of Ohio right now. Does he not represent your state perfectly, though? Cincinnati? Absolutely. I think so, right? Like, once the fight doesn't give a fuck about anybody, hey, we're going to work for this thing, we're going to earn this thing, and we will not celebrate until we win it all.

This is a huge, and we talked about this weeks ago and months ago. We're going to get into a point where we start believing that one of these teams is going to you know what I mean like hey they're going to do it it happens every single year it is a cycle it is death, taxes Brock Lesnar beating up aliens to save America or humans and then boom college football playoff blowout

like that is just something that happens and every year it spurs the conversation. Have to change it, have to change it. They are changing it, I think, inevitably. But still, being in the Final Four, I hope that they go out there and put on a show. And I think that's what Cincinnati is going to do. Let's talk a little bit about the NFL. It's official.

Big Ben's last game is on Monday, AJ. You played against Big Ben Roethlisberger. What are your thoughts on how he's going out? And do you think with the victory parade, the celebration that's going to be Monday night football in Pittsburgh against the Browns is warranted? Or do you think we should wait till after the season for all this stuff? I don't know.

I mean, I understand trying to honor the dude. Yeah, I've known of Ben since he was in high school. Played against him forever. My brother played with him in college. Like, played against him many times. Played against him in the Super Bowl. So, yeah yeah like i've seen him in his magic up close and personal i think digs is doing a good job online i don't know if nick's doing the same like showing their love that they have for ben and everything he's done for that whole organization yeah i think

they're at the stage where it's like four or five years removed already you know at most fan bases whenever somebody leaves and then time kind of heals all wounds. And I'm not saying there's any wounds with the Yenzers and Ben Roethlisberger, but I think a lot of people were like, this should have happened, you know, because Yenzers have a high expectation for the Steelers. This team apparently stinks. He's not playing anywhere near the level he used to play, which is not that long ago, which was very, very, very high.

So I think like two years in, there's going to be a lot more appreciation for what Ben Roethlisberger did for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Especially if they struggle with the quarterback position for the next two or three. Oh, yeah. Remember how good we had him? We were just bitching. That would be a lot of conversations.

But Tone has a massive amount of love for Seven. Always has as a football player. And I think, are you going to get a little emotional, you think, whenever this whole thing comes to an end? I already did this morning. You know, I thought I was ready for it because, like, all season long. Are you being serious or not? Yes, I'm being 100% serious.

Okay. I thought I was ready for it. And then, like, the news today, like, it just kind of hits you, and this guy's been my quarterback for fucking 18 years, an 18-winning season. People talk about Tomlin not having a losing season. Neither has fucking Ben. Two-time Super Bowl. Fucking he's done it all for us he provided me with so much happiness and aj is right like especially like the next quarterback he's got no fucking chance dude

well we don't know who it's gonna be maybe kirk cousins maybe baker mayfield no neither of those maybe maybe you know veteran quarterback who's gonna be on my maybe mariotta hey who knows maybe maybe if he comes back. You remember what it was like growing up in Pittsburgh when you had the Cordell Stewart's who you thought was going to be a guy. That didn't work out. We've talked to Cordell before. Tom Zach.

Tom Zach. Neil O'Donnell. Bobby Brister. Tommy Maddox was good. Yeah, Tommy Maddox was quite a character. He got Wally Pipp. He could sling the rock but when ben roethlisberger comes in as a young guy and just slings it all over and then wins superbowl

as tommy maddox is an afterthought at this point he's drew bledsoe in this entire story but there was no dynasty that really took off off the steelers even though incredible success it was at the same time as the new england patriots i wonder what ben's feeling you think ben knew this was his last year when he came into the year do you think there was any chance he was going to go on you think he's emotional about this or you think this is just classic ben no i think he's definitely probably emotional about it who knows going into the season i would assume he went into the season thinking it could be his last year but he was probably hoping hey maybe uh if i get this thing going the right direction, maybe I can squeak another year out.

Okay, so they're doing that wide receiver, number 11, Chase Claypool. Chase comes right out. At tight end, rookie Pat Fryer moves. Moose. Moose. And for the last time ever, two-time champion Ben Roethlisberger. He'll cut through his little trot out the way he runs now with this hole. I mean, you know what I mean? That place will be killed.

It's a little bit like your Carson Wentz, how you lumber around. That's how Ben is, though. Ben is just getting one foot in front of the other at this point. He's going to run out of this thing. When we see Tear, I bet we – For sure. I bet you there will be – You think they'll intro him like that when they list his resume?

No. That's a tough deal to come out and try to play a game after. Well, when you get introduced last, it's kind of like without reading the entire you know what i mean like without reading the entire weird for him it's gonna be really weird for him i don't know i wonder how he's feeling because he'll do the i assume he'll do like the i love you thing as he's trotting out there or whatever there'll probably be moments during the game i kill once the game is going cool hopefully he starts fast and everything and then there might be little lulls and you think they'll show like little video packages throughout the game?

Oh, yes. And he's going to try what? To not watch those? Because I remember when Edger and James was playing for the Cardinals. He came back to play against the Colts. And Jim Irsay loves Edger and James. So I don't know if it was at the first quarter break or whatever it was. They had an entire montage of Edger and James being an absolute stud for the Colts.

And I remember watching it, and Edger is like one of the coolest dudes of all time, so he did a whole thing, you know. But I remember watching it like, I think that would make me a little emotional, like if I was, you know, in the middle of this. But once again, I'm not somebody that matters on a football field. So I guess that it's, you know, like if they ever did that for you, would that be something you'd get emotional or you would just have to block it out, I guess, because at that moment you're just,

I've got to go run my face at somebody. It'd be hard for me to block it out, yeah. I don't think I could. Knowing Ben feels like he'd peak. Feels like he'd pretend to not watch, but he'd be peaking up there. He said it's going to be one of the most important games of his career, so I'll be excited.

I'm excited to see if for Renegade, they normally go all defensive highlights. I hope they go all Ben if for Renegade, they normally go all defensive highlights. I hope they go all Ben highlights for Renegade. Yeah, because the defensive highlights are like that you got jacked up, basically. You know, Pittsburgh, when they're not on TV, all those things that people are getting fined for are being run on the jumbo truck to get Pittsburgh going while Brett Michaels is, you know, doing. Is Breck going to be there?

For my life, I'm the law. Home of the law. That's what Brett Michaels is going to be. Ben Roethlisberger said he's inviting family and friends and old teammates. Brett Michaels is all three of those. Yeah. He's an old teammate. That's right.

I didn't think that's where that was going. Didn't he say he's going to have Brett Michaels induct him into the whole family when he goes in? Maybe. He's going to sing him in. That's what I'm saying. He comes sliding in. I'm still not ruling out Ben riding out of the tunnel on the Harley with Michaels on the back

playing guitar. You know how those cops stand on top of motorcycles when they're doing the traffic stuff? Brett Michaels is going to be standing on the back playing guitar. Like, you know how those cops stand on top of motorcycles when they're doing the traffic stuff? Brent Michaels is going to be standing on the back of the Harley. All right, guys. Let's fucking... Let's not lose our legitimacy here, please.

They should let Ben throw the ball every single play on offense. Ben will have Ben throw the ball. What are we even... This has been going around. People have been saying on the internet, on Twitter, they hope this is like Kobe's last game where Ben throws the ball 75 times.

How many shots did Kobe put up in his last game? A lot. 60-something. And how many points did he have? 60-something. Yeah, 60-something points. Those were awesome days when Kobe was doing his last lap, and it was just like if he was in the mood to just be like,

all right, literally this team fucking stinks. By the way, don't look now. LeBron James has to hate all of his teammates. He's averaged like 30-some points in his last five games, and they've gone 2-6 or something, or 2-4. LeBron James right now cannot be happy about what's going on in Los Angeles. And this is not a basketball show at all, but everybody's saying, look for the Lakers to get a little antsy around the trade deadline because he's taking a lot of heat right now

for stinking at basketball and piecing his team together and having everybody over at the house so we can get on the same page. Let's go to Vegas together, everybody get on the same page. I guess they stink at basketball together for whatever reason. And he's playing his best ball yet, and he's not getting any type of credit are they healthy like are these guys hurt or what russ was playing last night i guess ad was also it's what happened last night i saw the little highlight i saw i don't know what show was they said oh lebron went off and showed his stats but they said russell westbrook was russell in the fourth quarter and they end up losing what

does that mean i don't know and then russell came out and i saw a clip once again this is you and me not being great sports show hosts but russell came out and said everybody expects me to have like 30 15 and 15 every single night like that is not that is not possible basically because he is such an absolute stud but that was whenever he was on a team right where he was the guy yes exactly so now there's other people and everybody wondered if they're going to be able to fit in i don't't know enough about basketball. Happy birthday, LeBron James. Happy birthday, LeBron. Thanks for everything, man, honestly. You know, you, your friends, doing business, crushing it, doing your thing.

There's been a lot of shit that you've done, and a lot of people have said this guy's the worst human on earth. But I think that's going to happen when you're LeBron James. You've been famous since you're 12 years old. Job well done, sir. Job well done. Thank you, LeBron. Do your thing. Thanks for everything. So let's get back to Job well done. Thank you, John. Thank you, John. Do your thing. Thanks for everything. So let's get back to the

Ben Roethlisberger conversation. Rest in peace, Kobe, obviously. But he's good. I assume he's going to be checking a lot, boys. I assume there's going to be a lot of him running over to people because we were told during the COVID year on the defensive side of the ball that Roethlisberger, with no crowd, would actually jog over to his wide receivers

and the corners would have to act like they didn't hear him telling him, post, to the – he's a classic old school throwback football player. We'd love to see all of that. One last scramble where he's just like getting killed after his fifth hit on one play, falling and launching like a 50-yard ball somehow. It would be cool if he just played the hits on Monday night. He wears a boot to the presser afterwards.

Maybe coming out of the tunnel, two boots. Oh. You know what I mean? And a quarterback. Ben Roethlisberger. And he starts like Forrest Gump coming out and they're just bopping around.

This one with both boots on. The disrespect. A sling on this arm. Yep. A sling on this arm. Deck brace. Just a whole Ben Roethlisberger. And then Brett Michaels comes and unstraps all of that

and he runs out for the first series. Yeah. Both hands of love on each side. And then he takes the boots off. And then, yeah, we're throwing the ball 65 times today. 13-0 at home against the Brownies. Would love to get to 14-0. Oh, mama, I've been here all my life from the law.

All of the law. Hey, good luck out there, Ben. Hell of a run, bub. Hell of a career. Darius Leonard has been activated back due to the five-day rule. That was once a 10-day rule. That was once a you need to test out of this thing. You need to get a negative test.

Now, if you're non-vaccinated and you pop a positive test, whether it's Omicron or anything else, you are out for five days and you don't have to test negative. Your symptoms just have to get better. If you're vaccinated, you can test out after two days, three days, or four days, five days is the max. Anybody will be away from their team.

Ian Rappaport told us that IQVIA, the spot testing company, they're doing the test early in the week, AJ. So if you start doing the math on when guys can come back. Yeah, we don't test past what, Tuesday? Bingo. Yeah, early in the week is how Ian described it.

But once you start doing the math, it's like, oh, this is how the NFL and the NFLPA figured out a deal. How do guys not miss games? How do we keep it as safe as possible? How do we still test? How can the NFLPA still say we care about health? We care about everybody's futures. We don't know what this virus is going to do to your body 10 years from now we need to keep the testing we need to keep it safe

we can't have them uh anything like that the nfl is like well how about we do this we do this we do this deal is made both parties win here we go we got full lineups probably the rest of the way it's awesome i think that's what that's what they're there for that's why the pa needs to be there to fight that's why the n NFL will reevaluate these protocols. I think they averted what could have been a disaster, I think, late in the postseason. Terry Sutter coming back is a big deal. By the way, a lot of these guys and a lot of losses happen

because teams are out there, but everybody's feeling as if everybody's going to have to go through this probably. The Dallas Cowboys have not had the big homie-ome Omnicron come through their village yet. Something to think about this probably. The Dallas Cowboys have not had the big homey-omey Omicron come through their village yet. Something to think about going forward. Do we know what players have had it, though, on the Cowboys? I'm sure you could look that up. Yeah, and are they still in their 90-day period

where they don't have to get tested? Because, for instance, Darius Leonard, non-vaccinated, he just got back. He got a week to rest his ankle right now. Would have loved to have him on the field. He probably creates two more turnovers. He breaks some record he's getting screwed somehow stats wise because he wasn't able to play although he just he chose not to get vaccinated he ended up with it i'm just talking about strictly football conversation not outside the world conversation

he got to rest his ankle the colts gotta win now he doesn't have to be tested all the way through the super bowl carson wentz gonna be the same thing he win. Now he doesn't have to be tested all the way through the Super Bowl. Carson Wentz is going to be the same thing. He'll come back. He doesn't have to get tested all the way through the Super Bowl. It is, it's almost like all hell is breaking loose. Chaos, we should panic. And then here I am a week removed.

I'm like, the Colts are in a really good spot now. Basically, all their stars aren't getting tested for 90 days. They got through it with a win somehow over the Cardinals. The Hard Knocks episode last night was awesome. The offensive line coach might be one of my favorite humans of all time. He said last night, we got to stop fucking holding. Okay? If you want to see me on the plane back home today, stop holding. If you like me, keep your hands inside.

If you don't like me, keep fucking holding. That was his message to the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth string offensive linemen that were blocking for Jonathan Taylor for 100 yards. Incredible coaching. Happy we got to see it. Did not know this guy existed. But they got to win through that thing. You just got to hope you get through it.

And that game isn't as detrimental as it could be for your future. Absolutely. But now if we know that they're testing early in the week, we probably won't see anybody out, right? Yeah. And the Cowboys, there's probably Jerry really pushing this thing. And somebody gets really sick, obviously, and has bad symptoms and goes and self-reports.

Right. Yeah, self-report on a Thursday or a Friday, I guess. That'd be the only way. And if you're vaccinated, Rappaport said it's possible that you're still back on Sunday. Because you can test out of it. Right. Good.

Are other sports doing similar things? Well, the NHL is just moving games. The NBA is doing their thing. The NHL has adopted the same policies as the NFL, though, in terms of the five-day. Exactly what we thought was going to happen, right?

As soon as the NFL does anything, everybody else is going to do it. The NHL, now Canada, they've got to deal with Canada as well. That's the problem. And Ruppert will be joining us in about 10 minutes. You know Ruppert? Yeah, I think I've talked to him on here before, but yeah, I watch.

I see him. He's awesome. He is quickly becoming one of my favorite hockey players of all time. He's an Ohio guy. Yeah, so it makes sense. It makes sense. I mean, not all of you. No, no, you don't want to paint with a broad brush yeah but you just i

mean we're a lot because we're not from ohio saying he's an ohio guy so it's good you being from ohio saying yeah of course he like that's not the case with all ohio's okay let's i didn't say it was well you intimated that's what you were okay i will say the ohio that's your truth the oh the ohio tribe of people i think the most you can most consistent group you know exactly what you're getting i think whatever you need right do you have people i mean pittsburgh although not a state i'd say pittsburgh people also have a lot of pride in who they are i think so i think you could probably get a pretty good feel on who a person is if they say, hey, I'm from Pittsburgh. You know a lot of things immediately.

Not that everybody from Pittsburgh is that, but I think Ohio kind of has that similar. The two groups are very, very similar human beings. They just happen to hate each other because of sports teams. Yeah, we're just a little tougher. Yeah. Pittsburgh. Because Steel Mill.

Steel Mill, yeah, because we birthed Ohio. Yeah, you're welcome. You don't even have the ability. When was the last time you lived in the state? Huh? Yeah, you heard me. I've been there, man. I. When was the last time you lived in the state? Huh? Yeah, you heard me. I've been there, man. I was just bringing it here two weeks ago, dude.

That's right. I went down there and drank a little Monongahela water and Allegheny water, and then I ended it with a chaser of the Ohio River water, dude. We were talking about how excited we were to get back there for Christmas break so that we could walk into the Mon and Allegheny and get re-baptized. In our grit. Yeah. Cleanse our bodies.

Monday Night Football. Isn't that a game Diggs should go to, AJ? Don't you think? That's a game that Tony Diggs should go to. Ben Roethlisberger's last game in Pittsburgh 2021 season. Regular season. He did say that. Last regular season game.

Are they both still technically alive? Yes. Yes. Very much so. And this is a big deal. This game is a big deal for both parties. And Pittsburgh and Cleveland will forever be, you know, Pittsburgh

and Cleveland. I think Tone should go. I just think Tone Diggs should be there. Don't count out the Brownies too, licking their chops at being able to send Ben out on a sour note after all he's done to them. 13-0 at home. 13-0 at home on primetime, you said? No, just 13-0 at home. 13-0 at home on primetime, you said? No, just 13-0 at home versus the Brownies.

Jesus. They have won their last 19 Monday Night Football games. The Steelers? Oh, no. At home. Sorry, at home. All these numbers don't scare the shit out of us? Oh, yeah. Is this the first anniversary of Mason Rudolph getting bonked in the head?

No, no, no. They probably had their moment. There's been many versaries. All right, let's move along here. Bengals, the first team in NFL history to have a 4,000-yard passer, which is going to have to happen with the rest of the stats I'm about to read. 1,000-yard rusher, two 1,000-yard receivers, all 25 or younger in the same season.

This is via Field Yates and the ESPN stats and info, folks. Joe Burrow, who's 25, has 4,165 yards. Joe Mixon, running back, 1,159 yards. Jamar Chase, 1,163 yards. T. Higgins, superstar, 22 years old, 1,029 yards. First team in NFL history for all these guys to be under the age of 25 and have this much success that means the future is very very bright build them an indoor facility AJ let's go and win

something in Cincinnati isn't that something we should think about I mean maybe but I think if you build it for him you can get the naming rights so I thought you may want that no I just I love the fact that this team doesn't know what they don't know yet i don't know how many contract negotiations have happened through this entire thing they smart you like them like that bingo i think that's a big deal especially for guys that have all been in rather large moments and have shown up it's like hey we've been here before but they don't know the business side of it yet maybe i'm not calling them dumb i'm just saying there's some things you got to go through to really get jaded sometimes towards what the NFL is as opposed to a game. But these dudes are a wrecking crew.

They locked down some people on the defense as well. We're talking about the Brown Steelers playing on Monday Night Football. The Cincinnati Bengals are now all of a sudden in the conversation of who's going to be the AFC North dog for the next five, ten years. Bart Scott this morning said that the way Joey Burrow talked about the Baltimore Ravens defense and the way he's handled this entire thing after Wink Martindale said uh in a quote that he's not sure they're gonna put a gold jacket on Joe Burrow yet whenever he was talking in comparison to Aaron Rodgers Joe Burrow said I heard that didn't appreciate that I have the utmost respect

for Joe Burrow saying that I think Wink didn't mean to offend anybody in that conversation, but that can happen. So I like the way their mindset is. Bart Scott said that they just, Joe Burrow put a red dot basically on his head. And that's not like, he said, it's not playing dirty or after the thing or anything like that. But the Bengals and Ravens are going to play each other a lot.

And Joe Burrow is going to play the Ravens a lot. And he thinks that it has all of a sudden spurred like, okay, it's on. And I think that's what the AFC North is going to play the Ravens a lot and he thinks that it is all of a sudden spurred like uh okay uh it's on and I think that's what the AFC North is going to be that is one of the best built divisions for the future that the NFL has right now I'm very excited about it think of the the hope that the Bengals have like the Bengals have hope now like that's legit and you know like not only are we gonna be good we're good right now now who knows how good that's i mean they potentially could be unbelievable the browns it's kind of the same hope we had what two seasons ago heading into the year with baker and like what they were doing people thought the browns were gonna win the super bowl didn't they yes the browns were in a conversation

this year for the super bowl they get their first playoff win last year baker tears his labrum and broken humorous all right yeah and broken humorous they lose odell beckham jr but as we look at that thing let's go over the afc south there the afc south the titans are 10 and 5 right right now were they the ones that had 57 different players play for them yeah 57 different players playing for them they're still winning games that it makes no sense for them to win in the nfl now the colts just beat the cardinals with no players, okay? And the Cardinals lost to the Packers with no players. I mean, so what's going on with the Cardinals? I mean, that is a whole other conversation.

That's a team. I can't believe the Cardinals have 10 wins. That's what's crazy to me. It feels like forever ago. That's what I'm saying. And I fucking love that team. I love the city. I love the way they're built.

I assume their fans are saying the same thing. We could be electrifying. Losing Hopkins is a big deal. But let's get back to the AFC South. The Titans are winning games, and nobody expects them to be able to win 10-5 right now in the lead in the Colts division, in which the Colts are one of the hottest teams in the NFL. They know they're going to have to win out. They talked about it on Hard Knocks to kind of better their placement in the playoffs. Although they have a place right now, they might lose it if they don't win out.

Vrabel is like 5 or 6 on the Coach of the Year odds. Yeah, he's 5th place right now in the coach of the year odds at plus 1400 he's behind Bill Belichick Zach Taylor, Frank Reich within the Indianapolis Colts and I think that's because they were 1-4 and then they turned this entire thing around and have gone on a run

and looked incredible, they got an MVP candidate a running back, being able to adjust with a brand new quarterback in there this year and all the shit that went through training camp. I think that's why Frank's there. And Frank, after watching Hard Knocks, I have even more respect for that guy. I love the way Frank Reich seems to operate on the day-to-day. I know he doesn't, but it seems like he smokes a lot of weed.

I mean, he does not. I don't think he does. I don't think that's his thing. But he seems to just have a different view on the game. As a backup quarterback, a successful backup quarterback, he has a lot to do with the offensive game plan. He's calling plays. I mean, he's a great coach.

I absolutely love him. LaFleur, though, and Aaron talked about this just the other day, he's not in anybody's conversation about Coach of the Year other than the sportsbooks who have him at the favorite right now because they're 12-3, top of the NFL. It's B beeflow there in miami by the way plus 24 hun sitting right behind mike frable and then sean mcveigh rounds out the top seven there go ahead no you you were making a great point because frable uh obviously um

henry's been out for half the season 57 players aj brown's been out for five games. Julio hasn't done anything all this season. I love Frank Reich. I'm literally growing to like him more and more as a coach every Hard Knocks episode. But Vrabel, what he's been able to do, I think we've been saying this for a few weeks. Hey, this Ohio, by the way, which means we know exactly what it means. We know exactly what that means. We meet Vrabes. We probably have some expectations going in. Not good to do that, but he's from ohio so stats say there's a good chance

we probably know a lot about frames before we even meet frames yeah a lot of good things yeah i agree i agree gritty hard-working tough guy yeah that's great probably some stubbornness in there probably quick to sense bullshit and hate him i mean ohio is good awareness is that what you're saying yes i do believe and i'm not saying there's any um and maybe there are a bunch of uh nobel peace prize and whatever the smart awards are coming out of ohio yeah street smarts in ohio though very big i think street just like pittsburgh by the way we're describing we're a little bit grittier tougher but i think pittsburgh ohio similar vrabel not being up higher was as alarming i think to both me i think foxy immediately vrabel should be in this conversation

as well and it's because he doesn't do anything he doesn't do any conversations he doesn't do any media he was in man in the arena he doesn't care you think he cares about coach of the year like he wants to win the super bowl like nothing else matters he he told taylor ron he cut his dong off for another ring as a coach so like i I don't think any of these coaches truly care about getting coached here. Hey, congrats. You got knocked out first round of the playoffs, but you did get coach of the year. Like, they don't want that. Yeah, this is kind of like, you know, when the personal awards outweigh the team awards,

you want to get that person off your fucking team, you know? Like, hey, when this person is worried about this, much more. When it's pretty apparent they're all about their own individual awards much more than what the team does yeah it may uh cause a fracture in the team oh congrats man okay let's get that person the fuck and by the way very ohio of raves not to care and everything like that but i do believe there should be a little bit more respect put on his name. And that's not saying that Frank Reich doesn't deserve it. But if LeFleur wins, though, think about it. If LeFleur wins, everyone's going to say,

give me Aaron Rodgers, I'll be coach of the year, too. So I actually told him that in the conversation whenever you were dealing with Omicron at the time. Was that where you were at? No, I had vacation day. Vacation day? Yeah, so when I talked to him on Tuesday, I said, LeFleur has no shot. Because he does good, he has Aaron Rodgers.

He does bad, he has Aaron Rodgers. How's he losing? And LeFleur has been very quiet. And I think Aaron has been very much pro LeFleur from the very beginning. Publicly, I guess, from the very beginning, it was like they were going to hate each other because I guess Aaron didn't have any say in who was being hired. Nobody really knew what the fuck on the floor was coming out of Tennessee. I think his name kind of came out of nowhere. And somebody who was close to Aaron allegedly said that he said he wasn't happy that he wasn't part of the process, which is Aaron Rodgers' life at this point. Who knows

if he said that or not? It became a thing. Then to Mike Murphy, you don't be the problem. Remember, which has been debunked since then from Aaron Rodgers about Mark Murphy never saying that, but it all built to the narrative that Aaron in the floor, two young offensive guys aren't going to get along. There's no way Aaron's going to

allow this guy to succeed. I think after that first year where Aaron threw like 26 touchdowns, two interceptions or whatever, it was a down year for him and then he went into the zoom off season because COVID was happening and Aaron told us that he and LaFleur basically went through like every play what do we like what do we don't like got on the same page even more I'm not sure there's a lot of quarterbacks and head coaches doing that some obviously some but not a lot I think LaFleur has tried to do his best to not only earn the trust of aaron but also earn the respect of aaron with the amount of work he puts in aaron's always like

this guy just all he does is work he doesn't say anything he gets a fresh fade every day they trim his eyebrows every day but other than that he just looks at football lafleur had no shot i don't think he gives a fuck but he's won a lot of games and he's only going to continue to get better we'd assume yeah he is i think he's done a great of games, and he's only going to continue to get better, we'd assume. Yeah, I think he's done a great job of it. Think about it. Yeah, of course, you're coming in and you're coaching the Green Bay Packers and Aaron Rodgers.

You get him playing at a crazy high level. But think of all the stuff he probably has had to deal with behind the scenes trying to balance out, okay, obviously I'm all in with Aaron. I'm on board with him. But then the whole situation last offseason, the front office, how do you balance those relationships when you're still trying to win games and help put a roster together? And you're the offense coordinator, so Jordan Love also.

Yeah, exactly. How do you manage everything involved? Yeah, there's a lot going on there that we don't see. Yeah, because every press conference while Aaron and Green Bay were at odds this offseason, and every time LaFleur spoke, he couldn't bury Jordan, but he also had to, you know, let Aaron know publicly, like, and let the team know, hey, we have Aaron's back here. We would like Aaron.

It's just very fine balance, not easy to do. LeFleur has done a fantastic job, and nobody really talks about him ever. I'm happy that Aaron gave him a shout-out. The sportsbooks feel the same. But Vrabes, I think, has a case to be pissed off, just like Titans fans have a chance to be pissed off at Dan Zeus Nobody really talks about him ever. I'm happy that Aaron gave him a shout-out. The sportsbooks feel the same. But Vrabes, I think, has a case to be pissed off, just like Titans fans have a chance to be pissed off at Danzies for his power rankings. All these coaches make the NFL much better.

Belichick should be up for GM and Coach of the Year. I don't know why that doesn't happen. Has he ever won Executive of the Year? I assume so. Probably not. Does that go to GMs every year? Yeah. I bet he, you know, if he hasn't won that, I bet he's very pissed.

He loses sleep over it. I bet you he knows. I bet you he knows. But he's always classified as a coach. You're right. He does way more than that. He's not. The fact that he's been able to do both, contract negotiation, strategy.

He's basically an owner, too. He's like coach, GM, like co-owner almost. That's like when I look at The Rock and – how do you have enough time? All these other coaches – Too many phone calls. Too many phone calls for those guys to deal with. And he's got to deal with the agents of people. I don't know how – I guess that's why he brought back Matt Patricia

to kind of help him deal with all that. Yep. And he had other stuff going on. Joining us now is a man who is not from the sport of football, but he is an absolute legend for the sport of hockey. Uh, Ohioan, I believe he's from Cleveland,

uh, Brown stink. That's not this guy's fault. He was a penguin, which means he's played for the greatest organization in all of NHL. One of the co-hosts of that's hockey talk. Ladies and gentlemen, Mike Roper.

What's up fellas. How are you doing today? What are you doing? Get a little workout in out there. No, man. I'm running the NHL Network studio. I just pulled over on the Jersey Turnpike. Classy rest area I'm at right now, but getting the call done.

Okay. Well, you're hosting a show I heard today. Old Ruppers reigning the entire NHL Network this evening at 3.30. Is that what's happening? Yeah. I haven't gotten any details, but NHL now is on from 4 to 6, and normally we've got Jackie Redman, great host on that show. I don't know what happened, but I got the call from the bullpen.

They went, bring in the lefty, and they're bringing me in this one. And I don't know, I'll be honest with you, this is either going to be something that's going to be really big for me or it's probably going to end everything. So I don't know how it's going to go. But I'm ready for it. Let's do it. We're talking to the Stanley Cup champion and Danbury Trasher legend, Rupert Warren

the Galante. Who are you writing down? Let's go, Trashers! Let's go, Trashers. The best team that has never really got fully blossomed, I think. They're probably... Gone too soon. They are. They're very much so.

We have nothing but love for everything over there, and that's how we learned of Rupp, I believe. I learned of Rupp. Got a chance to chat with Rupp. Now I'm learning even more about Rupp. Incredible stories. Knows everybody. Now he's on NHL Network hosting for two hours.

I mean, this guy is the face of hockey at this point. Rupp, quick question. What's going on with hockey? Games are canceled. They removed candidates and letting people in there. What does the next What's going on with hockey? Games are canceled. They removed. Canada isn't letting people in there. What does the next few weeks look like for hockey? And tell me why the Penguins are the greatest team in handling all of this, please. All right.

Well, listen, we got, I think a lot of leagues and a lot of places are watching the NFL, how things are being managed by the NFL. They're kind of paving the way for some of these other leagues. The NHL is a little bit of a different animal though, because we've got seven teams in Canada and Canada has got some pretty restrictive COVID situations and protocols in place. So it makes it where, all right, we don't want to lose the gate. These Canadian teams don't want to lose the gate. The one thing that we got to remember in all this pandemic, the players in the NHL owe the owners a billion dollars

that's going to be paid via escrow over the next number of years. So we don't want these games to be played in front of no fans. So they're kind of delaying these games, see if they can kick the can down the road a little bit. So in places like Montreal or Toronto or Ottawa or whatever the place is in Canada, they could be played in front of fans. So right now they just adopted and had some talks,

and obviously the CDC, we all know, has been taking down the 10-day kind of waiting period down to five, so the NHL is now instituting that. So, man, it's just kind of right now we're kind of trying to plow through. Game started up the last couple nights, and keeping your fingers crossed to keep this thing moving. Rupert, who are a handful of the best teams in the NHL right now? I can't get a straight answer. Pat continues to always say the Penguins are going to win.

I was about to say Penguins. I never really know what's going on there. Let me give you the tiers. I'm a big tier guy. I like to put this as tier one and blah, blah, blah after that. Tier one in the NHL for me is Tampa Bay Lightning, you know, back-to-back Stanley Cup champs.

I wouldn't be shocked if they win it again. Plug your ears there, Pat. So them probably, they're the top tier. They're cheating with the salary cap. They're cheating down there. That's a fair conversation to have. But anyways, we've got the Florida Panthers I would put up there. The Colorado Avalanche are going to be in that mix as well,

although they're not in that place in the standings right now. They're just the dangerous teams. That next tier, you've got the Washington Capitals. I love the St. Louis Blues, the Vegas Golden Knights. And I would probably put the Pittsburgh Penguins in here. I mean, this is a team that no one's really paying attention to, and they've been doing a heck of a job navigating through all these injuries. a team that no one's really paying attention to and they've been doing a heck of a job navigating through all these injuries evgeny malkin is is is back uh not not sorry not back he's back on the

ice he's back moving and going and and he says his knee feels 200 stronger i don't know what that means that sounds fucking amazing though if i felt 200 better i'd be playing right now too so you know it's uh they're going to get Malkin back. So don't sleep on the penguins, but it's kind of wide open to be honest with you. I still think Tampa going into the Christmas break, they want two cups in a row. They're without two of their top players for the first half of the season, for the most part.

And they're still in first place in all the NHL. They're getting those guys back. I still think it's their cup to lose and look out for the lightning. When does this start to matter? You out for the lightning um when does this start to matter you know like when when yeah when like when's a good time to get hot you know when's a good time to get hot you think is it after the new year here is it like a month from now when do you think the teams need to get hot if they really want to go on a run and when will we learn which teams probably aren't going to be in any of the tiers you're speaking of?

You know, right now you can start, I mean, when you're talking points in the NHL, like six points is a lot, eight points is a lot, and it's hard to overcome those. You can still do it now because it's January, but you're going to be starting to run out of time for teams that are really far back there. But as far as hitting your stride at the right time, that's going to come in, you know, anywhere from the last probably 15, 20 games left. You see teams start to get on a run. Like, that's where the magic happens. We've seen teams in all sports who get wild card positioning.

They get in the playoffs and they go on an absolute tear and they run through. It's because they're playing well. I was with the New York Rangers the one year we were up for the President's Trophy for the league's best record. All year, we dominated all season long but we kind of ran out of gas like the last 10 games and i don't know say we were you know four and six in our last 10 games then we came limping in the playoffs it didn't really matter what we

did prior to that right so uh you know look at look for the teams that are gonna hit in stride i'd say middle of february the teams again on some good runs. If they can get in, you've got to look out for them. Let's figure it out, Sid. Speaking of, how's Sid playing? I know games have been moved and canceled. Have you got any updates from Sid's house pond that he's skating on, working on? Is he still greatest player in hockey? Who is

greatest player in hockey right now, aside from Sidney Crosby? You know what, Sid's right there, man. This guy, the one thing with Sid, we talked about it. We talked about it on that talking talk

and we told some stories about it and I know you guys know this as well. Like he is, he is a creature of habit, man, more than anybody else. And you know, anybody who plays the sports,

like, you know, you do the same thing every day. You eat the same damn food every day. You go to sleep at the same time every day. This guy the same damn food every day. You go to sleep at the same time every day. This guy is on another planet with that. So he didn't start the season with training camp, man. He had his wrist surgery.

It took him some time to get going. But, you know, he's not – I guess my point is he's not fully there yet, but he's still a hell of a player right now. And this team is loaded to make a good run. And Gino, like I said, there's going to be a lot of motivation. He is a pending UFA. Chris going to be a lot of motivation. He is a pending UFA. Chris Letang's a pending UFA.

There's a lot of question marks what the team's going to do. I think there's a lot of chips on the shoulders of the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Sid will lead that and carry this team a long way. Is McJesus the guy then? He's the best player? Who's the best player in hockey, you think? Stoner. What about Stoner? Fine.

Connor's the best offensive player in the league, and I hate always giving it the best offensive. What does that mean, Rupert? What do you mean? You're not good all around? What I'm saying is when you're talking about putting the puck in the net, which is kind of the name of the game, he's the best. He's the best.

I don't think it's even close, to be honest with you. His teammate, Leon Dreisaitl, is probably the closest. But after that, as far as complete hockey players, you know, you've got guys who are up for the MVP that don't get enough love. I think Mark Stone is one of those. And he's a guy – Thank you, Roper. He's won the Selkie for, you know, the league's best defensive player.

He can put up points. He drives offense from the wing, which is really difficult to do. You know, there's a lot of names out there as far as – but the Hart Trophy winner, the league MVP up to this point, it's Alex Ovechkin. What he's doing right now is incredible. I don't know how, I guess, you know, I don't know if it's straight up Russian gas or what it is,

but this guy just doesn't stop. You know, the guy doesn't stop. I mean, he's – however old he is right now, what is he, 30, he's 37 years old, somewhere around there. This is the best numbers, complete numbers he's put up in his career. So I think if it ended today, the league MVP would be Ovi. Okay, quick question before AJ has one other than Stoner. Whenever you talk about the NHL locker room dynamic,

it's much different than the NFL one, but you still are a melting pot of a bunch of different backgrounds. But in hockey, it's Russia, Sweden, Canada, Norway. I guess if you play hockey your entire life, but as an Ohioan, in what we know about Ohioans, generally as a rule of thumb about Ohioans being Ohioans. What's that? Being unbelievable, but you're all right.

Exactly. I mean, absolutely. That's what you're thinking. Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking. That locker room dynamic. Does everybody speak English? Is there... Is that as big of a... Like, camaraderie in the NFL is a massive deal. You can see what teams like each other. In the NHL, with how many different languages and backgrounds,

is there a big camaraderie factor in that thing? What do you guys, just all get absolutely hammered together? How is the behind-the-scenes stuff of the NHL? It's funny you say that because you sit there and guys are joking around. So in the locker room, it's not about, hey, you're playing in North America here. You've got to speak English. We respect guys that come over, and you might have five Czech guys on your team. You might have two or three Russians.

But inside that room, you've got to speak English because nothing's worse. I remember early on in my career, you'd have a couple Russians on the team. In between periods, some of the boys would be like, hey, AJ, good period, man. Hey, chip it by this guy. I'm going to go in there. You're talking gameplay. You're talking strategy. And then you get some of the Russians over there over there and they're like like fucker i hear you i know my name

i know my name and it didn't sound like the tone was real positive so you know there's that what you say in those moments you say hey guys english english english english and the guys are receptive that they know it's it's about us coming together and working together. But you know what? That's the great thing in the NHL. And I'm sure it's like that in football and all other sports. We have 82 games. You get out on the road.

You go to dinners. You fling stories. You know, you're talking. You're having some beers. You know, I mean, those are the biggest things you miss is playing as a player when you're done playing. It's that camaraderie so i can be you know there's there's parts of northern sweden that see about three hours of daylight in a day that kid grew up i'm playing with them we could be best of boys and i find that to be pretty spectacular man because there's not many times in

this earth where you're introduced to that many different types of people and it is it is a melting pot i I love it. Robert, what about fighting in the game? I'm sure you get asked about it all the time. Are we going to see more or less as the game continues to go on? I know they want to take out cheap shots and head shots, but is it always going to still be there and that the threat of fight is going to be there? It'll always be there.

I don't know if it's going to get more of it. I think it kind of comes in waves. I mean, early on this season there was quite a bit of it. going to get, you know, more of it. I think it kind of comes in waves. I mean, early on this season, there was quite a bit of it. It's always going to be a part of it. I mean, you can ask, and those great players we talked about, you talk to Ovi, you talk to Sid, you talk to Connor McDavid, you talk to any of these guys, everybody wants it. Everybody wants fighting in there. It's a vehicle to, some people may not see it or understand it, but it's a way to keep people safe, keep people accountable. When you, listen, when you're going out there

and you're trying to play against Sid or Connor, you want to make life miserable for them. And when you have 18 guys on the other team who feel like there's no, you don't want to be accountable. Consequence. Yeah, there's no consequence. Well, now now you got 18 you got 18 rats on the other team that are going to be all over the star players well you know what

if you could throw a big boy out there who's going to stand up i don't know maybe take a sussy and take a five game suspension i'm trying to send a message you know what now all of a sudden that now all of a sudden that all of a sudden that 18 all of a sudden that 18 drops to five maybe there's only five guys on your team that are brave enough to still go at those guys knowing that they might have to pay the piper so I think that's something that the players will fight for to the end of time they want fighting in hockey

I don't know AJ if it's going to grow and get more and more but you know it's a spot where everybody wants it and I think if the players want it it's going to stay in How come every time I watch and it falls in this vein I believe but how come every time I watch, and it falls in this vein, I believe, but how come every time I watch Wayne Gretzky, he's basically skating on an open ice rink?

You know, he's just kind of, he's got nothing but time and the goalies are wearing less pads than Aaron is here on this bobblehead and it's a much different game. When did that change? When did the goon thing kind of end? Because I remember that being a huge part.

Like, Wayne had a guy, a protector, who came to different teams with him, right? And everybody knew, hey, you do anything to Wayne, this guy is going to fuck you up. So you've got to stay away from him to what you just said. Basically, right? Like, that is how it was for a while. When did it change? Just whenever people thought brain injuries? Is that what kind of changed your thing?

Was it the optics of fighting not being accepted why do you think there was a time there where it was kind of just like taken out of the game completely almost and it's still being able to resurge here through the star players who were like this is much different than what every other star players had to deal with in the history of hockey yeah i think now you're starting to see more of that and that's why some of these conversations are being had where they're trying to take something out obviously we know in all these sports that the the dangers of of of head trauma um so that that's something i will say this in all the years of playing hockey fights are not where the head trauma is it's it's the hits and it's taking the shoulder to the chin and the ice

right yeah and hitting the ice and being knocked out before you hit the ice and then hitting your head on the ice so i think when he talks a lot of people a lot of guys nowadays fighting is different back in the day i mean it was just you know you're toe-to-toe you're eating as many punches as you're given and you know that's changed it's not like that anymore you know what i mean and uh i think the biggest change though was back in 2005 there was the lockout that was during the danbury trashers time during that time and uh you know there was the lockout and That was during the Danbury Trashers time, during that time. And, you know, there was the lockout. And it was kind of coming off the dead puck era. The dead puck era was the era where the goals were significantly down in the NHL.

People were like, this isn't fun to watch anymore. Fans weren't loving it. Yeah, we like the fight and we like the, you know, the kind of gladiator side of the sport. But we want to see some goals and we want to see some talent. So they changed the rules. And when they changed the rules, it was no obstruction, no hooking no hooking no grabbing i mean you used to be able to do whatever you wanted man you used to be able to throw up any kind of interference you wanted it was like playing you know uh it was it was no rules on the playground type like type stuff we're talking in

and they changed those rules and from that day forward in 2005 coming out of that lockout it it weeded out a lot of guys because now you can't you know i'm six five and i played center at that time and i played down low when i'd be playing uh below the goal line in the defensive zone and i was confident i don't care if i go in the corner with a fast small guy who's gonna try to dance me out the corner if he dances me and he gets by me i still got a big wingspan i can still wrap him up and bring him down like it's not a big deal and now when they change that i can't touch him i gotta skate with them and that changed all of a sudden the coach came to me one day he's like rupper i love what you've done for us at center it ain't fucking working anymore you gotta go

you gotta go away so they moved they moved me over they moved me over to wing and uh i was playing along the boards a little bit more and that really changed it though pat because it's like those guys kind of got weeded out because there was a time when those tough guys you know they weren't the most skilled. Maybe they weren't the fleetest of foot. But now you're starting to see guys. Here's the kicker, Tom Wilson, which is, you know, a bad word to a lot of teams, fan bases in the NHL. Tom Wilson is a unicorn in the NHL because he's 6'4", he's 235 pounds.

He hits like a freight train. Very attractive. And he's good. He's very attractive. Very attractive. He's a handsome sumbitch. He plays on line one with Alex Ovechkin, and that's the other part of it. Playing with superstars, if Ovi didn't want to play with Tom Wilson, guess what? Tom Wilson would never see the ice with Alex Ovechkin.

Ovi wants to play with him, and so he plays with him. And that guy is kind of the nuclear weapon, if you will, in the NHL. Every team in their fan bases hate him, but 32 teams all want Tom Wilson. So they're looking for that next guy. Who's that 6'4 guy who can skate like the wind, run through you, can play with the offensive players. That's that next kind of big moneymaker in the NHL. He's tight end.

They're looking for the tight end. Basically, the NFL changed the game and the tight ends became. Yeah, we went through all of his fights. We believe he is 53-27-3 in his fighting career. Zito was the judge, the jury, and the executioner on those fights. We looked it up on YouTube because this was back when he was running everybody. And it was like, oh, this guy's the worst. And then the Rangers, I think the Rangers were the team that they had to answer the bell basically the next day.

And they were playing against the Caps because some guy got taken out. And everybody was like, hey, the Rangers are going to fight tonight. They've got to stick up for their guy. And I think we might have talked to you or somebody else. It was like, the Capitals, they're okay. The Rangers are going to come fight. They are built to fight everybody. And that was the day where I had the immense amount of respect

for both the Rangers, hockey, and the Capitals. The Rangers were the baby face, the good guys here. They're going to fight and stick up for the good of their teammate. And they knew as they were going on the ice, they were going to get their fucking asses beat by the same people that beat the fuck out of their teammate the night before. And they had to do it. And the Capitals, I feel like, relished it, right? There was seven people

in the box. Tom Wilson had his jersey off, I think. He was flexing. He was doing all that. Yeah, it was like, oh, the Capitals are such a great, like, heel team. Chara wanted to fight people. He was on the caps at the time. He was looking for it, too. He said, come on, let's go.

Yeah, you had a fight with Chara, didn't you? You had to fight that guy, 6'9", or 7' tall, a guy who just throws hands and bombs on the ice. Yeah, man. I watched a fight this year with Chara. He's 43 years old, I think.

He's slowed down. The Islanders are struggling this year. Hootie fight, Nick, you remember the Hootie fight this year? Oh, he fought that – was it that trending kid in Nashville? Yep. So this trending kid. Yeah, this trending kid in Nashville. I think he's a Russian guy. And this guy one-punched Chara maybe last year or two years ago.

And they haven't really kind of you know butted head since and all of a sudden getting this game and this kid what a nut bar this kid didn't even fight that much but he but he hit the lottery hit hit chara knocked the big man down and chara wanted a piece of him and they fought earlier this year and this kid's face blood and i'm like i'm like oh my god i'm just glad I wasn't him. But, you know, Chara, I think he's starting to understand now. I've got to do something different. He's got that scary mentality once again.

He used to be one of the league's top-end defensemen. He knows at his age right now he can't do some of those things. So now he's just blooding people up and trying to crack their skulls. Right there. There it is. Look at my face. That wasn't fun, man. So, hold on. You lost this, yeah My face right there. That wasn't fun, man. So hold on.

You lost this, yeah? Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I lost it. I lost it before we even dropped the gloves. I remember I was lining up with one tough guy already, Sean Durden, and we had a few bouts. And he just goes to me. He leans in, gets real close to me, and we're had a few bouts and he just goes to me he leans in gets real close to me and we're

you know we're shoulder shoulder on the face off and he goes hey rupper uh i think the big man wants you back there and i kind of like lean back and i look around him and char's looking he's like come on let's go come on and so as soon as i drop the gloves and you're skating in those 20 feet to go engage with this guy oh i was like what the fuck was i thinking what am i doing so uh you know i guess you know we we talk about years later i was actually playing in minnesota my last year and i had knee surgery i was out and my son mason um he's 17 now but at the time he was uh you know mason was probably 10 or 11. And Char was his favorite player. And, you know, he saw, he knew, Char was his favorite player before I fought him.

And so I said to Mason, I'm like, hey, Mason, I'm not playing tonight. Let's go to the game. After the game, I'll bring you down. You can meet Big Z after the game. He's a really nice guy. He's a great dude. All right, cool. So after the game, we go down there.

Z comes walking out. And he's standing there and he was awesome with mason he literally is the the biggest class act ambassador to hockey he's talking to him get a picture with them i get the picture developed gets char to sign it this little turd puts the picture above his bed of me getting my ass kicked by his day don't charge so he's got he's like he's like dad can you sign my can you sign my picture because i got i got z on it already so i'm like why would you hang a picture of your dad getting beat up above your bed with with this guy signing like that's not that cool

and he's like i think it's awesome so uh kids are the best go ahead tone repper we talk about how camaraderie uh in the nfl in the locker room is huge i lived across the street from max talbot uh during all those playoff runs and i saw a lot of camaraderie happening in the south side uh were you a part of that and are all nhl players just a bunch of big booze bags great question hey you brought up the one guy hey listen max talbot down by south side there's um this is pitts, by the way. This is a strip of bars. It had a Guinness Book of World Record.

Yeah. Yeah. What is it? It's the most bars in – Per capita. Per square. Per capita, yeah. Yeah, whatever it is.

That's a lot of boozing. A lot of boozing. A lot of inzers, a lot of boozing. So Talbot has the boys over one night, and I haven't gone down to his place yet. He had a great spot right outside. So the place we would always go is Mario's. It was right down there. And we would go into Mario's, and we were having beers.

And Talbot was like, it was the end of the night. He's like, hey, let's go have, we'll bring it back to my apartment here. I'm like, all right, cool. We walk out. So I'm going to do it right now. We walk out. You know, Mario's right here. Walk out the back door we turn we walk we're uh we turn right here it's his front door where are we right now his his his door to this great this great pad was literally 15 steps

from mario's i'm like tell about that i mean this guy would be fun, but you might need to change some things if you want to see him in the replay. And Max is one of the best, man. He's an absolute gamer, a Pittsburgh legend, a good friend now. Yeah, man. Life down there with Talbot. It's an interesting spot, to say the least. Those are dog years down there.

A guy who lived there for 25 years, Nick Morodo. Long time. Rupert, real quick, you played in Minnesota. The guy who lived there for 25 years, Nick Moroto. Long time. Rupert, real quick, you played in Minnesota. The Winter Classic is still happening on Saturday. I don't think people know this. The St. Louis Blues are going to Minnesota at Target Field to play the Minnesota Wild.

You played in a couple of these outdoor games. Can you talk about what it's like? It's awesome for them, man. Yeah, man. I played in two. I played one at Heinz Field, obviously in Pittsburgh. I was against Pittsburgh and Washington. I played in two. I played one at Heinz Field, obviously in Pittsburgh. I was against Pittsburgh and Washington. That was in 2011. In 2012, I played in the one at Citizens Bank Park in Philly when I was with the Rangers against the Flyers.

I didn't have to deal with – we had some weather in Pittsburgh. It was raining. It was like the ice. The rain is the worst part as far as the ice conditions. And when you get the ice getting a little bit soupy. I remember the passes were coming on the ice, the rain's the worst part as far as the ice conditions. And when you get the ice getting a little bit soupy. And I remember the passes were coming on the ice. And it's going through puddles, right? And it was spraying up over the heads of players.

So a lot of players were opting. I didn't wear a visor. And now you have to. But at that time, you had an option. Guys had their visors on. And they're trying just to receive a pass. And they're just getting sprayed. Can you imagine?

It's like me throwing you a football and then right before you catch it i just take a spray bottle you know what i mean so guys are like guys are coming off the bench you're like fuck this take this shit off guys are taking their visors off it you're just adjusting you're trying to do anything you can to survive in the game the weather we had though was 35 i mean you you went out there you wore your layers layers, you thought, hey, it's going to be cold. I had my eye black on. I had all these different layers on. And then guys went out for warm-ups, and they came back in.

And, again, creatures of habit. Guys are like, get this shit off me. I'm going to go the way I always go inside the arena. So guys would just go back to what they normally would. That isn't going to be the case here. This is a different animal in Minnesota. They're expecting a high of negative 5. This isn't wind chill. the case here this is a different animal in minnesota they're expecting a high of negative five this isn't windchill this is negative five a high of negative five he said between negative five negative 15 and so everyone's like talking about you know the players on the ice

but i'm for selfish reasons me and kevin weeks we're fucking covering this thing in a suit so i'm not sure i'm not sure what that's going to look like. I'm going – I already said that. I'm like, I'm going to Dick's tomorrow. I'm getting that – you know, AJ, give me any tips on what I can wear. You played in Lambeau. I need something, dude. Wear a wetsuit.

Go to Tom Brady. Get that wetsuit. Yeah, get a wetsuit in there. You know, cook the body a little bit. I might make my suit wet just so I stay warm. It's going to be nasty. You're not repeating yourself. It will turn cold, though.

Ruff, we have to get to hour three here. We can't thank you enough for joining us we'll watch you on our nhl network congrats on the hosting gig huh here we go it's got my god damn emmy ladies and gentlemen stanley cup champion thank you host of that talking time mike rocker thank you all so much for allowing us to penetrate your ear holes big shout out to all the guests shout out to all the boys this Shout out to all the boys. This is awesome. Hope you're enjoying your holiday season. Hope you're excited for 2022.

I know we are. And I can't wait for the NFL season to continue to steamroll. We'll be back tomorrow with a feel good Friday. Time. Please play some independent music and propel these people into a beautiful. There's no Thursday night football. Thursdayursday december 30th see you tomorrow សូវាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្� Thank you. សូវាប់បានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបាូវាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប� Thank you.