The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 603 - Jeff Passan, Edgerrin James, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: February 24, 2022

On today's show, Pat, AJ Hawk, and the boys chat about everything going on right now in the NFL as we approach some key dates in the offseason and chat about everything going on in the real world. Plus, they are joined by a couple of great guests. First, ESPN MLB Insider, Jett Passan joins the progrum to discuss the state of baseball, what needs to happen for there to be baseball this upcoming year, who's to blame, and if baseball is on the brink of being dead (15:15-48:17). Next, Hall of Famer, Indianapolis Colts Ring of Honor member, 3x All-Pro, 4x Pro Bowler, 1999 Offensive Rookie of the Year, Edgerrin James joins the show to chat about his career, his new book, what car he decided to get from Jim Irsay after his Hall of Fame induction, their relationship with one another, and much more (1:29:14-1:53:02). Make sure you subscribe to youtube.com/thepatmcafeeshow to watch the show. We appreciate the hell out of all you. See you tomorrow, cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, beautiful people. It is, holy hell, we need a distraction Thursday, February 24th, 2022. This show begins now. Yeah! Thank you so much for tuning in. You know, I'm not blind to the fact that there is some massive things happening around the world right now. I, like everybody else, stayed up late into the night trying to flip through all the different political channels to try to see what was going on from everybody's different angle narration inside. Feels like everybody's in agreement this morning when we woke up with the internet

that there is some real shit going on. There's some devastating things happening to people and there is potential gloom and doom in the future for a lot of people in which a road has not been pathed and we have no idea what happens next i understand that i alongside everybody else feels a little bit of worry about what the hell is going on in the world right now but i'd like to let you know that if you're tuning into this show to get information about that you are dumber than anybody else on earth. We are not the people that will have any of the information of what's going on because we're only following along alongside of it like everybody

else. With that being said, I do believe there is a role to be the dumb ass idiots on a screen talking about sports. But if today is not a day where you want to watch about that, we completely understand. We're actually all captivated just moments before coming on the air about what's going on in the real world. But in the real world is not where I like to live. I keep my blinders on and try to keep my world how, you know, I know it.

I don't know anything about that stuff, so there's no reason for me to speak about it. But if I went on to this show and didn't even, you know, acknowledge what's going on, I'd be the least self-aware human of all time. With that being said, a lot going on in sports, and we will chat about that today. Take your phone calls as well on the 5-Hour Energy phone line,

1-833-4MACAFEE, and all the boys are here at the Talks at Table, at Ty Schmidt, at Boston Corner. Absolutely love you guys, man. Love you too, Pat. Love you a lot. And like you said, it's tough, but, hey, I mean, what are you going to do? What am I going to do? We got to do what we know how to do.

By the way, we might have to at some point. Well, sure. I got asthma and bad knees, so I don't know. Really? I got bad knees too. But if we got to fuck it, I mean, this feels like there is a chance, you know, that some real stuff could pop off that is only read in history books, only watched in documentaries.

I was seeing clips that were happening in fully developed countries, things that I've never seen in real life, I don't think. Oh, yeah. We talk sports. Boston Connor. Wild morning, obviously. Until Uncle Sam comes knocking, though, we will do what we know how to do

and how to say ridiculous things that shouldn't be true. Usually true. Based on the memes that we have seen, they are true. And until then, you know, we'll just be as is. Act as if. Act as if. When in Rome.

Bingo. But speaking of Rome, there's a chance. Oh, I wouldn't want to be in Rome. Exactly. No, no, no, no. Don't bring Rome into this. Bro, listen, I don't know shit about fucking this entire thing, but the things that were being said by people that,

from all the different political parties, by the way, this was happening on every different channel. Boom, boom, boom. And normally, I enjoy, you know, if you want to get lost a little bit, just flip back and forth between, you know, the left TV and the right TV. They'll be talking about the same thing, two different worlds, okay?

Two different complete worlds, two different sides, two different angles. It makes you understand a lot more about why nobody can get along about anything and move on. It's like, oh, this is what they're being told. This is what they're being told. And they are complete opposites. And I'm sure they don't dabble back and forth. Even though you probably should is last night across all channels pretty much the same message for everybody that freaked me out a little bit yeah that's when you know something's wrong yeah everyone

it was like I didn't expect that because I heard it on I was watching one particular guy puts on his flat jacket yeah puts on his hat uh his helmet he was trending i'm like what's going on over there they got a backdrop he's sitting in there somebody talking it's like hey this is this is really nothing was seen at the time though pitch black in the back but we heard sounds nothing was seen they're talking about they're like this is here i'm like holy man this seems like very serious this dude's got a fucking flap jacket on while he's doing this entire thing there There's explosions going on behind him. Ukraine, pretty developed country, big country.

This is a big time deal. Here we go. So I was like, is this real? I mean, this can't be. I mean, it's- No way. This is 2022. There's no way that this is actually happening.

Are we serious? So then you go to Fox News and you turn on Fox News, which is representing the right. And they're like, ah, this is a fucking state of war. This is, I'm like, oh no. Oh,'re like, ah, this is a fucking state of war. This is, I'm like, oh, no.

Oh. So then I go, let's go check out MSNBC. What do they got going on there? You know, they're all saying, ah, this is, this is a problem. This is real. So like all night I was almost like flipping back and forth trying to find like news that would go against like me actually feeling a little freaked out. Everybody seems to be. Couldn't find it.

Everyone's freaked out. Everybody seems to be freaked out. Just want to let everybody know, I don't think any of us have the ability to control anything. No, we don't. And if you're watching,

you don't have the ability to control anything. We do have people that watch in Ukraine, actually. I looked into our YouTube stats. I mean, there is... So, T's and P's.

T's and P's, yeah. To fucking everybody that are out there. And let's get into some sports. Troy Aikman is leaving Fox. Whoa, crazy. This guy said, I'm out of here. I will see you later.

Now, Troy Aikman's name, and I think we might have a little bit more inside information in this entire thing than most people. Because there is a new platform that is being developed with the NFL. They are a digital platform. They are Amazon. Okay? We have had conversations with amazon where there has been rumors about who's going to amazon what's going to amazon i don't think an amazon list has officially been made of who's going to be the amazon network i'm not sure but there was

indications at one point that make not from amazon but from the entire you know whenever i'm in those i'm lucky to be in those conversations. You hear what other people think other people are doing. So there's like a lot of, well, we're thinking this is going to happen. So this is going to happen. Troy was linked to Amazon very early. Him and Al Michaels were linked to Amazon very, very, very early. It was like, holy shit. Amazon's coming in a big way. They're bringing Al Michaels in. They're bringing Troy Aikman. It was all hearsay. Amazon never said this, but this is what everybody was assuming was going to take place. Then Troy Aikman gave an interview a couple weeks ago where he said the numbers of how many people are watching games do matter.

Because in my eyes, that means how many people are interested in the game. And the only people that are interested in games are good games. So that means you're getting good games. That Fox crew, Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, they've gotten good games a lot. That primetime 4 o'clock spot gets good games. Sunday night football gets good games. There's other crews that get shit games. Yeah.

Okay? Oh, yeah. Shit games nobody cares about. That's why the one crew is the one crew. Kind of get to pick and choose. Now, Monday night football has been different. They don't get to flex those games. Thursday night football, you don't get to flex those games.

And it going to Amazon, going to digital, everybody's assuming the numbers are going to be down. There's still going to be millions and millions of people watching, but it will be nowhere near the number that it would bring in on Fox, which is on every single television, no matter how smart the TV is, how dumb the TV is, Fox is on there. So that was a question that was asked to Troy Aikman. And when he said the numbers would kind of, you know, be something he thinks about because the numbers would be indicative of how important the games were. That was kind of an interesting thing for me to read because it was like, oh, I thought this was already a done deal. Him going to Amazon. It sounds like he is not there

yet. He's actually throwing out some reasons on why he wouldn't go to Amazon. I'm like, I didn't know we're there. Then there was a report that ESPN might try to get Al Michaels from Amazon as a deal is wrapping up or imminent potentially with Amazon. It's like, holy shit, Amazon doesn't have Al Michaels. Troy Aikman's saying, hey, I'm not going to go there. So really started leading the next questions, you know, like, okay, so what is Amazon going to do? Yeah. Okay. What is Amazon going to do if this is the case? But I still felt that this was all a leverage play. I thought Troy was saying

the number thing as a leverage play contractually for Amazon. I thought Al Michaels being reported to potentially go into ESPN, I thought it was a leverage play.

I thought this was all for negotiating reasons. And yesterday, Troy Aikman, $17.5 million a year, five years, going to do Monday night football. Congrats to Troy Aikman. Yeah. Let's go year, five years, going to do Monday night football.

Congrats to Troy. Yeah, let's go, Troy. Listen, obviously Joe and Troy are a crew that we enjoy here. And I know some people hate Joe. Some people hate Troy as well because they've been around for a long time. They've had to call the worst moments of your team's existence. Their voices are the soundtrack to some of your worst memories so there's some people that naturally do not like any of the commentators because they either hate

their team or love their team as somebody that is just watched and listened to what people are saying and how they're saying like i think joe and troy are very consistent i think they call out stuff i think they talk about refs being bad. I think they're rather relatable. Troy's got beer. Yeah. I mean, he's doing that in time. That's, by the way, choreographed. So that whole thing happens there.

But in my eyes, I thought he was going to Amazon. Now he's setting the table at $17.5 million. What did Romo get? $17. He's getting $17.5. So he said, I'll go over it's monday night football it's the biggest show in town you guys need a change we all know that no offense to levy greasy or riddick but yeah offense to greasy levy in redding because what they just did to

troy acheman and also everybody else at espn by the way yeah you know hey we're gonna go to fox actually get this thing fixed we're gonna pluck him out of there, and Troy is an OG. But him signing that deal resets the market for everybody. Yep. Resets probably strategies for some places. Uh-huh.

And now the question is, who will be the play-by-play? Yeah. Who will be the person that replaces him at Fox? Joe Buck is allegedly potentially getting looked at to maybe be on the move.

Yeah. So then they're talking about maybe Sean Payton, maybe Greg Olson, maybe be on the move. So then they're talking about maybe Sean Payton, maybe Greg Olson, maybe whoever going in there. Maybe Drew Brees is getting traded out of NBC. I mean, it is just all hell is breaking loose. And if you're one of these commentators or one of these big names,

you have to feel pretty good about the spot that you're sitting in right now. Troy is going to make Monday Night Football better. Yeah, absolutely. Who's the play-by-play, and how does this have ripple effects everywhere else? Is the question now that you have to ask. Yeah, I have no idea who Troy,

maybe if he wants to be with someone if they bring him in, but like Collinsworth, you think he might get plucked? Go to be Bucks guy now? Like a lot of plug in place? Because, what's his name waiting at? Drew Brees. Drew Brees and? Tariqo.

Yeah, Tariko. Somebody mentioned Tariko getting traded. It was like, no, now Michael's leaving. Now Tariko's finally doing Sunday Night Football. So he's going there. And I know this is probably much more important to our worlds than everybody else's worlds, but these are the voices of the NFL. And whenever you hear a terrible broadcasting crew,

you should not have to mute an NFL game. Exactly. Especially if it's the only one that's on. A primetime. Well, not just primetime, but also if you're forced to. Any NFL game, you should not have to mute it because of the people that are talking to you. A hundred and some billion dollars going into this. You should be able to watch a game alongside.

They should take that serious. The people you're putting in to voice that thing, they do take serious, obvious. I got a D score by one of the consultants. Oh, yeah, that's right. In the Lions-Packers game, week 17, no playoff implications on the line for anybody. Aaron Rodgers got hurt on the first drive.

Second play, still 10 degrees. Trained for like seven, eight hours. Yeah, Prater threw a touchdown. I got a D by them. So they do take it very seriously. Not by Fox, by their consultant of the booth. So there is a lot that goes into play. But there are some people that are just got off

when should not be calling plays or games. And then there are some people that are obviously separating themselves from everybody else. And they're about to get broken off everywhere. You want to talk about a huge ripple effect. A lot of people went over to the Mannings last year because of muting the main broadcast. Like, if Troy's there, I'm going to want to listen to Troy. I think so.

And the Mannings are signed through 2024 now, too. Yeah, it's not a two-year deal. I wonder what their money's worth for that deal. And it probably goes into the Peyton places. Right. Eli's places. Hope's places what i mean wombecks it's probably a bundle package in that entire thing but if they get a great crew which it seems like they're going to no matter who the play-by-play person is troy will be able to save somebody

that is an interesting dynamic there on watching those back-to-back and i don't think they're going to do that right they just showed like hey we're gonna we're gonna commit to this thing we're gonna spend a lot of money on i don't know why you would you know reset the market and pay troy the most ever and then nickel and dime who's gonna be doing the play by play i think he's gonna have a pretty big say in that but it is interesting because we weren't talking about espn at all like this wasn't This wasn't even a possibility that Troy was going to leave Fox and go to ESPN to do Monday Night Football. He's gone to Amazon.

Yeah. Troy's gone to Amazon. Exactly. And the fact that I think all of us were just like, oh, I guess Levy, Riddick, and Greasy are just going to do Monday Night Football again. It's a big deal. It's awesome.

By the way, what's Amazon going to do? Who knows? Good question. They might be. What are you going to do? Who knows? Good question. They might be. What are you going to do? I'm pretty interested. Yeah. I might be screwed.

I'm pretty intrigued. And I wonder if they thought that, hey, it was a done deal. We're going to have Al and Troy, and we're going to be able to just pick up and run and go with it. And people are going to tune in because that will be the best booth in football. The people at Amazon, by the way, I enjoy the humans that I've talked to. But I have asked a couple questions. Season people at Amazon, by the way, I enjoy the humans that I've talked to. But I have asked a couple questions like season's coming up, right?

What are you guys going to do? What's the plan here? 30 weeks away. It's not that far out. You guys are launching an entire network almost. They'll figure it out. And there's a lot of people that are retired that are signing deals with people. Tom Brady might want to get in.

I mean, you have no idea. Al and Pat. No, no, no. I can't call games. I can't call games. Why not? Not yet. Have to be done with this show to call games.

Because that's like a three-day, four-day thing. You know what I mean? You got to travel out there. And I've appreciated everybody that has tweeted. There's not as many as they have in the past. A lot of people have tweeted, like, oh, you should be getting that gig. It's like, nah as they have in the past. A lot of people have tweeted, you should be getting that gig. It's like, nah, I have zero wants to do that gig after

doing Thursday Night Football in a remote setting. Full-time job. It is a lot of travel, a lot of work. And I appreciate the fact that Troy Aikman is like, you're going to have to pay me $17.5 million you want me to do. Now Al Michaels, he should say, you're going to have to gonna pay me 25 million to

amazon because without al michaels that amazon broadcast like and is how michael's even there yet true right yeah all right let's pivot away from our sport let's go to a sport that's dead ladies and gentlemen the authority on america's pastime which might be left in the past time because deals cannot be made. There is currently a lockout happening between the owners and the players of the MLB. And there's only one person that has all the information for us. Great friend of the show, ladies and gentlemen, Jet Passage. What up, Jet? Troy Aikman's trying to reset the market over there at ESPN. I hope you go ahead and knock on some doors. You know what I mean?

Hey, I love it. If that deal gets done, that's a great new teammate. And we'll take it. Speaking of teammates, though, Pat. Yeah, buddy. You know, it's been interesting. During the lockout, I haven't had to go and cover spring training. So I got to have Valentine's Day with my wife. We've been married 15 years. Valentine's Day for the first time because I go and cover spring training so I got to have Valentine's Day

with my wife we've been married 15 years Valentine's Day for the first time because I'm always at spring training it was fantastic I bring this up because I know love what real love looks like or I thought I knew what real love looked like

until I checked my Twitter account last night bring up the photo. You can zoom in on Gump's face right now. Has there been anybody more in love with anybody than Gump is with Jon Hamm right now? Look at how happy he is. Find a baby grandpa. Look at that. Thank you, John.

Jim had a sacrifice bunt, don't you? Just a happy guy at all times, Jet. You know me. I think it was because of the big bat. You know, he loves a good big bat. I think that's the entire thing. But that conversation with Jon Hamm last night, I don't know if you got to watch it all.

I know you saw the picture of it on Twitter. He was amazing, Jet. Like, by the way, way god please not the only one that's in love with john ham right now yeah i am as well after listening to him he's like one of the sexiest people on earth confession yeah back god it must have been almost 10 years ago now uh john ham did a movie called million dollar arm it was about a couple of kids in ind, one of whom Rinku Singh, I believe, went on to become a wrestler in WWE. But Jon Hamm's doing a movie on this whole thing. And as part of the promotional tactics, they invited a group of sports writers to be extras in the movie. And I was among the group who got invited down there.

And I have to say, Gump, I'm kind of with you. Jon Hamm in person is a sight to behold. He's a devastatingly handsome man. Like, that's just the reality of the situation. I'm comfortable enough to say that. I feel good about that. I see why Gumpy is as in love as he is. Yeah, Gumpy, I mean, that moment, I took like four or five different photos,

and that was definitely the most Gumpy. I mean 50 minutes headphones on camera sitting on his stomach and he knew everything about hockey had like actual takes and actual opinions he was so wide up he confirmed that he would want to do the town too yeah he basically said like hey ben affleck if you want to do it i'm a hundred percent in talked about being at wrigley and how awesome it was i mean he was in i didn't i didn't know much about him he's he actually is like coolest dude on earth i think man it's uh we're very the only negative thing about him is he's a st louis cardinals fan but aside from that he's great so you don't like cardinals yet let's get Let's dive right into it.

Let's dive into baseball. Obviously, this national journalist, the voice of baseball, doesn't like the small time. I have to. So why don't you like the Cardinals? What happened with the Cardinals? Or you got no problems with them? I'm from Kansas City. I have a

20-year running joke where people from St. Louis think I hate the Cardinals because I live in Kansas City. So, no, nothing against the Cardinals at all, other than they suck. Well, Tom Diggs from Pittsburgh, he hates Cleveland. And one guy last night from Cleveland said he's going to punch him right in the mouth for not liking Cleveland. Oh, geez, so you're sticking with it. Anyways, Jet, let's get into the baseball here. I mean, you're the guy that everybody looks to to find out what the hell's going on

in a sport that, you know, has been dwindling over the years in popularity for whatever reason. I believe, because I did not play and grow up in it, game's too long, too slow, who cares? But there are diehard fans of baseball. Ty is one of them. Gumpy is one of them.

You obviously cover it. And right now is devastating times in baseball. Ty is one of them. Gumpy is one of them. You obviously cover it. And right now is devastating times in baseball. Hockey went through this a long time ago and almost killed the league, almost completely killed the league. Now, granted, they've been able to come back and restore faith in the fans and everything like that. But right now, baseball is their fans are even struggling to even like have like loyalty right now. Right. Isn't that something that's real? And do the owners and the players recognize that, you think? It's very real, and I don't think the owners and the players recognize that. I think both of them are staked out in positions that are so strident

that are inside of this bubble where we're trying to divide up billions and billions of dollars, and sometimes you do that and forget about the fans. And I understand why each side is doing what it's doing. The players are as strident as they are because they have the moral argument in this case. The reality is the way that the league has treated them over the last decade or so salaries down for four straight years service time manipulation so some of the best players in the game don't get called up when they should tanking which long before it was happening in the nba and the nfl you saw it happening in major league baseball all of these things leading to a worse game and the players are sitting there

saying we're tired of this like we are just tired of it right now and i was talking with a player leader a few days ago and his his whole thing was we just want to stop being screwed that that was his message we feel like even though yes we are in privileged positions playing this game uh know, making tons of money in many cases, and doing this in front of an adoring public. At the same time, we want what's fair. And they don't feel like the offers that they're getting from the owners are fair right now. On the other hand, the owners are like, hey, we have a great situation. And we don't want to screw it up, because they've seen what's happened before when they've done that. So they're holding on as hard and as strong as they can to all of the things that

they've got and the problem with this is you've got two sides that are entrenched in their positions and so entrenched in those positions that they may not be seeing the forest for the trees and unfortunately if baseball loses games, you're going to start losing fans, not just casuals. You're going to start losing fans who have stuck by the game when it's been at low points, when it hasn't been as good as it is right now. And doing that with everything that you just said earlier about where the game is could be catastrophic. Yeah. So by the way, I appreciate you saying everything you just say and letting us kind of in on what you're hearing and not hearing. Every time you come on here,

I feel like I legitimately learned something. And I'm very, very, very thankful for that. With that being said, anytime a lockout happens or there's collective bargaining negotiations, it seems like the public, or in this case, the baseball purists, think that the baseball players are a bunch of spoiled brats, right? That's kind of how the public narrative has always been in all of these type of public negotiations. With that being said, whenever they say they're getting screwed, you hear the big number for all the big time players and what they're getting. But there's a lot of other players there, right? That aren't signing the hundreds of millions of dollars deals that are also being represented in these negotiations. When you're talking about the service time and the call-ups and the tanking and trying to put people in bad spots

while these dudes are also on the road right they're on the road 200 some days a year like they this is an entire thing you would think that the public would at least side with the players a little bit is that the case i don't know baseball purists enough is this standard lockout stuff where the fans are on the ownership side in telling the players to shut up or do you feel like this has been rather split i think it's changing pat and i don't know if baseball is some sort of uh the forebear for the the future but when i look at polling back from 1994 i I think there was a New York Times poll done, and of the respondents, 40% said they were on the owner's side, 20% said they were on the player's side,

and the other 40% didn't know, didn't care. There's been one poll that's out, and I suppose it shows just how baseball has fallen in the eyes of the public because this poll had 24% on the side of the players and only 11% on the side of the owners. And I think the reason behind that is twofold. Number one, social media has completely changed the dynamics here. And with social media, whereas in the past you had corporate media that had been around forever uh and for whatever reason felt aligned with owners there was nobody there in the public sphere to check that there is now and the people who are checking it sometimes are even louder or

have even bigger voices but the second part and i think this is even more important. We don't like billionaires like we used to know, I'm dead. Very valid. I think like I'm not trying to get political here. But if Bernie Sanders has a legacy in America, I think it's opening people's eyes about what a billionaire had to do to become a billionaire. Generally speaking, you don't become a billionaire by playing nice. You don't become a billionaire had to do to become a billionaire. Generally speaking, you don't become a billionaire by playing nice. You don't become a billionaire without stepping on people's throats,

without kicking them when they're down. And I'm not saying all billionaires are bad people, necessarily, what I'm saying is, if you have reached that point where you have the obscene wealth that nobody could possibly fathom, and you have the great divide in america where so many people are lacking are wanting are struggling well we're going to look at billionaires who are

trying to hold on to their money and trying to keep it away from the working man grant that the working man in baseball is not your average 15 an hour labor. It happens to be someone who is incredibly skilled, gifted, and has worked unbelievably hard to get where he is. Nevertheless, he is still labor. He is still a worker. He is still part of that rank and file that so many people out there, I think, can actually understand. And so I think our evolution as a society toward casting aspersions and looking sort of askew at billionaires actually plays in the player's favor in this case. I think Bernie was driving in a $250,000 car whenever he said that. But I do believe, I am thankful that that is something that's true.

No, no, no. But Pat, OK, OK. So I'm glad you brought up cars. Did you see yesterday there was a tweet from the Associated Press about how Max Scherzer arrived at a Porsche to the meetings yesterday? Now, Max Scherzer, remember, one of the best pitchers of his generation, just signed a contract for the largest average annual value a year at $43 million. What, do you expect him to show up in a Volkswagen?

Like, number one, of course he's not going to. He's a successful man. Nobody's going to take him serious. Like, the context that was not included there is that the owners who showed up did so in private jets, right? Like, they're the ones who have the most money. And so I think something like that getting called out, which wouldn't have happened in the past,

the ap got absolutely flayed for it and rightfully so because you know what if if max scherzer isn't driving a porsche i'm gonna ask him what's wrong with you yeah and by the way back in the day that would have led to an entire narrative conversation about oh look at this spoiled man who shows up in a porsche that was given to him by these owners he's talking to. And that narrative is then force-fed into everybody's brain. And this is, oh, so this is, yeah, it has to be true. If all these people of importance, media, sports media, baseball writers, that would become an entire thing. And to your point with the way social media is, you can kind of combat all of that.

I loved your take. with the way social media is, you can kind of combat all of that. I loved your take. And I didn't mean to bury the hypocritical stance of Bernie Sanders, you know, a guy who wanted to tax people 90% and everything like that. I mean, very fascinating.

You know, where's that money going then to your paycheck, basically, which comes from the government. So, I mean, that's a fascinating thing where you're negotiating a contract up every single time. But I do like the fact that that is kind of exposed.

I feel like we've been a society that has been against the man you know i come from a working class family i think a lot of people have against the man but even more so it has gotten heightened and broadened i do believe bernie sanders is part of that entire initiative and if that is going to carry into sports negotiations that's great for the players with that being said do the billionaires give a single fuck at this point? Like, I was reading through your thread. Ty read through your thread at that point. Ty read through it.

The billionaires also, if they didn't, you know, step on people to get all the way up there, they were either born in it and they have no idea what it's like to not be or to remain there once they get up there. They have the greatest lawyers and the greatest clauses and contracts. Like that has always been a thing in negotiations, especially at these high levels. We read through your thread, Ty did, and you're saying they're $50 million off a year for five years. So it's like $250 million they're off.

Is there a deal that's going to be made? Because I guess if they don't make a deal by Monday, you guys start canceling games. And that's when you're saying it's going to become a real problem. Are they anywhere near from what it sounds like? They're nowhere close. Is that an accurate depiction and how do they get it done? That's a completely accurate depiction. There's nothing right now. There's been no movement. It's been inching on both sides and it's been a lot like a game of chicken, honestly. They're just waiting for someone to blink. They're waiting for someone to make the big move.

And the owners say, why should we make a big move? We've made the more incremental gains toward you. We've given up more toward you than you've given us. Now, I don't know that that's true entirely, but that's the owner's perspective at this point. The players are like, okay, we're in a system that's garbage right now. And granted, Pat, it is garbage in some ways of their own volition. Let's not forget, collective bargaining agreements are two-sided documents. Like the things that are in place right now were negotiated by the Players Association, by MLB. But it's a matter of whether they're being enforced in bad faith. It's a matter more than anything, I think. Are you doing things by the letter of the law or by the spirit of the law?

And the letter of the law says, yes, it is okay for a team to hold a player down, even if he's major league ready through April, right? You can hold him down because doing so allows you to get an extra year at the end where he's not a free agent. So the way it works, I'm going to get a little wonky here. I'll try and get through this very quickly. You reach free agency in major league baseball after six years, this very quickly you reach free agency a major major league baseball after six years six full seasons to get a full season of service time you need 172 days what the cubs did back in 2015 was they sent chris bryant out even though he was the best player in the cactus league sent him out to triple a and then called him up so that he spent 171 days on the roster. He was one day short of reaching free agency a year earlier.

Now, he filed a grievance. He filed a grievance. He went and argued on his behalf. The league went and argued on their behalf. And the arbitrator ruled in favor of the league because the way that the rules are written allow for that. That is the letter of the law. the rules are written allow for that. That is the letter of the law. The spirit of the law says that if you're going to have a six-year reserve period, make it six years. Don't make it seven years.

That's why the moral component of what the players are doing right now is as compelling as it is, because you see these, I'm not even going to call call them microaggressions they're macroaggressions that the league is perpetuating on the players and the players sit there and say i'm done with this like this is our game sorry you're the laundry we're the product and the the fact that they are able to say that and i think more people are recognizing that, hearing it, acknowledging it, gives them more power than they've had in the past. The problem is how often, Pat, do moral arguments win financial negotiations? Not very. Well, that's the whole thing about a lot of stuff.

Like the Internet can win a narrative. lot of stuff like the internet can win a narrative okay but in court just like you said the letter of the law there the spirit of a lot of things is something i think we all are striving for but the actual like they're and i always say this hey fairy tale land we want this to be true okay like we we are not against this we wish this was true but in reality hey this is where we live reality that's not gonna work like that that's just not the way it is it's happening right now for brian flores in the nfl because of a contract he signed on february 4th 2019 and his lawyers are trying to paint the narrative on the internet which i appreciate because that is a problem in the nfl and we do

have to get that fixed but the way they're going about it's like there's no chance he wins like with the way they're acting like in actuality in real life we wish like we wish it would work because the spirit of things but in the actuality you have to this is just the way the world exists and the way that you're describing this is exactly what was happening between the NFL and the NFLPA when we had our lockout, right? We wanted everything to be in paper because in paper is the only thing that actually matters. You have to always expect the way that something can be taken the absolute worst. So people are called dramatic for that, but there's reasons for that because you have- See, I'm so glad you brought that up because that to me is one of the hearts of the issue here.

It's incentive versus guarantee. So let's look at service time manipulation. Chris Bryant is the poster boy in that. But listen, there have been others. There have been plenty of guys who have had their service time manipulated. The players want to address this. And the league's solution to addressing that is to say to a team, if you have a player up at the beginning of the season and he spends the whole year on the roster

and goes and wins an award or finishes top three in rookie of the year, something along those lines, then he gets a full year of service because he's been with the team. And the team gets two draft picks, one in the domestic draft and one in international draft. That may or may not happen. The players look at this and they're like, no. Because the reality is those picks that they're offering are not equivalent in value to that year of a good player at the end of his six-year reserve period. So the players are saying, you know what, if we come up, no matter when we come up, if we succeed, we get top five rookie of the year for one of the seven best at our

position, doesn't matter when you came up, you automatically get a year of service. You retroactively can add to it. The players want the guarantee because they don't trust the teams to follow the incentives well you can't trust anything that's being negotiated can't you literally can't try and let until it's on paper you literally you can't trust anything because the amount of clauses and the amount of things that they can get on the back end i like the fact that the players are like no you can't can't just say, like, we will do this. Like, you won't. We know you won't because it's been displayed in the past.

But they've got to get a deal done. And it doesn't sound like they're anywhere close. Go ahead, Ty. Yeah, Jet. Bob Manfred has become a punchline. He's just a doofus and a dipshit. And we all make fun of him. But do you think if there were to be a change in leadership and they did get a new commissioner,

like, would that do anything to help this process? I feel like he's just hampered it the entire way through. Everyone knows he's just a lapdog for the owners. So would that even matter? Do you see something like that happening? And in your heart of hearts, do you think that they're going to get a deal done by Monday? Or are we looking at a situation where we're definitely not going to have 162 games? Ty, let me ask you a question first. Do you know when the last time Rob Manfred was in a collective bargaining meeting? No, I don't.

October. When was it? It was April. It's been almost a year now. He has stayed away. And he stayed away because, generally speaking, the commissioner doesn't go in on those sorts of things, even though Rob Manfred has been a big part of it in the past and was a labor negotiator himself.

You know, I think Rob Manfred is one of the best things the players have going for them because he's someone around whom they can rally. Like, you want to get solidarity among players? Bring up Rob Manfred's name. layers bring up rob manfred's name um even even like the most pacifistic guys who uh i've known for years and really don't care about anything what are you counting pat perpetuating macro aggression pacifistic i mean the word all right see hold on a second do you remember that yeah do we have like one of the i mean this seems like an elephant all All right. I'll use that on Friday. I'll use that on SmackDown. This guy is perpetuating macro aggression. Normally, he's a pretty path. But not tonight. Not tonight.

Sorry about it. No, I think Manfred, honestly, is good for the players. And the reality is, let's remember what a commissioner is. A commissioner is not a figurehead entirely, but a commissioner is a worker for the 30 owners. He answers to them. And the most effective commissioners can sort of cajole and guide

and push them to where he wants them to be. But in the end, he has to answer to them. So I think anybody who is installed in that position might have a better ability to speak publicly and not put his foot in his mouth like Manfred has any number of times. But is it going to be any better? No. In terms of the season tie, I'm not confident right now. I mean, they have a lot of work to do over the next 96 hours or so if they want to get a deal done. Now, that doesn't mean the deal can't get done, but someone's going to have to make a

big move. And I just don't know which side's going to do it at this point. I mean, yesterday, MLB came out and said unequivocally, if there's not a deal by February 28th, we are going to miss games. Is that the sort of thing that pushes the players perhaps to go and make the move are the players going to sit there call his bluff and say you know what we feel like even if we are losing money for this that the the moral um the moral stand that we're taking yeah the thing that we're doing for future generations of baseball players is going to be worth it. That is a risk. That is a big, big risk to take because the risk is people just don't come back.

They say, we live in 2022. We have every kind of channel streaming out there. We have YouTube. We can go and watch Pat. We can watch other sports, entertainment. It's about to be summer. We can go outside. There are so many great things to do

why am i going to waste my time on something that doesn't care about me so for you guys in this world for us for instance jeff saturday was the one cajoling through it all to you know talk to craft and them and allegedly he's the one that got the deal done like hey hey nflpa lawyers all right and to the nfl lawyers all right let's just go directly here meet you and he was kind of like the face of almost being the one who said all right enough our guys have already lost too much money we're about to lose the game the fans have already turned against us as players but as a sport as a whole who would be the player that would do that you think is it max scherzer showing up in the porsche or who would be the person that would have to get that thing done?

Max Scherzer's going to show up in the Porsche, kick him in the stomach, give him a stunner, and then throw double birds at him. That's Max Scherzer. Imagine if Scherzer did. We watched, every once in a while, we'll just watch old Stone Cold clips on YouTube. There was one where that glass breaks and he walks out,

doesn't say anything. He walks into the ring, boom, boom, stuns somebody, bang, flips them off, walks out, and the music didn't stop. He leaves the entire thing. It was one of the greatest things. I forgot it happened. What a magical. That's who Scherzer is, though, you're saying.

Who would be the player, you think? Is there any players that are going to end up, you know, and who would be the owner? Who think? Is there any players that are going to end up, and who would be the owner? Who's the owner that is kind of guiding? It's obviously not that dumbass Bob Nutting. Who are the two you think that we could look to to potentially get a deal done? It's funny.

I've talked with people who have been in negotiations in the past, and they talked about these back-channel sessions that went on. There is no back-channeling going on in baseball right now and i i think that's you bring up a great point there the fact that they don't have anybody who's doing the back channeling at this point i think speaks to the divide between the sides and maybe that person comes when they start losing money but until then i i don't know who it is anywhere frankly because the the disgust going in both directions is unlike anything I have seen. The frustration, the disappointment, they both just feel like the other side sucks and that they are intractable and not willing to move. And that the other side is the one that's hard.

Yeah, write it down. Intractable. I-N-T-R-A-C-T-A-B-L-E. Is it I-B-L-n-t-r-a-c-t-a-b-l-e is it i-b-l-e or a-b-l-e yeah a-b-l-e yeah you got it a-b-l-e yeah you got it you know they they like i wish as someone who wants to see baseball games that there was someone who could bridge the sides i just don't know who it is at this point because they are so angry at each other interesting very fascinating go ahead connor yeah jed do you see a world where maybe they just kind of get rid of single a double a triple a and go with like a more of a g league like the nba or

are they going to try and save everybody in this uh scenario i mean the what would be the difference between the g league and the minor leagues? I almost feel like they're kind of the same at this point, right? Well, like tons of teams and tons more players in the minor leagues, correct? Okay. No. Like if they did that, it would be catastrophic. Just because in the NBA, like you generally know who's a dude, right?

Like you see a couple guys from europe come back every now and again and wind up in the league but in baseball there are diamonds in the rough all over the place and the fact that they have a you know most most organizations have 160 170 180 minor leaders in place right now uh there's no doubt major league baseball wants to contract some of those i mean they were trying to get a proposal through the union that would have allowed them Oh, God. Late.

No. It was actually early. Gone. Pulled it. Right there. Went off the pole. Should have seen what park I was in. Rolled over it. That's in a river. Yeah, and Yankee Stadium, that's gone. I've seen old buddy hit a grand salami that way. That's right.

That's right. Johnny D. I was there two rows behind him, man. Took a piss next to Julie Arnie. Did not wash his hands. He got the bacteria on his way out there. Anyways. You took a piss next to Julie Arnie.

It was crazy, bro. It was crazy. So we, I don't want to interrupt anything you're saying, obviously, but it was a great time. That was an incredible day. That was the best baseball I've ever seen in my entire life. Incredible day. We got these hilarious seats from – shout out to SeatGeek. Shout out to SeatGeek.

Shout out to SeatGeek. We moved a lot of tickets for SeatGeek, you know, because they are the greatest ticket-buying platform on earth, and they repaid us with these seats to this fucking Yankees playoff game where we were in their – we were in that area. Fancy area. You were in the legends. Oh, yeah.

And by the way, we are a natural group of people that don't show up early enough to really enjoy the entireties of it. We showed up as the game was starting. It was like, oh, my God, we missed like four courses here. They had like a full buffet. They had everything. There was crabs over here. There was prime ribeye over here.

There was an entire sandwich section here. Drinks over here. I mean, it was gorgeous. I don't know how much those tickets were, but they were a lot. They were a lot. We're in there. We're sitting there. We're hanging out.

All of a sudden, we realize, oh, we're on TV every single time a right-handed batter is playing. That's how close we are. So I chug a beer. Maybe the quickest beer I've ever chugged in the history of anything. We're trying to enjoy it. Ty Schmidt, massive Yankees fan old cousin jean-carlo dd gregorius dd yeah hits a grand slam right in front of us we go but it was awesome but giuliani and i about six inning the bladder was talking go in there and i'm it was normally a pretty active bathroom and uh i was waiting in line and then i get in and then there's ties there and i think uh foxy was there and cd was there

so but nobody else ends up in the bathroom like we're kind of in there quietly it was because there was like security shutting down the bathroom juliani comes moseying in he almost does like the leg lift up the shorts into the urinal and then he just then he just walked out i was oh shit is what i actually said oh shit while i was peeing and they said gentlemen how you doing then he just turned around walked out got a little hand sanitizer and he was gone and then the bathroom was back open in public it was crazy it would just happen to be in there but the security really did a terrible job didn't they like if there were a bunch of people in there who needs security to take a terrible job, didn't they? Like, if there were a bunch of people in there,

who needs security to take a piss? Well, also, like, we would be the people that you would not want in there. But we were already in there. You know, I just think, I don't know. I don't know how it works. But I'll tell you what, gentlemen. Yeah, yeah. Gorgeous.

Gentlemen. They're just fucking out of there. So whatever the case, love baseball. I took your pitch fucking yard. Neither here nor there to get this entire thing back go ahead tone uh jet have the i haven't heard of the players come out and said like how short a spring training can be depending on when the deal gets done uh if they could start on time like do they need the the normal allotment of time or it could be just a

couple weeks have they talked about that great question thank you major league baseball is taking the perspective that you need four full weeks of spring training they're basing that on 2020 when they had a three-week spring training after they got uh after they implemented the season to 60 games and the argument from the league side is that injuries went up in 2020 therefore we want one week longer spring training which is why they're putting that deadline at February 28th. The idea would be for players to report March 3rd, and then March 31st would be opening day four weeks later. So that's the perspective behind that.

Players think spring training is too long already, frankly. It's not like the old days where dudes would show up and have to loosen their arms throughout spring training. I mean, guys train year round right now, and pitchers are going to be ready. So I think that there could be a three-week spring training. I think the idea of predicting injuries is honestly folly to begin with. They're athletes. They're going to get hurt. It's going to be freakish. It's going to suck when it happens.

But I just don't know that the difference in injuries makes it such that you cut off a potential week in negotiation. All right. Well, we appreciate you so much for stopping by jet. Please tell the kid we said, what's up. And yeah, you're the man, dude.

Hopefully baseball gets something done. Doesn't feel like it's going to happen though. I is everyone like, are you guys going to be doing the show at WrestleMania? Yeah, I think so. Oh yeah. Yeah.

I think so. I think I might, I think I might come down and swing by. You're going to be at WrestleMania? You've got to be quiet because the little one doesn't know. And it's going to be for him and for his birthday. So announcing it on a national show, probably a shitty thing for a dad to do if he wants to keep it a secret. But I want to get ready for that face-to-face meeting.

And I'm going to strike you out, McAfee, and it's going to be embarrassing. Wow. Okay. I mean, no need to end it that way. You're already proven to be a bad dad. No need to say, I'll see you at the end. No, we'll be down there, man. It'll be great to see you.

I can't wait for that. That'll be cool. And hopefully the kid, you know, WrestleManias are incredible. Unbelievable. They are. The whole city gets taken over, basically. The amount of moments that happen in there. It The whole city gets taken over, basically. The amount of moments that happen in there.

It'll be great to see you, man. We'll be pumped about it. All right. We'll see you then. Hopefully they'll have a deal done by then. No way. Ladies and gentlemen,

Jet Passer. Joining us now, the man who cajoles the conversation, perpetuates microaggressions every single time he opens his mouth. That's right.

Super Bowl champion, COVID survivor, ladies and gentlemen, A.J. Ha. What's up, A.J.? Hey, guys. What's going on? Why do you feel like this sense of gratitude lately? Well, I think when I was in Hawaii, you know, I was all doped up. I was just thinking about how stupid life was, and I'm very thankful for everybody. You know, there's different ways to get the deeper sense of gratitude.

I think I've always been very appreciative of a lot of things. But once you take a step back and kind of look into it all, you become a bit more grateful for the people and the things. And I didn't have to do a 12-day cleanse to do such a thing. But I did feel it after a seven-day vacation with my wife in Hawaii. But then last night, you know, I start scanning through, and I see a guy in a goddamn flapjacket with a helmet on, and he's standing in a country that has developed. And it's not like out in the middle of nowhere that's been happening for,

you know, thousands and thousands of years. This is like, oh, shit. And then I change the channel. I'm like, oh, some other political affiliation will tell me something good, right? I mean, that is, that's kind of how this goes. Anytime, I'm going to change the channel over to'm like, oh, some other political affiliation will tell me something good, right? I mean, that is, that's kind of how this goes. But anytime, I'm going to change the channel over to this other one here, right? Hey, how's it going?

Good to see you guys. Oh, they're saying it's bad too. I got to go to another channel. I got to go to another channel. There's somebody else. And I think whenever you start seeing that and it's all people from every different narrative and every different opinion,

every different idea about how the world should work. Whenever they saying like this is very fucking real right now i think it's you can't help but just be like man this is crazy time i'm very thankful for everything and who knows what's going to happen next you know so i think that is kind of the combination here that you're seeing in the black tank top today jayhawk i understand completely i watched a guy earlier today he was doing like a stand-up interview from over there somewhere, and he put his helmet on in the middle of the interview, of talking to the people back in the studio. He's like, I'm sorry, hold on. They cut off, and he comes back fully strapped up with his helmet. And I'm like, man, I don't know if this

dude is terrified. He's showing it very well on camera, like he's under control, but that has to be a scary situation. So, for instance, Michael Cole. Yes. Okay? Michael Cole, the voice of SmackDown. This was his life. He used to do this, right? Yeah, the greatest commentator in the history of wrestling.

People just need to understand it. He's been going for 25 years straight. He's only missed two shows. Okay? Jesus. And they go every single week. So, I don't care what you say about who however somebody might be able to deliver something differently that dude is one of the greatest workers in the history of

working like i'm talking out there but also his energy level his commitment to a lot of bad ideas i mean there has been a lot of bad when you're putting three hours two hours of television every single week for the last 25 years there's going to be some bad just michael cole is the man but i think the reason why he even got into the wrestling world is because at the time there was the monday night wars okay it's the attitude era monday night raw was taking on monday night nitro and i believe vince mcmahon wanted a war correspondent it's a war and i want a war correspondent. And so they were looking for these war correspondents. And they somehow landed

and found Michael Cole, who is out of Syracuse. He had covered campaigns, presidential campaigns on the road. He was in Bosnia during a civil war, one in which to get there, okay, which he was being held hostage

for like nine months, I guess. He couldn't get out there. They had no electricity, no exit, no nothing. He was covering this every single day. He was on the losing side, by the way. The people that were losing, he was in the middle of that entire thing. Flew in a plane, a commercial plane, where they told him he had to put on a bulletproof vest and a helmet because the plane that he's flying in is going to get shot at because the Serbs don't like the Germans or something.

He was on a German plane or something like that. So they land in the middle of an airfield. This dude has a full bulletproof helmet and all of his shit in a backpack. He's a journalist, tiny little guy. I mean, big. He's a small guy. He has to jump off the back of the plane, which is 10 feet high, lands on his face, stands up up has to run through a field to

get over a bunker while they're being shot at this is what this is it's confirmed by the way and documented real story the real story jumps in there hops in the back of a like brink's truck to get to where he's covering while the brink's truck by the way, Brinks truck is getting shot at. He then goes into a place in which there's no electricity to get water every day. He had to walk down with a bucket to fill up from a well that they opened for them for like a certain amount of hours for everybody that was in the area while fire is being taken in there. Like that's what some of these journalists are doing. Michael Cole did told us all that. I was like, holy shit. He covered David Koresh. He was the first interview with koresh when koresh talked he was in the middle of a river that was on fire trapped covering this thing live on tv with no real exit he was on like a wooden thing

he's like some of these journalists i think they look like michael cole i would assume right now wishes that he was able to go over oh yeah it's a thing that's in them. I think to like get in the middle of that and to cover that like can tour, Jim Cantor can't wait. Like it is in his body. Be like, all right, there's a fucking hurricane. I'm going into the sea,

you know, but those journalists last night that I watched just after what I heard from Michael Cole and what he went through and everything. Like, I'm like, Holy, there is some real, cause when you're not on TV,

what's happening, you know, think about all that other time of what they're doing trying to figure out how to get to the hotel oh shit should we be standing on this rooftop right in the history of war rooftops not a good place not good not a good spot to be like it is i have the utmost respect you're right you're 100 i have the utmost respect for everybody that's covering it over there right now yeah i i mean dig sent a terrifying video to me, if it's real, of filming through the window of a house. And you see the plane coming in with a drop of bomb or whatever, like really, really close to this house. You hear a little kid. I'm like, jeez, if that's real, that's brutal.

Hey, this shit is from documentaries and history books. We always think, though, we always think, oh, things like this don't happen we have social media and internet i'm like well it still happens it's 2022 like i think that's the biggest thing whenever the video that dig sent you i believe he also sent to the group as soon as he saw that hey people need to see this i say it's probably like some people i mean it's wild and it had like 21 000 retweets i think on the tweet that it was but it was like hey this is 2022 andets, I think, on the tweet that it was. But it was like, hey, this is 2022. And this sounds so bad because I guess we've been kind of like desensationalized from it.

Like war in the Middle East seems like it just happens. Like I feel like that's how we've all kind of come to understand. It's like, hey, for thousands of years there's been stuff going on, and then we get in the middle of it, then we're in it and we lost like so I think that particular war is one that we've kind of become desensationalized because it's like ah that's just how it's been like that's just how it goes now I'm a stooge I don't know I don't pay attention close enough but I feel like that is what I've observed from the reactions of other humans that are kind of doubt in there this thing thing happening out of nowhere, it feels like we're leaping back in the history books.

And it's been, hey, last night, searching for the good news. Like, oh my gosh, some political affiliation will tell me something good here. It was like, no, I'm like, oh, fuck. This is a, plus you think about everything else that we just came out of two-year lockdown. And then now this, you just think to yourself,

like, oh, is this real? Like, what the fuck? It's hard not to think like that. It's honestly just think to yourself like oh is this real like what the fuck it's tough it's hard not to think like that it's honestly hard not to think like that yeah it does seem like it jumped up on us quick i know i haven't i don't pay as much attention as a lot of people but i we heard what over the last week or so that this could happen and all this stuff and then now that it's happening like okay now what what do we do man this is an embarrassment because i am an adult or businessman but i did not heard. I did not know that what was going to happen. I did not know that what I was seeing last night.

Because the Troy Aikman news happened on Twitter. Kind of got overshadowed, huh? No, well, I quote to it. I'm like, this is large news. You know, I put it out there, and then boom, everybody's like, is it, dude? Just wait. You fucking idiot. I'm like, oh, my God.

Again, what did i do what did i do you know and then my wife is like hey there's like a war about to happen or whatever so like i felt like an idiot i didn't even i and i i feel like a lot of people just like you said 2022 i thought there was no way like this type of stuff would happen now it's happening it's i don't know who knows what's next too Nobody's giving us good news. I just hope Hasbulla's okay. He will be okay.

Your tweet said otherwise, dude. I mean, if I happen to see him face-to-face on the field of battle, I will drop that motherfucker. Shut your mouth. I hope he's okay. Mute your own mic. Bull is on. I hope he's okay. Bula's on the good team. Mute your own mic.

Like when Shawn Michaels had, you know, he didn't want to deliver that super kick. Son of a bitch. I love you. Imagine Gumpy and Bula running into each other. Listen, we should not be making jokes about this. We do not think this is funny, but this situation

that could happen, I guess, is what I'm being told by smart people. Take me before you take Bula. Well, imagine Gumpy rolling in. Yeah. Give me my fucking work boots. Okay. He rolls in. He stands up, and it's Bula on the other side.

I know. No. Bula dropped both of his weapons. Bula's just standing there. I'm so sorry. I take. Bula dropped both of his weapons. Bula's just standing there. I'm so sorry. I take off my helmet. I put it down. Put me down, Bula. Put me down.

Gumpy lifts. Gumpy lifts. Oh, no. Gumpy fucking Gumpy lifts up. Oh, no. I am so sorry, Bulla. No! Love you, Bulla.

I'm dead. That would be such a shame. Let's hope it doesn't come to that. Let's hope it doesn't come to Gumpy and Bulla. Please, no. I think we're all on the same team, aren't we? We are. Everybody's on the same team.

Bula's team, right? Wow. We will definitely consider which team Bula's on for all of us. That's TBD. But CNN actually gave us some good news. They're still, you know, I think, what was it, two for 20 apps at Applebee's? Yeah, that's right. They're still kind of light in the snow.

It's not all dour. Poor Zach. Poor Zach Brown can't be happy. Still get boneless wings and a 32-ounce Bud Light. Listen, I do not want to make any light of any of this. It's very serious. But whenever they are panning a city that is getting bombed. Air sirens.

And there's air sirens on the boats. Those air raids, those sirens. And there's air sirens on the bus. Those air raids are, those sirens are terrifying. Yes. Scary, very loud as they're panning and then all of a sudden you go right to, you know I like my chicken fried.

Cold beer on a Friday night. Half off apps at Applebee's. I mean, that had, I mean, that was an interesting, that was an interesting gig. 2022, can't we figure some kind of algorithm where, hey, we're showing some really terrible stuff.

We can't go right to a commercial like that. The way I've seen some ad people try to set up deals, like a lot of doofuses that don't think about the actual product. They just think about getting the deal done. Probably at their height of numbers is when certain things probably get plugged in, right? With like certain, you know what I mean? So like, I would assume

they're at very high ratings at that point. So their deal is probably like, hey, we need to get this done. Boom. And it's just, you know, no situation.

Fire the Applebee's. Yeah. Roll Applebee's commercial now. What's the number? We're at how many million people are watching? Well, we're showing an incredibly scary situation. So a lot of people are tuning in because they think maybe everybody's going to die

within the next five minutes all right well that's a lot of people right a lot of people are watching yeah we owe applebee's fucking half off their combos with that all right keep it zach brown because scan that thing as soon as this thing gets all the way to the capital we chicken fry and then what i mean there was no break. You just hear the ding, ding, ding, ding. Yeah, we need like a three seconds of some kind of transition out of it. Right. There was none of that. Yeah, yeah.

I thought banners. Hey, everybody's trying to get it right, man. That's the real thing, though, Pat. People like NFL, whatever leagues that sell these commercials, if they don't get to all the commercials, they have to make up commercials for these companies. So what if they're like, hey, you think they're telling Apple? Hey, I know

we owed you a few. We got you a big one. We got you a big one, remember? And everybody's going to want to eat your apps, too, after that. Being associated with the air raid siren is certainly what you guys were looking for. I didn't see any clauses in there. All I saw was just numbers. We need to get you this amount of numbers,

but we can't be making like it is. It's very serious. Everybody's trying their best. We're not in nobody's use. Well, maybe they're not, though. I don't know. There's probably not a good interest in a lot of decisions that are being made right now.

Definitely not interested in it, but Zac Brown, too, can't be too happy. Forever now, when I hear that song. That song's a banger, though. Bings! But when I hear Chicken Fried, that is what I'm going to think. A lot worse songs could have been played. Correct.

Sure. Drift Away. What if it was? Could have been that stupid Applebee, Talking Late Night. Outkast. Stranglehold. Termusion. Outkast.

Come on. You know what songs. Outkast makes bangers. I know they have great songs. I'm saying there's some ones that you wouldn't want on there, probably. He's thinking. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah.

You're being a terrible toxic person. No, I'm saying.'s some, the ones that you wouldn't want on there probably. He's thinking. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're being a terrible, toxic person. No, I'm saying, I thought that's what you meant. Like songs with lyrics that would really not go well. Oh, Bob.

Oh, okay. You're saying it could have been compounded by what it was playing. Okay. Gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha. Anyways,

hope everybody's okay. Don't mean to make light of it, but I mean, there's been some situations that if we don't mock, what are we doing? Yeah. Peace and peace. Aaron Rogers will be informing the Packers of his decision soon. That's per Diana Rossini. situations that if we don't mock what are we doing yeah peace and peace uh aaron rogers will

be informing the packers of his decision soon that's per diana rossini we love diana rossini absolutely love love her okay diana rossini got us through a large portion of the no sports time with her inside information with that being said i think this is what he kind of said to us the other day i mean this is kind of verbatim. This is big news because other people are thinking this now, I guess. But I think he kind of said this the other day. Diana Rossini, who is plugged in in her news, is very real. We have to remember that.

Here's another thing. Whenever you get your information from whoever you get your information from, you have to think, why is that information being presented? Who did this person get this information from? Right? There's always always some sort of and we've talked about this for a long time diana russini has a resume in which she hits like she she when she says something is it so she's saying league sources are saying aaron's going to make this decision quickly he kind of told us that the other day because he had just entered the chapter of the decision making for his future post the pk cleanse obviously where it's coming out of the decision-making for his future post the PK cleanse, obviously,

where it's coming out of basement and the attic. Now it's time to think about what I'm going to do next year, although I've already had some thoughts. What is your expectation and feeling on this? And per league sources, what do you think that means from Diana? Well, when she says soon, like what does soon mean? Like in the next two weeks? It has to be.

I mean, everything's relative, dude. The first day of the league year is what march 16th 17th whatever you can be tagged for another what five days now well and also like soon could be a month if you're talking in a two-year like yeah three years before the draft before the draft he's going to make a decision probably no but he told us it's going to be quick that's what i'm saying i would imagine because of all of the other things that have to take place you know based on what he does like other I would imagine because of all of the other things that have to take place, you know, based on what he does, like other players,

of course it's going to be soon. It has to be. Yeah, and he's actually admitted that. Like some decisions are being made by a lot of people on my thing, so I have to kind of make this quicker. But how are teams, you know, like per league? Putting offers out there? Yeah, that's what I'm wondering. Like how is that? Are you allowed to? Is that tampering? How does that work? Yeah, you know, like per league? Putting offers out there? Yeah, that's what I'm wondering. Like, how is that?

Are you allowed to? Is that tampering? How does that work? Yeah, I know. Because can you say that you're interested in him before the league year ends? Right. Did Lambeau say something about that yesterday, about tampering? He said everybody does it.

Yeah, it's like free agency. Like, remember the Patriots before it actually started already had all these guys signed? Yeah, but there's a tampering period for that. Which you're allowed. Yeah, I'm saying there's a tampering period. Is this considered tampering, I guess? Well, it's not. If you're trying to trade, if you want to trade for somebody,

you can make a call at any time of the year, can't you? But, okay. I don't know. I'm not 100% sure. Can I call? If I'm a player and I want to, can I just call another team, too, at any given point? And then if they talk back to me, is that okay?

That's a good question. I don't know. That's something we'd have to ask Big Raj when he comes on the show. Goodell? Yep. He's not coming on the show. He might. I thought he meant the Big Rock.

He seems pretty hip now. Well, maybe the Rock. Dwayne's coming. I saw Dwayne tweet at you. Oh, yeah. Let's go, Dewey. Hey, love my guy, Pat Mac, dude. Shout out, man.

Hell, yeah. Can't wait. Probably what it sounds like right before the XFL kicks off, he wants to come make a nice push. Whenever. Hey, listen. Whenever you want to come on, Dwayne, we would love. We'd be honored.

Love you, DJ. Have a little taramana, talk some shit. Maybe some French toast. Oh, some moose juice. Energy drink. Oh, yeah, we'll do it all. I can't wait. I can't wait for this.

How big do you think that shirt is if he held it up next to a normal-sized human? Then his waist. His waist is the—he is literally shaped like—I don't know how they had— I don't know how he's—he's only getting better with age somehow. I mean, he is— Sculpted out of stone. I think it's 52, right? Brock said that.

49, right? Was it 49? Oh, his waist? Oh, no, he's talking about his chest. Oh, I'm talking about the shirt. Oh, yeah, his is 52. That was years ago, though. Who knows what it is now, right? You think his t-shirts are like custom tailored or just gets XL off the rack? Everything's custom for Dwayne. He grabs a curtain.

Well, he probably does grab double XL off the rack if he was to do that, but he is a designer. He gives her credit in a lot of his posts. He's fashion. When you're built like that, though, I don't think there's anything he could buy off the rack, especially in pants. There's no chance.

These tanks. There's five XL for these tank tops. That'll fit him. Bird dogs would probably help him out. The legs? Yeah. Stretchy material. We know if that was the real dinosaur in his house?

No. I think that's where he learned about us, by the way, because we did an entire thing on it. Doesn't Leo DiCaprio have a legit dinosaur head or something? Leo cares about the planet. He does. I don't know if he would have an actual dinosaur in his... I don't know if he would want a carbon footprint in his house.

Absolutely not. He's worried about the future. He does own something like that, I'm telling you. Okay, well, I'm not sure. Nick Cage was the big dino bone collector. Yeah, he owns. We need to get him on the show.

Too many dino bones. Who is he? Nick Cage, y'all. You'd love Nick Cage. Face Off. Con Air. Gone in 60 seconds. Dad and I watching Con Air. Con Air is awesome.

The worst movie theater that has ever existed. We're at a soccer tournament. My dad wanted to go see it. This thing was in a barn, and I'll never forget it because of that. Con Air. When that wind was on his face, I'll never forget it. The Rock is another great movie. He had a nice little run.

He had a great run. Wicker Man. A-Lister, dude. One of Oscar. Are you kidding me? He was real frugal with all of his money, too, I heard. I mentioned that a little bit ago. Let's not forget

Bangkok Dangerous. Probably his finest work. What does that go? What was IMDB? He only owns one DVD. It's Bangkok Dangerous. He watches it once a week. What is it? It's a Nick Cage action vehicle. If you get a chance. That's awesome.

He goes over and gets paid big money to do random movies for the Sultan of Brunei and all these weird situations. What is that? You know a lot about Nick Cage, it sounds like. Let's dive into this. I don't know if he worked specifically for that person, but I know I've seen pictures of him dressed in local gear shooting movies for people. Who's the person you just said there, though? The Sultan brunei i don't know ty you know who that is no

i hear him throwing around as one of those rich guys oh you hear him i can't wait i can't wait to learn about this guy what is his name again i don't know anything about him i just just heard the name. He sounds like a king or a prince or something like that. Brunei is a... His name's not Saul? No, his name is... Better call Saul. Saul Brunei.

Looks like his name is Hassanul. Hassanul? Or is it Hassanul? Dude, I don't know. Listen. Why are you going to do that? Who is he? I didn't mean to throw a wrench in the show.

Well, I just want to know what your toxic shit is right now. Yeah, it don't know. Listen. Why are you going to do that? Who is he? I didn't mean to throw a wrench in the show. Well, I just want to know what your toxic shit is right now. It's not toxic. I'm saying he would go and do these. I think the only people calling him for movies were these offshore things that are paying a bunch of money to go be in a movie that we're never going to see. And you just thought of this guy immediately? Is there any reason? I mean, he popped into my head. I don't know anything of what he's done.

I've just heard of him. Oh, yeah. Sure. What did he do, huh? A sultan is a king of a Muslim state. Okay, so Sultan Brunei was hiring Nicholas Cage. I'm not saying he did. I'm saying in, like, you know, different countries over there I've seen.

Look at his IMDB. I'm sure it pops up. Are you sure you're not talking about Stephen Seagal? He does the same thing, too. Well, he's sure it pops up. Are you sure you're not talking about Steve Seagal? He does the same thing, too. Well, he's an unstoppable whoa. I was going to say, he might be first commander of a tank division

right now, Steve Seagal. He's already over there. He's probably in that motorcade that just said, nah, we will not kill. Lovey Smith says, Davis Mills is the quarterback going into the season. Hell, yeah, he is. I mean, that makes us feel good.

Friend of the show, old Dougie Davis Mills. Hell, yeah. Guy's a hell of a player. You know, the Deshaun Watson deposition has moved a month back. Lovey Smith said it doesn't matter what happens in that. We saved $35 million, I think, if we trade him, which we will do when the off-field stuff inevitably gets whatever happens there.

He's either not on our team or he's traded, whatever the case. And Davis Mills, our quarterback, is kind of Stanford. Everybody said he was a great player. He was their first draft pick with their first draft pick that they had in the entire draft. He was their guy, and he won some games there last year when we did not expect him. Did you see the crazy graphic where him and Tua had the exact same

stats last year in like seven categories? AJ, how do you feel about old Davis Mills? Big brain, athlete, seemed like he won some games when the whole fire was around him. He and Tua have the exact same stats. What are your thoughts on old Dougie Mills? He's like the different body type than Tua, obviously. Big, tall,

long dude with a big arm. I don't know. I mean, honestly, who knows who can all of a sudden become a star at the quarterback position? We don't know. We talked to Kurt Warner at the Super Bowl. What are the odds of him actually making it and doing what he did and going to the Hall of Fame? By the way, Nick loves that movie. Oh, it's incredible.

I saw it, too. We actually watched it the same night on vacation. Phenomenal film. Unbelievable. What's the best part? The whole thing. Story. Actually, seeing Zachary Levi slaying the pigskin around,

it doesn't look fake. I thought it was going to stink. I thought it was going to be corny. I don't know what to believe right now. I'm dead serious. I can't believe it. Nick actually told me, Nick said, the way they put that movie together,

can't say anything bad about it. I was like, what does that even mean? Kurt's an incredible guy. They did an amazing job capturing his story and all the trials and tribulations of his life. They cut together actual NFL game footage with Zachary Levi slinging the rock. You can't tell the difference.

Like Kevin James on the Saints sideline? I didn't see that shitty thing, but I did see Kurt Warner, American Underdog. Phenomenal film. It really is. I'm going to watch it myself I didn't see that shitty thing, but I did see Kurt Warner, American Underdog. Phenomenal. Yeah. Unbelievable film. It really is. No bullshit. I can't tell.

I really can't tell. I'm going to watch it myself because Kurt is a good guy. You need to. But these two, listen, I never thought it was going to be bad. I never thought it was going to be bad. Ever, ever, ever, ever. Had a chance to be corny. I actually told Kurt Warner, like, hey, I haven't seen the movie yet, but everybody

has told me it's incredible when there is a lot of dancing with corny whenever you do this type of thing and he even addressed that he was like yeah i i understood that was the case or whatever and then these two come off a vacation they're like great movie unbelievable movie i'm like you you guys i don't know what's going on i don't believe i don't believe ty because ty is like a movie critic you know how ty will talk so it's developing characters and i asked him what his best part is. He says, oh, the whole thing. Exactly.

I think they felt bad, though, because they buried it so bad before they saw it. That's what I'm saying. Ty and Nick are just super judgy when it comes to this type of stuff. Did not bury it before we saw it. Always intrigued by it. That is not true at all.

That is not true at all. He's on record. Put it above any given Sunday. Both of them. Yeah, right. Yeah, I know. That's what I said. He's on record. Put it above any given Sunday. Both of them. Yeah, right. Yeah, I know. That's what I said. That's incredibly overrated.

But that's neither here nor there. I mean... I don't remember the Titans. Is it better than... It's not better than remember the Titans. I won't go there. But I'll tell you what. I did.

I did. I thought it was going to absolutely fucking stink beforehand. Program's an all-timer. Okay, good. He can't say it's better than the program. He said it was better than Mark Invincible. Definitely better than Invincible. Vince Papcible. Definitely better than Invincible. Vince Papali?

Definitely better than Invincible. No way! Absolutely. Hands down. Vince Papali's boy just got drafted to the USFL, by the way. Vinny Papali. His son? His son?

Swear to God, yeah. To the what? USFL. To the USFL. Oh, yeah. Hey, that's happening. There we go. Let's go, Maulers.

Is that the Pittsburgh squad? Let's go, Panthers. Wrong colors. There we go. Let's go, Maulers. Is that the Pittsburgh squad? Let's go, Panthers. Wrong colors, but fuck it. Let's go, Maulers. That's insane. Why wouldn't they? Purple and orange? What the fuck are we doing? They asked me to be a kicker in that league. Oh, that's right. Was it for the Maulers? Huh? Was it for the Maulers?

I would have to get drafted, I think. You were playing quarterback, right? No, they were asking me to kick in that. You know who's second overall pick? Jordan Ta'amu. Was he really? That guy got fucked. Jordan Ta'amu has,

this is what you were saying about nobody knows who's going to be a great quarterback or not, like with Davis Mills. We have no idea. And we would assume that the Houston situation was a bigger fire and shit show than Miami Dolphins,

but after what we're hearing about the Miami Dolphins, Tua has had what? Next to no shot, I guess, in this entire thing. There's an entire situation going on there. Who was I just about to hit on? Jordan Ta'ama. Jordan Ta'ama, yes. Okay, so I was trying to remember his story. He's from Hawaii.

He gets – I forget which island he is from. But anyways, he plays in Hawaii. He goes to some military academy in like New Mexico or something like that. And it is, that's the only school that recruited him or scout him. He played there. Then he goes to another school and then something else happens. And he finally gets an opportunity to play like big time football.

And it's at, with Ole Miss and he's a starter. He's a starter. And then all of a sudden he has no more eligibility because the military program that he went to in New Mexico the NCAA wouldn't allow that to not be a year a redshirt year or something like that because he didn't declare for a redshirt so now he's forced out of college whenever he's just kind of getting his opportunity he's young I think he's 22 at the time. Then he ends up in the XFL. Balls.

XFL ends because of COVID. Now the whole story, though, is PJ was the absolute guy in that league and everything like that. I hope he gets another shot. He's still going to be very young at this point. I think he has legitimately got screwed through this entire thing. His backup was Taylor Heineke. Yes.

Starting for the Washington football team. Just got a deal with him to go into the season. Commanders. Oh, yeah. Excuse me. Talman is only 24, and he is going to light it up because Todd Haley is his head coach. Oh. Well, let's hope Todd Haley likes him.

Todd is awesome. If Todd Haley doesn't like him, I mean, Todd Haley will. He can only draft him. He's got to like him, right? He can only draft. He's a hell of a player. Hell of a player. Great player. So let's go back to Davis Mills.

Okay. Does it matter? What are we going to do all offseason? Hey, going back to honestly, what did you think of the Troy Aikman news? I'm pumped for Davis. Pumped for Davis.

Let's go, dude. Let's go. But they don't have an idea what's going on. Somebody told us, I got a tweet yesterday, it said, you would think from Wall Street's show there's only five teams in the NFL. Seems like there is, by the way. I hate to break it. Well, there's only five making news right now.

But we will talk about everybody if any news happens. We just talked about the Houston Texans yet again. Yeah. Davis Mills, Lovey Smith, how you doing? Let's keep it moving. But none of this matters. None of this matters. If he goes on to kill it, awesome.

Could happen. If he goes on to stink, could happen. We got to do it. But let's talk about Troy Aikman. So what he is going to – his Fox deal is up, so it's not official, but the rumors are he's going to Monday Night Football for 17.5 mil a year. From what I've been told, it is official. Yeah, Andrew Marshall.5 million a year. From what I've been told, it is official. Yeah, Andrew Marchand.

It is. From what I've been told, it is. We met Andrew Marchand, by the way. And by we, I mean me at Super Bowl Radio Row. Marchand, when I entered the sports media world, did not write glowingly about me. And I did not know about who this person was. He did not write glowingly his first couple couple or I think things he said about me.

It was like, okay, well fuck this guy forever. And I don't forget that type of stuff. I remember that type of stuff. And then I guess since then he's become a fan of the show and a fan and he's written a lot of good stuff. I don't see those,

you know, I don't see the good stuff. So it is kind of like selected when I met him at radio row. He was very nice guy, very super cool he came over to introduce himself and uh you know we had a little bit of uh an interaction about oh yeah you wrote that you know i uh he said yeah but i said a lot of good stuff too like i missed that i'm so sorry but he uh he's good he is the guy that knows all this shit though like i feel

like he is very plugged in with all the media stuff i don't know who whether it's exactly through the networks through the agents whatever the case he has found a great niche in sports media of covering sports media and it was very nice of him to come over and say hello and i appreciate that but when he reports that something's a done deal it's a done deal 17 and a half million dollars to espn for a five-year deal or whatever the case is. This is fascinating to me because Amazon had Al Michaels and Troy Aikman in everybody's mind. Amazon never came out and said this, but everybody else that I was talking to is basically like, ah, this is what Amazon's thinking about doing. This is what we're planning on doing. And everybody was just assuming that was going to be a lock. Then the New York Post came out and said, ESPN might pluck Al Michaels

from Amazon before a deal gets sent. It's like, oh shit. Troy Aikman comes out and said, ESPN might pluck Al Michaels from Amazon before a deal gets sent. Oh, shit. Troy Aikman comes out and says, the number of people that will be watching games does, you know, it is something that I think about whenever I'm picking and choosing what I would do. So everybody thought that was potentially him saying Thursday night football on prime. Thursday night games aren't as good. Maybe the numbers won't be as high. Maybe he's not going to Amazon. What the hell is going on? And out of nowhere, when we're not even thinking about ESPN, like Ty brought up earlier, Troy signs the biggest deal in

the history of commentating for 17 and a half million per. It's like, what is Amazon going to do? What is Fox going to do? And I guess good on ESPN for making this happen. But that contract, everybody else that works for them saw. Okay. So the price just went up, I think for everybody and everybody's minds who knows how ESPN will kind of do that. But I think that is a huge ripple effect. Like, that's a big domino to fall. And I'm a fan of Troy Aikman, so I'm happy as hell for him that he's getting 17 and a half a year. And he's back on Monday nights, and we're happy Monday nights we'll have him.

But it's a ripple effect, I think, that's going to happen from all this, AJ. Well, Amazon has to be. It couldn't have been a money thing, because I'm sure Amazon could pay him. I'm sure they were willing to pay him more than anybody else would pay him. But maybe – I don't know. That's interesting to see if now Al Michaels has a ton of leverage, like Joe Buck could possibly go over with him. He has to get out of his last year of his contract with Fox, I read.

But, yeah, I think it's a good move by ESPN. Why not throw Troy in there? We don't know who the play-by-play person will be yet, though. No, we have no idea. And there's a thought that, you know, maybe because Al, right? Booger? Easily. Booger, by the way, he was on TV last week

whenever we were on vacation. I was watching him. He did not look like exactly thrilled to be on a couple of shows that I saw, but he did not fucking miss. I listened to him give a couple of takes and it was just bum, bum, bum, bum. He's a great, great take giver. I believe Booger being thrusted into the booth, I don't think it was the right move.

I don't think that is what... He's a great take giver, though. He might not agree with his takes, but he is a... I don't think he's going to be the play-by-play person. To your question, AJ, I don't think Booger McFarlane's getting hired for the play-by. Booger was always good on those shows, it feels like. And then he did the Booger-mobile where everybody

that was standing behind him basically hated him because they couldn't see the goddamn game. And then he went to the booth and it didn't work. But he was with Tessitore. You think they might bring Tessitore back? I don't think so. Why? Joey? Love Joe Tessitore. Love Joe Tessitore.

Too many boxing matches to call. Well, that in college. He's great in college. Yeah. He's had a couple opportunities now, too, and it's just like, okay. He's fine at it, but he's not the guy for Monday Night Football. Holy moly, too. Yeah, exactly.

Holy moly. I'm big Joe Testatore fan. Hey, how's the family? How's the family? How's the family? Yeah, he was out at the golf thing, at the Super Bowl in Atlanta. Joe was there.

I got to talk to him a little bit. Yeah, Joe was there. He's a good guy. Always, anytime we talk to him, he's a good guy. We love him. But I don't believe the NFL is necessarily his strong suit. Like, I don't think so. It might be.

Maybe we didn't see the best Joe Tessitore. I'm not 100% sure. But those moves are going to be made. Fox has two of the next three Super Bowls, I think I saw on a tweet, and they don't have anybody right now, right? Who's going to take the number one spot then that Troy just left? So, allegedly, Sean Payton, Greg Olsen, and Drew Brees may be getting traded for from the NBC.

Everybody's just kind of throwing shit at the wall right now because I don't think anybody has a clue. Nance may pay $17 million to get away from Romo. That opens up for Dane too. Fox is an option for him too. Diggs tried to slip in there. Nance is probably trying to get out of his deal at CBS. I missed it.

What about Gus Johnson? I would love Gus. I would love Gus in the NFL. I would love him in the NFL. I would love him in the NFL. He does a couple. With Aqib, I think he did a couple. They were awesome. He's great.

Yeah. Gus is amazing. Gus changes games. Gus people tune in for Gus. Hey, it's a Gus Johnson game. I don't give a fuck about these two teams. They did so many Lions games, and I felt bad for them every time because they're so good. Yeah, and that's how long is his deal.

But if people are talking about doing it. And there was a conversation, and the only reason why I know this is because when I was with ESPN for the certain amount of dates, so I was there for a certain amount of dates, and then they pay per date. I got paid terribly, but it was per date I got to do this. And I did a studio show, I did paid terribly, but it was per date I got to do this. And I did a studio show. I did a game.

And then I also did a game day for like six weeks or whatever, seven weeks, five, six, whatever it was. So I got a chance to really work in all their different silos, right? Like it's like you work in this silo, which is the studio show silo, okay? You work in this silo, which is the game broadcast. Then in game day, it's like its own thing. And ESPN has all these silos. You're working in there for all those things. And for whatever reason, it felt like at the middle management level,

the decision-making for each of these silos, I wasn't really resonating with any of them. Ratings were going up in all of them, but I was not being well-received, I guess. So there was a conversation on whether or not I would think about maybe if it was broached properly to trade my dates to Fox almost like that was like a conversation that was like, uh, we could potentially think about doing this. It was like agent speak. And I think they were only doing that to make it seem as if they were doing something or thinking about how like, Hey, this is not going how I thought this was going to go.

And I'm not going to continue to work for peanuts for this type of stuff. So like, I think that was maybe, and I asked about that. I was like, did that ever happen before? It has happened before. Like people have been traded before. I think Marty was traded at one point. Really? I think that with NASCAR, he was traded when NASCAR's deal, when I, or I think it was talked about, he was potentially on almost like there has been media people that have been traded in the past this would not be new but i don't think it has happened anytime in the recent future or recent history yeah i mean fox is sitting there trying to figure out what they're gonna do joe buck has one year left it would be

weird if someone stepped into joe's role with joe for one year why joe finished out his contract with fox too whoever would come in to be the new color commentator yeah but then you're if joe only stepped into Joe's role with Joe for one year while Joe finished out his contract with Fox, too. Whoever would come in to be the new color commentator. Yeah, but then if Joe only has one year left, you're dealing with change this year and next year. That's why they could let him out of his deal a year early so they could deal with it all now. Yeah, it would only be one sudden drastic change. Two Super Bowls, though, is a big deal. Huge.

Do you think they could for a lot of these networks? Probably not NBC with just Collinsworth, but do you think Fox could exist with Buck and then a rotating cast? Same with ESPN exists with Aikman and then a rotating cast. And then depending on Al Michaels, if he goes to Amazon, could it be Al Michaels and a rotating cast? Could be that for Amazon, right? Not Monday Night Football.

Yeah, the chemistry thing those guys don't want to do that yeah i think chemistry is a big deal i honestly believe that now granted if you're one star driven and you get like different because you get different versions of troy yeah like and maybe amazon will try it because it'll be like hey we'll find who we think i think it's going to be or whatever i don't know who you will get that will want to travel around though with zero incentive unless they're just getting be or whatever. I don't know who you will get that will want to travel around, though, with zero incentive unless they're just getting paid by the day. I don't know.

There is a way to do that, though, I think, right? Well, yeah, I think so. But being Troy, wouldn't that be kind of tough to pick your spots with a different person every week? Yeah. Apparently. Go ahead. Yeah, Foxy just sent it in, and I was looking it up, too.

Apparently ESPN traded Al Michaels for Cartoon Rabbit. Yeah. go ahead yeah foxy just sent it in and i was looking it up too apparently espn traded al michaels for a cartoon rabbit yeah go on which cartoon um he talked about bugs no people asking about how a trade could possibly happen al michaels was once traded from espn to nbc really it has happened before. An excerpt from former ESPN president George Bodenheim in ESPN's Fight for Production issue. Former ESPN president George Bodenheim writes about the weirdest trade. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. They had to get the rights away from NBC. So, in the entire, there was probably a purchase, an acquisition of something, and they weren't able to get the rabbit, the bunny, and they say, hey,

we'll give you this amount of money and we'll also give you fucking Al Michaels. That's awesome. They needed Oswald. Yeah. Hey, George Budenheim didn't want to pull the trigger, but we fucking need the bunny,

so got to get rid of Al Michaels. What are you going to do? Greatest sportscaster in history. Get him out of here. We need the bunny. I mean, it's just, it's part of a bigger decision. You wouldn't understand. You wouldn't have. Get him out of here. We need the bunny. I mean, it's just, it's part of a bigger decision.

You wouldn't understand. You wouldn't have to sit in my chair ever. We need that fucking Oswald the bunny, dude. We'll look down for both sides. It seems like you're right. Allegedly Walt Disney created Oswald. But he worked for somebody else at the time. This was before he created his own empire.

Lost the rights to Oswald. Nearly get him back. Disney wanted it back. Bring Oswald home. Yeah, well, Botenheim was working for somebody there. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Hey, remember, remember what dad wanted? Get Oswald back. Yeah, well, Boatenheim was working for somebody there. Oh, yeah. Hey, remember what Dad wanted? Get Oswald back. Get that goddamn bunny back. AJ, maybe we'll hire you. Maybe. Al Michaels has a ton of leverage right now. Yes.

Not just Al. Everybody that is actually good at that has a lot of leverage right now because there's been you know numerous years of people that have been getting those big time roles and a lot of these networks are tired of being embarrassed especially with super bowls on the line like can we get into the super bowl rotation more we got to make a play for that because the super bowl you basically you win the entire you get the super bowl you win they're charging what uh seven million for 30 second ad spots i mean that is you win the super bowl that's good but the nfl takes into consideration who's going to be commentating who's going to be presenting the game like that's a real thing i guess that happens i don't i don't know if

there's money talks in this whole thing so i mean if you're in a good like al michaels he's in a great spot i would even argue jim nance also in a great spot even though i think he just redid a deal recently but yeah al's deal is up that's why he's in such a great spot, even though I think he just redid a deal recently. But Al's deal was up. That's why he's in such a good spot. Collinsworth? Archuleta. Okay, yeah.

All right. Archuleta is an interesting guy. Yeah. He's a very interesting commentator, isn't he? He's doing a podcast on the game. Oh, really? Uh-huh. Yeah, he's running a podcast on the game, and I appreciate it.

We do a podcast. I mean, that is what we do. Kind of. I mean, we're a livehuh. Yeah, like he's running a podcast on gay. And I appreciate it. We do a podcast. I mean, that is what we do. Kind of. I mean, we're a live show. Yeah, not really. Yeah, we don't really do podcasts. It's kind of, it's cut up into a podcast. There is a podcast.

There is a podcast element to what we do. But he does like a podcast style of commentating. What do you mean by that? Stories, jokes. Free-flowing conversation. This, you know. Is that what you want? Kind of, yeah, I guess. As long as it's Jay Feeley. A lot of jokes. I thinkflowing conversation. Is that what you want? Kind of, yeah, I guess.

As long as it's Jay Feeley. A lot of jokes. I think he was good. I think he was very good. It's a different style. I enjoyed him, but not everybody did. I haven't seen him much. I was a big fan of him as a player, but I haven't seen him much on the CBS game. He's CBS, correct? Yeah. Rips it up.

But to your point, we know Troy was pissed about not having that Cowboys game during the playoffs. So that's probably something he pointed to. Chuck Davis. Chuck Davis, let's get him on here more. A Hall of Famer. An absolute NFL icon.

And once I got a chance to learn a little bit more about his story via his Hall of Fame speech, I am absolutely infatuated with this dude's mindset his ability his skill and he is beloved by every single human in the indianapolis colts organization did not get a chance to play uh on the same team as him but everybody behind the scenes oh that's edge love edge edge love edge love edge every single person his book from gold teeth to gold jacket details a story of a man who literally was hustling and figuring life out in working his ass off to achieve absolute greatness ladies and gentlemen edgar and james

what up man i like that intro man That's a great intro, man. Hey, you deserve it, Edge. Honestly, because I didn't get a chance, obviously. You went to Arizona, I believe, before I got there. And whenever we played against Arizona, there was an entire video montage. And everybody in Indianapolis and everybody on our sideline, I remember conversations afterwards just being like, he was beloved by every human everywhere he's ever been. That has to be a great Testament,

dude. Congratulations on being like a fucking great dude. That doesn't happen everywhere. Why do you think? I appreciate it. I appreciate it. Why do you think that is edge? What do you think of it?

Why do you think that is that a, a, a something you try to do? And like, were you trying to be invested in everybody in the building? And, and like, as you have, you always been that way in everybody in the building and and like as you

have you always been that way it's just a natural thing you know and i get along with everybody but i understand everybody you know so it wasn't i wasn't too big for anybody in there so from the janitor to equipment people anybody calf i got along with everybody you know because i kind of knew somebody that was in their field growing up so i had a great appreciation for what they was doing i watched a little bit of a documentary that you were airing on your instagram at edgar and james an incredible follow and you were walking through your home uh your home neighborhood in the room you stayed in and then the field you started working in and i think during that i realized and i think during your hall of speech, and I saw it in the beginning of the book here from Gold Teeth to Gold Jacket, which is available right now, forward by Peyton Manning. It's an incredible story.

I can't wait to ask you more about it right now. But it felt like when you were a teenager, you had that hustler mindset almost. Like, you knew. Yeah, is that real? And what do you think that came from? What do you think it came from? No, it just, you know, it came from care for my family you know but just always wanting more you know once you once you realize there's nobody to go to nobody to turn to and you want something

you know you got to do something about it so i've always done something about whatever i needed to accomplish or everything that i wanted so for me it was it was it's a no-brainer you know other than that you're going to sit idle and you're going to become dependent and I never wanted to be dependent what was that process like actually writing the book and also getting Peyton Manning to do the foreword for you well the book process was actually pretty cool because you had to you know you go back and you reflect a lot you go and you start thinking about things you probably have forgotten it's been so many years that you've actually visited certain spaces. And then as I went back to Immokalee at times,

and you would think of things and you would have more things to actually include in the book that would give people more insight. And as far as Peyton, it's just a phone call away. Just, hey, Pete, I got a book going on. What's up? And it's no problem. We get along fine. Well, that's an amazing thing to hear, obviously. And Peyton has nothing but respect for everything you've done.

And I feel like you view it the same way on the way back there. Whenever you were going into the Hall of Fame, is that when you start the book? Whenever you had to reflect on your Hall of Fame speech? Or was the book kind of in the works before that? Or how much did that reflection and kind of diving back for your Hall of Fame speech, which was unbelievable, did that lead to this whole process? Or were you kind of in back for your hall of fame speech which was unbelievable did that lead to this whole process or were you kind of in the middle of it already no the hall of fame were kind of it that was the icing on the cake that what made the book um what made the book

complete without the hall of fame the book is not complete you know it was like it's just a journey the whole journey from the start to finish and anybody that's playing the game of football hopefully their goal is to end up with a gold jacket. And I think that closes off a chapter that actually gives a lot of insight on the different things that it took to actually get there. And the story kind of details the path that was taken to actually make it to the Hall of Fame and to end it with a Hall of Fame jacket.

That made it even better. Without the jacket, I probably wouldn't have wrote the book the book well from gold teeth to gold jacket is the perfect title i mean honestly you know and hey grills hey grills had a run edge hey they had a run but down in south florida though it was a whole different thing right like the gold teeth was a big deal right in south florida is much different in south florida you know you get your gold especially if you get them at an early age it's like you've arrived like you know it's like a statement like you know we we got a weight of kind of flexing our muscle or showing who we are without even saying much you know so that was one thing that I've uh that I had early on and

going into the NFL you know that was something that was unusual. But I brought South Florida with me. And anything you know I do, I bring South Florida with me. We love it. And you put on for, you know, not only South Florida, but also everybody that has ever been viewed differently. And I think that was like a big part of your Hall of Fame speech. You know, like people potentially judged you before getting to know you for the dreads, the gold teeth and everything like that. And then you told this story about how you'd be out with your teammates because you viewed that chemistry

building as being very important you would drive them home then you wouldn't drink at all you would drink like a cranberry juice and you'd work out at like 3 a.m did anybody know that while it was happening or is that literally just you now that was one thing that i always wanted to i always looked at the way to get that have advantage, but it's also, it shows discipline. You know, you have to have discipline. If you're going to make it, especially in the NFL, you have to have discipline and to be able to hang around everybody

and be in the midst of all the temptations and pick up a cup and not put no substance in there, drink cranberry. It's hard, but it's not hard when the mission is more important. So I stayed consistent with it. I made sure that

it wasn't my thing. It wasn't my thing to be drinking and trying to play at a high level. I think I've been doing myself a disservice and I never want to take all those years of hard work to finally get there and then just go mess it up. I never wanted to do that. I wanted to see it through. I wish I had that mentality.

Edge, have you gotten the card that Jim Irsay has promised you yet? And also, what's your relationship like with him? We have this video. Hold on. We'll run this before your answer. We have this video actually from the Hall of Fame. Jim Irsay inducted Edger and James in it because of how close their relationship is. And during the parade through Canton, I believe the day before the Hall of Fame,

this is what Jim Irsay said to Edger and James while sitting in a drop top. I'm getting you a car, whatever car you want. Oh, don't tell me that you're in a Jeep. Anything you want. I don't care. You want a Ferrari, a Lamborghinihini don't tell me a begotty because you'll get arrested so i think you also went on to say rolls royce and at that moment i was like so happy because you could tell the genuine love from jim and how happy he was for

you to be in that moment but then you you got out your phone like hold on because your instagram is electrifying you got your phone you're like hold on jim hold on one second yeah i gotta let everybody see this and jim by the way jim cuts a promo right into your phone he's like i'm getting edge rose royce and then he says and guess what there's gonna be something in the glove compartment too that he's gonna love i'm like man this is awesome what did you end up picking and uh how was your relationship with jim mercy and how has your relationship with Jim Mercy and how has it become such an incredible thing? Has it always been that way?

Well, first of all, I call him the big man. I've always called him the big man from day one. You know, when I arrived at Indianapolis, you know, you fly up there the day you get drafted. I flew up the next day after I got drafted, and he had this thing for my daughter. He had the outfit. You know, it was like from then it started from a personal relationship

because, like, it was bigger than football from day one. He always made sure everything was cool, but he was always real. You know, there's a lot of times you don't get a chance to run into real people. And for me, everybody looking at me, I came in, obviously I looked different, but he was into music. I loved music. We was hanging out. He was actually cool. You know, I'm like, man, this dude a billionaire, but he was into music i love music we was hanging out he was actually cool you know

i'm like man this dude a billionaire but he's actually pretty cool you know you're like i don't know too many billionaires until i met jim you know yes and and so it stems from that then in the way the love he had for the organization and you as a player and he's doing everything that it takes to make sure you're successful and you start saying this and then it starts getting you start building a better relationship. And then as time went on, it just became even more dope, more cool, you know. And it's never a situation where I call and ask for anything. They gave me enough.

They gave me an opportunity to be in the NFL, so that's all I ever needed. But the relationship was intact. What car did you get? Oh, you want to go to the car? You ready to get to the car? Yeah, I'm excited to hear what you picked because in my head, as soon as he said that, I'm like, oh, I got to go to the car you're ready to get to the car yeah i'm excited to hear what you pick because in my head as soon as he said that i'm like oh we gotta go with the ghost right yeah nah nah you can't you can't get a goat i already have a ghost nah but the car that was i should have known that i should have known that i had to go bigger than that i had to go

bigger the big man so no i went i got i got the phantom the big Phantom. Yeah. So, but the reason I went with the Phantom, I was going to get it myself, but that was later on in life. You know, I wasn't ready right now. But it's like probably like almost $700,000 and no problem. So. Hey, let's go. Hey, from gold teeth to gold jacket to the back of a gold drop top with a billionaire offering up a phantom. What a life edge.

That's amazing. Why do you think Jim has like, you know, you bring up Jim Irsay's name. He's never talked about as like one of the coolest owners in sports, you know, I think because for a long time. You're probably talking to the wrong people. Yeah, I think so, too. I agree. Yeah, I think so, too. Yeah, it's like it don't get no cooler than jim man i'm talking about super cool man maybe people don't get a chance to know jim jim cool man he's traveling hey he's singing right

now in different he's he has a band that he's traveling around in right now i mean how cool i mean how cool is that you know i'm saying like you really you get a chance to really live out life you know that's that's me i'm i'm doing what i do you know so i see that man i love to be in those shoes yeah yeah one day you will by the way with the way you run your business i have an immense amount of respect for that and i'll talk to you about that a bit let's talk about the colts though a little bit jonathan taylor is an absolute stud have you talked to him as you reach out to you? And what are your thoughts on next season? Nah,

the coach, Jonathan Taylor, man, I think he's a great running back. And I always told him, man, you know, you have to enjoy

the year that you're having, but also, you know, put it behind you and get ready for the next year. You know, and that's the thing.

Always get ready for the next year. Always take care of your body. And he's doing some great things and hopefully continue to keep it up. And as far as the Colts,

the organization is always going to do what's right. You hate that they lose that game in Jacksonville. Clown town, Edge! Clowns! There's clowns in the stands! There's clowns! How'd that happen? I don't know how that happened.

They just got to figure out how to get over the top, get into the playoffs, and get that run started back over. Man, they got the back. They have the line. Now we just got to figure out what we're going to do with every other position and solidify it. Amen. Edge, anyone, Pat mentioned earlier, but anyone that mentions you

or that dealt with you as a teammate or anyone around you says, like, only great things. There was a lady that worked for the Colts named Stephanie Paul back in the day and she said to say how much she loved you did you ever did you bring i don't know if she told me or someone mentioned you bringing like some fish to training camp one year or something and having them live in a little kiddie pool or anything like that i guess you always seem to show up at camping your little own humble ways and always had your little things you'd like to do well as far as camp i always just when it's time to go to camp you gotta go in this dorm you gotta go in this unfamiliar territory so i always made it cool i always made before nowadays they have

dorms that's already done but when we got there they didn't used to have carpet they didn't have nothing you know so i would go and i would have somebody go and furnish my dorm to make it where it was a cool spot. Smart. So I always wanted to be comfortable, especially if we're going to go do all that hard work. You've got to be comfortable when you go home. Amen.

Amen. I think my favorite Edge story from around the building, you just mentioned Stephanie Paul. She was there when I got into the Colts as well. Great lady. Stephanie's a great lady. Yeah, definitely. The thought of you not wanting to go to the preseason game in Japan

is maybe my favorite thing of all time. Was that business-wise? What was it? Is it just you that you weren't about? And how did they inevitably force you to go? Because I heard that was very much against your will that you were forced to go over there. It was definitely forced, but I'm glad I went.

You know, it's like, for me, I'm strictly about business. You know, it's like, man, we're going to go over there and run the ball two or three times and got to fly 20 hours. I'm like, what's the purpose, you know? You know, like, football is hard. It's hard. Like, I take the game serious. So I can't get out there and just halfway do something.

We're going to go way to Tokyo,o and i'm gonna get two snaps and then we'll be sitting on the sideline like that i didn't see nothing fun about that you know i didn't see nothing fun about that what did they say they said you had to go and then you got a chance to experience it i assume that's why you loved it yeah so i so i didn't turn in my passport you know was like, okay, maybe if I don't give them my passport, I won't be eligible. But it's the NFL. As soon as they sent me this letter with a shield, you're going to be fined and suspended. And they came up with a passport out of nowhere. So it was like they can make whatever happen.

But I had to go. but I'm glad I went. I'm glad I went. It was actually cool. It was a, it was a cool experience. I don't know if I ever go again. That's far. It's too far for me. Dude, 17 hour flight over there.

And it is completely, but I want, I got a chance to go over to Japan for a USO trip and trying to explain it to people. It's just, it's the complete opposite. Like the languages are nowhere near, like nowhere. There isn't even like a chance you can even have bathroom. Like there is the bathroom. Tell him about the bathroom. You're almost sitting on the floor. Yeah. There's a, there's a pole that you hold on. I mean, it is a, it is just a different, everybody was very nice to me. Everybody's very nice to me over there, but it is a completely different style of life. And if you ever want want to you ever want to bring a group together i think

you send them to japan because literally they can't talk to anybody else you only talk to the group and you'll go through a lot of shit literally the pole holding shit i mean there's a lot out there go ahead ty edge people always talk about you know the moment like the game slowed down for him obviously with you being the fourth pick i assume you knew you were going to be nice right away but i'm pretty sure you led the nfl in rushing your first two years like was there a point where things i guess slowed down or did you kind of just know going in from the jump like oh i'm i'm gonna be a fucking force oh i i knew i was gonna be a force but um when i when i first got there and i saw it when we started going through the practice schedule in the practice

routine i'm like damn this is just like the University of Miami. Because we had Coach Davis that was at the Cowboys and he ran everything like a pro style practice. Everything was the same. So when I got to the Colts, I was expecting something different and it really wasn't. And then the thing that made it pretty cool was, like, I'm 20 years old when I first go to my first mini camp. And you got guys 30, 31, 32. It's like nowhere a 30-year-old going to keep up with me. You know, it's like it's impossible.

And so, you know, so you're out there like, man, these like are old men, you know. So, like, I called back to the dorm at University of Miami. I'm like, man, you ain't going to believe how easy this thing is. It's too easy, you know. And so it went from there, you know. But then it took for me to get hurt to really appreciate the game because now I can't do everything. I had to build myself back up. I had to start studying.

I couldn't just show up, you know. At first I could just show up and they called a play. I don't got to know what nobody else is doing. I'm just going to do my job. But after you get hurt, you got to start understanding everybody's position. That's what made my game evolve. Well, I think you would have naturally done that without getting hurt. But just because the way you figure things out and make stuff happen. I think Frank Gore, right? Frank Gore was also in that running back room. There was a bunch in the Miami running back stable that kind of came out.

I was talking to Frank one time because Frank got hurt or whatever in college. That's a big thing. Going in the NFL, will you be able to stay healthy? I was talking to him on the plane one time. I was like, was there ever any doubt for you? He was like, no, I saw all my dogs won and had success. It was my time.

That was the mentality right there. That was how you guys had dinner, right? Yeah, because I'm the messenger. Once I go up there and I send the message back like, hey, y'all got what it takes. This is easy, Ralphie. It's easy. Just don't get in trouble. Stay working out. Do what you got to do. You're going to come

kill the NFL. That's the message because once you get somebody to go up and go kind of peep the scene and peep the game, the NFL is not what everybody think it is. Once you're at the University of Miami, you're playing in that room, it's like there's no way you can't be successful. Not

the guys that we had, the one that was with me and behind me. Hey, they ever coming back, Miami? A lot of hires. We're doing the right thing. You see all the hires. You see the way it's going. The right pieces are put in place. We didn't put the money behind the machine. Now we're putting the money behind the machine.

So you'll see a big difference now. Oh, you guys are getting that guy who had that boat back. Yeah. We're doing it the right way this time. By the way, that would have been the right way nowadays if the rules now were back then.

You know, that guy would have just been an innovator at that entire thing. But, hey, hey, listen, that guy ratted on everybody. Yeah. This guy got a boat. That guy got a car. We had a party. I saw him eat two racks of ribs. Yeah.

I mean, that guy, he was, anyways. I hope Miami comes back, though, because that South Florida culture. It's coming. Yeah, it is incredible. Go ahead, Connor. Yeah, Edge, there's a pretty famous clip of Peyton Manning barking at Jeff Saturday after he tried to change the play. Was there ever a time where that happened to you,

where you either dropped a pass or ran the wrong route, and Peyton just kind of reamed you out? And also, him basically yelling at you did that also motivate you not to like screw up or stay on your game look at me look at me who's gonna talk crazy to me nobody's gonna talk crazy we got we got we got a great relationship I do what I'm supposed to do. I'm not going to never get in the middle of that. Nobody's talking crazy to me. I'm talking crazy to nobody.

And that's why we got a great relationship. Hey, that's crazy to think about, isn't it? Because in the NFL, you see blowups between teammates. You're never going to see a blowup with Eds. Nobody can take Eds. Is that because you think the work you put in beforehand into your friendship or because you're always going to be on your job, treat me accordingly? I just think I'm a man.

I'm a man. I get treated like a man. I treat people like a man. So I don't even, it's not even going to go to, it's not even a consideration. Like I'm talking about like, I am that, I am what you see when you look at me. Like, you know, I do become that, you know? So it's like, we're going to so it's like we're gonna keep it respectful and we're gonna do it we come out to do it because as bad as they want it done i want

it done and i understand why we're doing what we're doing you know so it's like hey this is what needs to be done let's do what's for the greater good you know now when it comes time when i need incentives i'll let i Payton, you know I got incentives. You know, so, hey, take care of your boy. Take care of your boy now. Hey, that group, hey, that team you guys had, I got to come in at the tail end of it, basically, the winningest decade there. And it was after you had left. But that team, just with Marv and then obviously Reg comes in and then Dallas and Jeff and that entire defense and Peyton.

I mean, that was a legendary crew there. How would you describe the success and why it happened for that group? I think everybody had the same goals. Everybody was on the same page. Nobody said, I want to be bigger than this person. Like, you know, P was the face of everything and me and Marv loved sitting in the background. Everybody was on the same page. Nobody said, I want to be bigger than this person. P was the face of everything, and me and Marv loved sitting in the background. We just wanted to work, do what we had to do, and get out of the way. We didn't want the microphone, so that helped.

You don't want the spotlight, but we all wanted to make some money. Marv, he wanted to make his money. I wanted to make my money. Of course, P going to make all the money. We just doing our thing, but we all want to make my money. Of course, Pete going to make all the money. And we just, you know, we're just doing our thing. But we all want to be great. You know, so it's like it's not one day that you're going to see one of us out there and you're not going to see the other two coming out to work. It's like, hey, we're going to let everybody know we'll be out here this time.

And everybody's showing up. It's not a forced situation because everybody wanted it. Everybody wanted to be great. And that's one thing that I know from just being there with everybody. Everybody Everybody wanted to be great. And that's one thing that I know from just being there with everybody. Everybody really wanted to be great. So football was everything to everybody that was there. Hey, why do so many

studs come out of South Florida? It seems like every single year there's so many unbelievable athletes coming from there. And those Florida boys. I think it's the culture. The culture. But it's super important and it's big. In every household, I think you have the mom, the dad, the uncle, everybody loves football, and plus we do it year-round.

So we put in more time than anybody else. We put in and then you're competing at a high level early. It's not like you're playing YMCA ball. You've got to be good to get on there. You've got to be really good. And everybody gets pushed from the beginning. You don't get this culture shock or you don't get the way when you get in seventh grade, all of a sudden it's going to be tough.

No, it's going to be tough when you're five years old. You guys are running one-on-ones, right? I mean, I've heard that there's one-on-ones like as children. Like they have like two sets of shoulder pads but put it on and it becomes like an entire like everybody's watching so it's like pressure like that that's real stuff that happens i don't think that like whenever aj says hey how come the south florida boys you know are so explosive and so good it's like well there's a lot of things aside from it being all year it's also like the culture is like hey you're gonna be good at football you're gonna get exposed

right kind of like yeah from the from the beginning it's like you know when you when you're doing your drills like you it's a big difference when you know when the parent don't get a chance to see their kids at practice at practice you're gonna see a lot of parents there and if your son's not playing you're gonna know why your son's not playing because we're gonna line your son up right in front of another guy we're gonna do the drills right in front of you. And if your son can't deliver in practice, you already know what's going to happen in the game time. He's going to have a nice, pretty uniform on all game. Well, hopefully the University of Miami gets back,

and hopefully we get a chance to chat with you again, Edge. I can't wait to read through the book. I think everybody should give it a go. Edge, you are nothing but every human that talks about you. Every single human says you're the book. I think everybody should give it a go. Ed, you are nothing but for every human that talks about you. Every single human says you're the man. I appreciate it. Yeah, you've remained real the entire time. So congrats on all the success.

You deserve it. And I can't wait to chat with you again. All right, man. Anytime. Just a phone call away. You're the best. Ladies and gentlemen, Edrin James. Yeah!

We're only, what, three days into this new season? Yep. And I'm already seeing a little light at the end of the tunnel for the down times, the draft times. Now, granted, we've got March Madness around the corner as well. We have hockey happening. Jon Hamm joined That's Hockey Talk. AJ Hawk just joined us, obviously, live.

Shout out to you, AJ, for being back. There is a lot to talk about a lot that's happening and you know if the world survives i think we're all in a pretty good spot for like shit to be entertained yeah absolutely free agency is electric this is so close oh franchise tag too people are getting tagged left and right i mean that's happening then the drafts right after that oh davis mills starting for the tex. Not to mention, after free agency, WrestleMania is right there. Oh, dude. And if you start thinking about all these other things,

like pro days start happening. You remember when Zach Wilson? Oh, the crossbody. Oh, my God. How could I forget? Draft him. What happens if you have two pro days? Because one pro day, standard throw pro day.

Second pro day, let's see the guy if he's an athlete. Yeah. He's catching touchdowns back to, oh my God, pro days are right around the corner. I think they're going

to have to do where they had to do two again because some of the bigger quarterbacks pro days are scheduled on the same day for some reason. What's that all about?

How's that still happening in 2022? There's a lot of things happening right now that I'm wondering why it's happening in 2022. Aren't there like

only three good quarterbacks in this draft? I don't even think there's that. He's out of them. Bitch. What? The schedule maker or me?

Mason Rudolph's your starter this year. No, he's not. Yeah. No deal. Hey, Dewey. Don't sleep on Dewey. Hey, Jay Hawk. I think big news, though, that needs to be talked about is there might be some rule changes

next week at the combine. What do you mean? You heard him. I'm not talking about rule changes at the combine, even though they lifted the bubble thing because players wanted to bring their own teams and they didn't want to have it shut down. And the NFL combine, by the way, is run by a third party. Did not know that.

Had no idea that the NFL employs somebody to run the combine, although the NFL employees run the combine. They put it together, I guess, and they take on all legal risk probably, if I had to guess. That is probably why the NFL does that. But anyways, the competition committee will meet, and they're likely to talk about, you know, overtime rules changing.

Maybe getting a chance to answer if somebody else scores a touchdown. This affected the Chiefs a couple years back. They actually petitioned for this same rule. They said, hey, Chiefs, get a stop. Okay? That's what they said to the Chiefs. And here we are a couple years later, the Chiefs are on the receiving end of this thing because everybody's saying,

hey, Bills, get a stop. They were not able to do that. Josh Allen was incredibly hot. We lost out on maybe Josh Allen answering Patrick Mahomes and Patrick Mahomes answering Josh Allen. And then maybe a defensive stop and then a defensive stop and then Josh Allen answering Patrick Mahomes. I mean, there is just, you know, there's a chance that we could have seen

something great and we missed out on it this particular year, but who knows how many more times this will take place in the playoffs. But they're looking to change that maybe. Then they're trying to make punts safer, you know, because the punt is the most fucking dangerous play in the game. Everybody knows that. That's why I love the position so much. That's why I love the play.

They're trying to make it safer because there's a disproportionate amount of concussions on punts as opposed to every other play and that could happen when there's you know a lot of people flying around very high speed and uh field position to be gained in a lot online and a lot of people playing in a position that they've never had to play before that isn't easy at all or nor they want to play it bingo how do How do you make it safer, though? It's hard to. That's what we're saying. It's not like kickoff team where you can –

they don't have running starts anymore, all of that. Like, what do you do with punts? No fair catches. I'm not 100% sure that the no running start – no, I think that would be – so we did a spring game one time at West Virginia and they didn't want to do punt for whatever. They didn't want to do full punts. So I

would get a snap. I would be on the field all by myself with the snapper. And we would punt it and wherever the returner caught it is where that team would start. So there's nobody else on the field but the punter, basically the snapper and the returner. It was uncomfortable. I love that the

snapper was still out there. Yeah, well it was you know that the snapper was still out there yeah well it was his spring day spring game that's right you know like it was a big deal it's like after a safety that punt so fucking uncomfortable i i still have yet to hit a good one i still have yet to hit a good one in a game in practice when you're just fucking around and just you know punting it's okay but those weird ones where you're doing that whole thing i was just never comfortable and maybe i'm not mentally tough enough. But whatever the case, I don't know how you make it safer. Unless it was just a fair catch immediately upon where it's caught. I don't know how you would do a proper turnover of the ball to the other team.

You know, because what you just said, gain 40 yards if you want to elect it. Well, that's not the case because there's advantages to be gained in the entire game. I don't know how they change it. I honestly. They've already taken away a lot of the the big time hits that come from like crack back blocks and all of that on point yeah and on long field goals any returns and basically all special teams plays so everything is going to have to be a fair catch and then if he drops it you're allowed to hit him like how's it work yeah until there's what zero concussions is that what the goal is hey hey i I hope. Good luck.

People running around with helmets on their heads, bashing into each other. We hope there's no more concussions ever in football. That's what we hope. We are on that side. We want no more CTE. None. No more conversations. Correct.

No. But with that also being said, we don't want flat football, right? No. It feels like they're trying to illuminate special teams as a whole, like the kickoff and the punt. These medical folks are certainly trying. Look at this disproportionate amount of statistics here about concussions. Remember concussions?

You guys got sued for a lot of money for and probably in the future are going to get sued for more, and this is a particular play. I understand you can paint that picture, but let's not ruin a game. Let's not ruin a game. With that being said, hope nobody ever gets a concussion. Yes, obviously. Hope nobody gets a concussion ever. Like you said, you got guys with helmets on running 20 plus miles an hour

and launching themselves into other guys. You're going to have... I thought those new light helmets, you're not supposed to get concussions. Well, the thing with the light helmets is the guys actually run faster than them. Yeah. But all the cool weird shapes and it comes down and protects your jaw and you have terrible chin scraps.

Doesn't that help you? Yeah, but when, you know, it turns out when people run like 23 miles an hour when you'd be speeding in a school zone, some people, and you... Imagine if your car hit something. I think that's potential. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I think it's potential like airbag will be deployed if that happens. Maybe that's what they do.

Maybe airbags deploy on punt. No, punt team put the bubbles on. Yeah. The sumo suit. You gotta wear a sumo suit. No, no, those actual round balls that you have to waddle down there.

Punter gets the ball snapped from a long snapper that is not wearing bubble. Long snapper then walks off field. Punter has seven Mississippi to wait. His coverage team waddles down. And then you punt. And then the returner catches it. Then he gets put into a bubble.

And he starts running as well. Wherever bubble falls of returner, that is where the other team gets the ball. Do you have to put a bubble on after you kick it? I'm off the field. Yeah, you've got to run directly to the sideline. Yeah, yeah. I'm not running because nobody's getting anywhere quick, so I'm actually just going to jog it off.

Maybe walk. Probably a good walk sometimes, depending on how good of a ball it was. Probably want to get off the field. Kind of like a home run? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're welcome, NFL. I might go push somebody. Knock a ball it was. Probably when I got off the field. Kind of like a home run? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're welcome, NFL. I'm not going to push somebody. Knock a ball over?

What's that all about? That's what I thought. I'm going to the sidelines 15 yards. I don't care. We did it. That could happen. Let's go to the fence. I don't know how you fix it.

I think we're all on the same page. But also, we don't want any concussions. But also, it's football. One or two is fine. It's football, dude, it's football. One or two is fine. It's football, dude. Football, it's going to happen. You watch fighting and boxing. The way it ends is a concussion, actually.

Yeah. But then in the future, like, oh, concussion. This is a brutal sport. Yeah, it's fucking fight. Like, hey, it's football. Like, that is something that's going to happen. I don't want to sound like a meathead. I don't want to sound like that at all.

But as a fan and as somebody that got a chance to watch it very close and just see, like, hey, football has some incredibly insane shit happening. And people's bodies are able to survive them somehow. People go through a lot. But then they're able to get back up and do it again. It's almost like, hey, this is going to – it's a part of the spectacle that is the sport. And then now also, you know, we've got to get rid of it completely. We've got to integrate a surgery that their brains become like woodpeckers where their tongue wraps around their brain

and that's how they don't get concussions. Those rams. Remember those battling rams? Do the rams have their tongues wrapped around their brains like the woodpeckers? No, they align their spine perfectly so it doesn't matter. What if you've had...

I think you have an extra layer of panic. You can play punt team until you've had five or more concussions. Okay, five's a lot. Five's a lot. Five is a lot. Five could be done with three and a half or more concussions. What if it was just one-on-one? Punter versus Turner. That'd be awesome.

That would be awesome. No, you get two. You get the long snapper, and you get to cover the punt. Well, all of a sudden, A.J. Hawk would be awesome No you get two You get the long snapper And you get to cover The punt Well all of a sudden AJ Hawk would be Long snapping then You know I just

Give me the safety Hey guy listen Wow You just gotta fucking Just throw Just do this Just do this And then it's gonna be

You and me versus that guy I'm gonna try to hit This thing left though I mean the fakes You could run too Gotcha I don't think we'd be able To run fakes right

Well That's tough Then the return Because the returner has to gauge. You could put flags on maybe if you want to run a fake. Can we not look past the idea that Zito presented, though? Wrapping your tongue around your brain. Drill a hole through your esophagus into your brain.

Let's just talk about how woodpeckers don't get concussions. And all they do is hit their heads against wood and glass. Remember the old house, a woodpecker was a glasspecker. Yeah. That son of a bitch was so drunk, he was just breaking every window I had at my house. Never got concussed. And he was living good, too.

That son of a bitch was the size of a toddler. Yeah. Huge. Flying through the goddamn sky. That nose is huge. The callus was built up on that brain, I guess, from the tongue. That dude was ready to go at any time. Fucking A.

We got to get out of here. This show stinks. I don't think woodpeckers. I just did some quick research. Tongue thing, I don't think. No, come on. I forget which bird it is. What do you mean?

I thought I saw that somewhere. There is a bird that does that, yeah. It is a woodpecker. It just says they have a very small brain, so it's hard to hurt. Oh, bird brain. Bill Sirius. You have an extra long tongue, though.

Bill Sirius is telling me, Pat, if a bird had your brain, it'd fly backwards and whistle ditch. That's what we'll try to do tomorrow. See you then. Thank you. Thank you. Outro Music