The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 913 - DeAndre Hopkins Released By The Cardinals, Charles Barkley, Michael Lombardi, Ian Rapoport, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: May 26, 2023

On today’s show, Pat, AJ Hawk, and the boys chat about the breaking news that DeAndre Hopkins has officially been released by the Arizona Cardinals, the Celtics beating the Heat in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Stars fending off a sweep against the Golden Knights, and everything else happening around the NFL and the sports world as a whole. Joining the progrum to chat about the NBA playoffs, his thoughts on the Joker, LeBron retiring, the Ja Morant situation and much more is Hall of Famer, MVP, 11x All-Star, 10x All-NBA, and co-host on Inside the NBA on TNT, the legend, Sir Charles Barkley (1:07:41-1:42:49). Later, 3x Super Bowl Champion, former GM of the Cleveland Browns, author, host of the GM Shuffle and Lombardi Line, writer for the Daily Coach, Michael Lombardi joins the show to chat about everything happening around the league as OTA’s are under way, his understanding of the DeAndre Hopkins situation, and his plans for Memorial Day weekend (1:42:51-2:08:25). Lastly, NFL Network Senior Insider, host of the Weekly Wrap-Up with Rapsheet and Friends, Ian Rapoport joins the show to chat about DeAndre Hopkins, the situation with the Commanders, another Detroit player potentially getting pinged for gambling, and everything else happening around the NFL (2:12:12-2:30:47). Make sure you subscribe to youtube.com/thepatmcafeeshow to watch the show. We appreciate the hell out of all of you. Enjoy your Memorial Day Weekend, we’ll see you on Tuesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, beautiful people. Welcome to our humble abode, the Thunderdom, on this glorious Feel Good Friday, May 26, 2023. This sports market starts right now. Feel Good! Friday is being celebrated all over the place as we all stare down a three-day weekend. Monday is one that obviously will take some thoughts and say thank you to a lot of people who have done things that none of us have the courage or ability to be able to do. But we will certainly take in the weather breaking and life being fantastic around the United States. The sports world is still cooking. Just a few weeks ago, or I guess a few days ago, we thought there was a chance that there would be something that happens in

the NBA and the NHL for the first time ever. We thought there was a chance it was going to be a clean sweep in the Eastern Conference of the NHL and a clean sweep in the Western Conference of the NHL. It is no longer that because the Dallas Stars got a big time win last night, but go back in time. And then there was a chance that it was going to be a clean sweep in the eastern conference finals of the nba in a clean sweep in the western conference nba finals which it was the denver nuggets knocked out the los angeles lakers and the lebron james era took a new turn as he contemplated retirement for the first time ever that's right was that a distraction who knows but I do know that we are now at a point where we might see a first time ever.

Last night on Inside the NBA, which has won like 19 Emmys or something like that, Charles, Shaq, and Ernie, and Kenny, and everybody else that contributes to that program, they have created something magical. They know it. And since having the baby, I've been watching a lot of that show

because not only before the game, it's something to watch. After the game, they do a full show after the game that I don't know if a lot of people know is even happening. It is fantastic to watch it. But I've gotten some stats out of this thing. And I forget the exact first two numbers a lot. It's like 150 times in the NBA has there been a 3-0 start for one side or the other? There was like 41 or something or 51 maybe in that area. That's the number of times it's got to a game six after the 3-0 start.

Then the last stat was three. That was the number of times it got to a game seven after starting 3-0. And then zero, obviously, was the number at the end of that, was the amount of times a team has come back from 3-0 and actually won. All those game sevens, which was a Charles Barkley stat, all happened on the road for the team that was down 3-0 at one point. If the Boston Celtics, after another smashing win against the Miami Heat last night, where they've completely flipped this series.

180. On its head. Blowouts the other way. It seems like we're staring down a potential game seven at home for the Boston Celtics because they were supposed to obviously win this entire thing and had a better seeding than the Miami Heat did. We'll go to the

talks at the table. At Ty Schmidt, how you doing? Lost to the Stars. Okay, no big deal. Story of the day though. At Boston, Connor, a man who has an incredible bandana on across the forehead letting the hair flow a little bit on his feel-good Friday. The Celtics are all the way back. Maybe Missoula shouldn't have been fired four different

times already. Yeah, well, that's the thing. When things are bad, everyone's going to point at something. You know, on Monday, the conversation was the Boston Celtics, they don't like each other. They've been, you know, fake nice to each other throughout this run because why wouldn't you? Joe Missoula, as you just mentioned. They got no respect for other. They've been fake nice to each other throughout this run because why wouldn't you? Joe Mazzulla, as you just mentioned. They got no respect for him. They got no respect for him.

They don't listen to him. They think he's a bad coach. He only watches the town. He's lost the locker room. He's got to leave. He's got to get fired. That's all bullshit. Now I'm glad that the team has kind of responded to the criticism

after that three-game start, which was terrible. But there are a few things that I would love to be happy about, but you can't be. 3-2, standard series. Where were you then? Who cares? Where are you right now? 3-2 series. These have happened all the time.

Just happened against Philly. Down 3-2, have to go on the road, get a win. But with the Heat, this is our third Eastern Conference Finals against the Heat, specifically in the last five years years four years and the celtics have won game five all three times by exactly 13 points in the miami heat have won game six every single series now oh yeah so that matters exactly but you don't you don't like that matters those players that were playing in those games in the past, their ghosts are going to right into the building.

Same players. And they're going to say, this is how it goes. It's like that. Same players. This is the actual hashtag. Same players. But as you've pointed out, it doesn't mean a fucking thing. The Celtics are playing completely opposite basketball that they did game three.

They're actually finishing games because they're up by 15 at the end of the first quarter. And you go back to game one and game two. Okay, well, this doesn they're up by 15 at the end of the first quarter. And you go back to game one and game two. Okay, well, this doesn't mean shit because fourth quarter with six minutes left, Jimmy Buckets is going to come in and he's going to lead the Heat back to the promised land and get the win. And the Celtics haven't. They've closed.

They've played defense, which is awesome. And now there's got to be some concern for Miami because you said, you know, no team has ever come back and won that seventh game. Three teams have got to that seventh game. Game six for Miami is game seven because if it comes back to Boston, it's over. The Celtics are not going to lose at home. I mean, we saw it.

Really? No, no. We saw it with Philadelphia. What happened to Philly? One half of the hammer. Bad. Cowboys, Towne Diggs looks fantastic today. He pointed up into the rafters.

Not going to lose in Boston, huh? Not going to be able to do it. That's not something that, especially in that guidance. Same exact thing you just pointed out, how the last three series, the heat of one game six, it's two different sports. But I appreciate the sense. No, we're just saying the same thing was being said. Yeah.

Same thing was being said. Yeah, but also let's just look at the same team in the same sport against Philly, Game 7. We beat them by 30 points, and Jason Tatum had the most points in a Game 7 in the history of the NBA. So, I get that, yeah, sure, the Bruins did lose. Hell of a regular season. Hell of a regular season. They won't lose in the Garden. No, not the Celtics.

Thank God the Panthers are doing what they're doing because it would be much more painful if the Panthers weren't in the Stanley Cup final now. So I am very happy about that, actually. But no, if the basketball gods point the direction to Boston Celtics in Boston against the Heat in Game 7, yeah. You can bet on Tatum scoring 40 points, and you can bet on the Celtics winning. All right, well, congratulations to Boston having a chance to be back in there

because they don't ever get to win. You know what I mean? That is the thing back in there because they don't ever get to win. You know what I mean? That is the thing about Boston fans is they don't ever get a chance to really celebrate their sports teams. It's brutal. So if the Celtics were to get swept there by a team from Miami and everything like that, just clean sweep, we would have felt bad for the city of Boston. For sure.

Because they don't ever get a chance to say, our team did it. Exactly. Haven't won a title since 2018. It's been a long time. That's what I'm saying. And they won two that year. And teams haven't made the playoffs every single year in every single sport and had to run in a realistic shot

and hope in every single one of them. So we would have been bummed out for them. But God damn it, if they get another notch under their belt that they're the first team, because you heard him say, Red Sox, first team ever, down 3-0. We did that. That got brought up. If they're the first basketball team ever in the history of the NBA playoffs

to be down 3-0 and then completely flip it on its head, to make it into the finals to win the Larry O'Brien championship trophy, I mean, they're going to be loud about it. Oh, yeah. Very loud. And then that's going to lead right into football season, and they're going to be loud about that. It's like this is a potential real fodder

amplifier for the New England fans. And we don't need any more of that. No, we don't. Now, what we do need a little bit more of is Texas hockey. Uh-oh. Going back. What about them? I'm just worried about the... You know, because in the Eastern Conference

there, hockey. Two overtimes? two overtime games? Two games, right? One point spread every single game. Two overtimes, a 1-0 game, and then the four second. 4.3 seconds, which more than one overtime, which actually sealed the series. So conversation in think tank over there was that has to be the closest and tightest sweep

in the history of any sport. Any sport. Two overtime, then a 4.3 seconds left. That one's going overtime. All one goal spreads to win it. Felt like the Caniacs were going to win every single game. It wasn't just like, hey, this team's

outright better. Kind of stinks for the Caniacs. Kind of how that whole thing went, especially with how small a puck is and how a goal is and how much room and the things and deflections and how a goal could go one way or the other in any of those overtimes. Four of them that game won. And completely go the opposite direction. The Vegas Golden Knights, that was stars right back in. Uh-oh.

I don't know if I'd go that. 3-1 right now. Yeah. Going back to Vegas, which is a tough barn. And our guy Stoner is obviously going to be Stoner. Yeah. But we thought this was a clean sweep. I thought this was going to be a clean sweep for the good of hockey.

Yeah, I did for a little bit, but then I was, you know, I mentioned it yesterday on Hammer Don. Talked to Nick about it. I think a gentleman's sweep is okay. It's in play. Hey, we'll let Dallas have one, you know, even if it just means so Gumpy can kind of have a shred of his sanity, I'm glad

that the Stars got one last night. Sweet hair. Sweet hair. Unbelievable hair. Well conditioned. Need to take a picture of that and put that in the thing that they sent me back to send and just say, do we want this in America or not? You see this guy? Yeah, I'm thinking we do. Yeah, that'll do.

That'll do. Immigrations officers over there are saying, are we done here? So we're done? Yeah. But no, I'm not worried at all. If I know Stoner, if I know the boys, he was saying, hey, yeah, it's awesome being able to close out a series on the road. Unbelievable doing it in front of their fans. Steal a soul.

Exactly. Steal a soul right out of them. But what's even sweeter is doing it in front of the home crowd, in the toughest barn in the NHL, T-Mobile Arena. You know, Robo, he sharpened his skates last night, and he sharpened his blade, okay? He had two goals. The Stars have been waiting for him to show up.

He finally did. The thing that no one's really talking about, and Moose Messier mentioned it last night in between intermissions, he said Aiden Hill's fucking standing on his head. You know, this guy is keeping the Golden Knights in the game right now. He's playing unbelievable. He's been hot since he got the call. John.

How do you feel about Messier and TV? They had sticks out yesterday. Oh, yeah. Those boys have so much fun out there that I love watching it. I absolutely love watching it. Do I pay attention to what they're really saying? Not exactly. But if moose is

talking yeah i'm listening yeah i'm thinking i'm listening yeah moose the moose exactly uh but but again you know the it went to overtime it was a close game vegas could have won you know hotly contested they didn't play their best game by any stretch of the imagination oh they let up no they're just relaxing they didn't let up it. It was kind of just, you know, hey, again, these guys, namely Gump, they need this one. Stoner knows. Canadian lad. He knows another Canadian

lad. This guy is on, he's six feet from the edge, and he's thinking maybe six feet ain't so far down. Okay. So yeah, you know, so we give one back. That's okay. The boys are going to be ready to go. They're going to be ready to go.

I fully expect them to close this thing out on Saturday night in Vegas. The boys after the game were clearly disappointed. I believe that is what this random shot is that's being put up on the board here. Taking the gear off. Yeah, just a little bit bummed, you know. They know they let down all the Golden Nighty-X. Exactly. Come on, boys.

Here's Aces. Come on, Josh. Here's aces. Come on, all the nighters. Hey, what are the fan what's the fan base called, Nick? Knights of the Round Table, right? Oh. I know they live in the realm. Are you Knights of the Golden Table or whatever? They're going to close it on this. I like Golden Nighty-Acts. Golden Nighty-Acts? Yeah.

Well, shout out to the Golden Nighty-Acts getting a chance to maybe wrap this thing up at home and if we know the golden knights program in operation yep that pre-game show oh yeah look out chris angel i think there's a chance right might be time this might be time to have chris angel come out as all the players are on the ice for the national anthems he takes goalie pads off goalie yep puts them on eichel takes eichel's legs puts them on goalie yep and the home of the crisp yeah it explodes up from center ice yeah he disappears out there and then they're like what are we doing with our we don't have a goalie now that's okay because Aiden Hill

is like 6'7", so Jackie Aces is going to be fucking char out there and he's going to score four or five goals maybe. Hey, let's go 90X. If they're doing magic, they should have Michael Griffin come in and swallow like eight pucks. Could you imagine? Eight what? Pucks.

Eight pucks down there? How many pucks do you think the great American escape hero could put down? That's a great question. He did, what, 40 needles? Yeah, 40 needles. It depends how hard he... Not nails. Yeah, not nails.

Not nails. I corrected my... I caught myself there. I wouldn't disrespect him like that. Eight pucks? I don't know. It depends how hard he punches himself. You know who could do...

Well, it's a hit, too. A punch on the hip. Joey Chestnut could do eight pucks, maybe ten. I think you're right. Joey Jaws Chestnut could somehow get ten pucks down there. I think so. And then he would – he's dumping them out, I guess? No, you've got to go right into surgery.

Just cut them out. Joey Jaws Chestnut's going to need surgery? Yep. I doubt it. I've seen that guy drink 13 beers, pints of beer, in I think a minute and 10 seconds. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. His feats are unmatched.

Then he also took down, I think, a bottle of vodka that night. Yes, he did. He took down an actual bottle of vodka. He was good until that mixed. So we had Joey Jaws chestnut, the greatest eater of all time. Right. For sure. By far, goat.

There is a second place. They can battle for that conversation. Kobayashi. Joey Jaws is number one of all time. He just so happened to be in Indianapolis on New Year's Eve because he had a show on New Year's. I think he was doing the cocktail sauce thing. Yeah, some competition.

And we had a friend that knew him, and we were doing a New Year's Eve variety show, basically as a big party. It was a great time. Great time. As soon as I found out, like four days beforehand, that maybe we could have Joey Jaws' Chestnut be a part of the show, he just wondered if he could have a ticket and come.

And we're like, yeah. I'm thinking you can. Yeah, Joe. And so we started brainstorming ideas. He was like, I could just drink all the beer. And I was like, just all the beer? He was like, it's New Year's Eve, right? I can just drink some beer or whatever. And I was like, how many just all the beer? He was like, it's New Year's Eve, right? I can just drink some beer or whatever.

And I was like, how many beers are we thinking, Joey? Because I'm a beer chugger as well. He's like, 10, 11, 12, 15. I'm like, what? Excuse me? What, Joe? How are you going to do it? We landed on 13, I think.

I think it was because the wheelie table that we had, that was the most amount of pints that it could stay. Yeah, there it is. The wheelie table we took out could only handle like 13 wide and he just he destroyed these beers. I mean, it wasn't even a conversation but I think it's like 70 seconds

this thing. I forget the exact amount of time. I guess we'll find out here in a couple moments. But he took them all down, didn't puke, nothing. This is how we end the show. We ended the show with this, and then we went to the after party. At the after party, he was hanging out backstage. He drank

an entire bottle of vodka. He was also casually sipping on a couple pounders in between that vodka, too, back there. Look at him shaking it out. He's just, what was it, eight? He's still doing, I mean. What a weapon.

Un-fucking, I think he, I'm thinking he could take eight pucks. I think he might be right. I'm thinking there's no problem with that. Shout out to Joey Jaws, dude. I believe he lives in Indiana. Old $20 chef taking a hot lap there. Todd McComas in there.

Friends of the program. People that, you know, have ventured into their own. Todd's, hey, I think Todd's about to, in the crime world, I think Todd's about to really, I'm very fucking happy

for old Bill's dad. That's an awesome thing. Sean built a bar, I believe. Doing stand-up again back in the whole game. Here we go. And that night, we got a chance to witness

fucking history. I think that was maybe some of the most befuddled I'd ever been when I thought to myself, how has this guy's gut handled this? And then you go watch him on 4th of July, and he takes down however many hot dogs. 70 hot dogs. No problem at all. What a guy.

I'm thinking he could eat eight pucks. Happy for the Dallas Stars getting a win. Congrats. Yeah, congrats. But Spokane Knight's going to take it out. Go ahead, Tone. I don't know if you've seen the hashtag stat that rolling around the internet, though.

But because the Florida Panthers are the eighth seed and they only got the eighth seed because the Penguins lost to the Chicago Blackhawks, who are the worst team in the league and got the number one overall pick, that if the Penguins would have won that game, the Penguins would also be in the Stanley Cup final right now because they would have been the eighth seed and beat the Bruins on the King of the Ox. Well, congrats to the Panthers. Yeah. Way to go, Panthers. It wasn't just that game. There's two

games we lost. Columbus and Chicago, I do believe. Because the Penguins absolutely fell apart whenever they were told, you can't fall apart at this exact moment. Instead, Florida gets in and they go on a run to the Stanley Cup Final. Congratulations. That's hockey. That's beautiful. Speaking of beautiful, the man joining us now from Anatic in Ohio,

40 minutes earlier than normal is beautiful. College football national champion, Super Bowl champion, Ryder Cup winner. Not a champion. What a match. Champion of Ohio as a whole, just the entire state. Father of 10, COVID survived thus far. Yep.

Yeah. We all have, by the way. First generation. We've lost a lot of great people. Too many. But we have survived COVID thus far, and we will continue to do so. You know why?

Because we're ready. And we have this man, the champion of Ohio to guide us through it all, the ever-handsome A.J. Hawk. Yay! A.J., good to see you on this Feel Good Friday, pal.

How are you? I'm doing well. I know I had to jump on early. You got some Chris Angel talk early. He could really throw a wrench in these NHL playoffs. If he was to take the goalie's legs off at any moment and put it on a forward

or a center, defenseman would be the absolute worst, I guess, because you're skating backwards. So that would be... So if Chris Angel really wanted to do this for Vegas, he loves Vegas, right? He does love Vegas. If he wanted to, as the national anthem is going, he will go out there, take one Dallas Stars player's legs, defenseman's legs off of the body,

and then he will take goalies' pads and legs and put them on body and make it like at least a 24-hour seal. Yeah. You know, so can't change anything. And that would certainly seal the deal for the Las Vegas Golden Knights if Criss Angel was all the way in. Yeah, what if they actually, what if he said, you know what, I want to see some goals tonight.

And he switches the tops of both the goalies. So the Vegas goalie is playing for Dallas and the Dallas goalie is playing for Vegas. Wow. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. So it's like, where's the brain?

Exactly. You know what I mean? Yeah. You're probably working with the body or the brain or the legs because you still get some great kick saves probably on the other side depending upon who's controlling what. Did I see Chris Andrews' legs in this office yesterday? What do you mean?

Wasn't his legs wearing those football pants were in this office yesterday, weren't they? He put his legs on Herbo's body. Yeah, you're talking about Herbie had football knee pads in his sweatpants yesterday. Oh. I did not see that. Did he really?

Was he black pants with a gray crotch? I didn't even see this. Did we take a picture of this? I didn't notice anybody. Did we? Yeah. You're wearing knee pads like Kanye West out and about? He was. You got Moyt tie pads on next West out and about? He was.

You got Moyt tie pads on? Are you serious? Oh, yeah, dead serious. How did I not see this? I thought you were the one that pointed them out to me. No. It was after the show. I walked out there.

I noticed it, and I said, Herbie, are you wearing fucking knee pads in your sweatpants? What the hell is going on here? He tried to say, like, no, they're just a little baggy, and they're covering it. I was like, no, no, no, you're wearing them. So he looked like he had, like, swollen kneecaps? That's what it looked like? Yeah. It was crazy. Did he have a game after work?

Maybe was he going to have a pickup game after the show or something? Maybe he was laying some floor and some carpet. It could have been. Maybe he did have those big fucking knee pads that they had that they're down in there. You ever see those ones? Yeah, of course. That the carpeting folks wear? Those knee pads that they have that they're down in there. You ever see those ones? Yeah, of course. That the carpeting folks wear?

Oh, yeah. Those knee pads are like this big. It's like street hockey. Yeah. So you can sit back on your butt, too. They have like the buildup on your back. That was Herbie's pants? Yes.

Very similar. Whoa. Do they have the A on it? No. Is that a picture of him? Is that a picture of him? Or is that someone else? Well, that's Chris Angel.

I think those were the pants, though. Remember, he wore these as he was dongling from the center of Allegiant Stadium. Did they have cleats on them? Did his shoes have cleats on the bottom? He made them appear once he walked onto the... Those are his professional wrestling. Were they studs? Let's move along.

Let's talk about all the things that have happened this week that we haven't chatted about. We are massive Criss Angel fans. We just don't know why he hasn't done that to really seal the deal for the Golden Knights. Yeah, could be waiting until the finals. We'll see. You're right. He can only do that once. I think he'll get banned from the arena by the NHL if he's moving people's legs to other people's legs.

Let's go to some stories. Russell Wilson's in the best shape he's ever been in. You see this jawline on Russell Wilson as he's reported to comp with the Denver Broncos in his second year alongside Sean Payton as the new head coach and offense coordinator. Russell Wilson as he's reported to comp with the Denver Broncos in his second year alongside Sean Payton as the new head coach and offense coordinator. Russell Wilson says, I feel lean and mean, baby.

You know what I mean? I feel lean and I feel mean. Didn't give an exact update, I guess, on how much weight he has lost or anything like that, but it is very apparent that this particular Russell Wilson is different than last year's Russell Wilson. Now, was Russell Wilson bulking up last year for a reason? Did he think that it would make him a more

durable player? A better player? Or did he potentially just not worry about it all as much with everything else going on in his life? This year, obviously a focal point. And I think it's good news for Denver Broncos fans. Last time we seen Russ this thin, huh? He was

laughing in his bed. Just signed a hundred-some million dollar deal. Had sex. Potentially intercourse with his wife, who was next to him. Remember that jawline in that video? He was a dog then. He was a great player

then, and I think maybe Sean Payton is happy to see that jawline as well, AJ. Yeah, he does look good he looks younger i mean nice lineup nice haircut i wonder how like how much he probably lost what 10 pounds put on a little bit maybe come on 10 15 20 25 30 60 lose fat add muscle yeah that's what i'm trying to do right now to be honest his pre is where i'm at now trying to get to what this is but he also might have learned in i don't know how relatable this is uh in some places because they don't care about this stuff but you ever go to an event and you take a picture

with somebody who takes pictures for a living what they tell you to do with your like face and jaw and like the way you turn and you're angling for the photo like at a wedding and like never give away your neck and like hey let's put the jaw down give away your neck and like, hey, let's put the jaw down, okay? Let's go and elongate the jaw. Let's put that thing down. And you're taking pictures with these humans that are transforming into like different figures almost.

And then you look at the photo and they look normal. And it's like that had to be so uncomfortable. But there is tricks. Do you think Russ maybe just took some tricks? Do you think this press conference wherever they said, how much weight have you lost?

And he's like, so much weight. He wouldn't move. Not even bleeding. He's stuck. Russ, do you have a neck issue? No, I've just been trained on how to look awesome. No, this is... Was it just lighting? Or did he...

Because he looks... He looks 40 pounds lighter. Optically different. Different person. And my weight has come and gone as well. But Russell Wilson's like, remember, he takes his shoulder pads to Monaco. Yeah. And he is all these super.

Spends a million on his body every year. That was the thing. You're right, he does. I thought it was photoshopped, AJ. I thought it was photoshopped. I mean, he has multiple layers on in the picture on the left, but his head and face, yeah, he does look, yeah, much leaner. He just looks good, man.

So when I'm sleeping on a flight to England for a game, he's doing knee pads at altitude during other people's rest time. He was still 40 pounds heavier than everybody. Karaoke, too. I guess. What's that, AJ? There's karaoke down there. That's how good his footwork is.

Those tiny little aisles, he can do karaoke. Hey, were you a lazy-ass karaoke? I was a pretty solid karaoke. Yeah, I was. No, he can do karaoke. Hey, were you a lazy-ass karaoke? I was a pretty solid karaoke. Yeah, I was. No, you're lazy. You've got to do it again. You've got to go back. So, of course.

Knee's got to go high. You need a good punch on that knee up there. And it's the first time you learn to do that when you're a young kid. You think you look so sweet. So sweet. Yeah. We had a, I think, I forget how old I was, but the soccer team had a warm-up on the field that we started.

We had these brand-new warm-ups. Looked so sick. Added the thing into it. I was like, bro, we look so cool right now. Someone take a photo. Umbro warm-ups? No, no, dude, I believe it was Nike. I mean, please, let's have some respect for looking cool

at the particular time that we were. It was awesome. It was insane, yeah. It was the Beedling team. We were red, white, and blue, too. Yeah. Had some dogs on that team. But the karaoke is always fucking awesome. Did you do A-skip, B-skip, all that shit

obviously and everything? Yeah. We started that in high school. In high school, we started doing all that, yeah. See see i didn't do any of that until i got to college karaoke expert but whenever they started doing like a skip b skip and all this other running shit i had no idea what we were doing i was in a bad i was in a bad spot for a bit that can expose you quick all those weird running things oh yeah i was lucky my brother's tears older than me and he had gone and he was already playing in college so he would kind of come back and let me know what they were

doing, all the different things. Try to have some rhythm with it. Try to be good with it. They kick down and Barwiss would be like Bullshit! That one sucked. Did you have some shoulder circuit type thing at Barwiss?

Jack told me to ask you about it where the minimum was 135 on the bar, and you had to do a billion reps of upright row, high pull, military press, and you couldn't let the bar down. Yeah, and then you had to end it with this one. Yeah, yeah. You had to press. You had to clean. I think you had to press, clean clean and then upright row and it was

like you can't put the bar down right no yeah so there's a lot of like fucking balancing the bar on your leg yeah yeah it was uh yeah hypertrophy yeah that was it was impossible dude it was absolutely fucking impossible i don't know how he would never be able to do what he did now no chance but it was like i was so we were all very thankful for it as we were Absolutely fucking impossible. I don't know how. He would never be able to do what he did now. No chance. But it was like, I was so thankful. We were all very thankful for it as we were just faster, stronger than everybody else. Tougher.

Yeah, from the stories. Definitely tougher, yeah. Definitely tougher after that particular summer, yeah, when you're almost dying every single day out there. Yeah, from the stories, it sounds like it sucked. Like you guys being unbelievable at West Virginia, if you guys stunk, could you imagine what the reception would have been for him? Can't stink.

That's the type of thing whenever a new coach comes to town, want to be an asshole, like, okay, you can be an asshole, but we're going to need to win. Because if we don't win and you're an asshole, you're going to get... Yeah, we've tried your way. Yeah, it sucks and we suck, so we cannot do that. The more Deion Sanders speaks and describes his coaching style to people, the more headlines it makes on the internet.

Because I think a lot of people are slowly realizing that Deion Sanders is a hard-ass coach. It's not just like glitz and glamour, we're having a good time out here. Deion's like, these parents have been making bitch-made cats. Deion's like, everybody's too easy on their kids, in different words. He's not speaking how I'm speaking. So we've got to hold them accountable. These dudes have got to earn their number. They're doing everything.

I don't think people realize that Deion is just like an old-school coach, and I'm very happy that he's making his way into the big names because I think we need more of that, AJ. I think we need more of that, not less of that. Well, Deion's like, he is a cool mixture, hybrid of, yeah, like outwardly he's up on the social media stuff. He understands the game and how it works. And we got to get some pub for this team and sell tickets,

which he's done at an alarming rate wherever he goes. Bro, that Nebraska average. He holds him accountable. Crazy. Sorry, Andrew. Go ahead, though. Oh, you're good. Yeah, but then he's like Bear Bryant on the practice field.

Like, they don't mess around. I was watching a lot of their behind-the-scenes stuff when he's showing their winter workouts and their run in hundreds and just how he is and how his whole staff is. I'm like, yeah, it's good, man. Like, I think the guys, if you're a guy, you gonna love them and if you're not you're gonna hate them like if you're a scrub you're not gonna enjoy that and there's some guys that are gonna be guys that that isn't gonna be for them either like that is not their style of operating but if he gets his

guys in there and they're like that guaranteed success rate if people buy into hard work you're gonna succeed like that's right, the question is how much. Like, what does that look like? Can they go undefeated? What can they be? I don't know. Not this year. When do you finally?

Yeah, it's going to take a couple years. The overrunners in three and a half. Oh, of course. TCU, their first game, I think, right? TCU? Well, I think, like, the FBI, which, you know, whatever. It's an AI thing. It's all this other bullshit.

But I think they're ranked as, like, the worst team in D1 this year, which doesn't really make sense. Colorado? Yes. It's going to take a little bit, I think. Feels like that FBI thing is interesting, but I just want to let everybody know, we are a fan of hard-ass coaches. 100%. We are. I think it's good.

I think it's good for future. I think I needed, I couldn't even imagine if it was just a very... I mean, I good for future. I think, like, I needed, like, I couldn't even imagine, you know, if it was just a very, I mean, like, I'm very lucky that I had people that, I don't want to say assholes, but, I mean. You need them. At certain stages, needed some assholes to me. Now more than ever, too.

You're either coaching or allowing it, right? In that whole, a lot of coaches, you're either coaching or you're allowing it. And that's 100% true. Same thing with parenting. Same thing with whatever age you're coaching, too. Like, you got to be on it. You got to you're the coach or you're allowing it and it's that's 100 true same thing with parenting same thing with whatever age you're coaching too like you you got to be on it you got to care as the coach yeah because life you know hey life's coming like there's so many things that i like have learned from barwis or even fucking rich rod yeah and then you go through like there was barwis we loved rich rod didn't want us to like him like when he was the head coach he didn't

it was very clear he did not want us. Are they attached? Was Barwiss and Rich Rod attached to each other? Yeah, he went out to Michigan after when Rich – that was – Mike Joseph, the guy still there, good guy. But our relationship with Barwiss was like – Next level. Total war for him. Yeah, I mean, that was a tough thing for him to come through there. But there's a lot of times where I think back to, like,

shit that they said either to me or to a teammate, while the person was fucking up. And it's like, as I'm about to, like, I'm, like, thinking, I'm like, all right, yeah, good call, good call, good call, good call. Like, you know, it's like, you need those types of things. And I'm happy that Deion is potentially going to be the face. Obviously, Saban, allegedly, hard-ass coach, but he gets along with everybody.

Kirby seems to be a fucking dog. Yeah, a speed. I mean, the way he – it's interesting that my immediate thought is that all these coaches are soft. But then you start thinking of all the good teams, and it's like accountability, accountability, accountability, accountability, accountability. That's pretty much like it.

And also the humans afterwards, like who we're going into. It's like I hope that continues to spread. I hope we're like in a cycle almost. Look at the Miami Heat, man. Look at the Miami Heat. That's what they are. It's like accountability. They talk about all how they're measuring body fats,

and they really are kidding. You're going to be in shape. If you want to play on this team, you're going to be in great basketball shape, and they just seem to outwork everybody. That's what their whole team is. And do you think that there's a chance people were scared to do that, obviously? People were scared to do that because they thought,

especially in a recruiting game. But with NIL possibilities now, you're like working. Yeah. So like, hey, you're working. Yeah, this is. So instead of like having to keep everybody liking you, which I think a lot of coaches thought they had to do, like, well, I can't be rude because he'll just go somewhere.

It's like, well, now he's getting paid $550,000 to be here. So now maybe the coaches can be a little bit more like, hey, you got to be a fucking pro. This is your job. You got to do this. You got to do this. If you don't, this motherfucker will. And that money will be gone. Like, there's a chance that this helps it in that particular facet as well, which I

don't think I've really thought of until this exact moment right now. And also, there's a good chance, like, a lot of these kids are going to need to be humbled. It's like you're coming into college, you're already a millionaire, you're making a bunch of money. Like, now more than ever, you need someone to kind of be on your ass and hold you accountable. Otherwise, it's like, you know, yeah, I'm getting paid a shitload of money,

I'm starting on this team. Like, I can kind of do what I want. Like, I've already made it. Granted, that's not going to be for everybody, but I'm sure there are going to be a lot of kids who are like that. Well, and that's exactly why some coaches might be scared to point to the next guy because you have to have the resume to be that prick, right?

Like Saban, all those guys we just made. I think if you have a contract, I think contract can replace the resume is what I'm saying. Yeah, but if some kid is getting paid 500 grand, right, and he's at Bama, how much is a West Virginia going to pay a kid from Bama who's getting 500? So what are we paying? I think we're paying a guy pretty good, I think.

You know what that's saying? That basketball player that you guys got is getting a lot of money. I think so, and I think there's maybe the running back of West Virginia. Does football have it? Oh, yeah. What? What do you mean? Okay, how many points do you want in that fucking week two match?

Ooh, here we go. Okay, pal. Here we go. I'll let Vegas decide that. 18 maybe? Take that right now. Take that right now because what happens if they beat Penn State? Dude, I'm not.

We'll let Vegas figure it out. You know, so. Who's the quarterback? I'll wear that. Who's the quarterback? This kid's a dog, bro. Who is it? He can run. He can throw. He's the quarterback? This kid's a dog, bro. Who is it? He can run.

He can throw. He's unbelievable. So he's got legs and arms. What's his name? Triple threat. Triple threat. He is triple threat. You should see him in the classroom.

Okay? This guy holds everybody accountable. Oh. He wears his eye black, too, I do believe, where his costume and his makeup and his ability and his jib, you know, i really like the cut of this fucking guy or a towel is there either of those or no he's just like what does that mean when he gets on the field yeah everybody thinks guys got it look out he's the guy because so he's big he's a big son of a bitch i think that's gonna be the thing that gets scrappy oh middle of the road guy size

no no no middle of the road whoa whoa whoa stetsppy. Oh, middle of the road guy. Size. No, no, no. Middle of the road. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Stetson Bennett, middle of the road? You tell me, pal. No, exactly. Yeah. Stetson Bennett.

Is that, or is he like a. Okay, yeah. Maybe this guy wins two national championships. I don't know. Maybe he does show up absolutely hammered on the morning show after winning the national championships. Hey, I'm just living. I'm just living.

Garrett Green is a guy that when he plays football, everybody notices. Wow. So Penn State's about to find out quick. Happy Valley is about to be GG Valley when this motherfucker's running through there. Okay. I'm jacked up after hearing all that.

I feel like he, what's his name, transferred or was hurt or whatever. Fucking JT Daniels. JT Daniels. And then Garrett Green came in. Did he beat Oklahoma and then maybe not so well the rest of the year? Yeah, the next week he came in, took the world by storm. Yeah. Athlete, like shoot athlete.

Can move. He was high recruit, like highly regarded recruit. But then JT came in. So this dude was supposed to be a guy, I think. And then JT was kind of put in the spot because, hey, this guy's won. He's going to do it. Then this kid gets in. And obviously I knew his name the entire time I was talking about him.

Yeah, I know. I had to describe him. Yeah. If that is the kid. Yeah, if that is the guy. If that is who I saw last year. He was electrifying and the fans loved him. Okay.

He was jumping up in there afterwards, country roads. Like it was like. Game day week one? In Penn State. You think? Gary Poole? I'd put my life on it not being in there. Is this the guy?

Garrett Green. Where's his Russian stuff? Can we get through his Russian stuff? I think he's a Russian. I don't know. That's pretty good. From Tallahassee. 8 of 14 for 48 yards.

Show me the money, brother. Got to be an athlete. 5'11", 200? I might not have watched. Click on the right. That's him right there. He's running right there, right? Yeah.

There's his run. That was him running? 14 for 119 and two touchdowns against Oklahoma, just like we said. Okay. Boom. 36-yard touchdown right there. Yeah, that's the thing I saw. But when you said size, too, by the way, boom.

So that one highlight probably what I am judging. But he's electrifying. He's electrifying. And I like what I saw. He had good vision. Seems to be a dog. Celebrated afterwards. I like everything about it. He celebrated after? Neil Brown ain't playing

some kid who's hooting and hollering. What's this kid think? Garrett Green is not going to be the quarterback. I don't know how this became what we're talking about. Me neither. But we're here now, and we've got to talk about it. Neil Brownstein. Shannon Sharp has a lot of news around him right now. He does have a lot of news around him.

Whoa, geez. A little too much. What? Which one? I watched that. I watched Kwame, and then I went back and watched Shannon after I saw Kwame, and I'm like, whoa, I had no idea. That's not even it.

There's a lot of animosity here. So we are massive Unk fans. Oh, yeah had no idea. There's a lot of animosity here. So we are massive Unc fans. Oh yeah. Big time. A lot of respect for what he does on a microphone and in a weight room. And on the basketball court when he's trying to fight everybody. And on a football field.

I mean, it's fucking dog. Through and through. Beast. Just hasn't changed, it feels like, for anybody at any place. Which I appreciate and respect a lot. And the spot that he got put in, he's in the middle of a lot. He was tied up with the Brett Favre lawsuit that we were in. It was us, and we had not talked to Shannon about that at all.

Did not reach out to see what their team was doing, how it was handling. He and Brett are still, I think, they're still going. I don't know if he's ever addressed it. I think his lawyers probably took it over quickly. I didn't think about it, but Sterling played with Brett, obviously. I didn't even think about that until now. And we are a pretty big Green Bay Packers. I do wonder if, like, Aaron

or if Brett was like, these are supposed to be my fucking people. How many fucking touchdown passes I threw to Sterling Sharp, goddammit? Green Bay Packers? I'm the one that created Aaron. These guys have Aaron Rodgers Tuesday. They're fucking talking about me. Trade by AJ.

I do wonder how we were the ones chosen with literally everything else going on in that entire thing. Covers. But Shannon and Brett, that's still going, I believe. Another round has happened and they are still going. Since I had to make that statement for ours to be done with no payment made to anybody, you cowards reporting it wrong. Or apology. Or apology.

People reported that there was a payment? Yeah, because the way somebody described it is the situation has been settled. So I think because it was law, people thought settlement. It was like i actually said in there no no no payment now i do have to pay lawyers i heard you went to disney so them big fancy pants lawyers could handle everything that's what i heard yeah i want to let everybody know the lawyer that i used is a girl who graduated from fucking high school the same class as me.

Hell yeah. She's an absolute dog. Yeah. And the crew that she had with her alongside of her at K&L Gates, her name's Sarah Decker, and she had, oh, I don't know the last names. But dogs. These dudes are good dudes. Two guys, Tom and Curtis.

Wolves of the industry. They were very good. It was a very good team. But it was a Pittsburgh company that the only reason why we hired is because we had a connection to the girl, really the only lawyer that we knew we could get a hold of and kind of, hey, we have a situation.

We don't want to hire lawyers. I feel like we have to hire lawyers for this particular situation. Only one that we really knew in our universe. Who in our universe can handle this? Who is this? Boom, girl we graduated high school with she crushed it she took the lead that whole thing but like the whole thought of shannon's dealing

with that shannon's dealing with kwame yep and shannon also had his house broken into yeah yes i mean shannon sharp reportedly his home was burglarized last week a million dollars in shit was stolen. Hey, Shannon, just want to let you know, more power to you, pal. You got a lot on your plate right now. It feels like there's a lot going on. You crush it every time you get on a microphone, pal.

Good luck. Now, Kwame Brown does too. Yes, he does. When he takes that phone out, there's some real shit about to go down. Absolutely. Throwing heat. So good luck to both parties in that particular one, but Shannon, we will let you know, you're doing great out there,

pal. Million bucks taken. That's a real burglar. Oh, yeah. That sweater was a million dollars, right? The jacket? The one that he was wearing at that basketball. Isn't that what that one was like a million dollars? Pretty sweet. Super fashion, right? Yeah, super fashion. I actually did pose the question and granted after I asked it, I realized it was dumb.

I was like, how do you have a million dollars worth of stuff just laying around everywhere? And then Tom explained to me, like, hey, people buy jewelry. Yeah, people have watches and necklaces and all this stuff. What about like a painting? Maybe they took paintings off the wall. Pables and paintings and lamps. Connor, he did pretty much anything in your house with your wealth. Yeah, and I was like, what do you mean?

Tables. Furniture. You remember I broke a $6,000 chair? Oh, yeah.. Anything. Your wealth. Yeah. I was like, what do you mean? Furniture. You remember I broke a $6,000 chair? Oh, yeah. In Minnesota. In Minnesota. I had no idea that stuff even existed. It had to be a bunch of drugs.

Yeah, DVDs. Yeah, TVs. Dude, what? I guess it does that. So in your world, people that make a bunch of money, they just, their house looks like yours? Bingo. One room, one couch, one chair, one set of silverware, world people that make a bunch of money yeah they just their house looks like yours bingo one room one couch one chair one set of silverware one bed one comforter one pillow now a million dollars

worth of shit is a lot of shit i'm going through my house right now i'm like are they gonna take my tank like my fish tank because that's that's that'll be a tough thing to get out of there you gotta think he's probably got, if I had to guess, probably 10 watches that probably add up to almost a million. That sweater, I was told, $10,000. What the fuck? What a joke. You sound good to put that thing back.

That thing fit his shoulders perfect. Yeah, whatever. I have my nan in it. He fought a guy in that. He did. A whole team. He did. He was going to fight a whole team in that.

$10,000. You don't think that feeling that that thing gets whenever it gets on it? I could fight a fucking team. It's worth every single penny. Yeah, it does look really cool. I can never pull anything like that off. But I also got that jacket from California for $47. And it was damn near the same thing.

Yeah, but then Adrian Peterson took it. Yeah, and then I went back. That thing is a horse blanket compared to that beautiful garb right there. Well, horse blankets are wonderful, obviously, until they use them for the last time. But there still are other things. Until they add other horse blankets and they create a little bit of a wall. Anyways, that's a good thing to kind of talk about. Adrian Peterson is still on the market around the NFL,

and he's saying he's willing to play. Sounds like he just wants to get on a team and play football and extend his career. So being a part of a stable, I don't think would be an issue for Adrian Peterson. Not a bad person to add to yours. And this is just me talking? Him with the Colts would be hilarious.

Anthony Richardson, Jonathan Taylor, and Adrian Peterson in the backfield at one particular time on one particular play. Jelani Woods, 6'7 guy. Alec Pierce on another side. Pittman Jr. on another side. Like, I don't know what Steichen's going to do with our offense, but there has to be something he can fucking figure out there. And if Adrian Peterson can't take 15, 20, 13, who cares?

Give him eight. Give him nine. Give him six. Give him five. Whatever it is, he's Adrian Peterson. At some point, there's going to be a game where he's going to win it for you where it's going to be like adrian peterson is adrian peterson again of course he's doing this and there's going to be other games where he's going to come in at least give a spell to whoever your starter is just like everybody does in the run game and if he takes vet men not saying he said that or anything

like that we're not the only team that would be like, hey, why not fucking have Adrian Peterson a part of our three-back stable that a lot of teams seem to want to have, AJ? Yeah, I think they'll sign. You know, he could give them an incentive contract where he can earn a bunch more than whatever the original base is. But if you're going to use him, absolutely sign him. The only hard thing that I think Adrian has going for him, if you're going to come in and be the second or third guy, run the ball,

those guys tend to play special teams. You need them on kickoff cover, kickoff return made. You're right now, if that new rule goes in, I don't know. That's the thing. Someone should sign Adrian not only for what he can do on the field, but I think what he brings to that backfield

with those guys, the young guys in those rooms could learn from him just watching film with him. Hey, why'd you do this, Adrian Hill? Well, you know, 11 years ago when I rushed for 600 yards in a game against whoever, like I saw this and this is why I do that. He's going to run hard. Oh, yeah. You know?

And work his ass off. You know that. Like Adrian's one of those guys. He's running hills still with these young bucks. Remember, he said, I'll retire whenever I run this hill and somebody beats me. Yeah. And then I assumed that that just happened recently. And he was like, yeah, I'm still.

Never mind. Hasn't happened yet. Yeah, maybe next year, boys. You know, Tom Cruise, Maverick might have to hang up the thing. Yeah. At some point, maybe. But not today. Nuh-uh.

Not today. Not today. He didn't play last year. I don't know why. I don't know if he chose not to or. Didn't? Yeah. No. That Lions year, I don't know why. I don't know if he chose not to or didn't. Yeah. Now that Lions year, I believe

he had one game. He had one game where he had like six carries and three touchdowns. We live in the past boys. We live in the past. The past is the future. The future is today. Wasn't Adrian Peart? If time is a circle, maybe, but I don't think. Someone said that yesterday. Thank you.

Yeah, because he said we're worried about the contract today. How about Florio yesterday? Just... Right? I mean, just... That guy is... Conspiracy theorists have a lot to talk about. They do. A lot. And when they're talking, especially with how long he's been around the NFL,

I enjoy listening to him speak. Now, there's some things that he chooses to talk about that I choose not to. Alright, I don't care. I don't want to hear that. I don't want to him speak. Now, there's some things that he chooses to talk about that I choose not to. All right, I don't care. I don't want to hear that. I don't want to hear that. Let's move along. And normally there's a lot of, like, you know, bad shit that he has to cover

where I'm like, hey, pretty good league too. Can we, pretty good league. Remember that. But then he starts opening up about the way he feels about some things. It's like, God damn, this guy makes a lot of great points. A lot of great points. One of them I thought yesterday, why doesn't the quarterback just negotiate like 18 of the salary cap it's like yeah that's genius why why don't they just start doing deals by percentage of whatever the salary cap is you don't just have to do that in quarterback you do that

in position it's like uh running back we're allotting seven percent of the salary cap to the running back room okay So we can give you 4%, we can give you 2%, we can give you 1%, but that's where we're at right now. It's not even into a dollars and cents thing anymore. Now it's just negotiating by the percentages that you're allotting

to your team. And if you have a good wide receiver room, maybe instead of like, we normally would do 15 to 20 here. Let's do 20 to 25 here because we know it's going to be able to do this. Or we have to be a little bit more aggressive this year. We need some more weapons. Or we need to be a little bit more sound, deeper.

So we'll kind of spread out the percentages a little bit more. I hadn't even thought of thinking and negotiating via the salary cap as a percentage of the salary cap because who knows what it's going to be versus trying to figure out what it's going to be with every single dollar that was an interesting little wormhole i went in yesterday aj yeah but okay so how does that can you explain how that would work if you got a certain percentage of the salary cap but how do you structure the deal each year is it just like off the jump or what because every year it's going to be a different percentage because of your base salary how it works no so i just think whatever whenever they name what the

salary cap is oh that's it then okay so you don't have like hard numbers right away because it's just like 18 of whatever the salary cap is bang that's what it'll be deal deal okay cool then you just move on because now you're trying to project what the salary that's what everybody's trying to do they kick can down the road put the big numbers later because they're trying to project what the salary cap is because remember the salary trying to do. They kick can down the road and put the big numbers later because they're trying to project what the salary cap is. Because remember, the salary cap in the NFL, just like the NFL's ratings, up into the right.

Up into the right. Oh, COVID came for two years. Not everyone will sell any tickets, really. Okay, well, I guess we'll just... Just a little. And then now we're back. Up into the right. Oh, streaming's coming in. Every other platform is getting involved.

Okay. Sports gambling is starting to spread to more states. I mean, everybody else is getting involved. Oh, okay. Now there's a lot of, you know? Yeah. It's so up into the right that I heard Raj almost passed out there doing so many Gs up into the right. Oh, he was going nine, 10, and his face was melting like Maverick at the beginning as he took off over that asshole general's head.

He was trying to shut the whole thing down. That prick. Look at that fucking graph. Roger Goodell losing his mind. Everyone watch that movie this weekend. Great movie. Shit. Yeah, for Memorial Day. But that's a smart thing to do.

That takes away a lot of the guessing work of what the fucking number's going to be later. How's all your upfront guaranteed money work, though, when you do that? So we'll give you 30% of what the first... I don't know. You can take that from the other deals, right? So like if

Rogers, for instance, $150 million guaranteed. Like if they say, alright, at signing you get $150 million, but this is a six-year, 19% of the salary cap deal. And then you just get $150 million. What about when you get cut, though? What about when they cut you with two years left? Yeah, but it could just be guaranteed.

You're just guaranteed what the percentages are. Could just say, like, hey, here's $100 million, and we're going to give you 90% of the salary cap over the next four years. He's like, here's $100 million. Okay, it's like we're showing we're going to give you. Okay, we'll give you $100 million right now, and then 19% of them we're off and running. It's like that is a very easy – I think it seems easier to me

to negotiate a fucking deal. And also, like Florio was saying, then that eliminates the like situation that patrick mahomes is in right now where you know you have the biggest deal you win a couple super bowls you win a couple mvps and three years later you're the fucking eighth highest paid quarterback and you need to restructure again already like you don't have to worry about or answer questions about research yeah yeah right like that's the biggest thing i think like the answering of the even having to deal with answering the questions is like bullshit.

Now, he threw those questions to Travis Kelsey, who was running a route that was not a designed play called Patrick Mahomes Joined Inside the NBA. Charles Barkley will be joining us in like 25 minutes or so. Let's go. One of the incredible hosts, obviously, of that program. Patrick Mahomes joined them to talk about the match that's coming up between Patrick Mahomes Travis Kelsey versus Steph Curry and Klay Thompson and they're talking about the match a little marketing or whatever

and I think Charles Barkley asked he said hey I was wondering how come Travis Kelsey is always open he's a wise Travis Kelsey always open and Patrick Mahomes said well that's because he doesn't run the route that is actually in the play and And Patrick Mahomes gave a real answer about Travis Kelsey is just smarter than everybody, pretty much. And Patrick Mahomes said, I'm lucky to throw the football to Travis Kelsey on a football field. Talking about just his brilliance. I think the same thing was said about Gronk. Yes. Because Gronk, big Gronk.

Go Gronk. Gronk, catch. Do more Gronk stuff. Slam. Gronk, Gronk, Gronk, Gronk, Gronk, Gonk gronk gronk gronk gronk gronk everybody says that but everybody played football with him is like well football iq better than yours is one of the best that's is that just a tight end position that has the capability of doing that type of stuff or are we talking about like some real brilliant individuals here i I think some brilliant individuals that just, they have a knack,

they have like the instincts to find the open space and to feel the leverage and always play off of that leverage and never just run in. Like guys that don't know what they're doing, we'll just guys sitting outside leverage on them and they'll run a little eight yard out right into the dude. Like not like the guys sitting outside, you can't do that. You have to adjust, but you have to adjust while you're running too and also know where the safety is, where corner may be and some guys that's just

a lot to handle i think has to know the coverage right has another coverage has to know the note everybody else is doing around the other route two guys in the same zone yeah yeah because he can't take up somebody else's spot or also he knows where somebody's probably dragging somebody to so he has to know all of those things normally quarterback has to know all this shit okay everybody else kind of just know your position or if you're uh multiple wide receiver positions know all your shit but you certainly don't have to know everybody's job okay quarterback has to that is what they're getting paid the big bucks for and they actually need to know it and the more you know obviously the better but not a part of the he would have to know what everybody's fucking doing on both sides of the ball there.

Seemingly. Yes. Right? Yeah. And have to react in real time, like within a second and a half of the play going on. And make sure you declare, too, so your quarterback knows this is what I'm doing. And that's why the Patrick Mahomes run backwards as fast as you can and then be able to throw the ball further than everybody is good

because you're letting Travis Kelsey just kind of figure out, all right, here, let me, boom, I'm going to be wide open. It's third down. Boom, I'm here. It's fourth down. Need it to win. Drive. No timeouts left.

We need seven yards or whatever. Who's the ball guy? Boom, I got you. Need a touchdown. All right, we're down. We have to score a touchdown. Don't have a lot of time left. Need to score on this draft.

Boom. Travis Kelsey's the guy. It's like him and Patrick are special. I don't think they got a chance against Steph Curry in golf, but I hope they win. I hope they win for the good of football. Steph is so fucking – he chipped in right behind us last year. Remember, we're sitting on the tee box before the boathole.

Big crowd roar. He shoots low 70s every single round out there. He had the swing tracker thing that the pros have on TV. Is that a top? What do you call it? Trackman? Trackman, I think. Swing sim?

Trackman. Oh, full swing? What's the one we have? Oh, no. Full swing is the dog. Probably full swing. We have full swing. Oh, okay. I believe AJ's right. I think it's called a trackman. I we have? Oh, no. Full swing is the dog. Probably full swing. We have full swing. Oh, okay.

I believe AJ's right. I think it's called a trackman. I could be wrong there, though. Is it a full swing trackman? It might be. That would make sense. Okay. So the...

Hey, by the way, this full swing thing has been really... I've been just at the range, not doing all the courses. Okay. I've been at the range, though. You can sit in there for an hour, hour and a half at the range, and it doesn't glitch at all. It seems very... Yeah, we did the course and got nine in.

Okay, here we go. It's been awesome. So it's probably our fault we didn't have the right update. It's been fantastic. But Steph Curry had the little tracker, had a swing coach, yeah, the track man there, had a swing coach next to him at Tahoe because I was warming up right next to him

and every shot, you know, like reading the thing and hitting it here and that was like day two. I'm like and every shot, you know, like reading the thing and hitting it here, and this was like day two. I'm like, Jesus Christ, this guy, professional golfing right now. Perfect. And I'm just trying to open my eyes. I was a little bit tired. Couldn't even figure it out. And then he chips in behind us.

Then I believe there was another like 30-foot putt he dropped in there. He's hitting bombs, too. It's not like he's hitting the ball 250. He's hitting it three. I think he won the longest drive. He did. Yeah. So is Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelsey players, and we just don't know it?

I think Mahomes is pretty solid. He has to be. Great athlete. I watched Kelsey end with an eagle a couple years ago. It was awesome on that 18th hole. So they're players. I just assumed that they wouldn't be able to keep up with Steph because I watched Steph in person in everything that he puts into golf.

And then there's like videos of him walking out of the practice facility with like 10 clubs. And it's middle of the day. They probably have another practice. And he's going to the driving range to like hit some balls. He's like, this guy loves the game. Like this guy is addicted to the game of golf. Those motherfuckers are normally really, really, really good.

Last year at the American Century in Tahoe, Steph came in 16th with 41 points. Jesus. That's like the worst he's done. Kelsey came in 64th with minus 11. And

Mahomes came in 51st with three points. Okay. Yeah. The biggest question. Boys are going to win. Yeah. NFL's going to win.

Well, depending on how they do it. Because if it's every other, then I mean. What do you want? We're going to win. Steph was a lot better than them there. Yeah. Who knows how to play is. Steph's usually top 10. The format is really important.

Yeah. If Clay, if there's no pressure on Clay, and granted, Clay might be really good because he's a shooter and similar to what you say about punting, just one motion, just master it. He might be good. But if it's every other and Clay isn't great, then the NFL will definitely win. Yeah, because all you got to do is blade one right into the side of a sand trap.

Bingo. And then all of a sudden you got to get a rules expert with two Ts. And now you're in four feet of rough and you're out of the fucking tournament. I'm assuming Mahomes has, or I mean, Steph Curry has played there, but this is the same course that Mahomes played in this event last year, too, so. Oh.

Oh, well, it knows their course. For comparison, AJ basically had the same score as Mahomes, and you beat Travis by two points. I beat Travis? Yep. Oh, no, we got? Yep. Here we go. Oh, no, we got no shot. Here we go.

It's going to be a tough one. Yeah, Steph. I look at Steph. He's much, much, much, much better golfer than I. Bro golfer. But they're looking at that, too. There's no way they're going to put this on TV. Travis has been training, too.

You think fucking Travis Kelsey is going to show up and not kill it? Yeah, right. They can't put this on TV if... Travis Kelsey is going to kill it. I would assume so. That's what he does. Otherwise, it's going to be over by hole 11 and then they're going to have like, oh, we still have two hours of broadcast. Nah, I got faith. Travis Kelsey is going to be good. I think Pat's a guy.

Right? Pat's a guy. He's good. Same as AJ. And they get cards. AJ's a guy. AJ's a guy. What's that? They get cards too. That's a big fact. That makes a difference. Yeah, that's a guy? He's good. Same as AJ. And they get carts. AJ's a guy. AJ's a guy. What's that? They get carts, too. That's a big fact. That makes a difference. Yeah, that's a massive. Travis, let me know if you need one, pal.

That's sweet. Got one of these bad boys you can whip around those NBA boys if you want to go bully them a little bit. They're stupid golf carts. You just want to do some donuts around them. A speaker in there. Pop a wheelie or two. Yeah, play whatever song you want. What's the format?

What was the format when A-Rod did it? Alternate? No. Didn't it change? So I think everyone tees off and you take the best tee shot, which that's pretty important too. Wow. And then you do alternate.

I'm not going to say it. Oh, and then you play your own. Michael Block should not have done those 45 seconds. Oh, no. He shouldn't have. It was a good run, Blocky. That was tough, dude. All right.

Still pulling for him. Hell yeah, I am. Yeah. Let's remember that. Just don't get too attached because he's going to miss the cup by several points. Is he a couple under? AJ. Let me see.

Why is everybody being so rude right now? A couple under 100, yeah. He's not in first. Boys. I love Michael Block. We all love Michael Block. Love Block. But portions of the internet turned on Michael Block.

And, I mean, that's what happens, though. That's right. Exactly. That's just how it goes. Easy come, easy go. But Michael Block's short game and his putter are going to get hot again. Next week, probably. Yeah.

He's going to hang out. He's going to recharge with the family. Memorial. From the Memorial. Right around the corner. AJ can invite you. He can stay at his house. He's going to go hang out. He's going to recharge with the family. Memorial. We'll see. From the Memorial. Right around the corner. AJ can invite you. He can say his house.

He's got the RBC community. Michael Block. Call it the Block Hawk House. If he misses the cut by like 25 strokes, so there's a good chance they're going to pull that exemption and give it to someone else. No, they're not. No, not Blocky.

They might. Hey, Blocky, listen. It's been a great story. We don't need you coming out here and shooting 90 and taking away a spot from a guy who could win. I did not love what he said yesterday morning or after his round. Did not love it. You don't shoot an 81 and then say, oh, shit, I might shoot a 59 tomorrow.

Well, no, you won't. He just shot fucking 12 over. Your next swing is your best swing, Ty. Oh, boo-hoo. You put up an eight on hole five. Are you not going to finish the other four holes you're about to play? Well, no, you better, but guess what? That's Goff.

It is Goff. It is Goff. But we're not talking about me playing Goff. We're talking about Blocky out here, okay? And guess what? All that goodwill that he got from all those pros, these guys fucking someone might grab that precious 7-iron or whatever the

fuck he used to get a hole in one. They might snap that thing over their knee. No! Hey, good luck, Blocky. Museum. You're right. At least you're not acting like you could beat him like someone else would. Well, true. Real quick, Blocky, we do apologize for some of the hate you're getting. You're a good

dude. Don't ever forget it. Good man. Now, breaking news out of the NFL. The Arizona Cardinals have released DeAndre Hopkins. Wow. Now there's a brand new GM and a brand new head coach and seemingly a brand new era arriving in Arizona. And there was a conversation, a loud one,

that involved our program because a source says about DeHop potentially being traded because not only would it work for DeHop because he doesn't want to be a part of another restart and he wants to get somewhere else because the offensive coordinator and the quarterback that he had worked with over the last couple years and although they had some success, I mean that thing

entirely blew up in a terrible fashion. They're going forward with Kyler in a whole new operation. So not only for DHOP would it seemingly make sense, but also for the Cardinals it would make sense. New GM able to get an old GM's contract to a wide receiver off the books after one year. Fresh restart. Let's move on. Trade talks allegedly happened. Trade talks allegedly took place with numerous teams. DHop was interested in going to numerous places a couple different times, actually did

a body language communication test on how he would feel at different places. Now he's a free agent and can go visit and go see any of these teams that he's potentially interested in. The Buffalo Beals. What? What? The Kansas City Chiefs. What? The Baltimore Ravens. What? And probably

a couple other squads that would love to have DeHop on their team. I guess congrats to both parties. Even though the Cardinals get nothing in return for a trade, I assume that they thought that they would get nothing in return for a trade or have already tested the waters, or they're just doing a favor to DeHop saying, we'll just eat the contract for a year. Good luck out there.

All is good. Whatever it is, interesting situation has arose here in the NFL. It's very interesting. That's one of the – we didn't think this was a possible outcome, did we, that they would just release him outright? No. Have we ever talked about that? No.

It wasn't a possibility in my mind. So, obviously, I guess they went out and they tried to see what they could get for him and maybe they just didn't like what they could get for him. Like, hey, man, we're going to do right by you and let you go so you can be a free agent and kind of pick your team. Is that what they're doing? You know what? On this Feel Good Friday, I choose to believe that the Arizona Cardinals could have got

a second rounder for him. And they said, you know what? Instead of taking that second rounder from a place, we want you to make your own decision. I didn't say that. No, I kind of alluded to it, too. Maybe they did right by him. Maybe they did him a favor. So if that was the case, cool.

More probable, probably an offer or a couple offers that they looked at and they balanced it and they were like, is it worth the... We'll just cut you, pal. Do your thing. Thought he was going to be with the Cardinals because he did an Instagram story, I believe, where

he was still in Arizona and said, whoever said I didn't... Whoever said I didn't want to lie to everybody else, I didn't say anything. Remember, body language. I'd go. I would go. I never said I didn't want to. Just felt like that was the...

And as soon as he said that, we said, oh shit, he's going to be with the Cardinals again. Here we go. Good luck to Colt McCoy until Kyler Murray gets back. Now he's released on his feel-good Friday and free to go wherever the hell he would like. Yeah, now that top five list that he just made a few days ago turns into a very real list, right? If Josh Allen and the Bills are number one and they're willing to give him the one-year deal, that was part of the reporting this offseason that he didn't want you know a long term he wanted one year you know not get paid as much per sources but wanted to win like go make a run at a super bowl and the bills would be that team what an interesting thing because our show was a part of this entire thing yeah phoenix cardinals podcast ph nx cardinals

podcast just put together a graphic and i don't know if it's recent. April 3rd. Or this from April 3rd. Ian Rappaport says, on our show, I would be surprised if DeAndre Hopkins was released. If he's traded, his salary will be adjusted. So Ian, who we know,

and Ian has never openly said it. There's the graphic. Ian has never openly said it, but we've said it when Ian's on, and Ian has not combated it at all. Ian's in, we think, with ownership in Arizona. Yeah, big time. And he's never said that.

Obviously, his source is this, his source is that. But there was a time where the coaching staff was allegedly pissed off that certain bonuses that they were definitely owed were being withheld because of a clause in a contract in which the owner was kind of like, these are all alleged stories because coaches would never talk about this because they would be scared to death that they would never get a job again anywhere else. But allegedly these reports were coming out and then Ian came on the program

and was very much like that. That's true. Just in the timing in which it happened, almost had an answer for one particular party that was getting called out, which was ownership. So ever since that moment,'re like so ownership does go through ian if they need to yeah so when ian talks about the cardinals we always assume it's ownership him saying he would be surprised if deandre hopkins was released i would think put a lot of

us at a situation where i was like okay traded or playing for the cardinal yeah one or the other and this is a vastly different ending, I guess. So I searched the Twitter to see if anybody mentioned DeAndre Hopkins and cut, I guess, on that same day, April 3rd, Albert Beer said he heard from some teams that they thought that DeAndre Hopkins could be cut. So that might have... So how about this?

How about teams, whenever they're offering up trades, saying bad trade offers? Yeah, exactly. Bad trade offers. Yeah, exactly. Bad trade offers. So if we all give bad, not that they could collude, and that would be very and highly illegal, but if they're all like,

well, we all want DeAndre on the open market, none of us want to pick up that contract or deal with that at all, right? Yep. All right. We'll give you a seventh rounder in the 2027 draft. Deal? What do you think?

Your call? No. You don't want to get him off your books, huh? Brand new GM. New salary cap. You don't want to do that? Because this is – why would you? They got to be doing good by him, huh, AJ?

They just got to be doing good by him? I would imagine. But if you're not going to trade for him, why wouldn't you want him on your team? I guess you just don't want that money on your books. Yeah, but they could also split the contract the same way the Broncos did with Vaughn when he went to L.A. Like the Broncos took on a portion of Vaughn's contract, and I assume, say it was a seventh, but what if it was like a fifth?

He's still good at football, right? Oh, yeah. Very good. 13 catches, first game back last year, right? Bingo. No touchdowns, obviously. Yeah, that was tough. We had any time. Touchdown score, obviously, first game back. This guy's going to? Yes. Bingo. No touchdowns. Obviously, we had. Yeah, that was tough. We had any time.

Touchdown score. Obviously, first game back. This guy's going to kill it. He did. Didn't score. Come on. He had 717 yards. And what?

He missed definitely six games. First six games, yeah. Yeah, so he's pretty good at football. Pretty good, I'd say. Yeah. I'd say he's good. I'm thinking he can catch. Yeah.

There was a couple questions that did arise about how he operates and goes about his day-to-day. I assume a lot of teams will be asking those questions to try to get an answer. Let's there was a couple questions that did arise about how he operates and goes about his day-to-day. I assume a lot of teams will be asking those questions to try to get an answer. Let's get to a break. We've got a lot of things happening on the other side. Yep. Congratulations to DeAndre Hopkins. Welcome to Indianapolis, DeHop. Some teams are going to get much better.

And it's not Indy, but some teams. Welcome to Indy. What does San Fran say? Stranger things have happened. San Fran. What if they sweep in? They could. Don't know who the quarterback is, but they still could. Rockford is thrown right soon. A couple weeks, he's thrown.

Okay, here we go. I would guess the Jets aren't out of consideration either. Wow. He said he didn't really, you know, in the body language thing, he was like, eh, but I could see them swooping in. He wants stability, right? That was his main thing the other day when he was talking about places

with stability and good young... He had a list. Tough thing for the Jets would be that they still need to pay Quinton Williams. Ari Mirov, MySportsUpdate is tweeting that what DeAndre Hopkins said on I Am Athlete was stable management. QBU loves the game. He stressed Kyler Murray does, but he's not playing.

Great defense because defense wins championships. Maybe that Jets? Possibly. That's Buffalo. He's going to Buffalo. No doubt about it. Well, he was training with Von Miller of the Buffalo Beals. Is he 100% healthy, D-Hop? Yes.

And joining us now is a Hall of Famer. Not only on the court, but in life. An absolute stallion of a microphone. A man who's won, I think, 19 Emmys or something like that on Inside the NBA on TNT. And obviously dominant on the basketball court. Great golfer, too. Oh, yeah? Unbelievable.

Ladies and gentlemen, Sir Charles Barkley. Yeah! What's up, man? What's up, brother? This is how y'all doing? Hey, pumped that you joined us today. I know you're in the middle of always working season with the amplifying of the NBA playoffs

making your life much more difficult. Spending time with us doofuses, it is truly an honor. So thank you. Let's dive right into it. How have the playoffs been? You've had a good fucking time this year? Seems like your show is crushing it. I've watched more than ever because i have a baby and i'm on night duty so i'm literally hanging out with you guys every other night you guys have crushed it this playoffs i just want to let you know that well thank you brother

you know how much i'm a big fan of yours i told you that we we text quite a bit so it's pretty cool and i'm happy for your success. Hey, listen. I was watching you last week and you said people give you a hard time for taking your new deal. Yeah. Tell them to shut the fuck up. All right. I will.

Hey, who don't take a better fucking job? Tell them to shut the fuck up. I appreciate you, Chuck. Hey, to shut the fuck up. I appreciate you, Chuck. Hey, I need to hear that. I need to hear that because you have been a trailblazer in my world, in the media world, obviously. I just laugh. I'm like, wait, who the fuck

don't take a better job? Yeah. No, the playoffs been great, man. I will tell you, though, this Celtic team waited to game four to actually start playing. So now all going to come down to tomorrow. You know, I knew they were going to kill them last night, but they still got to win a game in Miami. And I'm really looking forward to it because, you know, the Heat, man,

they've been a great story, but it can all come crashing down tomorrow night because if they don't win tomorrow night, they got zero chance of winning game seven. Yeah, that's what our Boston Stooges is saying as well. The Garden would be a tough place to pull it off. But as you said, the active Husky Dan Lebitard and the active Husky Dan Lebitard's dad, Miami's not an easy place to play either. I think they have become a tough barn,

especially with how Jimmy plays down there. It has been fantastic to watch. Go ahead, AJ. Charles, how tough of a situation would it be if you're Joe Mizzou and you're thrust into that head coaching position there in Boston at 34 years old, I believe? How do you think he's doing so far? I know it seems like game to game.

People either want him fired or he's the greatest coach, it seems like. You never know with him. Well, he has made some mistakes. But if you see, A.J., it all comes down to Jason Tatum. For some reason, it doesn't matter who played well for the Celtics. They followed Jason Tatum's lead, whether it's good or bad. And going back to the fourth quarter of game, because think about this.

In the first three games, he had not scored a basket in the fourth quarter, which is crazy. Wild, Chuck. That made no sense. Yeah, but he started playing great in game four. He was great in game five. But that's a responsibility when you're a star. And well, it's rightfully wrong.

You know, and we're not like the NFL. They just cut mofos in the NFL. You know, and we're not like the NFL. They just cut mofos in the NFL. In the NBA, we blame everything on the coach and get coaches fired all the time. I mean, you saw it a couple years ago with the Lakers when they struck up the joint. They threw Frank Vogel under the bus and got him fired,

the same guy who led them to the championship two years earlier. So we blame everything on the NBA and the coach, but listen, as long as Jason Tatum played, whoever plays the best between him and Jimmy Butler, gonna have a really good chance of winning that game tomorrow and winning the series. Talking about firing

coaches there, Chuck, like I think Doc Rivers is like either the coach of the year or something like that, and the nurse, I believe, in Toronto was like coach of the year. It's like coach of the year, and like that. And the nurse, I believe, in Toronto was like coach of the year. It's like coach of the year. And then that means, hey, next year you're either winning the championship or you are getting fired. It's a quick rise and a quick fall.

And then you look at the West. This team from Denver, hey, Chuck, I don't think I watched enough. I don't think I watched enough. Because whenever I get into the playoffs and I see this Joker dude play fucking basketball, he's awesome. Hey, we're talking overhead passes. We're talking no-look passes.

And he's a bully too. He runs – he's looking for contact. He's awesome to watch play basketball. He's seemingly unstoppable. Why didn't I see – why didn't I watch more of him, Chuck? That feels like my fault. Well, no, it's not your fault. The idiots on my network and other networks,

they only going to show certain players. This guy's won back-to-back MVPs, and we show him probably the least of all the great players we've ever seen. He's unbelievable as a player. He's the best passing big man. You know, Bill Russell and Brad Dardy were two great big men who were passers, but they don't pass the ball like Joker. He shoots threes.

He's got the best personality you ever going to see. I mean, that thing where he got the fine for pushing the Suns owner and walked up to him the next game in warm-ups and gives her a ball and gives her a hug. That was so cool not to have an attitude because he got screwed out of $25,000, I might add. Yeah, you're right.

But to have a good attitude about it. I don't care who wins this series in the East. Denver's going to win the World Championship, in my opinion. It's going to be great for the NBA. You know, from a basketball standpoint, it'd probably be a better matchup with the Celtics

because I think they would beat the Heat pretty easily. Because of Joker? Oh, because of Joker, for sure. But like I say, he is great. He's a great person. Jamal Murray's healthy for the first time in two years,

and he's playing great. Their bench is fabulous. But whoever comes out of the East is going to have their hands full with the Joker, and I believe the Nuggets are going to win it. So speaking of winning it what it is, we actually have the Larry O'Brien championship trophy in the Thunderdome right now. Did you know this, Chuck, that much like the Stanley Cup,

they've been traveling this trophy around. I think it's a brilliant idea. This thing just showed up at our office. I don't know if it's Gerard and Amanda running the socials. They are perfectly in unison. You see that? Foot for foot for foot for foot. Larry, I don't want to be responsible for it.

Yep, all right. Thank you, Gerard. Wow. Hell yeah. Wow. Hell yeah, Chuck. Isn't that beautiful? Oh, geez.

Well, you know, we had the Stanley Cup in the studio a couple weeks ago because this is going to be the first year of TNT. This is our first year we've ever had hockey, and we got the Stanley Cup Finals this year. And the Stanley Cup, which, no disrespect to the O'Brien Trophy, the Stanley Cup is, to me, the greatest trophy

in sports. Well, it's awesome because they travel. It's a person. It's like its own character, isn't it? Don't you feel? And so, I'm not allowed, because I didn't win a championship, I'm not allowed to touch the trophy. I'm very superstitious about that. So I've never touched it. We've had the O'Brien trophy in the studio probably 10 times.

I won't touch it. And we have the Stanley Cup in, and I won't touch it either, because you don't get to touch it unless you win it. But, man, it's great. The Stanley Cup, I can't wait for the finals. And like I say, I'm really looking forward to people getting a chance to see this Joker dude because he is phenomenal. Chuck, I thought the superstition was, and I didn't win one, I wasn't lucky enough to ride the coattails of any team to win a Super Bowl

acting like I wouldn't. I wasn't on a team that won the Super Bowl. We were in the Super Bowl. But the thing was, like, don't touch Lambeau. Don't touch Lambeau. And I thought it was because if you touch it, you'll never win it. Are we looking at a potential return to the NBA to maybe win yourself an opportunity to touch this, Chuck?

Or what is the superstition if you touch it now? No, it's just a sacred rule. You didn't earn it. Is that what you think? Yeah, you didn't earn it. Just for the record, Kennedy didn't either. Let's get that out the way.

Hey, hey, also, I mean, there's a lot of... Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho! You guys do a fantastic job, and I think this is smart of the NBA.

How do you feel like the NBA currently is? You know? Because I know there's always this conversation that kind of happens, old school, new school, how things are handled, how guys go about doing their business that are in the league. I know you were somebody talking about like, these guys got to play, like these guys got to play. Feels like that's changing. Feels like we're getting to a spot where you'll have more respect, you think? Or how do you view the current state of the NBA right now? Well, I'm always having respect for the guys because getting to enter professional sport

is a great accomplishment. Agreed. It's a great accomplishment. You know, I'm not big on this load management. You know, Pat, guys are making $40 million, $50 million a year to play basketball three or four days a week. I don't think it's a lot to ask. And what's going to be crazy,

we're going to have guys probably making $70, $80 million because, you know, we're negotiating a new TV deal right now. We're going to have guys making $60, $70 million. And to play basketball four days a week, I don't think that's a lot to ask. You know, I hate load management. And so that's the only problem. But I also have a problem with, you know, the Boston Celtics are a great example.

Here we go. They come out every night and just jack up 100 threes. And when they make them, they win. When they miss them, they lose. Not sure that's a great strategy. Hey, you said that last night. That was a big part of your thing. You're like, I heard a lot of people on TV say today,

and I like that you've added that to your repertoire. I don't want to say correcting, but at least talking about things that are being talked about. You said, I've heard a lot of people say that if Boston makes their threes, they're going to win. If they don't, don't they're gonna lose that's great analysis that's what you said hey i'm glad i'm on your i'm glad i'm on your show because i really want to say no shit guys on tv that's great analysis and And I said, yo, that is the stupidest thing. Of course,

you don't make, if you make all your threes, you're going to win. But the thing I like to see with not just the Celtics, all these other NBA teams, guys, we're not making shots tonight. Let's at least try something else.

And a strategy is important. I thought the Celtics, that was one of the best games I saw. They actually mixed it up and took it to the basket. Tate dunked first. Yeah. It drives me crazy. That's the only thing I hate about the young guys.

Load management or going to the gym saying, we're just going to shoot threes all night. I'm like, well, that's great if they're going in, but what if they're not? And that's, to me, what's going to be interesting about the Celtics. Can they win a game where they're not making threes? That's going to show me how good they really are. That, AJ?

Yeah, that, to me, is going to be the true test of how good they are. Chuck, I want to pivot quick and talk about John Moran. I know you guys spoke about him and his whole situation, but I'm curious, what do you think his suspension looks like? It feels like the commish almost was disappointed in his actions and all this stuff. It felt like when he had his whole comments about it at the lottery. How long do you think he gets suspended?

Yeah, you know, I'm glad you asked me that question because I had some notes written down about that last night and we never got to it. Floor is yours, Chuck. Use all your notes. Do whatever you gotta do. Great work. You know, guys, I really, I don't like being serious on basketball because it's just

a stupid thing. Man, when I saw that the other day, well, he was saying goodbye to his dad, his mom, and his sister. And they had to send the police there to do a wellness check. I almost started crying. This kid is crying out for help, man. I want to know whether adults in the room, like his dad, too busy walking around in shades, would tell him,

Dude, you don't wear shades indoors. Take your damn shades off and go check on your son. I don't know the kid, but he's crying out for help. When the police have to go do a wellness check on you because people think you're going to hurt yourself and you're on social media saying goodbye to everybody, I'm like, yo, man, what the going on here? So I really am hoping the best for the kid. I hope somebody goes like, yo, man, let's get you some help, whatever it takes, whatever it takes. But to answer your question, we got eight games the first time.

I think it's going to be 20 to 25 i'm i don't know honestly but i i think i mean we're all can just guess but i think it's probably going to be 20 to 25 and then let me tell you something else while you i see these jackasses on television i don't even want to give them respect and call their names, Tom, but he should fight the NBA, saying he didn't break any laws. Tennessee

is an open carry state and he should fight the NBA. I'm like, see, this is why everybody can't be on TV. Because you get to say any stupid thing you want to. Dude, when you're making $100 million

a year for a corporation, it's different rules for you. This kid's making, he's getting ready to sign, he's just signed for like $220 million. Probably making another $30, $40 million from Nike. There's going to be

different rules. One of them is you can't act like a damn idiot, plain and simple. I'm pretty sure every person watching you guys right now saying, you know, I'll take a job playing basketball, making

$100 million a year. And the only thing I can't do is act like a damn idiot. On Instagram live. You can act like an idiot. Just don't broadcast it to the world, you know? I like, and these dudes talking about he should fight it. I'm like, no, he should stop acting like a damn idiot. So, you know, AJ, I hope it works out for the kid.

He's crying out for help. But the one thing about being famous, and you guys know this, man, it ain't many people around you who are going to tell you to do the right thing because they're flying around on your private jet. You're buying all the meals. You're buying all the drinks. Very few of your friends going to tell you, hey man, stop being stupid because they don't want to lose the lottery ticket and the free stuff. So that's the one thing I tell all these young guys, man, surround yourself with

people going to say, yo man, maybe you shouldn't that. Because as quick as you get it, you can lose it. Because these people we work for, they are running a business. They are running a business. And I tell you this, they're not going to let us screw up their business. I promise you that. That feels like a incredibly simple thought, but there for a little bit, there was a little bit of talk about how, well, gun rights and everything like that in there. And I think, Chuck, you understand this as well

because you've stayed pretty connected to almost everything it feels like. Even gun people were like, well, that was reckless gun. Like, we don't want that. We don't even want that. You know what I mean? So it was like, there was like real conversation happening that people thought he shouldn't

and it made no sense to us either. And whenever you're talking about the, hey, whenever you're getting paid this much money, you gotta act a little bit different. It's interesting because you even recognize that. I am not a role model. Remember? But that was the reason why you did that commercial is because you fucking were a role model and you knew you were a role model and that's like the thing with john moran like i

believe that is why it's different and he should give everybody around him like jobs or get the fuck out and be like you gotta do it i hope that happens chuck i hope it happens you hope because he's a great player like the thing is patty know this. Guys who have got tremendous talent, they're going to keep getting roped. They're going to get chance after chance after chance. If this was a regular dude, his ass would have been saying right now, welcome to McDonald's. Can I help you, please? But this kid's a great player. He's going to keep getting chances.

You hope he learns. You hope he gets some people around him be like, yo, man, what the hell are you doing? I mean, and it's really crazy because he's a great, great player. But, hey, man, you guys have been around a long time. I've been around a long time. I've seen a lot of guys throw it away. Oh, yes.

I'm coming up on 40 years. I've seen a lot of guys screw it up. I have. A lot of times. So, you know, I said the same thing about Zion. I hope he gets his body in shape. Chuck, let's talk about Zion. Let's talk about Zion. Let's talk about Zion. Why is that?

Hey, I hope the kid gets himself together. He got so much talent. Hell yeah. But let me tell you something. I've seen a lot of guys eat their way out of the NBA. A lot of guys. Hey, you guys in the NFL, y'all probably saw more guys eat their way out of the NFL.

Yeah, I almost did. Yeah, I couldn't figure it out. Hey, Pat. Hey, let me tell you something. I was the number five pick in the draft. What? I got in shape for $2 million. For $200 million, you'd be saying, damn, Charles, anorexic.

they'd be saying, you'd be saying damn, Charles, anorexic. We hope that that is another situation that ends up being a great one because both of them have a chance to impact the game forever, we believe, as Noobs and Chuck obviously believe. And make at least probably close

to a billion dollars. That's real with the way current marketing is and the way the NBA is and the exposure nowadays. I just watched that air. And the way marketing obviously has evolved since then. Shout out to Sonny Vaccaro,

I believe he was the real driver behind that. But the amount of money in these businesses now, especially with social media and the modern landscape, so much money. But Pat,

you don't even, Josh just signed for $200 million for like five years. He's going to get another deal probably twice that much when he's 30 years old. That's not even counting Nike and the endorsements.

I think his new deal kicks in. It's like five years, $215 million. And he's going to be like 27, 28 and get another $300 million. And that's just from basketball. So it's crazy. And like I say, we're getting ready to redo the TV deal. And these guys are probably going to make another $40, $50 million when the new TV deal comes through.

That's awesome. Hey, Josh. Hey, Zion. Let's go, boys. Let's figure it out. Let's be a part of that. Let's be billionaires. That's fun.

Speaking of a billionaire, go ahead, Ty. Yeah, Chuck, do you buy all the stuff with LeBron saying he's considering retiring, or do you think that was kind of, you know, a lot of people on Twitter and in the media saying that he kind of just wanted to change the narrative so that we're talking about him potentially retiring as opposed to the Lakers getting swept. Do you think he's going to stick around until Bronny gets to the NBA? And do you think that will be with the Lakers? Well, I was disappointed in LeBron because he had to know that these fools on TV were going to talk about it all the time. You know, I tell people, I got so frustrated the other day watching television.

The first two stories were LeBron retiring. Not about how great the Denver Nuggets played. How great the Joker is. It was about, and hell no, LeBron ain't going to retire. Whoa, you're saying it was a work. You're saying it was a work to distract everybody. Whoa. Yes, yes.

Hey, I love LeBron, but he knew what he was doing. He knew what the hell he was doing. LeBron, first of all, he's going to make $50 million a year the next two years. He ain't walking away from $100 million. But I don't think he should have said anything about that. I was very disappointed because nobody talked to you. And the first thing you said to me today was, man, how great is the Joker? How great is the Joker? How great is the Joker?

I'm like, yeah, man. If y'all quit talking about LeBron retiring. Oh, it was DeConville. You're saying he did that. And you think he knew that that's all he'd be talking about. I think he thought, like, nobody's going to talk about D-Lo Russell getting benched here at the end. Nobody's going to talk about us getting swept swept they're just going to talk about me retiring might have been looking out for the boys but you're saying yeah took away joker's moment though

these guys just four-o'd the lakers in the western conference finals which nobody could have expected and that stole the headlines you you think that oh geez it definitely stole the headlines. And listen, and I felt bad for Denver. That's the first time they've ever been to the championship. Hey, congrats, thugs. Let's go, Denver. Congrats, thugs. And I say, it took away from the Joker, and it took away from the Nuggets finally getting to the NBA Finals,

which is a great story. Jamal Murray's a great story. I mean, you think about it. He's been out the last two years with a torn ACL. And how great is that to come back? Because in the bubble, two or three years ago, he was playing great.

Then he blew out his knee. And then the last two years, Joker won MVP. Then he didn't have a lot of help. And then people talk about, well, this guy's overrated. Well, he's not overrated. He just needed more help. And now he got Jamal

back, and they sweep the Lakers. And we spend the first 10 minutes on every show talking about LeBron gonna retire. No, man. We should be talking about the Joker, Jamal Murray, and the Devon Nuggets. So it was a slow burn. It was like no game,

but I think the world has caught up to the greatness that is Joker. And if anybody else played the way he played in this modern era, seemingly, they would be very public or people would be very vocal and not getting enough help for this once-in-a-generation seemingly type player. If it was anybody else that's like that, there would be a be a lot of dialogue about hey can we get more players in to help

this guy we're wasting his career feels like the joker doesn't give a fuck about anything he's on that wagon behind a horse staring at a horse's ass in serbia worth a couple hundred million after winning mvp he don't care about nothing it seems like chuck, Chuck. And that's why I love him. He's just like, hey, I love basketball. I'm going to do the best I can. I'm not going to complain. I realize I got one of the best jobs in the world. And you never see the dude get mad.

He just plays basketball. Marcus Morris. You've never heard a bad word about him. So, that's what I want. I'm glad you said earlier I can't believe how great this guy is. And we need to, man. It's really cool.

It's really cool what the Devon Nuggets are doing. They're not trying to build a super team. They don't have guys out there load managing. It's just awesome to watch him just trying to be a great basketball player. You said earlier that they can't just let anybody

on TV. They're letting us on TV. We will make sure that the old Jokers, if I see, because now that we're going to have access to literally everything, because ESPN's relationships and licenses and leases are everything. If I see at the beginning of the season a Joker fall back, throw, swish from three, and then a shrug in somebody's face,

we're probably going to leave. That's going to be an early part of discussion. We are going to try to do everything we can to showcase this. Seeming alien. Yeah. One of one. This is the best player in the world right now. He is the best player in the world right now.

He's the best player in the world right now? That's right. Hey, Pat, that picture never gets old or not funny. Ever. Ever. I mean, every time you see that,

you're like, that's the best basketball player in the world right now. And you got to say, yes, yes, yes, yes. He fucking – And the thing that's great about it, he's such a great kid. I mean, he's just so awesome, such a great kid. So it's amazing, man. It's amazing.

Yeah, where is that? Is that Eastern Europe? I think so, yeah. Serbia? Central? I've seen some videos of, like, the games over there and stuff. And I guess Luka, same exact way. Oh, yeah.

They're talking about the style of basketball and the environments in which they played basketball. And then they come over here to the NBA and people are like, these fans are going to be rude. It's like, are they throwing fire onto the court? I don't think they're doing that. Seemingly, nothing gets them. I'm pumped for basketball to continue to follow along. Go ahead, AJ. Sorry about it.

Chuck, what about the Warriors? Are they going to be able to stay together? What do they look like next year, you think? Well, they're too old. You know, I told them at the beginning of the season, everybody thought I was crazy. I said, well, them old guys ain't going to last. It's going to come down to the young guys.

And I think they figured out the Wiseman kid, he's like, he's not going to be a player if they let him go. I was very surprised. I'm a big Kaminga fan, but, man, it's not looking good. Moody's done a good job. So those older guys, they're past their prime except Steph. So now they're going to have to figure out what to do with those young guys. And that's the thing that they got to work on.

Hey, they hated each other, Chuck, the young guys, old guys. Allegedly there was tension. The internet was saying that. Is that real or no? Well, old guys never want to pass the torch. You know that. Okay. But you have to pass the torch because you think about it.

The young guys are the reason they won last year. Wiggins and Jordan Poole were the reason they won last year. You know, Steph was great and won MVP. But if you go back and look, it came down to Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins. They're the reason they won last year. But remember they had those two lottery picks. They took Wiseman and they took Kaminga. And one of them is already gone.

And the other guy, the jury's still out. and the other guy, the jury's still out. So it's going to be very interesting how they retool with the young guys going forward. Obviously, Steph and them have won a lot of these. That's Larry O'Brien championship trophy. Chuck won't fucking touch it. You've earned it, Chuck. You know how they just give people doctorate degrees and shit?

You're a fucking champion of the NBA for everything that you've done. You've earned it. give people doctorate degrees and shit? Oh, yeah. You're a fucking champion of the NBA for everything that you've done. You've earned it. I hope you get a chance to do that. But kind of the way you're describing it there, it sounds like, because Steph had to give a motivational speech, right? Yeah. Hey, don't get on the plane if you don't want to go win. Allegedly, that happened. So, it's

not Steph they're beefing with. It's the surrounding cast. They're like, hey, we are the next chapter of the cast that is around Steph. Yes. So, that's what I didn't understand at the time. That's kind of what's happening, you think, Chuck? I mean, listen, old guys never want to, number one, admit they're

old, you know, but it happens to everybody. Hey, listen, I really, I want to still be playing in the NBA, but it doesn't work like that. Chuck, you can still put up. You can still get four rebounds.

You can still look good right now. Are we in the middle of – are we skinny forever? I'm trying to do the same right now. You know, man, I started this drug called Manjaro about six months ago, and I'm down 57 pounds. It's been amazing. My doctor, she's amazing. Yeah, I started taking this Manjaro.

You know, I know a lot of people take Ozempic, but my doctor prefers Manjaro. And like I say, I started at 352, and I'm down to 290. And it's been great. I'm starting to feel like a human being, not a fat ass anymore. Hell yeah. I want to lose, you know, my doctor says I can't get to my planned weight, which was 250,

but I'm going to get to 270. Let's go. Because my doctor told me, she says, there's a lot of fat young people, ain't a lot of fat old people. They're all dead. Yeah, yeah. So I felt like once, because I gained a lot of fat old people they're all they're all dead yeah yeah so i felt like once because i gained a lot of weight when i got my new hips so i'm like yo man i want to be here

so i i'm i'm working out i'm taking my shot once a week and like i say i'm gonna get down to 270 but man i want to be here i don't want to leave all my money for my free low-dash family. Hey, we need you here, Chuck. I'm happy to hear that. So what is its same outcome? Like appetite suppressant? Is it semaglutide in there? Do you know what it's doing to you exactly?

Yo, because everybody's talking about this shit hey no no no you know what's funny i have zero idea what it does you have no idea why it's happening i have zero idea like everybody keeps asking me now he did say i want you to eat a little bit better. So I've probably been eating a little bit better. But I got zero, zero idea what the hell this drug does. Sounds like the perfect thing. We're going to get down to 270. You already lost 62 pounds.

Let's go. Keep going, Chuck. Hey, but every time somebody asks me that question, I start laughing because I have zero idea what it does. I know it's working, though. Are we not asking questions? Or are we thinking just as long as it keeps working, I'm going to live longer? Don't tell me shit.

Just results, baby. That's hilarious. Connor has a question for you, Chuck. Yeah, Chuck, speaking of your playing weight, because the guys on your show give you shit for not winning a title, people on the Internet and in person, they think they can talk shit too. But then your highlights, they'll hit the internet and people will be like, holy shit, I have to put a lot more respect on Charles Barkley's career and game itself.

How do you think you would fare in today's NBA? Because you're like the perfect stretch four. You think you'd probably have like 40 and 20 a game? Or what do you expect you to have? Well, the game's a lot easier today because, you know, first of all, if they breathe on your heart, you get free throws. Oh, that's a problem. Yeah, I mean, so it's a lot easier.

But it's – man, listen, I want to win the championship. I think all guys want to win a championship you know for some reason in the last 20 years idiots and fools on tv start telling guys they didn't win the championship their life sucked then the teams and the guys took it personal start teaming up i'm like yo man i'm good with with my career. This is not tennis or golf. We don't play an individual sport. You know, I'm happy for Joker if he wins because a guy that great, I want to see Chris Paul win the championship. You know, I'd like to see Jason Tatum or Jimmy Butler win the championship.

But you have to have, it's a team effort, especially the NBA is the hardest one to win. Cause you have to win four, not one. You have to win four each series. So I always laugh when people try to say, try to, you know, like,

Hey, you didn't win a championship. I'm like, okay, I didn't. What do you think? I'm gonna go out and hurt myself. I think I'm,

Hey, I think I'm doing pretty damn good. Five-time first-team All-NBA, 11-time All-Star. Gold medal. Hey, Pat, my life don't suck. Yeah, you're living great, and we're all getting to benefit from it. Hey, let me tell you something. There are some guys I'm pretty damn sure won the championship

with Trey Placid with me. Oh, no. You don't say. You're the absolute man, Chuck. We appreciate you. Good luck the rest of the way through the coverage, and thank you for making time. We golfing today?

What do you got today? You know, I stopped at my place in Philly to get some clean clothes. Smart. I'm like, I'm going to go out, get me a nice meal, do three martinis. What? I stopped at my place in Philly to get some clean clothes. Smart. I'm like, I'm going to go out, get me a nice meal, do three martinis. What? Hey, get a good night's sleep and jump on an early plane to, I think Italian or steak.

I got to flip a coin. Nice. I'm going to grab either one of those. I want to do three martinis with dinner. Smart. Get a good night's sleep and jump on an early flight to Miami. That's it, brother. Easy date.

Hey, what are we getting at Grazzi's? If you go Italian, what do you got? Chicken parm? Are we eating? What? What? Oh, we're talking a little Alfredo. What? Lasagna.

What? Everything that you got back there, paisano. I lose you guys. No, you're all good. Ladies and gentlemen, Charles Barkley. Yeah, Charles! And joining us now is a guy who's going to help us kind of get our heads wrapped around

all the storylines around the NFL. That's right. He's a man who was a general manager in the NFL. He was a consultant in the NFL. He's obviously a world champion. He's a speaker, an author, an email newsletterer. He's a podcast host, a live show host. He's an absolute dog.

Italian-American, ladies and gentlemen, Lombo, Michael Lombardi. Hello, Pat. Hello, AJ. Hello, everybody. It's good to be here. Thank you for having me. Lombo, how you doing? How you doing?

Life good? Life is good, yeah. I saw you had the great Charles Barkley on. I always think of Barkley. I was in 1984. I wrote about this in my new book. I got sent to do the Blue-Gray game. I don't know if you guys are too young.

The Blue-Gray game was in Montgomery, Alabama, right in the week of Christmas. So they sent me down there, and I had to go scout Auburn players in between the practices. And when I got on Auburn's campus, they said to me, have you seen this guy Barkley? And I said, who are you talking about? Barkley? I don't even know what you're talking about.

He said, you can go watch a basketball game. So I went to the gym and I watched him. And at that moment, I fell completely in love with the human being Charles Barkley. And I have been a fan. I still miss office. I have his college yearbook when he was playing at Auburn, Duncan. He's just a tremendous, that was the greatest athlete I've ever, somebody that big that could jump that high and move that fast. I've never seen it before. Lambo, he just lost 62 pounds in the last six months and has

no idea how. Have you heard about this? No, I didn't. I knew he lost weight. I could tell, and I could tell he was losing weight. And I just assumed he just did like most of us do, stop eating. Well, maybe. Honestly, he doesn't know how it happened. He does know he started taking this some medicine that some, I think it's not Ozempic, it's another one. Monjaro.

Monjaro or something like that. It's kind of similar. And it is, he's just lost weight and he's trying to get to 270. And tonight he's eating Italian. He said, am I eating three martinis? Some Italian. It's like, what is this thing that you're taking? What does it do? It sounds like a miracle drug, Lombo. I think

we'd both love it. Yeah, I think we've got to invest in it, too. That's just like AI. Pac-Man, as soon as you heard it, how do I buy AI? Let me talk to AI. What is AI? You're right. You've got to get ahead of the game. Let's talk about being ahead of the game. You were always that, and we enjoy chatting with you.

News of the day before all the boys have their question for you. DeAndre Hopkins released from the Cardinals. New GM, new coach, trying to get the contract off the books, I guess, but you would think they would want to do a trade. Did they do right by DeHop here, or how do you think we got to this point, and where does he go next? I think a lot lot of it the back channel of the story is so when when hopkins a lot of conversation was he didn't want to you know he's due to make 19.4 million this year and a lot of people around the league thought he wanted to raise because we've seen this receiver market

creep up into the mid-20s right and so everybody in the league kind of thought he wanted to raise well he was saying i don't want a raise. And then all of a sudden Beckham's contract comes in and he's like, wait a minute. You know, like, what's going on here? And so during the draft, I kind of thought they would be able to work out a deal. And there were no suitors. Kansas City seemed interested. Some other teams.

We know this. Lamar Jackson, during his hiatus when he was not in love with the Ravens before he fell back in love with the Ravens, said, I want Beckham and I want Hopkins and that'll make me happier. Well, they got him Beckham. Now they have a chance to get them both. So I think a lot of this was they just couldn't trade him. There wasn't a market for him to take on that contract. I think now it's harder than ever because we are going to be in June soon and not a lot of teams have cap room the Chiefs have less than a million dollars of cap room they would probably be interested could

they make it work I think it affects his ability to make that 19.4 million back he's still getting paid though isn't it doesn't get that money or no no he does not because they released him before it's guaranteed so none of the guaranteed now they're taking on 21 million of debt which tells you this and I read his commentary about what he's looking for in the next team you know he wants a really good he wants stability in the organization he wants a good defense and and i thought the most interesting thing he said was i want a quarterback who's all in who's going to work hard and do all those things i'm not saying he said that about kyler murray but that leads me to think maybe he was saying something about what was going on in Arizona.

Well, he also came out and said, Kyler's a winner, but he's going to be hurt. But there was a lot of people that took the same thing you were talking about. Because anytime you say, like, this is the first time I've ever experienced something like this, people are like, well, what is he saying about blah, blah, blah, blah, blah? It's just like a naturally inherent thing. And he's listed off some teams that are very

good at football. I think he knew that he had to potentially adjust his contract. You said that people thought maybe he would go up. I thought he was agreeing to go down almost to find a home, intrigued to see who takes a shot. It's going to be a team that doesn't need him, though. And the teams that do need him, we're all going to be pissed about why we didn't sign him for however many million he's going to make.

It's going to be like, what do you think that market's going to look like? What do you think? I mean, look, this is a guy that's, you know, he's always covered, but he always makes catches. He has a 65% average on catch percentage in his career. Like, he's never going to take the top off the defense. He's always going to have coverage, but he's so good at pushing the receiver.

He's always in balance. He's always good at pushing the DB, creating separate... I mean, Pac-Man can tell you he's a hard guy to cover because of his length and his incredible eye-hand coordination. And when he gets to a quarterback that'll throw him the ball when he's covered, you know, he'll make the play on him. And he's got unique ability in that area. I think Kansas City would be an ideal place to replace Juju Schuster, right? He's in the slot. He's got Kelsey. He wants to go somewhere where he can be the other guy, where he's not going to draw the third-down double team.

I think the Ravens. Look, Lamar Jackson in 19 had his best season. He won the MVP. Why? Because they had Mark Andrews and they had Hayden Hurst. He threw the ball in the middle of the field. If you have Hopkins in the middle of the field along with Mark Andrews, you're going to make a lot of plays.

I think the Ravens should be because Lamar doesn't throw the ball on the outside as well as he does in the middle of the field. Well, and they've got OBJ and Zay out here, too. They at least have to draw a little bit of, I don't want to say attention, but a little bit. Can't completely come into the middle of the field. And I think with Lamar, hey, he's only going to get better running I think as they open up the arm don't you agree absolutely yeah because you know most of the time now everybody rushes with him is almost like

they're counting five Mississippi that nobody wants to run up the field they're scared he's going to get out of the pocket so Lamar's always even though the Ravens line isn't always the best line in the league he gets time A, they run block really well, and, B, you can't lose contain on Lamar or else he'll take off and next thing you know it's a 30-yard gain. Dad, AJ? Lambo, I don't know if you saw, but Russ Wilson looks like he's in pretty damn good shape right now. We saw a side-by-side picture.

We don't know exactly what his regimen is, but he's looking good. What do you think that season's going to look like for Sean Payton, Russell Wilson, and the rest of this team? Well, I think it's going to look like, because I have great respect for Sean Payton as a play designer and as a play caller. And I think he's taking control of the offense again. You know, we're not going to let Russ cook. Russ is going to have to work on the line.

Russ isn't going to do the meals. And so Sean can handle that. And I think he's going to bring out the best in what Russell can do at this point in his career. One thing about Sean Payton that you have to really remember, he believes that he's going to run the football. He's not going to be a 50-pass game every game. He understands play action. He understands how to control the pace of the game with the running game. I think it's an awfully good opportunity for Russell to kind of regain his career. And the burden of responsibility is no longer on him. I wrote a column for Visa this week and I think it's a little unfair to certain players when you make a trade for a player and

you basically tell the world we're one player away, right? Aaron Rodgers goes to the Jets, we're one player away. It's a lot of pressure on the player, right? And so I think what Peyton's going to do this year is, look, we as a team have to win. We weren't just one player away, and I think that's really important. Go ahead, Connor. Yeah, Lambeau, the Patriots just got two OTAs taken away, and obviously everyone's saying, of course, the Patriots are cheating. Do you know all about it, Lambeau?

Oh, you know all about it. Wow. You're probably cheating too, Lombardi, of course, is what they're going to say. I cheated in school. Yeah, if you were a good student next to me, you'd be careful. I was looking at your paper. You'd be careful. You'd be careful.

Yeah, it's just a smart move just like Bill Belichick would do. Of course, he loves you. But seriously, what happened there? Does Bill give a fuck about breaking rules when it leads to losing OTAs or what's the whole situation? Also, is he pissed that he got fined $50,000? I don't know about any of what he's feeling, but I do know this. A lot of teams in the league are really worried about the OTA days

and about losing Seattle's lost time, Dallas, New England. I think they went over them. The young players wanted to have more time in the meeting. They went over by 15 minutes. It wasn't that they were practicing or making it mandatory. The players, the younger players. Working too hard. Working too hard.

Working too hard. Yeah, that's what the word is. What I was told was they were younger players in the room that wanted more time. So, look, this four-hour rule, if the players don't leave the building, it becomes a problem for the team. I thought it was, you know, look, losing two-hour rule, if the players don't leave the building, it becomes a problem for the team. I thought it was, you know, look, losing two OTA days, I'm not sure that's an issue because most teams don't use them all. Cincinnati hasn't even used an OTA day.

I think it's harder on the player, the younger players, to get caught up. And the time limits in the building, understanding that we as teams, me included, have overemphasized all the work in the building and made that we as teams, me included, have overemphasized all the work in the building and made the offseason drudgery. I think there needs to be a little bit of balance. I think it's gone the other way too far. I think there needs to be – because you're not going to develop young players if they don't know what to do. You need to have them around.

Yeah, we thought there was a chance maybe too long in the cold tub. You know what I mean? Take two OTAs, can't do that. How about this, Lambeau? They made a rule, no balls on the field. You remember that for like the first two weeks? It's like, so I, punter, I have to go to a fucking local high school field. I have to go kick there.

I have to do the whole thing with numerous other humans on the open field. Can't just kick at the facility that has nets and a never-ending supply of balls people that would do it can't do that uh can't just make a like a little bit of an asterisk maybe like balls can be kicked as opposed to like no no balls on the field at all it's like all right well i'm not fucking coming you need to get heard at that high school it's classic of the nfl they talk about player safety right and so they don't want kickoff coverage, which you and I both know special team kickoff coverage is all about developing toughness within your team.

And it's all about field position. It's all about controlling the game. So they want to remove this. And then in the same breath, they say we should play on Thursday nights, right? And so we could put two teams on Thursday nights. Why do they do it, Lambeau? You've been in all those meetings.

Why does it happen, you think? Because they can convince themselves. They have data to support that kickoff coverage gave them more concussions, but they don't have data to support that Thursday night. They're still looking into the Thursday night injury probe. To me, it's really a reflection of a lot of people in the league office don't understand what actually happens. You know, you can't kick balls. Off balls offensive linemen we know they need time in

the weight room they need time in the indoor to work on their craft you take that away you wonder why quarterbacks are getting injured more because the offensive linemen aren't being able to to practice and develop it's this two-fold thing and there's a disconnect between what the rules are i mean look i if i were the andy reedichick, John Harbaugh, Mike Tomlin, I would have called them up on the phone and said, we're thinking about eliminating the kickoff by putting it at the 25. What are your thoughts on why this would affect the game? And I think you would have gotten really good answers on why it would affect the game,

and I think it may have changed. Allegedly. We're trying to protect the players and then all of a sudden we're playing on Thursday night two games. And on turf. There's a lot of different conversations you can have. Also, we're flying further than we've ever flown to go play

games in other places and not having a shorter week. And who knows? But their fields are better than our fields. And our fields will change to be better fields whenever their players come over to America to play a sport that isn't our sport okay makes none of it really makes a lot of sense but whenever you talk about all those coaches being asked about the rule change allegedly there are special teams coaches now i don't know if i've spoken to any of the special teams coaches that were invited but a brainstorming session at nfl films allegedly mckay wasn't there goodell wasn't

there allegedly a lot of ideas were said by all coaches in the league and they're all like we do But a brainstorming session at NFL Films, allegedly, McKay wasn't there. Goodell wasn't there. Allegedly, a lot of ideas were said by all coaches in the league. And they're all like, we do not want this fair catch thing. Like, this is just, not only is it bullshit, Mickey Mouse, it also is going to force all of us to do things that are going to take away a part of football, pretty much. And then what else will you do if you do this to the punt, to any other play that is deemed, you know, from some stats too aggressive, but nobody listened to it. And Roger Doe was like, yeah, we're just doing this. And then they got owners to vote and then it's through and nobody matters. Like, how is that how this is?

You know, how is that? I don't know, but let's take it a step further. You're Cordell Patterson. You're one of the most elite kickoff return guys in the league. And you have a chance to get in the Hall of Fame. You maybe put two more in the end zone. You may be qualified for the Hall of Fame. And now you're not going to have a chance.

Now you're not going to have a chance. It's going to be hard. You're not going to have this chance. So now you're impacting the game in a way you're preventing a player who has unique skills. I mean, if this rule would have been in play, you think Devin Hester would have had as many returns as he did? Of course not. I mean, if this rule would have been in play, you think Devin Hester would have had as many returns as he did?

Of course not. So it's like we're taking away the game, and we're taking away the essence of the game. Special teams matter. You know, football is a three-dimensional game, offense, defense, and the kicking game. Hell yeah. And the refs, they're a big part of it.

Four teams out there. Four teams out there for everybody. The refs are on nobody's side, but stats are somehow on everybody's side, except for special teams play sides. You know what I mean? The only people that haven't been able to use stats to somehow gain an advantage is the special teams plays in the conversation about what needs to go and what doesn't need to go.

Tone Diggs has a Paisano question for you. Let's get serious here, Lombo. You know, I like Aaron Rodgers. We all like Aaron Rodgers, but he said something this week that I don't know if I could get past. I don't know if you could get past. He said, you know, I like Casino, I like Goodfellas, I like Godfather. I just could never get into the Sopranos.

That guy, Rodgers hates the Sopranos, and I need your thoughts on it. I can't understand that. If you like Goodfellas and you like Godfather, I don't know how you can. And, hell, he's right down the corner. He could go visit Tony's house. He's right there in Florham Park. He's right near it. I don't know.

I mean, maybe the storyline didn't appeal to him. I don't know. But to me, if you like those other ones, it's kind of hard for me not to like The Sopranos. Hell, I might go home and watch an episode today. Hell, yeah. Why not? I mean, just go ahead and pop in there. Also, another thing to watch today, especially this weekend,

Mike, last 40 minutes, Top Gun Maverick. That's right. 40 minutes. All you need to see, it's its own movie, basically, the last 40 minutes. As they're picking who's all going to go on the mission, you know, Dagger 1, Dagger 2, Dagger 3, and Dagger 4, as they're making that

announcement, and then they lay out what it is, and then they go out onto the carrier, and they have those little moments with each other, and then they take off. Fucking fight's on, pal. It's 40 minutes of just awesome cinema right there. It's an amazing movie. I mean, I got flight sick just watching the damn thing.

It was impressive. I don't know how the hell those guys do it. Those guys are heroes. Flying sideways, upside down. I mean, taking that thing up there. That was impressive. I mean, look, our armed forces, as we honor Memorial Day weekend, I mean, it's really remarkable.

Hell yeah. Thank you for your service here, everybody. Thank you. And thank you to those who paid the ultimate price, obviously, for the good of our country, at least in their minds, the good of our country. A lot of people, you know, you don't have to be pro-war to be pro-warrior. Remember that.

That's correct. You know what I mean? That is something I feel like gets lost every once in a while. Ty Schmidt has a question for you, Lambeau. Yeah, Lambeau, looking at clips from OTAs, obviously you take all those with a grain of salt because ultimately it doesn't really mean shit. But I've been watching the Packers ones a little bit closer to see how Jordan

Love's doing. When you look at the NFC North and the NFC as a whole, what do you think realistic expectations are for the Packers this year? I think the Packers are undervalued a little bit because, look, their defense is going to be better, right? I mean, I don't know how they're a two-and-a-half-point dog to Chicago. The Green Bay's defense is pretty good. And, you know, Green Bay has two really

good running backs. Now, we understand Jordan Love's going to be a young player. He's going to make mistakes. It's going to really behoove LaFleur to change what he does and kind of manage the game differently. But their special teams improved last year. Their defense got better. I think their defense is much better. So I think they're undervalued. I don't know what Love's going to look like. I can't wait to watch them this summer. But to me, they're not a team that is just bad. I mean, they've got a good offensive

line. They can improve in that area. Chicago is a team that has a longer way to go in terms of their talent level and how they're trying to rebuild. Hey, Longman, you don't like Justin Fields, huh? I hate him. Look, to me, all right, let me give you don't like Justin Fields, huh? I hate him.

I'm not a big – look, to me – all right, let me give you some reasons why. Let me give – 91 sacks in two years, average seven yards a sack, okay? I know there's some people that come on your show that think he should be the MVP. I can tune that out. I won't listen to that. He also doesn't have Joe Montana in his top five. I won't mention who that is. No big deal.

Okay, we'll move forward on this. So anyway, so like, look, 91 sacks, 29 fumbles. You know, let me just give you this stat. Last year, the Colts and the Bears averaged 8.5 points per loss. The Colts threw it 35 times. The Bears threw it 22. They didn't even want to throw it when they were behind. He's got to throw the football. Is he a dynamic athlete?

No doubt. But as the thrower of the football, processor of the football, one of the things that really bothered people when he came out was his release. It's too loose. He can't control the ball. He turns the ball over too much. Those are things that I don't like in quarterbacks. He's a dog.

Hey, you mentioned the Colts there. What do you think about the Colts this year? What does their season look like? Is Richardson at the helm? Is he going to be the starter from day one? Absolutely. I think he will be the starter from day one. I think that striking will do a good job of managing what he can do. They still have the great Jonathan Taylor. They've got to get that offensive

line to play better. The six-back attack will be there. But look, let's put this in perspective. The Colts last year beat Kansas City at home as bad as they were. Thank you. We be there. But look, let's put this in perspective. The Colts last year beat Kansas City at home as bad as they were. Thank you. We were there. You know, so like they won. They're not as the team got away from them. There's no question. They did not have a good training camp. They weren't tough. The offensive line really was disappointing. I think all those things got a chance to be corrected. We'll see if the kid can can develop as a thrower. Look, when I first watched Anthony Richardson, I said, that guy's going to win the Heisman.

Now, after I watched more of them, there was too much inconsistencies. But they're going to have to work on him. But he is elite in terms of his athletic skills. There's no denying that. Well, listen, did you see who he was playing with, Donner? And who was coaching him? And how they're – whoa. I'm just saying.

I mean, that was – he goes back to college. He could potentially just take over next year with how athletic he is. I thought he could have, Pat. I thought that would have been the smarter play, but, hell, he went three. That's how dumb I am. Four, but he is going to be a guy, all right? Oh, yeah. All signs out of – could you imagine if there was anything other than what was said,

actually said? Everything coming out is, hey, he's much further along than we thought. The way he throws it, much better than anybody could have imagined. He is the leader that we've been looking for. He works hard. He's there early. If anything else was to come out of the building, obviously we're talking fire alarms, but everybody's speaking positively. And with the way Steichen can run that offense, we can grow with them, can't we? Especially with Jonathan Taylor. If that offensive line plays good, Jonathan Taylor could be good again too, right? Right. And I think if you go back to Austin Eckler's best season in Los Angeles with the Chargers, Steichen was the play caller.

He averaged over 10 yards a catch in that offense. So Steichen understands how to get the ball to the best players is my point here. And I think that he'll be able to do that. And they've got to get, they've got to have to take the pressure off that he's going to make mistakes everybody does right but his athletic skills remember when Lamar Jackson took over his rookie year you know he comes in and plays they were four and five I think and then the next thing you know they go six and one and make the playoffs like that's not a stretch for a young player to come in especially a uniquely athletic young player who's fast. Player you just brought up right there, Austin Eckler,

he just did a new $2 million incentive-based bonus program, I believe, to his contract. How do you feel about them getting something done that, assuming, will make Austin Eckler happy and have him re-motivated to be a touchdown-scoring machine for the Chargers? I think he's one of the most underrated players in the league. I mean, the guy last year, he only averaged under seven yards per catch. That's way too low for him. He needs to be able to average like he did with Steichen, 10 yards, 9.6. Kamara, that's when you

really have a weapon in your backfield. And he's so effective in the red zone. He creates so many problems for you. How do you match up? And his ability to run routes and then run with it after the catch is really dynamic. I worry a little bit because Kellen Moore has never been very good at featuring the running back in the passing game. Now, I know he had Tony Pollard, but when Zeke was there without Pollard, I kept screaming for Zeke to be more of a weapon. Use his skills in the passing game. I think this is where Eckler's a difference maker, and he's going to be the guy that the Chargers need to rely on. He and Mike Williams

are the playmakers in that offense. I guess Kelly and Tony Pollard, right? I think Tony Pollard was a weapon. Hopefully, Austin Eckler will be utilized in the same fashion. All I know is, if Austin Eckler's playing in the game, any time touchdown scorer is a good bet.

He's going to get into the paint, and if you don't want that on your field, I don't know what you're looking for. Connor has the last question for you here, Lambeau. Yeah, Lambeau, obviously Rodgers coming to the Jets makes the AFC East kind of a two-horse battle. At least people are talking about it that way. But then we see photos of Tua, and we're hearing that he is a black belt in jiu-jitsu, and it looks as though he's eating 5,000 calories a day

to gain weight do you think the Dolphins are much better than what people are giving them respect for and do you think it is going to be a two-horse race with the Bills and the Jets or do you think the Dolphins have a real chance of winning the AFC East no I think it's I think it's a I think that it's wide open I think Vic Fangio makes a huge difference for Miami and I don't think you could overlook that but let's put things in perspective. The New York football Jets have only been to the playoffs 13 times since they won the Super Bowl in 1968. They haven't been to the playoffs in 2010.

As great as Aaron Rodgers is, and he's great, you just don't turn that switch and become a champion overnight. You just don't become one of the six or eight teams, like their head coach mentioned. Oh, we're one of the six or eight. No, no, no. You've got to learn to be a champion overnight. You just don't become one of the six or eight teams like their head coach mentioned. Oh, we're one of the six. No, no, no. You got to learn to be a champion. You got to build yourself to be a champion. You got to go through the rigors of it. And just having one player doesn't mean you get there. I think everybody in Miami, everybody in Buffalo and everybody in New England look at those comments that he made. And they said they laughed considering he's only won two games in the afc

east since he's been a head coach he's only won 11 overall i think to me that's the bigger issue i think it's a wide open race do you think the buffalo bills take a fall or the patriots continue to fall or maybe the miami dolphins fall or maybe aj hawk falls off his chair in the middle of a program is is there what do you think of the buffalo bills what do you think about the buffalo Paul or maybe A.J. Hawk falls off his chair in the middle of a program? What do you think of the Buffalo Beals? What do you think about the Buffalo Beals? I think I love the Dalton Kincaid draft because he'll be a slot receiver. I think they should go after Hopkins.

Now, they drafted Kincaid for that role, but I think that'll make them. They'll be a 12 team. They'll run the ball more. They signed Murray to run the ball. They need to be more physical with their offense. They just can't rely on Josh Allen's physicality. They need to be more physical with their offense. They just can't rely on Josh Allen's physicality. They need to be more physical. But look, Buffalo's a good team, and they've got a player like Josh Allen.

You're going to be in a lot of games, and he's going to make plays, and they've got the receivers. They needed that inside slot receiver because when they were really – remember Cole Beasley two years ago was good. And then McKenzie started to play well, and then he fell off last year kincaid will be that slot receiver they need that in their offense i would not discount i think the east is wide open all right i'm excited to watch how it all pans out and i don't think buffalo beagles are going to fall or the patriots are going to continue to fall or the miami dolphins are going to fall just had to get the word fall in there because that's what that guy who's the all-time leading tackle for the green bay packers did we appreciate you hope to talk more uh with you this fall michael lombardo oh absolutely i'm

ready wherever you are i'm sitting here in my office whatever you need my man thank you guys have a great memorial day weekend hey you too and thank you are you back uh you drove back home right i'm right here i'll be home in my house in three minutes so once i get through this traffic here at the beach and everybody's at the beach this weekend. Oh, yeah, big-time beach weekend, right? You guys going to be walking the boardwalk? What are you doing? Absolutely, walk the boardwalk.

You can't beat it. This is the summertime. Get ice cream. It's all good. So you, every day, you're waking up, you're walking that boardwalk, you're kind of doing it. You are a full Jersey Shore person. I am truly a Jersey Shore person. Yeah, this is the best time of the year to be here.

This is the best time to experience what Springsteen sang all those songs about, even though we only had one hit. I appreciate that. You're never going to let old cuz. Who was it? Who was it that said that? I don't even know who it is. One tweet. One tweet.

This guy don't fucking know nothing. Ladies and gentlemen, Michael Lombardi. Alright, let's get to a break. I believe we are going to say bid the Larry O'Brien trophy adieu. Oh, it is gone. Oh, never mind. Sorry about that.

In the middle of the thing, they wanted me to go do a TikTok with it after the show, they asked me. So literally, as Lombo's giving an answer, I'm hitting the mute mic button for Zito and I'm going, I ain't dancing. What are we talking about? But they're still in the room. They could definitely.

You better get in there. They could definitely hear me say that or whatever. Definitely. Because I was like, Zito was talking to me like, hey, they were wondering if they could stick around afterwards. They want to make a TikTok with you and Larry O'Brien. And I'm like, just tell them we'll send them whatever they want. Like, whatever they want, we'll send them because obviously grateful for that

they're like well they want to they want to stick around and and whatever i'm like uh for a tick-tock i'm like i ain't fucking dancing with this thing what do we i ain't dancing all right i know wombo's giving a great answer here they were very nice though i like what they're yeah the larry o'brien people were doing they're very i like that they're making it a thing yes exactly like the stanley cup has started this trend of like, hey, let's do the rounds before we kind of get, you know, the team winning it. And seeing it in person, it was pretty sweet.

Is there another trophy that could do this? They were all together in New York a week ago. Hanging out? All the trophies were hanging out. That would be a good, like, animated film. Oh, yeah. That was a replica, though. Yes, it was.

It was a replica. But it was a real replica though. Yes, it was. It was a replica. But it was a real replica. Same weight, same everything. AJ, how should I, you know. I didn't fall, by the way. I was adjusting my mic arm. It looked like you fell. You fell.

Did it really? Yeah, you fell. Just a minute. Believe me, I trip, I fall, I break things all the time, but I did not fall this time. Not on this program, though. So, like, that wouldn't be a. Yeah. it's kind of tough to fall out of a chair i'm sitting and not moving too much well that's why we were so kind of what the hell that because i

was looking at i'm looking at lambo and then you know c and then everybody's everybody literally everybody's like did did his face, looked a little flustered. I just slid off camera to get to this. You remember back in the day, this boom arm would fall down, and I would hold it up for two hours in a show. Like this, right? I'm trying to figure it out. Nice little bicep pump.

He would actually hold it like this, and he wouldn't tell anybody. And I don't know how many times you actually did it. I think you started shaking one time. That was when we were like, what the fuck is going on with the camera? Well, I've been holding it off for the last- This thing fell an hour and a half ago. Can't tap out. That is a good point. Breaking news.

Our sources are telling me it could have been the piss jug that's underneath his desk. Oh. Yours. That makes sense. I just fell off the chair trying to find something to pee in. No, I think it fell, hit you. Because it's all weeks worth of. Yep.

And it knocked you off. Piss everywhere. Maybe slice the tip of his penis on the edge of the pistol. Don't you? It's always tough. You've got to aim. Give us a phone call. Fight to adversity.

And we'll end this beautiful show with some 5-Hour Energy phone line. All you got to do is call 1-833-433-3663 or 1-833-4-DADOOM. If you don't do great with the numbers, go to 5hourenergy.com. That's the number 5. Our, H-O-U-R, energy, E-R, nope. No, that is not it. But it is E. E-N-E-R.

Yeah. G-Y.com. Use promo code McAfee You receive 20% off That's too much I agree, that's bad business We gotta take advantage of them for doing this You can get the box that you see at the gas station

At the house, so literally put it in the bathroom Next to your sink So whenever you're going out in the morning Boom, just right there And then you go ahead and take it 11am Maybe noonish And that'll get you right to the end of your day Right to where? The weekend Boom. Boop. Just right there. And then you go ahead and take it 11 a.m., maybe noon-ish. Right. And that'll get you right to the end of your day, right to where?

The weekend. Hell yeah. Right. Let's go to the 5RNG phone line here in a bit. Joining us now is a man who's the host of the weekly wrap-up with the Rap Sheet and Friends. Us being the friends, he being Rap Sheet. Also the show The Insiders, which airs on all podcast streaming platforms. Correct.

He's a senior NFL insider for the NFL, the NFL's website, the NFL's network, and the NFL streaming service, NFL Plus. Might be the last time you ever see him. Ladies and gentlemen, Ian Rappaport. What's up? Well, we got Sunday Red on. Are we battling in the local course

and then all of a sudden some breaking news took place? Or is this just standard operating procedure for May Ian R rapaport on tv well uh so i played yesterday uh i was terrible yeah it was really i had my first eagle ever which was wild and i shot a 92 with an eagle so think about how bad the rest probably 96 sounds was. Probably 96. Sounds like blocking. Yeah. Yeah, rap sheet block. He shot a 74. Took a little short game lesson today to kind of get my bearings. I feel a lot more optimistic now than I was yesterday.

What do we got? Weight on the front foot. Ball slightly forward. Let's go ahead and only use two fingers. We're on the back handle grip there. No, it was more like feet together. Left foot kind of out a little bit. kind of open to make sure you turn. Hands pressed, kind of go through the ball.

You know, you should kind of sweep. I was blading chips. It was awful. No, I think it's standard. A lot of people blade the chips. You suck. Well, not good golfers. Well, yeah, of course.

That's why I'm really flustered that this is happening to you. Because don't you walk 18 18 every day of your life? With the push cart. And you're still doing the bunny heel of chip shot lessons, that sounds like. That's embarrassing. What's the deal? This is what I was going through in my head yesterday,

trying to understand why I still play. And I found the answer today because I'm back to being awesome after that short game lesson, so life is good. Hey, you found it. You found it. And you only need it for one weekend. It doesn't matter what you do the next weekend. As long as you have one great moment on the golf course

and it's televised, that will live forever. Nothing can take that away. Right? Yeah, unless you're saying that you're better than Rory if you could drive 40 more yards. Let's go to football now. Let's talk about the NFL. He said that as a joke.

The person interviewing that person could have potentially got a little clarity immediately afterwards. I agree with that. To kind of save the whole thing. That could have certainly happened. But doesn't think that is not being taken into account. Can we get some clarification on

what he actually just said there? Because it's a pretty big statement. And Mike Block's a good guy. He is a good guy. Absolutely. Great guy. Love Blocky. Anyways, let's go to football here. The Arizona Cardinals have cut DeAndre Hopkins.

Now, you know that that's a big deal because on April 3rd, you came on this particular program, and you said that you don't foresee a situation where DeAndre Hopkins, I'd be surprised if DeAndre Hopkins was released. If he's traded, his salary will be adjusted. That's from the Phoenix Cardinals podcast. Shout out for you guys reminding us of this. But you said that.

So this is all kind of happening quickly. When did the mood kind of shift to, you know what, we're going to release him. We'll take the eat of the salary cap and then we just move on. Because this didn't seem like an outcome at all. To me, it didn't seem like an outcome at all either. And at that time when I said it didn't seem like an outcome at all either. And at that time, when I said it, the Cardinals were having trade talks. They had trade talks all the way through to the draft, really up until, I would say, Wednesday night. And there were definitely

times before the draft when I thought he was going to get traded. The contract, he's obviously not going to get paid the $19.5 million that he would have made from the Cardinals this year. That was really never going to happen for any team. He was willing to take less. He was willing to take an incentive-laden deal. The problem is when you're adjusting the contract and you have a team, and there were, you know, certainly several interested teams. I mean, Von Miller has come on and talked about his recruitment. I'm sure the Bills would have been a potential option there.

I know that Kansas City would have been a potential. There's some really good teams, Ravens perhaps. Some really good teams have been interested in DeAndre Hopkins over the last couple of months. The problem is you had to adjust the salary. Then there was the draft pick compensation. Then there was talk of maybe the Cardinals eating some money. They didn't seem to want to eat money for a guy they were saying goodbye to anyway. So basically what they did was at some point, they said, you know what? We have tried everything to trade him.

We cannot trade him. We are not going to pay $19.5 million this year in what could be a rebuilding-ish year for the Cardinals. Today, they just released him. Go ahead, AJ. But they were okay eating almost $22 million in dead cap money, though? Couldn't they just kept him on the squad and try to use him a little bit?

They could have, but they save a bunch of cash as well. So there's obviously the cap, and then there's the cash. They were going to be hit with the dead cap money anyway. That was counting on their cap. They could not post-June 1 the cap. Basically, they couldn't split it up over two years because they already have two players who are post-June 1 designations. They're taking it all this year, but they're saving cash. And for what you think is going to be a difficult year for the Cardinals. Paying a receiver who has been a No. 1 receiver,

I personally think could still be, but we'll see if teams pay him like that. Doing all that for a team that's going to maybe struggle might not make sense for the Cardinals when they seem to be looking a little more toward the future. Okay, so there isn't a conversation about them potentially doing good by DeAndre Hopkins and just saying, hey, you can be a free agent as opposed to us necessarily deciding where you're going?

No. I mean, if that was the case, they would have done it before the draft, before teams drafted receivers. And salary caps were eaten up or whatever. What do you think realistic market is right now? He's going to have to take a deal, like a prove-it deal almost, don't you think? Yeah, I mean, he might. So I would say if you had asked me before the Odell deal, before the $15 million fully guaranteed up to 18,

I would have said, you know, the market for these sort of a little bit older receivers who have a little bit to prove would be like Michael Thomas, right? Where you basically make about $10 million with a chance to get a 15. The Ravens paid more for Odell. And I wonder if the Odell deal complicated the DeAndre Hopkins trade deal, because obviously he's going to say, I probably should make as much as Odell. And there was one team willing to pay Odell what he made. That was the Ravens. Interesting.

Well, that's what your value is. Whatever somebody will pay you is exactly what your value is. You're saying there's a chance a team will give a big deal because they know the D-hop will add to them immediately. Yeah. It's just, it'll have to be creative because people don't have a lot of space. I mean,

there's just not a lot of deals happen after the draft because there's not a lot of salary cap space. Now, you could always create, but you are leveraging. And I would expect, look, there are some really good teams, we just mentioned some of them, who might be a piece away playoff team. That's the kind of team that he's going to sign with, the really good team that might just need one more. Yeah, the Indianapolis Colts.

That's a good point. Welcome to the Colts. Yeah, welcome to Indianapolis. I can't wait to see him. Excited to see where he goes to and when he goes to a team and he gets paid what he gets paid. I'm excited for everybody else to react in the exact same fashion going, our team could have fucking done that, right?

Couldn't we have done that to DeAndre Hopkins? Speaking of getting creative, Connor has a question for you. Yeah, Ravshi, Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio brought up this idea, one regarding Joe Burrow's contract that is hopefully happening here soon. Is there any chance that teams will start doing percentages of salary caps as their contract negotiation? Like the Pat Mahomes deal he referenced how five years ago it was the number one deal, but this year he's the eighth overall or whatever it is.

Will that be something in the future that teams do for each position? Yeah, this has been a Florio argument for years. I haven't sensed a lot of traction on it. I think the main reason is because teams essentially pay guys what they have to, which is not a very good way of saying it, but that's kind of what it is, right? You pay whatever the market is and everyone wants a good deal. So if you're paying a guy a lot of money, it's usually because you have to, to get the guy. It would have to be a quarterback who would essentially say, I am not signing anything at all ever, unless it is this structure. And to find someone who has that kind of leverage is really extremely difficult.

You'd have to be like, you'd have to be a free agent. And, you know, we rarely see really, really good free agent quarterbacks. We'd have to be a franchise guy who says, I don't care how long this takes. I'm only doing it this way. Kind of like you have to have the leverage that Deshaun Watson had that enabled him to get the fully guaranteed deal that we've seen is

looking more like an anomaly than anything else. You have to be that kind of situation. Mola Geta, by the way, shout out to him. He sent us a box saying thank you for the kind response of Radio Row. Gave me a pair of Travis Scotch shoes and the

1942. Wow. What? Yeah, he was the one who got that deal done. We've obviously been incredibly impressed by it, as has everybody else who's been trying to, I think, shoot for that contract. And every team has basically gone, nope, we're just not going to do that at all. That's not going to happen. Lamar gets paid. Excited

to see what Joe's is. And I like to hear that Florio's been battling with that because it seems like a good answer. I might be out of pocket, but that feels smart so you don't have to really battle about the X's and O's. Speaking of battle, go ahead, Ty. Yeah, Rep G, what the hell's going on with the Commanders? The

sale isn't done yet. It's supposedly going to happen. They think it's going to happen. And also their trademark was just denied, so they are going to have to change their name. I mean, I thought we were past everything with Dan Snyder potentially being out there, but it kind of seems like it's still a shitstorm over there. Yeah, the trademark thing, I saw that. It sounds like from Darren Heitner,

who I think is involved in the dude who squatted on the trademark to kind of make this thing weird. It seems like he'd be willing to accept a donation. This is from Darren Heitner's Twitter, a donation to something to give the trademark back to the commanders. I think so. It's essentially somebody squatting on the trademark. I would be very, very, very surprised if they change their name. And I believe the sale is going through. What they're kind of battling now is the finance committee would like a little more cash. That's where it seems.

It's a big deal. A lot of people, we've talked about that. They'd like a little more cash. Roger Goodell has basically said they don't want this to be dead filled. They want it to be cash. Roger Goodell has basically said this deal is going to happen. So figure this out. So I think that they will figure it out in probably very timely fashion.

Say we just need a little money in our palms. Exactly. That's all we need. Some greasy poles. That's it. A little bit more greasing of the poles. Grease them. Hey, I respect that now the negotiation between Dan Snyder and Josh happened,

I assume, and that whole crew to get to a deal to a point where the number's made. And then now everybody else is getting involved like, yeah, yeah, yeah, but also. Okay. Come on. We're going to need some fungible cash. You know, we need to see it. We're not talking about later. You'll pay us back.

And our ticket sales in a league that we've already created with teams that we've already created are going to be able to get the money back to us. We need some of your actual pocketed money right now. We need, we need more of that before you get into our money. We need a little bit more. They'll figure it out before the season. And then boom, it'll be big time news as kickoff is around the corner and the NFL has got the big bad wolf that is Dan Snyder out of there

at the same exact time. Good for them figuring out life pretty much. Tone Diggs has a question for you, right? Yeah, and apparently Big Mike, he's calling plays now, and he's calling plays and he's just saying, yeah, Jeep Don, 310, Don out, right. And Dak has no idea what he's saying because of his Pittsburghese accent. Do you think the Cowboys will bring in an interpreter and might be my call plays

and then someone will and then interpret for Dak? Billy Gardell is not. Yeah. No, that'd be the same thing. Yes. I do think that will happen. Yeah. No, you know what he really needs to do?

And this is like, I know you're sort of joking, but I'm being serious. He should watch the show. He should watch the show. He should watch the show. And you guys are very, very Pittsburgh. Yeah, we are. You should show him what people talk like, and then he would kind of get acclimated. You know what he should do? This is actually even a better idea.

He should fly to Indy for a week, total immersion. Total immersion. And then he would come out talking like he's from Pittsburgh. Yeah, they say the best way to learn a language is just go to the country. That's right. Bingo. Drop him in. We would love to be that.

Or if he just wants to go down to the strip in Pittsburgh, just walk around for two, three days. They've got great hotels down there. They've got great sandwiches, bars They got great hotels down there. They got great sandwiches. Sandwiches, bars. There's everything down there. It is a great setup. Or stick them in a steel mill for a week.

Yeah. Back to his roots. Have them in the Heinz factory. Not the one that turned into an apartment complex. No, not the one that turned into a mall. We're actually getting a new one. Hell yeah. Of course we are. Anyways, I do like the fact that Big Mike McCarthy might be a super yinzer because he's been away from Pittsburgh for a long time,

still holds on to the accent when I assume a lot of people have told him not to. Get rid of it. Or he's talked to a lot of people that don't have it, still holds on to it. And also, if he is, that means he's talking shit in there, too, a little bit. Oh, Dak, great throw on that. Hey, we won't run to plays that need that to happen. Okay, let's get a dice right down here. And Dak's like, what, what, what?

Did you shit talk me in the middle of this thing? All right, Dak. All right. Good call, Dak. Good play. It's actually not bad. Big Mike, yeah, I love it. I mean, I've met a thousand Big Mikes in my life.

They just haven't been as good of a football coach. I hope they do well. They will. I hope they do well. Just like I hope you do well, pal. We appreciate the hell out of you joining us. What do you got? Any other news?

Because remember, we talked to you last week. You said no news is going to break ever. And then you said, I'm going to go golf. And then all of a sudden, bang, DeAndre Hopkins. Actually, Foxy has a question for you. Yeah, Ian, is there another player in Detroit that's going to get suspended for gambling or what the hell is going on in Detroit? And why is this happening anywhere else?

He's degenerate. I did see that report. I know that there is another discussion of, like, and this is something I think we talked about when the initial however many five players, I think, came out from the Lions. And then the commanders that there was another there might be a little more coming on this. I believe that is the case. I don't know specifically that it's a Lions player or that it's just a Lions player. But, you know, I wouldn't be surprised if something else came up when when another investigation wraps up. And this is the kind of thing where I wish I could say,

all right, well, that's it, guys. Everyone has learned, but it's not like that. Unfortunately, there's going to have to be some trial and error. Understanding the rules, knowing what you can do, the fact that you can gamble on any sports

from the facility for team events, these are important things, and I think players are learning some of that now well hopefully everybody will learn and move on yep and remember that the integrity of the game is of the utmost importance all the money that everybody has everywhere around it is gone if people actually believe that the game can be cooked and booked every single weekend it is up and to the right and if people start thinking it is rigged and it is scripted, and there are people in it, it'll start doing this, and nobody wants it. So fucking cut it out.

With that being said, what was it? The entire University of Iowa's athletic department basically was gambling? Yeah, a bunch of players from different teams. Oh, you're going to get all those college kids. 150 kids on a team, 18 years of age to have to do stuff. That's going to be tough to get under control. You think about this soccer player that came through this

morning. This dude bet on his own team to lose seven times. He obviously got suspended, but he was like, man, these motherfuckers stink around here. Let's go ahead and profit off. It's going to be tough whenever we're all hanging our head, but at least I'll be able to get a little ka-ching. It's like when you bet against your favorite team.

It's like, yeah, if the team wins, I'll be so happy I lose the bet. But if we lose, at least I win a little bit of money. This guy's actually on a team thinking the same exact thing, and that's a problem. We need to get it under control, Rap. We need to get it under control. Alabama baseball coach. I imagine, and I don't, you know, I mean, yeah,

the Alabama baseball coach one was wild. What happened? When was this? It actually might have been right after you had your baby, but the Alabama baseball head coach, I think he bet against Bama, and they lost, like, I don't know. No, so what it was was he was in contact, allegedly. Certainly on this show after.

In Ohio. Yeah, Ohio, yeah. He was in contact with apparently a gambler in Ohio, and their pitcher was scratched before the game, and then there was some weird activity on the game, and Alabama lost. And it seems the insinuation is that he passed on that knowledge. Then he got fired, as he should have,

and Alabama has been on an absolute tear since then, which I'm not that mean. Hell yeah. We had a fucking asshole coach literally trying to get us to lose so he could profit in Ohio. Interesting. Wow. Who would have thought, AJ?

Wow. You're the champion of Ohio. You got this stuff happening. Get together. Got that big house. We wouldn't have got caught if he told me. We'd be all right. All right. Thank you, champion of Ohio.

We just figured it out. Thank you. Have a great weekend, Ian. Remember, give thanks this weekend that you get to do what you do, you know? I will definitely give thanks, especially if I start hitting better chips. Not just a box of your golf. No, I'm saying...

Jesus Christ. I'm saying. Not just yourself. You fucking. You fucking. Jesus Christ. I'm disgusted. Memorial Day. Get the bricks, you sack of shit. When did the kids get sent to Fiji or whatever it is? Yeah, you're lucky you're not speaking German. We got another month to go. So today, well, except for right here, I've been hanging out with them.

It's actually really fun. Oh, nice. Oh, that's why you came on here. Dadding, not bad. All right, ladies and gentlemen, eat a wrap. Poor thing. Thank you, buddy. Hey, that's why you came on here. Dadding, not bad. All right, ladies and gentlemen, you're at port. Thank you, buddy. Yay, Refke! If I start making some putts, I'll have a good Memorial Day weekend.

It's like... You son of a bitch. Just look around, dude. Look around. Let's take some phone calls before we get out of here. Didn't really learn much there. No. No, not at all.

The talks were very real, though, up until the night before the draft. That's why our source says probably thought something was going to happen. Yeah. And you learned about that baseball coach. Alabama baseball coach. I didn't know there was some fuckery. They halted all betting on the Alabama games and then they found out what was going on. Wild time

right now. It's wild wild west. It is. In this whole new gambling excursion. I'm not saying that. I'm happy we don't you know. Yeah. That is getting tangled up and saying that. I'm happy we don't have, you know? Yeah. That is... Getting tangled up and all that. Seems like there's a lot happening and potentially going to happen. Oh, yeah.

They'll figure it out, though, because there's so much money, and it feels like regulators are. But there being different rules in every single state and different operations in every single state. That's an issue. You know what I mean? It is. But these are the times.

And, you know, like 20 years from now, whenever they look back, it was like, oh, it was a two-year period to kind of roll, three-year period to kind of get it all under control. It's like, that doesn't seem that long, but when you're in it, long. A lot of shit can happen in those times. You know what I mean, AJ? I mean, think if you're a head baseball

coach of a big program, and all of a sudden you get busted for this, you're not getting another gig. Can't. Get the fuck off the tour. No one's going to hire you. Would any D3 school hire you? Probably. I don't know. They hired your buddy Todd Brenneman right after that happened. Tom Brenneman?

Todd? Tom? Whatever his name is. Jack? Tom. There's a deep drive to left field. Chad in Florida still plays on the internet on the 500 phone line. Chad, what's going on down there in Florida? What part and how hot is it? Oh, it's hot as hell, boys.

Hell yeah. How you doing? Keep it moving. All right. Hell yeah. First thing, I just want to ask you guys, is Kyle Trask going to win that quarterback spot down there in Tampa? I think he might.

I saw Baker. They put a clip of Baker on there missing somebody by a good 10 to 15 yards. I saw that, too. I don't know who was trying to get him to look terrible, but there was a narrative that he was missing people in routes versus error. And I certainly saw one ball, but Baker Mayfield's a guy. Remember, he went to L.A., did his thing. They paid him a little bit, but they did draft Kyle Trask,

and they've kept him around. The guy sucks. The guy sucks. The guy sucks. Feel good Friday, Chad. Read the room. Trevor in Michigan on the 500 phone line. Trevor, what's going on, pal? How's it going? Keep it moving? Nailed it.

Long time listener. First time caller. Hey, Kelvin, you were back in the facility yesterday. Is there a chance the curse has been lifted? When's your guys still out to her coming through Detroit? All right. Thank you, Trevor. We appreciate you.

Have been looking at dates for a show in Detroit. Can't wait to do that. Live up our end of the bet since the Detroit Lions did beat the Green Bay Packers in Week 18, although it did not propel them into the playoffs. That was part of it. Because something happened earlier in the day, which is an absolute bummer. We'll be raising money for a charity of TJ Lang's choice. Can't wait to see him and get up to Detroit.

Yeah, Calvin Johnson back in the building is good. Big dap up with big MCDC. This is good, Fox. Are you going to be happy about this? Yeah, I'd say this is probably the most important thing the Lions have done in quite some time. We've been talking about this for like four years at this point, that the Calvin Johnson curse is real and it just so happens

team's getting good. The relationship with Calvin's getting better. That's just not a coincidence I don't think. So yeah, this is awesome. Yeah, maybe Calvin's telling them instead of placing a sports bet, why don't you smoke some dope? Yeah. Do that instead. Exactly. Right. Calvin also is a giant. Look at him

hugging Dan Campbell and he's much bigger than him. Calvin's awesome. MCDC's massive. Remember when we saw him? So jocked. So ridiculous. That's the cost of doing business. That's literally the motto for the Detroit Lions this year.

Cost of doing business is on the back of the shirt right there for OTAs. That is team motto for 2023. Hey, you want to be sore? That's the cost of doing business. Long hours watching film? It's the cost of doing business, man. Business is going to be good. If business ain't good, we're all gone.

We're out of the business. That's the cost of doing business. I love that. That's so awesome. I've never heard that before. Have you, AJ? I have not. No. It's like all in. We're all we got. Do your job. All those things are normally the motto.

This one's like, that's cost of doing business. Cost of doing business, man. I've been home in like two weeks, man. It's cost of doing business, man. I got a couple of assistant coaches that are messed out of their minds. Haven't seen their kids for the last two years. Cost of doing business, man.

Sorry about it, man. You want to win or not, there's only one trophy unless there's a replica. What was that? I don't know. I don't love it. Man, that was a letdown. I mean, what we haven't talked about is the attempt by Mitt to pick it up as well. That was in the off-air time. We don't need to look at the phones.

Mitt was a chompy today. He was. He was. That's why I'm most happy that the Larry O'Brien trophy came, because Mitt got a chance to hoist it and get the phones. Mitt was a champion today. He was. He was. That's why I'm most happy that the Larry O'Brien trophy came because Mitt got a chance to hoist it and get a photo. Yeah. Mitt's a champion.

Thank you, Mitt. Thank you, Mitt. Congrats, too, Mitt. Congrats, Mitt. Hey, Mitt, wait up. Wait a minute. Do we have Mitt Cam back there? Hey, Mitt, wait up.

Hey, yo, Mitt. Oh, yeah. Fucking God, man. Dude, you're a champion, dude. LeBron isn't this year. Oh, yeah. Big screen. But you are, dude. Oh, hell yeah. Fucking God, man. Dude, you're a champion, dude. LeBron isn't this year. Oh, yeah. Big screen. But you are, dude.

Oh, hell yeah. Man, you should see you, dude. You should see you on the backboard, man. Fucking look at me, dude. Hey, man, dude. Got a bottle of Jack Daniels right there. Empty, too. All right, baby.

Baby. Fuck yeah, dude. This dude house and Bud Light's in the back. What? Coke Zero. Hey, baby, man. Way to be champion. Keep yeah, dude. This dude house and bud lights in the back. What? Coke Zero. Way to be champion. All right. Let's get the hell out of here. Have an incredible weekend. We'll see you on Tuesday.

I do believe that you should this weekend potentially look in the mirror and say, you know what? Fucking lucky to be here. Not everybody has the perfect situation and circumstance. I understand that. People have been through a lot. A lot of people have been through a lot. But for us to get to this point,

to live in the time that we do, and not everybody's living a dream, but hopefully everybody will be able to at some point. A lot of things had to happen in the past to get here for our particular country. And Memorial Day is a great time to kind of look back and go like, hey, a lot of badass motherfuckers did some shit

so that we could potentially be here and do what we do. So just say thanks, you know, and enjoy the hell out of yourself. I think that would be the best way to kind of pay tribute to everything that happened is have a good time, say thanks, and why not, you know, be nice to somebody else as well. Be a friend, tell a friend something nice. From all of us to all

of you, we are so incredibly thankful we get to do this. Cheers, and have a great three-day weekend. Goodbye!